-MARKET-

Towering over me is a building even larger than the System Associations local headquarters. Standing in front of the market fills my stomach with knots but I steel my nerves and enter. 

The first 5 floors only allow access to hunters that are ranked F, then the next 5 floors allow E-Ranked hunters, 5 more floors for D-Rank and so on, giving 5 floors for each rank of hunter. Finally the top floor is exclusively for S ranked hunters but since there are only a thousand of them, I can't imagine they get many customers going to that floor.

"May I see your Hunters license?"

A short girl, about 5 or 6 inches shorter than myself, extends her hand outwards and I hand over the license without question. 

"E-Rank 945,312,504. You must have become an E-Rank hunter recently so I assume this is your first time here. As an E-Rank you will have access to the first 10 floors of the building. Here is your pass, make sure you don't lose it and you won't be allowed to leave the building until it is returned. Please make your way towards the elevator."

After hunting those Armored Rhinos my rank had increased from F to E. It's just the first step on a long path for a hunter but it feels like a great achievement.

Entering the elevator I scan the pass I was given, going to the lowest of the F ranked floors. I read online before coming here that the cheapest items for each rank are placed on the lowest floor and the most expensive are at the top of each ranks section. I need to go to the bottom of the bottom in order to get a gauge for what I can afford with my credits.

With a slight 'Ding!' I arrive at my floor. Tables and cabinets of glass line the floor making corridors of weapons and trinkets. An attendant stands every dozen feet or so with some already helping other customers.

I make my way down one of the rows of tables, scanning the contents that are left out in the air, unguarded. Simple swords with clean sharp edges are laid out in a uniform row but nothing really catches my eye. I'm not a swordsman after all. 

The row of weapons continues on for what feels like forever, the long table stretches along the entire floor of the building, only offering occasional breaks to allow people to cross from one row of items to another. Lining the walls on the left side of the building are spears and other long weapons that are too big for the tables.

I notice a barrel at the end of each row of weapons that's stacked with more weapons. These ones don't look to be lower quality but I'm no blacksmith so how would I know.

After having a casual look around I make my way to the nearest attendant, another girl but this time a bit taller, still shorter than me by an inch or two. Her hair was a wheat like blonde cut into a bob and glasses framed her large sapphire eyes.

"Could you help me find some items that would be good for mages?"

The woman smiles politely and begins to guide me across the room, bobbing and weaving around tables and glass display cabinets.

"Since this is the lowest floor there aren't a lot of mage items, they tend to be a bit more expensive but we still have a few that we can offer. If not then I can accompany you to another floor to help you find something that would satisfy you."

"I'm not looking for anything specific, just looking for now but I'm unsure of how much these things cost so I thought I would start from the bottom and work my way up."

She pondered over my reply for a moment, her pace slowing for less than a second, then she picked it back up and continued.

"The swords on this level would cost about a thousand credits as most are made by newly awakened blacksmiths, the ones in the barrels at the end of the displays are usually cheaper so they would go for as little as 100 credits. They are mostly too low quality to be sold for a normal price, some are slightly damaged or chipped too. The mage items on this floor cost about 2-3 thousand credits but they aren't too popular as they are usually failed products or have strange effects. The more useful magical items start around the 3rd floor of the F-Ranked section. If you want the good mage gear that can last for a while you will want to start searching in the E-Ranked floors, they will start at around 10,000 credits but they ramp up in price pretty fast. If you wish to go to other floors I can accompany you; however I can't go past the F-Ranked floors as my position in the company doesn't allow low level employees to go to higher floors."

I take my time to digest the information, thinking about my funds and how I should spend them.

"For now I'll stay on the F-Ranked floors since I don't think i could afford anything on the E-Ranked floors"

In the corner of my eye I can see the corners of her mouth rise slightly.

"I would also like to look at some accessories and some robes too if thats alright."

"Of course." She nods her head slightly in acknowledgement.

We made it to the other side of the room where a significantly smaller section of the floor is reserved for magic items. Staves are pinned along the wall, most having no gems or crystals adorning them that would signify a mage but instead are simple sticks, some with simple carvings or designs that are clearly made by beginner artificers. 

Opposite the wall of staves lay a few tables of wands, simple and not unique in their designs. A few of the wands have small gems embedded at their tips, one red one standing out among the others as it emits a dim glow.

I inspect the red gem tipped wand a bit closer and before I can ask my attendant to speak up.

"This wand has been here for quite a while, it looks like it could be a good beginner weapon but the artificer made a mistake while trying to increase the damage of fire attribute spells. Instead of increasing the damage of the spell it seems to only increase the mana cost while not changing the spell in any way."

I place the wand back on the table and quickly scan the others but none catch my eye so I ask instead,

"Are there any wands or staves here that you recommend?"

She takes a step closer, reaching out to the table and plucking out a simple wooden wand. The wand looks like a branch. No, it literally is a branch. About 30 centimeters in length and bends awkwardly.

"This may look like a simple branch but it was used as a practice tool for a medium level artificer who tried enchanting it with special effects. When casting a spell though the branch it will imbue a spell with a freezing ice attribute. It wont work with fire spells and wont have much of an effect on spells that already contain ice but for earthen spells and wind spells it is quite a good tool. Sadly though it also uses a large amount of mana, about 10 times the normal mana."

She shrinks a little bit when mentioning the last bit of information.

The way my ability works would make this an unreliable weapon so I think I should pass on a weapon for now until I can afford one that will actually help me in battle.

"How about we look at some accessories instead?"

I gave a sympathetic look towards my attendant and she puffs up her chest slightly in a look of renewed vigor and leads me down a few tables towards some glass display cases.

"Although there aren't many, we have a few accessories that you might find useful."

She takes a small set of keys that were hooked to her belt and unlocks the glass cabinet, reaching in and pulling out a small box containing a ring.

"This ring increases your intelligence by 5. It costs only 2000 credits and has a simple minimalist design. Please try it on if you're interested."

She ushers the box towards me. The ring inside is a plain silver, no gemstones or etchings are visible on the ring until I remove it from the box and see a small engraving on the inside, most likely the creator's name.

I slip the ring onto my finger and open my status window to see if the ring really increased my stats.

Intelligence - 83 (5)

I see so it shows me the total of my intelligence stat first, then it shows next to it how much of that is being supplied from items.

Removing the ring from my finger I watch as the number blurs for a moment before showing the number 78.

"This is pretty nice, it fits well too. What other things do you have?" 

Her face lights up even more as she places the ring, back inside its box, onto the glass display next to the one she had opened. Next she pulled out a thin necklace with a tiny gem embedded. The gem couldn't be bigger than an ant but it shone as bright as any diamond.

"This one increases defense by 6 and costs 3500 credits. We also have more accessories that increase all the stats you could need. Although the increase isn't much, they are more than good for the price you pay. Some of the higher level accessories that increase your stats cost a fortune so lots of people buy the lower F-Ranked ones as they are cheaper. Of course the more expensive ones also increase your stats a lot more too. For reference the accessories at the top of the E-Ranked floors would increase your stats by about 20-30 points but they cost a small fortune, around 50,000 credits."

I take her words into my mind and think, visibly rubbing my chin to show that I'm deep in thought.

"Does that mean you have accessories that increase the luck stat?"

She seems taken aback for a moment but quickly composes herself and locks up the display case we were standing at before guiding me a few feet down the row to another display case. She takes the intelligence increasing ring and brings it with us so we dont forget about it.

"These are all the luck increasing accessories."

The cabinet opens without a key this time, clearly the security for these items is less important.

"Luck increasing accessories aren't popular as the luck stat is useless. Most people tend to buy them as gifts for loved ones, parents also give them to their kids in hopes the extra luck will protect them."

I reach past through the door of the glass and pull out another ring, this one is similar to the previous ring which I intended to buy but instead of a dull silver, this one is a matte black.

"How much does this one increase luck?"

She looks confused for a moment, almost as if I was crazy for asking but answers quickly after.

"That ring increases luck by 40. It costs 2500 credits. It has the highest stat increase of this floor but that doesn't really matter for luck so the price is more based on the design. A lot of luck based equipment gets pushed down from one floor to another after it doesn't sell for a while so eventually a few bits of high level useless equipment gets pushed down here."

I remove the ring from its box, running my finger around its edge searching for any engravings. I find a small engraving on the inside of the ring and bring it closer to my eye to see. 'J.C.'. Must be the creator's initials.

"I will take this ring as well as the other one that boosted intelligence."

My attendant's smile brightens and she takes the ring from me, guiding me to a corner of the room where I assume I would pay for them before being able to leave. 

"The total for both rings is 4500 credits. Please transfer the amount here."

She pulls my eyes towards a small flat box on the counter. I take my hunter license and scan it against the box, a small chime plays and notifies the attendant of the transaction.

"Thank you for your purchase."

Her head lowers in a deep bow, her back almost 90 degrees. Rising slowly she meets my gaze before quickly handing me my 2 rings as well as a small card and a receipt.

"Next time you come to buy something feel free to ask for me at the front desk and I will come to assist you. Have a great day…" 

Her voice trails off as she searches my gaze for a clue as to what my name is. 

"Miles."

"Of course, have a good day hunter Miles."

I take a quick glance at the card she handed to me with my purchase and see her name written on it as well as other things like her employee number and other things that would make it easy for me to find her again should I come back to buy more items.

"Thank you for guiding me Emily. I will be sure to ask for your assistance again in the future." 

I return the bow slightly and walk into the elevator, returning to the ground floor.

I've done more than enough for today so it's time to return home.

END OF CHAPTER 6