Godfather's System

039. Crucible - 16

The distance between the nearest inner camp and our camp was a bit more than two miles which meant that it was about three elatriss in their measurements. More importantly, the walk was the only time the constant attacks of the small beasts hadn't disrupted me.

Ours wasn't the only camp in our immediate surroundings, and bonfires of the outer camps were enough to attract most of the beasts when combined, and the rest were killed by the archers that were patrolling around the inner camp showing no sign of rationing their arrows for bigger threats, displaying their logistical superiority.

The visitors had lined up in front of two guards that were wearing metal armor. We lined up as well, Karak on the front, with two pieces of carved wood already in hand. Others had similar items in hand, and the guard was stamping them as they entered and taking half a denica of silver as payment.

Then, we were inside.

"We should be out before the camp starts to gather, that's the rule," he said once we entered.

"Understood," I said as I glanced around, taking a measure of the people. Just a cursory look was enough to confirm that, the members of the camp were significantly stronger than ours, at least in terms of higher Agility and Strength.

It was hard to accurately assess them without seeing them in action, but even at the edge of the camp, I could see several people with capabilities likely around my own, making leveling up a priority. "Why don't we go and visit the leveling area first," I suggested and earned a questioning look. "I'm not there yet, but I'm not too far away as well. Depending on luck, I might even get another level before reaching the port."

I was non-committal about when I would level up, just in case. Worst, I could act like I had miscalculated the required experience. Being bad at math was not a crime.

He nodded, and we went deeper into the inner camp.

As I walked forward, my earlier assumption about the complicated nature of their financial system proved accurate. The wares on display had more variety, but the prices were varied even wilder. Haggling was happening all around us, the prices they uttered usually ranging from fractions to tens of denicas, though I had heard prices over a hundred mentioned once or twice, usually targeting a particularly shiny piece of weapon.

One that was still lower quality than the dagger I had been using, let alone the sword I had to abandon against that river beast.

I tried to commit the details of the various trades around me to my memory, to get a better sense of what was going on, and realized that it would probably cost me about twenty denicas to get a weapon that would last me a day or two under rapid use.

Unless I went in a similar direction to Silas and Jertann and picked a heavier weapon, was tempting. I had the necessary Strength to make it work, and they would last longer than an edged weapon

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I shelved my shopping strategy for a while once we arrived in front of a large tent, each side covered with silver runes and occasional gemstones, contrasting greatly with the rough, cheap-looking thick linen, which made me guess the silver and gemstones were not a part of decoration but something more.

About thirty people lined up at the entrance, out in the open, waiting in front of a guard. "Next," someone called from inside, and the first one moved.

At the same time, the next one on the line moved forward, and passed a large pouch to him, one that definitely contained more than twenty denicas. Either Jertann quoted the wrong price, or the price had increased since yesterday. But before I could pay more attention to that, the guy had removed his shirt, just as the guard revealed a metal box, pure silver and covered with purple lines.

When the box opened, a glowing blue stone was revealed, familiar with the flying ship I had bounced off. The rocks that the ship had been using as a source of fuel before triggering my Promotion along with that red glow.

The one the guard revealed from the box was the size of an egg and had a matte, weak glow unlike my previous experience, but I was more interested in the reaction from the topless man. On his chest, a complicated pattern of glowing light appeared. The guard examined that pattern for a while before shutting down the box.

They continued waiting, obedient in line.

"Not a bad structure, certainly useful," I muttered to Karak, hiding my own feelings about the subject. Inside me, frustration was bubbling. The leveling zone was clearly useless for me. I didn't exactly know what was that sigil, but considering my earlier findings, it wasn't too wild to assume it was somehow related to the Patron God one received during the Promotion.

Either I didn't have a sigil or I had one that showed my link toward being responsible for the crimson energy. And, considering the intensity of the military response to the red energy, it wasn't hard to imagine the second case would have been deadly.

No, I needed to find an alternative way to level up.

Karak nodded at my comment and walked, his habitual silence freeing me from the necessity of inventing an explanation. I followed him even as he took one of the less used roads, and brought me one of the less crowded streets or at least, what passed as a street in a temporary camp.

"Hey, Karak," greeted the stall owner. "The usual?"

Karak nodded and passed him a small pouch. Four denicas, I guessed from the size. In return, he received a wooden box. He checked its contents, twenty arrows, lined perfectly. Karak raised a couple of them, examining them carefully before nodding. Then, he gestured to me.

"Is he your friend?" he asked, and Karak nodded.

"Good, a friend of Karak is a friend of mine," he said. "What are you looking for?"

"I had an unfortunate experience and lost my weapons. I'm looking to replace at least one, maybe even more if I can afford it," I said, giving him the sign that I was a relatively rich customer. I showed him a pouch one that held about fifty denicas after I had split my money into two pouches.

I showed him the larger one, as I wanted to see what he had.

"You're not as glum as Karak, that's nice," he said with a chuckle, but I didn't miss the glow of interest in his gaze. "Any preferences?"

"I have used many weapons. Perks of being an old hand," I said with a chuckle. "Why don't you show me what you have in stock, maybe something that you were having trouble discarding and willing to give a good discount?"

"An old hand, you say. Any interest in something complicated, something with a reach?" he asked.

"Why not, especially if you think if you trust it can last more than a couple of days under heavy use," I said, hedging my bets. Just because I had money to spend and could easily earn more thanks to the bad gamblers that filled the camp didn't mean I was willing to throw it away uselessly.

"Karak, make sure nothing goes missing," he said as he disappeared behind. Considering the amount that could be stolen, it was interesting that he trusted Karak.

He came back soon, a spear in hand, one with an axe to the side. "I have a halberd here, have you used one before."

I paused for a moment, examining its structure. I wasn't an expert on weapons, but, assisted by Perception, I was confident enough to separate garbage from useful stuff. And the weapon in front of me was certainly not garbage. It was almost as good as the spears I had used back in the stable of the flying castle.

I grabbed it, swinging in a simple move, still copying the telltale signs of skill not willing to reveal my tricks right now. Its metal head was thicker than any weapon I had seen in a museum back on the earth, and its wooden handle was similarly thick, but to my enhanced Strength, it was nothing.

It was truly good enough to compare to the spears I had used down in the stables. And, while the number of spears that I had broken down there was rather depressing, I had two advantages. One was figuring out the best way to handle it. Without the correct technique, the spears shattered much more easily a deficiency that I addressed after a day in the camp, at least to a beginner level.

The other problem was the beasts I had killed. Even if the experience they granted was low, their skin was thicker than anything I had killed down since my escape, but that was reasonable as well.

After all, if there was one thing that wasn't lacking in this new world, it was the abundance of the beasts. Why would they bother capturing those beasts despite the abundance that surrounded them if there wasn't a special reason?

"Good, how much?" I asked.

"How about a hundred denicas of silver?" he asked.

"I don't have that much, unfortunately," I said with a shrug. "But I can do sixty."

"That's too little for it, how about ninety?"

"No chance, I still need to buy another dagger at least, and maybe some other auxiliary stuff."

"Eighty?" he offered.

"How about seventy-five, and you throw a decent dagger and another twenty arrows?" I said, and he nodded.

His expression told me that I was still overpaying, but not to an unacceptable degree. "You're a vicious haggler, are you sure you don't have a merchant class?" he said with a chuckle, free of the compliments after a profitable trade.

I just smiled as I grabbed the box of arrows, and passed it to Karak. "My thanks for being a guide."

"That's not necessary," Karak said, panicking slightly. "I was already going to come."

"Either way, doesn't matter," I said as I chuckled, and the shopkeeper joined that as well, amused that it was where he chose to speak.

Still, I pushed the box into his hands. There was no harm in being generous to someone, especially when we were going to fight together for the foreseeable future.

"Why don't you go and buy if there's anything else you have while I browse the other weapons," I said to Karak. Shy after the gift, he was quick to leave. It was amusing to see his unflappable demeanor breaking.

"Are you not confident that it'll last?" the shopkeeper asked even as he presented a few daggers to me, and I picked one among them, then started examining other wares on display.

"It's going to be a long journey, you never know when a malfunction would happen. And who knows, maybe the next time I'll have some decent money," I said even as I passed him the promised amount.

The lingering promise of more business was enough to keep him cheerful, especially since he was lacking any other customer at the moment, and we started chatting, telling a few of the more amusing events I had observed. It was small talk, but not useless. I wanted to tell another story.

"Yes, people are rather silly," he admitted. "Thinking that they could kill a beast in such close range is silly. They needed to trust their ranged weapons more."

"They certainly can be. I even heard that an idiot from one of the edge camps tried to level up near the guards, thinking that he could outrun them," I muttered, mentioning what I wanted only after he got in the mood to criticize every story I told.

"Not a bad strategy," he admitted, and I did my best to hide my enthusiasm. "As long as you're confident that you can get away faster than the guards arrive. After all, the energy doesn't stick around you like a smell. But still, it's stupid, risking execution to avoid paying thirty denicas."

"You're right," I said and followed up with another silly story.

I had learned what I wanted.

The next mission. Leveling up