The Market Place

This floor was larger than all the others that Edric had been to, and had little to no dead space between buildings, meaning that it was a single continuous floor with seemingly no link to the bottom.

Unlike all the other floors, it didn't have a primary colour and instead had algae of all pigments lighting the streets. 

~She said it was one of the buildings under the green tower,~ he thought to himself, as he scanned his surroundings.

He couldn't see the green tower from where he was standing, so he began strolling the streets. He wasn't in a rush to get to the tinkerer anyway, since he had to wait until the 'black hours' to enter the 'dark depths'.

Apparently, this was a period where all the algae in the undercity turned black. And it was only then that the entrance to the 'dark depths' would become safe enough to enter... well whatever that meant at least

As he was walking, he found himself having to choose his paths carefully.

There were hordes of denizens moving on the streets, which were very narrow meaning that people literally had to squeeze together to make it to wherever they were going.

It went without saying that walking through the streets was a chore, as he took up the entire space by himself. So people had to wait for him to move past a section before they could pass.

Luckily for him, nobody had the guts to complain to his face.

"Look, it's a Siren," someone whispered behind him.

~They think I'm the same species as those women?~ he thought to himself. For some reason, he had assumed that they were the only ones of their kind.

However, he was starting to get the impression that he was wrong. 

There were dozens of fish-humanoid hybrids walking the streets, so it wasn't too far-fetched to believe that there may be more sirens somewhere down here.

The majority of fish-humanoids however seemed to be frog-men, like the gangmember who had used that dagger spell earlier.

~I should learn one of those... songs soon. It doesn't seem like the system will provide them to me,~ he thought to himself, right as the green tower came into view.

It was an enormous tower near the centre of this level, that soared up to the artificial ceiling -the bottom of the floor above them.

It seemed that the material it was made from had absorbed large quantities of green algae, as it glowed a strange plant green colour.

~Then the tinkerer should be somewhere over there,~ he thought to himself, looking at the circle of buildings that surrounded the tower.

There was a clearing between those builds and the tower, creating a sort of open market where people sold contraptions of all kinds.

Despite the current crisis they were facing, it seemed that the economy here, or at least on this floor, was doing quite well as the market was crowded with potential buyers. They shouted prices and item names as they haggled with the stall owners.

~Scrap metal?~ he thought to himself, as he watched one of the denizens walk away with a bronze contraption. It looked to be nothing but random pieces of metal melded together.

It made no sense that poverty-stricken people would waste what little they had on something that looked so useless. However, Edric knew things often weren't as simple as they seemed.

After walking around the market and asking for 'the tinkerer' he was directed towards a large store on the fringes of the market. This one seemed to have the largest crowd waiting outside.

~It seems the tinkerer is quite a successful businessman,~ Edric thought to himself, before walking towards the store.

He pushed past the crowd, using his size as a free admittance ticket. A few denizens complained initially, however seeing his white cloak, they reluctantly made space.

Eventually, he was at the front of the crowd, where a rather buff man in a white cloak was standing guard. He had an octopus head, with tentacles that went down his face like a beard.

~He's from Siren's Bordello as well?~ Edric thought to himself, nodding at the guard in greeting.

"You here on behalf of Monique?" the guard asked.

~Monique?~ Edric thought to himself, before slowly nodding his head in agreeance. It didn't matter who Monique was, so long as the man would let him through.

"The tinkerer is waiting for you at the back," the guard said, before opening the door.

For a moment the crowd of people pushed forward, the excitement of seeing the store open spreading through the ranks until they were like a tidal wave roaring to get in.

"Oi, a little help," the guard shouted, as he tried his best to hold the people back. 

~There's no way we'll be able to hold them all back,~ Edric thought to himself, as he closed the door.

Unfortunately, closing the door did nothing to stop their excitement. The wave had already begun, and it would not die down until they were through those doors.

The guard was getting pushed back like he weighed nothing, despite being nearly the same size as Edric.

"If anyone crosses this line, I will reap their life," Edric announced, before pulling a scythe from his back and carving a line on the metallic floor.

The crowd went silent at the announcement, some of them even pushed back against the crowd so that they would not be at the front.

"This okay?" Edric asked, realizing that he was wearing the Bordello's uniform, so all his actions fell on them.

"Seems Monique was right to hire you," the guard replied, before nodding his head.

*

The inside of the store looked more or less like the sweatshops back on earth. Dozens of children were seated at tables, assembling contraptions out of scrap metal from a box beside them.

Despite the obvious lack of quality control, all the contraptions seemed to share a similar form.

Goggles.

The boss-lady had sent him down here to get a pair. Apparently, they could help the wearer see in the dark for a short period.

~Then does that mean everyone outside is trying to venture into the dark depths as well?~ he realized.