"Captain, I have no idea how are we..." Mukesh pointed his finger at him and Aldric," going to kill a Magician, who is so strong that even without his magician's power he defeated 15 elites in a streak when he last came to the capital."
Aldric and Mukesh were trying to find something useful in such a dark rumble with just a single torch. They could either set out to catch up with Parikshit or they could upgrade their artefacts.
While Mukesh asked senseless questions, Aldric tried to formulate a plan of action. Knowing they were no match for Dreadbane and still far from being able to kill him, Aldric wanted to gather allies so that they would kill Dreadbane and he wouldn't have to confront his fear.
He was anxiously trying to determine whom to ally with and which warrior to kill the moment he got the chance. If he were to choose, the Waithload of Eboncrest, the strongest in the world, then he might be making a lot of mistakes, 'If I were to approach that tyrannical idiot, he is scary... he might just kill me for no reason when he will listen to my name.' Aldric was thinking, ' Wait I can get to take in that guy, He was better with the sword than that demon Dreadbane... hmm... as much as I can remember he was broke yet he did not join the military because... he wanted to make his own army?... His name was something Valie or Vale. He lives somewhere in Emberfall... uh... but where in Emberfall, probably not in the capital, what if he is in the country side?
'There is only one guy that has the network in all the countries... Mark... I have to get to Mark first and he will be the key to everything... I can get a lot more artefacts and a lot of information... He also has some contacts with top detectives... The only downside is that I am going to need a lot of money to make him talk.'
They were walking in a very suffocated area where only one person could go side by side, while Mukesh was having trouble walking in between rumbles, Aldric with his small and thin body was moving with ease and comfort. He was looking for any useful thing he could find.
"Captain, that looks useful... " Mukesh pointed at a shining object a little far away to get a clear vision of it, from its lustre it was clear that thing was made up of metal, it glowed golden and had a shape like a bowl. They carefully made it to that place after gradually moving the remnants with the help of the extra Phantom arms of Aldric which were at least twenty times stronger than a normal person's arm and if Aldric wanted he would make them even stronger like he did when the ceiling at Rakesh's cafe fall.
Mukesh somehow started to like the adventure even though the bowl they found was just a normal household item and nothing much but sooner they found some pure sodium powder which is the main fuel for Fire Catalyst, sodium in this world catches fire when it comes in contact with oxygen very fast. Sodium has to be kept in airtight capsules and if it is filled with excess vi-shakti-tejas, it will become a powder-like substance.
They found like 2 kgs of sodium powder and that was 2 times more than what Rajesh bought for 'emergency' or 'war'.
They also found some low quality swords and the rest were just useless stuff and no artefacts.
When they reached the meeting point, Suresh and Rajesh were waiting for them... They found three artefacts and had no idea what they did or even how to use them.
"I don't think that these artefacts will help us with anything... They look broken" Mukesh commented on the accomplishment of Suresh and Rajesh as a result they started arguing.
The first one looked like a ring, it was luxurious and broken in half, it looked like it was made up of tough glass which was very shining, it did not give the feel of precious gems like diamonds or rubies rather touching it felt kind of cheap still it was heavy, It was silver coloured and shined in silver colour when vi-shakti-tejas was given yet it was broken beyond repair or recognition.
The second one was neckless, it was made of Tenebrite, which is an isotope of tungsten, it was golden in colour while it had some crest of an eagle in the middle gem. It looked beautiful but was cracked in the middle despite this it looked beautiful. It was a resonator type of artefact that lets its user change frequency to be used in the atmosphere with minimal resistance.
The third one was an amulet, it just had a pendent and a broken steel chain. It was simple and ugly. The steel chain has lost its lustre. The pendant is a square-shaped crystal gem of Glacite, which looks like the ugly colour of ice but is a precious gem. It is really famous among the makers of precise control artefacts, which is most popular among Catalyst. The gem alone was worth more than 2 million gold coins.
Aldric needed something like that really bad at this point, if he had this artefact and Magnifux of grade B, then his powers would already be among the top warriors. Unfortunately, this unknown pendant which was at least top grade B artefact was broken.
'It all turned out to be crap' with a long sigh Aldric thought, meanwhile, the three idiots were just arguing.
"You didn't get anything... " Rajesh spoke, "At least we got three broken artefacts"
"Hahahaha... " Mukesh laughed while handing both of them sodium capsules, "Look at these, what do you think?"
"Bro that's like three times more than what you got" Suresh kept measuring weight while Rajesh kept looking at the sodium capsules.
"Now, who has something useful to share? Huh? Tell me." Mukesh kept persisting that they got more useful stuff and even lied about finding some broken artefacts.
"Get back and think again what you want to get, make a list of all the artefacts that you want... We don't have a lot of time" Aldric kept reminding them to make a list of perfect sets of artefacts Little did he know, the three idiots were two steps ahead. They already had a list of artefacts in their minds and would have brought those artefacts when they got rich. They were not that wrong on the other hand.
...
Later that evening they had more lights and some good beds to sleep on, they had way better food as all five of them were very bad at cooking, all thanks to Mohan buying goods.
Now, the only thing that Aldric was worried about was a way to get to Mark.
Mark wasn't a simple person or a king or a noble. He was the leader of the black-market groups. He had networks everywhere, he had the best artefacts at the worst prices or we can say they are overpriced a lot. He was rich that he could make normal country nobles his servants. Everyone knew he existed but no one had any idea where he might be and what he might be doing. He was mysterious.
Mark was filthy rich, the only people who could match him in wealth would be the king of Stormwold, Eldric who was the father of Aldric. Every country condemns the black market to show itself on the side of righteousness but they all trade with the black market in the shadows.
The problem with Mark was not everyone gets to meet him, in the past life of Aldric he met Mark a few times as he brought high level grade B pre-enchanted swords for Parikshit. Mark at that time met with Aldric due to the frequent trade with his black market by the army of Parikshit which was managed by Prince Aldric. He was an important figure in the world and no one liked to make enemies with Mark, even the his name was hidden and only Aldric knew his real name was Mark.
By this time Aldric needed to make a fake military card that could let them withdraw as much money as they wanted. When someone withdraws money with the help of these military cards, the withdrawal would be trackable like checks in our world. It was not like they couldn't make something like that in the name of Prince Aldric but if they somehow got something like that, it would be trackable and the bank would realise that it was Prince of Stormwold who was withdrawing the money and they could get his location as well. If he managed to somehow get it in the name of Mukesh or any of the three idiots, they would get in trouble if cross-checking was done.
It was nine PM and this was the time to contact Dr. Einstein, they had fixed a time and only at nine PM they would contact each other, every single day. It was so that no one could suspect that the prince was in contact with the doctor.
"I have completed Magniflux and a grade B version of sky shoot artefact, with the help of a three or five it can shoot one person far away" Doctor spoke through Thoughtlink rune," I also got the request of all the artefacts, I will try to get my hands on all of them but it might take time."
"More important thing is that we need a unlimited balance military card in someone else's name so that we can withdraw money anywhere and no one can track us"
"That would be difficult but I will try, only the general of royal army can give such a order, We might have to disclose all the thing for him too"
"Ok do it if necessary but make sure that the time travel thing doesn't come out, just give him the great mother story, people believe in magic first than science"