Cove’s plan was a good call, as the noise of the market ended up drowning any attempts at continuing the conversation we had. We exchanged party requests and split, agreeing to meet back up in an hour. Sinbad angled to the foreign artifacts, while Cove vanished through one turn and the next, a group of players masking his departure to the Baazar, a section of the market where players set up their own shops. Between eying the map and the road, I caught glimpses of Ani and Ranch as they played over the rooftops, ducking beneath the railings and soaring over alleyways.
The map continued on for blocks and blocks, and an hour almost felt like too little time to scout out the best equipment for what I could afford. The Baazar was more likely to contain rare items, but Zenith Online players were not known for being kind. Likewise, the NPC merchants always had stock and had similar prices across the board but were limited to selling standard equipment.
A quick glance at the prices in the Baazar had me spinning on my heel, heading back to the NPC Merchants. The rare items would have to wait until I’d completed quite a few more sidequests. I peered hesitantly at the NPC-manned clothing ship, relaxing at the significantly lower prices. This was what affordability looked like. I skimmed through the available clothing items, searching for something that wouldn’t make me look like an idiot while also being slightly functional. The special suits used by their space and undersea explorers were the first items of clothing to catch my eye, and I bypassed the separate AI-integrated pants and shirts available. The single suit, I could see at a glance, was already far cheaper.
My wallet felt light in my inventory as the bright colors and array of abilities of the higher quality items called to me. Tempted, I nearly bought an airtight suit that boosted my abilities and defense by an even 25% but wouldn’t have allowed me to purchase any weapons. The standard weapons for each class were hardly worth using. With a reluctant sigh, I dropped my hold on the unique fabric and moved to look elsewhere.
I settled on a sandy swirl patterned suit with an across-the-board defense boost of 15% and a few batches of red and yellow dye, avoiding even a glimpse of the superior suit as I walked past. The shop next door was an accessory shop showcasing armor, overshirts, jackets, boots, gloves, helmets, hats, and jewelry. I picked up some armor, boots, a belt, and some gloves before skimming the jewelry. With the exception of the earrings that had quite literally magically appeared on my person, I hadn’t been much of a jewelry wearer, feeling as though the gilded chains and shining jewels had never suited me.
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Most of the jewelry was either out of my price range or offered such low enhancements they weren’t worth the money I’d spend. Earrings I intended to skip altogether when a familiar red shimmer caught my eye. I plucked one of the pair from its stand, rolling it around in my palm and holding it up to the light, inspecting it closer.
My heart thudded in my chest. I replaced the earring and pulled open its ability window. As I read over the details, my left hand lifted up to finger the earrings in my ear. From the cut of the red stone to the ability, it was identical to the earrings sold here.
“...you might want to get another pair of those. They’ll come in handy, later.”
Well, that answered a few of the questions I had about the earrings but opened up an entire chapter’s worth of more.
I checked the price, not foolish enough to ignore logical advice from someone as powerful as Black Cat and White Owl. I didn’t need to compare it with my wallet. Too many zeros stared back. Even between the three of us, I doubted I’d be able to afford the earrings. Paths redirected themselves in my mind as I attempted to calculate how many side quests I’d need to complete the afford them, the number enough to depress me further. I lingered around the earrings longer than I ought to have, irrationally afraid they’d disappear before I could come back for them.
The numbers on the clock hovering at the edge of my vision changed, and I yanked myself away. My footsteps dragged as I followed the map to the weapons shop. A quick look showed that even the cheapest of the lot was far higher end than anything I had, with the expectation that anyone who’d gotten this far in the game wouldn’t bother with anything less. While a few items were far outside my price range, I settled for slightly pricier weapons for my mage, gunslinger, and swordsman class, while only going with cheap upgrades for the rest, figuring they wouldn’t be as valuable in keeping me alive.
Only a few minutes remained as I finished, not enough to meet back up with the others and go through the inventory of another shop. I checked the map, finding Sinbad and Cove both near the center of the Baazar. I kept an eye on the map as I wove through the streets, curiously peeking at the ridiculously high-priced goods sold by players as I passed. Most of their clothes, weapons, and accessories were for aesthetic purposes, holding only basic enhancements and protections. A few appeared worth the price, one particular cloak offering various stealth and identity protection boosts outside of those offered by the thief class.
Ani and Ranch tumbled past my feet as I neared the center of the Baazar, rolling to a stop in front of the aforementioned cloak. I shook my head and moved on.