Soon you will have to make a choice, one that will directly effect your new world.
What? How are you talking to me so freely? Why?
Kai stirred in his sleep, his mind swimming after hearing the normally robotic voice in his head speak to him so clearly.
You will find out soon enough, we advise you to head to a City a short journey from this town, Meridan. There you will begin to find your answers at the local Adventurer's Guild.
Adventurer's Guild? I guess that would make sense there existing people more than just killing and selling the parts of these monsters, but taking actual jobs. Is Evergreen just too small to have one?
He continued to stir in his sleep, his mind left with more questions than answers. The first rays of sun peaked through the window of the pair's shared room as dawn approached way too fast.
"Now what do I do?" Kai groaned quietly under his breath as he sat up and stretched, his gaze wandering over to the other bed, where Elise was sleeping peacefully.
I suppose I can head out and sell these goblins and the orc to Rufus, then come back and have breakfast with Elise?
Kai thought drowsily to himself as he slid his shirt back on, and began putting back on his leather armor.
I really need to get better armor, especially if I am going to use my new weapons, it would look even weirder for someone in leather armor to have such beautiful weapons...
Kai thought to himself with a quiet smirk as he stood up, stretching one last time before quietly heading out the door and down the stairs.
"You best be safe now young man, and don't leave the lady waiting too long this time, my husbamd told me all about it." The middle-aged woman said to Kai with a knowing smile as he walked towards the door.
"I'll be back before long, I promise." Kai responded quietly, pausing with his hand holding the door handle before pulling it open, being greeted fully by the morning sun, the soft rays seeping into him. He continued through town, the once sleepy town already starting to bustle with activity. Kai continued, passing through the marketplace, shop keepers opening up, setting up shop, and early birds already stalking for the best deals.
Kai went deeper, passing the market and following the path leading to the shops that cater more towards combat and magic, along with Rufus' warehouse, his main destination. Once he arrived, he was greeted by the closed, large warehouse doors once more, where he begin to unload the bodies in his inventory.
Wow, I sure killed a lot last night, didn't I?
He thought to himself with a satisfied grin, piling up the last goblin onto the slightly raised platform used exactly for this purpose. He then pulled out the cleanly chopped in half orc, before doing a count.
1,2,5...10..20...50. 50 goblins an 1 orc, not bad at all.
Kai thought to himself as he walked to the small building attached to the warehouse.
"Oh look who is back already!" Beatrice's eyes light up as she looks up from her paperwork, "Where is your friend? She was the one who came in here last time." She added with a playful smile.
"Still asleep at the Inn," Kai chuckles softly,"I didn't want to wake her up but wanted to sell last night's haul."
"I see, what a gentleman letting her get her beauty rest." Beatrice's tone remained playful, "I'll let my meat head husband know he has some corpses to drag in if you want to go back and wait with your goods."
Kai nodded politely as he walked back out and stood waiting next to the platform holding his catch.
"Holy hell kid! I'm going to need to make a separate spot just for you!" A booming voice could be heard as the large warehouse doors swung open, Rufus and two of his fellow meathead workers following quietly behind, "Oh and look what we have here, how the hell did you do that to an Orc?" The man's eyes widened slightly as he quickly disregarded the mound of goblins, looking at the orc's cleanly cut in half body.
"Did you get the magic stone out of this guy yet?" Rufus asked as he continued to look over the corpse.
"Magic stone?.." Kai tilts his head in question at the older man.
"Yeah kid, most creatures have them, they power and enhance most of their abilities." The old man responded as his hand went up into the upper half of the orc's body, "Goblins don't have 'em but that is because they are just so weak in terms of magical ability, and are really just gang creatures, making them dangerous in their own right." With a satisfied grin Rufus pulled out a stone about the size of his fist, it glowed a deep, ominous purple.
"Kid... holy hell that was a strong orc." Rufus' jaw went slack slightly before continuing, "You see how intense the glow is of this stone? You can usually gauge the worth of a magic stone by it's size, and the intensity of the power inside it. Now this isn't the largest stone ever, but that is to be expected, orcs use their stones to power up their physical attacks, they aren't really much for spells or regular magic."
"But with how intense this glow is, I reckon this thing could have made a tree become splinters from just one punch..." Rufus continued to turn the stone over in his hand, "These stones are used to power magical items like staffs, or even power luxuries in better off towns like street lamps, bath houses for hot water... the concentrated power in this sucker would definitely be used for something high end." His gaze shifted to quiet concern as he looked at the young man standing before him, "I'm glad you stopped here again, especially with this. Most places won't even ask if you took the stone out, and leave it in the body so they can have it for free, make sure to check in the future going forward, alright kid?"
"Okay, I will, thank you so much." Kai responded with a small nod, his gaze transfixed on that ominous stone.
"You know I have been at this warehouse since I could walk, when my father owned it, and let me tell you, I have never seen a stone come out of something small like an orc that glowed this intense. So keep in mind, I am going to name a price that I think it may be worth, but could be much more." Rufus looked at the stone with furrowed brows before continuing, "I will give you 10 Gold Coins for this, or in other terms, 1000 silver coins for this stone, and if it turns out being more, I will pay you the rest. But I am going to have to bring this to true appraisers to gauge the value as I have never seen a stone this small glow like this.."
1000 Silver Coins... for a single stone?
"Do stones usually go for that high?" Kai asked, trying to grasp the amount proposed.
"No kid, not even close, but you put a stone like this into a magic staff? That thing could probably sell for 100 Gold Coins, easily. A stone this size that has this much concentrated magic is a once in a lifetime kind of find." Rufus murmured, still transfixed,"I know mentioning that sounds like 10 Gold Coins is lowballing you kid, but I promise you will get more, but I have no true gauge on it's worth." His gaze turned to the corpses quietly looking them over, "I'll make it 11 Gold Coins and 60 Silvers for the lot, and will come back to you when I get an appraisal on this stone, if the stone turns out to be less than 10 Gold Coins, don't worry about paying me back kid, it's just part of the gamble!" The older man let out a quiet, booming chuckle.
1160 Silver Coins... that is so much more than the 60 Silvers and change I got yesterday...
"Oh and kid? We are to keep this sale between us and the women, you hear? You can't word come out when this much money is being moved around, even in a nice town like Evergreen." Rufus snapped Kai back to reality with his words, "Alright, I gotta go inside and tell Bea how much we are coughing up, if I don't come back it's because I'm dead." Rufus added with a soft chuckle, gesturing to his men to start dragging the bodies inside before turning around and lumbering off towards the small attached building.
With this money, I can for sure get a decent carriage for me and Elise, new, actual plate armor, and plenty of savings. After that, I need to make my way over to Meridan, and figure out what that damn voice in my head was talking about...
Kai thought deeply to himself as he waited outside, watching Rufus' men go to and from the platform, carrying the bodies inside the large warehouse.
What choice am I going to have to make, that will effect this entire new world?...