As I left the guild’s building slapping my bare feet along the marble tiles, I could hear giggles and quips. Enough! I could stand a lot if absolutely necessary but there was a limit to everything.
Thus thinking, I headed off to the market. Time to do some shopping. Admittedly I did look like a tramp.
“Holy Jesus,” I uttered, watching the central square transform before my very eyes.
I had surely expected to see some semblance of a market. The kind of market I knew in real life, that is. But this... Had I ventured in, I could have easily spent a week there.
My eyes watered with all the colors. The bright miscellany of tents and pavilions formed uneven aisles crowded with carts, kiosks and stands. I could hear the inevitable music playing.
They probably sold everything here. In an aisle off to my right, a big dwarf fronted a stand selling weapons and armor. To his left, a slim Alven lady boasted her embroidering skills; not two paces away from me, a fat Rhoggh was busy baking golden loaves of bread for everyone to marvel. The air was thick with music, vendors’ voices praising their goods, the howling and bellowing of animals... What a crazy place. At nine in the morning, mind you. Where would I go? Where was I supposed to find what I needed?
“Aquamarine dust! Aquamarine dust for sale!”
“Hares’ pelts! Wolves’ tails! Boars’ fangs! Bear claws!”
“I’ll buy your gear!”
“I’ll buy class-two herbal infusions! Price no object!”
“Hey, mister! Need some boots?”
At first I didn’t even realize he was addressing me. “Pardon?” I managed.
A ginger-haired guy of about twenty-five patiently waited for me to focus my stare on him. “Just wondering if you might need a pair of boots. I can see you ain’t got no gloves either.”
“No, I don’t,” I hurried to reply, embarrassed by my momentary lapse of concentration. "What have you got to offer?”
“Over there,” the guy waved somewhere to his right. “Stall nine. My uncle has some gear to sell. Froll’s the name. Understood?”
I nodded. Not waiting for me to reply, the guy stole deeper into the crowd. As I began moving in the direction he'd indicated, I couldn’t help hearing his voice,
“Hey, ma’am! Need a jacket?”
This was scary. A person with money wasn’t going to leave this place empty-handed. By the time I made my way to stall nine, I’d been offered all sorts of things, from needles to legendary-class swords. Had I had to move a bit further on, I was pretty sure I would have stumbled along a tank vendor.
Froll’s stall wasn’t that hard to find. It was groaning under piles of clothes, footwear and various accessories. I’d never been a big market shopper so I was completely out of my depth here. Sveta, she’d always enjoyed this sort of thing. She would have loved it here.
As I studied the goods, I cast a quick glance at the vendor. His nephew hadn’t taken after him, that’s for sure. They might have been related in real life but here in Mirror World it would have been a bit over the top.
Froll was a Rock Dwand. His stats were hidden. Broad-shouldered, wearing town clothes. Not a Grinder.
I coughed to attract his attention.
He turned round and beamed, seeing me. “How can I help you, dear sir? I just happen to have an excellent Strength kit,” he immediately switched to the offensive.
“No, thanks. I’m interested in Energy ones,” I said.
“Excellent. Hardy Digger will fit you just fine. I have both new and second-hand ones.”
I shook my head. “I’m afraid not. I need something more advanced.”
For a brief moment, his expression betrayed surprise. Then his face dropped.
“Something wrong?” I asked.
“Not really,” he breathed a sigh of disappointment. “Thing is, I don’t trade in items for your caliber. I’ll tell you more: I don’t think this market has anything to offer someone like you.”
“Why not?”
“In this backwater? What do you expect? Experienced workers all move closer to the capital. If you take me, it’s not worth the trouble for me to stock items I can sell once or twice a year if at all. My cart and my storeroom can only hold a limited amount of items. Pointless lugging around something I can’t even sell.”
“I see,” I said. “But why would you lug them around? Can’t you just auction them?”
He smirked. “That’s what you think. Auctions charge a fee on every submitted item regardless of whether it sells or not. And here I only pay my custom duty, then I can sell till the cows come home.”
“I see.”
So that’s how it worked, then. I’d had no idea. You never know, it might be useful.
I bade my goodbye and was about to leave him when a jaunty female voice called behind my back,
“Excuse me, Sir Olgerd!”
I turned around. This was an Alven Archer girl. A pretty face; a pair of childishly blue eyes, slightly slanted. Black hair. Slim to the point of being fragile. A fancy bow and a quiver were slung behind her back. A knife and a dagger dangled from her belt. Her name was Saimie.
“I’m sorry to delay you,” she hurried to add. “I just happened to overhear your conversation.”
I smiled gallantly and shook my head. “It’s all right. We’re at the market, aren’t we? You’ve something to sell, haven’t you?”
She beamed. “Exactly. No clothes for your level, unfortunately, but I have some interesting jewelry. It’s on my stall over there, if you don’t mind.”
She nodded, motioning me to follow her. I shrugged and followed, hoping I wasn’t getting into something I might later regret.
Her tent was comparatively small but neat and tastefully decorated, mainly in the shades of green that matched the vendress’ own clothes. A small round table stood at its center, surrounded by several small three-legged stools.
She pointed at one of them. “Make yourself comfortable.”
Without saying a word, I perched myself on the stool. Saimie produced a small canvas bundle and unfolded it on the table. “Have a look if anything takes your fancy.”
Right. What did we have there? I had a funny feeling I knew her line of business. After my memorable conversation with Shantarsky I’d checked a few forums and done a bit of research on No-Man’s Lands. There was a lot of eye-opening information there, especially about the likes of her.
“Are you a scavenger?” I asked.
“Sure,” she nodded. “Why, does that bother you?” her voice tinged with sarcasm.
“In a way, yeah. Are you White or Black?”
She smiled. “Sure I’m White. Do you think I’d be standing here selling had I been Black? Black scavengers sell everything via their own channels. My business is perfectly legal.”
“Can’t you do your own looting?” I asked.
“Hey, those are No-Man’s Land mobs. I’m not exactly in the same league,” she paused, then offered the iron-clad argument used in virtually every forum discussion, “Ninety percent of all Mirror World players are scavengers. That’s just the way it is. You’ve any idea of all the stuff lying around there unclaimed?”
“Unclaimed? Really?”
“Of course. Imagine a group of level 100+ players. To cross the location, they’re obliged to mop it up. They don’t even look at all the loot from the low-level mobs. They save the space in their bags for much bigger game. Clan raids, that’s different, there’s virtually nothing left after them as they have their own newbs to feed. But there’s plenty of stuff left after the loners too. Personally, I sign a contract with a group and do my job. Waste not, want not.”
“I see,” I said. “You sure you never robbed any corpses? I wouldn’t want to buy some charm or bracelet off you only to be hunted down by its legitimate owner afterwards.”
“They’re clean!” Saimie said, indignant. “Here, look, they’re not marked!”
“Marks are easy to remove.”
“Do I look like I have tons of mone
y to pay wizards for doing that? Are you going to have a look or not?”
It looked like I’d overdone it a bit. “Sure,” I mumbled. “I’m terribly sorry. I’ll take a look now, only it might take some time. I’ll have to compare the prices with the auction’s. Is that all right with you?”
“Of course. I’ll be there at the counter if you need me.”
She cooled off a little. I made a mental note to mind my tongue in the future. Apparently, not everything they said in blogs and on forums could be taken as gospel.
Let’s have a look. What had she got there?
Name: The Bone Bracelet of Gadang
Effect: +15 to Defense
Race restriction: Only Cave Horrud
Level: 10
Defense had something to do with combat skills, didn’t it? I opened the info portal. Aha. It reduced Physical Damage. That was good. Unfortunately, not for me. Some of the item’s stats made it useless in my particular case. Next.
Name: Bear Tooth Necklace
Effect: +10 to Strength
Race restriction: Only Forest Dwand
Level: 15
Not for me. Next. What else did she have?
Name: Rock Charm of Torrk
Effect: +15 to Speed
Race restriction: Only Cave Rhoggh
Level: 15
Having checked about twenty items, I finally found a couple of runes: one of bone, the other of stone. Both with +15 to Capacity: one for my future bag and the other for a belt. That was all. The rest were all wrong classes and wrong levels. I checked the auction but didn’t find any similar runes there. So I might take them just in case. You never know, I might need them some day. Now we had to discuss the price.
“Saimie? I’m done.”
She materialized next to me as if on cue. “Found anything?”
Without saying a word, I pushed the two chosen runes toward her.
“Good choice,” she said. “It’ll be two hundred gold.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. What a cheek!
“You sure you’re okay?” I asked. “Two hundred gold for two miserable runes?”
She seemed so surprised that she lost her professional manner. “Are you freakin’ nuts? These are Capacity runes from No-Man’s Lands! You try and level your reputation with geologists first and then you speak! These two runes are actually the most valuable items in my entire shop! Miserable runes, he says!”
She seemed to be sincerely upset. What a shame I couldn’t check out the authenticity of her claims. I had no access to forums. The info portal didn’t offer any intel. It was possible that the admins purposefully removed all information, editing the manuals and other players’ comments. Never mind. Not that I really needed them. I wasn’t prepared to splurge on some totally unknown and untested items.
“Do you have anything else?” I asked, expecting a negative answer.
In a moment, she’d say “no”. I’d bid my goodbye and be on my way. Neither of us would gain anything from this encounter. She seemed to understand it too. She didn’t look too happy about it.
Silently I rose from the table and headed for the exit. I hated shopping. Sveta would have already haggled the shop owner into submission. What was I saying!—she would have never been attracted to such irrelevant items to begin with.
“Actually,” her voice softened, “there is something I have... but I don’t think it’s worth your while.”
I turned around. That was weird. She sounded upset. I felt out of sorts too. The conversation had left a bad aftertaste. I had this tendency of putting my foot in it before I even knew all the details. I didn’t want to leave it like that.
“Take a look,” she reached into her bag for some item or other and offered it to me.
I peered at it. Snuggled in her hand lay something resembling a bird’s feather: either a charm or a pendant. Okay, why not? It was pretty. It looked like silver. Simple but tasteful. It wasn’t inlaid with precious stones—but the craftsmanship was amazing. You could see the feather’s every barb and quill. The craftsman was a genius. Then again, what was I saying? This was Mirror World. How about its stats, then?
Name: [unavailable]
Effect: [unavailable]
Race restriction: [unavailable]
Level : [unavailable]
I looked up at the girl, uncomprehending.
“Haven’t you ever seen a hidden-stats item before?” she sounded surprised.
“No, not really,” I mumbled, taking the silver feather from her.
She chuckled. “I see. To open them, you need to go to Mellenville and find an artifactor. It’s gonna cost you. But if the item turns out worth your while, you can make good money out of it. Of course it can also be junk. It’s the luck of the draw, if you know what I mean.”
“Why can’t you unlock it yourself?”
“It’s in Mellenville. I’ve still some leveling to do to get admission. Also, artifactors’ services cost an arm and a leg.”
“And where do such thingies come from?” I kept grilling her.
“They don’t. Not anymore. I was on a raid with this group of guys doing some hunting in the Misty Mountains just next to No-Man’s Lands. So we found this nest made of rocks, huge like you can’t imagine. Absolutely packed with bones inside. Well, I decided to check it. Found a few bits of steel and this feather. It was still attached to one of the skeletons. When I found it I thought, that’s it, that’s my lucky ticket.”
“And?”
She shrugged. “As if! Had it been a sword or a piece of armor, that’s different. You can take them to artifactors no problem. You’ll always get your money’s worth. But a dicey charm like this, who would need it? The auctions have already returned it to me a few times. I paid their lodging fees for nothing. So I’m obliged to lug it around like an idiot. It just takes up space.”
“It might go if the price is right,” I suggested.
She raised her head. “What price would be right for you?”
I winced. I hated tricks like that. It felt too much like manipulation.
I shrugged. “This is a strange situation, don’t you think? You’re offering me a pig in a poke and expect me to name my price?”
She looked up at me sullenly. “Not even twenty gold?”
I winced again. Enough. I was fed up with her childish attitude. Time to go. I had more pressing things to do.
“Fifteen!” she offered pleadingly, watching me turn away.
I heaved a sigh. “All right. Give it here.”
She’d talked me into it, hadn’t she?
Chapter Twenty-Three
Barefoot, I left the marketplace as I’d entered it, feeling I’d wasted both my time and my money. Sveta would have laughed long and hard: I’d been shopping for some shoes and ended up with a useless trinket.
It was almost ten in the morning and I still had clothes to buy. The experience had left a strange taste in my mouth. Weird girl. I’d have to look into these runes and especially into these private-stats items.
I opened the map. The city store was one block away from the square.
It didn’t take me long to get there. Remarkably, the shop’s interior design was identical to that of Rrhorgus Digger’s Store. Only the player manning the counter was a stocky dwarf who went by the name of Doryl. Black beard, small closely set eyes. A bulbous nose. A large wart on one cheek. A typical dweller Under the Mountain any way you looked at him.
He sized me up and down, then chuckled. I could swear he was about to say something about the state of my footwear.
“Aren’t your feet cold?” he guffawed, his toothless mouth grinning.
What did I say?
Ignoring his quips, I dictated him a list,
“I need a full Reflection kit, a Sturdy Bag, a Sturdy Sword Sling, four sapphire runes of Strength and three of Stamina. I’d also like you to show me whatever tools for Experienced Diggers you have. Some Capacity runes and maybe also some jewelry. Just show me whatever you have.”
<
br /> With my every word the dwarf’s jaw seemed to drop lower. Finally it must have reached some limit. I heard his teeth clatter, followed by a voice shaking with excitement,
“I’m afraid, sir, we don’t carry any tools, Capacity runes or jewelry to suit your level...”
I dismissed his excuses, all the while studying my virtual toes. “It’s all right. I might get something in Mellenville. How about the rest of my list? I’d hate to spend three days hitchhiking to Mellenville for nothing.”
My last words must have become the final straw for him. He darted into the back of his shop. No wonder: he was looking at some nice profit today. A sapphire rune alone cost about eighty gold. On average, a seven-piece kit for an Experienced Digger was two hundred and fifty. It all added up, but it was worth it. Absolutely.
The night before, my heart had been bleeding as I’d transferred two grand to my in-game account. I had to. In order for my plan to work, I had to invest in it first.
The dwarf kept disappearing into his storeroom, dragging out more and more items from my list. The heap of clothes on the counter kept growing.
I started with the Reflection kit. It brought up Strength and Stamina 45 and 35 points respectively. The seven-item kit bonus also made me 30 pt. speedier.
I glanced at a small open box and the neat row of deep blue tablets inside. Gingerly I took one out.
Name: a Sapphire Rune of Stamina
Effect: +15 to Stamina
Restriction: Only Experienced Digger
So it worked out that just one such rune increased my Energy 300 points. That opened up some excellent prospects. I fought with my desire to buy four of them instead of three. But I promptly remembered Rrhorgus’ instructions issued when I’d bought those malachite runes off him and decided to stick to my plan. So I bought three Stamina runes and four of Strength 17 pt. each. Balance was key.
Next he brought out a nicely-made leather knapsack with carved fastenings.
Name: A Sturdy Knapsack
Project Daily Grind (Mirror World Book #1) Page 21
