Drake and company made their way to the System Center and Auction House. Walking down the black-stone cobbled streets that Drake was beginning to notice everywhere.
At least all that stone-making I did is going to use. I saw a few of the streets before, but whoever Natto is making do all this work, probably deserves a raise… He thought.
While continuing down the streets, they began to lose members. Theodore having to depart to return to his duties and to Harley. Bjorn and Chelsea deciding to leave as well to check out the city shops and find a nice place to set up their tent.
Drake had offered the island where his own home was but they turned him down, wanting to be as far away from the crystal and Natto as possible.
By the time he had reached the general market area where the auction, bank, and center were, it was only him and Natto. Many people nodded in passing to Natto, but it seemed that most people had tried their best to quickly leave after that or avoid eye contact with Drake.
“What’s with the secondhand citizen treatment?” Drake wondered.
“You have not been here for the past week and we have had a significant influx of people. It has for some reason started to reduce to a trickle. But I have my suspicions. From interviewing the various undead we have caught and the general rumors going around from the adventurer parties coming and going I can certainly say you are not being painted in the best light,” Natto shrugged.
“Is that right? Are they at least getting my devilishly good-looking side? Even in bad lighting it's not bad if I say so myself.”
“No, you dolt! The general consensus is that you are a real evil bastard. Tyrannical and willing to kill anyone who even looks at you the wrong way. Some of the rumors go as far as to say you are actively helping your brother round up people to kill. Thankfully the people here can see that such is not true, but it seems the rumors are spreading rapidly which will make expanding further much more difficult in the future. At least until we clear these current rumors up and find where the source is originating. I have ruled out the New Colonies, or at the least their leadership thanks to the robot user. He was not aware of my probing but it seems he knew nothing of the rumors when he arrived.”
“Yeah about that, Hudson is a secret agent or something?”
“That I am not sure, he has contact with the leader of the New Colonies and was sent to recruit you it seems. You will have to discuss with him for more. He was also unaware of the undead that had infiltrated his company as well as the steroids. But…yes, you should speak to him quickly when you have a chance. Do you plan to leave swiftly?”
Drake nodded, rubbing his bare shoulders, feeling exposed without his usual hoodie to cover him.
“I’d like to leave immediately but we need to finish up the group's skills and have the competition I promised. I plan on taking that group with me to Sandal. I’m sure I can fight whatever or whoever is there, but if there’s going to be people needing rescue, the more people I have to help with it the better. I feel a little bad but they need to see what is happening to prepare themselves. I have a feeling this undead problem is only going to get worse. Did you get any information on how much of the population survived the tutorials?”
Natto brought up a screen, then pulled some more papers from her sleeve.
“It is not definitive, unfortunately. The cities still do not have enough contact to give a proper head count. Based on what I have heard from the comings and goings of people, I would venture 10% of each world survived at worst, perhaps 20% at best. It seems that your world’s iteration was particularly bloody, like we suspected…”
Drake grimaced, looking over the rough estimates detailed on the paper, circled areas of the old world map showing where they had confirmed population, but large portions were blacked out, nearly half the map.
“It isn’t looking too good right now huh?”
“It truly is not.”
He sighed, placing the papers away, only to have something tap against his head a moment later.
“What’s this?” he asked.
[Long Range Communication Crystal] [F-Grade] [Uncommon]
Allows two-way communication to a paired crystal Range: 500 Miles Cost: Small Amount of Mana
“I assume you will be worried about your family when you leave? This should alleviate such worries,” Natto huffed from his shoulder.
Drake smiled, pocketing the crystal.
“Thanks.”
They continued down the street, Drake still in awe of how much the city had improved and expanded, making mental notes of places he would like to check out once he finally had time to. Especially a place named the ‘Dazzling Tyrant’s Comic Hangout’ when another thought struck him from his earlier talk with Pythanuel.
“I’ve been meaning to ask Natto. What’s the reason behind the whole bounty for races thing? The goat dude in the church mentioned that it was more than just the Asurans.”
Natto winced slightly and her eyes became distant, a first for Drake before she seemed to almost recite something as if reading from a script.
“Bounties for the ‘Catastrophic Upheaval Races’ were made in accordance with the other great Primordial races to strip them of their power and danger. Ridding the multiverse of the potential threats they posed to the Originators and the natural order.”
Drake gave her a worried look, “Natto…? You okay?”
Natto shook her head, her hand going to her temple.
“Y-yes, I believe so… I am not sure what came over me. What was your question?”
Drake gave her another sidelong glance. This was the first time he had asked a question that garnered such a response. Was it the system impeding her? But he questioned if it was just that. He had asked her questions she couldn’t answer before and had never gotten something like this. It had to be something else.
“No, nothing, don’t worry about it for now,” Drake finally said as they came up to the auction house, a large crowd already huddling around the building, “Huh, what’s that about?”
Moving closer Drake could hear a familiar voice coming from the center of the crowd making him smile wryly.
“Awe he’s so cute! Can I pet him?”
“This miniature treant is so adorable! Where did you get her? Are you a tamer?”
“I can’t believe you’re single! Is this your first time in the city?”
“Wow, you have such deep topaz eyes! I’ve never seen anything like it. Do you want to grab a cup of coffee with me?”
Drake pushed to the edge of the crowd of men and women, at the center Landin smiling and eating up the attention. Charlotte stood with a stone face expression, but her arms crossed in annoyance. Quetz floated above whistling a tune away from the commotion, while the twins talked to themselves in a corner, or Atropos talked to her brother while he growled at any man or woman that approached. He found Kalik Tu’ standing scowling with his hands in his pockets not far away fighting off orc and human women alike to Drake’s surprise, like a yakuza with ‘oi’s’ and ‘ahhh haaa?!’s’ without effect as they screamed and giggled at his attempts.
Mordred, n, and Luciem were also nearby awaiting Drake like the rest, but not nearly with as much attention as the others. Drake saw Glenn ogling at some of the girls here and there but he was held back like a dog on a leash by Mordred who wore a disgusted grimace as if she was holding garbage.
After a bit of enjoying the atmosphere, Drake pushed through, grabbing Landin and ushering him forward into the auction.
“Alright Casanova time to go, remember that most of these girls are twice your age,” Drake scoffed.
“Ah! Wait, come on man! I’m in my spring of youth here!” Landin complained.
“Yeah yeah.”
“B-but my adoring fans!”
“They’ll be here when you get back. Who would have guessed your rank up would turn you into a horndog.”
Landin frowned, “I’m finally popular! Come onnnnnn!”
Drake barked a deep laugh, waving for the rest of the group to follow him inside, Natto poking Landin in the back of the head with her foot, a look of amusement at the teen’s pain.
“The rest of you get in here too, no time to waste,” Drake pushed the rest of them inside and told them to wait then turned to the disappointed crowd of onlookers not willing to push past him to pursue, “If you want to see them again and in action, free up your schedules to watch them fight against the Orc Guards in the next few hours. It will be a show to remember!”
Finished with the onlookers, Drake turned back into the auction house, the eight teens plus Lucium waiting a few steps from the door with the bustle of the crowd passing by in every direction.
“Alright, everyone has cores or Mana Coins from the trip right?” Drake asked.
“Yes, we exchanged some when we went to the center earlier,” Charlotte nodded.
“We have made an appropriate amount of income from the journey,” Atropos added.
“How did everyone’s talks go?” Drake also asked, mainly wondering how Charlotte’s brother took her dramatic change.
Her face was as impassive as ever but she subtly shifted on her feet, “Brodie, was surprised. As was Janey, but there wasn’t much to do about it since it was an effect of the rank-up.”
Charlotte twirled her finger around her slightly longer but more vivid red hair, “They did say I looked prettier but colder… I do feel like they are right, my emotions feel somewhat more muted…”
Drake gave a sympathetic crease of his lips.
“That’s unfortunately another effect of ranking up and using the stones, the more powerful the stone the larger the effect usually is. It’s why I had you all space out your use to minimize it. When I was filling out, I had dramatic changes in personality, almost blacking out in blood lust and losing myself.”
He looked at Mordred, “Mordred, you are the most susceptible to something like that with your class rarity so you must be even more cautious when you’re selecting skills.”
Drake handed her roughly, what the others had gained in stones.
“Glenn, Mordred, leave your subtree class stones to me, but think long and hard on what skill stones you’d like,” he turned to the rest of them, “Everyone else take your time looking through the auction’s catalogs. There isn’t much in the way of weaponry or gear, I’m assuming because you wouldn’t want to sell stuff you could use yourself or others on your planet could but there should be a good amount of useful skill stones due to their availability and demand. Remember, take your time, you can’t change your skills without dire and drastic means,” he reminded, making sure to enunciate the last sentence.
“Quetz is going to find the most colorful stones to use!” Quetz blurted out as soon as he was done, forcing Drake to look at Charlotte.
Charlotte nodded, “I’ll… go with her…”
“I’m going to go haggle, when you’re finished you can head to the front or find Sarah and train.”
The group paled but nodded.
“What are you going to do Natto? Hanging out?” Drake asked.
“I will be leaving as well. The city does not run itself and I must allocate the monsters you have brought back, as well as the new people. You certainly brought back some troublesome things, I will say,” she added, looking down at Mordred.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
She frowned then sighed, “I suppose two calamities do not make a difference if the first one destroys us in any case… Ah! Woe is me for having been born to a moronic degenerate with a bleeding heart!”
Drake scoffed, “At least you get to eat good food.”
“A single drop in the bucket that is your incompetence…” she sighed, hopping off his shoulders and trotting off out the door.
Drake smiled, and shooed off the teens, “Alright, off you go.”
The teens dispersed in different directions, doing their best to avoid the larger groupings of people staring daggers and eager glares at Drake.
He was used to looks like this by now, receiving them more and more frequently.
“I wonder if I can somehow get a hold of something to disguise myself more?” he wondered aloud.
Drake spotted one of the guards of the auction and nodded casually in their direction. The guard only acknowledged him with a glance returning to their duty.
“Bunch of stiffs…”
He sighed and began walking through the crowd in the direction he hoped was the haggling area Talyia had mentioned before. Of course, he ignored the goading comments and oddly reverent stares he continued to receive along the way.
After some pushing, shoving, and the odd one-off butt touch he received, he finally made it to a gated entrance within the auction. On the other side of the gate were magnificent cobbled streets with vendors hawking and shouting, pairs of people arguing between one another for lower prices to buy and higher prices to sell.
Stepping through the gate the feeling of being transported once again was seamless but subtly noticeable to Drake, and the change of varnished wood floor to cobbled stone felt oddly good on the soles of his feet.
“Guess I should just walk and look around for now… Subtree Stones are the priority, but if I can find some equipment or maybe some information on things outside my rank that would be a plus.”
His mind doing back flips trying to understand how such a large space was able to fit inside the already spacious building, Drake walked down the seemingly endless street. Craning his neck and bending over stalls, tables, spread out blankets, and people to see and inspect items, armor, weapons, small animals, and numerous other things he was seeing for the first time.
“This place is crazy…” he mumbled but more at the prices rather than just the things for sale.
[Lackmiur Juvenile Level 3]
He looked down at the price tag next to it, several red lines through the price that raised it even more than before a glowing blue pair of initials next to the new price.
[361 C-Grade Monster Cores]
Drake blanched and did a double take looking at the animal.
It was a small purplish blob with two bright white googly eyes looking in different directions, a pink tongue lolling out to the side.
“Head empty should be the name…” he scoffed, “Wait this kinda looks like a certain purple tako…”
He shook his head again, he was getting distracted.
“Well, there goes my idea of finding something. I guess there’s a reason these items are out here, they’re all ridiculously expensive and way better quality than anything on the standard auction… Most of it is C-Grade and above too.”
He sighed, deciding to continue window shopping for future reference at the very least.
A few minutes of pursuing he began seeing less and less equipment and more items he didn’t expect to see. Clothing, casual wear, shoes, hats, the works. The clothing ranged from things that looked like he would wear them, cartoonish and stylized characters of different races, to techno-wear that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie or a bad EDM concert.
There were also other more, how would he say it, exotic clothing?
He decided to walk past the shops hawking for him to come over and try out triangle loincloths by suspiciously eager sellers waving excitedly at him.
Turning them down with an uncomfortable smile, he suddenly bumped into another patron.
“Oh! Sorry, I was distracted. Are you al…rig..ht…? Wait aren’t you?”
Drake looked down, golden irises, black painted horns, and a scowl looking back.
The woman’s face suddenly paled and she pulled her hood down even more.
“It’s fine, there’s no need to apologize,” the woman said, getting up and picking up the piece of clothing she was looking at.
She handed over some monster cores that made Drake’s eyes pop out of his sockets.
“Miss, I can’t accept this!”
“Don’t worry, I enjoy your clothing, think of it as a gesture of appreciation,” she turned her back to Drake, “I do not know who you are, but I suggest you take care if you are distracted so easily. It doesn’t look well for your future otherwise.”
Drake frowned, “Didn’t you get bumped into too? Shouldn’t you have noticed me?”
Her shoulders jerked.
“I-I… was preoccupied with browsing this store’s wares…”
“So you were distracted?”
“I was under the assumption that you would walk around me!” she growled.
Drake shook his head sighing, “Never mind that, I just wanted to say thanks for the advice from before, saved me a bunch of money.”
The woman looked reluctant to stay as she turned her head slightly. But it seemed her curiosity or nature got the better of whatever was making her nervous.
Her eyes shone with power for a moment before she spoke again.
“Are you participating in the coming Assessment Tournament at your level…?” she asked.
“Assessment Tournament?” Drake asked back.
“Are you the strongest on your planet?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Drake replied, suddenly feeling cautious.
“I see… Then you haven’t met the prerequisites for the invitation. That would mean you have yet to access your first Trial Tower…” she shook her head beginning to walk away, “I’ve said too much. You are welcome for before, but you will not be seeing me again…”
She paused, Drake able to see her biting down on her lip.
“Something wrong?”
“I-i…I-if..” her eyes steeled and she looked more determined than ever, “If you are able…” she hesitated, “Will you visit a place called Zabek?”
“Zabek? Another world? How exactly am I supposed to do that?” Drake said, stunned slightly.
“Once you clear your first Dungeon Tower you should be able to select a system-created temporary one. From that you will receive a ticket,” she fully turned to him now, “If you are able to make it that far you should have no problem breaking into the C-Rank-”
But her mouth snapped shut before she could divulge more, her face turning a sickly gray and before Drake could even ask what was going on, or what was wrong, she vanished in thin air.
He looked around bewildered, unable to find the woman, or even a trace of her or a skill that might have been used. Finally turning to the merchant next to him.
“Do you know what happened?”
The purplish humanoid rubbed his beard, “Looks like she was forcibly removed. Could have been the Proprietress,” then he raised a brow, “She’s been here a few times, always flashes a bit of coin or core like she doesn’t understand what she’s carrying. Could be a noble or something and got recalled.”
Recalled..? Drake thought, feeling like he had just been left on the edge of a cliff with nowhere to go.
Arthur_Inverse Spoiler
You may read ahead on my Patreon if you wish, it usually hovers around 20+ chapters ahead of the current free release. Cheers.
I would like to give an extra thank you to my T1 Patrons :
BelligerentGnu, Scott F. Fletcher D. Yang A. Aaron R., Liam B., Wolfram K., Naoggeddon, Matthew G., Abdulaziz A., Pratish S., Sam4005, Salfallen, Wedmark D., ytm, Navarre C. H.
A bigger thanks to my T2 Patrons: Fallacha, Gavin T. Mike, Sphinxes, Benji, Isaac H., M. R., Tyler, Nic, Blacklark57, Aksam, Benji, M.R., Braincase, Shakekiller, Regan B., George M., Brother Grey, Jakub T., Nim, Talen D., James M., Liam B., DayWalker, Mark W., Rowan James, Woody, Johnnyboy 117, William N., Daniel W., Ruadhan, Alain
And a massive thanks to my T3 Patrons: Jesse M. C Alex G. Bum Bumbo, Paul F. Liam B., Eb, Richard M., Richard R., Pergamon, Gavin T, Carolyne, Thomas B W., Zachary G., Michael W., skeri123, Leon O. Alfredo S., Richard B., Sye, Coco-Jin, Zu'ul, eroth, Adrian D., Chris M., Jan T., Nathan V.M., Olivier M., Ugly Bastard Tag da Best, al, David E., Green S., Greenboy676, Mark T, Nathan V. M., Jame I., Firinen, Raymond N., UnknownS0n, Romain V., Daniel R., Aran K., Mr. Book-Stash, Jetforce, Tanner, Swampfox, SupremeTempest, Bryan R-B, Josh, Mason G., Navarre C H., Pratish S., Jacob F. Adam G., TheGreenKraken, deadmo, Happy Pixie, Jake T., James N., Jhon A., Curtis M., John A., Shadowpulse, Melanie S., Jessy P., Patrick W., skeri123, John A., Arterion, Jordan J., TheAverageNerd, Albert, Alexikon, Kenneth K., Col A., Alex, Malcolm W., Thortinshire., Bladesunder, jason p., thethra, Maxwell J., Aditya V.K., Hartley, Chase, Rawin R., Nevan, Faerwynd, Nikalas, Zachary M., Levi C., Killertiger95, Arthur C., Alexander R., dragonsalver, Terrance S., Alexander R., Bruce F., vividlearner744, Al, Alric G., Lalanne M., Krimo, Johnathan H., JarryD,Skys, Tyler L.. Shakekiller, CardOne4All, Reuben E., Sam S., AA, Freya, Cody D., mafytoogamer, Dupl3x_, Thereader, Jordan M., Piotr, Ilan, My Name is Klondike, Michael W., Arron H., Jaklelope, Zero_to_Nero, Goldenatte, Wh1t3f0rg3, Andrew M., Fabrice, Alec G., Kris C., Seth F., Thedeathnote, Rowan J., Tiki, Timothy B., Firinen, ThePickleBoss, Brayan R., Leon J., AkisP, Fortunis, Aegir, Chris B., Barry P., CHoobler, Harlemisha, Jonathan G. Jr., Iranoc, Matt M., Eric L. S., Joe, Malcolm W., Thrangnar, 1FantasyFanatic, Alex W., Jason P., Jakleope, Matt M. MrTwinkles99
An extra ordinary extraordinary thanks to my Only T4 Patron: Reinaldo Akeva Davila
And a special thanks to my very first two patreons:
Mark M., and Mr. Redd.
P.S. If I ever miss you in the shoutouts please just send me a message on patreon.
[collapse]
Drake and company made their way to the System Center and Auction House. Walking down the black-stone cobbled streets that Drake was beginning to notice everywhere.
At least all that stone-making I did is going to use. I saw a few of the streets before, but whoever Natto is making do all this work, probably deserves a raise… He thought.
While continuing down the streets, they began to lose members. Theodore having to depart to return to his duties and to Harley. Bjorn and Chelsea deciding to leave as well to check out the city shops and find a nice place to set up their tent.
Drake had offered the island where his own home was but they turned him down, wanting to be as far away from the crystal and Natto as possible.
By the time he had reached the general market area where the auction, bank, and center were, it was only him and Natto. Many people nodded in passing to Natto, but it seemed that most people had tried their best to quickly leave after that or avoid eye contact with Drake.
“What’s with the secondhand citizen treatment?” Drake wondered.
“You have not been here for the past week and we have had a significant influx of people. It has for some reason started to reduce to a trickle. But I have my suspicions. From interviewing the various undead we have caught and the general rumors going around from the adventurer parties coming and going I can certainly say you are not being painted in the best light,” Natto shrugged.
“Is that right? Are they at least getting my devilishly good-looking side? Even in bad lighting it's not bad if I say so myself.”
“No, you dolt! The general consensus is that you are a real evil bastard. Tyrannical and willing to kill anyone who even looks at you the wrong way. Some of the rumors go as far as to say you are actively helping your brother round up people to kill. Thankfully the people here can see that such is not true, but it seems the rumors are spreading rapidly which will make expanding further much more difficult in the future. At least until we clear these current rumors up and find where the source is originating. I have ruled out the New Colonies, or at the least their leadership thanks to the robot user. He was not aware of my probing but it seems he knew nothing of the rumors when he arrived.”
“Yeah about that, Hudson is a secret agent or something?”
“That I am not sure, he has contact with the leader of the New Colonies and was sent to recruit you it seems. You will have to discuss with him for more. He was also unaware of the undead that had infiltrated his company as well as the steroids. But…yes, you should speak to him quickly when you have a chance. Do you plan to leave swiftly?”
Drake nodded, rubbing his bare shoulders, feeling exposed without his usual hoodie to cover him.
“I’d like to leave immediately but we need to finish up the group's skills and have the competition I promised. I plan on taking that group with me to Sandal. I’m sure I can fight whatever or whoever is there, but if there’s going to be people needing rescue, the more people I have to help with it the better. I feel a little bad but they need to see what is happening to prepare themselves. I have a feeling this undead problem is only going to get worse. Did you get any information on how much of the population survived the tutorials?”
Natto brought up a screen, then pulled some more papers from her sleeve.
“It is not definitive, unfortunately. The cities still do not have enough contact to give a proper head count. Based on what I have heard from the comings and goings of people, I would venture 10% of each world survived at worst, perhaps 20% at best. It seems that your world’s iteration was particularly bloody, like we suspected…”
Drake grimaced, looking over the rough estimates detailed on the paper, circled areas of the old world map showing where they had confirmed population, but large portions were blacked out, nearly half the map.
“It isn’t looking too good right now huh?”
“It truly is not.”
He sighed, placing the papers away, only to have something tap against his head a moment later.
“What’s this?” he asked.
[Long Range Communication Crystal] [F-Grade] [Uncommon]
Allows two-way communication to a paired crystal Range: 500 Miles Cost: Small Amount of Mana
“I assume you will be worried about your family when you leave? This should alleviate such worries,” Natto huffed from his shoulder.
Drake smiled, pocketing the crystal.
“Thanks.”
They continued down the street, Drake still in awe of how much the city had improved and expanded, making mental notes of places he would like to check out once he finally had time to. Especially a place named the ‘Dazzling Tyrant’s Comic Hangout’ when another thought struck him from his earlier talk with Pythanuel.
“I’ve been meaning to ask Natto. What’s the reason behind the whole bounty for races thing? The goat dude in the church mentioned that it was more than just the Asurans.”
Natto winced slightly and her eyes became distant, a first for Drake before she seemed to almost recite something as if reading from a script.
“Bounties for the ‘Catastrophic Upheaval Races’ were made in accordance with the other great Primordial races to strip them of their power and danger. Ridding the multiverse of the potential threats they posed to the Originators and the natural order.”
Drake gave her a worried look, “Natto…? You okay?”
Natto shook her head, her hand going to her temple.
“Y-yes, I believe so… I am not sure what came over me. What was your question?”
Drake gave her another sidelong glance. This was the first time he had asked a question that garnered such a response. Was it the system impeding her? But he questioned if it was just that. He had asked her questions she couldn’t answer before and had never gotten something like this. It had to be something else.
“No, nothing, don’t worry about it for now,” Drake finally said as they came up to the auction house, a large crowd already huddling around the building, “Huh, what’s that about?”
Moving closer Drake could hear a familiar voice coming from the center of the crowd making him smile wryly.
“Awe he’s so cute! Can I pet him?”
“This miniature treant is so adorable! Where did you get her? Are you a tamer?”
“I can’t believe you’re single! Is this your first time in the city?”
“Wow, you have such deep topaz eyes! I’ve never seen anything like it. Do you want to grab a cup of coffee with me?”
Drake pushed to the edge of the crowd of men and women, at the center Landin smiling and eating up the attention. Charlotte stood with a stone face expression, but her arms crossed in annoyance. Quetz floated above whistling a tune away from the commotion, while the twins talked to themselves in a corner, or Atropos talked to her brother while he growled at any man or woman that approached. He found Kalik Tu’ standing scowling with his hands in his pockets not far away fighting off orc and human women alike to Drake’s surprise, like a yakuza with ‘oi’s’ and ‘ahhh haaa?!’s’ without effect as they screamed and giggled at his attempts.
Mordred, n, and Luciem were also nearby awaiting Drake like the rest, but not nearly with as much attention as the others. Drake saw Glenn ogling at some of the girls here and there but he was held back like a dog on a leash by Mordred who wore a disgusted grimace as if she was holding garbage.
After a bit of enjoying the atmosphere, Drake pushed through, grabbing Landin and ushering him forward into the auction.
“Alright Casanova time to go, remember that most of these girls are twice your age,” Drake scoffed.
“Ah! Wait, come on man! I’m in my spring of youth here!” Landin complained.
“Yeah yeah.”
“B-but my adoring fans!”
“They’ll be here when you get back. Who would have guessed your rank up would turn you into a horndog.”
Landin frowned, “I’m finally popular! Come onnnnnn!”
Drake barked a deep laugh, waving for the rest of the group to follow him inside, Natto poking Landin in the back of the head with her foot, a look of amusement at the teen’s pain.
“The rest of you get in here too, no time to waste,” Drake pushed the rest of them inside and told them to wait then turned to the disappointed crowd of onlookers not willing to push past him to pursue, “If you want to see them again and in action, free up your schedules to watch them fight against the Orc Guards in the next few hours. It will be a show to remember!”
Finished with the onlookers, Drake turned back into the auction house, the eight teens plus Lucium waiting a few steps from the door with the bustle of the crowd passing by in every direction.
“Alright, everyone has cores or Mana Coins from the trip right?” Drake asked.
“Yes, we exchanged some when we went to the center earlier,” Charlotte nodded.
“We have made an appropriate amount of income from the journey,” Atropos added.
“How did everyone’s talks go?” Drake also asked, mainly wondering how Charlotte’s brother took her dramatic change.
Her face was as impassive as ever but she subtly shifted on her feet, “Brodie, was surprised. As was Janey, but there wasn’t much to do about it since it was an effect of the rank-up.”
Charlotte twirled her finger around her slightly longer but more vivid red hair, “They did say I looked prettier but colder… I do feel like they are right, my emotions feel somewhat more muted…”
Drake gave a sympathetic crease of his lips.
“That’s unfortunately another effect of ranking up and using the stones, the more powerful the stone the larger the effect usually is. It’s why I had you all space out your use to minimize it. When I was filling out, I had dramatic changes in personality, almost blacking out in blood lust and losing myself.”
He looked at Mordred, “Mordred, you are the most susceptible to something like that with your class rarity so you must be even more cautious when you’re selecting skills.”
Drake handed her roughly, what the others had gained in stones.
“Glenn, Mordred, leave your subtree class stones to me, but think long and hard on what skill stones you’d like,” he turned to the rest of them, “Everyone else take your time looking through the auction’s catalogs. There isn’t much in the way of weaponry or gear, I’m assuming because you wouldn’t want to sell stuff you could use yourself or others on your planet could but there should be a good amount of useful skill stones due to their availability and demand. Remember, take your time, you can’t change your skills without dire and drastic means,” he reminded, making sure to enunciate the last sentence.
“Quetz is going to find the most colorful stones to use!” Quetz blurted out as soon as he was done, forcing Drake to look at Charlotte.
Charlotte nodded, “I’ll… go with her…”
“I’m going to go haggle, when you’re finished you can head to the front or find Sarah and train.”
The group paled but nodded.
“What are you going to do Natto? Hanging out?” Drake asked.
“I will be leaving as well. The city does not run itself and I must allocate the monsters you have brought back, as well as the new people. You certainly brought back some troublesome things, I will say,” she added, looking down at Mordred.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
She frowned then sighed, “I suppose two calamities do not make a difference if the first one destroys us in any case… Ah! Woe is me for having been born to a moronic degenerate with a bleeding heart!”
Drake scoffed, “At least you get to eat good food.”
“A single drop in the bucket that is your incompetence…” she sighed, hopping off his shoulders and trotting off out the door.
Drake smiled, and shooed off the teens, “Alright, off you go.”
The teens dispersed in different directions, doing their best to avoid the larger groupings of people staring daggers and eager glares at Drake.
He was used to looks like this by now, receiving them more and more frequently.
“I wonder if I can somehow get a hold of something to disguise myself more?” he wondered aloud.
Drake spotted one of the guards of the auction and nodded casually in their direction. The guard only acknowledged him with a glance returning to their duty.
“Bunch of stiffs…”
He sighed and began walking through the crowd in the direction he hoped was the haggling area Talyia had mentioned before. Of course, he ignored the goading comments and oddly reverent stares he continued to receive along the way.
After some pushing, shoving, and the odd one-off butt touch he received, he finally made it to a gated entrance within the auction. On the other side of the gate were magnificent cobbled streets with vendors hawking and shouting, pairs of people arguing between one another for lower prices to buy and higher prices to sell.
Stepping through the gate the feeling of being transported once again was seamless but subtly noticeable to Drake, and the change of varnished wood floor to cobbled stone felt oddly good on the soles of his feet.
“Guess I should just walk and look around for now… Subtree Stones are the priority, but if I can find some equipment or maybe some information on things outside my rank that would be a plus.”
His mind doing back flips trying to understand how such a large space was able to fit inside the already spacious building, Drake walked down the seemingly endless street. Craning his neck and bending over stalls, tables, spread out blankets, and people to see and inspect items, armor, weapons, small animals, and numerous other things he was seeing for the first time.
“This place is crazy…” he mumbled but more at the prices rather than just the things for sale.
[Lackmiur Juvenile Level 3]
He looked down at the price tag next to it, several red lines through the price that raised it even more than before a glowing blue pair of initials next to the new price.
[361 C-Grade Monster Cores]
Drake blanched and did a double take looking at the animal.
It was a small purplish blob with two bright white googly eyes looking in different directions, a pink tongue lolling out to the side.
“Head empty should be the name…” he scoffed, “Wait this kinda looks like a certain purple tako…”
He shook his head again, he was getting distracted.
“Well, there goes my idea of finding something. I guess there’s a reason these items are out here, they’re all ridiculously expensive and way better quality than anything on the standard auction… Most of it is C-Grade and above too.”
He sighed, deciding to continue window shopping for future reference at the very least.
A few minutes of pursuing he began seeing less and less equipment and more items he didn’t expect to see. Clothing, casual wear, shoes, hats, the works. The clothing ranged from things that looked like he would wear them, cartoonish and stylized characters of different races, to techno-wear that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie or a bad EDM concert.
There were also other more, how would he say it, exotic clothing?
He decided to walk past the shops hawking for him to come over and try out triangle loincloths by suspiciously eager sellers waving excitedly at him.
Turning them down with an uncomfortable smile, he suddenly bumped into another patron.
“Oh! Sorry, I was distracted. Are you al…rig..ht…? Wait aren’t you?”
Drake looked down, golden irises, black painted horns, and a scowl looking back.
The woman’s face suddenly paled and she pulled her hood down even more.
“It’s fine, there’s no need to apologize,” the woman said, getting up and picking up the piece of clothing she was looking at.
She handed over some monster cores that made Drake’s eyes pop out of his sockets.
“Miss, I can’t accept this!”
“Don’t worry, I enjoy your clothing, think of it as a gesture of appreciation,” she turned her back to Drake, “I do not know who you are, but I suggest you take care if you are distracted so easily. It doesn’t look well for your future otherwise.”
Drake frowned, “Didn’t you get bumped into too? Shouldn’t you have noticed me?”
Her shoulders jerked.
“I-I… was preoccupied with browsing this store’s wares…”
“So you were distracted?”
“I was under the assumption that you would walk around me!” she growled.
Drake shook his head sighing, “Never mind that, I just wanted to say thanks for the advice from before, saved me a bunch of money.”
The woman looked reluctant to stay as she turned her head slightly. But it seemed her curiosity or nature got the better of whatever was making her nervous.
Her eyes shone with power for a moment before she spoke again.
“Are you participating in the coming Assessment Tournament at your level…?” she asked.
“Assessment Tournament?” Drake asked back.
“Are you the strongest on your planet?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Drake replied, suddenly feeling cautious.
“I see… Then you haven’t met the prerequisites for the invitation. That would mean you have yet to access your first Trial Tower…” she shook her head beginning to walk away, “I’ve said too much. You are welcome for before, but you will not be seeing me again…”
She paused, Drake able to see her biting down on her lip.
“Something wrong?”
“I-i…I-if..” her eyes steeled and she looked more determined than ever, “If you are able…” she hesitated, “Will you visit a place called Zabek?”
“Zabek? Another world? How exactly am I supposed to do that?” Drake said, stunned slightly.
“Once you clear your first Dungeon Tower you should be able to select a system-created temporary one. From that you will receive a ticket,” she fully turned to him now, “If you are able to make it that far you should have no problem breaking into the C-Rank-”
But her mouth snapped shut before she could divulge more, her face turning a sickly gray and before Drake could even ask what was going on, or what was wrong, she vanished in thin air.
He looked around bewildered, unable to find the woman, or even a trace of her or a skill that might have been used. Finally turning to the merchant next to him.
“Do you know what happened?”
The purplish humanoid rubbed his beard, “Looks like she was forcibly removed. Could have been the Proprietress,” then he raised a brow, “She’s been here a few times, always flashes a bit of coin or core like she doesn’t understand what she’s carrying. Could be a noble or something and got recalled.”
Recalled..? Drake thought, feeling like he had just been left on the edge of a cliff with nowhere to go.
Arthur_Inverse Spoiler
You may read ahead on my Patreon if you wish, it usually hovers around 20+ chapters ahead of the current free release. Cheers.
I would like to give an extra thank you to my T1 Patrons :
BelligerentGnu, Scott F. Fletcher D. Yang A. Aaron R., Liam B., Wolfram K., Naoggeddon, Matthew G., Abdulaziz A., Pratish S., Sam4005, Salfallen, Wedmark D., ytm, Navarre C. H.
A bigger thanks to my T2 Patrons: Fallacha, Gavin T. Mike, Sphinxes, Benji, Isaac H., M. R., Tyler, Nic, Blacklark57, Aksam, Benji, M.R., Braincase, Shakekiller, Regan B., George M., Brother Grey, Jakub T., Nim, Talen D., James M., Liam B., DayWalker, Mark W., Rowan James, Woody, Johnnyboy 117, William N., Daniel W., Ruadhan, Alain
And a massive thanks to my T3 Patrons: Jesse M. C Alex G. Bum Bumbo, Paul F. Liam B., Eb, Richard M., Richard R., Pergamon, Gavin T, Carolyne, Thomas B W., Zachary G., Michael W., skeri123, Leon O. Alfredo S., Richard B., Sye, Coco-Jin, Zu'ul, eroth, Adrian D., Chris M., Jan T., Nathan V.M., Olivier M., Ugly Bastard Tag da Best, al, David E., Green S., Greenboy676, Mark T, Nathan V. M., Jame I., Firinen, Raymond N., UnknownS0n, Romain V., Daniel R., Aran K., Mr. Book-Stash, Jetforce, Tanner, Swampfox, SupremeTempest, Bryan R-B, Josh, Mason G., Navarre C H., Pratish S., Jacob F. Adam G., TheGreenKraken, deadmo, Happy Pixie, Jake T., James N., Jhon A., Curtis M., John A., Shadowpulse, Melanie S., Jessy P., Patrick W., skeri123, John A., Arterion, Jordan J., TheAverageNerd, Albert, Alexikon, Kenneth K., Col A., Alex, Malcolm W., Thortinshire., Bladesunder, jason p., thethra, Maxwell J., Aditya V.K., Hartley, Chase, Rawin R., Nevan, Faerwynd, Nikalas, Zachary M., Levi C., Killertiger95, Arthur C., Alexander R., dragonsalver, Terrance S., Alexander R., Bruce F., vividlearner744, Al, Alric G., Lalanne M., Krimo, Johnathan H., JarryD,Skys, Tyler L.. Shakekiller, CardOne4All, Reuben E., Sam S., AA, Freya, Cody D., mafytoogamer, Dupl3x_, Thereader, Jordan M., Piotr, Ilan, My Name is Klondike, Michael W., Arron H., Jaklelope, Zero_to_Nero, Goldenatte, Wh1t3f0rg3, Andrew M., Fabrice, Alec G., Kris C., Seth F., Thedeathnote, Rowan J., Tiki, Timothy B., Firinen, ThePickleBoss, Brayan R., Leon J., AkisP, Fortunis, Aegir, Chris B., Barry P., CHoobler, Harlemisha, Jonathan G. Jr., Iranoc, Matt M., Eric L. S., Joe, Malcolm W., Thrangnar, 1FantasyFanatic, Alex W., Jason P., Jakleope, Matt M. MrTwinkles99
An extra ordinary extraordinary thanks to my Only T4 Patron: Reinaldo Akeva Davila
And a special thanks to my very first two patreons:
Mark M., and Mr. Redd.
P.S. If I ever miss you in the shoutouts please just send me a message on patreon.
[collapse]