The trader turns to him. “Weapons are valuable here, boney boy. Are you sure you wanna offer that up for trade?”
“I can’t use it anymore,” he says through gritted teeth. His words make me glance at him in confusion. What does he mean he can’t use it anymore? “And it’s practically useless as a sword anyway”
“Very well.” The trader nods. “I accept the trade.”
“Throw in the tiny Jesus statue,” Svetlana orders as she flies from the table behind us and lands on my shoulder with all the flair of a dancer. Locke flinches at the sudden movement, his eyes narrowing on her. “You will not get any other offers for it.”
The trader studies her. “What do you offer in trade?”
“Your continued life,” Svetlana replies. “How does that sound?”
The trader blinks. “Accepted.”
“We could have just threatened him?” Locke growls.
“On the contrary, your threat would not have been accepted,” Svetlana says, taking the tiny statue of a man the trader offers her. “Only Svetlana is so feared.”
We finish out the trade and the trader finally closes his trench coat again and goes back to standing broodily in the corner, waiting for the next sucker he can swing his dick at. “Pleasure doing business with you, beast bound and boney boy.”
“Stop calling me that,” Locke growls before picking up some of the items.
“That was . . . an experience,” I laugh as I take the items and shove them into my inventory. They take up the space vacated by the items I’d given him. My inventory is far from full now after the trade and putting some items away in the safehouse storage. This safehouse doesn’t seem to have one of the save chests where I can pull items out.
“I quite enjoyed the interaction,” Svetlana says, her little hands still holding the statue. As I stare at her, she says, “Inventory,” and it disappears.
My mouth falls open.
“Wait,” I say, stopping. “You have an inventory?”
“Of course, I do,” she says, sniffing. “You think me useless?”
“No, I just . . . didn’t know you had an inventory like players.” I meet her eyes. “How many items can you hold?”
“A few,” she replies. “It is not important. We should go fight this Minor Boss and get it over with, dah?”
Locke and I exchange looks. “Cipher, is it common for familiars to have an inventory?”
“Common?” Cipher repeats. “No. Out of the question? Also, no.”
“Interesting,” I murmur, studying the praying mantis a little closer.
“Are we going to go fight or keep standing around like idiots?” Svetlana says. “Put the coat on,Umnitsa, so that I can sequester myself inside. I do not wish to be cold on this journey.”
Locke ends up giving me the thermal underwear and snow boots, but he dons the winter coat, scarf, and gloves. We figure we’ll share the hand warmer back and forth as needed. Apparently, it can stay warm for two hours and be recharged with a single XP each time.
I glance at him as he buttons up his coat. “So why couldn’t you use the sword anymore?” I ask.
His fingers pause for a few seconds and then resume buttoning the coat, but he doesn’t look up at me. “Bone Breakers can’t use weapons that require skill. Only bludgeoning ones or fists.”
“I don’t understand. You held the sword just fine,” I point out.
He shrugs. “If I use it like a sword, it does practically no damage. I tried. Before. I had to use the sword like a club to do any damage and even then, it wasn’t nearly as much as my hammer.” Finally, he looks at me. “It doesn’t matter. I’m stronger now anyway. I don’t need swords or daggers.”
“Did you know when you picked the Glitch?”
Cipher laughs. “Of course, he did not know,” he says for both of us to hear.
Locke scowls. “Doesn’t matter. I have what I need and I’ll level up until I’m strong enough that a sword isn’t necessary anyways.” He rolls his shoulders and faces the door. “Let’s go kill the next Minor Boss and get out of this fucking place.”
