Jarvis walked along a river going west with his new pal Tybalt. They were headed to the ocean for the view and maybe for some fish, but something or someone changed their course.
Riding the river currents, was a small boat carrying 2 passengers. One looked like a blonde, pale skinned and slightly tanned military man wearing green and brown camo clothes and a green baseball cap with a yellow eagle emblem on the front of the cap. The man looked like he could easily blend with the surrounding grass fields if he wasn't in the middle of a river on a boat. His blue eyes matched the sky and as stressed as he looked, he still had a bit of youth on his face.
The other passenger was an equally pale skinned woman with blue eyes. She sat in the shade of an umbrella as to not tan her skin. Her hair was dyed a bright red and was wearing a ponytail style with a white hairbow on top. She wore a bright green shirt with jeans and seems to enjoy the boat trip.
The man in camo yelled at Jarvis, "Hey boy! Hold on just a moment!" Jarvis waited as the boat got closer to the shore. The man got off the boat. The girl got up and started preparing for something. The man looked at Jarvis up and down and chuckled. "You're not from around here, are you?" The man smiled. He offered his hand for a strong handshake. Jarvis accepted and shook the man's hand. "The name's Ben. This is my girlfriend, Michelle. We are traveling merchants, selling whatever you need. Care to look at our wares?" Ben offered pointing at Michelle who sets up a table by the land of the river with a couple of things on it.
On the table was a bow with a quiverful of arrows for 15 gold, a bundle of rope for 6 gold, a sword hilt (no blade) for 10 gold, a healing potion for 7 gold, and an upgrade ticket for 20 gold. What a strange set of products. 2 things got the attention of Jarvis.
"Ah the healing potion?" Ben noticed Jarvis staring at it. "Never seen one of these before?" Jarvis shook his head. "Well, that makes sense. Its rather new. This thing is just a diluted form of the concentrated healing elixir. Can't just sell only one potion, you understand? Anyways, its chock-full of all these minerals and vitamins and whatnot, I'm not sure of the science myself but after drinking this you'll start to be fully healed in a few short minutes... With some rest since i takes time and you can't be doing things while you're healing."
Jarvis then asked about the upgrade ticket.
"Well, you must really not be around here." Ben laughed. "You really never heard of Dantei's upgrade shop?" He points to the river where he came from. "If you follow that river, you'll come across Dantei's shop. I was actually there a couple hours ago. Smart guy that one. He runs with G-Class Tec, the company."
Jarvis asked what it means to have an upgrade ticket. Ben continued, " Well kid he charges 20 gold to upgrade, restore, or replace your gear. 'From rusty guns to broken ships G-Class Tec cab fix it all!' Thats his little jingle. 20 gold is a pretty hefty price but you're paying for quality my friend. Last I went to was to fix up my Grandpap's busted old rifle. After a few days it looked brand new as if it came straight from the factory! Believe me son, they've stopped making these babies a long time ago."
Jarvis seemed interested in the upgrade. He could buy the bow, but he doesn't know how to use it. Jarvis isn't planning on climbing, health potions do heal you, but they don't heal an empty stomach. Maybe this Dantei guy knows who Jarvis was. It's worth a shot. This was the thought process oh how to justify buying such an expensive thing. Jarvis learned that he's a sucker for eye catchers or so he tells himself.
Jarvis thanks the man and buys the upgrade ticket. "Don't mention it kid. Well, if you're not buying anything else, we'll be right off." Ben and Michelle packed up and continued downstream. "I'm sure we will meet again! Farewell for now!" Jarvis waved back and left to check out Dantei's shop.
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It took a whole day of walking to get to the upgrade shop. Jarvis was left with 3 Gold after buying 2 meals from a local vendor, one for himself and one for Tybalt. Jarvis knocked on the door and waited for a response. A few seconds later, a very pale man with black hair, black eyes and a very thin look opened the door. "Hello? How can I help you?" The pale man asked. "Hi, I'm looking for Dantei? I got this upgrade ticket i want to use" Jarvis asked in a shy tone. The man opened the door even wider to reveal himself better. "Oh shoot! Did Ben actually sell one? Damn, that was faster than i thought. Well look no further. Welcome to my shop!" Dantei welcomed Jarvis in.
The shop was filled with devices, doodads, thingamajigs, McGuffins, and other devices that I'm pretty sure no one but Dantei knows what it is, all either shelved, hanging on a chain or filling up a table or 3. Dantei pushed some stuff off or 2 chairs and brought one for Jarvis. Tybalt sat on the floor. "Again, I'm Dantei, owner of the upgrade shop." Dantei reintroduced himself.
"What's an update shop?" Jarvis asked. Back on Tor Town he never saw such a thing. He saw vendors, an inn, a bank, a couple restaurants, homes, even a blacksmith and other common things you might find on a small town, but never an upgrade shop. "I somehow knew you were gonna ask that." Dantei smiled. "Well, we are one of 3 locations in planet Emoh. This is the only place in this Opida country. I'm sure there's one by Mizec country, and one by Obolde country. I'm sure there's more locations by the rest of this galaxy but you don't come across as a space traveler so don't worry about it."
Jarvis was astonished when he heard there are upgrade shops all over the galaxy. Jarvis dared to ask, "Are you from Emoh?" Dantei replied, "Nah I'm just stationed here. I'd say my planet's name but it's in a tongue you can't pronounce. Anyways as I was saying I do my best to repair, fix it into a better version or if I could, replace it entirely if it's not fixable. So, to redeem your ticket, you got anything to upgrade?"
Jarvis realized he has nothing to 'upgrade'. All he has is 3 Gold and some leftover sandwiches. It seems a waste of 20 gold and a joke if he told Dantei to upgrade his sandwich... how would a 20-gold upgraded sandwich taste like? Never mind. Jarvis looked around the shop. There are so many metallic things! Things that spin or push or make strange noises... is that a gun? And what's next to the gun? Is that a miniature cannon?! A miniature cannon that works?! Just then, Jarvis had an idea.
Jarvis grabbed the gun and the little cannon and showed it to Dantei. "I am willing to work for you to pay this off too." Dantei was surprised. No one asked to upgrade something by combining, much less from 2 of his personal projects. Some of the stuff on the shop were projects her worked on once he ran out of work. He'd buy some intergalactic rusty, not worth a damn, device or weapon and fix it up. He hasn't finished those 2 projects because he got caught up with work and other projects that he basically forgot about them.
Dantei smiled at seeing someone taking interest in his projects. "Alright. I got a job for you. Though I need some qualifications. wait here." Dantei looked around his shop and found a stone with a digital screen on it. He told Jarvis to hold it close to his chest for as long as he could.
Jarvis was confused but did as he was told. The stone suddenly grew heavier and heavier! Jarvis was struggling to hold it and he held it for a pretty long time... 30 seconds. Each second felt heavier than the last, because somehow the stone actually grew heavier! After those long 30 seconds his hands dropped. The stone stopped getting heavier. The screen of the stone blinked a couple of times. Dantei grabbed the stone and almost stumbled from its weight until he got a better grip of it. "My guy, you certainly don't look the build. but you can carry 100 pounds!"
"You got the job." Dantei started explaining the details, "On the other side of the canyon, there's a hill filled with metal scraps. There should be an old bridge, rickety thing but safe enough to cross and support the weight. I'm gonna need you to take 200 lb. of metal, whatever kind back. I'll send in a guy to pick it up and drive back. You just have to fill up truck. Do this and I'll not only combine the gun and the cannon, but ill upgrade it with the best G-Class Tec has to offer... Do we have a deal?"