Pulling his hood back over to cover his face, Zareth quickly blended into the crowd once again.
He didn't want to effectively throw away all of his beast corpses just like that, but the more he gave the more effective his strategy would be, so he didn't mind too much.
He still had a good amount of money from his thieving shenanigans, so it was now time to buy some stuff for himself.
First of which was going to have to be a mask to hide his face. He didn't want to take any big risks in anyone knowing his true identity other than those who he wanted to trust him.
As many wanted to stay anonymous as well in the black market, mask stores weren't too rare.
Zareth accessed the nearest one and bought a small black mask perfectly fit for his face. The mask was plain, not resembling anything, just as Zareth wanted it.
With this out of the way, he was now going to focus on his main mission after selling the beast corpses, a new sword.
Although Drufus' swords were nice and all, they were all base-grade swords apart from his main one which Zareth didn't have access to.
He now wanted a higher grade sword that would be durable enough to last him a good amount of time, and also be powerful enough to help him slay greater beasts.
Although he didn't know it for sure, Zareth assumed that there were weapon grades in this world, as that's how it worked in the Immortal Realm and other worlds.
To test his theory, he decided to ask the system, and as it turned out, he was correct.
Each weapon in this world that was greater than the base grade would be either enchanted whilst in creation or after creation to be more powerful than lower ranks.
These enchantments could be seen in weapons in the form of carved runes.
Of course, enchanting weapons during creation or after required a great amount of skill depending on the grade of the weapon.
The art of enchanting weapons was called Rune Enchanting and was usually performed by Runesmiths while the weapon was still being created, however, in rare cases, Runesmiths would also enchant weapons after they were created.
Runesmiths also had their own ranks which directly corresponded to the grade of the weapon they enchanted.
From lowest to greatest, the ranks went as follows: Apprentice Rank Runesmith, Proficient Rank Runesmith, Elite Rank Runesmith, Grandmaster Rank Runesmith, and Legend Rank Runesmith.
The corresponding weapon grades went: Ordinary Grade Weapon, Advanced Grade Weapon, Mastercraft Grade Weapon, Supreme Grade Weapon, and Mythical Grade Weapon.
In contrast to Runesmith ranks which did not have any stages in between, weapon's had four tiers going from Tier I, Tier II, Tier III, and Tier IV in between each of the weapon grades.
Right now, Zareth wanted an Advanced-Grade sword of any tier.
This would be two grades higher than the base grade swords he was used to using, so the tier of it was not something he had the privilege of worrying about right now.
In fact, he didn't even know if he had enough money to afford one. Right now, with the purchase of the mask out of the way, what he had in his inventory was equivalent to 4.45 gold bars and some change.
He knew that 100 bronze coins equaled one silver coin, and 100 silver coins equaled one gold bar.
As weapons were the most popular product sold in the black market, Zareth quickly came across a corner full of weapon shops.
There were many options to choose from, but Zareth decided to enter the largest of the shops which was a full-fledged store inside a fair-sized building.
As Zareth walked in, he was immediately greeted by the owner of the place.
"Welcome, sir! May I be of any assistance to you?" An average-looking middle-aged man said, rubbing his palms together as Zareth walked inside the store.
"Show me all of your Advanced Grade weapons, and tell me their prices as well." Zareth instantly replied.
"It would be my pleasure!" The man delightfully said, walking over to a sword display table.
Zareth followed him to the large table displaying several swords which he assumed were all Advanced Grade.
All of the swords were unique and had subtle patterns traveling throughout their blades.
However, with one glance at the prices, Zareth had to leave the store immediately with a frown on his face.
"Wait! Where are you go--" The store owner of the place was ignored as well as the door shut behind Zareth.
All of the prices were above 15 gold. It was a sad sight to behold.
Zareth now stood outside of the establishment thinking of what to do.
Although he could just go to any other store, he doubted any would have Advanced Grade swords which were three times below the seemingly average price.
Also, he did not want to even think of a world where he would be getting a sword of any lesser strength. He was adamant about getting this Advanced Grade sword at any cost.
As he continued to think to himself, he suddenly heard a small bell ringing from only meters away which was disturbing his train of thought.
He quickly glanced to see what it was and was met by the image of a homeless-looking grizzly old man that was clothed in a brown rag similar to his own hood dangling a little bell.
Below the man was another brown rag laid out on the floor with a few swords spread out on it.
"Come here for the greatest of swords for the lowest of prices!" The man desperately yet quietly yelled with his hoarse voice, trying to capture the attention of any person walking by but inevitably failing to do so.
Zareth didn't know whether it was because of his curiosity or desire to tell the man to stop ringing his annoying bell, but he walked over to the man's humble shop nonetheless.
As he approached, the old man's face gained a smile.
"Oh! Finally, a person comes! Thank Mother Gaia!" He yelled quietly in joy.
"What kind of weapons do you have here?" Zareth questioned as he inspected the weapons closely.
The weapons themselves didn't actually look half bad. Similar to the Advanced Grade swords in the store beside it, these swords also looked to have patterns flowing throughout their blades.
"Oh young man, these are all high grade swords, and I'm only selling them for 3 gold a piece, but no one will believe me!" The old man paused to think, looking down at his attire. "I haven't got the clue why!"
As he heard this, Zareth cringed a little inside seeing the man's stupidity.
'Maybe it's because you look like you haven't taken a shower since the day of your birth.' He thought to himself.
Although many probably didn't approach this shop because of how ugly it looked, Zareth knew that one of the main reason's for no one buying this guy's swords was mostly because of the ridiculous prices.
It looked like a scam, and also sounded like a scam. Hell, it even smelled like a scam because of the old man.
Zareth also highly suspected that it was a scam, however, it could have just been insane luck as well. Thankfully, Zareth had a way to discern whether this was a scam or not.
'System, scan this sword.'
[Weapon Scan]
Name: Sword of Nimbus
Grade: Ordinary Rank Tier IV
A large sword forged by platinum metal, having an enchantment that allows its attacks to be slightly more powerful.]
Seeing this, Zareth's eyes opened up wide behind his mask.
He then scanned every one of the other swords, with the final one being the most powerful of the bunch.
[Weapon Scan]
Name: Spiraling Wind Sword
Grade: Advanced Rank Tier I
A beautiful sword forged of platinum metal, having an enchantment that infuses the sword with wind magic. Has a light green hue over its blade.]
'Holy fuck...'
"You said these were only three gold. Why so little?" Zareth questioned the old man, as there were no valid reasons for these swords to be priced so lowly.
"These were the swords of my grandson who passed away during a mission. I only wish to get rid of them, as they remind me of him each and every day. Yet, no one seems to believe me."
Hearing this, Zareth could only think to himself how he was the one to stumble upon such a situation.
"Well, it seems today is your lucky day then. This Spiraling Wind Sword... would it be alright if I bought it?"
The old man's face looked to light up upon hearing this. "Yes, of course, thank you very much!"
To him who hated these swords, this was a great thing.
And to Zareth, it was an even greater thing.
He paid what was due before leaving the old man's shop with the blade of his choice, which was of course the Spiraling Wind Sword.
It came with a black sheath that had green dragon markings flowing around it, which made it look very mystical and well... cool to say the least.
Just having the sword on his waist gave him some exhilaration. He couldn't wait to try it on some stronger beasts when he got back home. Speaking of which, he needed to do as soon as possible.
It had probably been about two hours since he entered the black market, meaning he didn't have much more time left to leave.
As he was making his way back to his original elevator, he suddenly saw a large crowd of most likely over a couple of hundred people gathering around a certain area of the underground.
The commotion was loud and the sounds coming from the area resonated with pure excitement and craze. Zareth had to check it out before leaving.
This place was several meters away from the shops and the main market, and as Zareth made his way through the crowd, he saw a fight between two people happening in the middle.
The fight was on top of a large stone platform that leveled a foot or so above the ground and was 30ft by 30ft in size.
The two fighters looked like adventurers as they had adventurers' gear on, but none of them were using their weapons.
It was a straight-up fist fight, a street brawl.
One of the fighters looked to be a giant who was over eight feet tall and had quite the belly on him.
The other was a tall man as well, around six feet tall, but had an average physique.
As the bigger one of the two slammed the smaller one into the ground, the crowd began chanting a name.
"Hughes!"
"Hughes!"
"Hughes!"
With a smile on his face, the larger man stomped his foot onto the other man's stomach before raising his hands in the air in celebration of his victory.
As he did this, the crowd went wild, cheering for his victory with excitement.
"Who else wants to fight this behemoth of a man!?" Another man, this one as short as Zareth, yelled as he entered the platform. He wore a small black suit and had quite a comedic face.
A large small mustache under a large, cartoonish-sized nose.
"He has taken down opponent after opponent, surely, there is no one left to defeat him!" The short man said once again into the roaring crowd with a squeaky voice.
"If that's the case, then it seems Hughes will be the winner of this week's grand prize of 50 gold ingo--"
The man was suddenly cut off by someone in the crowd.
"Wait! I will fight him!" Zareth's even squeakier voice sounded from the large crowd, sending a wave of silence throughout.
Immediately, everyone switched their gazes down toward Zareth as he made his way further through the crowd and jumped up onto the stone platform.
"You all heard me! That's right! I will be this fat suckers opponent, and beat him into the ground while at it!" Zareth smiled through the mask with all of his teeth as pure eagerness filled his mind.
As soon as he heard of that prize money, he knew there was no way he was going to miss it. Along with that, this was a perfect place to let his name be known.
"What in the world!? Why would a kid like you want to figh--" The short man was immediately cut off.
"My name... is Rath! Be sure to remember it!" Zareth proudly proclaimed to the crowd.
No one spoke for a couple of seconds afterward, but the awkwardness of the situation didn't really affect Zareth.
"Who the hell are you!?" A man suddenly yelled from the crowd, annoyed at this immature brat who had hopped up on the stage like he owned the place.
"Yea! Get the hell out of here, you're a nobody!"
The crowd erupted into hateful screams out of nowhere, bashing Zareth in every way possible.
However, this was of course to be expected. Zareth knew this was going to happen, but he just hoped that his insults to the large man were enough to make his plan work.
"Wait!" The large man suddenly spoke, quickly silencing the crowd.
A cunning grin appeared on Zareth's face. 'It worked.'
"You arrogant boy, I will teach you today what happens when you are overconfident and disrespectful to your elders."
As the large man said this, the crowd once again cheered in agreement.
"Yea! Knock that little brat out!"
"Teach him a lesson!"
'Disrespectful to my elders? Your entire ancestry fails to equate to the age of my left foot.'
…
"Shut up~ fatso!" Zareth mocked the man from the other side of the stone platform with a condescending tone. "How about less talking, more fighting!"
"You--" The man stopped himself from bursting into a rage. Instead, he glanced at the short, big-nosed man before nodding lightly.
"R-right! I suppose both opponents have accepted this battle, and according to the rules, this is a fair fight. So... let the fight... begin!"