It took longer than an hour to browse the wares. It took another one for the slaves to be brought to him. Silas had made a specific request, that wasn’t unheard of, but would cost more. It was for the slaves to be equipped with normal citizen attire, rather than the rags that would be noticed immediately in society, drawing unwanted attention to him.

During this waiting period, Silas had a gray tattoo engraved on the palm of his hand, which worked in the form of a seal. The seal worked in two parts, one was in the form of a circular tattoo with a thickness filled with intricate detail and odd runic letters applied around it. The other part was in the guise of a mark, one of choice, his being of a dagger and eyes mixed in one. It served to be the center of the circle, bordered by, and accentuating it.

After he had his tattoo that identified him as a slave owner, engraved on his hand by an odd looking green haired man, he received a general rundown that came with being one. Things like how if you lost the body part with your seal on it, you wouldn’t be able to use it for commands anymore. However, the contract would still be there, having been engraved on your soul, but the seal would need to be reimplemented on the body. Death would undo it however.

He also learnt how to give orders to slaves marked with the same type of tattoo, the one of his choice. Their seals would act as a collar of obedience that kept them from harming their master, like a default order that had already been placed. These orders were in the form of commands that could be vocalized as long as a power was channeled into the seal.

This power was called mana, a substance of power that coursed through your veins like blood cells. It was a power that could be moved around the body, threaded by will from an organ known as the mana heart. The mana heart acted like a small subspace to keep all the mana, a little blue vessel, smaller than the heart which resided behind it, often closer to a person's chest.

It was with the mana heart that spells could weave into existence, so that mana may be used as fuel for magic that could be practiced and performed. But it was an act he couldn’t participate in as his old self, since he lacked an affinity for any type of element. Yet it was an act he had studied immensely.

He thought back on the books he read, which consumed his time at the academy. It was hard to recall much due to it being useless information he indulged in years ago when he thought it could help him, but he managed to remember some basic stuff. And then he remembered the familiar practice he would perform with his body.

While he was talentless in magic, even someone without an affinity could perform the action of channeling mana. Because much like an organ, everyone had a mana heart, but it was only with an affinity that one could cultivate and expand it. And only after expanding it could one gain seals within that organ to expel and perform magic.

Silas stood in silence, recalling all this information as his back pressed to the wall, arms furled over. He was accompanied by the fat man, who sat at his counter, as he did a more than good enough job filling in for Silas’s silence. Never once did either ask for each other's names. The fat man's policy was to respect secrecy, but in Silas’s case, he never had the intention of meeting him again.

Step, step, step.

Footsteps were heard as a multitude of people walked down the corridor Silas had used to get to the cage area.

“About time”, he muttered under his breath, irritated over listening to the man's ramblings that tested his patience for an hour too long.

The footsteps halted, as stood before him, 4 people of varying races, all of whom examined him, each with their own distinct expressions. From left to right stood tallest to shortest. The first being a female wolf-kin, a common breed amongst the most marginalized of races in the lion's share of kingdoms. Her face was a little rough looking only because of the scars she wore, otherwise she was above average in his eyes, her youthful complexion approximated her age at the young adult stage.

She had short wavy black hair, with yellowed canine eyes. Fur adorned her cheeks, as well as along the backsides of her exposed forearms, and lower calves. She had a long bushy tail that sprouted out from between her rounded plump cheeks, and a pair of fluffy ears that perked atop her head. The claws on her tanned fingers seemed to have been trimmed small, yet she stood there menacingly all the same, at a height of 6 ft 5, slightly taller than Silas. She seemed to sport long leggings, and a padded bra, covering only her decently sized breasts and shoulders, leaving her pack of abs to be displayed. She seemed quite thin, they all did, as if starved for weeks.

The rest were males, the next a middle aged elf. They all had similar equipment on, a padded vest with grayed trousers. The elf had brown eyes and fair skin, with a head full of long blond hair that almost hid the pointed ears he wore, ears that were longer by half a humans. He was otherwise quite skinny, which was accentuated by his narrow cheekbones, which only looked worse as he starved.

After him was a human, one of the few he saw, the slavers seemingly dealing more with inhuman affairs. Probably on account of their sales traffic mostly encompassing human nobles. He was easily the nicest looking with medium length black hair and blue eyes, he had a bit of a youthful look that made Silas guess he was also in the young adult range, the fine facial hair above his nose and along his chin, seemed to grow lusciously. Had the hunger not affected his swollen cheeks so much, his features would probably swoon any women he set his sights upon.

Last placed was a dwarf, his racial height probably always netting him last place. He was a foot bigger than half of first place, his heavily tanned swole arms stood out despite being visibly famished. He was on the older side however, his long brown beard showing a handful of grayed hairs. The short hair atop his head, having a single thick streak of white flash through it. But his face stood firm, his green eyes glistening with a keen fighting spirit.

Silas nodded, content with his decision. These were all semi, to experienced fighters, with decent physiques or better. At least they would be after a long awaited meal. He needed those veins pumping a healthy dose of blood for his experiments.

One of the guards accompanying the slaves motioned for Silas to come. He obliged them, walking behind the slaves, staring at the blackened tattoos on the bottom of their necks. Each tattoo was similar to the circular runic tattoo on his hand, but it lacked anything in the center of the circle, just empty skin replacing it. He put his palm upon one of their necks, the palm having the owner's seal on it.

He placed his hand on the dwarf, as he was shortest, the easiest to reach, and the first to be manhandled. As Silas clasped his neck, a vivid contract appeared in his mind, the surprise making him arc his head back while a glow emerged from his seal as both his and the dwarves shined a crimson red, illuminating the center of the dimly lit room. But while he was merely preoccupied, the dwarf felt like he was being electrocuted.

“Grah, great gobsmacker!”

“Hohoho”, a voice amused by the situation arose.

“Sign it”, the fat man gave his support to Silas, while nudging his head at the guard beside him.

The guard promptly took this as a sign to smack his fist into the dwarf’s gut, reminding him of the predicament he was in.

“Ooof”

As Silas conceded in signing the contract, the contract in his head faded away. His dagger and eyes mark appearing in the middle of the dwarves tattooed neck. Both their tattoos slowly lost their luster as the fluorescent red light lost its luminance, returning to the grimly lit room. Silas’s tattoo that was once gray, remained a much richer black.

“Clap your hands”, the fat man told the dwarf, but he only looked at him weirdly in response.

“Order him to do it”, the fat man spoke once more to Silas.

While not exactly wanting to give in to his demands, he couldn’t help but be intrigued. Remembering to channel his mana into the seal of his hand, he spoke. And when he did, his seal glowed a much less sinister red.

“Do it”

Clap, clap, clap, clap

‘So it doesn’t require me to explicitly say it, insinuations count’, Silas couldn’t help but remain inquisitive.

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“So’s the time we part”, the fat man called out, after Silas finished the contract with the last in the row, the tall beast woman. The fat man continued.

“So’s the time you pay up”

“Was it 5,000 points we agreed on?”, he tapped his chin, trying his best to be unsure.

“Ohoho, noh, noh. You know it, I was already being generous with my previous offer”

“Tsk”, Silas gave in, throwing 6 of his 1k point coins that he had already prepared in his hands, onto the counter. He didn’t want to stay for any longer while inefficaciously debating with him.

“Farewell, till we next meet again, Ohohohohoho”

‘Not even in your dreams fattie’, Silas walked out commanding his slaves to follow him. As he walked the stairs, the last he heard was the repeated nasal voice of the fat man’s boisterous laugh.

Creak.

As the hidden staircase disappeared behind him and his troupe, he made another order.

“None of you, a word”, and he continued out of the house, the rest of his troupe following along in a straight line, as he walked outside and exposed them all to sunlight.

Many of his entourage glanced at the sunlight with wonder, who knows how long it had been since they last caught a glimpse of it. The first in line even did a giddy twirl in excitement, a simple smile plastered her face as she gazed for too long at the sun, thwarting her face away lest she go blind. It had been so long, perhaps she had forgotten the sun had that effect. Or perhaps her brain cells were stunted having spent too long, starved and alone in a cell.

He didn’t receive much attention as he walked out of the poor parts, and past the bars and pubs. His entourage looked for the most part ordinary, and for the worst part like a couple of thugs transporting a student somewhere to extort.

Only one particular pair of yellowed snake eyes seemed to peer at them, unable to decide whether to approach the group, seemingly following for a bit before stopping. But the man in the hooded cloak seemed to realize that Silas had been monitoring him with his head movements all along. So he simply turned into an alleyway and disappeared.

It didn’t take them long to arrive at their new destination. It was closer to the outside of the merchant district, a place where all the shops were located. He walked into one particular shop, for one particular item. It was an item the slavers didn’t have, but recommended this store to find it. It was a very cheap and simple item. He was in a clothing store, on the lookout for hoods. There were a few other people, none of whom seemed to spare them a glance, as they perused for items of their own.

As Silas walked by columns of displayed clothing, he found what he was looking for in the distance. He turned around to see how his companions were doing, but first in lead had her back to him, a shirt over her head as she showed herself to the others. The elf behind her seemed uninterested, touching the fabrics of the clothing around him instead, while the human behind him started nodding his head furiously. The dwarf only clutched his head in disappointment.

“Quit it”, Silas hissed. Disrupting their fun like a mother at the mall telling off her children. “Don’t touch anything. And put that back where it belongs”, he pointed at the beast woman.

She gave him the puppy eyes in silence, but could only do so as her feet traversed her backwards, eventually forcing her around as she placed the piece of clothing where it belonged.

Silas didn’t wait for her to come back, leading the others to the hooded section, already putting on the hoods on each of them, trying different sizes to see if they would fit. They seemed to wiggle and squirm, but with a quiet exclamation to stop moving, to stay still. He finally managed to fit one on each of them, effectively hiding their necks, even with the hood off their heads. He made sure to tuck the ends of the hood under the collar of each of the mens shirts for good measure.

By the time the beast woman arrived, he had a hood ready, flopping it over her head immediately, her fluffy ears seemed to flop as it hid within her hair. She also struggled as he forced it on her, as she didn’t seem to have heard his earlier command. After his group was all hooded up, he realized something, and searched for spare cloth being sold for cheap, picking up some black rags that he promptly wrapped around his palm and tied it upon his arm, hiding the master’s seal of the palm of his hand.

On his way out, he passed by some simple brown peasant attire, reminding himself of the clothes in his closet. He had only 3 sets other than the student attire he wore now, and a long black robe with a hood attached to it, one he assumed to be some form of bath robe he would wear after a shower. He decided it best to change out of his student clothes, and into something more conspicuous.

By the time he was done, he paid a hefty sum of 264 points, thinking it ridiculous, but such were the prices of fresh clothing. While he came in looking for only one type of item, he walked outta there with new garments, a bag with his student clothes in it, his own form of glove, 3 brown hoods, and a single black one for the human, matching his hair. This distinction should serve to make him stand out from the group. After all, even though this place was multi-racial, humans were still the dominant species. Besides, he looked better in it.

The human seemed to agree, smiling smugly as the beast woman turned her head to look at him with a pout, trying to hide the envy in her eyes.

Having finished with the hoods, he went on another shopping spree at a blacksmiths bench. A man was hammering away at an anvil with hot steel on top of it, as Silas spoke to the man at the counter.

“That’s a little steep”, Silas complained, trying his best to haggle, “how about I give you… 300 instead?”

“Nah, that’s all your gettn’, my disciple worked hard on this y’know”, the burly man at the counter gave him a stern stare.

Suddenly Silas felt a tap on his shoulder, looking backwards to reveal first in line pointing her finger behind her. So Silas leaned over some more, to witness second in line looking away as he too pointed behind him. So he leaned over some more, perhaps a little too far as he saw the dwarf pointing with 2 of his index fingers at the human in front him, Silas noticing that said human was waving at him.

‘Does he want to have a go at it?’, he contemplated.

But his thoughts cut short as he was interrupted by the sound of the blacksmith's voice, “what’chur friend waving all funny like for?”

“Uh. Nothing, he’s a dunce is all”

The so-called dunce frowned, tapping on the elf in front of him incessantly in an attempt to perform the same act of attention seeking again, but the elf this time shrugged it off and slapped back at the human, wishing not to be disturbed. The human could only pout at his failed attempt to prove himself.

The haggle completed, as Silas paid a very slightly discounted 478, for a pair of daggers, sword, shield and bow, which came with a holster and some arrows. But Silas was not pleased, as he walked away aggrieved, storing it all in the bag with his clothes. Barely fitting it all into such a narrow space.

‘I’ve blown away most of my money already. I’d planned to keep enough to eat for the month, but that seems unlikely now with… Probably less than 1k left? Good thing I stole a little more than I asked for, from sister’

But he needed to make sure exactly what was left in his pouch, so his next destination was a type of pub. Though it went by a much more commonly known name, the adventurers guild.

To get there, he had to walk the gang out of the market district, and further down the main road heading towards the outside gate. While people were bustling around the main road at this time of day, no one paid them any mind, as all of them were dressed up such that it appeared a student and his hired mercenaries, which was actually a very common sight to see, evident how two students walked out the building he was headed, with 3 mercenaries of their own. The way one could tell? The difference in attire and attitude that came with experience.

Silas and gang walked inside, spotting a table to a far corner isolated from others, where he decided to lead his merry men over. Each took a seat, resting their legs around the round table of 5. Silas placed the bag with goods, spilling as it was released, the weapons sliding out on the middle of the table.

Without a word, Silas threw the pouch onto the table in front of him, arousing the gaze of the rest of his band. He didn’t need to explain himself as he started quietly muttering to himself some numbers, adding them up. The attention of his gang was attentive, as combined with the items displayed, they wondered how wealthy their master was.

Though most of their attention dwindled fast, as ten minutes passed, and most of them had grown bored waiting around. One fiddled with the edge of a blade that poked their way, another tapped on the table, while another sat there contemplatively. Only the human was still attentive, his gaze never losing track of the money as he counted in his head, alongside Silas.

“831, 836… 846. Okay”, Silas muttered, “this is still doable”.

He looked up to witness all gazes on him, intent to see what he would do next. Silas sighed saying farewell to his peace and quiet in advance. He knew from how most of these guys acted, that they would cause up a fuss as soon as he released them.

“You may speak”

“Bwaaah”, the beast female spoke first, “hey, you’re our employer right? Didn’t think you’d be so nice, buyin’ us stuff an all”.

But her words were soon drowned by the human ramblings, “Over 800 pieces… That’s a lotta money there pal, you sure you don’t want your humble servant here to bear that weight for ya?”.

But his attention was overwritten once more as the dwarf spoke up, “ay there laddie, thanks for getting me outta a bind. I’d tell ya a story how I got into it, but it’d cost ye an ale”.

Silas glanced over at everyone talking over the top of one another, all demanding his attention. All but one it seemed, as the elf noticed his gaze, and looked away. He could commend him for being the only one to understand the situation, but as it appeared no one else understood it, he would need to spell it out to them.

“Enough! All of you quiet down”

Their yearnings turned to whispers in an instant. Noticing the change in the air around Silas, they decided it best to quiet down and listen. All but the elf who only had to turn his head at attention. While he did not make an order forcing them to do so, it was in their best interests to keep him from using it. None of them liked their freedom to speak being infringed upon, as they already had a taste of that during his shopping spree.

“Good. Now listen well… Because I’ll only say this once”