It was easy enough to find ways to spend my time waiting for Dar, as the entire Bazaar had a furry of items to be browsed. This was my first time seeing all what this world had to offer, and the truth was, I had no idea what I was looking at, I was just about to investigate a potion of instant growth, when the bell chimed to announce noon.
I made my way to Dar's room, and was amazed at the size, sure it was just a one bedroom apartment, but it was way larger than the one I had back on Earth, with a spare room, that was exuding an aura of heat, which I could only imagine, was some makeshift forge, connected to his patio.
Dar welcomed me in with open arms and a jubilant smile. 'Right on time, not that I expected anything less with the order you asking for, Come in, come in, and might my lazy pal, Sal, his a fire salamander and a damn old one too' And as we entered the room, the door the was emitting the aura of heat open, and a lizard the size of a kimono dragon slithered out to great us. Ronin recoiled instinctively.
"Don't you worry my small friend, Sal helped work on your new staff, put some quality effort in if I don't say so myself, rather than shake his head in acknowledge me, Ronin performed his natural heal spell on Sal, which rejuvenated, the tired looking salamander. The effect were noticeable, and Sal nodded his thanks.
'So, I have to ask, now that you have agreed to hand over Ravenrush, why do it in such a way? You could have easily added 5 gold to the total, or said you'd take off 5 gold for the armor and the sword, which brings your total to 30 gold, what I am saying is, if your plan was to just sell your sword and get some gold for it, you would have chosen a different method. So, this begs the question, what's the ask?'
Dar showed a sly smile, 'Sure, I have an ask, but first let me show you the final product. First, let me explain that I altered your armor slightly, I slimmed down a few of the bulky aspects, it will leave you slightly vulnerable, but will give you way more motion in your shoulders and knees, this made it more agile focused, rather than strength. The reason I felt comfortable with this, was because none of it went to waste, but rather I used to the admanatite to form your partners staff. It has no special features, but will admanatite is known to hold magic well, which will allow him to cast healing spells at a better proficiency.'
I smiled, the new material also matched the mana circulates that were all over Ronin's body, I was very pleased with this. Next, Dar brought out a small outfit, and hat as I earlier described. It was perfect, down to the shield plates. I was really impressed. Ronin quickly put on his new outfit, and I could instantly tell he was impressed, I also noticed that now, he would focus on moving on just his back legs, while using the staff. Ronin tripped almost instantly, I couldn't help but laugh.
Next, the armor I bought came out, and it looked even shiner than it did in the display case. I couldn't wait to put it on again, and as I did, I noticed the improvements, not only would it help with my agility, but also my flexibility, as I knew I could sit in a full squat. I had a tall, athletic build, I was not built to withstand large attacks. Dar seemed to truly know me, and catered to my needs. We only talked for about an hour this morning, but his intuition was spot on. I could tell he was trying to impress me, maybe it was due to the BloodRaven, but either way, I was impressed.
Finally, he brought out the RavenRush staff, I held the obsidian staff in my hand, and saw a flicker of green on the bottom of the staff. It looks like he added part of the armor. He noticed me glancing at this.
It looks like you found my staff's secret. There is not just one hidden blade, but a second. I added it after talking with you, it is an admantite tip, which could pierce even the fiercest of armor. This, did come from your armor, and works by inserting a combination of mana and life essence, rather than the mana needed to retract and extract the short sword blade. The tip should be used as a hidden weapon.
'Im sold, and if you are asking to be my sole supplier for weapons, then say less. You will be the first I come to whenever I am in need.'
Dar nodded enthusiastically, 'That was going to be my ask, but I want you to know, ill supply all of your magical beasts with armor and weapons too, don't you worry, and if we don't sell it downstairs, just put in a request and ill forge something even grander in my forge'
"Thanks, I appreciate all that you have done, I just have on last question. why all of this for me, as I told you, I am still a novice and in the first tier."
'That all might be true, but let me tell you what I see, I see a man whose Aura is unshakable, domineering almost. I have seen countless adventures come through my store, and you are nothing like any one of them. You may appear weak in terms of raw power, but you're different than any human I've seen, and I'm not the only one who has noticed. You are special, whether or not that in a good way is yet to be seen, but it will bring you the love or the ire of many people, on this continent and others'
Dar's last warning had been itched in my mind for the past few hours, we had been making progress on the missing caravan quest, and we were about to cash in for the night. So far, Ari had done most of the fighting, we were trying to find out what Red was capable of, but so far, we hadn't a clue. Yet, I did spend the time practicing Ravenrush, on weak creatures, allowing me all the way up to level 7.
As we started to turn in for the night, I took of the armor for the first time since this afternoon, and set down my new staff and backpack. After undressing, I turned to grab my other clothes from my bag when everything was gone. All my gear, my sword and my pack. HOW? Ari, Ronin and Red were all circled around it, how could someone have stolen it? I was pacing back and forth in just my underwear, and I yelled who took my stuff, yet instead of a voice, I heard a chirp, the first chirp out of red. I then turned to red, and said" do you know where my clothes are? I questioned? Red nodded. Find my clothes, I requested. A flash of light and a tear in the air, a black hole opened and my sweatpants and hoodie from Earth popped out. I stared wide eyed. Red, was a spatial mage. Red would be my personal inventory. This power was incredible. I was beaming. Red was going to make the perfect first permanent partner, I was shaking with excitement. This ability seemed rare, almost even unheard of. I was taking my first steps towards becoming the O.P. Protagonist of this story.