NOVEL NEXT Book 10A - The Auction - Chapter 12
We didn't find any more Legendary gear.
Considering that most Legendary gear didn't have complementing skills and stats, those that did drop were used to enhance existing Legendary gear with good modifiers. There wasn't a reason to be walking around with Legendary gear that had a stat that you didn't use and a skill you'd never activate. Especially when Legendary gear was much more costly in terms of materials needed to upgrade. For most people, rare gear was the best that they kept. Though it helped that gear could be upgraded. That meant that usually you kept the gear that you had and only swapped things out when you needed different gear for a specific fight. That was why most of the popular Adventurers were well known on sight.
Even though it took us the entire morning, we did find enough gear to give most of us significant upgrades once we stopped at Harror. There wasn't a dedicated gear modifier in the city either, so most of the stuff would have to be raised to our levels, though considering that most of what we were using was common or uncommon lower leveled gear, it was still going to be some significant upgrades.
"We should stop for lunch." Miel announced as she tapped on her CB.
I looked down at mine and realized that it was almost one. I didn't feel very hungry, but the longer I paused, the hungrier I realized I was. Aelin had that effect on people, especially when she was flitting around so fast she wasn't giving me much time to think.
"But I haven't even gone clothes shopping!" Aelin pouted as she halted her march to one of the next booths.
"You know what they say about shopping on an empty stomach." Miel folded her arms in front of her chest as the two women had a staring contest.
Miel might be a Scarlet and Tiers above us, but I would've put my money on Aelin. The blonde somehow magically got her way without anyone realizing how she did it. And while Miel might be a mother, it sounded like she had almost zero experience with teenagers other than Pixie.
"The others aren't going to eat until we leave." Miel raised an eyebrow.
I glanced around. The mall was large enough that I'd only seen them a few times, a few stalls away. Right now I couldn't see them, but that didn't mean that they weren't still on this floor.
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"Fine." Aelin's shoulders drooped. "I was really hoping to find a new outfit that went with my gloves."
I blinked. Dealing with Pixie apparently had given our babysitter plenty of insight in how to deal with a teen. I found myself glad that I hadn't voiced my opinion of the outcome.
"Should we head down to the food court?" I gestured towards the stairs.
Miel shook her head. "There's a good restaurant across the street where we can get some privacy."
"You want me to tell them?" I tapped on my CB.
Miel put a hand on Aelin and my shoulders and guided us towards the stairs. "It's best if we're not leaving at the same time. You can message them once we leave."
It wasn't too difficult to weave our way through the other customers, even if we were a mass of three people. The walkways were wide, though it was very disconcerting that the floor above the middle of the mall was nothing but glass.
While that helped let in plenty of natural light, since the entire roof of the building was a flat glass pane, it also gave a feeling of being unprotected from the two-story drop to the ground floor. I wasn't exactly afraid of heights, but that didn't mean the skywalk didn't make me uncomfortable.
No one got in our way as we descended, then left the building. There still wasn't a crowd outside the mall, which felt a little out of place. I'd started to just expect that there would be a gathering of people chanting random doomsday warnings or protests wherever a lot of people gathered. The ruckus that Klix was stirring up must have had a very profound impact on anyone with thoughts of dissent.
However, it could also be that people were gathering around wherever Klix was tearing apart. Humans loved to watch destruction, and it didn't take much before a crowd would start to gather.
"Do we have to walk?" Aelin looked across the parking lot at our SUV. While we had parked near the back of the parking lot, it was close to on our way across the street.
"Walking won't hurt you." Miel was typing something in the menu of her CB.
"We walk in the Dungeon all day…" The brown woman shook her hips so her pink skirt swished around her. "I never get to drive anywhere!"
"You drive everywhere." I chuckled. It didn't take long for new team members to learn that Aelin loved to drive and they weren't going to spend much time in that seat.
"But we never go anywhere!" The blonde hopped in front of Miel. "Please?"
"I'm leaving the car there for a reason." Miel closed the menu on her CB and then focused her red eyes on my companion. "The others know where to meet us."
The ivory woman walked off, ignoring Aelin's valiant attempt at a puppy dog face.
I couldn't keep the smirk off of my face, which earned me a slap on the chest.
Maybe there was someone besides Justia that could handle our magic archer.