Savani donned his cloak and made sure that his undead was covered so that it wouldn't scare the local populace. While he was ok letting the undead wander around the inn to stop those that would think about breaking into his room, Savani didn't like the idea of making a spectacle of himself for the entire town. Besides if anyone did attack it would be useful to have an element of surprise.
Once that was done Savani left the inn and began to explore. The inn he had been assigned was fairly close to the area of the town that Sages and apprentices would visit. Savani doubted it was by accident, assuming that the governor set it up to better accommodate his status.
After several minutes walking down the busy street Savani saw a walled off section of town. In the wall was a large gate opening with runes written in the stone above the entrance. Using the chip to probe the gate Savani saw that the gate was covered with a film of essence that acted similar to the books back in the library.
Looking at the words Savani noticed they were written in Sage script, the same writing that spells were written in. In fact, the writing was actually a low level spell. After reading it for a bit Savani realized it was less a spell and more of a way to manipulate a persons Spirit that would resonate with the door, acting as a key. With this only Sages and apprentices could open the door, thereby limiting access to them or their followers.
Savani quickly used his Spirit in the way described above the entrance before directing his Spirit at the door. With a creak the gate began to open inward, allowing Savani and his undead minion access to this part of the city. Immediately Savani noticed a difference with the surrounding buildings. For one thing there were far fewer of them. Every store had a gap of at least several feet between them with these gaps acting as smaller roads for apprentices to wander down. Whats more Savani could see in the distance a large open market where people had set up stalls,
"Greetings new traveler! Welcome to the Sage Exchange. Would you like some help finding what you need?"
Spinning around Savani noticed a middle aged man wearing a collar appear out from a gatehouse near the entrance to the market. He noticed that on the collar was a symbol he saw in the governors office along with the symbol of Sage Lances tower. Curious about his identity Savani asked, "and who might you be good sir?"
The middle aged man smiled. "You can just call me the Market Guide. I'm employed by the government to help wandering apprentices who are new to the market find what they are looking for. I'm also the person who will let you know if you are breaking any rules set up by the local tower in order to stop fighting between customers. This way hopefully no spells will be cast and no one gets injured. Several of these stores are run by either the government or apprentices who have decided to make themselves home in this city so its best to avoid causing any trouble."
Savani looked at the guide and began to think. In order to make sure that the various apprentices didn't attack each other the government apparently sent in some mortals to keep an eye on things. The collar was probably meant as a warning, saying this person both represented the local government as well as the local tower. This way the apprentices at least would think twice about how to act, though Savani severely doubted that it would stop a Sage from doing whatever they wanted. Still since only one out of a million could become a Sage this system seemed to be useful.
Looking at the man Savani asked "So you can show me around?" Hearing his question the guide nodded his head. "Very well. If you could help me sell some of my products I would appreciate it."
The man nodded again and began to lead Savani through the market. He told Savani what each shop sold and would buy along with which stores were better at selling what product. For instance if there were two potions shops the guide would tell Savani the difference between similar products.
Savani wondered why he would get such preferential treatment then remembered that the man was also under the influence of the same tower he currently was registered to. After leaving his room Savani had put his tower badge on his waist and the man must have noticed it.
As he walked Savani noticed how the majority of the other shoppers wore cloaks. Some, like Savani, had a badge with a Sage tower crest on it, but the vast majority had no form of identification. From what Savani could gather they were either rogue apprentices, those that never went to a tower for training or were excommunicated for some reason, or they were apprentices who didn't want to show their affiliations.
With the help of the guide Savani managed to trade several of his alchemical creations for a decent number of crystal shards. With his purse now filled with a currency that could be used among the magical community, Savani began to look through the market for any merchant who sold magical knowledge.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Savani wandered through the marketplace before coming across one shop that sold antiques. As apprentices traveled they often collected items from ancient Sages or collapsed Sage Associations. When that happened the items would be sold if the apprentice didn't know how to use them or if the object was of no use to the apprentice. There were two ways of selling such an item. One would be through an auction where the seller would be able to sell it while giving the auction house a part of the profit. The other way was to sell it to an antique shop and state a price you want to sell it for. If the object isn't sold you can come back and try to sell for a cheaper price. However, the object can only be inside the store for 5 years before the shop would send it back and charge you for the shelf space.
Most apprentices would sell through the auction as it would net them more money and took less time. However over the years the auction houses became more stringent with the requirements leaving apprentices with less impressive items to either sell them themselves or to consign it to an antique shop.
Since Savani didn't have anything better to do at the moment, he entered the shop with the guide and his undead. Entering the shop Savani could see shelves covered in glass with various strange items on them. Strange warped skeletons, broken weapons, half destroyed books, and weirdly shaped stones were arranged in different areas of the shop leaving the center bare. Along the back wall was an apprentice sitting behind a counter. Instead of hair, this apprentice had dozens of small green tentacles covered in scales sprouting from the top of his head. Sprouting from his back were several much longer tentacles, a few of which ended in stingers or strange pincer claws similar to that of a crab.
Savani had the chip begin to scan the store as he wandered around. Thanks to the chip along with the pressure coming off the apprentice behind the counter Savani knew that the shop owner was a late stage apprentice, bordering on peak level which made him twice as strong as Savani at the very least. However apprentices of such a level had far more knowledge and skills than those of earlier levels making them far tougher opponents.
[Large amount of wind energy found inside stone structure.]
[Armor fragment has unknown runic fragments on left inner chest.]
[Cauldron has fire runic circle underneath. Possibly to help with alchemical purpose. Runic circle has large gap into cauldron running through edge of circle.]
[....]
[Book on wall has aura pertaining to space magic on it.]
As he browsed the chip kept sending Savani information on the various objects. Some of the objects were useless, having no magical auras around them either due to time or they were counterfeits. Some had runes or partial runes that would be helpful if Savani was an enchanter instead of an alchemist. However, when Savani heard the last message he quickly did a double take.
The book the chip scanned was old. Its leather cover seemed to be half eaten away and the edges of the pages were yellow. Honestly if there wasn't the slightest bit of magical aura on it Savani would have thought it was pulled out of a fire. The fact that it held the aura of Space made it incredibly valuable since that was an essence most didn't come into contact with until they broke through to a Sage.
Seeing this Savani collected it and another book that the chip said had an aura of darkness along with the cauldron with the fire rune. After collecting the three items he brought them to the apprentice at the counter. The apprentice smiled at him showing Savani a mouth filled with pointed teeth as the tentacles on the back began to lift up the items.
After appraising them for a bit the apprentice turns to Savani "two ancient books and a destroyed alchemy cauldron. The total is 104 crystal shards."
Hearing the price Savani frowned. Selling the mixtures before only got him about 300 shards and in an instant he had to spend a third of them. As he goes to pay for the purchase the door behind them opens.
In walks a male with blonde hair in a blue robe. On his hip is a crest from a Sage's tower along with a pouch that looks full. The man looks around for a second before seeing Savani's tower badge. Instantly his eyes narrow as he walks toward the counter. "My my if it isn't one of the apprentices of Sage Lance. How is the old corpse puppeteer?"
Savani blinks as he can't believe anyone would actually dare disrespect a Sage like that, especially when in that Sage's sphere of influence. Taking a closer look at the crest on his hip Savani realizes why he acted this way. The Sage Association that this person is a part of was a rival Association called the Crimson Mist that bordered the Thunder Legions territory. In fact several times over the last few years there have been disputes between the two that have led to casualties.
Seeing that this man was from a rival faction Savani frowned before turning back to the counter. As much as the mans attitude annoyed him Savani didn't want to start something while in the Sage Market. Sadly the man seemed to not share the intention.
Reaching forward he grabbed the cauldron and took it towards himself. "To think this shop had an alchemical cauldron from the Darkwing era. Even with such a flaw it is still worth a pretty penny." The blonde man reaches into his pouch and takes out a large number of crystals. After counting he places a small pile on the counter. "Here's 70 crystals. The cauldron is only worth 60 but concider the rest a tip. The Thunder Legion is known for being one of the more poor Associations." The man grins as he looks at Savani.
Savani acts like he doesn't even notice what is going on. He reaches out and produces 50 crystals before placing them on the counter. Then without a word he takes the two books and puts them in the pack on his hooded undead. The blonde mans face falls as he watches, angered he didn't get a rise out of Savani. His hand twitches before stopping, even though he can try and instigate the other person into attacking the blond man isn't stupid enough to be the one to throw the first strike. Especially with a Market guide watching the whole ordeal in the corner.
The man glares at Savani's back as he leaves the store with his undead and the guide. Once the door closes he huffs before looking around the shop for anything else of interest.