Chapter 12: Chapter 12

The city's walls were merely 20 feet, and there were two typical guards at the gate, both at the mid tier-3. Renna showed a badge and paid a copper coin. The guard took it and looked at Ethan who was peeking through the open gates.

‘’Badge of identity?’’ the guard asked impatiently.

Ethan was stunned by the view but still managed to answer without turning back. ‘’I don’t have one.’’ 

‘’Outsiders pay a silver for entry,’’ the guard said while checking out Ethan more carefully but still with bored eyes.

Thankfully, he had 3 gold, 4 silver, and a few copper coins he got from Alice’s pouch. He took out a silver coin and passed it to the man as they entered.

One of the Free-Forest cities, Ehrendil, was nothing like Ethan thought. He was expecting wooden houses that were in harmony with nature, as this was once an ancient elven city. But after hearing that the city had changed hands many times and now many races lived together, he thought maybe a medieval architecture. 

What he found was downright beautiful chaos. The whole city had a minimalist design. Small and simple houses with gardens at their back. White in the tones of cream and green in the tones of olive was dominant, whereas the wide roads were plain earth brown without any damage or dust. 

He touched the wall of the house near him and found it smooth like plaster but more natural. It almost felt alive, like it was breathing. The frame is definitely the work of earth mages, but there is something else on it. What is this texture? he questioned. It also smelled like a flower. The whole city had a pleasant smell coming from the buildings.

Renna rolled her eyes. ‘’Let’s go! Unless you want to lick the walls as well?’’ 

‘’Does it tastes good?’’ he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

She looked at him for three seconds before shaking her head, ‘’I can’t tell if you are serious or not. Come on, the commercial area in the center of the city. If you don’t have a flying artifact, it’ll take us an hour to go there,’’ she urged.

And that was the chaos Ethan was talking about. Like the bustling streets with all kinds of people were not enough, just above the houses many different shaped flying shuttles were passing. Some of them were just fancy chairs or carpets, and the people flying just by themselves were above them. Most of them were hiding their cultivation, but they were all at least tier-5. There are hundreds of them, for god’s sake!

After not seeing a single tier-4 beast for a long time, Ethan was starting to feel like a big shot. But in this city, a random passenger could kill him with ease. It’s like the damned spider all over again. I hate this feeling of vulnerability, he thought and followed Renna, savoring everything he saw and trying to stay low-key as possible.

‘’Never seen a monster-blood?’’ Renna asked after seeing that Ethan was staring at a man with cat ears and a tail.

‘’Do you mean monsters can breed with humanoids?’’ he wondered aloud as he marveled at all kinds of races.

Renna looked at him strangely, ‘’Were you living in a cave or something? And what humanoid? It’s called an anthropoid. Humans and their arrogance,’’ she snorted before explaining, ‘’Any beast could turn into an anthropoid shape at tier-9. After that, they could breed with whomever they wanted. Don’t look down on their offspring, though. The first three generations or so could use their bloodline skills and have the advantages of both races.’’

‘’Fascinating,’’ he stated, looking at a girl with snakelike skin who heard and winked at him.

As they passed through alleys, Ethan realized that elves and humans were in the majority while monster-blood and dwarfs were in the minority. 

They kept going toward the center of the city. The bustling streets only got more crowded, and the buildings turned into shops from the homes. When they entered a street with an overwhelming smell, Ethan guessed that it was the Alchemist’s street Renna talked about.

Over his shoulder, Ethan looked at her casually. ‘’Little devil, are you an alchemist apprentice or something?’’ 

Unexpectedly, she looked distressed this time. ‘’Not yet. I’m considering my options. Don’t worry, I’m guiding you to the shop I work for. You can find alchemists there.’’

Ethan didn’t pry for more information. He also relaxed a bit more as the people on the ground were mostly tier 1 or 2. He understood that the ones flying above were the top dogs and the ones on the ground strived hard to be one of them. He was still quite uncomfortable about the concept, though. If a tier-8 psycho throws a few rank 3 skills, let's say [Magma Nova], he or she could kill tens of thousands of people before a tier-9 authority comes and stops the bastard. The constant feeling of vulnerability was a part of city life. All he could do was suck it up and get used to it.

‘’There,’’ Renna pointed to a small shop. ‘’Ask for Sima and tell that Renna sent you.’’ 

‘’Alright, wait for me here. I still need a guide in the city,’’ he said and flipped a silver coin to her. The girl was slightly stunned, but Ethan passed through her before she said anything and entered the shop.

The shop felt like a perfumery with all the bottles and the smell. Two customers were checking the shelves, and a human girl stood behind the desk, looking at Ethan with a smile.

Ethan approached the desk while his eyes were roaming. ‘’Hi, I’m a friend of Renna. She told me to ask for Sima?’’ 

The girl's smile fell, and she went to the room behind her. This time an elf girl came with the same smile. ‘’Hello, welcome to the Plenty Potions. How may I help you?’’

‘’Just want to sell these,’’ he passed his three herbs. ‘’Oh, do you also buy monster cores? I got some of that as well.’’

‘’Of course, everyone buys monster cores, but alchemists always pay the best. As for the herbs, I can give you 6 silver since you are a friend of little Renna,’’ she said as she checked the herbs.

Ethan took his pile of cores to the desk, ‘’Awesome, I got kind of a mixed bag here. Help me out, please.’’ 

Sima’s perfect saleswoman smile went a little wry, ‘’Long hunting trip?’’ she asked while counting and separating the cores.

‘’You have no idea, felt like ages,’’ Ethan replied idly and started to look for shelves as well. ‘’Do you have any elixirs that would give permanent strength or agility?’’

‘’Oh, those only appear in auctions as the last item, from time to time. It’s not too hard to make them, but ingredients are just too rare,’’ she said, a little taken back. ‘’Are you from the Union by any chance?’’

‘’No, but not from anywhere near here for sure. How about the potions? How much do you charge for them?’’ 

‘’2 silver for a low grade. A gold for medium ones and 10 gold for high-grade ones. Health, mana, and stamina are all the same. Same prices everywhere in Ehrendil,’’ she answered, still counting the cores.

Ethan knew from Oliver that a gold coin was 10 silver or 100 copper. Yeah, too damned expensive for constant consumption. But it's a must to have for emergencies, Ethan thought. He still got a few left from his latest robbery but planned to stock for more.

Lifting her head from the bloody core pile, Sima seemed happy to finish gory business. ‘’120 tier-1, 98 tier-2, and 47 tier-3. Tier-3’s are for 2 silver each, and the others are 2 and 5 copper each. In total, 16 gold and 7 silver.’’

‘’But there are early and peak ones among them, same price for all?’’ Ethan asked.

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‘’For below tier-5, that doesn’t matter. You can ask any shop in the city, but this is the best offer you’ll find,’’ she said confidently. 

‘’Alright then, give me 5 low-grade potions of all kinds as well.’’

After all the questions and uncertainty, he looked at his wealth in his ring and found almost 15 gold in total. He was still going to buy daggers and skills. There was also the need for money to get accommodation and food. Life in a free-forest city was too expensive.

Leaving the shop, he found Renna chatting with other kids. Still, with the herb basket in her hand and in her yellow dress, she looked like any other kid on the street.

Ethan blinked next to her before messing with her hair. ‘’Little devil, I think Sima gave me a good deal; you’ve earned a dinner treat. But first, we need to find a skill shop and a blacksmith.’’ 

All the kids got startled, but Renna kept her composure. She huffed the hair in front of her face and declared, ‘’Of course, the deal was good. After I take you to the best places in the town, you’ll see that a dinner treat is utterly insufficient for my services.’’

While following Renna’s lead, Ethan checked the locations of his fellow biochip users. One of the three had disappeared a week ago. The other two should know that I have come to the city. Why are they not coming toward me? he thought. ‘Ani, how far away are the closest two biochip users?’

‘Two and three miles toward the northeast.’

‘Hmm, can you make me a mini-map that shows the biochip users in a hundred miles with me in the center? Like a radar or GPS? And make it appear on the lower right side of my vision with my command?’

‘Yes, please choose a command for the task.’

‘Minimap,’ he chose before questioning Renna, ‘’Say, what’s in the northeast two or three miles away?’’

‘’Northeast? That’s the slums. You can find cheaper shops there, but the quality never matches the downtown,’’ she said, tilting her head. ‘’I thought you were new to the Ehrendil?’’ 

‘’I am. A few friends of mine should be there. I’ll go see them once we are done with the shopping.’’ 

As they walked and chatted, Ethan saw a fancy flying boat descend to the front of a brothel where both male and female workers welcomed the young cultivators with a flair. When the doors of the establishment opened, Ethan heard the best music he had heard in his life. It was like a hook to his soul. He found it similar to blues but also very different. The instrumental music touched his heart and stirred his emotions through it. And he could’ve sworn that he heard a bass coming along. They'd better invent something to record the songs, or I’m not going to go wild ever again.

Only after feeling the pull of Renna on his cloak did he learn that he was standing in the middle of the road with closed eyes.

‘’Seriously, you are like a kid who lost his parents. If you travel the slums like that, they will rob you blind!’’ she complained, all the while dragging him to the biggest shop he saw so far. ‘’Here,’’ pointing to the shop, ‘’You can find many kinds of skills, but they are average at best. So find something that suits you best and don’t get cheated,’’ she warned.

 

Ethan entered the place while thinking that it would be best to buy some skills after getting more information. -That didn’t mean he had to wait to satisfy his curiosity, though.- Inside, he found comic store vibes. Many young people were debating with passion in front of the stone tablets. There were short descriptions for every one of them, and it was impossible to touch without buying.

He didn’t see anything like void or space among the categories, but there were ones he never imagined, like beast tamers, stamina-based skills, tracking skills, or elements like metal and blood. 

He was checking everything like a kid in a candy shop until he saw a short line where young kids tested their talent for the elements. Getting in the line in a quick session, he started to observe the others.

After paying a silver, a 15 years old boy sent his mana to a fist-sized orb. The orb turned a pale white, and the shop worker said, ‘average talent in the wind element.’ The boy seemed happy about his average talent and walked toward his friends with a smile.

When it was Ethan’s turn, the shop staff was taken back -likely because of his age- but didn’t say anything. Ethan paid a silver and sent his mana. It turned to a powder blue with signs showing average talent.

‘’Huh, that’s not water. I think I saw that one before, but let me check to be sure,’’ the employee said with narrowed eyes and walked back to the counter to check out a book.

Don’t tell me that’s void, Ethan thought with ridicule.

‘’Oh, it’s void.’’

Son of a bitch.

He sent his coat to his ring, and the color changed to black with below-average talent. Removing his mana before the guy was back, Average void with the cloak and the second best is shadow with below average, fantastic, he thought grimly.

The employee turned with a sympathetic look on his face, ‘’Sorry, void skills are very rare, and we don’t have a way to check if you have other talents. I guess you have to find out what’s best for you.’’

‘’Yeah, thanks, I guess. Do you know where is the best place to cultivate void aspect mana?’’ he asked downheartedly.

‘’That’s a tough one,’’ the employee said with a frown. 

It was the old man who answered behind them, waiting with his grandchild in the line. ‘’A dying pocket world. Find one old enough to have ripples of space. If I’m not mistaken, there should be one close to Serene Depths.’’

That brought his mood back somewhat, ‘’Oh, thank you, sir. I’ll check it out,’’ he said to the old man, who smiled back.

He spent half an hour looking for shadow and stamina-based skills, but there were so many options, and the prices were too much. One of the popular ones was tagged for 5 mana stones. Curious, he asked the guy next to him what’s that about.

‘’You know, crystalized mana that is worth 10 golds for a piece,’’ the guy replied with a weird look.

Thinking back to the 2 stones he found in the goblin caves, ‘’Do you mean this?’’ he asked, showing one of them in his hand.

The boy’s eyes hardened, and his hands clenched. ‘’Are you mocking me?’’

‘’No, no. I didn’t know what these were called,’’ he apologized with a smile and made his way out of the shop hastily. Damn, that’s 20 gold for you. My wealth just went up to 35 gold. And there are still monster parts. I better sell everything and check the library first. Right now, it’s like walking in the dark. Wasting my only capital on cool-looking skills would be stupid.

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