After playing a bit with Hyde, which was an innuendo for giving him some materials, papers and some All-purpose worms, she had breakfast, dressed up, and went to the market.
She wanted to see what 33500 auris could afford.
With Tristan’s ‘offer’, she possibly was getting a defensive construct, but it was one only usable for her hut, and not portable.
She still had the umbrella, so her current need for defensible artifacts was zero.
What she really needed was something like Sinoe’s Baslard, a short distance offensive weapon who could replace the knife when it was unusable.
Like right now, for example.
Velvet wasn’t from a combat focused Paradigm, so she didn’t have the raw strength to manage big or heavy weapons, not to say about having the speed, resistance or stamina to hold her ground against a combat mage in close distance.
That being said, having the option was always the best choice. Sinoe’s Baslard had helped her a lot, even when she never used it in a direct confrontation.
Of course, truly lethal things weren’t sold to novice mages, like guns, big explosives and dangerous artifacts.
That didn’t mean they couldn’t make them, anyway.
In the past, when she was on the Mergifari’s Market, the one under Udulluay’s concealment spell, she got the ‘Crafting for Dummies’ book, together with an assortment of random pieces.
Even though she still hadn’t tried to make any real artifact, she had read the book, together with a bunch of Tristan’s blueprints.
She wanted to craft a staff. Not a heavy one, but one she could use to attack mages who got too close.
Her main idea was using the cursed mirror she got from Agorn, remodel it as a staff, and use it to reflect and let the evil spirit inside curse and possess the enemy.
The mirror, as it was right now, was hard and slow to use, so it was the perfect test subject for Velvet.
She would also need a handle for the staff. Enchanted wood was good and rather cheap, but it was pretty stiff, not useful for her mental blueprint on how the staff had to look.
The final artifact had to be mechanical, able to open and close to prevent mirror accidents from happening.
That meant that the artifact should be made using a metallic material, like silver or iron.
She didn’t want to be a cheapass that conformed with a low quality artifact, but she also didn’t want to pay for the best materials on the market, like Tristan did.
…
As she entered one of the shops for artificers (not the ones who sold artifacts, but the ones who sold materials and pieces to make them), she went towards the place where staff’s handles were shown.
Ignoring the different materials, there were two types, the ‘clean’ ones and the engraved ones.
Like Tristan’s cylinders, the engraved handles were the ones already made with a clear goal in mind, containing an engraved formation. The ones being sold were for common staffs: shields, spells potentiators…
There was a sign offering the service to fabricate custom made handles, for 800 auris at minimum.
Under that sign, there was another, selling the tools to make engraved formations. The price varied based on the material who would be worked on.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
Wood was the cheapest, since a knife and some patience did the same work, same as cloth, doable with a needle and some thread, but the ones for metal, glass and bone were more specialized.
As she looked through the sign’s contents, a voice sounded next to her. A salesman's voice.
“Good morning! I see you’re interested in engraving! Glass, right?” The seller, a guy not much older than her, which meant he was the owner’s selected or a family member, grabbed one of the engraving tools, showing it to her.
“What makes you think I want to engrave glass? I like fashion a lot, maybe I want a magic hat.”
“You didn’t make your clothes.” The guy said, with a lot of confidence. “And you looked more towards the glass handles than the others.”
A knowledge mage, I see. Even when she had made sure to look a bit at everything, in case someone was watching her, knowledge mages were still a pain to fool.
Even so, she didn’t want the glass ones, but the metal ones. She had looked longer at the stone ones, and then slightly less at the glass ones, just to fool any fellow knowledge mages who were watching her.
She was one, after all. And the mage speaking to her being also one could only mean one thing.
One, he knew who Velvet was. He knew she was a knowledge mage, so he picked the glass option, not the stone one, who would've been the safe choice for someone who didn’t know her Paradigm.
I’m so famous, and yet no one gives me discounts.
C’mooon, the best thing to make someone lower their guard is giving them stuff for low prices!
“Haha, yes. Glass is just so pretty, isn’t it? The way it reflects the light of magic spells is mesmerizing.” She said, not interested in the glass engravings at all.
Making a glass staff to contain a cursed mirror was a ridiculous idea, but the less a potential enemy knew about her, the better.
She was planning to build the staff under Tristan’s concealment artifact, so there was no need to be honest. She could simply buy the engravers for glass, stone and metal.
They would be useful eventually, and the more things she could do on her own, the better she would fare once escaping the Mergifari.
“Glass works great for illusion spells.” The seller said, proceeding to show her a finished handle. The transparency of the glass was interrupted by sigil markings, which spiraled around. “Able to create a myriad of shapes, but the fragilest of materials.”
“What about stone?”
“Rough. Harder to break, but inflexible. Shields and protection spells work the best under it. Of course, it depends on the type of stone. A handle engraved by rubies won’t work the same as one made with agates.”
“Metal?”
“Enabler. The kind of material who works as a support for another, either to seal it or power up it. Silver and gold are the most common choices.”
“I assume it’s silver for sealing and gold for buffing?”
“Exactly.”
“Hmm…” Velvet started, looking around. “If I buy three sets, do I get a discount?”
“Our materials are one of the best, we only make discounts for purchases over 20 thousand auris.”
“Oh, I see.”
Both of them fell silent, before he smiled at her. “I think introductions are in order. My name is Harlan Traversa. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Using all her willpower not to choke on her own tongue, she forced a smile. “Velvet Consestella Dobastro, the pleasure is mine.”
The Traversa were the family Tristan wanted to steal from in four days.
“Say Velvet…” Harlan started, using his seller’s voice. “Would you be interested in our engraving course? Just by buying one set of engraving tools you get access to the starter class.”
Huh, that’s just some fancy way to sidestep the Mergifari’s course directions, and keep the money from the classes. But, since they aren’t saying anything, I guess the Mergifari doesn’t mind.
Or they do, but are waiting. I doubt Udulluay doesn’t know it.
“When does it start?” She asked, looking through the different tools.
“In half an hour.”
“Hmm… I’ll think about it. I want to see other shops first.” She took a step back, looking at the exit.
Harlan's eyes widened slighty, and he cleared his throat. “Our shop has the best tools and materials on the Mergifari. None of the others can compare.”
“I'm sure of that, but…” She looked at Harlan with a sad expression. “I’m not a professional at making artifacts, and I simply wanted to buy a bunch of stuff to try.”
“After all, you don't have discounts for buying in small bulk.” She added, a second later, once her previous statement had sinked in.
The corners of Harlan’s mouth twitched, understanding what Velvet clearly wanted.
“I-I’m sure we can reach an agreement.”