[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 175 - Shopping for Experience

Bal’daz and Sam talked all throughout the strange and magical process of folding up the tower. The Wizard did it as a matter of course, like it was no more mundane than folding up his clothes and putting them in a suitcase.

Which was just about the size of the tower when Bal’daz was done with it.

He carried it with him as they returned to the settlement. Bal’daz looked at the hastily put together workshop and clicked his tongue dismissively. Then he looked with considerably more interest at the dome.

“That, however, is not too badly put together,” he told Sam. “It is at least structurally sound. That.” He motioned disdainfully at the workshop. “Is a veritable death trap. And you say you are crafting in there? No, no. This will not do. I will make this my top priority, yes?”

“Suits me,” Sam told him. “We already have a decent place to sleep, but if you could make us a workshop, that would be great.”

“I will make you a [Workshop],” Bal’daz said, and Sam could hear the emphasis. “Here is what I will need….”

Another list of ingredients was rattled off and Sam would have committed them to memory if not for the quest that popped up:

New Kingdom Quest: My First Building

Your settlement has gotten by with determination and grit, but now you have the opportunity to build something that lasts. The choice of your first building will determine the rewards given by this quest as well as the quality of the building itself.

Meanwhile, Komachi got to work setting up her shop. Chompers spat out some items onto the table and the Merchant waved her paw over the stock.

The rel price hovered over each item in emerald-green script.

5 rel for a [Demon Ash Pile], 7 rel for a set of [Hellhound Fangs], 2 rel apiece for [Nature Crystals], 3 rel for [Moss Cushion Patches] and 10 rel for other crafting materials. Ore were all on the same price point as the green, blue, and red herba.

There were a few obscenely priced items, but Sam figured that was just Komachi being Komachi.

So far, the Merchant hadn’t charged Sam for any ore she gave him, but her means of gathering materials literally cost money to do. It made sense that eventually she’d have to start charging for her services, and putting price tags on them was one way to do it.

Sam had to ask for the list again because of the interruption, which the demon gave without the slightest hitch.

“Where would you like to set up your tower?” Sam asked him.

“I prefer to face the sunset if possible. Would that be okay?”

Sam took a moment to orient himself and then pointed. “Over there would be fine. If you’d rather be farther away from the workshop, then you might want to get nearer to the wall.”

Bal’daz took a moment to think about that. “I think being next to the wall would be a splendid idea. I will be out of the way, and when the city eventually expands, I will still have the privilege of being in the inner city, as it were.”

Sam raised his brows at that.

“What?” the demon asked him, re-situating his grip on the tower. “You do not think this will become a flourishing city? I may be a lowly demon, sir, but I know an Incarnate when I spot one. You will stand the test of time, and though it may take longer to build, I will see that this city does as well. Your capital will be glorious and when you decide to make a castle, I humbly ask that you allow me to build and plan it.”

“That’s… very generous, Bal’daz.”

He bowed stiffly. “I, of course, will gain an incredible amount of Experience for being the sole Builder. And for once, I will be able to [Build] out in the open air, free and open, totally myself without fear of reprisal. For that alone, I would design a sprawling metropolis free of charge. You have my eternal gratitude, Sam.”

Bal’daz took Sam’s hand in his and shook it fervently. Sam could see the light in the demon’s black eyes glitter with purpose.

“Please see me once you have the required materials for the [Workshop] and I will get to work immediately.” Bal’daz lifted the compact tower. “Until then, I shall set up my home. Please do not hesitate to call on me for anything you may need.”

Sam watched him go. Kai came out of the workshop covered in sawdust and resin. “Did he just call my workshop garbage?”

“Pretty much,” Sam told him, turning to Komachi’s little shop. It looked like a kid’s lemonade stand. “You help her with that?”

“I could not resist those eyes,” Kai told him. “Shall we see what she has in stock?”

“I… don’t have much money,” Sam said.

Kai slapped him jovially on the back. “That is good, because I do not have any.”

By the time they got there, the cat’s shop had already garnered quite the bit of attention.

Lenal hurried over to Komachi’s shop, quite excited about the new items on display. She eagerly purchased the [Demon Ash Pile] and the [Hellhound Fangs], much to Matt’s frustration.

The [Demon Ash Pile] burst into nothing but scintillating light.

Lenal’s beaming smile immediately fell. “Oh gods, it was a corpse!”

Komachi reached over and tapped a small misspelled wooden sign. It read: No Rorfunds.

Unsurprisingly, Komachi couldn’t spell whatsoever. It was a wonder she could even read.

Sam leaned over the stand and looked at Komachi like a proud parent who, naturally, was going to buy from their kid’s first shop. “What’s this?” Sam asked, pointing to one of the items at random.

“It’s a [Stardust Fragment].”

Lenal bought it.

Sam looked at her askance. He cleared his throat. “How about this ore—”

Lenal bought it.

“What about the red—”

Lenal bought it.

Slowly, ever-so-slowly, Sam turned to Lenal. “Can I help you?”

The Academic looked panicked. She reached out, scooped up all the stock Komachi had, and deposited a pile of coins onto the empty tabletop before running away at full speed. She reached a stand of trees and was still accelerating when she disappeared somewhere into the northern end of the settlement.

“Dang, she just paid me half a thousand rel. That [Stardust Fragment] was my most expensive item.”

“Guess Aker Academy had loads of money,” Matt muttered sourly.

Glittering energy rolled off Komachi’s fur. The signature sign that the little Merchant leveled up. For some reason, the effect only seemed to happen to Komachi, and even then, only sometimes.

Sam reached over and patted her head. “Good cat. Do you get Experience when you sell something?”

Purring intently, his cat popped open one emerald eye. “Yee. And I got some new Merchant abilities to select from too!”

A small mandragora scuttled up to Sam’s ankle and tapped its leafy appendage against it.

Sam looked at it. The mandy pointed one leafy appendage. Seriously? Sam thought just as he looked up to see Raiko.

“Did someone say a [Stardust Fragment]?” Raiko cried, emerging from the dome and shielding her eyes from the bright light of day.

“Yis, Lenal just bought it.”

“And the demon boy has decided to join our humble town,” Matt said, looking like he just swallowed a lemon. “You know, if you see Lenal, tell her I’d like to discuss trading for those teeth. Daddy needs his poison chiclets.”

Kai went back into the workshop without a word, though he shook his head the whole way.

Raiko sharply glanced at the tower now within their settlement. She raised a finger, opened her mouth, then snapped it shut.

She stormed off after Lenal, going full speed, scarf trailing behind her like a flaming banner.

Matt shrugged and followed Kai into the workshop.

Alone with Komachi, Sam looked around the settlement. It was fairly barren, aside from the occasional tree. The dappled light from their canopy made the area constantly cool and oddly breezy.

Komachi put more teeth on the table.

The rattling noise prompted Matt to come back out. “Were you holding out on me, Komachi?”

“Eh? This is… not fangs.” The cat shrugged. “Chill out, man, I don’t have enough space for all my stock!”

Sam couldn’t help but notice that the price of the [Hellhound Molars] were a measly 1 rel. Considerably less than the fangs.

Matt scooped up a handful of the molars.

Sam looked at them. Then at Komachi. Those were, technically speaking, his. He didn’t say it, but that didn’t seem to matter to the cat. She knew.

“You didn’t loot ‘em,” his cat pointed out.

“You right, you right,” Sam said, grinning.

“I’ll take them all!” Matt said, shoving the molars into his Inventory and pulling out a [Steel Rel Piece]. “Do you have change for this?”

Komachi, without batting an eye, pawed out a couple of [Bronze Rel Pieces]. Komachi, who couldn’t spell “refund” and struggled with basic math, had just given Matt accurate change without having to stick out her tongue and think about it.

Nobody thought anything of it, least of all Matt, who was more than happy to have some new materials. He vanished into the workshop.

Sam watched as Komachi leveled up again.

“You’re really doing some brisk business,” he told her. “It’s too bad we can’t find some other people to trade with.”

“This is fun,” she said, petting Chompers. “I can do that, though.”

That stopped Sam short. “Wait, what?”

He had to stop himself from thinking too much along that line. Komachi might not have understood him properly. But if there was a way that she could open up something like a market board or auction house that could connect other Skyshards?

They’d have an actual economy. They could trade things with other people they’d never seen, provided they had the same access to a Merchant like Komachi, perhaps.

It was an amazing possibility.

Rather than needing to wait for a flotilla of merchants or somebody to wander by their Skyshard, they might have a way to access a centralized market. Somewhere that Sam and the rest of them could sell their crafted goods and buy other items they might need.

Bal’daz’s requirements for a [Workshop] were steep. If Sam could trade for some of those items by selling a few of the ingots, plates, and such that he was already using to get Blacksmith Experience, that would be the best of both worlds.

He’d gladly give up the [Desynthesis] portion of his Experience grind if it meant he could sell the products instead and just buy more ore.

“Otherwise, I gotta get more stock that doesn’t involve me getting the resources myself,” Komachi continued, as if she didn’t hear him. “It’s really cutting into Machi’s profits. I could pick up [Commission], that’d be nice.”

“What’s that do?” Sam asked, leaning on the countertop. It made a rather unpleasant sounding creak and Sam wisely decided to straighten.

Komachi eyed the stand’s rough tabletop. “You break it, you buy it,” she warned him. Once the threat had sunk in, she added, “[Commission] allows me to set a price for somethin’ kinda like a mini-quest, then people can submit their items to me. I get Experience and they get monies. I can also accept [Commissions] from others and take a fee to post it.”

“So, you’re basically a broker.”

Komachi didn’t look like she understood.

Sam laughed and shook his head. “Nevermind. What about trading with other people then? I’ve seen you throw money at things to get them to do what you want.”

“That’s just [Bribe],” Komachi told him. “That’s one of the starting abilities Machi got.”

“It’s too bad we don’t have much money. I think I’ve barely got more than 100 rel to my name.”

“Thing is, if Machi pays crafters with [Commission], more of you would be able buy from my shop instead of just Lenal rushing it. I pay you for an ingot, and you buy ore from me, and the cycle of Experience continues.”

Sam, who had never been keen on economics, saw an issue with that. “That’s a very small economy though, isn’t it? With you eventually having all the money.”

She stared. “Machi doesn’t see a problem with dat.”