Stella floated an inch above my shoulder and wore an extremely proud expression. Her chin was held so high it was borderline comical. The gleam in her eyes made it seem as if she had single-handedly defeated a notoriously dangerous enemy. Perhaps, in a way, she had.
“You seem pleased with yourself,” I commented, trying to suppress a smile. Stella had done wonderfully with the back-and-forth, the bartering, and, ultimately, the purchase of the illusion-enhancing bracelet.
“Do you think you would have been able to buy it for only ten gold pieces and a few chunks of silvern metal?” she asked emphatically, never once dropping her smug demeanor. I couldn’t hold back my amusement as a chuckle burst from behind my lips after Stella imitated tossing her non-existent long hair over her shoulder. I was tempted to ask her where she learned the gesture, but I let it go. Best to let her enjoy the moment and the thrill of victory.
Normally, I wouldn’t be thrilled at the prospect of the normally toxic material being used to fashion ‘an interesting piece of jewelry,’ or so Earien had told us. Yet, we were dealing with elves, after all. Now, if we had been making a deal with a human merchant… too many nefarious repercussions would have played in my mind to agree with parting the dangerous material. Little did the attractive sales elf or her boss, we had an absurd amount of silvern metal within my bag of holding, with a good portion magically enchanted. There was no reason to clue the eager woman the substance was not as rare as they assumed it would be.
In the end, Stella had done wonderfully and really did get us a great deal. The bracelet had a unique enchantment, and Lowki was perfectly suited to bring out its full effects. The acquiescing didn’t cost us much, courtesy of Stella’s hard negotiations, as most of the gold we spent for the bracelet was acquired moments earlier from selling some lowly enchanted rings. We still had some jewelry we could sell, but I didn’t want to offload everything we had in a single place. As far as the bracelet went, I was confident we got a fantastic deal.
“Lowki’s going to give me some great snuggles when I give him this,” Stella said while holding the thin band in her paws. There was a subtle teasing quality in her voice like she was baiting me.
Seeing if I could turn the tables on her, I knowingly took the bait. With equal sass, I replied, “Oh, so it’s a gift from just you, is it? I’ll have you know it was my money…”
Our friendly spate went back and forth for a little bit, with Stella managing to eke out victory by a hairsbreadth from our mock disagreement. I didn’t catch it at first, but Stella had known I was joking from the start, so easily cornered me into a verbal trap and swatted me like a fly. As we chatted away, we continued exploring the city’s middle tiers while on the lookout for an interesting shop or two. If we sold most of our silvern goods, mostly armor, and weapons, before anyone became the wiser of the volume we held, we were all for it.
It seemed most of the merchants we chatted with expected the rare dwarven to be extremely difficult to come by. We didn’t confirm nor deny such was the cast. If they believed the material was scarce, who were we to say otherwise? We weren’t taking advantage of their assumptions. Well, okay, we were, at least a little bit. But, who in their right mind would advertise they had a boatload of the stuff? It would only drive down the value, and, honestly, we needed all the funds we could get. We wanted to buy quite a few things.
Thankfully, most stores had at least a few magical trinkets for sale. Most were well out of our price range, which was a bit surprising considering we were only a few levels away from reaching the world maximum, but I doubted most Hunters shot through the levels as quickly as we had managed. If we spent years in this world, as much did per Stella, then it would be reasonable to pay hundreds, if not thousands, of gold for a single piece of equipment.
Stopping at a highly recommended armorer’s shop, we found an impressive upgrade for our talented Ripley. However, for whatever reason, the place's owner thought it was a brilliant idea to have a blazingly hot forge within a half dozen feet from his sales counter. I wanted to do nothing more than leave the infernal store as I sweated buckets as we discussed the item’s price. The only reason I could think of for having a lit forge so close to your customers was to throw them off their game and to get them out of your shop as quickly as possible. While I struggled in the heat, the abnormally muscular fire-elf owner seemed to enjoy the blistering heat wafting off his stocked forge. The heat was nearly unbearable.
My initial suspicion of the elf’s motivation for the design of his shop was confirmed with only a few interactions with the brass-tacks individual. Stella didn’t catch the smith was all business and flat-out stared her down Stella when she attempted to tell a joke. I was too distracted to hear specifically what she uttered, but it sounded like she made a joke about a ‘fire down under’ or some other such thing. When the elf’s eyes began twitching, I needed to step in. Pushing my shoulder into the uncomprehending Stella, I guided her back over to Ripley’s shoulder so I could take over the negotiations with the burly elf.
She resisted at first, but when I gave her a wide-eyed stare and mouthed, ‘What are you doing?’ Stella relented and flopped on Ripley’s shoulder. She was inclined to take a back seat, at least in this instance. Her foe was beyond her, or so I joked later on, and the irritable elf was immune to her charms to her chagrin.
Stella didn’t say anything else as we finalized the price for an interesting helmet, instead seemingly shrinking away and out of sight as I spoke with the fiery smith. The helm we wanted, an oddly shaped one called a ‘burgonet’, which looked like a steel baseball helmet, appeared quite amusing when we tested the fit on Ripley’s bulbous ivory noggin.
The enchantment etched into the metal wasn’t game breaking, but it enhanced her ability to keep me alive. Confirmed with a System prompt, while wearing the helm, a portion of any damage I sustained would instead pass magically to her. While the five percent damage transfer could seem minor, the additional damage mitigation it offered meant it was more like I was wearing leather armor instead of mostly cloth. Every bit helped and could save my life one day. Against her twelve thousand plus health pool, the five percent would be a pittance to her. Even better, the helm also came with a ten-point Constitution bonus, increasing my desire to acquire the item.
In only a quarter of the time it took for Stella to negotiate with the last elf we worked with, the helmet cost a little more than a slightly enchanted silvern breastplate and matching longsword, which, in my opinion, was a pretty good deal. Stella attempted to tease me about my poor negotiation tactics once we left the elf’s forge, finally saying something after her poor performance, I might say. In fact, I did. It didn’t get through to her as Stella swore she could have gotten the helmet for a single piece of dwarven gear. Certainly, not two pieces like I had.
When I threatened to take her back inside to renegotiate, she promptly changed the subject, though I was pretty certain she let a soft whisper slip which sounded an awful lot like, “noob.”
We would have sold more to the brawny elf, his red-flaked skin and muscles screaming to the world the hard labor of his profession, but the closeness of the forge had been bounding out of the store once we purchased Ripley’s new helmet. The elf only smiled as we turned to leave, confirming the smith had little desire to work with the customer. Only his forge brought him any enjoyment. Selling his stuff was simply a necessity to keep doing what he loved. As primarily an introvert myself, I understood the inclination.
Stopping at a clothier, the proprietor was a noble-bearing elf named Lystra, and I hoped we found the perfect place to part ways with my old enchanted armor acquired from Tsurra the Corrupted’s body. The set had been unquestionably useful when I first acquired it, but it couldn’t hold a candle to my new dwarven mismatch set. Moments before Lystra and I confirmed the sale price, I paused to send Stella a message that struck me like lightning.
Xaz: Is there transmogrification in this world?
Stella: That’s where you make a piece of armor look like another, right?
Xaz: Yeah, it allows you to fine-tune your appearance.
Stella: Sadly, no, it’s not an option. Not at least on prime worlds. Perhaps at higher tiers? But, we won’t know for certain until we get that high.
Xaz: Man, I hope I don’t regret this. I loved the look of it!
Coming to an agreement with the clothier, the entire Aratar’s Blazeweave set netted us a hefty amount of gold and silver coins, not to mention two platinum pieces worth ten gold each. It was the first time we had seen a higher form of currency. Still, a part of me cried out when I handed over the samurai-like garb. A nagging feeling had me certain that, one day, I would regret handing it over. Ultimately, we needed more funds, here and now. With only a slim-at-best possibility of being able to tranmog my gear one day, it was not enough reason to hold onto old items. If our battle with Duke taught us anything, we needed better gear and better spells to stand a chance against the powerhouse.
Stella assured me we got a good bargain for the set, mirroring my own thoughts when she reminded me, we would need every spare gold piece we could get our hands on if we hoped to acquire elvish spells. The reminder I could be learning more average-tiered spells soon, or if we were lucky, an enhanced tier quickly had any lingering worry disappear like a distant memory.
With our metaphysical coin purse practically bulging at the seams, we agreed to be on the lookout for a wizard’s shop next. Spells, spells, and more spells were back on the menu. Unfortunately, I couldn’t for the life of me remember where Tallos had pointed out where they were. My in-game map automatically updated itself wherever we went, but Tallos had only pointed out a conglomerate of arcane shops a few platforms away. I must have been in wanderlust because I couldn’t remember where he said it would be. Unfortunately, my map was of little use because I hadn’t taken the time to mentally drop a pin, so to speak, where the hovel was.
Stella was less than useless when I asked her about it. She practically rebuffed me, saying she had been thinking about other things at the time, not paying attention to what Tallos had been saying. When I shot her an exasperated look, my lips tightening to lines and my brows furrowed in disbelief, she finally admitted she had been in just as much wanderlust as I had been. The city was magnificent, and she had been soaking it all in, barely paying attention to our elven friend. I could hardly blame her as I had been doing the same thing. I wasn’t about to tell her, though.
“Let’s ask around. I’m sure someone would be happy to point us in the right direction,” I offered in concession. While it had thus far been a wonderful day, not knowing where anything was and with how spread out the many platforms were was starting to wear on our excitement. Feeling lost never feels good, in my opinion.
After asking around, we had a general direction to our destination. We meandered about, and it wasn’t a wizard’s shop we came across next. Instead, we simply had to pause when a sign portrayed an elven archer kneeling with his bowstring taut. In other words, a talented bowyer and Tallos came immediately to mind. We were more than happy to detour to see what the place had to offer. Thus far, we had an upgrade for Ripley and Lowki, so why not Tallos?
I doubted we would be replacing his superbly enchanted bow anytime soon, but perhaps there was something else we could find. We were happy to stop. The store owner, an elderly fellow who frequently gave instructions to a nearby apprentice throughout our visit, his grandson, or so I believed, was happy to help us find something for our friend. From a shelf, the frail elf handed over a quiver for our inspection.
Throughout any of our fights, one of Tallos’ most limiting factors in battle was the number of arrows he had on him. A few occasions happened where he ran out of arrows mid-fight and was no longer able to impact the battle effectively. To make up for this shortcoming, we had long since had our friend, almost ridiculously, carrying three different quivers. One slung across his back and shoulder, with the other two on either hip.
Trading one of our stronger backup rings, one which granted plus four intelligence and constitution, along with another two pieces of silvern armor and my old troll hide tunic of the bloodless, we purchased the wonderfully enchanted quiver. We might have overpaid, but after seeing the item’s descriptions, I knew we needed to make it happen. The benefits it would bring would be a huge quality of life improvement, as well as increasing the options our friends had when engaging our enemies. Thinking back towards the last part of our journey to the High Thicket, with Tallos attempting to whittle even a few arrows from scratch, I believed he would be ecstatic when we saw him next.
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{Elemental Quiver of Summoning}. Made from the hide of an adult oblex slime, slain while mimicking a beast’s form, and elementally charged gemstones, this quiver has been enchanted to summon arrows of common quality. Additionally, enhanced arrows can be summoned by sending mana into one of the elemental gems affixed at the top of the quiver. Quality: Superb. Rarity: Rare. Type: Quiver. Slot: Ammo. Durability 1,000/1,000. Effect(s): Common arrows are automatically created at a rate of one arrow every ten seconds to a maximum capacity of sixty arrows. Once removed from the quiver, these arrows will remain tangible for 60 seconds before disappearing.
Secondary Effect(s): At the cost of 10 mana, the quiver can create elementally charged arrows. Each elemental arrow takes 2 seconds to summon and will replace a common arrow up to the quiver’s maximum capacity. These enhanced arrows will remain tangible for 30 seconds once retrieved from the quiver.
(Fire Agate) – Summons a flame arrow, which inflicts additional fire damage.
(Aquamarine) – Summons a water arrow, which inflicts a slowing effect.
(White Opal) – Summons a wind arrow, which has increased range and accuracy.
(Green Aventurine) – Summons an earth arrow, which inflicts a damage over time effect.
While we didn’t know how much mana Tallos currently had at his disposal since the number wasn’t displayed anywhere for NPCs, it should be easy to deduce his maximum as soon as he used his new quiver and created some elemental arrows. Stella and I were confident he would be able to summon at least one, perhaps two, of each element before needing to regenerate mana naturally. For now, I was content to take a few minutes and some of my mana to swap out a good number of the regular arrows already within. We wouldn’t know more information about what the elemental arrows did until Tallos fired off a few, but that would come later.
Finding a bench near the bowyer, we sat down as I concentrated on swapping four common arrows for ten each of the elemental versions. The quiver would hold the power in each arrow indefinitely, and it would only begin to disperse once one was pulled out. Setting myself to the task, I first replaced ten arrows for their flame version, focusing on putting mana into the fire agate gem near the rim of the quiver. Then, I channeled mana into the aquamarine for water arrows, followed similarly by the white opal and green aventurine gemstone. In less than two minutes, the work was done. Tallos would have twenty regular arrows and forty elemental arrows. Stella and I were both excited to see what the arrows could do.
Exceedingly happy with our purchase, neither of us could wait to see the expression on Tallos’ face when we saw him later in the evening. “This was a nice find,” I said in appreciation of the wonderfully enchanted quiver. Stella eagerly bobbed her head in agreement.
We stopped for lunch at a tidy little bistro catering mostly to non-elven folk. While it was easy to find vegetarian food anywhere since it was a staple of an elven diet, the city was wise enough to recognize that many of its visitors preferred a meatier diet. As a result, the city allowed non-elven merchants to set up shop to sell food more palatable for outsiders. Our current little pub was tucked away in the corner of one of the many wooded platforms, and the smell of roasting meat instantly had us heading in its direction. The owner, a lanky human fellow with a beard any dwarves would be envious of, stood behind a counter and was taking orders from a myriad of different races. Apparently, this was one of the more popular establishments, considering the long line. Content to wait our turn, we walked to the back of the line and were thankful that it moved relatively quickly.
We learned from overhearing gossip from other first-time visitors that shops like this one couldn’t get their meat from animals in the forest. Instead, they hired outside hunters to roam the lands to the north, outside of the forest limits and then hauled the short distance to Quarris. It was quite profitable for both the hunters willing to foray into the northern wilderness and those few non-elf merchants selling the cooked meat.
Stella and I were more than happy the city allowed outside merchants to cater to people not bound by a vegetarian diet. When it was our turn, we ordered a delightful meal of smoked venison, along with a generous portion of mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. The meat was incredibly flavorsome, and the marinade was absolutely divine. At Stella’s reminder, as was customary whenever we found a delicious meal, we stood in line once more and ordered another three dishes. Each would be stored magically in my bag of holding and would remain piping hot until we removed it someday.
We lightly chatted while we continued our trek through the many levels of Quarris. At one point, Stella reminded me to take a look at my notifications. With how tranquil our day was since waking up, I had completely forgotten to check our gains from the fight with Duke. Even though the bastard managed to escape, removing nearly all of the incredible gains we would have received since defeating another Hunter was incredibly profitable, we nonetheless completed a hidden quest for our troubles.
Congratulations! You have completed a hidden quest, ‘The High Thicket Burns...’
Upon arriving at your destination at the High Thicket, you discovered your nemesis, Hunter Duke Xander Marth, was laying siege on the elves of Quarris. Out leveled and out geared, you nonetheless charged headlong into battle and assisted the city in being victorious against the terrible foe. Though the Hunter escaped with his life, without your timely intervention, many elves, and perhaps the city as a whole, would have been lost in flames. Your quarry may have evaded you, this time, but the fight continues. Good luck, Hunter.
Calculating Rewards… Please stand by.
Congratulations! You earned 20,000 experience.
Congratulations! You will receive a Hidden Reward: A level-appropriate skill or spell.
Note - Report to Commander Wallace and the Quarris Elder Council to receive this reward.
Congratulations! Your renown and reputation with Quarris, as well as the elves residing throughout the High Thicket, have significantly improved as a result of your deeds. Its citizens and guardians will look upon you favorably from this moment forward.
Notice! Skill and Spell increase messages have been condensed.
Spell: [Lesser Boil Blood] has increased to level 19. Spell: [Lesser Necrotic Aura] (Pet) has increased to level 19. Skill: [Stealth] has increased to level 19. Spell: [Lesser Arrested Affliction] has increased to level 18. Skill: [Dual Cast] has increased to level 16. Skill: [Firearms] has increased to level 16. Skill: [Quick Cast] has increased to level 16. Spell: [Lesser Fireball] has increased to level 16. Spell: [Lesser Chained Lightning] has increased to level 16. Spell: [Lesser Ignite Bones] has increased to level 15. Spell: [Lesser Wyvern Sting} has increased to level 15. Spell: [Synaptic Toxin] has increased to level 12. Spell: [Pyroclastic Funeral Pyre] has increased to level 10. Spell: [Gnawing Blizzard] has increased to level 10. Spell: [Stalwart Aura (Pet)] has increased to level 8.
The boost in the majority of my spells and skills was a worthwhile reward for nearly defeating Duke, helping to bridge the gap between our levels. If not for his arrogance, perceived immunity with his admittedly strong mana barrier, his strong desire to humiliate me, and the forest elves at his back, perhaps he would be the one right now reaping the rewards from a Hunter versus Hunter engagement. The hidden reward was nice but already implied by what we were told by the Commander about our meeting with the city’s elders.
“Ready?” Stella asked with a downward dog stretch. She was hovering a few feet above the bench and, as always, seemed to be standing on solid ground. With plenty of daylight left, we had more than enough time to continue our stroll with many more shops to search for interesting loot.
“Indeed,” I replied succinctly after giving my friend a light smile. Considering the day before, the two of us felt as if we didn’t have a care in the world. She was just as eager as I was to see what the city had in store for us.
Moving to yet another platform, this time through a sturdy spiral staircase built within a hollowed section of a particularly wide redwood specimen, we finally found the destination we had been searching for, better known to non-elves as ‘spell alley.’ The place was packed with elves, humans, dwarfs, and even several shorter people I identified as hobbits. This particular promenade was set up in low rows, creating four different avenues to travel down. The stores were smaller than other merchant quarters but allowed for an even greater number of shops and specialty stores. The scene before us was overwhelming at first, as the platform was at least twice the size of any other we had visited so far today.
Every shop had its front door propped open, with colorful and interesting placards informing potential customers of the particular type of magic the shopkeeper dabbled in. In the middle of the platform was an elevated section, almost like a stage of sorts. Even from our distant vantage point, it appeared as if there was a friendly competition of spell casters throwing out fantastic displays of magic in a challenge of one-upmanship. The mood was cheerful as the magicians, wizards, and summoners tossed fantastic feats of magic in the air, all completely harmless but nonetheless entertaining to everyone happily watching nearby. One particular robed human, with a flourish of a wand, created a fantastic illusionary displace of a galloping unicorn which turned and bucked in the air.
We started at the northern edge with the plan to make a winding circuit through the many shops. I doubted we would stop at every store, but I marked the location of ‘spell alley’ on my mini-map. The first store had a sign over the door which appeared to be triskelion, which neither Stella nor I knew what it represented, so I decided to step inside. The thin-as-a-reed owner greeted us as we entered, but we quickly learned she only offered tomes and items specific to druid classes, so we didn’t stay long. Still, one spell for sale allowed the caster to summon a short-lived woodland elemental. The druidic spell caster stated the elemental would be random in nature, having different abilities based on whatever was called into being. I passed on the tome for now since I was mostly eager in learning new DoTs, but I asked Stella to remind me of the place in case we had some funds left over after our escapade through the other stores.
Not at all discouraged from the first shop, we entered the next store in line and found items unlike anything we had seen before. The place only had a few shelves displaying their unique wares, which were solely comprised of opaque orbs differing in size and color. Inquiring with the handsome elf wizard behind the counter, who was already keeping a close eye on each of us, we learned the glass spheres were called Ameliorating Spherules which allowed an learned spell to upgraded to a higher tier.
Instantly, I recalled when we had incredible luck when the System upgraded my minor fireball to its lesser-tier counterpart. The increase in damage was substantial, and I knew right away I wanted to purchase as many of the orbs as possible. Too many of my minor spells were stuck at their max level of ten, and the thought of turning some of my favorite lesser spells to average-tier was exciting to contemplate.
Sadly, the upgrade orbs were prohibitively expensive, drastically increasing in value the higher the orb would upgrade. The lowest, minor to lesser tier, cost ten golds each, which wasn’t all that bad. Going to the next tier, lesser to average, costs a whopping ten times as much. One hundred gold was nothing to sneeze at, for sure. The astounding price of average to enhanced tier continued the multiplicative trend and would cost a thousand gold pieces! It was insane to consider anyone to be able to afford the astronomical price. Even if I sold everything I own, I might be able to afford a single one of those orbs, but there was no way I was willing to do it.
Stella attempted to negotiate for lesser prices but was firmly shut down by the elf behind the counter. When she asked for a discount if we purchased multiple orbs, the owner folded his arms over his chest and flatly stated, “No.”
Nothing Stella so much as budged the stubborn elf. Stella and I thought something else might be coming into play, besides a greedy shopkeeper, so we subtly inquired about the hard prices for the wondrous orbs. Finally, we got somewhere. Apparently, the price for the upgrade orbs was strictly controlled by the city’s elder counsel. Nothing else could be pried out of the elf, not even why this particular item had such a restriction in place. So, at least for now, there was nothing more we could do.
“It’s just the way it is and is the same across all elven cities,” Tallos would tell us later in the evening when we met back up. He offered little more to our probing questions other than saying, “Only an elf can create the orb, and it’s a painstaking process to undergo.” In the end, we chalked it up to another mystery we would likely never solve.
Knowing we wanted as many of the orbs as we could while still keeping in mind the potential for other upgrades and spell tomes, Stella was able to make good headway in bartering our stored loot. While this particular merchant was not interested in trade, nearly every other shopkeeper was. Spending the better part of the next three hours, we offloaded almost all our unwanted goods, drastically increasing our spending potential. As we hawked our wares and saw more than one spell I hoped to acquire after buying the extraordinary orbs, I relented my desire not to flood the market with silvern steel. My bag of holding suddenly had a lot more available room, though our coin pouch was all the bigger for it.
We didn’t sell off every piece of dwarven gear, though. We decided to keep a single full set of plate mail, and one of each weapon we took from the defeated dwarves. Everything else, to the fire sale, they were consumed. By the time we were ready to return to the upgrade store, we had more gold than I had ever seen in a single place. On Earth, I would likely have been a millionaire. With over four hundred gold burning a hole in my pocket, we returned to the stubborn elf and swiftly purchased all five of his minor upgrade orbs, and two lesser orbs. Like that, two hundred and fifty gold disappeared, though we still had a decent amount of fund stashed away for other gear and a number of spells we picked out as we roamed about.
It had been worth it, though. Holding a minor version, I twirled the glass marble and inspected the intricate glyphs and runes masterfully etched across its glossy surface. The weakest of the upgrade orbs were only the size of a tangerine and varied in color from brilliant blues to dashing oranges. From what we could gather, the color differed depending on the specialty of the wizard who created it. After some back and forth with Stella on which spells we would upgrade to a lesser tier, we decided only to use four of our six minor orbs, to begin with. We would have two in reserve on the off chance we found a particularly notable minor spell in the near future. We still had plenty of shops to visit after all.
For lesser upgrade orbs, we swiftly agreed on which two spells would be upgraded to average tier. First and foremost, my specialized lesser blood. Wanting to start from the top down, I swapped to a larger orb and concentrated on my lesser boil blood spell. Per the elf enchanter who sold the unique devices, triggering the effect was easy. All I needed to do was focus on the desired spell, and the imbued magic would do the rest.
“Here we go,” I said, excitement lacing every syllable. What once had been my strongest spell was acquired long ago and specialized when I first became a necromancer, and I couldn’t wait to see its increased properties. Even better, upgraded spells could gain an additional bonus to their effectiveness when upgraded. It was exceedingly rare to trigger, but was one of the reasons the orbs were sought after.
Holding the faintly glowing blue sphere, I willed the magic to activate.