Walking out of Dante's store, Mark held up his ring and used his inspect skill to see what benefits the ring would give him.
"Inspect."
[Ring of Lesser Strength]
[When equipped: +5 Strength]
[Active Skill: Strength Burst]
[Strength Burst: Increases Strength by +10 for 1 minute. Cooldown: 6 hours.]
'This is really good, it increases my strength as if I have used Sacrifice Strength on around 7 bones.' Looking over the benefits of his new ring, Mark failed to notice the strange look Abby was giving him.
"Um, Mark, are you okay? You have been staring at the ring for a few minutes." Concerned for her client, Abby snapped Mark out of his daze.
"Sorry, I just haven't had anything this nice before. My sword was the only thing that could be considered nice, and you saw the state it was in."
Holding the ring up once again, the moonlight reflected off of its metallic body displaying the beauty of the object. The ring was a smooth, metal ring with intricate carvings going across the body, presumably giving the ring its enhancing properties.
"Enough gawking, I have one more place I would like to go." Putting his hand down, Mark explained that he had one more destination in mind. "I need to find an information broker."
"I can definitely help with that, what information are you looking for?" Reverting to her guide persona, Abby began asking questions to narrow down possible brokers.
"I need to find someone who knows where the underground fights take place." His voice filled with resolve, he declared his intention for finding the underground fights.
Eyes filled with shock, Abby looked at Mark like he was crazy. Dante had just warned him not to go there yet here he was asking for someone who could tell him where they were.
"Mark are you sure you want to go to the underground fights? I know you just got that ring, but there will be people who are stronger than you, even with the ring equipped." Concern filling Abby's eyes, she tried to reason with Mark to reconsider trying to find the underground fights.
"I will be fine, I just need you to lead the way to someone who can tell me where they are." Trying to reassure Abby, Mark once again asked her to lead the way to an info broker.
"Fine, if you want to get yourself killed, who am I to stop you?" Finally giving into the request, Abby began walking to one of the most renowned info brokers in the black market.
Chasing after her, Mark came to a realisation that he hadn't inspected her.
"Inspect."
{Name: Abby Lars}
{Race: Human}
{Status: Healthy}
[Congratulations! Inspect has been used 10 times.]
[Inspect has Leveled up.]
[You can now view the targets base stats.]
[Targets you have already inspected will not be counted towards your next LVL.]
'Well that was unexpected. Let's try inspect again.'
"Inspect."
{Name: Abby Lars}
{Race: Human}
{Status: Healthy}
{Strength: 22}
{Agility: 25}
{Intelligence: 17}
'Damn, her base stats are already higher than mine.' Surprised at Abby's stats, Mark was scared to think what the stats of someone like Dante were. 'Wait, I should be able to look at the stats for Vanishing as well now.'
"Inspect."
{Name: Vanishing}
{Race: None}
{Status: Healthy}
{Strength: 6}
{Agility: 15}
{Intelligence: 8}
'So his intelligence is only 8, and that is with the slightly higher intelligence.' Finally able to see his summons stats, Mark was worried about Vanishings low intelligence stat. If that stayed low would Vanishing be able to complete all of Mark's orders? Would Vanishing always respond to him?
"Mark, if you want me to take you to the info broker, you need to keep up." Snapping Mark out of his daze, Abby called Mark who had been falling behind. "What are you even looking at? I keep looking at your eyes and I see them moving back and forth as if you are reading something."
"Sorry Abby, I just keep seeing signs in the difference that are interesting. Please, keep leading the way, I will stay close from now on." Avoiding having to tell Abby about his system, Mark made up the excuse of reading sale signs. Mark just had to hope that she would believe him and not ask anymore questions on the matter.
Catching up to Abby, the pair continued walking onwards. Walking for 20 minutes, the pair finally arrived at a building with chairs and tables outside. Realising that they were walking into a restaurant, Mark couldn't help but stand there confused.
"I thought you were taking me to an information broker, not taking me out to dinner." Jokingly, Mark questioned Abby's intentions.
"The broker that you are looking for works here. If you want to find the fights, they are the person you want to talk to."
Walking inside, Abby and Mark took seats at the bar.
"Hey Maddie, where is Alex?" Asking the bartender to go fetch someone, Maddie went through a set of doors and into the kitchen. Shouting could be heard behind the set of doors.
"I don't care who it is, I am in the middle of dinner service."
Walking back through the doors, the bartender came back to the pair and explained the situation. "I'm sorry, Alex is a bit preoccupied with his cooking. You're free to wait for him to finish or you can come back another day."
"Actually Maddie, we came here for you." Confusing Mark with this statement, Abby began explaining why she asked where the man named Alex was. "Sorry Mark, I must have confused you. Maddie is the info broker. Alex is her boss here and he doesn't know about this side hustle that she is doing. If he did, he would probably fire her on the spot."
"Well as long as I can get my information, I don't care who provides it." Looking over at Maddie, Mark prepared to ask the question everyone had told him not to ask. "I need to know where the underground fights are."
================================================================
"JUST LET ME GO!" After all of his screaming and crying, the only words that came out of the mans mouth were pleas for mercy. "YOU ALREADY CAUGHT ME AND GOT YOUR RING BACK, SO JUST LET ME GO!"
Walking out from the darkness, a man with elephant tusks could be seen holding a branding iron. "I don't think so. You try to steal from me, I steal away your freedom." Putting the branding iron into a burning fire, the elephant man stepped closer to the tied up human.
"DANTE, I PROMISE IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN, PLEASE JUST LET ME GO!" Still pleading for his freedom, the thief tried to make a promise that would grant him his freedom.
"Oh, come now, you said it yourself, your family is starving. You would do anything for your family, even break your promise. With what I am about to do I can make you keep your promise." Walking back over towards the fire, Dante reached for the handle of the branding iron. "Who knows, you might even make some money to send back to your family."
With the now red hot iron in his hand, Dante slowly walked over to the thief tied to a chair and pressed the iron onto his chest. Screaming at the top of his lungs, the thief tried to fight back but was unable to as the branding iron threatened to bore right through his chest.
Within seconds the room fell silent as the man fell unconscious.
"Take him to the arena, maybe he can earn us some money." Speaking out loud in the empty room, the shadows on the walls seemed to move forming humanoid shapes. The figures walked forward and grabbed the unconscious man and walked him out of the room.