Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 10 (Patreon)

My visit to Marol’s Theory Crafting office proved more fruitful than I’d hoped. I had a lot to think about going forward, and it was comforting knowing someone with generations of System knowledge had identified no major blunders I’d made by accident.

“Hopefully that shores up any weaknesses you were developing.” Myrina patted a hand on my shoulder. “If I had the full support of my clan, I could afford to take you to several bigger and better Theory Crafting offices. They’d know much more about what makes Scholars of Forbidden Knowledge powerful and give you an idea of how to make the most of your class.”

“You’ve already done far more than I could have asked for,” I replied.

“That was probably the first time Marol pulled out that particular tome. It likely took her back to her academy days! Here in Valkyrie’s Watch, she deals with Amazonian Warriors, Amazonian Archers, Amazonian Brutes, Amazonian Barbarians, and the occasional Amazonian Warchief like me. And probably not much else. You made her prove her certification today!”

I grinned. Marol’s limited background knowledge aside, her tip about picking up the Meditation skill alone made it worth visiting her. That was something I was eager to do as soon as I had the chance to sit down and focus on it.

“So what’s next?” I asked.

Myrina reached for the dimensional storage bag at her waist and gave it a pinch. She frowned, apparently not liking what she found.

“Well, we’re going to go shopping! Ideally, I’d take you to the best magic shops around. But we’re on a tighter budget than is ideal. Bringing you here pretty much obliterated my savings. I still have a few old weapons and piles of loot I could auction off for additional funds, but I want to get you something."

“You really don’t have to, Myrina.”

“No. I’m your Patron. This is your tutorial. You’re leaving here armed, trained, and equipped, whether you like it or not!” Myrina scowled. She’d brook no argument on this.

“Alright, where to?” I asked.

Myrina bit her lip. “There’s only one store that sells gear fit for spellcasters. We don’t have many spellcasters in Valkyries Watch, so there isn’t much of a market for it. In fact, the store mostly exists to buy gear looted off corpses and resell it in bulk off world. This’ll be the first time I’m ever going there to buy something instead of sell.”

She led me down the streets again. This time, the path was a bit more winding than before. The castle where Myrina lived was visible the whole way, and with it for reference, I was starting to get the lay of the land. Valkyrie’s Watch wasn’t a large city. It wasn’t as big as I was used to, and the lack of cars made it much tighter packed. There was no need for parking lots or streets wider than a wagon.

We were nearly around the corner when someone jumped out at us. She was a woman in rough-spun canvas clothes that looked like they’d had a previous life as a burlap sack. She held a rusty dagger in one hand and held it before her.

“Your money or your li--“

She didn’t even finish before Myrina’s sword tip was lodged in her throat. Her eyes went wide as she choked on her own blood, and then Myrina drove her sword the rest of the way through and put her out of her misery.

“You alright?” Myrina asked as she wiped her sword clean and sheathed it.

“This happens often?” I asked. Myrina had reacted as fast as lightning. I hadn’t even had the time to get a spell off, and the would-be thief was already dead.

Myrina shrugged sheepishly. “These days, I never leave home without a sword. Back when we had more guards to patrol the streets and more coin flowed into the city, things were easier. Things will get better when the war is finally over.”

Myrina scooped up the body by her hair and unceremoniously tossed the entire corpse into the bag at her waist. It shouldn’t have fit, but it did.

“Shame she had nothing on her. I’m completely broke, but she was a pauper. Still, the corpse might be worth something where we’re going.”

I shook my head. I was once again reminded that Myrina was no Earthling. My experiences had hardened me more than most people of Earth. But not even I could shrug off a murder attempt and then plan to sell the corpse of my would-be killer like I was picking up a penny off the side of the road.

Shortly after getting ambushed, Myrina showed me to a shop. A sign above the door depicted a maniacal wizard cackling with a wand in one hand and a spellbook in the other. There were no windows or goods on display, but given what Myrina told me about this store, it probably needed none.

Being the only place to buy or sell magical equipment in the city likely meant it did not need to show off its wares. There was no competition to compete with.

“Hello?” Myrina rapped on the door before pushing it open. “You’ve got customers!”

“Yeah, yeah. Throw your loot on the table, and I’ll tell you if it’s worth anything,” said the voice from inside.

There was a man behind the counter. The first one I’d seen since arriving in Valkyrie’s Watch. He wore blue wide-sleeved robes and had a long white beard, looking much like the maniacal wizard on his sign out front.

Myrina reached into the pouch at her waist and pulled out the corpse she’d just killed by the hair.

“Think a necromancer would buy this? It’s still warm.” Myrina let the corpse flop out on the table.

The man behind the counter jumped with a start at the sudden appearance of the body. “Damn, girl. You should have told me you were selling a corpse. Now I’ll have to wipe the bloodstains out of my counter.”

“Your counter is already covered in bloodstains.”

“Only because you crazy amazonians keep trying to sell me corpses!”

The wizard grumbled. He peeled back an eyelid on the corpse and held up a finger. A magical candle flame lit on his finger, and he used it to dilate the corpse’s pupils.

“Quite fresh indeed. I’ll get her on ice. She’d make a decent undead brute for a necromancer. I’ll take her for a single gold coin,” the wizard said.

Myrina shook her head. “Actually, I was looking to trade. I’m looking for a wand for him.”

Myrina jerked her thumb back at me and waved.

The wizard stroked his beard. “Alright... there are a few I can let go cheap. Hold a moment.”

He stepped into a back room and came out again. Myrina gave me a pat on the shoulder and said she would look at the weapons. I nodded and kept standing at the counter. Minutes later, the wizard returned with two handfuls of hand-length wands made of wood.

“Pick one of these. Just one, mind you. Unless you’ve got coin to spare.”

“Wait a moment,” I said as I reached around to the bag I’d been carrying. “I have something I’d like to trade as well. Let me know what you think it’s worth.”

From my gym bag, I withdrew a single Mana Bomb. I held the tight bundle of wire in my hands, inspecting it one last time to ensure it looked right, then passed it off to the wizard.

He accepted it graciously, stared at it a while in puzzlement, then looked up at me.

“The hell is this thing?”

“It’s kind of like a magical hand grenade.”

The wizard stared at me, uncomprehending.

“Right... well, it deals some pure magical damage. It doesn’t do much against living creatures, to be honest. But it can be useful against specters and ghosts.”

The wizard stared at it a while longer. “I’ll be honest, you’d have more luck at the auction house with something like this. I’ve never seen the item before and don’t know how to sell it. My partners are all on wizard worlds, with thousands of spells to deal magical damage. You might be better off selling this here in the auction house up the street. I’ll give you a second wand if you want to sell it. Or maybe one of those charms on the wall there?”

Ultimately, the charms on the wall looked interesting enough to part with my Mana Bomb. I was a bit disappointed they weren’t as precious as I’d hoped, but I guess expecting I’d be rich solely from having an Epic-rarity job was too much to hope for. The Arcadia Multiverse was big, and my little invention couldn’t be that unique.

You have gained a Basic Wand. +100 Mana to Pool. +10 accuracy to Spells.

You have gained a Pendant of Magical Fire. +10 Intelligence. This pendant can be activated to generate a Fire Shield. The item will break after Fire Shield is used three times.

Your mana can now draw on this pendant to take on the Fire Affinity.

All in all, I was happy with my purchases. I reunited with Myrina and caught her eyes lingering on an enchanted axe. It was one of the few items on display.

She glanced at my haul and seemed disappointed we hadn’t gotten more.

“I wanted you completely outfitted with top-level equipment...” Myrina moped. “And now all you’re getting is E-Rank starter gear...”

“This is E-Rank stuff?” I raised my eyebrows.

“Yep. Most of the stuff in that shop was E-Rank. In fact, most of the stuff you’ll see for sale on the streets is suitable for E-Rankers. D-Rank is usually behind the counter or in special back rooms. You can generally deduct one rarity rank as a rule of thumb. What's legendary at the E rank is only the equivalent of epic at the D rank. Maybe even just rare, depending on the item. The labels don't change, but the stats never lie.”

“What do people who reach C-Rank do to get their equipment?” I asked curiously.

Myrina laughed. “They don’t shop here. That’s what. The only C-Rankers in the city are my family members, so if they need equipment, they check the family vaults. D-Rank is generally considered the highest the average person can hope to reach. It’s where the level gap grows to the point that it becomes insurmountable. It’s easy enough to reach level ten. A bit harder to reach level 25. But reaching level 100 takes mountains of enemies slain. A soldier in the Samhain Clan might reach C-Rank during a war like the one we’re fighting, but that’s it. Still, otherwise, it’s just major clans that control dungeons that can produce such fighters. There simply aren’t enough experience points to go around.”

I nodded along. “Interesting. I suppose quite a few people would like to visit a newly integrated world for the monsters there.”

“Precisely so,” Myrina replied.

I sighed. Once again, the magnitude of what the System had taken from me with its Death Curse weighed heavy on my heart. There were many monsters to kill, and they all wanted a piece of me. I could slay as many as I wanted though, and I wouldn’t get so much as a single point of experience. For that, I needed to kill people. Or use the little workaround I’d found with the help of Sakura and Bridget.

“What do you say we check out that auction house the wizard mentioned?”

Myrina brightened. “I was just about to suggest the same thing. I’ve got some junk to sell off. It won’t be worth much, but an auction should be coming up. Sometimes magical stuff goes cheap there since there are so few magic users. And you can try selling whatever it is your brought from Earth in that bag of yours.”

Myrina led me to the auction house. As soon as Myrina flashed her crimson hair and announced she was a member of the Samhain Clan, we were swiftly swept away by a staff member and taken to a private room.

“Lady Myrina, it’s an honor to have you at our establishment,” the auction house employee bowed to Myrina. She threw a half-hearted glance toward me. “And Lady Myrina’s guest, of course.”

“Thanks,” I fought to keep from shaking my head. It was pretty clear the auction house only gave us special treatment because of Myrina’s family name.

“I feel embarrassed to be taken to the back room.” Myrina laughed ruefully. “I’m just selling some junk.”

“Junk or no, you are a Samhain! How could we not pay respects to the clan that rules over Valkyries Watch?” the attendant replied.

Myrina shrugged. “You asked for it.”

“I have some stuff to sell as well,” I added.

“My assistant will appraise your items while I deal with Lady Myrina here.” The attendant waved me off. Not being a Samhain, I clearly didn't rate the back room.

I made my way over to a smaller desk where the assistant stood. She looked like a younger, smaller version of the attendant Myrina was talking to. Perhaps not mother and daughter, but maybe niece and aunt.

The assistant looked me over as I poured all the Mana Bombs I’d made out on the counter. She looked the odd bundles of wire over carefully.

“I’ve never seen anything like these. What are they? Toys?” the assistant attendant asked skeptically.

I shook my head. “Quite the opposite. They’re weapons. Enchanted explosives. They’re one-time use and they detonate to deal neutral mana magical damage. They carry no physical force or energy, so they’ll only damage specters and the like.”

The assistant attendant shrugged. “Those things may be useful. Perhaps the Samhain Clan will buy them for their war effort. Heavens know they’ve been burning gold like it’s fire starter. Some of them might throw some coin away to test a fancy new gadget.”

I shrugged. “I can only hope.”

I had thought about offering the Mana Bombs to Myrina’s family directly, but I figured this was the better course. I doubted handing over a few handmade toys would impress Myrina’s mother, and I desperately needed pocket change. I’d been told skill books weren’t cheap, and if I wanted to make the most of the Theory Crafter session Myrina had paid for, I’d need to buy several more of them.

So I figured it’d be best to just sell them. But if I kept working on my Artificer class, I was sure I’d eventually come up with something that would sell my value to them and take some heat off Myrina’s back. She’d put a lot on the line to bring me here.

“Alright, I can give you five gold now for each of these. Feel free to use them to bid on the upcoming auction yourself. All told, that should be one hundred and fifteen gold.”

“Hmm... I’d hoped enchanted things would fetch more.” I’d seen the prices in the wizard’s shop. The pendant I’d purchased had been listed for one hundred gold. Suddenly, I felt like he’d given me a very good price for the one I’d traded.

“Enchanted things are usually quite valuable. However, these are single-use items.” The assistant attendant shrugged. “I have to make a conservative estimate. If your items sell for more, we’ll credit you half of the total to your account.

“Only half?”

The assistant attendant held her hands out. “We are only offering you that deal taking Lady Myrina’s referral bonus into account. Most new customers only receive thirty percent of their item’s sale price.”

I sighed, but such was the way of the world. The only shop in town that might have purchased them told me he wouldn’t buy more than one.

We shook hands, and I accepted the package of gold. It was made of three distinct rolls, all neatly bundled, and a few loose coins. Clearly, the packages were used as higher denomination currency and only broken open when one needed change.It was heavier than it looked, and if not for my levels in strength, it would have slipped right through my hands.

My heart lightened when I felt the weight. Perhaps that hadn’t been such a poor deal after all. I’d just traded some scrap wire for five times its weight in gold. That wasn’t a terrible deal at all. Heck, before the integration, this would have been five years’ worth of my salary.

Myrina finished a moment later, and I smugly held up my bag of gold to compare with hers. Mine was noticeably bigger.

“Well well well...” I chuckled. “Are you jealous of the size of my package, Myrina?”

Myrina reached out to heft my package, flicking me a coy smile as she squeezed it. “It is a pretty big and hard package. You better watch out. If I didn’t have the Samhain Clan attached to my name, I would reach out and claim your package for myself.”

She giggled, and I laughed. The two of us took our seats in a private booth reserved by Myrina’s family. Nobody else in the Samhain Clan was attending the auction so we had the room to ourselves.

“Attention one and all!” came the attendant’s voice who’d seen to Myrina personally. “Today’s auction is about to begin!”

<Note>

First ever auction house scene in any of my books, if you can believe it. Don’t worry. No arrogant young masters will show up in this one. (Or will they? Dun dun dun!)