NOVEL NEXT Book 10A - The Auction - Chapter 9
The third floor was the loudest part of the mall.
I hadn't realized it when we'd been here before because there was some type of shielding or something, because as soon as we finished climbing the stairs to the third floor, the sounds engulfed me.
"T4 ORICHALCUM SWORD OF POWER!"
"T3 AETHERSTEEL SPEAR!"
"LEVEL FIFTY SEVEN SHINING SPIDERSILK GLOVES OF SPEED!"
I knew enough about materials to know that the last item was worth a fortune. The price of things went up almost exponentially as the Tier increased, but spidersilk was one of the strongest cloths that you could get. Trying to sell a level fifty-seven piece of gear like that was something that only a high-level person could even use. But the Tier of the gear they were selling did tell me something about the person selling it. They had to be in the same Tier. CBs wouldn't work with things above your Tier, and you had to get an upgrade every time you hit one of the multiples of ten. So if that person had a level fifty-seven piece of gear on them, then they were somewhere in the fifties.
"Where do you want to start!?" I had to shout so Aelin could hear me even though she was standing right next to me.
"He looks the least creepy!" Aelin pointed at a Rhastan in front of a booth on the eastern wall.
"Really?!" I started to tell her that by nature, the ratmen were creepy, but she was already skipping towards him.
Miel and I followed her without a word. I knew better than to try to stop the blonde, and our babysitter seemed amused at my helplessness to control the short, brown woman.
The Rhastan had brown fur and completely black beady eyes that looked like they were entrances to the void itself. I hadn't seen many of the demi-humans, but the encounters I had with his race taught me that they were nasty pieces of work. Most were poison specialists, which was a pretty messed up way to use the Recovery stat in my opinion. While it did allow them to do damage instead of just waiting for someone to get hurt, most seemed to enjoy watching their poisons slowly eat their way through the monster.
He noticed us coming towards him long before he should have. It was almost like he could feel when we looked at him. Which wasn't helping my opinion of them.
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"Welcome! You want to buy from Ka'zahz!" The chirp in his voice almost sounded like he was singing.
Which was strange because as soon as he started talking, the other noises vanished.
Miel stopped at a black line around his booth and nudged it with her toe. A line that Aelin and I had already crossed.
"A sound barrier!" His face split in a toothy smile. "Tier Zero! The mall puts them in at our request." He waved at the other booths. "It stops the distractions."
Miel nodded and stepped into the square.
"What is the pretty lady looking for today?" The Rhastan smiled even wider. "And is this strong man treating you? Such a chivalrous companion!" He snapped his fingers. "I have just the thing!" The counter on the booth shimmered as he began displaying his inventory.
In order to prevent theft, the mall locked all items inside CBs. Unless you were in a special zone, you couldn't take anything out. But you could trade, which was essentially what all of this was.
Ka'zahz tapped quickly through the lists until he came to a pair of earrings. They were silver with cats eye stones. I could tell just by looking at them that they were going to be expensive.
"For the lady." He tapped on the name.
Lv 2 Silver Earings of Focus
Speed +1
Magic +1
Passive: Farsight: Able to target things outside your ranged weapon's normal radius.
Guidance: Faster magic projectiles
There were six rarities of items that dropped from the Dungeon: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, Mythic. The way that affected gear was Common was just gear, Uncommon had a stat, Rare had a stat and a passive, Epic had two stats and a passive, Legendary had two stats and two passives, and Mythic gear was ridiculous. The Ratman had just shown Aelin a Legendary piece of gear.
That was perfect for her.
"How did you know I'm a magic archer?" Aelin didn't take her eyes off the item.
"It's in the hands." The Rhastan reached out and took her right hand in both of his and began caressing it. "The magic begins to burn here." He ran a thin finger in between her index and middle finger. "You need gloves! Ka'zahz has just what you need!"
"Wait." I pulled Aelin's hand away from him as somehow he moved the earrings into the trade column. "We haven't agreed to buy that." I glared at him. "And she's taken."
"I mean no disrespect!" The Rhastan gave us a half bow, then straightened to look at Aelin. "You are beautiful for a human, but for Ka'zahz, you are..." He smiled as he looked around. "Missing horns that make one truly pull at my heart."
He had a thing for Minotaurs. Or he was making that up as an excuse to touch Aelin.
"Would you like Ka'zahz to show you the rest of the perfect gear?" His smile was smooth as silk and sent a shiver down my spine.