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The next morning I immediately set off to get the stuff I needed for my Adventure. I got Camping gear, a bunch of food rations, and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. All in all everything cost me around 2 gold coins. It was only that expensive, because I got an exaggerated amount of food. I'll probably have trouble carrying it.
What can I say I like to eat, I'm trying to eliminate all possible dangers on this journey, and I'm certainly making sure “dying of hunger” is checked off. Next on the list is not dying from an axe to my head. The only way to prevent that is to get a sharper axe myself.
Once I get back home I sort out all my weapons, not very many. Laid out on the table were my Knife, my Hunting Blade, and my cool Elemental Sling along with its ammo. All 20 types of special ammo, about 2 to 3 of each type, along with the cheap disposable ones. I was mowing over where I could get more ammo. I had bought a couple steel balls while I was out in town, I'm not really sure what their used for but they work perfectly as ammo.
I separated my basic ammo and my special ammo. I’m quite certain I have a good amount of both but i'm not trying to go on this journey until I'm absolutely confident everything is set. I just feel like im missing something i'm not sure what it is though.
Then it hits me that's right a Map I should probably get a good map of the country so I know where I'm going. Maybe they have a good one on the "Black Market". I'll try my best not to get scammed out of all my money. I'm definitely not wasting my Platinum coin anytime soon, not until I find something truly worthy.
I head to a special part of town, located towards the outskirts but not quite there yet. It's actually not too far from the market district. I first discovered this place in my mid teens when I was 15 years old, from some hoodlum friends I stopped talking to a long time ago.
It was from here that I bought my first "Magic Sensing Crystal". After completely throwing away months of saved up money to buy several of these things, I finally got some sense and gave up. Ever since then I don't really come here that often anymore. The main reason being everything’s super cool, but also super expensive.
This district is called "Beans Village Black Market" because things that aren't supposed to be sold to civilians can be bought here.
Here you can buy anything from good "Unranked Weapons" and materials, all the way up to the coveted "Ranked Weapons". It's the place to find useful adventurer, survival, and combat items, as well as Magic items,Advanced Tech items, special items the list is never ending.
Even so it's not really that big a deal to come shop here, the local authorities don't really mind the place, and although Volunterra does have some regulations on certain weapons and munitions, the Ranker culture in this world makes it so that innumerous places like this pop up all over the country.
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They don't really have the time or energy to shut these places down. And lowkey they kind of need and encourage these kinds of markets to foster "up and coming talents".
This place is where most of the towns Adventurers, Prospects, and Black Market Merchants, congregate to trade with each other. If places like this didn't exist becoming a Ranker would be just a pipe dream for many, or it would severely delay people’s ascendance.
In Volunterra there are a couple ways to acquire a weapon. The most common and legal way was to buy one at your local armory, weapons shop, or hunting store.
The problem is most of these stores, if your village even had one, had limited stock, long order waits, required a lot of paperwork, and were usually limited to “Basic Tier” “Unranked” weapons, of the melee and firearm category. You probably weren’t going to get into the Ranker list anytime soon with those kinds of weapons.
The second option was to find out the whereabouts of a Ranker Trading post or its like. Volunterras Ranker community was huge, but finding places were they congregate to trade or vendors that sell Ranker level items was extremely difficult. Most of this information was only exchanged among the community itself. It was also quite dangerous to even be in one of these places if you didn't have the ability to defend yourself.
When people want something though, there is always a way, the needy got together, and the underworld organized, and so Black Markets came to be.
Aspiring Adventurers and Prospects, as well as smugglers, treasure hunters, illegal and clandestine forgers, shady dealers, people of all types got together to trade with unconventional, illegal, and amazing merchandize, not fit for a normal market, fueling the rise of this industry.
In Potestera Black Markets it wasn't guaranteed you would get a Ranker level item, but at the very least you would find something worth buying. For "would be" Rankers this was the go to place to stock up on all the essentials. The problem was you definitely had to be ready to dish out some coin.
Still even though Black Market items are expensive, they aren't as expensive as Ranker vendors, at least so i've heard, and most of them work with the local economy and currency. Unlike Ranker markets which usually only trade in Platinum or other qualified special currency.
This time I shouldn't have to waste that much money, I'm only here for a good up to date map. I didn't go to regular shops because their maps are probably pretty old and of bad quality, not updated with the current Ranker environment. Maybe I can even find a "Seeir Organization Map". Reading their file has really opened up my eyes to quality. Still looking around a bit can't hurt right.