Jazmel had been inside the tunnel for a little less than an hour when the system popped up ahead of him.
DING!
YOU HAVE FOUND THE DWARVEN METROPOLIS!
EXP ACCRUED!
…
YOU HAVE FOUND IT VIA ONE OF THE OLD WAYS
EXP ACCRUED!
That was interesting, but he would take extra exp any way he could.
The tunnel opened up into a wide cavern, it was much bigger than that, but he didn’t know the word for it and so settled.
It was indeed a metropolis, it was bigger than any city he had ever been in, it dwarfed Orevalor by such size he wondered if the pyramid that Orevalor was built under could actually fit here. this mega city was bigger than anything Jazmel had seen thus far.
Pools of lava made up what could only be considered a moat of some definition. It encircled the metropolis and three thick bridges built across the expanse from each different direction, Jazmel found himself walking along the northern one, Paldane had disappeared into his ring as soon as the city came into view, a dragon would draw attention and Jazmel didn’t want that right now.
The bridge was wide enough for three wagons to cross side by side, he was walking in the centre of the bridge following the flow of traffic of people who were heading into the labyrinth, he saw other races. Dwarves of course, humans, gnomes; smaller people who were not as burly as dwarves, but they seemed to enjoy the same things such as mining and tinkering; they were little engineers, so their items told him anyway. He even saw some hulking creatures that he only knew from myths, their curled horns protruding from their heads, Minotaur’s so strong that he could feel the weight of their Mana just by glancing at them.
He entered the city at the small cost of 20 gold coins, he was down to just 4 gold coins. He needed to find a store and sell his wares as soon as possible.
The metropolis was huge, he found himself almost lost. He stepped off to the side to not be swamped in the flow of the crowds moving around with direction and purpose. He scanned the signs and to his glee; though the language was different the system translated for him. the first he found was an apothecary and he hurried into it.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“Hello, hello!” the small dwarf said as he came in; announced by the bell on the door.
“Hello.” Jazmel offered with a smile.
“I want to buy some potions, but they need to be better than tier I, those are not strong enough for me anymore.” Jazmel explained and the dwarf nodded, understanding.
“Ranker now?” he asked, and Jazmel nodded.
“Come, come let me see what I have.” The dwarf offered, turning back to the counter, and climbing up onto a stall.
He pulled out a potion, a health potion which was darker red than the ones Jazmel currently carried, and he could see that the Mana incorporated in it was much stronger.
“this is a tier II health potion; I don’t know the depth of your health. But this will do double the work of a tier I potion.” He explained and that told Jazmel everything he needed to know.
“I will take 10 health, 10 stamina and 10 Mana if you have them.” he asked, and the dwarf pulled them from the shelf behind him onto the counter.
“300 white gold coins please.” Jazmel heard and winced, he didn’t have enough white gold coins and so he pulled 1 platinum coin out instead, the dwarf smiled and took them up and put them in his register after giving Jazmel his change.
“Where can I sell my wares?” he asked, and the dwarf offered his own counter.
“What do you have?” the dwarf asked. Jazmel thought for a moment and then pulled out all the things he had from the fjord and glacial plains. The dwarf grinned at him and started offering his amounts.
He left the store with 10 platinum coins, and he felt a little better regarding his selling of his wares, he had all those beast cores too. He was going to sell them as soon as he found another store to buy them.
He looked at the signs again and found an alchemist and entered it to see what wares he could find here.
This storekeeper was an elf, elegant and tall. She bowed low when she saw Jazmel and when he asked if she would buy his beast cores, she welcomed him into the store.
“Can I see them?” she asked, and he nodded, before pulling the cores, the monster ones and beast cores from his rings. She covered her whispered gasp with a deft hand, and he lowered his head to hide his smile.
“Can I buy them all from you?” she asked, and he nodded, offering them all to her.
“Make me an offer.” He said and she smiled before peering over the cores and gasping at the tier II and tier III differences.
“35.” She said and he waited for her to speak again.
“35 platinum coins for them all.” She said and he agreed, they shook on it, and she pulled the coins from one of her rings and then left them on the table for him to take them up himself. He did and felt the clink in his ring as they appeared.
“Can I ask a favour?” he said, after their business had been concluded.
“Anything.” She said with a beautiful grin.
“Where can I go to find weapons?” he asked, and she smiled at him again.
“To sell or buy?” she offered, and he said both. She directed him to the side of the metropolis where the forges had been built close to the lava to smelt the metals. He thanked her and left.