The following day dawned with a fresh excitement buzzing through the entire academy campus. Everyone had inventories heavy with coin. Even those with less than others looked forward to their coming glimpse of the high life that afternoon at the Salman Auction House.
With the day free from classes and assignments, it gave the students still injured from the Purge and the crazy race back another chance to recover. For those in good health, they had one last chance to wrangle a good assignment before the Academy leadership made the choice for them.
And everyone else focused on coin, more and more coin. Any loot still in inventories was being pulled out and examined as students decided what they wanted to include in the auction and minimum bids they’d accept.
Pax, Rin, Dahni and Amil hurried through the underground tunnel with full stomachs after breakfast and pets that wanted to rest and digest their own meals.
You can take a nap as soon as we get to the cave, Pax sent through Talpa’s muddled thoughts. And maybe if you didn’t eat so much, you wouldn’t be so sluggish after breakfast.
Talpa sent more disgruntled emotions about being forced to hurry after eating. You carry me?
Pax outright laughed at the idea, considering how big Talpa had grown, his shoulder reaching Pax’s knee and probably close to forty pounds now.
Rin shot him a questioning look.
“Talpa wants to be carried so he can digest his meal.”
She grinned, but shrugged. “Seems reasonable. I’m carrying Eris.”
Rin is my favorite. Talpa gave Rin a grateful look.
Pax snorted and shook his head. “He says you’re his favorite now.”
“He has good taste.” Rin gave Talpa a fond smile, reaching down to give him a scratch as they entered the cavern hiding the entrance to their cave. Everyone fell silent as they made sure no one had followed them or was listening in.
Are we alone?
Talpa sobered up and sank into the rocky ground beneath their feet so he could check the area. A few long moments passed with no return. Pax frowned, scanning over the nearby underground landscape.
No bad guys. You safe. I already in cave. Taking nap.
Pax smiled and motioned to the others that it was safe. Soon, they all made it into their cave, bypassing the protections and blind passages they’d designed as barriers to anyone snooping.
When they walked in, Pax was surprised to see that not only had Bryn, Tasar and Tyrodon beat them there, but Tansa had come, too.
“Hey, slow pokes,” Tyrodon called out with a wave. “I already finished dismantling the trap, so we can repurpose the parts. We don’t have the time to run it anymore and with the Taming should make us more coin anyway. Still, I’m thinking of something we could use out in the Wilds to trap or divert beasts. Or maybe I could combine them with my training balls to create some kind of automated sentries. Sorry. Nothing close to working yet, but I’ve just got a bunch of ideas.” He shook his head, waving them off before they could ask exactly what he meant. “I’ve also been trying to convince Tasar to split up the crew’s coin from the Purge, but he insisted on waiting for you.”
Tasar gave them a calm nod from his spot seated against the wall where he was carefully feeding small chunks of meat to a very happy Warden.
“So, instead, Tansa has been helping me organize the loot the four of us had while we waited.” Tyrodon stepped back and motioned proudly at three new shelving units arranged along the wall. Then he reached into the fancy sling slung along his chest, his expression softening with pride. “And Scorch has already gained two ounces.”
“Nice,” Pax said, wondering why he hadn’t thought to keep track of Talpa’s weight. Probably because it was enough to check his menu and see the numbers going up.
“This looks great!” Amil said, moving closer to look at everything Tyrodon had done.
“And hi, Tansa,” Pax said. “Nice to see you in person instead of just exchanging notes and Echo messages.”
“You too,” she said with a tentative smile. “My crew leader insisted on keeping everything we looted during the Purge to be divided out later.”
“Which probably means he and his friends will keep the best stuff for themselves?” Rin asked with a disgusted shake of her head.
“Exactly.” Tansa gave a resigned shrug. “That’s the way it works for pretty much everyone else except you guys. Another reason I wanted to ally myself with you from the beginning. I did manage to hide away a few nice items over the months. So, I was wondering if you’d throw my secret stuff in with yours for the auction so my crew leader doesn’t find out? In return, I’d be happy to use my Evaluate skill to help you sort out what’ll sell for the most.”
“Say yes,” Tyrodon said eagerly. “She’s already helped organize all this stuff by value. There are plenty of things I didn’t know would be worth so much.”
“Evaluate?” Rin jumped on the word immediately.
A broad smile spread across Tansa’s face. “I don’t talk about it with my ’crat friends, because they look down on my family’s merchant origins. But they’re missing out. My father had us helping with the business from when we were young. He was proud when I became a mage, but he’d always expected I’d Awaken as a merchant like so many in my family. In any case, my Evaluate skill is pretty high for a mage.”
“It’s different from Identify?” Rin asked.
“Related.” Tansa tipped one hand side to side. “It’s more focused on how much an item is worth in the current market, which is extremely useful for something that is fluctuating wildly like the lightning parts I’ve heard rumors about. So, the first levels of the skill just give you three categories of value rating like budget, moderate and luxury. Once you level the skill more, it splits out the categories even more until at the highest level, you can get close ranges of current buy and sell prices.”
“But no information like elemental affinity or the magic abilities of an artifact?”
“Not at the start. That is what you need Identify for. I have that leveled pretty high, too, though. Knowing exactly what an artifact can do can be as important to a merchant as its current value.” She paused, looking briefly reluctant, before continuing. “I trust you guys to keep this information to yourselves, since you know how valuable knowledge about advanced builds is.” She stopped speaking and waited.
“Of course,” Pax said solemnly. “We’re good with secrets. You’ve kept ours, so, of course, we’ll keep yours.”
She blew out a breath that was half laugh as she shook her head. “You don’t know how refreshing it is to hang out with you instead of the flicks I’m forced to pretend to be friends with. At least my father is happy that I’m making good connections for the future.”
“I understand that sentiment,” Tasar said. “Sacrifices for family are often necessary.”
Everyone turned to look at him in surprise. His oblique reference made Pax realize how little they knew about Tasar’s history.
“Exactly.” Tansa nodded toward him. “So, my father told me that if I ever get both Identify and Evaluate to level 10, I can spend evolution points to combine them into a new skill that is very valuable to merchants. But I’m thinking it’ll be valuable to a mage, too, especially one out on a Purge where beast parts and random artifacts are flying around a mostly unregulated market.” Her smile turned predatory. “By the time we go on the next Purge, I’m going to be making a lot more coin.”
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Rin’s eyes had lit up at the explanation, and Pax could just see her entrepreneurial plans churning. “Can you teach me the Evaluate skill?”
Tansa looked startled, then thoughtful, before nodding. “As long as you never tell anyone where you learned it.”
“Of course not.” Rin looked offended. “Besides, there has to be a way to unlock the skill naturally, right?”
“Yes,” Tansa said with a smile. “And some say that’s the best way to get it. But I’ve honestly seen no difference. My father was a proponent, though. You wouldn’t believe how many hours my siblings and I spent sifting through items in the family warehouse as kids. I won’t make you suffer like that. Come on, we can start with this stuff.” She waved for Rin to follow her over to the shelves.
“Wait,” Pax called out, holding up his hands. “How about we split up the Purge money and sort what we’re selling before the two of you dive into learning a new skill?”
“You guys do the money stuff, then come dump your loot on the table.” Tansa waved at the meeting table someone had moved next to the shelves. “My method of teaching Rin won’t slow things down much. I’ll give her a few seconds to decide the value category of an item and then take it myself and tell her the answer. It shouldn’t take long before she unlocks it.”
Rin made a beeline for the few items still on the table with an eager grin. By the time Pax arrived to empty his storage chests from the Purge, she already held a beast pelt in her hands. “Budget?” she said, holding it up to Tansa with a questioning look.
Tansa took it, her eyes blinking out of focus for a short moment before she shook her head. “No, moderate.”
Pax, Dahni and Amil filled the table with more and more boxes from their inventories while watching with fascination as Tansa taught Rin the new skill. Pax planned to check out skill slots and see who else on the crew should also get it.
When Tansa looked over again and saw how much stuff they had, she shook her head in amazement. “Just how many nests did you guys clear?”
Amil exchanged a proud smile with Dahni.
“A ton,” Pax said. “The controversy that we seem to keep attracting might have overshadowed that fact, but it’s something no one could argue with. We killed and looted more beasts than almost any other beginning crew our size.”
Tansa just stared at the growing pile, her head shaking. “I think you’ve got more here than my entire team brought in all together. Bunch of lazy ’crats.”
That got a laugh as Tansa turned to Dahni. “You and your companion have some mana buffing spells abilities, right?”
“Sure. Why?” He looked puzzled.
“I’m going to run out of mana Evaluating all this stuff without some help. And I’d rather not waste potions. Merchant family here. We live by waste not, want not.”
“Of course.” He grinned and turned, looking for Neptid. He was asleep in a happy pile with the other pets on the large pelt rug they’d set up in a quiet corner for them. He didn’t seem to mind Dahni’s request and trundled over sleepily. It didn’t take long before everyone was relaxing in the rejuvenating feel of Dahni’s and Neptid’s active buffs.
Even Tasar had a half smile on his face as he pulled up a chair and began dumping piles of coin out on the only clear spot on the table.
“Whoa!” Amil said, drawing out the word as he grabbed his own chair and scooted close to Tasar with wide eyes.
“We earned quite a bit of coin,” Tasar said, not looking fazed as the pile kept growing, his fingers almost blurring as he sorted them into stacks.
“And that’s not counting our individual shares we’ll be getting from the Purge gains,” Rin said over her shoulder.
Tansa immediately whacked her on the shoulder. “Pay attention. We’re the slow parts in this process.”
Rin gave Tansa a disgruntled frown before her practical nature reasserted itself and she focused on moving quickly through the items again, calling out her guesses.
Pax noticed she was getting only a handful correct, not much better than flipping a coin. Hopefully, her results would improve soon. Despite the good relationship they’d built up on the Purge with the Crestvale family’s contracted merchant, Goodfellow and his assistant Elinor, not having to rely on others to evaluate their loot would be invaluable.
“Woah.” The shocked word from Tansa pulled all of their attention away from the coin piles Tasar was sorting.
She held the lightning core Pax hadn’t meant to add to the loot pile. He’d been too focused on Tasar and the coin and had just been emptying boxes by rote. Oops.
Her eyes were wide with wonder as she turned to him. “Where in Vitur’s name did you get this? And do you have any idea how much it’s worth?”
Pax exchanged a nervous glance with the others before looking back at her. “How much do you really want to know? You told us about the Interrogate skill a long time ago, and you wouldn’t believe how much the topic has been coming up recently.”
She blanched, her head already shaking. “I forgot myself for a moment there. You’re absolutely right. I do not want to know where you got this. The subject of the lightning beasts is an explosive topic that anyone with sense is staying away from. The leaders can’t decide if they want to grab all the valuable parts or destroy them and keep pretending they don’t exist. It has the potential to upset the entire dogma they’d strictly enforced for generations.”
“Yeah. We figured as much.” Pax held out his hand. “I meant to keep that with the other crazy stuff we found out there.”
“Other—?” She clamped her mouth shut on the question and resolutely placed the shimmering globe into his hand. “My father would know the back channels to sell that if you decide you need the coin. Being at war, a large emergency cache of coin is almost essential. None of us know what’s going to happen, and gold speaks volumes in an emergency.”
They all nodded, knowing how true her statement was.
Rin went still, looking thoughtful. “How much exactly is it worth?”
Excitement flared in Tansa’s eyes. “Lightning beast products are the hottest thing on the market right now and values are fluctuating wildly. Once the auction is over, it should hopefully settle down some, but my skill currently puts it around a hundred and fifty.”
A stunned shock fell over everyone as they stared at Tansa with wide eyes.
Bryn cleared her throat and said, “I’m going to assume you don’t mean a hundred and fifty silver?”
Tansa shook her head slowly, the answer obvious.
“Gold?” Dahni whispered the question.
“That’s enough to pay tuition for all of us, for two years in one fell swoop.” Pax said the words slowly, astonished by the exorbitant amount.
“Well, that’s if my father could find the right buyer without bringing the authorities down on us,” Tansa said. “And then there’s the crazy magic you guys are always hinting at. Who’s to say that powerful thing won’t be its own emergency plan if you know how to use it? Think about it, and just tell me if you want me to have my father put out feelers.”
Pax nodded, still stunned as he tucked the core away into the chest with his other valuables. More than anything, he wanted to use the priceless core to advance the magic of his crew, but that amount of coin? His inner starving orphan insisted he grab it as quickly as possible to protect his future.
Tasar cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention again. “I have everyone’s coin sorted. It is an amount that would have pleased everyone a few minutes ago.” He turned his gaze on Tansa, who flushed.
“Thanks, Tasar,” Bryn said. “I’m much more comfortable with hard-earned coin that no one will come hunting us for.”
“True,” Tyrodon said, moving in to look at Tasar’s work.
“There is a pile for each of you,” Tasar said before aiming an apologetic look at Tansa. “I didn’t include you, as you didn’t take part in gaining these spoils.”
She held up both hands, shaking her head. “Of course not. I had nothing to do with those items. I’m just here to include my stuff with your auction consignment. If you can just keep track of what they sell for, I’m more than happy with that.”
Tasar nodded at her before motioning to the others. “Take your coin.”
That was all the encouragement Amil and Dahni needed, reaching out with wide grins to grab theirs. When their eyes went wide with appreciative surprise, Pax was excited to grab his own. As he pushed it into his inventory and saw the total, he smiled, too.
***
Coin Count: 6 Gold, 87 Silver, 92 Copper (Net Increase: 1 Gold, 45 Silver, 11 Copper.)
***
“And that’s splitting it seven ways?” Pax asked Tasar. “You’re saying we earned close to ten gold between all of us just selling all the stuff we didn’t want to keep?”
Tasar nodded. “Ten gold, fifteen silver and seventy-seven copper, to be exact, divided seven ways.”
“And we still get our Purge shares and whatever all this stuff sells for at auction.” Amil waved at the beast parts Tansa and Rin had gone back to sorting.
“I think we need to make a new shopping list,” Dahni said, his voice full of excitement. “After a trip to the store to see what’s new.”
“We should brainstorm ideas for what we might need to achieve our missions here in the capital and then for any trips we need to take afterward.” Pax kept his language vague, knowing Tansa didn’t want to know any details.
“Not to mention what we might need if we’re ever away from a decent store for an extended time,” Bryn said. “Think Purge camp, but with no market.”
The mood sobered as everyone thought about everything ahead of them and what they needed to plan for if they wanted to not only succeed and survive, but thrive.
Pax pulled out a notebook and everyone but Tansa and Rin began throwing out and adjusting supply ideas of needs and wishes. Every now and then, they would shoot a glance at the slowly filling shelves across from them and the dwindling pile on the table.
Just as they were wrapping up to go to lunch, Rin gave a triumphant shout. “I got it! I got Evaluate!”
“Congrats!” Pax said, amid cheerful words from the others.
“And just in time,” Tansa said as she grabbed the last few items and sorted them herself. “Help me repack this stuff, now that it’s sorted. You should have just enough time to get it to your contact with the auction house before the deadline. That’s Merchant Goodfellow, right?”
“Yes.” Pax nodded, not bothering to ask how she knew about Goodfellow. Tansa, like Kurt, knew the value of gathering as much strategic information as she could. “Amil and Dahni, if you run the boxes over to the Crestvale estate, we’ll grab you some lunch.”
Amil looked a bit reluctant, but nodded as he increased his repacking speed. In a few moments, they finished, and everyone scattered with an agreement to meet a little early in the auction house lobby that night. Pax felt a flutter of excitement at imagining it. The most elite event he’d ever taken part in had been the singular ride in the Windhelm’s luxurious carriage during a transfer between Purge camps. This promised to be even better.