There were two things that I needed in this town: information and magic implements. I wanted to know where the hardest dungeons in this land could be found, and I also wanted to learn the effects of the magic implements and weapons they had here. Perhaps I should buy everything I could since obtaining more information about any given effect still gives a lot of experience for my main enchanting skills.
‘I guess all the time alone helped me a bit. I am able to ignore those eyes on me. Considering that it was the whole town, it was quite something. Some people are even leaving their houses to look at me in disbelief.
In any case, the items sold around weren’t that vast in quality. They were quite subpar, actually, since the orcs didn’t make business with the other nations officially. They would rather take things instead of buying or making them.
I stopped all of a sudden when I found a map being sold… It looked like a map, but it was closed like a scroll. I used identification and confirmed that it was a map of the Skarnash Tribelands. I checked things around in the open air shop and didn’t find many enchanted items.
“How much does that map cost?”
“... Fifty gold coins.”
At least there was a price, but I had no idea how much was that, too much? Too little? The trader didn’t look that eager to make business with me, but it made sense.
“Can you trade the map and the magic weapons for this?”
I took a magic bag of Novice rank from my back and the trader frowned. I could tell that crafting wasn’t the main thing for the orcs, goblins, and ogres. Since they didn’t buy it either, it was rare for them to get their hands on items like that. People from other lands knew that and they would do their best to not have their stuff stolen when they were attacked and then strengthen the pirates.
“Deal.”
The orc grinned from ear to ear thanks to my offer… Perhaps the magic bags were worth one hundred gold coins here. Still, with the ability to make them as long as I had decent monster skin to make a bag, I was probably going to become desensitized to the value of money. Well, that was fine with me since money was just another tool in my hands, not something that I considered worthy of worrying about.
The magic weapons didn’t have any effects that I wasn’t aware of, but I still bought them to destroy them with my skills. I could also change their enchantments and level up other skills as well. All that was worth the hassle of my progress.
‘I guess expecting advancing effects in the first town that I arrived in was a bit too much.’
I headed to the exit of the port town while studying the map. It had four points marking four labyrinths. It had towns too. It didn’t look like the orcs had a single city in their territory, but they had tens of towns. The map also revealed all the information about their land… they didn’t care about spies at all, since they were selling something like this. They were usually the ones doing the attacking, after all, so that made sense.
Invasions in their lands were rare, and it was the only thing that made all the tribes join forces. So, unless someone wanted to face the full wrath of millions of orcs, goblins and ogres, then it wasn’t a good idea to invade their turf.
‘This doesn’t make much sense… how come they only have four labyrinths?’
Their land should be at least one thousand kilometers across from east to west and from north to south. It wasn’t as large as the human territory, but it was large enough to have at least three times more dungeons and labyrinths.
Unless… knowing orcs, goblins and ogres, they find dungeons where they can get combat classes worth the hassle. That would explain why I didn’t find high-quality items… too few enchanted stuff, and nothing when it comes to potions or books.
At least they weren’t selling people. That made me feel relieved, since my image of Zyra and the others wouldn’t be tainted by what their society was showing me. Still, if one thinks about it, they wouldn’t have any use for slaves since they would be weaker than them. Orcs also like to fight and move their bodies, so slaves would only make them waste their time.
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In any case, once I was far enough away from the town, I grabbed the parts of my bike and then mounted it. The new version had better parts and enchantments thanks to all the stuff I found in the labyrinth. Since it was something that would have to last for a while, I made it using mainly bones for the central part where the engine worked. The rest I used was wood nearby the cave to make those parts easier to replace.
Thanks to the amulets that I am able to make now, the engine had two times the power of the previous one. It generated enough energy with each Fireball to cross five hundred meters. The impact inside was contained thanks to the distance between the parts and the fact that the heat was soon absorbed and transformed into kinetic energy.
All that was only possible because I was able to regulate the firing speed of that amulet when it comes to using fireballs. Essentially, I added just an extra layer of bones over the first amulet. Since they were close, the energy would take some time to spread through the main amulet. It was a rather clunky idea. It had to be improved, but it was fine for now.
However, that made me realize that even when they had no real functions, organic matter still could get in the way of magic, it couldn’t just improve it. I had to study that too.
As the bike began to move automatically. It made me recall the trip to this land. I crossed the sea for two weeks without finding anyone or anything. The prison labyrinth was truly in a desolate place, or maybe nothing was nearby, not even monsters or animals, because of the labyrinth itself. It was hard to say.
I was crossing something on a road, so it didn’t take long for me to find some other inhabitants coming from the opposite direction. Weirdly enough, they were goblins riding dire wolves. Those things looked pretty badass with their white fur and their two meters of height and four of length. Still, unlike my bike that could move as long as I had mana cores, they needed time to eat and rest.
‘They keep looking at me until I disappear in the distance, but they don’t do anything. It is quite odd.’
It wasn’t like I was waiting for a fight expectantly… but it never crossed my mind that they wouldn’t try to screw with me. Regardless, I decided to forget about that and get to work… I used Arcane Reforging and then turned the rings into the types that store spells and some knives into the types that can be used for skinning or carving arrows with Sharpness. The others that I didn’t have any use for, I just extracted their essence.
The Skill Arcane Reforging leveled up. You received 600 experience points.
The Skill Essence Extraction leveled up. You received 1400 experience points
I could keep using that on the items, but it wouldn’t give as much experience as before. The number of attempts was the same as the level of the skill, but I preferred to stock items that would be useful in the future. My mana had other and more efficient uses as well.
I soon found another town along the way, so I could use the skill on other items. I stored my bike and then began to walk toward the town. It was still early, but I wondered if I should try my new tricks… in case of arriving at places where I wasn’t welcome, I was planning to use either camouflage or veil of shadows. No way people would stop me from getting the power and knowledge of the dungeons and labyrinths. Even if I had to become wanted again, or perhaps even more than I already was.
When I reached the town, I saw two goblins guarding the entrance of the place and I frowned when they used their spears to block my path. I immediately used identification on them and frowned even more.
Name: Golius
Race: Goblin
Health: 550/550
Regen: 2.1 per hour
Mana: 220/220
Regen: 1.0 per minute
Stamina: 890/890
Regen: 7.5 per minute
Name: Golium
Race: Goblin
Health: 550/550
Regen: 2.1 per hour
Mana: 220/220
Regen: 1.0 per minute
Stamina: 890/890
Regen: 7.5 per minute
Probably twins, but all the goblins looked the same to me, aside from the ones who had boobs.
“Halt. Who are you and what you see doing here?”
“Just a traveler wishing to make business here.”
I readily answered the question of the first goblin. I had nothing to hide, and that was my true intentions, anyway. Still, they kept studying me for a while.
“The poisonous fang clan doesn’t accept the visit of strangers, begone.”
That was a bit troublesome, but trying to negotiate with them wouldn’t help me in any shape or form. People inside the place would only treat me the same way, after all. So, I decided to follow my path and then move around the town to the next one.
I could have kept my disguise with a cloak and hood, but I left those days behind to be truly free. Thanks to that, I soon noticed when I left the town behind that I was being followed.
“My bike can move sixty kilometers per hour, so they should be able to reach me eventually. I guess I don’t have any other option.”