Chapter 15

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Bazaar. It's noisy, people and non-humans jostling, running from counter to counter, waving their hands. Equipment that's being replaced through the inventory blurred, magical mirrors were summoned by fashionistas, and the noise of anvils and workbenches merged into a murmur. My commerce channel is off, but the close personal conversations whispering on the edge of consciousness make me listen.

I'd been watching Loyni for a quarter of an hour. His trade was not going well, judging by the lack of customers, but the blacksmith stood at his folding counter, apparently hoping for something. At last, a customer came up to him, a conversation ensued, and sparks flew from the sharpener. It was time.

Coming out from around the corner, I headed toward the acquaintance.

"Greetings, blacksmith."

Loyne turned and, clearly recognizing me, looked me over from head to toe.

"Hone your sword?"

"Yes, please. Five?"

He nodded, and the bargain menu appeared in front of me, and in a minute the honing on the damage was displayed in the list of buffs.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Do you want to fix something?"

"No, everything is fine. I'll come by tonight, will you be here?"

"Yeah."

A player standing nearby, who was looking at me curiously, asked: "Are you melee? Or a ranger?"

Before I could answer, Loyne interrupted: "He is a paladin. He brings vengeance, in the name of the Moon!"

"I bring healing to the world, in the name of Amala," I corrected in a dull voice.

"A Roleplayer?" The elf wiggled his long pointed ears. I wonder if they can be controlled?

"No, just a paladin."

The elf looked me over again.

"Look, Pal, don't you need some noob stuff? I'm selling off my old set, I'll give it to you cheap, it's on the verge of going bad." He was staring at me with obvious impatience.

Raising my hand, I made a few movements, as if summoning a menu.

"What do you have? I'd like a pair of greaves and some chainmail, not too heavy. Do you have any?"

"There's a leather cloak with camouflage, seven-ten; a chain mail with two protection, nine-twelve; reinforced pants, with an enchantment for attack speed... but they're only five-five. There's an archer's bracelet, too. It's for shooting, but you don't need it, do you? The rest will come in handy!"

I thought about it.

Each item of player equipment has a "durability" parameter. Metal armor is more durable, fabric armor is less durable. The durability parameter consists of two numbers. The first one shows the current state of the item, with a certain chance of decrease from the passed enemy hits, and as soon as it reaches zero, the item is considered broken and is moved to the inventory. The second shows the number of possible repairs, decreasing with each new one.

The first number can not be higher than the second, which means that over time, the equipment "wears out", breaking more and more quickly, and then it must be replaced - this is the economy of the world "CoD" is based on. You can fix it from the NPC blacksmith, who always fixes everything, but also always removes one "unit of repair". But players-smiths with the skill of repair can repair without losing this unit... but it costs a lot of money on expensive ingredients and, in fact, the pumping of the skill. To be completely hilarious - sometimes every profession has a "failed attempt", and blacksmithing is no exception. And if in my drawing fiasco will waste one piece of paper and one piece of ink, well, at most the pen will break, then the blacksmith failure is much more fun. The last global clan war was fought because one guild's smith failed to repair an expensive piece of armor from one of the other guild's warriors, and the thing with a forty-try repair reserve simply crumbled.

This state of affairs determined many things. For example, the most popular magical branch was the summoner. Demonologists, elementalists, and other skilled mages could make some creature fight instead, and thus not lose the durability of their armor. Another consequence of the destruction of equipment is the mass of different, sometimes very valuable, and rare armor with a single unit of durability. Not that there were very many of them, but it wasn't hard to get. Right now I was offered good stuff for cheap. But enough for a couple of days. It would be enough for an ordinary newcomer, as long as the Companions were fighting for me, it would be enough for me for a week.

"No, I'm sorry. I'd like to have a belt with slots."

"I can sew a two-slot!"

Two slots were not enough for me.

The belts were mini-inventories, each slot of which could be loaded with one vial, or one scroll, or one magical essence and summoned in combat with one command without delay of use. So far I don't have any spells for the scrolls to use in combat, but yesterday in the crypt some skeletons were throwing spells, which means...

"I'd like three, preferably four. And I also wanted to buy a map."

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Hey, runt, you need a map?" A humanoid creature squeezed in behind Loyne. Probably some mix of orc and human blood, popular for its racial perks. "I can sell it for cheap."

I looked around at the intervener.

He was big, a head taller than my paladin, broad in the shoulders. He wore chainmail with a row of metal plates on his chest, a gold-embroidered belt, and a two-handed sword behind his back. He is a warrior of the first line and the high level. On his fingers - large rings; on the neck - a gold twisted hoop. The whole outfit is expensive enough, new, but probably not the best. There's only one way I'd wear such an outfit...

"Mister, how long ago did you buy this char?" This I said at random. But something tells me...

The warrior did not deny it: "The second day. Smart people do not pump junk and use the best. But I don't need the map, I'll sell it cheap."

After looking him over from head to toe once more, I decided to give it a try: "I'd buy it, but I'm just getting started myself, and I almost don't have the money."

The half-orc hesitated for a second, then grinned: "No problem, runt. Just three gold pieces and you have a map of all the noobs locations."

I hesitated and decided to haggle: "Expensive. After all, three gold pieces..."

The warrior reached out to me and patted my shoulder.

"Take it, you fool. Gold comes and goes, and information is always needed!"

I called up the bargain menu; outsiders could see it, too. Then I turned to Loyne and winked sneakily, so the half-orc wouldn't see.

"Well... yeah... it might come in handy after all. Three gold pieces? Couldn't you cut it down a little bit?"

"Nah, runt. I give it away for half the price."

I waved my hand.

"All right. I'll take it. The exchange?"

The warrior started to stumble. He didn't seem to know much about the in-game interface yet. Finally, the exchange menu appeared in front of me.

The player offers you an item - a map. The price is 3 gold pieces.

I stretched out my hand, then pulled it away.

"But it's empty! What do I need it for, there's no writing or markings on it."

"Where the hell is it? The interface is a mess, it's a mess... What is this, a checkbox here?"

Loyne groaned behind me as he realized what was going on.

"You need to check the box against Transmit Full Version".

"Bullshit, it's done."

The inscription has changed: The player offers you an item - a Personal Map. Price - 3 gold

I confirmed the agreement.

Received item: Personal map of Dioran, Snow Warrior. Combine with your personal card?

Yes.

The maps are combined. Read the reference

Yes. I love a scammer with no experience.

"You're a sucker. You can buy this map at any basic equipment store for twenty pieces of silver!"

The warrior laughed a hoarse bass and turned to leave.

"Well, I'll give him a chance."

"Damn. Look, why don't you give the money back? At least some of it, huh?" I folded my arms begrudgingly.

"No way. Fools need to be taught, so you bought a lesson! Come on, you little twerp, learn your stuff!" The big man turned away and headed for the exit from the marketplace.

As soon as he disappeared around the corner, Loyne bent in half with laughter, nearly knocking over the counter. I could barely contain my grin, too.

"All the money I saved up... You'll return the money... Paladin, you're a comedian!" Loyne stood still for a few seconds, staring into space, then froze again, apparently wiping away his tears of laughter and removing his glasses.

The shooter watched us with bewilderment.

"What's up, guys?"

Loyne couldn't stand it and laughed again.

"You see, my long-eared friend, here's the thing." I was carefully examining the map I had purchased. "The thing is..."

"He sold him a full map! Full!" Loyne interrupted.

"Isn't that what the deal was?"

"He sold out with the notes! Idiot!"

"Well, what are you swearing about, I don't know, seriously."

"You're not the idiot, this "buyer" idiot."

The elf waved his hand at the blacksmith and turned to me:

"Explain, huh?"

I stopped studying the map:

"Personal maps can only be transferred in their entirety. They are supposed to be exclusively for the creator himself and his friends, so there's not even a partial copying mechanism. And this "teacher of suckers" just sold me his entire character history for three gold pieces. All the dungeons, all the lands, all the monsters killed with their abilities, all the constant quests, all the merchants. From level one to one hundred."

"Fifty gold pieces for a map like that, that's practically nothing. And he sold it for three!" Loyne finally caught his breath. "Brother Paladin, I'd buy it, but I don't have that much cash right now."

"Do you have friends with the third rank of blacksmithing?"

Loyne nodded.

"I need a full freshly made set of "armor of pure steel," with a slot for improvements on each item. It will take twenty-four hours to copy the map. Can you make it?"

"Yes!" The blacksmith didn't even hesitate. Such a set cost twenty gold pieces. "I have half the ingredients, and acquaintances... yes, there are online now."

"Then tomorrow here in the square, one full copy for one full set of fresh armor!"

"I agree!" The blacksmith began to roll up the counter.

I turned to the elf.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have Loyne get me stuff from now on. Except I'd buy a belt but not less than four slots."

The elf waved his hand irritably.

I can only do two-slots.

"Do you know any tanneries with a recipe?"

"There is one, but it's a guild one. I don't have enough money."

"I'm sorry, I was wrong. You're an idiot, too." Loyne, who had already packed up, was now looking at the elf. "A belt for five slots costs fifty gold. You go to that Craftsman, tell him you can get a fresh, full map for..." He looked back at me. I nodded. "Seventy gold. The paladin gets a belt, and you get twenty gold for brokering and good relations with the Craftsman. And the guild gets its map."

"I'll meet you here in two days. You get the belt, and I'll copy the map to whomever you point it at. Go on, go find a crafter."

The elf turned around, and then a thought occurred to me.

"Stop! Sell your stuff for four gold pieces."

"Why would you need it... uh... although, yes, take it, of course." I pressed to confirm the exchange. The elf hesitated, then blurted out: "My name is Elariel, a level twenty-seven multi-shooter," and he nodded goodbye and ran off.

"Well, what do you need all this stuff for? Are you trying to make a profit?"

Without answering, I looked around the market. There was a halfling standing at one of the bow counters, with the title "Rookie of the Forest Guard" glowing above his head, and a tame porcupine at his foot.

"Halfling, are you a light alien, or a native?" He was looking at me in a disgruntled way.

"I am an earthling. What do you want?"

"Open your inventory."

I unloaded everything the elf had discounted into the exchange menu. A nice set of used equipment for a shooter.

"Use it."

The halfling was shrouded in a misty haze, and his new outfit showed through.

"Thank you. Wow, a throwing bonus! That's great. What's that for?"

"No reason. Paying to fate."

Halfling raised his eyebrows in surprise, but did not interrogate and only bowed with some delay, clearly typing emotion from the keyboard.

I nodded back and turned away.

"Are you pumping goodness again?"

"Why not do it, especially when it all turns out so well?"

"Well, that's lucky. "Buyer" has lost a thousand gold, no less."

"He hasn't lost anything. He doesn't even know he has anything. I get the armor and the bandage, you and the guild crafter get the map, and the big-eared one gets gold for new gear. And the rookie tracker gets to enjoy the elven rags. Everybody's happy, and a satisfying fate doesn't prepare any tricks."

"You're a philosopher, brother paladin. All right, I'm off. Tomorrow I owe you a full set!"

"And I'll give you a full copy of the map and some beat-up gear to pump a skill. I'll see you around."

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