The First World Sphere

When I reached the Maelstrom, I found an old woman selling scented flower pouches at the gate to the docks. I asked, “Marigold was it?”

She looked at me and frowned, “What gave it away?”

I smiled, “You are selling scented flowers. But I couldn’t smell anything.”

“Ah, if you got within the range of the illusion, you would have!” she laughed as well. “Jasper joined them on the ship. Lorae seems to like you. So that you know, I will report to her father where she has been today.”

“Lorae is one of the few people I know in the city, and I trust her evening if she is young,” I responded conversationally.

“There are guilds of guides, you know,” she cocked her eyebrows at my ignorance.

“Nope, I didn’t know. How do I find them?” I asked, interested.

She started laughing, “If I told you, then Lorae would be upset with me for a month. No. It is best we continue as is.”

“Join me on board?” I asked, and she shook her head no. She moved inside the shadow if the city gate, and I assumed she was changing her illusion.

I walked up the ramp to find Remy in the cargo hold, chipping off a corner of the marble block. He looked up, “Storme might have found someone to buy the marble. Not just these two, but ALL the blocks. I think we can make a huge margin on them.”

“Great. And the investigation to aether crystal pricing?” I asked, helping him knock a corner off.

“Four hundred thousand gold on the low end, but probably about ten thousand higher. It will depend on the market at the time. A lot of the crystals get purchased by traders coming from the Outer Sphere periodically,” Remy informed me scholastically.

“Okay, they don’t have anything for our needs here, so we will have to save the coin and travel to Hakeam in the Callisto Federation. I am going to get some rest, and then play merchant. If you have the blood marble covered, I will take the towels and frost mead when I wake up,” I said while walking up the stairs.

Bleiz, Jasper, and Lorae were on the bridge. The cats were sprinting around chasing a feather on a stick and string Lorae was controlling. Kiara stopped running when she saw me and walked over to say hello and welcome me back. She did not rush; just pranced and rubbed into me. Jasper looked at me and said, “Never seen a white one before. Has to be rare.”

“She is. Smart, too,” I said as Adrial crashed into the chairs in a desperate attempt to capture the elusive feather. Adrial was so focused on her hunt, and I do not think she even realized I was back. Lorae let her catch the prize, which she promptly shredded in victory.

“Lorae, I wanted to ask you to bring me around to merchants tomorrow. I am looking to sell some towels, frost mead, and artificed blades,” I informed the young dark elf.

It was Jasper who responded, “What is frost mead?”

“A mixture between a spirit and potion.” I produced a bottle from my space into my hand and handed it to him. I explained, “It works like a magical temperature regulator for the body. You can drink that one; consider it a gift. You need to drink at least half that bottle for an effective dose that lasts about two hours.”

Jasper uncorked it, sniffed it, and then took a long pull, emptying the contents. “Wow, it is cold. It’s very sweet and has a decent alcohol kick as well. I can feel the effect of the potion, and it does not feel as humid or hot! Not bad.” he looked at me seriously, “How much do you have?”

“Just twenty gallons, about eighty bottles of what you just drank. The effect of the full bottle should last for four hours,” I said with a humorous smile.

Jasper licked his lips, “One hundred gold. I will give you one hundred gold for the cask,” he said as I could see the alcohol kick in by the dark elf’s eyes.

Lorae intervened, “Do not do it. If Jasper is willing to spend one hundred gold, then it has to be worth three times as much.”

Jasper scoffed, swatting Lorae playfully, “You brat. I have been watching you since you were a babe, and you betrayed me at the drop of a hat!” He did not sound overly serious, though.

Lorae sounded wounded, “No, just for a chance to play with the cats again! If he found out he had been duped, then he might never let me on board again!” I didn’t plan to tell her I was not planning to visit Lloth very often.

“How about two hundred and fifty gold? My guess is that is close to wholesale for you,” Jasper pleaded. The truth was the frost mead cask was worth about four gold in Skyholme. At least that is what we sold it for when you added up the drinks sold from a cask.

“Okay, two hundred and fifty gold it is, but I need payment in gold coins for some enchanting work I have to do,” and we shook on it. He dragged Lorae home to get his coin. Lorae would meet me in the morning at the Adventurer’s Guild bazaar to bring me to various merchants for linen towels and small blades.

Forty minutes later, Jasper returned with the coins and took his cask with him. I don’t think he was a drunkard, but he liked novel spirits. Rich delvers needed something to spend their coin on. Well, two hundred and fifty gold was a start toward four hundred thousand. I fed the cats and talked with Bleiz for a while. Sammie, Cilia, and Leda returned to the ship while we talked and went right to sleep.

Bleiz was actually considering an offer to train with Jasper. Jasper was definitely an apex stealth specialist. He was the lead scout on Relik’s delve team, which apparently made him quite remarkable. Relik, Lorae’s father, led one of the top delve teams in the city. The dungeon was an hour’s walk outside the city, but it was massive and went deep. It was one of the reasons the city thrived. That one dungeon provided more resources than all of Skyholme’s dungeons combined.

After dinner in my cabin, the cats went into a food coma, and I lay on my bunk. I pulled out two spell books, comprehend languages, and arcane web. I was excited to learn these spells and the two new spells I purchased today. I was still slightly concerned about the mage who had wanted the lightning elemental spell book. Would she be spiteful even though I paid her so much for it? I set more alarms than normal around the ship before we all went to rest in our cabins. I decided to work on the arcane web spell next and put the comprehend language spell book back.

I studied the evolutions instead of working on imprinting the spell. There were a lot of options for this spell. Increasing the web’s size, strength, and structure and you could also prevent the web from affecting the caster. You could even add effects like poison to the webbing. It was really a versatile spell and very useful in dungeons with narrow passages. I fell asleep in a weird dream. I was dressed in a blue and red suit, casting arcane webs on walls and using the webbing to crawl up the walls.

The cats set off my alarms by jumping on me to request breakfast. I cleaned the cabin with my cleanliness spell and then served them from the food stores in my dimensional space. After they ate, I left them in the care of Sammie as Bleiz, and I left to play merchant. Remy had already left, and Leda said we had seven hours before the crystals were fully charged and could return to Skyholme. Cilia and Leda would stay with the Maelstrom as they were all shopped out after one day.

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I moved all the crates of linen towels into my dimensional space as Bleiz, and I returned to the city. We found Lorae waiting for us at the entrance to the bazaar. I scanned the crowds with Bleiz but did not see signs of Jasper or Marigold. “Here is a sample,” I gave Lorae one of the linen towels to inspect. Lorae turned the fabric in her hands and considered it.

“Is it dungeon fabric?” she asked.

“I believe so. It is sourced from a dungeon in Skyholme. It is just more durable and a little softer than most towels. It has no lingering aetheric properties. We have 700 pieces,” I explained what little I knew.

Lorae considered and looked lost in thought before saying, “We should pass it off as a luxury item. Maybe ten sliver each?” She was asking me a question, so I just nodded. Remy had paid a silver coin each, so that would be a fifty-six gold profit. Lorlae led us to merchant after merchant in the upper city. She did all the talking and ended up storming out after not getting the price she wanted.

Bleiz asked, “Are you a merchant, Lorae? You certainly seem like it and are having fun.”

She huffed, “No, just using some of the lessons from my apprenticeships. My father has had me work in a lot of businesses in Lloth, so I have a good handle on what things are worth and have been on both sides of transactions. I could leverage my connection to my father’s delve team, but I want to make this happen on my own.”

It took her five hours and twelve shops before she finally sold the seven hundred towels for 10 silver and 50 copper each. I learned a lot watching her and was impressed with her skill and holding to her desired price. Most of the offers had been around four silver per towel, and she had finally found an older human woman who was a tailor to purchase them. She was going to take the towels and turn them into bathrobes.

I emptied the crates of towels from my storage space, and the woman meticulously counted every towel before paying us the coin. I gave Lorae seven gold commission for negotiating and finding the buyer. She happily took the coin, excited to continue, “So what is next?”

“Small blades. I have two dozen daggers and throwing knives to sell. All enchanted and of high quality,” I stated. She nodded and was already moving out of the shop.

Bleiz and I walked together, and he said, “Are you thinking what I am thinking?”

“That I should contract Lorae to sell for us in Llorth?” I said without pause.

“That and we just passed Marigold disguised as a young beggar boy,” I whipped my head around to locate the boy who waved at me when I focused on him.

“How did you spot her?” I asked, amazed.

“When we walked by her, I smelled her perfume. The boy was the only one close enough that was out of place,” Bleiz said as we walked. “I think I want to take Jasper up on his offer to train here. Is that acceptable?”

“Bleiz, you are free to do as you will,” I said after a slight pause. I would need to find someone else to watch Freya during the day and another sparring partner at night. Losing my invisible bodyguard might also help me stay alert as I was getting lax. “How long do you want to stay here?”

Bleiz was a little stunned at my willingness to let him stay but answered eventually after mulling it over, “Four weeks.”

That was a long time. I almost tried to ask him to reduce it but instead pulled out a stack of forty wrapped small gold coins, “Take this for expenses. When I return, I will contact you with a communication stone.” I patted him on the back and chuckled, “Freya will be upset that her lessons will be on hold. Maybe Mia will take over while you are gone.”

Bleiz seemed to reconsider his decision because of Freya but took the coins, “Hopefully, she will not pick up too many bad habits while I am away.” Mia was a good teacher, so I think Bleiz was probably hinting at missing my sister more than talking down on Mia’s skills.

Lorae took us to a bladed weapon specialist in the upper city. In this part of the upper city, the buildings were opulent stone and wood, and dark elves in guard uniforms were meticulously manicured with slick back hair and perfect-looking uniforms. This was where the elite and wealthy lived. Just before entering, Lorae said, “This is Tallot’s shop. I worked briefly for him as a courier. He has the finest blades in all of Llorth.”

The shop interior smelled of fresh-cut wood and oil, and the weapons racks were carefully placed to shine as much natural and artificial light as possible on the blades. The oldest elf I had ever seen was walking the racks with two customers, talking about the blades he offered. When he finished his tour of the racks, they purchased a short sword and dagger from him for some platinum and gold. I did not stare and count how much had just been spent, but it was substantial.

The couple left, and the old elf smiled, “Lorae! What brings you back? You seemed quite happy to finish your service with me.”

“I brought you, merchants, you old goat.” Her tone was playful, and he just laughed.

“Fine, show me what you have. My inventory is pretty saturated, but I am always interested in seeing what foreign merchants can offer,” he said, leading us to a polished wood table in the private back room.

I started placing twenty-seven daggers on the table and seven throwing knives. Tallot clucked his tongue, pulled out an eyepiece, and put it on. I could tell the eyepiece was artificed. He examined the first few and spoke, “I am not familiar with the maker’s mark, the Hydra?” he questioned.

I replied emotionlessly, “It is from a new artificer in Skyholme.”

“The floating islands? Huh, well, these are not forged. They are all damn fine spellwork, but the sweat of a smith did not craft these. The enchantments are the true value. Well done, tight runes and crisp lines. Some type of high-ranked metal mage made them?” he questioned.

“I believe so,” I responded with a note of uncertainty.

“I will take the entire lot for eight thousand. Mostly to establish relations with the metal mage who made them. If my inventory was not bursting at the seams, I would offer more, but the truth is I do not have the space,” he looked at me for an answer.

“Agreed,” I said after pretending to give it some thought. “Can you pay in just gold? It will save me a trip to the exchange as my next stop requires just gold and no platinum.” I hesitated and asked, “Do you have any adamantine? Just a small sample. The mage in question has requested a sliver of the material to study.”

Tallot grinned, “Making a special blade, is he? I may have some commission work for him in the future, especially if he can work with the adamantine.” He went to the back of the shop and returned with a tray of large gold coins and a tiny wire of black metal. There were seventy large gold coins, so I guessed the toothpick adamantine was costing me a thousand gold. A small coin of adamantine was valued at one hundred thousand gold. I moved the coins and adamantine to my dimensional storage.

We talked for an hour about what type of blades sold well in the city. Tallot dealt mostly with small blades and one-handed swords. The favored weapon was a long sword in the city, but the market was tight since there had not been a war in ages. I purchased a non-magical long sword from him for 140 gold, returning fourteen large coins. This was the dark elves’ standard size, weight, and length. Next time I come, I will also have a few of these blades prepared for sale.

We left when my comm stone buzzed. Leda said the aether stones were charged. On the way back, we stopped at a bookstore that advertised as a copier. We waited while he made me a copy of Neelan’s anatomy book on monsters. I borrowed the book because it had excellent pictures of phantom beast cats. The rushed copy cost me an entire gold. Now I could return this book for another in his library.

While the copy was being made, I went to exchange my remaining platinum for gold. I had slightly miscalculated and spent too much on the spells. I would be short on the gold I needed to do Loriel’s enchanting work. It should not take me more than a day to make the gold, or I could obtain it from the money changers in Skyholme.

We dropped Lorae off at the bazaar, and I gave her my last two platinum coins for her services. She was shocked, but I explained she had made me ten times that amount today and probably saved me a lot of time wandering the city. She also gave me a fair amount of insight into the mercantile skill. On an impulse, I handed her my last comm stone from the set. Stone number seven.

This action was for a few reasons. It would allow her and Beliz to communicate, and it would hopefully be a step in convincing her to be my merchant in the city when we visited.

Back on the ship, Remy was bouncing around in excitement. He had sold the marble for 30 gold each, a 28 gold profit. The buyer was also willing to take another six hundred stones at 25 gold each. The blood marble stones were unique and were going to be used in a temple.

Bleiz remained behind, and it stunned everyone until I explained he was studying with a master scout. Cilia and Leda had us in the sky, and I went to feed the cats, who were excited to see me. Adrial was in her cage for scratching Sammie. She would remain there for the trip home, no matter how pitiful her mews were. With the cabin cleaned and the cats satiated, I sat on the bed and took out my expensive black toothpick.

I sent my metal senses into the adamantine. It was far different from any other metal. Manipulating the wire was extremely slow as it resisted my efforts. I could work the metal, but it took a lot longer than mithril. Mithril had gotten easier to work with time, so I expected the same with the adamantine. Adamantine was an aetheric insulator, meaning it did not allow aether to pass through it. The fact that I could even manipulate it all with my tier 4 ability was saying something.

I tried to create the metal with my metal creation ability. I initially got some negative feedback, resisting the effort to replicate the metal in my hand. Eventually, a small black pea formed in my hand after draining the majority of my aether. My first adamantine.

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