Walking towards the arcing passageway I noticed a long tunnel that was lit by torches mounted to the sides and I could faintly make out the shape of buildings all the way at the end.
Following the touches across the tunnel walls, traveling further down the underpass, a sharp line of light slowly made its way up my legs until it caused me to squint as it hit my eyes. Dropping my hand from my face after my eyes became accustomed to the light.
Getting curious as I could feel warm air engulf me. Searching around for where the heat could be coming from, I happened to glimpse at a large-sized orange crystal that seemed to be glowing orange.
Noticing some people would be huddled around it and some others would stick out their hands in front of it like they're trying to warm them up made me think that those crystals might be emanating the heat throughout the street.
Glancing I could see that they were placed about like streetlamps, far enough apart, but you could see them stretching off as far as the eye could see.
Focusing on the crowd, you couldn't make out a single person's face as the hustle and bustle of the crowd moving left and right of the tunnel was too complicated to figure out where they were going as even from here it looked uncomfortable to walk amongst them.
Moving closer to the end of the tunnel, I started picking up on the vibrant colors that they all happened to be wearing. Viewing their clean and tidy clothes, I could also make out the same wristband, but they all seemed to be a variation of golden and silver.
Very rarely did I happen to spot a copper wristband, but once I did, I was able to make a connection between the others, I kept finding more which were those of copper color wristbands were outside the happy-looking crowds hiding in corners or walking amongst the shadows.
Finding a type of discrimination that might affect me, I wasn't too pleased, however, right now my only care was finding a place I could sell the beast cores. Looking down at the wristband that showed I had 23h:13m, I thought it would be best to explore.
Strolling out into the crowd, I quietly kept getting pushed around as it seemed I wasn't the tallest nor was I able to even stand my ground with my body weight.
As I began stumbling through the crowded, unfamiliar street, I came across weapon shops and clothing stores, but I haven't been able to find any clue as to where you could possibly sell beast cores.
Stepping up to one of those weapon store doors, hoping they might have information for me, I pushed open the sturdy door when a jingle was heard above me and the men at the counter had a sparkle in his eyes until he looked my way.
Standing by the door, I just asked" where can I sell my beast cores"
Behind the counter, the man couldn't help but curse his luck as another Copper came to his establishment, and it didn't help that this man standing next to his hand-polished door looked like a bum.
His hair didn't even fall smoothly as most of it flew in different directions away from his person, with some clear knots as well and you could see his clothes suited him with the amount of holes scattered over the fabric as he thought "who's he kidding, he probably killed his cat to get a Brown beast core."
Getting agitated as the old geezer wouldn't answer my question"Hey, do you know or not?"
Breaking out of his thought, as he realized he was spoken to like a person with no stature, "A Copper wants to speak to me lik-" he wasn't able to finish as the man by the door had already started to walk back out.
That being a complete waste of my time, it seems that having a copper waistband is more troublesome than I thought.
Subsequently, maybe I missed something, a city this large has to have at least some guilds within its walls.
Asking around, I managed to get a few answers from the kind people, but most just flat out ignored me, however, I still got my answer and those helpful tips were leading me to a guild called The Pride.
The building itself looked so clean it hurts to look at, and with its white limestone walls that were designed to look almost like a pantheon, it gave off quite the majestic look.
Watching people walk out in groups with, a silk black long coat that had golden stitched seems with a golden lion that was etched swirling from the side and going around to the back. However, it wasn't just them, I also saw random people walk in and out.
Seeing that people who were not affiliated with the guild could also walk in I started making my way through the limestone columns and into the building that was very spacious if you were looking up, but once you looked down there were rows upon rows of people waiting in front of their own individual receptionist, asking to join or bargaining off something.
Weirdly, it didn't take too much time before I was called up to an empty stand.
Seeing blond hair swirled into a neat bun that showed off the women's smooth features whilst she sat there wearing a fully blacked-out silk coat with a little stitched lion on her left breast.
Looking at me with a trained smile, she spoke" how may I help you, dear customer"
Pulling out the beast cores, trying to make sure my left arm wasn't showing I placed them on the wooden table"I would like to sell"
Out of all the five, the one that intrigued her the most was the slightly murky red beast core whilst the other four were put to the side, whilst she went to reach for a ruler that had a color gradient on it, where one side was pitch black and going all the way to a vibrant red.
Moving the ruler along till it matched with the beast core, she looked at the ruler again, and just below the beast core, it gave an approximate price.
"Well, I can tell by looking at this I could give you 879 Coppers for it, but the others would need to be tested for their original color as they're too dark of a pigment to tell you a price right now"
"How long would that take?"
"Oh, it should take but a moment, however, whilst that's happening, let me transfer the money to you, for this one" She said as she placed the beast core into a hole in the table.
With the other four, she needed to send them off to be looked at, so she put them into a cylinder, tacked on top of one another, then wrote the letter U on to it and opened a flap, placing it into the empty space and let go.
Looking at It disappear into the hole, I found it quite the interesting technology, as I was mumbling to myself "I guess a lot has changed"
The receptionist couldn't entirely pick up his words under all the noises going on around them, so she asked" Sorry sir, what did you say?"
Thinking of something quickly as I didn't want to sound too old-fashioned"How are you going to transfer money over to me?"
Finally, being able to hear him she said with an honest smile"Well, you just need to give me your account number and the bank you're assigned to, and then I can send it to you"
Being slightly perplexed by what she said, I just told her honestly "I don't know what you're talking about"
Looking at him with a surprised face as she knew that even those with no money still had an account but still acting profession, she asked politely"Sir do you know what a bank account is"
"It would seem I don't know what those are"
"Well, they are places you can store your money ,sir, if you would like I could make you an account under Pride Banking if you would like"
Thinking for a bit, I asked "Can you just give me the money without me needing a bank account to transfer to?"
"Unfortunately, not sir, you can, however withdraw your money from your account once you have an account set up" she spoke with a bit of embarrassment
With slight annoyance"Do I have to go somewhere else to set up this bank account then?"
"No, no, not at all, I can make a few calls and set it up for you right away" with a nice smile she joked "even before the cores have done being tested"
Sighing"If you could, that would be most appreciated"
The blonde lady went to tap on her wristband and once she did that you could see names being displayed within the crystal. She started scrolling through them until she found the name she was looking for and tapped on the crystal, but this time the name started to blink on and off.
Soon the blinking disappeared, and you could hear a voice sounding from the other side, but you could not make it out under all the surrounding noise. The lady seemed to occasionally laugh and giggle with the person on the other end.
Looking back my way with flustered cheeks, she spoke" There it's all sorted, they shouldn't take long to get back to me on that, but I am going to need a name to link the account to you"
Thinking for a bit as I haven't spoken my name out loud in a long time"Ronin Detoro"
Typing that down into the system, she proceeded to talk more with a smile"Now all we have to do is wait for them to get back"