Tinkerson turned around. A person stood there, but he was unable to tell if it was a man or woman. Dressed in what looked to be a kind of suit, skin tone matching the colour of the suit, which was gray. "Are you a new student?" asked the person. Tinkerson nodded yes, not sure what they could be wanting. "I thought so. I am also a student at the academy. I was wondering if we could talk?" Tinkerson nodded and guestured to the chair opposite him. The person settled into the chair and proceeded to make themselves at ease. Tinkerson then asked a question.
"May I ask what we will be talking about?" The person nodded agreeably and began to speak.
"My name, is Lowry. I am part of a small pantheon of demigods who work together for mutual benefit. I have been assigned to watch out for students who might benefit the pantheon and to try and recruit them. Based on what I have seen of you, I feel you might be a good one for us to recruit."
"I see." Said Tinkerson. He gathered that he would be meeting other students eventually. He had guessed that most of the people he had seen bewildered were in the same boat as him. He was not adverse to teaming up with people. However, he was adverse to larger groups. All the signs were pointing to older students profiting off the back of the younger ones, of power flowing upwards. A natural progression of things from what he could determine. However, he did not want to go that route. So he was going to have to shut this down. Hopefully in a way that would get people to leave him alone and maintain his neutrality. He had a feeling that Lowry was not going to be that easy, however. "I am as you said, new. So I do not wish to commit to anything at this time, until I get a better feel for this. Even then, I do not like to work with others if I can help it."
"I. See." said Lowry, communicating that they did, and wasn't happy that they was being basically fobbed off. "Demis here do not tend to progress well on their own. We are taught to work in groups or pantheons as it were. However. I can appreciate how new this must be for you. You do not strike me as a new soul, yet you seem to not know the ways that a demigod who had worked their way through ranking would act, but you are not part of a pantheon or group. You are an unpredictable quality and i do not like this. So I tell you now. Stay away from our dealings unless you come prepared to join or bargain." So saying their piece, they walked out the door.
Tinkerson stared at his hands. He was obviously missing something here, and need information. Then he thought about it and smiled. Leaving the coffee shop he walked down and over a row, until he was outside what looked like a bookstore and walked inside. The person at the counter, sitting in the shadows said "May I ask what you are looking for?" Tinkerson smiled and replied.
"I am looking for something on the workings between the academy and the city of the demigods." The person in shadows lent forward to bring their face partially out of the shadows, revealing that they were male. Apart from that, Tinkerson would be hard pressed to say more than that.
"Interesting. How long have you been allowed access to the city? I don't remember seeing you before." Tinkerson told him. "Interesting. I would say this points you out as a knowledge path, but I don't believe this is true. Nor political, as you wear no emblem. Interesting. I can give you this knowledge. In fact, I can give you a marble containing this knowledge, plus some other facts that you may find useful. It will cost you 50 Demis." This, was the exact amount that was paid to him by the guard. Which was interesting of itself. He nodded and flowed the extact amount needed into his marble and handled it over. The man in shadow collected the power and then handed it back, with it shimmering. It contained knowledge and the way to absorb this was by sleeping. So he hurried back to his room and slept. Only for an hour. But when he woke up, fresh knowledge was buzzing in his head.
He now understood the dynamics of it. It was very clever. To exploit this information however he would need to broaden his foundation. He sat down and sketched out a preliminary plan.
1. He would need to use the markets. He had the knowledge for what he wanted to do, and knew what he could roughly achieve, and what he couldn't.
2. Was related to the first. He need equipment. It didn't need to be the best from the get go. But it did need to be as good as he could get. Some of it he could trade for, some of it he was probably going to have to either build, or find others that could build it for him.
3. This was the part he didn't like. Networking was a big thing here in the city of the demigods. Tinkerson was more of a loner. However it was clear to him, that in order to achieve his goals, he could not do it all himself. The path to divinity was built upon the back of others it could be argued.
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4. Achieve entry to the guildhall. He would only be able to do this when he completed the previous three and then achieved the conditions needed to unlock it.
He stared at this list. Time to put his knowledge to use. He had 30 demis that came from what the academy gave him. He estimated that he needed a lot more. Time to play the markets. He portalled back to the city and then proceeded to sit and watch the portals. He went to an area of the market that did not seem to be part of the rest. But Tinkerson had noticed something about this area. He hoped it would be what would give him his start in trading. He watched the stalls in this particular area. It was not a hive of activity like the front of the market was. In fact, from what he could see, most of it was ran by students. Pantheons and groups from what he could see. He had learnt the difference between the two as well. Pantheons were demigods who were working together to achieve their goals. A formal agreement and everything. The downside was, if one person was underperforming, the whole pantheon couldn't move up. Demigods were practical people with practical solutions most of the time. Thus, it would not bode well for that person bringing the rest down. Groups were people who were just working together for the moment. Some had agreements made in power, others didn't. A lot of people were getting shafted in that second group, far as he could determine. He also noticed that quite a lot of the finished goods that were sold in the market came from here. Not as expensive as what was sold in the rows, but not as good either. In fact, some of it was obviously imitations of superior equipment using substandard materials. He would not be buying anything from here.
So where could he buy the good stuff? He knew that he could make quite a bit of what he needed, but he also knew that he would need to buy some. He just wanted decent equipment that he could start off with. While he mulled on this, he walked to the front of the market. He noticed that some of the people who were coming here were not the same level of power as most of the people here. These he assumed, were epics. However, from what he could see, most of them had decent equipment for what they were and they all looked competent. He noted that most of them were going to the same place, where they sold everything they had. Some were going and obviously selling to others, but it looked like what they had were of rarer or smaller quanities. He sat down on a bench and started to watch where most of the epics were seemingly going. He sat there for quite a while. He noted what a lot of the epics were bringing. He couldn't quite see what they were being sold for. He could tell from the faces if they were happy with the deal or not. From this, he was able to determine that a lot of the time, both sides seemed happy with the deal. The bench creaked as somebody sat next to him.
"I noticed that you seem to be watching where I work most intently these past couple of days. I can also see that you are a new student. Tell me, do you know the rules of this place?" Tinkerson confirmed he did. "Good. I don't have to be worried about you doing anything stupid, as you know the penalties for it. Would you like to tell me why you are sitting here and watching so intently?" So Tinkerson spoke to him. Explained what he had worked out so far, and how he had gotten there. How he had worked out what he was going to need, and was trying to figure out the best way of achieving this. The older demigod listened and then sat and thought for a while after Tinkerson had finished. "I find it fascinating what you have managed to gather so far in such a short span of time. I suspect you will go far. Would you like some advice?" Tinkerson gave the same reply he gave the guard. The other demigod laughed. "It good to know that you are not naive or stupid. In this case, I would give you the advice in exchange for an agreement. That when you start getting hold of materials, aside from the ones you want to keep for your own needs or that of whoever you may associate with, that you sell what you don't need to me." Tinkerson mulled this over and asked a question.
"Raw materials, or do you want finished goods too?" The other demigod raised their eye at this.
"Commendable thinking here. It is primarily the raw materials I want, however if you find something you feel may be of interest to me in the finished goods way, by all means bring it along." Tinkerson agreed to this and brought out his marble. Infusing it with one demi worth of power, he then clinked it with the other person's marble which also had one demi of power. The marble flared and a blue screen appeared in front of Tinkerson eyes.
Agreement reached
An agreement has been made between Tinkerson and Hepht. The agreement is as follows.
In exchange for advice given by Hepht, Tinkerson agrees to sell his excess materials to Hepht while he is a student.
Hepht looked satifised with the deal. Tinkerson realised with a shock that he had been careless with part of the deal. He had not specified for how long. Fortunately Hepht himself had put a limit on it, and it was for as long as he was a student. Tinkerson resolved to read some books on agreement soon. He then focused on Hepht as he started to speak.