The aroma of scented soap perfumed the elevator, a soft whir in the background as it lingered on the ground-floor. Fluttering particles infiltrated her windbreaker, soothing the fatigue gained during the month of hell. It took a conscious effort to not slide away into a lulled nap.

Caro rolled a hand across the button panel, as if she was showcasing it in an auction. “Where we heading first?”

Humming, Val’s finger roamed the options, until a familiar button stole her attention. “Here.”

“Floor Forty-five…” She whisked out the folder given by Instructor Hawke, eyes flitting back and forth as she reread the script. “The Scribal Branch.” Lines creased her brow. “What on Spiravale is that?”

“Something important.” Pressing the number, Val felt her weight increase as the elevator ascended upwards. “Plus, I know someone there, she could give us tips.”

The shaft dinged as they reached the 45th floor, sliding open to display the circular foyer. “Watch yourself,” Val warned as they exited the silenced area, a bombardment of clamour crashing their eardrums. She sifted through the crowd like an expert, taking the right turns, and heading down the correct detours.

As the desks staffed by young clerks came into view, she sighted Charlee at the receptionist's table. Perfect. Head cradled in a palm, Charlee’s mind seemed far off. Idle gaze roaming the branch, her blank expression brightened once she spotted Val. “Hey girl!”

“Charlee, hi,” Val leaned on the counter, gesturing to the mage by her side. “I’d like you to meet Caro, a friend from the Second Halo.”

“The prodigy of the midborn class,” she said. “It’s always great to encounter a growing legend.”

“The same,” Caro grinned. “Heard you’re undefeatable at a game of Battle. I’d love to test that rumour some time.”

“Anyday, anytime,” the enchanter smirked. “I’ll be right here.”

“I have a feeling I’ll regret introducing you two,” Val muttered. “Won’t get any sleep.”

Caro laughed. “That's a you problem.”

“Can’t say I don’t agree,” Charlee added. “Alright, I know you didn’t come here just to talk. What’s up?”

“So, we finished our obligatory training a few hours ago,” Val supplied. “We’re wondering what to buy as Novice adventurers, or if there are items we should own as Strikers specifically.”

“I got you covered, just give me a sec.” Rising to her feet, Charlee left her station through the swaying doors. Her blue robes disappeared in the sea of adventurers, hidden by mages taller than even Caro. She came jogging back with scrolls stacked higher than her eyeline, a paper tower wobbling at each step.

The girls gave her a hand in placing it on the desk, and Charlee nodded to them both.

These—” she gestured to the rolled-up papers, tied by ribbons varying in colour— “are all the types of enchantments I’d advise you to get. Six healing scrolls each, three at G1, two at G2 and one at G3.”

She pointed to the red-ribboned scroll first, the orange-ribboned next and the green-ribboned. Yet another colour-based system.

“The rest are manipulative spells. In the case your Anchor is compromised, these will slow the aether creatures enough to give you time to run and survive. A key aspect of diving,” Charlee motioned to the surroundings. “Ask anyone else, they’ll tell you the same.”

“Thanks, Charlee.” Val plucked the scrolls, stuffing them into her bag. “How much?”

“Don’t worry about it now,” Charlee said, waving the fee away. “As new adventurers, we’re required to put your purchases under a tab. You can pay it off on your own time in a month’s time with a 30% discount”

Caro’s face glowed. “That means I can go on a shopping spree… without limits.”

“Don’t go too hard, though. Your future self would hate you for that.” Charlee chuckled. “I’d recommend heading to the Adventurer’s Market next to get a couple of magitech tools. The Artisan’s branch is also there, so you can grab garments, charms and everything in between suited for diving.

“Noted,” Val said, mentally jotting the details in her brain.

“And I would hold off on entering the smithery until you have enough rednotes to get something actually worth buying. They don’t tell you this, but your instructor is obligated to give you at least one weapon.”

“For real?” Caro asked.

Charlee nodded. “Instead, spend the rest on getting essential tonics like aether potions, elemental boost elixirs and the like. Those carry you a long way.”

“Appreciate it, Charles.”

Charlee smiled so wide, her eyes vanished into two, happy lines. “Anytime, Val.”

~

As the lift doors yawned open, they arrived at another floor.

A wave of pressure submerged Val, possessing elemental accents that shocked her synapses to oblivion. The weight of an ocean, the searing heat of the sun, the eroding edge of dust—all of it mixed into an explosion overriding her senses.

Someone looped a necklace around her neck and, in a blink, the overwhelming feeling vanished. She gasped, resurfacing into reality. Woah.

“You good?” Caro rubbed circles on her back. “For a minute, you looked like how I did on the Grav-line.”

Val swallowed as she nodded, getting out a “Just fine.”

“My deepest apologies, adventurer.” An attendant to the side bowed, his face warped in a grimace. “Adventurers on this floor aren’t instructed to reign in their aura. I recommend keeping the protective ward on your person. Once again, I apologize.”

“No worries.” Val played with the glass sphere, refracting light in every direction “I happen to be more sensitive, is all.”

He bowed once more, gesuturing to the left. “Beginners like yourselves should take this route. It contains goods applicable to you and carries adventurers of your level.”

At his word, the pair walked into the far side of Adventurer’s Market, void of distraction. If not for taking an elevator to arrive, she would’ve mistaken herself outside in a flea market. I suppose it’s close enough to one.

The broad cobblestone leading from the arching entrance split into three paths, hemmed by timber-themed stores of all kinds. It ranged from advanced structures of clear-coated, glossy walls of lumber to the austere, cabin-style buildings with logs nailed together.

Chatting adventurers strolled by, bags and snacks in hand as lamps lit the way, azure flames dancing within. The ceiling appeared to be another sheen, glamoured to portray the night sky. It’s pretty accurate too, Val noticed as they walked among others. While rusty in stargazing, she still remembered a little of what her dad taught her.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Oh we are definitely going here,” Caro grinned up at a building named Affordable Jeweller’s House. Upon entering, they took a shine to the store. An array of ornaments lined the wooden walls and shelves, allure hanging on every corner. Glittery necklaces hung on mannequins, bangles dangled on posts, and piercings of varying styles swayed on hooks—all appealing to the girls.

“Look at these bracelets, Val!”

“It’s going to be hard to wear while wielding a great axe.”

“I know but… the rosegold goes so well with my aesthetic.”

“Think twice, Caro. Think twice.”

“You’re right,” she sighed, hanging back where it belonged. “Another time.”

“Cee, I need you to see this necklace. It's super…. hold on.” Val squinted at the tag. “Three hundred bucks—are they mad?”

“This one’s worth two grand.”

“Who considers any of this affordable?”

“Let’s just keep looking.”

As Val sifted through the never-ending options, she soon came to realize, to her dismay, that none of the items here would do her any good within a rift. Or were too costly to buy. At most, the jewellery displayed could be worn to fancy dinners with the benefit of a couple extra perks.

“The whole shop’s meh. Like look at those hoops,” Caro hissed. “Who wears hoops the size of onion rings to a fight?”

Val sighed, on the verge of giving up, until she discovered a set of piercings not as flashy as the others. It was a dull grey, with three tooth-shaped ornaments connected by a sleek piece of metal. She plucked it off its shelf and read the tag.

A Windblade’s Wolf’s Favour

In honour of its past owner, the wearer gains the favour of the winds, lighting their feet and strengthening their aerodynamics.

[G1 Charm] - 50 Credits/ 1 Small Remnant.

“This isn’t bad for the price of fifty rednotes.” Val replaced her cartilage piercings with the charmed item. The teeth were no larger than her fingernail, it barely dangled, reducing the risk of someone ripping it out of her ear.

Charms, she learned, were a bit different than your average enchantment. As its natural counterpart, the effects were natural blessings possessed by certain things, made into apparel by an Artificer of some kind.

No energy or will was required of the wearer.

“At least one of us got something from this trip,” Caro mumbled as the two went over to the store clerk and cashed it out.

Back on the cobblestone path, Val equipped her first piece of adventurer attire. She almost stumbled forward as the change occurred, adjusting to the ease of her movements. Her boots seemed more streamlined, cutting through the atmosphere and speeding her steps.

Perhaps due to her feather-like feet, they reached their next destination in minutes. Spanning across the road for hundreds of meters, the department store was hard to miss. Inside, the cupboards were stocked with an assortment of magitech—scrolls, blasters, portable screens.

“Split and meet up in fifteen?” Caro suggested.

Val nodded. “Sure, I like the sound of that.”

Caro pretty much bolted the moment Val finished her first word, and she chuckled in amusement. Wandering the carpeted halls, she happened to stumble onto the E-shield section. At the center, a multitude of rods rested inside the repositories of a revolving apparatus. The object looked like an elaborate umbrella holder at the entrance of lavished homes.

The shelves curved in on the construct, and the variety of E-shields outclassed Magus Hawke’s collection by far.

Sliding her fingers across the metal bars, she plucked an azure staff, sleek and stylized. Pushing aether strands out of her AV, she fed the tool energy and it sucked it up voraciously. Wings of teal lightning sprouted from its side, biting at everything in its vicinity. Different elements create shields similar to their innate aspects. Interesting.

While the other rods called her too, she decided to pluck out a customary water E-shield and move on. She’d be more open if she could actually test it, yet the one stab at the lightning device scorched the wood shelves black. In that case, what would fire do?

Busy browsing the store, a vermillion knuckle brace caught her eye, its tag all but demanding experimentation.

A drop of red

Earns bloodshed

“Does it now?” she muttered. She wiggled the weapon on her dominant fist, wincing as she bit into her thumb. Smudging the viscous liquid onto the tool, a glove of red energy arose. Her hand warmed as the transparent substance submerged her hand. Something tugged at her primitive instincts to run. Fortunately, the occurrence vanished three seconds in, and she took it as a sign to move on.

Strolling into the utility end of the store, Val ambled to every corner, eager to see what she could find. An epoxy orb drew her attention, its pulsing cerulean exterior unordinary within the still section.

Shake and wait, the tag read, tugging at her curiosity. Giving in, she did as told, surprised at the trickle of water leaking through her fingers. Though she hadn’t entered a rift officially, she figured the item would be handy on several occasions. After all, an endless, mobile fountain she could carry to the depths of any area seemed to be worth the 200 rednotes.

Val’s eyebrows knitted together as her socks stuck to her toes, growing damper by the second. She glanced down to find a torrent pouring out of the device, pooling at her feet. She scrambled for an off-button, panicking as she rolled over the orb to find none. Returning the item to its home, she hurried out of the aisles and straight to check-out.

More than twenty minutes later, Caro came ambling in with more things than she could carry. Heaving the items on the table and abandoning them there, she came back with double the numbers of items she had before.

“I’ll take this, this one, that, this—oh, can’t forget the blasters!—and the refractive E-shield.” Caro beamed at the cashier, who scratched his head at the pile of magitech stacked on his counter.

“You know, this probably costs way over a thousand bills,” he deadpanned and glanced at Val, his call for aid clear through his scrunched nose. She gave a helpless shrug, and the man had to face the daunting customer at his feet alone.

“Probably another hundred rednotes on top of that to actually be able to carry it out of here, if you want to buy a spatial bag,” he warned.

“Perfect! Just put it on my tab.”

Val, resigned to her friend’s antics, could only facepalm in hopes the impact would help her forget this ever occurred.

Whatever happened to being affordable?

…

Caro hummed a happy tune on the streets of Adventurer’s Market. With a bag in either arm, she looked like a customer who’d gone on a reasonable, healthy shopping splurge. That’s simply the outside.

The size deceived the eyes, hiding a shield large enough to cover Val’s entire width. If there was a place worth looking through, the girls headed there with no questions asked. They’d stocked on various items, though Val guessed a majority was to be returned in the next few weeks.

The trip to the alchemy lab proved to be the most fruitful. Under fifty rednotes or less, the tonics on her levels were both affordable and useful. Ranging from kinesthetic potions able to supplement her strength to auxiliary boosters, augmenting her cognition, she’d yet to witness a futile alchemic creation. For rift diving, that is.

You could not take a step inside the prosaic section and not spot a beauty product. Caro fell victim in a matter of seconds, whisking away the bottles by the tens. She hardly knew what else lived inside there and—quite honestly—she’d be better off not knowing. Throwing the notion to the rear of her thoughts, as they stepped foot inside an armour shop. Filled with various combat wear, the air carried the rusty tang of metal.

“Ah, Charlee told me you’d be coming!” A stout man approached from behind a workshop, smearing his hands on his soiled apron. “Come, come,” he opened a door to a side room. “Your armour’s in here.”

Caro turned to Val. “Already?”

Val conveyed her confusion with an upward tilt of the shoulder, trailing the man’s heels. It wasn’t hard to spot Caro’s armour set, painted a deep red that suited her. A pair of broad shoulder plates hung by the wall, the connected chest plate set on the table beneath.

Her bottoms were an arrangement of shifting leg guards, tied together by latches at the right ends. An extensive sheet held clasps for her greataxe, promoting the ability to take it out in haste.

Val’s was a slim model, honing in on a minimalist style. She couldn’t wait to spend the next few hours dissecting the nooks and crannies of the attire.

“Val, you have got to thank Charlee for me.”

"That's if I don't thank her on my own behalf first."