The group was weaving through the crowd to keep up with the shopkeeper, but they were also occasionally stopping by some stores in between. Darrick asked, "Was that a teleportation gate?"

"It is. These ones are superior to what the royals across the land have but still inferior to some of the big organizations and great clans." Leon answered as he was examining the stone in one of the stalls.

"What is the difference? Are the superior ones more efficient or do they let you travel more distance?"

"Both. I don't remember much about the fuel but I and Jasper travelled from the central region to Sentry estate which is tens of thousands of kilometres away with the same amount of fuel as Sentry estate to Astoria in the common portal which is like a few hundred kilometres." The one who answered was Jasmine who was still fiddling with the Fulminar.

"That's just insane. Then did us coming here also cost lot of fuel? This place doesn't look like we are inside the Astoria."

"Wherever we are, it isn't that far from the Astoria. It's under a hundred kilometres otherwise the spatial disturbance would be a lot higher than what we felt." Said Leon as he was tossing and catching the stone. Looks like he bought the stone.

"I don't what spatial disturbance you're talking about. It was as peaceful as stepping out of a normal door for me. We are just sensitive about different things I guess." Darrick shrugged as they kept walking towards wherever the guy was taking them.

***

"Jimmy's whatever you want to store."

They entered the store after pushing open the door and their guide stood outside. It looked like some customers were inside as they heard people talking inside.

"...you should deliver them all in two weeks to the Astoria, I will pay you double the money as promised." Said the female voice. She was wearing a hood that covered her face, she was telling the guy at the counter to deliver something while pointing at the square looking things at their right shelf.

"Haha, don't worry. Jimmy's shop has the best service out of everyone in this market. So rest assured everything will be delivered safely in two weeks." The guy said while rubbing his hand.

The hood wearer turned around and passed them by when a stench assaulted Darrick. He coughed barely feeling whatever it was. It looked like it was only him who was like this.

"Cough.. Ugh.. Do you not smell that weird thing when that person passes by us? It felt like it was attacking me."

The confusion was tangible with what Darrick said, they even tried sniffing the air to see if there was anything like that but their expression didn't show any discomfort so apparently it was not there anymore.

"I.. don't smell anything like you said. Can you describe this smell with more words, maybe it was something I'm used to so we didn't really notice." Jasmine looked at the other two faces while asking if they had felt something like that.

"Uh.. It was.. the smell of rusting metal or maybe rotting would too, it could also be like something like... I can't explain it. It was a weird mixture of them all, I can't find any more words to describe it."

Darrick said in utter confusion of his own senses.

"I'm not sure about the smell but I did feel something like that, not as concrete as he said but maybe a little bit." Jasper agreed with Darrick's observation, albeit only partially but it was better than nothing.

"I really don't feel it, sorry. For Jasper, it may have been like that because you explained it a bit explicitly. I think we should worry about it later if it's not that urgent. We can investigate it after we buy the things." Leon suggested as they would be wasting time here doing nothing.

"Yeah, that works. We can think about what I smelled afterwards so let's get to the business."

They walked up to the counter. The guy just eyed all of them but his gaze lingered on Darrick a bit more than others. His brows creased for a second in thinking and he was normal in next. It was changed to a bright smile even.

"Hoho, I never expected the successors of the great clans would be in my humble place. Please follow me inside, I hope to serve you to the best of my ability," said the guy as he stepped out of the counter and led them to a room. A simple room to serve guests.

He ordered his assistant to bring some snacks along with a good tea. He asked, "What can I do to serve you, my lords? Please tell me if you have something in mind, if you don't you can look at the catalogue on your side or you can also browse the store."

"We have everything from the information to all kinds of services and for goods we sell things like dirt from the Velevena kingdom to the epic artifacts. Sometimes we even gain our hands on some legendary artifacts too and also eggs from the magical beasts."

"If we don't have something then we can source it for you if it exists on the surface." He gave a very businnessy smile after the speech.

Leon who was looking through the catalogue asked without raising his head to look up, "What's your name?"

"Oh, I never introduced myself. I'm Jimmy, the one from the store name."

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"Well Jimmy, we have come here for a particular item but a few things in your store piqued my interest basically we have come here for the artifact blueprints. I have heard from someone that you deal with some of the best artifact blueprints, even the illegal ones so we are interested in them. You can talk about the details of it with my friend here." He pointed at Darrick.

Ha, I would have talked with some random people on the streets effortlessly but the business talk is my biggest weakness. I can't bargain for shit, the merchant would slap a random price and would sell it to me. I hope this one goes well, phew.

"Ehm.. Hello Jimmy, nice to meet you. I want you to show me all of the common artifact blueprints you have. I'll decide which ones I want."

"Yes, I'll bring them to you in a minute." Said Jimmy as he stepped out of the room, possibly to bring the blueprints or tell someone to bring them.

"Darrick, do you want to appraise your artifact?"

"Not really. I know everything about it so it's just a waste of money."

"That can't be. Even if you were the one who made it, the lines of runes would alter the workings and class of the artifact and this one is completely made without even the blueprints. There is bound to be difference."

"This is an artifact made by me, it is above the common artifacts but slightly falls short of rare and it shoots electricity. I think that just sums it all up."

"Okay, I'll pay for this appraisal. You don't need to repay it back to me, how about that?"

Darrick gave a thumbs up immediately as he was eating the biscuits Jimmy's worker had brought in when Jimmy was out there finding the blueprints.

"Okay, you're just a cheapstake," said Jasmine as she also took a biscuit from the plate.

Darrick just shrugged at what she said but Jasper had a philosophical thought to fill in.

"You don't value what you have in abundance. You will only know their worth when you are deprived of it in times of need."

Everyone nodded as the quote dropped but Darrick jokingly commented on it by twisting what Jasper said.

"That was mostly likely intended towards Jasmine because you guys have a lot of wealth but to me, it sounded like 'you are poor' directed at me. You're just cruel to say such harsh words to my fragile heart." Said Darrick as he made the motion of wiping a tear from his eyes and sniffling.

Leon and Jasmine chuckled but Jasper was unimpressed as he gave a stare that could see through his soul and just then Jimmy walked in with a pile of blueprints. There were likely more than thirty blueprints.

"I have brought every single common blueprint available in the store. There are thirty-four of them, you can check them out and decide which ones you would need."

With this many blueprints, it would take a bit of time for me to check them all out. I should tell these guys to do whatever they want until I'm done. There's no point in making them wait.

"I'm going sort this out and will think what I want from these blueprints so if you guys want to do something else then feel free to do."

"Oh ya Jasmine, wait till I'm done with this before the appraisal please."

She gave a thumbs-up before all of them stood up and headed out, even Jasper was going.

That guy just doesn't talk much but he does function like any normal person. Maybe a bit extravagant, he is a rich kid after all. Well, they can do whatever but I should focus on choosing some of this, maybe five is good enough. It isn't a lot but isn't less either, I won't be done with them for at least two weeks. Very good.

Darrick reached out for the first blueprint, the one at the top. These blueprints were probably way more complicated than the magic torch blueprint guessing by how many more pages it has. He flipped pages one after another and got absorbed in it.

The blueprint in his hand was of the knife with sharpness runes on it. It had the artifact's name, the materials needed and what kind of materials should be used in which component, how every component connected with each other and lastly most importantly, the runes carved on it.

This is embarrassing to admit but I thought the so-called runes were something special to the system but it turns out it's not. Eh, even if it's not common my system is just superior. The runes are drawn without any errors and they can be drawn just with my intent alone, no learning runes.

There was a complicated process of finding the synergy between runes and connecting them when making a new artifact from almost nothing to reference but to Darrick that was never an issue, not yet. So he read until the last page and found nothing noteworthy. It was just an artifact which can cut better that's all.

I don't want it, I can make this without even the blueprint and also I already have the same time type of artifact but a better one. All that reading for noth- Wait! I can just spam identify and that would be enough to know what everything here is. Haha, I'm so stupid.

Jimmy had already left to guide more important people outside so Darrick was the only one left but he still muttered it in a very low voice.

"Identify"

Cutting knife blueprint

common blueprint

This artifact is sharper than most knives, it can cut even wooden pieces like it's butter.

That's it. It shows and also saves a lot of time. For now, I'll identify everything here, then I can choose which are the ones I would need.

"Identify"

***

Darrick stepped out of the room to see a buying spree. They had piled up a lot of items and were just calculating their cost. When Jasmine saw him she was brightened more than she already was. His artifact was still in her palm.

I didn't expect her to be that interested in the Fulminar that much. She is happy because I told her to wait before appraisal and now it can be done.

"Please proceed with it." Said Darrick as he stepped towards the group and placed his five blueprints alongside others' pile.

"That would be 75 gold for each so 375 golds in total. Should I add it to this or separate it?"

"Add it to my portion and please be quick with her appraisal."

"Yes, of course. It is quick work, we just have to place the artifact here and the results will be shown here." Jimmy said as he showed them an artifact. It had a square platform to place the artifact and a panel to show the results of the appraisal.

He took Fulminar from her and placed it there. There were some beeps and a few seconds later the information was shown on the panel in a different language. Jimmy read out the results,

"This is a semi-rare artifact with electric abilities. Surprisingly it has a name and already acknowledged an owner named Darrick Vental, who is also its creator. It can shoot electricity up to 350 volts."

"I told you I knew everything about that artifact," Darrick smirked.

Holy shit! I didn't know everything about it. Thank god I didn't electrocute anyone as a prank, they would have fucking died. This is so much more than the lethal volt for a human.

With the appraisal done everything was wrapped up and was paid in full. It was a whopping 9868 golds in total. With that paid, they left the store and headed towards the portal door. Before they left the store Darrick saw the square-shaped things just beside him so his curiosity won over and he placed his hands on it to identify it. He quickly identified the object the woman had ordered and left. On their way Leon said,

"This is so weird. We did more shopping in the black market than in the Astoria's legal market."

Everyone silently agreed.