Many vestiges shimred before my eyes. I clicked on the recomndation section, filtered by vestiges that were mostly used. There were also filters by rank, creator, and category.
[Na: Ashthread Binding Wrap
Rank: Common
Category: Armant
Cost: 4,000
Creator: White Fire]
[Na: Vein of Dulled Ache
Rank: Common
Category: Catalyst
Cost: 1,500
Creator: White Fire]
[Na: Qadir’s Steady Fang
Rank: Common
Category: Armant
Cost: 4,500
Creator: Qadir]
[Na: Pale Root Salve
Rank: Common
Category: Catalyst
Cost: 2,000
Creator: White Fire]
[Na: Ironbark Crest
Rank: Common
Category: Armant
Cost: 4,780
Creator: White Fire]
[Na: Threadbare ridian Loop
Rank: Rare
Category: Foundation
Cost: 9,000
Creator: White Fire]
[Na: Splinter of Waking Breath
Rank: Common
Category: Catalyst
Cost: 3,100
Creator: Karreth]
[Na: Qadir’s Second Skin
Rank: Rare
Category: Armant
Cost: 7,000
Creator: Qadir]
[Na: Chipped Fang of the Tenth Attempt
Rank: Rare Category: Armant
Cost: 8,999
Creator: White Fire]
The first thing I noticed was how this White Fire person’s rchandise flooded the store. Seven out of nine listings. Most of them Common rank, and yet the prices made scroll back up to check if I’d misread sothing.
’What are these prices?’
There was hardly a single vestige that cost lower than one thousand Defined Essence.
"I take it you don’t like what you’re seeing?"
Marcel’s voice pulled back. He was watching with that half-lidded gaze of his, standing lazily with his arms loosely folded.
"Hmm..."
I looked down at the dinsional store again, scrolling through the numbers one more ti.
"Things here are annoyingly expensive. The good part is that they seem credible if they’re the most recomnded."
Marcel continued watching in that sa unhurried way, and it took a mont to realize he wasn’t following. He didn’t know what any of these filters ant. That was why he kept looking at like that, waiting for to fill in the gap.
"Ah, most recomnded just ans I filtered the market by what Defineds mostly buy."
"Hm, so like popular?"
I opened my mouth, then closed it. The Academy’s knowledge stirred in my head, the precise distinction between popularity and dinsional recomndation algorithms, and for a mont I nearly corrected him. Then I caught myself.
"Yeah... I guess, sort of." I sighed.
"Then whatever we get won’t be special."
Marcel said it flatly.
"We can’t afford special right now. Efficiency will do."
I glanced at him.
"Unless you’re already thinking about a future where you want to fight other Defineds instead of Undefined."
Marcel stared at for a mont, then sighed and stood right.
"You’re right. Efficiency then. So what do you have and what’s the price?"
I scrolled further, but my attention kept drifting back to him.
A question sat in my chest like a stone I couldn’t swallow. His rank. I wanted to know his rank so badly it almost ached, but asking felt like tearing open sothing neither of us was ready for. So I circled around it instead.
"So... what rank of armant should I get you? You know we can’t use vestiges beyond our ranks, right?"
Marcel’s eyes widened then his brow furrowed.
"That’s so restrictive. Don’t we have enough restrictions already?"
I shrugged and kept scrolling.
"I’ll get any rank you get," he said after a pause.
I turned to him briefly, searching his expression for anything that might betray the answer I wanted but found nothing. His face gave exactly what it always gave . That calm, unbothered surface.
I exhaled and went back to searching. And at last, I found sothing.
[Na: Skulltide Cradle
Rank: Rare
Category: Armant (with ammunition)
Cost: 3,999
Creator: White Fire]
[Na: Woven Tide
Rank: Rare
Category: Armant
Cost: 6,499
Creator: White Fire]
The Skulltide Cradle was cheap for a Rare vestige, number one because I couldn’t afford to spend heavy on weapons right now. A sling with affordable ammunition made more sense. I could supplent it with a dagger later.
I knew that whatever my weapon choice ended up being, it was going to be deadly regardless, thanks to my sub class.
And for Marcel, I could have chosen sothing of a higher rank just to test whether he was truly an Adept or simply a Novice like .
’There’s no way he’s a Novice...’
But if I did that and he turned out to be a lower rank, the backlash from using the weapon could cripple him. Could even kill him. Too risky a gamble for the sake of my own curiosity. I would find out eventually. Possibly in this very battle.
Simply with touch, Marcel transferred six thousand four hundred and ninety-nine Defined Essence to . I purchased both vestiges on behalf of the two of us.
As the essence point was deducted, I felt sothing trickle into my soul, settling like a warm thread behind my ribs. I reached inward, willing it to co forward.
A long-hafted spear crafted from cold silver tal appeared in my hand. The weight of it pulled at my wrist, real and solid. With touch, I transferred the ownership to Marcel.
He took the spear, and for a mont, the laid-back expression cracked. Sothing bright lit behind his eyes as he turned the weapon over in his hands.
Then he reached for the scarf around his neck, tore a strip from it, and tied it to the edge where the blade t the haft. A personal touch. He swung the spear in a wide arc around him, and staggered slightly backward. His movent was off, too loose, too unbalanced, and a flicker of concern passed through .
He pulled his attention from the weapon and looked at .
"What did you get?"
I manifested a braided sling of cured sinew and blackened leather. It coiled in my palm like sothing alive.
Marcel looked at it. Then at . His brow creased.
"What... what is that?"
I looked at the sling in my hand, then back at Marcel.
’He truly doesn’t know what a sling is?’
"This is a sling."
Marcel’s lips shaped into a silent ’O.’
"How does that work?"
He was looking at with so much curiosity and genuine astonishnt that I nearly burst out laughing. I chuckled.
"You’ll find out soon enough, won’t you?"
The curiosity drained from Marcel’s face like water through sand. He stood straight, both hands settling on the spear’s haft. He lowered into a stance, legs slightly bent, body turned sideways, and his eyes fixed on .
Then he smiled like a venomous serpent.
"Alright then. We’ve kept this waiting long enough."
For a mont, the shift in his air froze in place. The laid-back Marcel from seconds ago had vanished, replaced by sothing sharp and threatening. My chest tightened and my heart began to hamr.
’Co to think of it, I’ve always looked forward to a mont like this...’
A ti where I would be a Defined fighting another Defined without any threat of death. Both of us simply trying to test each other.
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