Chapter 21. Back to it.
“Dang it, Silas, you cost me a sale just now. How about you make it up to me and buy something before you head in,” Gritvart whined. Silas was still a bit shocked that he now had a neighbor inside this odd area that the System had called the guard post and marketplace.
So far, the marketplace consisted of one stall that would be more at home in a rundown swap meet, and the supposed guard post had a total of zero guards. Maybe the System intended for Silas and Laknaf to provide that aspect. No, the amount of time the two of them would spend inside this area was too minimal for the System to justify them being this place’s primary protection.
Silas figured that maybe the market and the entire area would expand as they got further into the pit. Just his presence seemed to have jumped started things and added a second contender, or whatever the System wanted to designate them as. Organizing and guarding the market wasn’t his job, getting inside the pit and returning the favor of discomfort to Bhalkur was.
“Gritvart, do you have anything I want? What about the ammo sample I gave you?” Silas asked.
“Hold your horses there, Silas. This is techno magic we’re talking about. Things like your ammunition take time, so don’t expect anything right away. Now, as for what I have that you might be interested in, feast your eyes on this beauty,” Gritvart said, pulling a shining dagger from beneath the rickety counter. As Silas looked at the gleaming weapon, the System explained what he was examining.
Dagger of Brilliance.
Skills required:
1. Basic Weapons.
This dagger confers a slight bonus to the wielder’s ability to hit the target and will inflict additional radiance damage with each successful attack. 1/day, the dagger can release a burst of blazing sunlight that will affect all hostile forces in a 25’ radius. The wielder and all allies are protected from the damaging effects of this ability.
Silas picked up the weapon. He hadn’t seen an actual magic dagger before. The weapon hummed in his hand, and just by grasping it, he could feel the knowledge of how to use its daily ability. This was an amazing item, but sadly, not something that Silas could see himself getting a whole lot of use out of. Unless it was insanely cheap, which he highly doubted, he’d have to pass.
“How much does something like this cost?” Silas asked. Bartering with the goblin was annoying, and he almost wished they operated like modern stores, where the price posted was the actual price. If that price didn’t move the inventory, the goblin could run a sale like a normal establishment would.
“This baby is only five gold. You don’t see this kind of quality every day, especially not now when my inventory shipments are somewhat limited,” Gritvart said as he gently removed the dagger from Silas’ grip and rubbed it with a dirty towel that had more of a chance of smudging the blade than polishing it.
“Too rich for my blood, I’ve only been paid a little bit by the System, and I have expenses back home I need to take care of. Those rabid gnomes tore apart my car and it’s going to cost a pretty penny to fix it. That’s if I can even source all the parts. That Mustang is over thirty years old, and it’s getting hard to find original replacement parts,” Silas complained.
“Come on, I can do a payment plan. You can’t skimp when something like this can save your life,” Gritvart tried to argue.
“I agree, but I already have two knives, and my life is more likely to be saved by good old firepower than sticking someone with a dagger like that. Sorry, even if I had the money, I don’t think that weapon is really something very useful for me,” Silas said.
The look on the poor gnome’s face made Silas feel a bit bad for him. He was trying, even if he was a bit of a shady shopkeeper. Just like Silas, it seemed that Gritvart was stuck here for the duration of whatever the System wanted them to do with the pit.
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“Tell you what, I’ll buy some more of those meat sticks. That naga guy and Buster seemed excited about them. Since they didn’t give Buster the runs, I suppose they’re safe enough,” Silas offered.
“Fine, I’ll even give you the same deal as before, but come on, buddy, you gotta help me out a bit more next time,” Gritvart said.
“It’s not my job to buy your stuff if I can’t use it. Relax a little, Gritvart, nobody likes a whining goblin,” Silas said. As he passed over the coins for another handful of mystery meat sticks, he was struck again with how bizarre his world had become in the last couple of days.
He had been barely going through the motions of life, waiting for time to inevitably take him back to Lisa in whatever afterlife awaited him. Now, it looked like the universe and this weird System had found some need for a used up old soldier. Gritvart and Laknaf seemed like real folks, not just strange monsters.
He figured that he should probably be freaking out about everything that’s happened, but his mind seemed fine with it. Maybe it was the System’s doing, or maybe Silas had watched too many cheesy science fiction and fantasy movies over the years to let the existence of goblins and evil pits full of monsters shake him. A whine from Buster as he stowed the sticks in his pack snapped Silas out of his introspection.
“No, you’ve already had a bowl of crunchies at home, no treats yet. Maybe after we get inside the pit, I’ll let you have one so you can get that health regeneration thing started,” Silas said to a rather disappointed pup.
With a sigh, Silas realized that he should probably eat one of the sticks as well, the 10% boost to health regeneration wasn’t anything to sneeze at, especially when wounds healed much more quickly to begin with. The System didn’t identify the sticks as anything other than meat, so that still had him more than a bit grossed out. Hopefully it didn’t taste too bad, considering its rather neutral smell.
“See ya, Gritvart. I got work to do,” Silas said.
“Let me guess, clearing the first layer?” Gritvart said as he sat behind his counter dejectedly.
“Yeah, Bhalkur decided to cause me more trouble in my world. That’s going to be the biggest mistake he’s made. Now this is personal,” Silas said with determination, his hand absently reaching for his rifle as he thought about the painful memories that Bhalkur had forced him to endure.
“Good luck, come back with lots of coin to spend,” Gritvart said with a dismissive wave. The goblin was likely bored being stuck back here with nothing to do and nobody to talk to. He probably had some way to contact his company back wherever they were. Still, entertaining a depressed goblin wasn’t his job, but clearing out the first layer of the pit was.
As they walked into the portal room, Silas was a bit shocked that it didn’t open right away. The odd runes on the ground were very dim, though the ones closest to the portal area were slowly brightening one by one. Waiting a few minutes, nothing seemed to happen, and Buster was getting bored with sniffing his way around the portal room.
“Hey Gritvart,” Silas said, ducking back inside the passageway to speak with the gnome. “What gives with the portal, it’s not working?” Silas asked.
“Uh, oh, yeah, that’s probably because Laknaf just used it. This whole place isn’t quite up to snuff yet. I suspect after you guys clear out the first layer, the mana flow here will improve. Until then, you’re just going to have to wait a bit until its power is restored,” Gritvart explained.
That was all they could do, Silas sat down on the hard stone floor to conserve his energy as they waited for the runes to slowly power back up. Buster wasn’t too happy with the floor situation, and Silas let him curl up on his lap to have something more comfortable than stone to nap on.
“Silas, you look like you could use a stool to sit on. How about it, ten copper for this incredibly comfortable example,” Gritvart said as he dragged what was probably the stool that he sat on behind his counter into the portal room.
“You know what, this is taking too long, so I’ll take you up on that offer. Eight copper it is,” Silas said, struggling to his feet as he fished out the coins.
“Like I said, eleven copper,” Gritvart countered. Grumbling, Silas counted out the coins, not liking the higher price, but willing to pay it to keep his aching body from giving out before he even entered the pit.
As a seating device, the stool left a lot to be desired. It was sized for a goblin, not a human and was a bit too short. With his back against the stone wall of the portal room, it wasn’t too bad, but having Buster jump up into his lap made it only marginally better than sitting on the floor.
“Don’t worry, Silas, I’ll keep the stool safe for you until you get back,” the goblin grinned as the portal finally flared with power and opened.
Silas stepped into the portal and found himself stepping out of it and back to the critical location he’d claimed. The System was true to its word and had dumped him exactly where he had set his portal key to. When Buster emerged at his side, the portal snapped shut, and the hum of its activation was replaced by the sounds of battle all around him.
Sliding the rifle off his shoulder, Silas tried to make sense of the chaos in front of him as the System pushed a prompt into his view.
Hostile forces are attempting to wrest control of this critical location from you. Defend the location or lose access to the portal and risk your foes becoming more powerful.