Twilight Rampart Market, Novalux.

I'm seized by fear that these bandit-fans will switch their attention to me, since I was on the ram with Patrick, but they climb onto the roof and dash into alleys to chase him. I sigh with relief—I manage to avoid unwanted attention.

They probably thought I just got caught up accidentally.

I take a quick look around: on both sides are shady stalls, mostly selling potions and talismans. Along the street are several food stalls, some of which have magical properties. The buildings house large stores with signs that look more attractive from ground level.

But these predatory faces, sidelong glances, and two beautiful girls beckoning playfully with their fingers... Oh, so that's not a store, but a brothel. Why is it named like a magic shop: "Moonlight"? It's clear the owner is a real person.

The offer is tempting... but not this time. Even if I make it in time, Patrick won't be happy about where his money went.

I wave off the girls and focus on the task at hand. The market is large, I won't have time to cover everything, two spots at most. And these should be stores that sell items for a specific playstyle, otherwise I'll buy junk.

I need to quickly decide on a style... But how?! There are literally thousands! Okay, at least a rough progression vector.

Based on everything I've seen, Celestial Rift is mostly a magical server. Accordingly, it will be easiest and most effective to level up through magic... which I don't have.

Magic requires mana, which everyone lacks by default. Mana points are unlocked in three ways: leveling up in special locations, specific quests, and special scrolls. Actually, the latter are designed to increase existing mana, but if you don't have any, they'll give 5 to 10 units. The developers haven't fixed this since release.

In fact, magic is one of the most difficult paths, because after getting mana, you need to learn spells, which is even harder. But the ultimate power...

Yes, I'm definitely choosing magic. I need to get full enjoyment from Enchantia! Thus, my main attributes are intelligence and perception. From now on, I'll focus on them. First, I need a shop with magical items. Maybe I'll get lucky and find that scroll. Secondly, I'll buy some armor and melee weapon. I'll have to use them until I unlock magic.

I look around again—my gaze catches a flickering sign "SWORD AND MAGIC!" (yes, with an exclamation mark). Compared to the others, it looks solid, and the shop itself is well-kept, with turquoise windows. Seems like what I need.

Except it's not the only sign. Just below are: "CLOSING TODAY", "INCREDIBLY GENEROUS SALE IN HONOR OF GOING OUT OF BUSINESS", "DISCOUNTS UP TO 99%", "THIS IS REALLY THE END OF THE STORE", "DON'T MISS THE CHANCE TO GET DIVINE GEAR CHEAP!"

Because of this, I really don't want to go there. What idiot would fall for this? It looks more like a joke than a real attempt to deceive.

Suddenly, the shop door opens and out comes a well-equipped archer. I'd put him at level 60-70. He summoned a horse mount and rode off somewhere.

What the hell?! An obvious scam, but a higher-than-average level player is shopping there?

Time was ticking, nothing more decent caught my eye, and the feeling that I was about to be robbed grew with each second. In the end, I gave up and went to "SWORD AND MAGIC!"

I'll watch the seller's words carefully.

Opening the door is accompanied by a bell. I find myself inside. The room with the counter is quite small, and the goods... aren't visible. Or rather, I see a few amulets and daggers, but that's it. Behind the counter, however, there are many cabinets with magical locks, and to the left there's a passage to a large room, probably a warehouse.

Smart, can't fault it at first glance.

"Welcome! Visiting us is your wisest decision of the day!" a friendly female voice greeted me.

Modesty isn't her strong suit.

From behind the counter appeared... no, it's more accurate to say—a short girl with rabbit ears jumped onto a stool behind the counter. Despite her height, her face looks about 25. She's dressed in a strict yellow-brown apron, has shoulder-length red hair and ochre eyes.

Very cute, just like anime come to life. I bet she spent several days in the character editor.

"Hello!" I replied just as friendly, no need to show suspicion. "Did I understand correctly that you sell both magical items and melee combat gear?"

"That's right, dear visitor!" she didn't lower her tone. "And not just those. We're closing now, so we're selling all the stock accumulated over many years of play. I see you're a newbie. You're incredibly lucky to have come to us! I can suggest items that will help you level up quickly!"

And you'll ask for money for this.

"...of course, if you pay extra for the consultation."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Thank you, but I think I understand well enough. Tell me, do you have a scroll for mana points?"

"You're incredibly lucky, as we have the last such scroll left! All the others were bought a couple of hours ago."

"How much is it?"

"2,000 gold. I understand you probably don't have that kind of money, so EXCLUSIVELY for you, we’re ready to offer a 500-gold discount! We never give anyone else deals like this."

Absolute honesty.

I knew such scrolls were expensive, so the price didn't surprise me, although hope lingered. Damn, Patrick, if you decided to hand out gold, you could have thrown 5,000, not just 500. Or am I being greedy?

"Thank you for such a generous offer! Can we arrange an installment plan?"

"I'm sorry, dear visitor, but we're closing today. Surely you saw the signs. An installment plan isn't an option. We've already given you a discount of 25%. However, we can help you get a loan from the Novalux bank, but then the scroll discount is canceled."

No, no, no, I won't fall for such a basic scam scheme. Well, I'll have to accept it—there's no easy way to get mana.

"I'll think about your offer, maybe I'll come back later—"

"In that case, we can set aside the scroll for you if you make a deposit of 100 gold!"

"Aren't you closing?"

"For your sake, we're ready to postpone closing for a couple of days. Unfortunately, it's unlikely anyone else will buy this scroll, so we really value you."

Damn, she's so cunning and brazen, it's just fucking insane.

On the other hand—I can talk to Patrick and borrow another 1,500. He'll probably ask me to return that amount, but I'll get mana points right at the start, which will boost me significantly, and it won't be a problem to earn back the gold.

Can't miss such a chance. Worst case—I’ll lose 100 gold.

"Thank you very much for understanding. Please set aside the scroll for me. I'll likely find the necessary amount in the coming days."

"I'm incredibly glad we've come to an agreement! Thanks to you, the shop will live for a few more days and might get a new lease on life. Transfer to my nickname, I'll send it now."

A window pops up in front of me, her nickname is meowICEDTEA. Curious what iced tea has to do with anything, but okay. I hope she really sets it aside. And if she does cheat, Patrick will probably sort it out.

You sent 100 gold coins to user meowICEDTEA.

"Received! I'll be eagerly waiting for the rest of the sum, and the scroll is yours. By the way, for entering into cooperation with our shop, we're ready to offer you a cool goblin trophy, grown in the lands of the Fierce Roar Horde, from the top 5 server. As a newbie, you'll have a wonderful experience, understand the boundaries of what's possible in Enchantia, and broaden your horizons. EXCLUSIVELY for you—a whole package for just 20 gold! We never make such offers to anyone," she sang enticingly. I immediately understood what she was hinting at.

The situation with drugs in Enchantia is ambiguous. Because it's consumed in virtual reality, the substance is considered fake and supposedly harmless, but because of the technology's peculiarities, it's easy to develop a psychological addiction that can lead to real-life use.

Initially, this was unregulated, but after a scandal over a case where a guy got hooked on powder in Enchantia, then switched to something similar in reality and died, the developers removed a number of addictive substances, leaving only those with clearly coded harmless effects. However, this didn't prevent skilled players from using magic to recreate almost everything deleted based on what was left. The price for them skyrocketed, and the developers began to fight new substances, but very ineffectively.

In short, officially—a strict ban and lifetime ban for use, creation or distribution, but in reality—whoever needs it will find it and use it. It's very easy to bypass the imposed restrictions and not get caught by the AI monitoring the rules. This gave rise to theories that the developers intentionally left such a loophole and themselves introduced a way of creation through magic, in order not to lose significant gold traffic (substances accounted for about 7% of all in-game transactions).

"I'll keep in mind that you have the trophy, maybe another time," how diligently this game tries to corrupt. "I also need an inexpensive sword, like an iron one, some talisman for intelligence and perception, maybe several, about 4 regeneration potions, something like chain mail, a large backpack, and a magic robe, preferably with additional effects."

"Got it! Wait a bit, I'll see what we have in stock," she said politely and retreated to that passage on the left.

For about a minute, I stared at the ceiling thinking about nothing, then the salesgirl returned, carrying a huge pile of items. In reality, at that height, such a thing would hardly be possible. She jumped onto the stool and dumped the gear in front of me.

"You're lucky, I managed to find everything you asked for, and I even added a few things from myself, despite you not taking the consultation. For your consideration: a sword, great for small stats, a ring giving +1 to perception, a bracelet giving +2 to intelligence, 4 large potions, each can be used twice, chain mail, good protection against initial mobs, the largest backpack we had, holding up to 50 different items, an elven-made robe, with bonuses of 15% magic resistance and -10% mana spent on spells. Additional offers from me: shadow dust for 3 charges, allowing good concealment from opponents, a dryad ring, increasing regeneration by 5%, an archmage's box, using a random spell when opened. If you take everything, that'll be 346 gold, 12 silver, and 38 copper."

Sounds tempting, she clearly knows her business, but the feeling of a scam only increased. Yes, there's a magic robe here, which is quite expensive, but even taking it into account, there's a markup of about ten to fifteen percent.

She probably set herself up for me wanting to bargain, so she inflated the price. And it would be worth bargaining, but I have no time at all. You could argue about the price of just the robe for twenty minutes.

Making Patrick wait that long isn't an option. Grudgingly, I accept the markup and nod. I'll have to make up for it on quests.

You sent 346 gold coins, 12 silver coins, and 38 copper coins to user meowICEDTEA.

Received [Hardened Steel Sword], [Soul Ring], [Moon Bracelet], [4 Regeneration Potions (Large)], [Bronze Chain Mail], [Large Leather Backpack], [Runic Robe], [Shadow Dust (3 charges)], [Dryad Ring], [Archmage's Box] from user meowICEDTEA.

Importantly—the robe fits very comfortably, the chain mail and sword aren't heavy. I only took the items she offered because there's no time for another shop.

Now there's no other way, I'll have to achieve mana points.

I say goodbye to the rabbit girl and run out into the street. In my new look, it's not so embarrassing to be there.

At the meeting place between buildings, Patrick was flying, dodging the crowd. Seeing me, he jumped down. Judging by his expression, it definitely took more than five minutes.

"I hope you didn't prolong my suffering in vain and at least scored some decent gear," he cut off.

"You could say that, and we need to discuss something about it—"

"Later. Now let's get out of here, or my brain will completely fucking melt."

He snaps open a dim dark red portal, unceremoniously grabs my hand, and jumps into it. I only manage to catch the disappointed expressions of his pursuers.