Zalanir zeroed in on the ivory white hook ring, continuously marveling at the crafting skill of those ringmakers. That small catch on the side was perfect to keep it staying firmly on his finger, as if this ring was designed with his measurement in mind. A bit forceful, as if his finger was anything but normal size, but nonetheless, getting this gift from Ioviann for free was already a major win in their partnership.

  [Mercantile Insignia of Agility] — Rare: From the special stores comes an exquisite creation designed for the speedy type. Powered by the core of a verdant eel, this ring’s true power comes when crossing aquatic terrain, reducing the resistance of water on the user’s movement. +15 Dexterity, +10 Endurance.

  Enchantments: Spatial pocket.

  [Spatial pocket] — Uncommon: With crude space magic in play, the user can store non-living items inside, temporarily slowing down any deteriorating effects. Capacity: 2/50.

  Requirements: Level 40+

  It had been his dream to get his own spatial pocket, so when striking the deal with Ioviann, he naturally asked for one of these. A random attempt with not much hope ended up netting him this treasure. Despite her derision for him being a sundowner, he just didn’t care. She could mock all she wanted, as long as she did her part as his patron, he could endure them all.

  Oh sponsor. Damn are you a beauty.

  “There you are. 29 coins in total,” said the young clerk behind the counter.

  Zalanir still had no idea what the general prices for all the goods were, but that sounded … cheap? Wasn’t a common piece of armor at least 10 coins already? Here he got four thick books at least 200 pages each with just 29 coins.

  He had been worried about being unable to read before entering this scribestore, but turned out, for some reason, they were written in the old Germanic-English with a messed-up structure: main object at the end, verb being the start of a sentence, and everything else sprinkling in between. A surprise convenience, but a welcome one.

  “Can I check them quickly?” he asked, and received a curt grunt. That was a “yes” then.

  Solid frames, a bit tattered and chipped on the edge of some pages, but nothing too damaging. Grayish materials, jagged and somewhat crunchy instead of the smoothness expectation of a print book from Earth. The titles were marked down by some big strokes, slithering on the front cover with distinctive styles: “Affinities: The backbone of magic”, “A chronicle of Bigovie”, “From a formation master to the apprentice”, “Exotic species and their whereabouts, fourth edition”. The last one wasn’t really on his radar coming here, but the title was enough to grab his interest. Never hurt to learn more about this world.

  “Can I use this? Also, can you tell me how much I have in there?” With a mental command, a silver badge popped onto his hand, which he gave to the clerk to check. Within the properties of Vendona, the identification badge was also the payment medium, and Ioviann had assured him that she had made her first investment already.

  The young man after holding on to the badge for a second, lifted his head and stared at him. What? Something wrong? Zalanir stared back. If Ioviann pulled a prank on him …

  “You have 500 coins in reserve denoting to lady Ioviann …”

  As soon as the muttering came out of the man’s mouth, from the black curtain behind the counter, a man who seemed to be in his 50s jumped out, snatched the badge, held it for one second, and then bowed.

  “Lady Ioviann sent you here? I’m sorry for the lukewarm welcome. You can have those books for free. It’s our apology,” the man babbled, and even forced the young clerk to do so as well.

  What a bizarre situation. Was nepotism this prevalent inside the merchant guild that just a silver badge could cause this? She was the branch leader alright, but wasn’t this a bit too much?

  Though if they wished so, there was no reason to reject the notion. Never say so to free stuff!

  The capacity of his spatial pocket increased to 3/50 after he deposited the silver badge and the four books inside. Neat. It only counted those as one.

  Leaving the scribestore, now that he knew he had 500 coins to spend, and with the notoriety of his patron, he went into the next store, looking to replace all the armor pieces that he got from Hiina. It could be the brocade bag alone, but if anything, he hated leaving any possibility behind. Not like these armors were particularly good or anything, so it was time for some shopping.

  Grinning to his ears, Zalanir left the store fully satisfied. The pants and boots were so-so, providing 18 stats in total, but the robe was such a godlike find. Black, full sleeves, hooded, with a protective inner layer cosplaying as light armor. If only he was half a meter taller, with a fellbeast to ride, he would be a Nazgul and none could tell the difference.

  And not just the look, the robe’s functionality and bonus stats were also top tier. If not for Ioviann’s signature on his badge resulting in a huge discount, there was no way he would get this at 430 coins.

  [Ulediz’s Pride] — Rare: One of the finest creations of a talented tailor, this robe has stood the test of time with only minimal changes. Allows the user to blend into the surrounding environment more easily, with even more potent effects in darkness. +17 Dexterity, +12 Awareness, +5 Endurance, +5 Constitution.

  Enchantments: Draining-repair.

  [Draining-repair] — Uncommon: Allows the user to infuse mana into the robe to slowly restore it to pristine condition.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Requirements: Level 50+

  The camouflage effect would always be good, even if he didn’t use it purposely, but the real deal came with the enchantment. Who needed a pumice now to clean the apparel, when all he needed to do was to expend some mana? That would save him so much time and mental effort for still feeling the need to clean something here in this fantasy world. Honestly, why couldn’t every item have this enchantment by default?

  There was also a hidden effect not listed by the description, not sure if it was intended, but the robe made no sound at all even when he jumped or ran. Still flapping, but in silence.

  A lucky bonus was that the two beads he collected from the snails — which he had totally not forgotten about and just absentmindedly tucked them inside the old pants — actually sold for 32 coins, so he had that additional money to pay for stuff.

  On the other hand, even that was only enough to pay for the new pants and the boots, while the robe still cost him almost all of his advanced money from Ioviann, so the hat and another accessory slot remained empty for the time being. Still not yet completing the quest for a full gear, which was a shame, but perhaps he would find them on the next adventure.

  He had talked big in front of Ioviann to gain all of these new shiny items and position inside Vendona; now it was time to keep his other half of the bargain: continue to get stronger. Alas, he got a good general direction to the next place he wanted to visit from his knowledgeable patron, so it was time for a new journey.

  But before all of that, he had a delivery service to complete. Looking at the cage in his hand, Zalanir grinned. They would like this.

  ***

  “Pa, is it true that Zalanir has joined Vendona? He came back a while ago bidding farewell.”

  Dakrua smiled seeing Irene from afar, pushed the cart full of ingredients, herbs, and a dead forest boar that he hunted this early morning, and stopped it right at the entrance of the restaurant. If only he had a better spatial pocket …

  “I see. Quite a busy lad. Yeah, he’s good now, I think. At least until the general digs through Putrieta’s motive. Heard a gossip or two about him being the new favorite of the branch leader.” He recalled the talk last night when guarding the wall.

  “He helped with setting up the dining area and cleaning, but since you weren’t here, he asked me to pass you a ‘thank you’. He said he would visit often.” Irene took two bags of herbs and went inside.

  Dakrua carried the forest boar on his shoulder and headed to the backyard. Still needed a touch of pre-processing before storing it in the warehouse.

  “This could last three days—” he muttered, thinking about the business of the restaurant when the appearance of two balls of fur stole his attention.

  The orange cat was obviously his, but where did that bicolor one come from? It looked cute, though, dominantly white, except for the black patch on its head and another one of similar color running across its back. It stared at him for a short while, careful and on alert, but then with his orange cat landing on its back, it cried a chorus of meow and the two started chasing each other around the area, jumping over the old well and wrecking havoc over the bellflowers on the wall.

  “They are at it again?” A moan from his daughter rang behind him. “Stop it, Little Irene!”

  The new cat stopped all of the sudden, none of its body parts could sneak a single motion. Its eyes widened, fear on its face, and tears started to bubble. All the while Little Irene stood on the side, chucking and massaging the white tail of its troubling kin.

  “Don’t bully it like that. Though what is it? Did Little Irene find it somewhere and lead it back here?” Dakrua swirled back to his magical genius, stopping his meat-softening process altogether.

  “No, Zalanir. He said it was a gift. Seriously, Little Irene was already enough of a headache, but now this also? We now have to guard the warehouse even more carefully.”

  The orange cat bared its teeth and growled, as if it was rejecting the verdict that his daughter just passed upon it.

  A huge smile docked on his face while his head shook lightly. What an interesting lad he had met.

  ***

  Zalanir wandered back and forth in front of the dungeon, scolding himself for being a dum-dum for forgetting to buy a light talisman. With the experience from the bat cave, and after getting plenty of information from Ioviann about this dungeon, buying such an item would be the first thing to do, but nope, setting foot inside that apparel shop had blinded his mind. Now, he was torn between two options: went back and asked Ioviann for some spare cash, or joined a group of adventurers outside to piggyback on their light source. Surely they would have something, right?

  For better or worse, this dungeon was a popular stop for early and middle C-grades, so naturally a small encampment was present right outside of the entrance, acting as a resting and supplying port for those who sought adventure.

  Sighing to himself, Zalanir ventured inward. Going back would be him admitting his mistake, and he detested that with every fiber on his body. Besides, he was too lazy to spend two hours walking back. Joining a party sucked because of the shared experience distribution, but having one to familiarize himself with this dungeon could be okay-ish in the short-term. After all, the place he was after was midway inside the dungeon, where there was a possibility of encountering even late C-grade monsters. Ioviann had warned him about this, especially about the infamous one-eyed fox monsters, which specialized in illusory magic. Pesky adversaries and the death bringer of many adventurers.

  But this was his first appropriate dungeon raid, ignoring the assault on the cultist lair, and he didn’t plan to go back without getting what he wanted.

  The encampment was unembellished with two distinct areas: resting and trading, distinguished from each other by the sight of plain black tents and simple mats laid bare on the ground.

  Not like he could buy anything having no money, so he just drifted by to have a quick look at what was offered. Weapons, armor, and potions took up a large portion of what was available, not surprising one bit about that, but what dominated the markets here were colorful objects of various shapes. Almost all the shops had some of them for sale.

  Zalanir summoned the book titled “Exotic species and their whereabouts, fourth edition” and turned on the last few pages where he remembered seeing something similar when he skimmed through this book earlier. He quickly found what he was looking for, at the section under the name “Monster cores”.

  Monster cores: Species above D-grade that died have a chance to drop their cores. The higher the grade, the more protective and cautious a monster would be about destroying their cores to avoid having its secret stolen by the enemy.

  Fascinating. So quick kill, preferably one-shot to get it. Roger!

  The price was really high, averaging 30 coins for a low level core and rising to hundreds for higher rarity variants. Looked like besides some interesting monster parts, their cores would be one of his targets here. Couldn’t just rely solely on Ioviann to finance his needs.

  He spent the next hour just loitering here and there, using Sound Sense to grab any information about a potential squad looking for new members, but he received some bad news. Freshly evolved individuals like him would find it hard-pressed to join a team, as everyone preferred stronger individuals rather than a newbie.

  Just when he was about to head toward another greenhorn to suggest forming a team, he caught the sight of a red-haired acquaintance who just emerged from the dungeon entrance.

  Zalanir grinned. Looked like he might just have found his ticket out of this plight.