61st of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd cycle

The Quarter of Coin bustled from the moment the first light signaled the end of the curfew, and by the time Newt and Dandelion arrived, half an hour after dawn, it looked like it had been working all night.

Despite the mass of cultivators coming from thousands of miles away, the district was spacious enough to give everyone free passage. There was no brushing of shoulders or bumping, unless one of the parties did so intentionally.

Newt blended with the crowd wearing vivid colors. He glanced left and right, watching what merchants were selling. The stalls were laden with items Newt had never seen, strange fruits, shiny rocks, a patch of thick gray hair so big it covered the entire table. The last item left him with a jaw hanging in terrified disgust. How many humans had to die to make such a large patch of hair?

“That is a fur hide. It belonged to an animal, before the hunter skinned it,” Dandelion soothed Newt’s fear.

Newt tried to wrap his head around the concept. “There are dinosaurs with hair?”

Dandelion opened his mouth to argue, then said, “Something like that.”

While Newt imagined an allosaurus with a head of Dandelion’s short black hair painted dull gray, they advanced through the market and reached a large hall made entirely of glass.

“This is the Blacksmiths’ Guild’s shopping area. The foundries and workshops are in the Quarter of Crafts, in much better fortified buildings, but the guild’s shops are in this three-story complex. Guild members can rent space for a reasonable price, but the best artisans have no presence here. They sell their items almost as soon as they cool, if they have not sold them before or are working on a backlog of commissions.”

Dandelion faced Newt and held his gaze. “My resources are insufficient to procure something like that for you, too.”

Too? He bought such expensive equipment for himself?

“The best equipment should be on the top floor, since people with money prefer less crowded spaces, and the first floor can be crowded.”

Dandelion passed through the open door, and the background drone of the street disappeared as Newt followed a step behind him. The low noise was drowned by people shouting, arguing, and haggling.

“You want sixty-seven gems for that piece of trash?”

“Now I want seventy! You have insulted my craft!”

Shouts, curses, and prices made Newt’s skin crawl.

“The stairs are this way,” Dandelion turned left and climbed a set of steel spiral stairs.

Newt gawked at the stairs and the see-through wall before reaching a metal platform suspended some ten feet above ground. The second floor was much quieter, with larger shops and a tenth of the customers compared to the floor below.

The nearest shop had a display of swords and daggers, the banner hanging next to them declaring the goods, ‘The Best Third Realm Blades’. Newt took a step forward, but Dandelion grabbed his shoulder and motioned him further up the stairs.

“Is he falsely advertising?” Newt asked, and Dandelion shrugged.

“The quality of a weapon depends on the user. A true sword-master armed with a club can beat the life out of a fat, lazy king wielding a legendary blade. Smoothflow’s blades are decent, but they are only at the third realm. Old Swiftbeak, on the floor above, is selling fourth realm weapons. I was thinking we let him check your spear, then we could buy you a blade you can use until you hit the fifth realm.”

Newt gulped, only one thought on his mind. “How much do his items cost?”

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“At least seventy fourth realm spirit gems for knives and such, several hundred for good short-swords. Close your mouth.”

Newt closed his slack jaw.

“I would have to work for you for centuries,” Newt stuttered, drawing a smirk from Dandelion.

“Not even close, but if you are uncomfortable with such an expensive piece of life-saving equipment, we can pick something from Smoothflow’s shop. I just wanted to save you a couple hundred third realm spirit gems, while forcing you to use a superior weapon, which could save your life and serve you a while into the fifth realm.”

Newt licked his lips. The prospect of using a better weapon immediately was tempting, saving a lot of spirit gems even more tempting, but after a moment he realized he did not understand how he would save the gems.

“How am I saving anything?”

“Well, you will keep using your third realm weapon into the higher realm for as long as possible.” Newt nodded, that was his plan, and Dandelion continued explaining. “Eventually, the sword will break or you will be forced to sell it. A used weapon can fetch up to half its original price, often less because it must have suffered some damage over the years of use. So, at best you take back half the money you spend now, or nothing at worst. But when you take back that half, it will be mere pocket change for you, so in reality the money you spend now is wasted.”

Newt frowned. Dandelion was making a point, but…

“Won’t the same happen with the fourth realm sword when I hit the fifth realm?”

“It will, but you buy a sixth realm sword at the fifth realm, and you use that one. That way, you need not buy a new weapon for every realm, but for every other, and that weapon is superior, giving you an edge for a very long time, allowing you to pay for it more easily.”

In theory, the logic sounded fine, but Newt did not live in theory.

“But I don’t have that kind of money!”

“You have no money!” Dandelion threw his arms up. “At all! What difference does it make if you will end up in debt whatever you do?”

Newt frowned at Dandelion’s amused smile.

“You aren’t doing this for money I would owe you. You want favors. It’s the same with the Everfrost Palace people. You are taking them on a mission, so they find something good, and they owe you. Is that right?”

Dandelion shrugged. “It is very likely we find something useful in a den of an ancient high realm spirit beast sharing their element. Elder Frostgrave saw through my intention.”

Newt was silent. There was a piece which did not fit. Why him? If Dandelion wanted to bring the disciples of the Everfrost Palace on a staged fortuitous encounter, why would he need Newt?

They stood in silence a step away from the stairway, and a pair of cultivators passed them while Dandelion just stood there, watching Newt with a smile. It was a wretched smile. Newt hated it.

Wait… No? He can’t be.

“Are you trying to play matchmaker?” Newt whispered, and Dandelion nodded, amused and satisfied Newt figured it out on his own.

“They are older than you, but they are beautiful and have a powerful background—”

“No,” Newt said.

“No, why?”

“Because I’m not doing it.”

“I know. I asked why, not what.”

Newt stared at a moment, confused.

“Why are you not doing it? They are beautiful, talented, wealthy, and have an important master. You, on the other hand, need a woman.”

“I don’t!” Newt said louder than he wanted.

“I don’t,” he repeated in a calmer tone, looking around, “need a woman. Jasmine was a huge disappointment. I’m lucky I didn’t end up with a heart demon. And I guess I have you to thank for that. If you had not shown me how disgusting she was, I would have been attached to her, maybe even married her, and who knows what would have happened. Thank you, but no.”

Newt expected Dandelion would keep arguing, but the man simply bobbed his head once.

“Good. You know what you want, what you do not want. I will stop trying to act as your wingman, I will stop mentioning brothels, and pulling strings to have you meet a pretty lady.”

Newt smiled, grateful because Dandelion was reasonable. “Thank you, but why try to find me a romantic interest in the first place?”

“Well, if you fell in love with one of the ladies, and she loved you back, it would make both of you happy, as well as Elder Frostgrave. Three pterodactyls with one stone so to speak.”

Newt thought about it and nodded. The distraction helped him clear his mind regarding his new sword.

“Let’s go up, we will buy a fourth realm sword and have Swiftbleak check out my ancestral item.”

“Swiftbeak,” Dandelion corrected. “Get the name right, or do not speak it at all.”

Then he turned around and headed up the stairs one more floor.

The third floor was empty of customers, and only had three shops with merchandise in them while the rest gaped empty.

One had shields and entire sets of heavy armor, all made of metal. The second one sold leather wares, all covered in glistening dino scales. It had everything from light armors to seemingly common gloves.

Dandelion headed for the third store, the one adorned with a red flag, which simply said, ‘Swiftbeak’s wares’.