There were two beds in the room, with small wooden chests at their feet. There was also a pair of mahogany night stands, each supporting a stone basin half-filled with water and a bronze lantern that lit up half the room. A wide table of polished wood sat opposite from the beds, a set of matching chairs surrounding it.
Jason took a look around. “Two-stars, at best.”
“More like Venara’s version of the Four Seasons.”
Jason claimed the left bed, carefully stripping it layer by layer as he searched for unknown bugs that might interrupt his sleep. Meanwhile Nolan stared at the ceiling and thought back to the incident with the black arrow, the bandit and the dead horse. The only reason to issue a warning like that would be to intimidate them.
But that wasn’t just a warning. He would have killed Nyla if I hadn’t yanked her out of the way. He shifted uncomfortably. He couldn’t have followed us into the city, could he have?
“Are you thinking about what happened at the gate? That scared the crap out of me. I mean, I felt the wind when the arrow flew by me. And then that horse…”
Nolan shrugged. “We just have to keep our guard up. That’s all we can do.”
Jason was quiet for a moment. “You’re not checking your blankets for spiders?”
“I already did. I used my brain.”
“Are you mocking me?” he laughed. “I’m so exhausted. I didn’t even think to use my spiritual sense.” He let out a dawdling yawn. “Man, Nyla’s so cheap. Who’d have thought she’d be so stingy.”
They prattled on about random things until they were able to forget their worries long enough for sleep to take hold.
Nolan dreamt of Thomas and Steph, old memories dug up from his childhood and reanimated by his subconscious. After everything that he’d experienced, that life felt so far away from him.
He was startled awake by a loud thump from the next room over, along with a series of angry yelling that was hard to ignore. A bitter taste filled his mouth, the content of his dreams slipping away as his awareness grew with the passing seconds.
The yelling persisted for another ten minutes before a snoring Jason awoke with a disgruntled snarl. He shot out of his bed a few seconds later and began to hop up and down, wincing from what he described as a burning itch. It turned out that he’d been bitten by a bug in his sleep. Nolan found it within seconds, a regular looking centipede that was killed with the flick of a finger.
The group left the inn early on into the next day. Heading down a main road of the southern district, they enjoyed the buzzing atmosphere of the busy streets as they sought out the east side of the city. The only one who wasn’t enjoying the new sights was Jason.
“Am I going to die? Nolan, I’m freaking out!”
“Nyla said you’ll be fine. Apparently those centipedes are the most common bugs around.”
“But it itches something fierce…”
“She said it’d go away in a day or two, so just try to ignore it.”
Nolan was constantly reassuring Jason as they made the long trek to the reputable appraisal shop that Kam had recommended to them. It took them the entire afternoon to find their way into the east district, at which point they stopped to purchase some food at a dried meat stall in the huge area of the Eastern Square. The mystery meat was surprisingly good.
I wonder if they use saltpeter to cure their meats? Or maybe they have some sort of energy-related process that I’ve got no clue about?
After the brief meal they hurried across the square and continued on to the appraisal shop. This part of the city was filled with all sorts of shops and stalls, many of the buildings made from aged wood rather than stone. Nolan was tempted to go off and buy several sets of clothes so that he could finally steal back a bit of his civility, though that would have to wait until after they sold off some loose items. Wearing the same clothes every day made him feel like a scrub.
They would occasionally pass two or three armoured guards amidst the hundreds of people that crowded the roads. Seeing that even the weakest were at the second level of the Profound Entry stage, Nolan began to realize that he wasn’t nearly as strong as he thought he was. He needed to start cultivating again on a daily basis, even if the fifth level of Body Nourishment was quite a ways away. Even so, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t improve his strength. Each level of cultivation was broken up into the early, middle, late, and peak phases. If he achieved a minor breakthrough to the middle phase of his current level then he could improve his strength by a good deal.
Jason pointed off to the side a short while later. “Look, a sign with a golden feather! That should be the place, right?”
“According to Kam,” said Nolan, slightly taken aback. He’d pictured some tiny shop, not the scale of business that he saw before him.
Echoing the exterior of the building, the inside was quite plain. There were dozens of simple desks spread evenly throughout the first floor, which was a single, large hall. Hardwood floors a dark shade of cherry, with naked walls painted in a modest coat of walnut brown.
As soon as Nolan stepped into the spacious room, his ears were filled with the pleasant buzz of casual conversation. Many people were lined up in front of one desk or another as they waited patiently to deal with the black-robed men and women who could only have been employees of the appraisal shop. Aside from those waiting by the desks, at least a dozen clusters of people dotted the sizeable room, the largest group numbering at six or seven.
Once inside they were approached by a young brunette dressed in close-fitting black robes. Looking around there were many similarly dressed employees moving about the customer base, amiably and professionally disposed.
Staring at them with a bright smile, the girl asked whether they came to make an exchange or to get an item appraised. After hearing that they came to get an appraisal, she asked how many items they wished to have inspected. Nolan took a moment to scan their spatial bags with his spiritual sense and then told her the amount. Afterward, he had to pay an absorbent appraisal fee of one golden card.
They were led to a distant staircase and asked to wait in a small room on the second floor. It was about half the size of a standard classroom at Nolan’s old school, with thick and neatly arranged drapes covering several tall arched windows. Numerous candles lit up the area from their perches on the walls, upon which hung a handful of fine tapestries the same dark shade of grey as the cloth that covered the windows.
Nolan and the others took a seat in front of a large desk on one end of the room, atop which were three blazing candlesticks and surprisingly, an ordinary magnifying glass. Aside from that, the pockmarked tabletop was bare.
A stout man in a deep purple robe stepped into the room shortly after they arrived. Closing the door behind him, he made his way around the desk and took a seat across from them. His face was clean shaven and his black hair was neatly trimmed, a shrewd pair of dark eyes observing the group as he cleared his throat.
“Good day,” the man said in a pleasant tone. “My name is Geralt. I will be your appraiser for this evening. I was told that you had some medicinal pellets that you’d like to get inspected?”
“And a few other things.” Nolan produced a black pellet no larger than a marble. “Let’s start with this.”
Geralt silently accepted the pellet and began looking it over with a studious gaze. Foregoing the magnifying glass, it only took him a few seconds to deduce its identity. “Ah, this is quite rare. This is a blood breeding pellet. It’s very useful for regenerating blood.”
“So it’s similar to a purple bloodleaf then?” asked Nyla.
“Purple bloodleaves are one of the main ingredients used to concoct this pellet, but this is many times more efficient.”
Nolan’s eyes lit up. “How much is it worth?”
“I’d estimate its worth to be around ten cards of gold.”
Ten golden cards for just one of those black pellets? Nolan had several vials filled with various types of medicinal pellets, one
of which contained thirteen of the type he’d just handed Geralt. That blond guy was loaded. Holding in his satisfaction, he handed Gerald the next item. “What about this?”
Geralt spent three minutes examining the second pellet, eventually frowning and picking up the magnifying glass. Looking at it again, another minute passed before he said, “I’m not sure what this medicinal pellet is called, but it seems to have properties that stimulate one’s dantian for a set period of time. With this, a person would be able to take in Origin Energy about ten percent faster than their normal absorption rate, and they would have no problem converting the greater energies into inner essence.”
“Isn’t that pretty amazing?” Jason said.
Nyla stared intently at the pellet in Geralt’s hand. “How much is it worth then?”
“That’s difficult for me to say. Though the properties of the pellet are quite impressive, I’m unable to estimate the duration of its effects and so cannot give a definitive price.”
Even if these pills are priceless, we can’t sell them. Nolan had two vials the size of standard bottles of water that were full of those mustardy pellets.
Geralt smiled apologetically. “And what is the next item you’d like me to take a look at?”
Nolan ended up bringing out nearly every item that they’d obtained from the two disciples of the Bloodhand Sect. Aside from the first two pellets, none of the others were of any particular use. One vial was full of tiny red pellets that apparently increased sex drive, another with tiny white ones that caused mild drowsiness, and another filled with pellets that helped to numb one’s mind into a profound and contemplative state, a popular commodity throughout the world according to Geralt. It was unfortunate that they had an abundance of the less useful pellets, which were basically aphrodisiacs, sleep-aid pills and recreational drugs.
Geralt analyzed one medicinal pellet after another, rarely making use of the magnifying glass. After a short while, the only item that had yet to be appraised happened to be the one that Nolan was most curious about.
At this point their appraiser was well aware that they were in possession of two spatial bags, but such things failed to elicit so much as an arched eyebrow. Were they not as rare as Nyla had said? After placing the black bow upon the desktop, those dark, shrewd eyes finally stirred with emotion.
“An evernight bow?” Geralt seemed genuinely shocked. He looked Nolan and the others up and down in reassessment, a clear tinge of skepticism touching upon his expression. “This is an extremely rare treasure, even among essence fusion weapons!”
“Essence fusion?”
Geralt gave Nolan an odd look before collecting himself with a sigh. “Essence fusion objects are essentially priceless treasures, especially if they’re weapons. Since they require inner essence in order to bring about their full effects, they can’t be used properly until one reaches the Profound Entry stage.”
“Why is that?”
“Because one can’t activate its special properties without having reached that level. These types of weapons become more dangerous when injected with inner essence.”
“You recognized it right away, so I’m guessing that this isn’t a one-of-a-kind bow.”
Geralt licked his lips as he stared at the sleek weapon. “A century ago these were commonly wielded by wealthy warriors of the former kingdom of Mour. It’s only useful to those in the Profound Entry stage, but it can allow an adept user to threaten the life of someone several levels their superior in terms of cultivation.”
Hearing Geralt’s words, Nolan began to regret giving it to Nyla. He couldn’t help but wonder how bad it would look if he decided to take it back.
Jason stared at the appraiser. “If they were so common in the past, how’d they come to be so rare?”
“The supply of evernight bows became fixed after the Bloodhand Sect conquered Mour.” Geralt raised his eyes from the desktop, a slight frown tugging at his lips. “It’s been over a century since then. By now almost all of these bows have been swallowed up by the wealthy nobles of the continent or the sects of the Western Isles. They’re usually delegated to their most outstanding disciples, at least the ones still at the peak of the Profound Entry stage.”
The peak? That blond guy was nowhere near that strong. A hint of fear settled in his stomach. Had he killed someone important? If that kid been able to obtain something that only a select few people in his organization might have had a chance at owning, then it wasn’t due to the level of his cultivation.
Geralt cleared his throat. “I wonder if you’ll consider selling it to our shop? I’m sure that my superiors will pay you handsomely.”
“Sorry, we’re not interested in selling it.” Nolan calmly stored the bow away in his spatial bag. “Since you offered to buy the bow, does that mean you buy other things too?”
Geralt nodded. “This is both an appraisal and an exchange business, after all.”
In the end, Nolan sold off a portion of the medicinal pellets that no one in the group had any use for, though not all had caught Geralt’s interest. Altogether, they’d sold sixty-nine pellets for a grand total of a hundred and forty-seven golden cards. Nolan had taken note that the few of them that had been in the lanky disciple’s spatial bag were only worth seventeen golden cards.
They also exchanged the demonic core they’d obtained from Hale. It turned out to be of low quality, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t valuable. Nolan was given the option to exchange it for one hundred golden cards, but after inquiring about spirit stones, he’d chosen to trade the core for another resplendent, glass-like rock.
Now that the appraisal process had been completed, Nolan and the others bid their farewells to Geralt and promptly left the premises.
“Do you think he ripped us off?” Jason asked.
“I’ve got no clue.” The same thing had been on his mind. “We’re completely ignorant of the economy. Either way, we got a nice heap of golden cards and another spirit stone, and that’s a hell of a lot better than what we had before.”
He’d never have thought that a spirit stone would be worth a hundred golden cards. How much money had it cost him to recover from the injuries he’d received in the battle against those murderous boys, who apparently belonged to the Bloodhand Sect? He could’ve exchanged those spirit stones for eighteen hundred golden cards. Since a night at a decent inn cost one silver card, he was sure that such a sum was simply a fortune in the eyes of most people.
The wide streets were loud with hundreds of voices, which gave the bright afternoon an energetic air. Under an empty sky of healthy blue, they started down the main road and headed back toward the Eastern Square.
Nyla wore a wonderful smile as her eyes flitted over her surroundings. “What’s our next destination?”
“Let’s check out some shops.” Jason vigorously scratched his thigh where the insect had bitten him. “I wanna get some clothes and maybe a nice sword or something. I’m still the only one without a weapon.”
“I’d also like to get something else to wear.” Nyla pursed her lips and turned to her brother. “Quin, we’re actually here. Can you believe it?”
When Quin didn’t respond, Nolan said, “We’ve got plenty of money. Why not spend some of it?”
They began to explore random stores in the area, which proved quite a surreal experience for Nolan. After all the pains and sufferings that he’d had to deal with since waking up in that great forest of towering trees, he had never thought that he would get another chance to go shopping store to store. Back in Redfox Village, simply having money to spend had been a far-fetched fantasy. Now he was flashing gold like a gangster in a low-budget film
Throughout the day he discovered that copper cards existed as well. The worth of a golden card was equal to twenty of the silver ones and a silver card equated to fifty of the copper. With this being the case, their group could afford a majority of the merchandize that fell under their gaze.
They each bought about a dozen sets of clothes. A
fter that they spent some time in a store that strictly sold weaponry, where Quin spent fifteen golden cards on a large, double-bladed battle axe. Its body was pure, shining steel with a handle wrapped in studded leather.
Jason spent half as much on a gleaming short sword with a dark leather handle, a simple but impressive weapon. Seeing him draw the sword from its scabbard with delight, Nolan couldn’t help but get a sword of his own. When he’d played around as a kid, he had often imagined himself being some sort of sword-wielding hero, especially on Halloween when he’d get to dress up as a knight or a ninja. What man hadn’t thought of owning a sword at some point in their lives?
He ended up buying two weapons. The first was a thick, sturdy-looking short sword that was quite similar to Jason’s. It even had the same handle, so they were probably created by the same person. Next was a heavy longbow made of strong, walnut-coloured wood along with three quivers of matching arrows. The bowstring was extremely taut, requiring Nolan’s full strength in order to just barely pull it back.
They eventually wound up in a large restaurant that could have belonged in the suburbs back home, only that most of the light came from dozens of open windows and a decent number of wall-mounted lanterns. It wasn’t as flashy as any of the places he’d been to in the past, but it was still quite nice.
They ordered a sumptuous feast of grilled meats, a few foreign salads and several loaves of soft bread. Nolan and Jason had a good laugh when Nyla ordered a bowl of pink olive soup.
They spent the rest of the evening making their way back to their lodgings within southern district, stopping to enjoy the sight of the house-sized water fountain at the centre of the Southern Square. Watching the jets spout glittering streams of water up into the air, Nolan couldn’t help but think back to the strange glade and remembered the celestial fountain he’d used as a personal bathtub for several months. Compared to the crystal clear waters and the fantastical rainbows that’d adorned its faintly-misty surface, the one in front of him might as well have been a giant sprinkler.
The Grey Ghost: Book Two of the Archaic Ring Series Page 6