Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Hello Sir, how may I help you?", Seth was greeted as he stepped to the counter. First, a little test. Seth wanted to see whether these people were really professionals or would act arrogantly? He put a small portion of bone powder into a small bowl on the counter. He had almost two full stacks of this stuff and one unit was 100g, so he had almost 20kg of bone powder, a common ingredient for many magical professions. It was neither expensive nor rare, but it did not matter. Seth just wanted to see the clerk's reaction.

But there was nothing unprofessional, he did neither flinch nor twitch. His expression was friendly as ever as he took the bowl and started analyzing the bone powder. There were differences even in something so simple and cheap as bone powder. Did it come from a fresh skeleton or an old corpse? Was it a monster? Was it in or outside a dungeon?

After answering some questions, the clerk offered 10 silver per kg. It was the first time the clerk lost his composure when Seth continued to bring out 20kg. Like this, he added another two gold to his stash.

This also convinced him of the quality of the service here. Not even once did the employee seem anything other than perfectly professional. He the price was also fair.

Next, he brought out the various parts of the juvenile he had no use for. Yudrid had written down all the prices of the different organs he should be able to get and the clerk quoted them 1:1 as if he too had read that list! Seth had actually looked forward to being able to haggle a little, but the store paid all the money he wanted even without him asking for it.

Fin happily watched Seth making money, while the Ivicer in the pet space found this rather boring.

Having sold all the parts of the juvenile he wanted to sell; he was able to store another 15 gold coins.

"Is there anything else, Sir?"

They had easily spent half an hour on this counter, but the employees were still as courteous as ever.

"Since we are done with the pesky ordeal of selling. I want to buy. Do you have Dimmer Salts?"

The other affirmed and left to get the material. He came back with a bowl of translucent crystals ranging from a gray to almost black color.

<Dimmer Crystal, Crafting Material, Uncommon

Dimmer crystals grow in dark caves and incorporate natural dark mana. >

These crystals could be ground into the salt he needed to make <Dark Steel>. As an uncommon material, they were not too expensive and Seth got twenty crystals for 5 gold.

"Alright. I′m also looking for fire glass. Do you have this, too?"

"Wares of this rank or higher can only be found from the second floor upwards. I′m sorry but entry to these floors is exclusive to special clientele-"

"How much?"

"Ah- Dear customer I didn′t mean-"

"Oh please, when you say "special clientele" don't you just mean people who don′t have to ask about the price when buying stuff up there?"

Seth pulled out the VIP-crystal card from the system bank and the employee's eyes widened. This was a guarantee that he had at least several hundred golds in his account.

"This should be enough to guarantee that I can afford to go up there, yes?"

The employee nodded hurriedly and led them up the stairs to the second floor. This floor was smaller, but it held a lot more value. The distribution was similar to the previous floor, just increased by a rank. Everything Seth could appraise was at least uncommon with most of it being ranked rare!

Unfortunately, just like the first floor, the equipment was of no use to Seth. At least he could not gain any enchantments here. But he good a few new entries in his material catalog. One armor was made of a mix of dark iron and a bright blue stone that resembled ice.

<Moonstone, Crafting Material, Rare

Often found among the ice on the tips of snowy mountains or in the depths of lakes that brightly reflect the moonlight. It has a great affinity with water and light. >

There were also armors made of things like <Wyvern leather> and other materials from monsters. These were not necessarily of interest to Seth, as these things were scarce. It was not useful if he wanted to grind and hard to get if he wanted to use it to make his own items. Metals were of greater interest to him.

<Blue Iron

This iron has absorbed a great amount of natural mana and shows increased affinity with all elements. >

Seth's window-shopping was interrupted by the employee bringing a giant chunk of red crystal from one of the drawers on the wall. It was thicker than Seth′s thigh and as long as his arm. The employee was visibly troubled lifting it!

<Fire Glass, Crafting Material, Rare

A crystal often found at the crater of active volcanos. Can also be mined at dormant places of volcanic activity. High affinity with the fire element. >

Oh yes, this was it! Even ss the color really was up to his taste with its flamboyant red, Seth really looked forward to what effects an armor made from this would have! "I take it!"

"Oh my god! What a cool stone! I want it!", a young man maybe 14 or 15 years old called out from the other side of the room and pointed at Seth′s fire glass. He ignored the snotty brat and waited for the employee to release the theft protection.

He gave the employee price of 40 gold coins and stored the material in his inventory!

"Imho! Did you already sell the fire glass?!", a strict looking man in a stiff robe entered the scene. Behind him stood the little brat from earlier. "I knew it", Seth thought with a satisfied smile on his face. The deal was done, the material in his inventory and he would definitely not take it out again.

"Manager?! Yes! Yes, I just sold it.", he said with a business smile. The young man looked shocked at Imho and the manager had a complicated expression.

"But, but! I want that crystal for my room! Give it to me!", he said and turned to Seth. Fin balled her tiny fists and was about to say something, but Seth simply ignored the whole situation and turned to leave.

"Customer, please wai-"

"No!", it was Fin denying the manager's call, Seth just ignored them and left.

The brat on the other side widened his eyes when he spotted Fin on his shoulder and ran after them. His Uncle followed. "I want the fairy! Uncle, get me a fairy, too!"

Fin on his shoulder froze and the Managers face fell. He roughly grabbed the teenager and covered his mouth. He held him despite his struggle.

"He′s just a kid! He doesn′t know what he′s saying! Please forgive him!", he rapidly spoke in a panic. What was going on suddenly? Looking to his shoulder he saw Fin giving them a deadly glare.

"Go away, don′t let me see your face again.", she said in an ice-cold voice. The manager bowed deeply, pressing the brat's head down in the same position. They returned to the shop holding their heads low.

"What was that?", Seth asked once the two were out of sight.

"Fin has no idea what you mean~", she said with an innocent smile. Did he just imagine her expression just now? Yeah, let′s not displease the person who almost beat someone to death last night.

They crossed the street and entered the Desert Dragon Pavilion. The interior was very different from the Emporium. The floors were tiled with smooth gray stone. Cream-colored walls with calligraphy-scrolls and wooden beams and pillars lacquered bright red. The selling floor was filled with Weapon and armor racks and a giant shelf with pills and potions towered behind the counter. Here too, was everything covered in anti-theft magic. The interior did not look any less exquisite than the Arcane Emporiums, but it had a distinctly different style.

The first floor had many items uncommon items, but also common equipment of good quality. Everything had a handwritten price tag. This was a place people with a smaller wallet could come to without being embarrassed for asking a price and not being able to pay it.

The Pavilion had the same practice of keeping the more expensive thing on higher floors, as Seth could see some wealthier looking customer entering a staircase.

At first glance, it looked a lot more comfortable to Seth.