With his mind made up on the matter, Ludo didn't fret on it any longer and started browsing through the list of weapons and defensive technologies that he had been skipping over up until this point.
His only point of reference for prices of weapons was the 5000-credit nuke, so he was hoping that his goal of purchasing some defensive and maybe even offensive items was within his current budget of 526.2 credits.
Especially since this time, he didn't plan on buying from the Basic Level 1 trading hub…
Ludo opened up his Galactic Terminal and filtered for defensive items fit for personal use in the Middle Level 1 trading hubs.
After seeing the prices per unit, Ludo felt great relief after seeing that he could afford a decent amount of the items proposed.
Though he felt it made sense, since the items he was purchasing were for personal use, not a a weapon of mass destruction like the nuke…
[Adaptive Nano-Carbon Armour – A self-repairing nanofabric armour constructed with discrete layers of graphene-based composites that make for excellent body armour. It can stop all conventional bullet rounds up to .50 calibre , is fire resistant up to 800 degrees Kelvin, and is shock dampening, allowing for much higher resistance against blunt force trauma.]
[Offer price: 350 credits per unit, or 25,000 credits for the technology.]
[Gauss Pistol – An advanced coilgun with smart tracking systems, designed for in-person, close- to mid-range combat. It can shoot up to 20 rounds at speeds of 1050 m/s, carrying 20,000 joules of energy, per battery charge.]
[Offer price: 70 credits per unit, or 10,000 credits for the technology.]
Eventually, after spending nearly 20 minutes carefully examining the options available to him, Ludo felt that these two were the most suitable items he could currently manage. It was a solid mix of offense and defense.
There were more powerful items within his price range, some that were actually cheaper than the Nano armour and Gauss pistol he'd chosen, but they came with disadvantages that he couldn't overlook.
For one, an item in particular called the 'Magnetic Pulse Shield' was advertised at 300 credits and was capable of deflecting even weapons as strong as tank rounds!
But as one might expect, this type of armour was nowhere near as discreet as he required.
If he utilised a piece of jaw-breaking technology like this in public, then the eyes of probably every government on Earth would be pressing down on him within minutes.
Not to mention that it only defended him from projectiles — anything explosive could still turn him into red mist with ease.
So while it may be able to deflect a tank round with minimal injury to his body, the resulting explosion would still vaporise him.
The nano-carbon armour that he'd chosen fit the bill for most of his requirements. It was sleek, thin, and could be covered up by wearing his normal clothes. He'd just look a little silly if he walked around town with his head covered in what looked like a ski mask with no mouth hole, but that was a sacrifice worth making.
This armour, combined with the entrancement his body had received from the integration with the Galactic Terminal — to which the extent hadn't been figured out yet — left Ludo with hopes that he could survive most attacks.
As for his choice of weapon, at first Ludo was contemplating whether he would actually need one. But then he realised that even if he could protect himself from gunfire, he could still be captured once his enemies realised that shooting him was a dead end.
The only way he could prevent that was if he had an offensive measure to protect himself.
At first he was going to go for something cheap like a simple 9mm firearm, which he could buy even without the Galactic Terminal, but he decided to splurge a little instead since even Earth's current capabilities could defend quite easily against such low-calibre bullets.
For just 70 credits, he'd managed to find what he considered to be a bargain.
The gauss pistol was exactly what he wanted — a small, light, compact sidearm that packed much more of a punch than the gunpowder-based weapons Earth currently used. All with the added bonus of little to no recoil and barely making any sound!
Ludo estimated that this small thing could fire rounds with the same firepower as a .50 cal. sniper rifle…
Though, with only 20 rounds per charge, he had to use them sparingly.
Thankfully the battery was rechargeable, so he wouldn't have to waste more credits on spares.
Though the listing for the weapon did state that it came with the first 20 rounds free of charge, the buyer either had to provide their own or purchase them in bulk from them if they wanted to restock.
Ludo didn't particularly feel like spending more than he needed to, so once he got things up and running after this Blue 1.0 deal, he planned to produce his own on the sly. They were in essence just pointed metal cylinders anyway — even a hobbyist metalworker could make such things at home with the right equipment since there was no need for a casing.
A moment of hesitation came over Ludo when he hovered his hand over the purchase buttons for the two items — was he making the right decision by doing this?
What if his actions led to Earth being invaded?
'F*ck it! The Galactic Net already discovered our location after activating the Galactic Terminal in me. I'll just have to pray to the gods nothing happens…'
With that, he pressed 'buy' on both the nano-carbon armour and the Gauss pistol.
Any amount of tension built up in him had been released at that point — replaced by nervousness and anxiety about what might come as a result of this.
[Purchase complete: 462 credits have been deducted from your balance.]
[Remaining Balance: 64.2 credits.]
Seeing the higher price he had paid than advertised, Ludo was just as displeased as last time, though it seemed the fees were much more severe compared with virtual items.
10% had been added on top of the original price, which meant that alongside the 5% discreet delivery surcharge he had opted for, another 5% was taken as the delivery fee…
Ludo could only be thankful that they were both applied to the original price; if the second fee had only been applied after the first had been applied, he didn't know what he would have started breaking out of anger…
[Your items will be delivered in 13 hours 24 minutes Earth time.]
A smile rose on Ludo's face. This last message did at least quench his displeasure.