I won't use it for now, as there is no need. Even if their human leader is strong, he is still no match for me. In a drawn-out war… I will be the winner.

Vlad and Kai walked side by side in a large hall. Its floor was made out of a white shiny rock cut into tiles, and a large red carpet cut through the middle, similarly to all the other rooms. The walls were painted with a combination of white and green, which continued on the arched ceiling. Golden chandeliers hung from it, each with a dozen light crystals.

Armor, weapon, tools and items of all sorts were placed in groups, sorted by a variety of factors, and displayed on large shelves. Not a single speck of dust was present anywhere for that matter; Neither the items nor the floor. Usually this room would be filled with people looking to purhcase items for their expeditions or as gifts, however Vlad limited access for today, letting Kai choose whatever he wanted in peace.

Kai gawked at them much like a child at a candy store, but he didn't let his surprise show much on his body language. At least he tried not to. However to a spectator it was more than obvious that he was impressed by the organisation's large hoard. Vlad chuckled as he put a hand on Kai's back, and said with a smile. "You can pick whatever you want kid, be it armor or weapon. Just don't take everything. You can have a set of armor, a weapon, and a storage ring of any size."

They stopped for a moment, with Kai nodding sheepishly, standing awkwardly in front of the man. "Well then, go! I trust that you won't take more than I told you to. I'm going to talk to a crafter to get you a better mask."

"Thank you very much, sir!" Kai said with overflowing excitement, which he failed to hide. He watched as the man turned, heading toward the exit, then bolted to the armor as fast as he could. He really wanted to get some new one, esepcially after the interaction witht he first gobelin he met made his old one unusable.

Too bad Onyx wasn't allowed in due to the mud… I heard the maids already complaining about the mess we made. However he was happy that Vlad arranged for his companion to take a bath, and wished the best for the poor people who were tasked with that. Not my problem now…

He whistled happily as he looked at the armors, aiming for some pieces that would fit him and gave decent protection. Though he wasn't sure what he was looking for at all, luckily each set of armor had some information written about it.

After circling the area that contained all the armors a few times, he stopped in front of a particular set that resembled the one he had crafted by the dwarves. It had some sort of strong animal hide upon which countless dark scales were sewn or binded together with a material Kai couldn't discern. Its glossy surface reflected the intense light from the chandeliers, but absorbed most of it.

It would make for some great stealth armor… He thought and read the text embedded in the plaque.

«Dark Scale Armor. As the name implies it was crafted out of the scales of a Dark Serpent, which lives near the border of 'The Forbidden Forest'. Their scales make for great camouflage as they can completely hide you from your enemies in shadows or during the night, assuming your target doesn't have any special senses.

A master crafted imbued the armor pieces with runes, imbuing magics that would make you silent, faster during the night and also has morphing properties, able to adjust its size to the binded owner.

Price: 5 Platinum»

Kai's eyes widened upon seeing the price, blood rushing to his face as his heart raced. 5 platinum coins?! That's… holy fuck that's 500 gold coins?! How could it be so expensive? Is it because of these runes things? Are they like enchantements? I never heard of them. After the initial shock, he slowly backed away and walked toward another armor that caught his eye.

It wasn't made of scales, but of chainmail, which shone brightly as the light fromt he chandelier reflected upon it. That was probably why it caught his attention, however it didn't really fit his style. He walked past it, but not after checking its price. «Price: 10 Platinum» No thanks, I'm good!

He then stopped in front of another, less flashy armor. It only had tunic and leggings as part of the set, however Kai could tell even from afar that it was filled to the brim with runes. The material it was crafted from seemed to be some sort of thick black leather, sewn together with a strong thread.

«Grisin Armor. Made from the thickest hide of the Michen Boar, this armor was expertely crafted to resist swords, hatches and even blunt attacks. Due to its nature as leather though, its pierce resistance is quite low however that is made up by the runes imbedded within by a Runemaster. It has several enchantements such as damage resistance of any kinds, cold resistance, piercing resistance and other miniscule ones.

«Price: 15 Platinum»

Another expensive one… Kai walked away and kept looked at other armors, each made of various different matierials, including both ores and beast hide, however he never found another one that went under five platinum coins. He found it hard to believe that there were people that could spent that much money, at least not in this city… However all signs pointed to the existing demand of such pieces, so he wasn't sure.

In the end he made up his mind on selecting the Dark Scale armor, not only because it was the cheapest but also because it fit his style the best.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He skipped the weapons section alltogether, as he already had two very good swords and a wand that was tailor made for him. However he didn't mind choosing another storage ring, as the two he had were starting to get filled up with random junk he collected and food for Onyx. At the same time he didn't mind comparing his own with the ones showcased in the shelves.

A three square meter rings costs… 5… platinum… ten meter squared costs.. 10… and the middle one, at five meter square costs… fucking 7 platinum. Dad… if you were rich, why didn't you tell me?! Aina gave me such expensive stuff too?! What the hell, is everyone but me loaded?

He begrudingly decided on choosing the middle version, a five meters square ring, that would hopefully help him store a lot more stuff in the future.

Kai paused for a moment, deciding wether or not to leave or look at the, what he could only assume to be, enchanted clothing. It didn't take him long to decide, though. Ehh… why not? He then walked toward the clothing section and was relieved to see that the prices weren't as exorbidant, but still high.

Hmm… I guess a few shirts, pants and boots wouldn't put too big a hole in his pocket. They are still enchanted with runes, but they dont seem to be that big… Mostly self cleaning, which is pretty good… if only I could do that for my body as well. Kai chuckled to himself as he continued, but soon stopped after seeing a large, black cloak lined with a thin silver thread. Even though it was very plain and relatively simple, the one he was wearing paled in comparison to it.

He noticed the amount of runes flowing through it, and quickly took a look at its plaque.

«Shadowy Cloak. Crafted from the finest Black Silk procued by the Ebony Spider and lined with Silver Silk produced by the Swarm Moths, this cloak was designed to be efficient, affordable and steathly. It has noise reduction, size morphin, protection and light bending runes imbedded within.

Price: 1 Platinum Coin»

I need it! Kai thought, disregarding the price and anything else, he knew he needed it. I'm sure Vlad wouldn't mind… after all he did let me choose whatever I wanted… and this cloak it-it's perfect!

He didn't stop to look at anything else, and left the room with the excitement of a child - which he was -. However he quickly found himself in a dilemma, as he had no idea where Vlad had gone to, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to speak to anyone. At the same time he didn't want to wander around willy nilly, so he went back inside the previous room and sat down in a corner. Looking at his spatial rings, he decided that he may as well look through them.

Meat… meat… meat… fire crystals, light crystals, water crystals… my wand… I'll take it out… the swords… books, lots of books… hmm… grandpa's journal… clothes, herbs, random plants, random stuff, money… oh the letter from Arthur… hmm… I thought I had more things in here, guess not.

He picked up the wand and sent some mana into it without expecting anything to happen. However, much to his surprise, it led out a low, sharp humm. He stopped inserting mana, and the humming stopped, fading into a disappointed chime. What the hell? Kai couldn't believe his ears. But there's no animal spirit inside it, is there? The silver sword has one, so I expected it to be weird, but event he wand? Did that old man do anything funky to it?

However he didn't recall the wand ever making noises before, so something must have happened since. He tried not to question it too much, and planned to ask Vlad about it later.

Kai willed the wand to be sent inside the storage ring, however, for the first time in his life, found that he couldn't. "What?" He muttered out loud, staring at the wand, then willed it once again.

Nothing.

"You don't wanna go in?" He asked, feeling quite stupid about talking to a wand, however he'd done worse. Much to his surprise, though, the wand replied with a shine on one of its crystals.

His body shuddered and he almost dropped the thing, but held himself back from doing so. What the what the what the what the?! He almost glitched out after seeing that not only could the wand refuse to enter his ring, but understand speech and even reply. What the helll!?!?

"Watcha doing, kid?" A masculine voice made Kai jump, quickly hiding the wand in his cloak.

"Sir I- I was looking at the stuff in my rings, that's all."

"Haha," Vlad chuckled, "You seems to have seen a ghost. I assure you, my organisation isn't haunted."

"No, I-" Kai wanted to explained himself, but wasn't sure how, but Vlad didn't let him have the chance anyway.

"I kid, I kid. Have you chosen what items you wanted?"

"I uh, yeah…" Kai stuttered, taking in deep, uneven breaths. He then accompanied Vlad and showed him which items he picked, and by the end the man had a surprised expression on his face.

"That's it? I expected you to be greedier. Bah, good you aren't. I'll have someone pick them up for you shortly. In the meanwhile I ordered a custom made fox mask for you. It will be much thinner and offer way better protection, and people won't be able to snatch it off your face either!"

Kai's jumped upon hearing that, a combination of excitement and embarssaement flaring up within him. "This, sir I…"

"Bah, don't worry about it, kid." Vlad patted him on the back. "Doing this little for the saviour of my daughter makes me ashamed. But I did let you choose, at least I won't cheap out on the mask."

"Thank you very much, then." Kai said, unsure of how else to show his gratitude.

"Don't even mention it. If my daugther were here she'd probably have given you more than this."

Really? Kai asked himself, I mean we didn't have a bad relationship, but I was sort of pissed off after she threw me inside the church secret room or whatever that was…

"Oh also, your dog has been washed and groomed… but I hear the people who did that needed at least five guards to hold him down. What kind of beast did you find, kid?" Vlad asked with a smirk. He didn't expect any reply to that question, of course, and Kai only gave him a wry chuckle.

The two prepared to leave, their business in that part of the organisation done. However, just as they neared the door, it swung up, almost hitting Kai were it not stopped by Vlad.

The boy's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing who it was that opened the door, and the people that opened it also had stupified expressions on their face.

"You guys!" He exclaimed, happy to see some familliar faces.

"Ichor?!" They said, surprised.

"You know each other?" Vlad asked with a raised eyebrow.

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