'What artifact should I choose?'
He decided not to engage Axiom's singularity for this divination and used his own instead. Given that he'd managed to perceive at least Cedric's name on his first try using his singularity, it suggested that, even though it wasn't at Cedric's level, it wasn't too far behind either. This, in turn, meant his personal divinations could still be quite useful.
With that in mind, he repeated his query and let the dreams take over him.
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A crystal appeared in his sight, sitting inside what appeared to be a drawer represented by sparse angular lines and sharp edges. However, the crystal itself was detailed to a degree that stood out in the vista like a sore thumb. It was as if it was made of millions upon millions of substructures that had their own nuance.
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"Hahhh," he suddenly jolted awake, kicked out of the dream just like that. He furrowed his brows, That's it? What even was that thing?
It wasn't one of the three options he was given. So, is it one of the items from the ledger? he wondered. Or it could just be a failure, and I ended up dreaming of some random artifact?
He'd checked the ledger to get more information about his three options and to see if he could find a better one. It seemed to have done the latter more than the former.
But that item is very intricate. He had spent a lot of time scrutinizing structures with his general perception and in the dream. Nothing else came close to being as complex.
Resting his face on his chin, he mused, Could it be an item with great affinity to the structure fundamental?
If that were the case, it would make sense that he saw it during the divination when asked what artifact to choose. Maybe that was a better option because of its synergy with him?
But what even was it? He didn't see any names in the dream, and he couldn't identify it without checking all these hundreds of drawers.
Narrowing his eyes, he got back up and began perusing the ledger once again. Unsurprisingly, it was more than just a list of the items. Some pages had 'archivist notes' about the artifacts in question. However, they were few and far between—most pages were left empty.
So he began to speed-read everything while keeping an eye out for any descriptions that mentioned a glassy crystal. A few minutes later, when he couldn't find anything related to what he saw, he wondered, Maybe I can just describe it to Selena?
However, he soon shook his head, Ughh, no. I want to keep my divination skills down low until I can't. And he had a better idea. What if I divine again now that I have this extra information.
Nodding, he settled down on a chair once again and closed his eyes. He decided to change the direction of his question this time and asked, What is the name of that crystalline item?
What is the name of that crystalline item?
What is the name of that crystalline item?
He repeated it as he forced himself to sleep another time.
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In the utter darkness, an empty rectangle appeared in the center, sitting in a room of lines and shapes. Aside from that, close to the bottom boundary of that rectangle, thousands of tiny lines congregated and crisscrossed in a small row.
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His eyes jolted back open, and he sat upright, his face a mask of confusion. What the fuck is that, now?
He wondered again if these arbitrary sights were the unified perspective's way of toying with him today. Hahh, I won't get anywhere if I assume that. He shook his head and got up, and the moment he stood in front of the ledger once again, a sudden sense of deja vu hit him.
Hmmm, he scratched his chin. Is it…
He moved a bit to the right and back, micro-adjusting himself and framing the ledger so it was in the same position as that rectangle in the dream. Running his finger down the length of the tall ledger, he stopped exactly where that jumble of lines had shown up in the dream.
It ended at a name. He walked closer and read it. 'Two-Faced Parasite,' it said.
Oh? His curiosity was piqued. That didn't seem random at all. He began flipping the ledger to check where he'd seen this name.
At that moment—
"Ooh, getting touchy, are we?" came a voice, and Vern instinctively jerked back as if he was caught committing a crime. What, no? He internally berated himself for flinching before saying with bravado, "I'm just looking up what's available to me at my clearance."
"Are you…?" she smiled and walked right up to him. "Hohh? Planning to purchase something on top of an illusion artifact? I wouldn't warn you if you were my customer, but since it's Vigil's stuff, I'll tell you it's not a good idea to use too many artifacts at the same time."
Vern turned to her, and she added, "Their negatives can add up really quickly, and you'll find it more trouble to handle the repercussions than make use of their positives."
He nodded, "Don't worry, I am just looking at the options." Taking this chance, he gestured at his finger with his eyes and asked, "Do you know about this one? It feels like it might be of use for my situation."
She leaned closer to get a better look and responded before long, "Hmm, hmmmmmm, that might actually…" But then, she suddenly jolted back, "No! You won't coerce me into giving something that's better suited for those around third shade!"
Third shade? Would it be very risky? But then why would it come up as the divination result as the best choice for me? He clicked his tongue. It was a bit of a conundrum.
"Can I at least see it?" he asked, hopeful. If nothing, he could at least confirm whether he'd interpreted the dream correctly or not.
She folded her hands and looked past him, mumbling, "Hmm, he hasn't bought anything. But he's a good boy. But he hasn't bought anything! Maybe he'll buy something? But he hasn't. But will he…"
After a while, she looked up, "Fine! You win. But only this time."
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Vern had no clue what was going through her head, and something told him it was better that way. So he kept his mouth shut and thanked her with his gestures.
She begrudgingly sent another one of her paper planes to fetch it. He watched it all like a hawk, and the moment she opened this new case, a smile blossomed on his face. That's it! He'd interpreted it right.
Inside the little case sat an intricate, organic-looking crystal with tendrils shooting off all over its surface. Heck, it actually justified its name now that he looked at it with his eyes. Each of its two faces had different colors—one red, one blue, and the tendrils made it look like a…parasite? Wait. Is it really a parasite?
She read the tiny script on the case in her own manner as usual, "So, this is a two-faced parasite, and it conjoins two items together, allowing them to be the opposite face of each other and switch their forms on the fly."
Vern raised his eyebrows. So the divination was actually pretty accurate. That's indeed one way to achieve what I want. Still, he nodded and waited to hear the catch.
"Let's see…" she said, turning the case around, "The effect of conjoining is permanent, making it a one-time use artifact. Bad for business if you ask me."
Vern shrugged. He didn't mind that.
"Switching to a blue face is free; however, turning to the red face can cause one to lose their sense of distance for a while."
Hmm, I wonder if I can counter that using my perception that it's all about structure.
"Also, it's not really effective against observers with higher shades than you."
"That's most artifacts, no?"
"Yes and no. Pay me twenty sovereigns if you want to know."
"…" Vern was speechless. That's the salary I got from Vigil for one whole month!
"Oh, no. Do we have another penny pincher here?" But then, she read something and giggled, "Heh, I knew I was forgetting something. It's this little devil."
"Devil…?"
"It's in the name. It's a parasite. Its whole idea is that it'll steal a percent of representation you pour into this little thing. Which is to say, it's essentially the worst kind of artifact to bind your primary weapon with."
"Oh…." his hopes came crashing down as he thought, Okay, that's definitely not ideal. Do I really have to pick one of the previous ones?
She snapped the case back shut with a Click and turned to him, "Satisfied?"
He wasn't. The dream divination had shown him this artifact as his best choice, and it was turning out to be worse than even his prior options.
Unsure, he probed, "What's the percent of the amount it steals?" If it was low enough, it might still be useful.
Perturbed, she held the case in front of herself and read for a bit before chuckling, "It says anywhere up to one hundred percent. What a joke."
Vern visibly winced. Yeah, no. But then, he noticed the keyword. "Up to? What's the factor that decides how much it steals?"
Selena grabbed a strand of her hair, which was trying to hide her face, and tucked it behind her ear before replying in an unsure voice, "Uhh…I would think it's related to one's affinity with it? Enh, I don't know. It's not my merchandise, after all. I only get paid so much for this job."
"Interesting," he muttered as he closed in. If his dream representation was right, this thing was heavily skewed towards the structure fundamental. That was to say, his affinity with it should be pretty solid.
Vern extended his hand to try and touch the case, only for Selena to slap his hand away, "Bad boy."
"Hear me out…" he began.
"No. It's not just far above your level; it's harmful, too. If you want it, come back a couple of months later when you've ascended to second shade."
"But I think I have a great affinity with it."
"Tch. You wish."
"On lady's name, I am not joking around, Selena. I really feel like my viewpoint's quite in synergy with it." That's all he could say. He wasn't about to start explaining his theory of fundamentals, and why this thing probably had great synergy with him.
She eyed him with suspicion before pulling it back and opening the case for herself. "I can be the judge of that." Her eyes and the stars within glowed purple, and suddenly, the tendrils around the…parasite began to flail around.
After a bit, she grumbled, "What a jerk. It's eating up almost three-quarters of my representation."
Then, she pointed at Vern, "Now you try observing it, but just a single glance. Any more, and I will confiscate your coat as punishment," and she whispered the rest, "It looks quite expensive."
Vern ignored the supposed punishment, it wouldn't come to that. He was all for controlled experiments. He nodded and did exactly as told. He didn't know how she was going to measure the loss of representation, but he was sure he could measure it himself to an extent.
A white ring materialized within his eyes for but an instant as he focused very heavily on how much representation went into the parasite and how much was released back out.
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"Ohhh…" she gasped. "I…don't see the difference." Unbelieving, she said, "Do it again."
Vern did. It was hard to judge exact numbers, but it looked to be around three to seven percent, which was honestly acceptable to him.
"What the hell?"
She turned towards him, her face a mix of surprise, curiosity, and annoyance. She sighed, "Even insects discriminate against me because of my age."
She didn't look old to him, but even he knew not to ask a woman about her age. Not letting such a taboo topic cloud the air, he asked, "So…is it safe for me to use it?"
"Looks like it," she admitted after a while.
Vern slowly extended his hands towards the case once again, this time in hopes of taking it from her. She watched him intently, and the moment his finger touched it, she slapped it once again.
He knew it was coming, but not why. So he used the full range of his facial expressions and tried to portray as if he was wronged.
She scoffed and gestured with her thumb and two fingers, clearly saying, 'Where's the money?'
Vern gasped in realization. Lady Antonia had subsidized a second-shade artifact, not this. He gestured back, 'How much?'
She extended her whole palm with five fingers.
"…"
Unable to communicate like this anymore, he gave up and asked, "…five crowns?"
She blinked and looked at him like she'd seen a disgusting thing.
"Five sovereigns?"
She narrowed her eyes, but the loathing almost became palpable.
"Fifty…?"
She rolled her eyes and shrugged like this should have been obvious.
Damn. That's more than one-third of all my savings.
"Does this already include the deduction for what Lady Antonia promised me?"
She nodded.
Lady-above, he gasped. "…can you do a little lower?" he asked in a meek voice.
She puckered her lips and actually laughed out loud this time before breaking her spell of miming, "How cute. These are not my artifacts, boy. They belong to the Vigil. There is no negotiation. The prices are already quite low compared to the market. I would personally never sell this for less than 10 Regalia."
A thousand sovereigns? What the hell? That's as expensive as my Lumenscope, for which I took a loan from Master and saved for years. He used to think he was rich. But…this?
Trying his best not to let his shock and seeming poverty become apparent on his face, he ceded, "Fair enough. So I just need to pay fifty sovereigns, and it’ll be mine? Is there a guide on how to use it?"
"Mhm, Rina can help you with all that," she said as one of her planes went out the door—surely to nudge Rina outside. However, when she turned back, her demeanor suddenly changed, and she asked, "Dear customer, now that that's out of the way, I am sure there's something else you need to buy, right?"
"Do I?" he asked, unsure.
"What's the other item you're going to conjoin with this sword? Remember, it can't be something fragile, or you risk it breaking and losing one of the faces of the parasite. And where better to buy it than Selena's Emporium, the best in the town?"
Right. Not just that, he believed that the structure of the second item was also important. It would probably be less costly if he used something of a similar size. However, it also had to be an ordinary object that wouldn't raise suspicions.
Soon, he gave in to her scary mercantile charm and asked, "Do you have any sturdy canes?"