Jake headed towards the first potion store he saw, only to read the sign at the door.
Note
To all customers: This store is cash only; we do not accept item trading as a payment method.
Reading the sign, Jake knew it was time to go find a place to sell his items. He could go ask Alric just to give him some funds or send him to get the things he needed, but Jake knew that would never help him advance, especially since he planned on travelling the universe. He would have nothing to fall back on but himself at that time.
Making a stand here will be for the best. I can't rely on other people's hard work anymore. Now that I've come to this decision, where the hell do I actually sell stuff, and what can I sell? I don't even know the value of objects.
Jake opened up his items list to look over what he had, and after some deliberation, Jake decided on a short list: 900 rounds of .50 cal ammunition, 50 hand grenades, 10 smoke bombs, 1 pistol .50 cal blueprint, 1 Ritualist's pistol .50 cal, and finally, 1 Shielded Runabout blueprint; this included the blueprints on the shield as well. He would have added his clothing, but as of now he had nothing capable of taking their place.
Now all I need is a place to sell it.
He continued walking through the merchant district for a good while until he found himself at the steps of a rundown building that actually would trade items for cash. It also said that they had items for sale as well. One of the things Jake wanted but didn't think he would be able to get was a replacement for his clothing; walking in the universe with clothing that had markings of the wandering Imperium would only get Jake killed. But for now, in his territory, he should be fine. Jake pushed on the rundown-looking wooden door; he had to push hard against the boxes piled up behind it, but he squeezed through the gap.
“We're closed; can't you read?” An old male voice grumbled from deeper inside.
“Sorry, sir, I didn't see a sign. Can I ask if you still buy items or trade them?”
“Yes, and tell your boss the only way he's getting this shop is from my cold dead hands.”
“Sorry, I don't know who you're talking about. I just came here to sell stuff… I can come back later if you want,” Jake said as he retreated for the door.
“No, no. I will be happy to buy whatever you have.” An old man with long grey hair peeked his head around the corner of what looked to be a storage room.
“You don't look like one of those normal thugs Fred keeps sending; you're much too scrawny.” Jake felt a strange feeling in his body as pink mist swirled in his mind.
“Who are you? You're not from around here, are you?”
Jake was about to tell the man who he was when he thought of something else.
“No, I came from one of the southern farming settlements. I heard there was work up here for smiths.”
“Oh, you're a smith. Do you make your own designs or are you like the ones we have here?”
“Are there other types? What type of smiths do you have here?” Jake said, his curiosity about the quality of his smiths getting the better of him.
“The ones we have around here, apart from a scant few, only copy blueprints made from someone else's. I've heard the local council has been recruiting anyone with designing abilities for some big secret project.”
“Is that so? Maybe I could—”
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“Don't even try. If Fred finds out that you are a smith and a designer, you would disappear quicker than you can say demon dog.”
“Demon dog, what's that?”
“You really are from out of town, aren't you? It's something we tell our children if they don't do as they are told. If you don't clean your room, the demon dog will come eat you.”
“Yeah, but what is this demon dog? Is it a real monster?”
“Yes and no. The demon dog is actually Lady Moore; she's one of the ruling powers in the city, but she's not the one you need to worry about.”
“Interesting. I never heard of this before. The only person I've met from here went by Eric. I think he said I wouldn't have a problem here.”
“When, might I ask, did you meet this Eric?” the old man suspiciously asked.
“It was a few years ago, actually. It wasn't long after all the madness happened. Why do you ask?”
“It's nothing. Now, you said you had stuff to sell; may I see it? Don't worry, I'll give you a fair price.”
Jake got down to business and pulled out the items he had, starting with the smoke bombs and hand grenades.
“These aren't bad; I'll give you five coins per item. That will be 300 coins; that should be enough to get yourself a good clean place to stay for a while.”
Jake then pulled out the Ritualist's pistol and all the ammunition he had.
“Now let me have a look.”
Item
Ritualist's pistol 50 cal (common)
A self-loading handheld firearm. Accuracy drops off the longer the range fired. Due to a minor ritual being placed in the chamber, destructive arcane energy is infused into each round fired. Uses mana as the catalyst in the ritual at a rate of 1 to 1.
“Not bad, not bad at all. You wouldn't happen to be interested in sitting down with a blueprinter for this?”
Jake pulled out the blueprint he had on the pistol, putting it on the table.
“No way, is this the blueprint for this?” The old man unrolled the paper, then quickly rolled it back up. “How much do you want for it? If I don't have enough, you can take whatever you want in exchange.”
“How much do you have?”
“I'm sorry, but all I have remaining in my funds is 500,000. I know it's not enough, but in trade, I do have a range of items that might suit you.”
“Let's have a look at what you've got.” Jake thought for a minute, then
said, “Do you have any items that give stat points? I'm looking for something that will give me at least 1,000 points in all stats.”
“1000 points, sorry, I don't have that, but I do have a ring that will give you a boost in mana, arcane, stamina, and health by 5000 each. Will that do? The only issue is that because it's a direct boost, you won't get the extra points in your stats, but there is the benefit that the ring recharges every hour. It's actually my best item; I was going to give it to my daughter, but she died in the space battle not long ago. There is one part of the description I can't read. It seems it's restricted information.”
As a hunter, you will find yourself in need of a little boost at times.
5000 points to mana, stamina, arcane, and health recharges every 30 minutes from your cultivation pool.
That sounds right; it won't make any sense for the energy to come from nowhere after all, Jake thought.
He then pulled up his stats to see the changes.
Stats points available: 110,619
Conversion multiplier: ×10
Mana: 980,000
Arcane: 980,000
Stamina: 1,970,010
Health: 1,516,500
Base multiplier: ×10
Strength: 99,101
Agility: 98,000
Intelligence: 98,000
Wisdom: 98,000
Perception: 99,000
Integrity: 151,650
Now, if my calculations are correct, I can use my lost servants without eating up my energy too much. It's just a pity Mr Lightheart didn't have any I could use. It was something about shelf life. I suppose that's fair, but where the heck am I supposed to get potions from if all the stores around here are run by a rival who uses his money for unmentionable acts?
If it was in the past, Jake would have just killed the man. But that didn't seem to help since more people always pop up later. Jake thought back to that one guy who killed that young lady way back when he was actually trying to make a difference. That hurt him badly, knowing that even though he had tried to make this place safe for everyone, he still failed in the end.
That may have been one of those moments that shape a person's character.
For good or bad, Jake just didn't know yet. But one thing he did know was that this time he would leave it alone. Jake would be stupid not to realise that if he knew about it, Alric should be well informed of the situation, and if Alric didn't find it necessary to act, why should he?
It took Jake ten minutes before he decided to forgo the potions and do it all on his own. His next stop was the main gate. As Jake made it to the gate, one of the city guards stopped him. Jake had stayed in his human form, and a lot of the people in the city were new, so Jake thought this was to be expected from the people who worked for him.
“Where are you going? I heard you came from the Lightheart establishment. I would recommend you stay away from that place from now on. It's a dangerous world; you don't want anything bad to happen,” the guard said before gesturing for Jake to continue.