The process was simpler than Endyr thought it would be: the clerk had her stand in front of a crystal that served as a camera, and presented her with three sheets of paper afterwards. One was the ID she had to carry around normally, one had her full details and would be snuck into the proper system shortly according to Kulkiri, and the third was one to hold onto until then. It took less than twenty minutes, but cost her a whopping 45 gold to complete; Endyr was suddenly grateful that Renée had tried to scam so, so she could take her money with justification. She didn't know if Kulkiri would have been willing to pay, but she didn't want to owe him any more than she already did.
"Well, now that you've gotten what you came for, are you planning on going back to the surface? Or do you plan to explore the Underground first?"
Endyr pondered on her choice for all of three seconds before beginning to walk off. "Since I'm already here, I might as well explore right? Oh yeah, thanks for your help, really couldn't have gotten here without you." Without waiting for a response, Endyr hurried away, not giving Kulkiri the chance to ask for compensation. The man watched her go with wry amusement and exasperation but didn't call her back. Instead, he placed both hands in his pockets and began walking in a different direction, whistling a tune as he went. He hadn't gone far before he stopped and turned to look don an alley to his left.
He stared at the shadows there with narrowed eyes before letting out a tired sigh. "Damn, that kid really has rotten luck. Or maybe she technically has great luck...? In any case, she'll be fine....probably." With that, Kulkiri resumed walking, leaving Endyr clueless to what would happen next.
.................................
Endyr purveyed with rapt attention all the shops she passed. The market was even more bustling than the one in Sky Cross, and items for sale were also more eye catching. From humanoid body parts to Grimoires emanating evil energy, from blood stained weapons to illegal substances: all could be bought with enough money. And money was the key here, as the cheapest of goods was cost more than 10 gold coins. She saw her first item worth a platinum coin here as well, a silver spear decorated with lapis blue gems. According to the tag, it was used by a Mythic Tier Ascender in the past, but was damaged and had its power output drop to Legendary. However, the seller claimed it could be used as a catalyst to reforge a genuine Mythic weapon in the hands of a skilled enough Artisan.
Apart from weapons, the most common things for sale were monster hides, potions and Skill Stones, onyx gems procured from the corpses of monsters that can be absorbed by Ascenders to gain a Skill. Artisans could infuse Human Skills into them too, but most Skill Stones were natural since it only powerful Skills were worth the effort to inscribe, but they obviously couldn't be released into the wild market. For normal Ascenders, choosing Skills was a vital task that directly determined their strength and life expectancy. The amount they could hold was based on their Rank after all, so space was limited for the weak. Quality over quantity was the motto for Ascenders, both with Skills and the difference between Tiers.
Endyr had already looked but found nothing of use. As someone with an EX-Rank Core she had no limit on how many Skills she could hold, but she didn't want to fill her soul up with random trash, especially since Skills could actively conflict within the Ascender's soul. She was already unstable enough, and her sense of self-preservation beat down her curiosity this time. Dying to an imbalance in Skills would just be too embarrassing even for someone as thick-skinned as her. Of course, another barrier was the price: Skills were naturally more expensive than equipment and ingredients the former could stick with you forever while the latter were disposable.
She had looked for any Skills related to Water, since that was the Affinity she portrayed herself as having, but failed to see anything she couldn't produce manually already. Water seemed relatively rare on the Gaia Continent, which made sense since the Churches of Polydorus and Calypso had no standing here. Add the fact Gaia had a direct conflict with Calypso and that Polydorus was a Secret God, the vast majority of Water users actually descended from Magi that settled here before the Great War. The slim remainder were either agents of those two Churches or just randomly born with the Affinity.
'Adding in my looks, anyone would think I have special circumstances around me. Should I just change my appearance to something more mundane?'
In the end Endyr refused that option, both because of the hefty amount she just paid to acquire identification and because she was actually very pleased with her current state. Endyr's sense of aesthetics was incredibly loose, but she loved anything that could be described as "beautiful" and was used to judging from the perspective of mortals thanks to her countless iterations of Avatars.
When she saw her female self in the mirror, she was tempted to tussle with Altair to further enhance her experience. She put that idea on hold however since Altair lacked the characteristics to properly enjoy the sensations, deciding to try when he was better suited. 'Hmm, that would count as selfcest right? Well, it's not like I haven't done it before...Was it in Porpemoi or Daxas-7?'
Realizing most interesting things would be too expensive for her to buy, Endyr instead resigned herself to window shopping, strolling down the streets and looking from left to right. She eventually reached a different type of market, one where the goods sold were more...animate. She looked as buyers jostled against each other and a host loudly called out the prices for some tied up figures. Some were beasts and others were humanoid. Endyr noticed Humans, Beastkin, Elves and other Demihumans amongst the product, with prices being less than the previous street but still costly. The ones that sold the fastest were the beasts and pretty humanoids, with the old or ugly being ignored. Endyr saw several be bought by figures covered up in black robes and emitting faint miasma, being pegged as Cultists or those who practised black magic. The fates of those slaves was likely a negative one, but no one batted an eye.
Deciding to stick around, Endyr leaned against a nearby wall and watched with interest and batch after batch of slaves were brought out and sold. None of them caught her attention and she gradually became bored, especially since the slaves all looked numb and resigned. A few were even drooling, leading Endyr to resume they had been drugged into submissiveness. In the end, nothing of note happened, which Endyr wasn't too surprised about. This was just a common market, and any high value slaves would obviously be sold in proper establishments, not here on the streets.
Turning away, Endyr pondered on where to go next before the scent of food wafted into her nose. 'I suppose that will do.'