Spellheart 10: Chapter 15 (Patreon)

Edit: Ignore what was previously up here! I accidentally left my notes here and they contained spoilers!

A few hours later, we were out of the utopian shadow of the World of Sanctuary and Serenity. On any other day, I probably would have explored it more. But right now, there was a lot to do. Besides, if this project worked as well as I was hoping, pretty soon, we’d have a utopia right at home to explore.

We found our way through the primordial teleporters and appeared as a group in the hollow mountain outpost. From there, we planned to do what we’d missed last time and hire people and buy valuable items.

“I’m sure many of you have things you want to buy to make your stay in the Hearthwood a little more comfortable,” I told my companions. “Let’s break up into groups and go shopping. Tivana and Elara, you two are with me.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “I see how it is. The old ‘let me take these ladies into the corner for a quickie.’”

“It’s not like that. We’re genuinely going to buy things for my kids and for shutting down the Planetary Defense Array. For the former, I need Tivana; for the latter, I need Elara.” I held up my hands innocently.

From the looks on their faces, not even Tivana and Elara completely believed me. Not that they minded as each of them grabbed an arm and wrapped themselves around it.

“Any ladies want to come with Dean here?” Dean asked. “Anyone at all?”

His shoulders slumped as he was met with silence.

“Come on,” Sam said as he tugged Dean away.

Yeminel, Arien, Lyssandra, and Melaris all left to explore the market. Sam and Dean went in the other direction.

Tivana, Elara, and I all went off to explore a different section of the market, namely the one advertising weapons, armor, and equipment.

But my first order of business was getting local currency. I had bundles full of zeal crystals. They’d worked before, but most Demigods would walk around with a lot of money.

While I had been a very wealthy man once upon a time, my material wealth had increased much slower than my cultivation. I discovered that when I went to trade in my zeal crystals for currency.

“Those zeal crystals will get you two thousand credits,” the teller from the Elven Star Dominion said.

“Is that a lot?” I asked, turning to Elara.

“No.”

My shoulders slumped. Maybe buying the things I’d hoped for wouldn’t be as easy as I thought. I had much more at my disposal than this, this bit of spending money, but I considered most of my resources the property of the Hearthwood Clan, not mine. I couldn't spend them all on personal things like gifts for my children.

“Do you have any treasure from your recent exploits?” the teller suggested.

I shrugged. “Some Timeweaver corpses, maybe? Or how about raw goods? I’ve got plenty of grain. And some special peaches that help with low-level cultivation.”

I ended up selling quite a bit of goods from the Hearthwood, but it still didn’t add up to much. I was doing mental math to figure out how much of what I could sell without causing any shortages when Elara placed a hand on my arm.

“Don’t worry, Theo. I have plenty of Elven Star Dominion currency. If we need more of anything, I will purchase it.”

“That’s very gracious of you, Elara. But I won’t have you buying things for my kids. Maybe you could help me when it comes time to buy stuff to shut down the Planetary Defense Array, though.”

With some money in my pocket, we continued down the street until we found a strip of shops that seemed to be selling what I was looking for. We walked into a store at random, and the shopkeeper immediately straightened.

“We’re looking for weapons and armor. Based on the sign up front, this looks like the right place?”

The woman combed her fingers through her hair. “Well, yes, we have a few items that might be suitable for Demigods such as yourselves. I can take you back to look at them, but know that they are quite pricey.”

I held up my hands. “I just want to get some stuff for my kids. Mage Acolyte, True Mage, and maybe a few Wizard-level things.

“Oh...” the shopkeeper waved her hand to the nearby shelves in disappointment. “Just check the shelves and bins in the back.”

Once again, I found the items for Mage Acolytes and True Mages heaped together in what looked to be a trash barrel. The price was right, so I ended up buying the whole barrel. Back in the Hearthwood, I could use these things as valuable clan contribution point rewards.

When your number of kids is brushing up against a thousand, bulk solutions like this were a welcome boon. I’d have to go shopping here more often since there wasn’t any place I knew of back home that could provide bundles like this.

Even more valuable than the weapons and armor I’d bought in bulk was the stuff we found in the next store over.

There were all sorts of potions, elixirs, zeal concentration talismans, aura expansion artifacts, and hundreds of other things. These didn’t sell quite as cheaply as the weapons and armor, though, and I had to ask the shopkeeper why.

“Why do weapons and armor for Mage Acolytes and True Mages sell so cheap here?” I asked curiously.

The shopkeeper laughed. “It’s because it has no real use. Any clan sending Mage Acolytes or True Mages into battle is as good as dead. They’re just practice work for apprentices to cut their teeth on item crafting. The weapons and armor aren’t actually meant to be used as anything except temporary training tools.”

Her words made sense. And they also explained why the training aids were more expensive. Unlike low-level items for battle, these training aids would be something everyone would need. Despite the increased price, they were still very affordable considering how much they did. If I had even a few of these items as I was climbing the ranks, I would have hit the Wizard realm much sooner. The large quantity of so many training aids were part of what allowed so many elves of the Elven Star Dominion to reach such high levels of cultivation.

I bought all I could afford, saving a little leftover for spells and techniques on our next stop. Those were thankfully a little big cheaper than the training aids.

With the Hearthwood Clan’s library again restocked, we figured out what we needed to shut down the Planetary Defense Array. But before we could, I spotted a familiar face coming our way.

“Hey. Hey!” a tall, tough-looking elf waved to me. I recognized her immediately.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. Her again?” I rolled my eyes and sighed. It was Valanda, the elf body cultivator who’d bugged me the last time I was here. She’d been violently removed from the shop I’d met her in, but shoved aside didn’t mean removed entirely.

“Let’s get into a store quick. She probably won’t follow us inside,” Tivana suggested.

We rushed into the nearest store, leaving Valanda behind as she shouted and waved to get our attention.

“Here we are, three Demigods all hiding from one creepy Sorcerer,” I chuckled. “Some things never change.”

“You’d be surprised how often powerful cultivators use the excuse of going into secluded cultivation to avoid being annoyed by pushy subordinates.” Elara laughed. “I’ve gone to the spa in the Primordial World plenty of times with Demigods whose descendants all thought they were terribly busy working on some important technique or spell that would change the fate of the world. This trip to the Hearthwood will be one of the few times that’s true, at least for me.”

We hid in the store for a little while and did some window shopping. This particular store seemed to be one of many places in the Elven Star Dominion that sold various adult toys meant to keep a lonely female cultivator relaxed and stimulated during long nights. Fortunately, my companions didn’t need any help in that regard with me to aid them, so we ended up not buying anything.

Eventually, we heard a scuffle near the entrance.

“Wait, I just want to talk to him real quick!” Valanda shouted before being forced out of the building.

“I know your type. Get out of here. Security, get her out of here!” A big orc woman wearing an enchanted slave collar stepped up from where she’d been crouched toward the side of the building. She was only at the Gold Bone stage of body cultivation, but that was enough to chase Valanda away with a bit of shoving.

We left the shop behind, with Elara leading the way. She’d know best where to recruit people who’d understand the Planetary Defense Array, having once worked in that field herself in the distant past.

With how funky time was in the Primordial World, she probably ran into people she worked with in her youth. That had to be strange.

Apparently there were a few guild halls where crafting types often gathered and would be available for hire.

“If we’re lucky, maybe we can even find people who worked on the Planetary Defense Array project,” Tivana suggested. “They would have a much easier time figuring out how to shut it down.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Elara replied.

We put up a few posters offering considerable sums of money as a signing bonus. It was more than I had on me, and I felt a little bad about foisting such a financial burden off Elara. Still, she seemed perfectly happy to do it. I’d have to see if I could repay her in raw goods once we were back in the Hearthwood. The food from the Hydroponic Garden was valuable. If I didn’t have so many hungry kids to feed, I would have sold it in this market for a hefty profit. Perhaps after a few more upgrades to the Hydroponic Farm, I’d have crops to spare, but not quite yet.

After posting some signs and renting a small office to receive any curious bystanders, we were once again caught by Valanda, the tough-looking vagrant elven sorcerer. This time, she’d caught us on the street and looked like she’d catch up before we ducked into any of the nearby stores.

“I guess we have to confront her after all...” I sighed as I turned to her. “Look, I’m not sure what you want, but--“

“Listen!” Valanda interrupted me, panting. The environment of the Primordial World was such that Sorcerers weren’t nearly as superhuman outside it, and she could get winded running up and down the street in search of us.

“Alright, I’ve had enough of you!” Tivana stepped in front of me and pointed her finger at Valanda. A spark of spatial energy lit at her fingertip.

“Wait!” Valanda held up her hands non-threateningly. “I’ll go in a second. I just wanted to warn you that there’s trouble headed your way. There's someone following you! Someone bad.”

“Like you?” Elara asked with her arms crossed over her chest.

“No, not like me. It’s the--“ Before Valanda could explain herself, a loud siren lit up nearby. I followed the flashing strobe lights to the head of an enormous Demigod-level golem. There were two others behind it.

From somewhere inside the lead golem, an elven voice shouted, amplified as though from a megaphone.

“Drop your weapons and do not cast any spells or techniques. You’re under arrest!”