Reborn as the First Boss, Chapter 64

Chapter 64 – Shopping

“Well, now, Missy. You have been busy. Nineteen levels in less than a week?”

I chuckled as Kester One-Hand greeted us to his shop. “Well, if I told you the whole story, you wouldn’t believe it. We saw some impossible things in the depths, I promise you. Why, at one point, the Voice of the World threw up an error message at us!”

Kester blinked, and then shook his head. “I’ve never heard of that happening before. Just how in the hells did you manage to break the frecking Voice?”

“Used a spell scroll we found in a hidden chamber in the dungeon to wipe out Akkras and a Tier 2 Boss in an instant. The Voice of the World didn’t know how to react. Oh, and a word to the wise, Undead-related gear is going to get rarer soon.”

“Something to do with the dungeon, then? And those other notices from the Voice, about the gods?”

“Yes, the part you need to know is that the dungeon has been destroyed. So, undead materials are going to be rarer, while the gear to fight them is going to become less useful, in this area. So, you’ll want to move those quickly, or trade them to people in other areas.”

“And, let me guess, you’re telling me all this because you have some materials and gear from the dungeon you’d like to move, right?”

“Exactly. Some items I’d like broken down, with their enchantments transferred to our other gear, if possible, and some I’d like to sell. I doubt you have gear for level 40s lying around, right?”

“Aye. Not by choice, mind you. Just few people in this area get to those levels, and fewer of them are crafters. This is a more peaceful area than others, in part because the dungeon has always kept most monsters away. Something about the energies it gives off… gave off, rather, keeping the low level monsters from encroaching from that direction. Have to ask a Scholar about that, though.”

“It is the same in Windwater,” I nodded. “The barony is surrounded on all sides by friendly neighbors, so there is little risk of powerful monsters migrating through. And the home-grown ones, like Goblins, usually become a problem that needs solving long before they get powerful enough that killing them would launch someone to the 40s. Still, perhaps you have some consumables we might look at? Especially those that deal in percentages, rather than base numbers?”

“Aye, I think we can work a few things out.”

Deathly Courtesan’s Ring

Type

Ring

Rank

Uncommon

Price

18000 gp

Weight

0 kg

This simple ring of bone, inset with an onyx gem, appears to be a mere trinket, but is, in fact, a powerful bridge between the realms of Life and Death. It has been further enchanted to aid those with a desire to explore their sensuality without legal troubles.

False Life – The wearer of this ring is treated as being either Living or Undead by all spells, skills, or other effects, depending on which is most beneficial to them. Cure spells heal them as if they were living, and Inflict spells heal them as if they were undead.

Close to Death – The wearer of this ring can focus on a creature, and see an approximation of how much HP they have remaining, showing how close to death they are.

Free Utilization Aura – When the wearer activates this aura, people within line of sight are subject to a mental manipulation effect. If their WIS is not higher than the user’s CHA, they suffer temporary alterations to their common sense. While under this effect, actions taken by individuals within the aura are treated as normal and inoffensive, no matter how outlandish they may be, and they become more accepting of participating in those actions as well. Even after they leave the aura, affected individuals do not remember the actions seen or taken as being unusual, though their normal views apply to any further actions. This aura costs 10 MP every second to maintain.

The big upgrade for me was Kester transferring the enchantment from my Ring of Unbound Utilization to the Ring of False Life. No stat increases or anything, but my ‘natural’ upgrades were doing great for that. The fact that the effects of the ring weren’t tied to hard numbers or levels meant that they would still be just as effective today as they would be if I reached Tier 3 someday. The only reason I’d ever trade this ring for another would be if there was something with some truly impressive stats, or an ability that made me even stronger than I already was.

As expected, there was nothing that Kester could do with the Tier 2 items, but everything else he was able to break down or transfer the enchantments easily enough. And, since undead materials were about to get rarer, we worked a good deal on the [Bone Dust], [Zombie Flesh], and other such things. While not as good as kitting everyone out in level 40 gear tailored four our classes and professions, my pets were still better off than with their level 21 gear.

Our next buys were some [Language Scroll]s. While I had the [Mental Polyglot] skill, as well as the [Tongues] spell, and I could purchase [Language Transfer] when I leveled up again, I didn’t want to spread that information around. I didn’t need Mhyrsha’s memories to tell me how controlling that information could be useful. Back in my old life, T-Bone had played up the ‘stupid American redneck’ look, but he spoke Spanish and French fluently, which came in handy that time the Cavaliers de Loups from across the border up in Quebec decided to talk shit about the Dragons in front of us, thinking we couldn’t understand them. Plus, I never knew when I might be passing through Shadescar again, and having Kester remember me fondly might prove useful.

Thanks to the scrolls, my whole party now knew Elven, Draconic, Celestial, Goblin, and Tradespeak. The last was the pidgin tongue used in Crystalshield, which combined elements of about a dozen languages, and was preferred over the ‘Common’ tongue, which was only ‘Common’ for humans. As one might expect from a trading port that didn’t discriminate on who they traded with.

Kester also showed me a [Scroll of Teleport (Windwater Towne)]. The scroll would let me teleport my party back to Windwater in an instant. Useful, if we were needed back quickly, or couldn’t escape a situation any other way. He’d apparently had scrolls prepared for all the baronies in Dascora. Not too useful for transporting goods, but an invaluable escape route. I picked up four copies, just in case, and one copy of [Scroll of Teleport (Magehallow)]. Might want to come back some day, after all.

Greater Health Potion

Type

Tool

Rank

Uncommon

Price

5000 gp

Weight

0.05 kg

This potion, when consumed, heals a creature in Tier 1 to their maximum HP immediately. For creatures above Tier 1, this potion heals them for 1000 HP immediately, and for 1% of their maximum HP per second for the next 10 seconds. Using more than two potions within 1 hour of each other may lead to toxicity and other side effects.

I picked up a set of five [Greater Health Potion]s, as well as the Mana and Stamina versions, for myself and each of my pets. Instantly getting us to maximum HP was a huge boon. And, even if we managed to get to Tier 2 before using them, the 1000 HP plus 1% per second was still useful. Actually, in that regard, the [Basic Health Potion] still had some use, though mostly for people who did not have healing magic of their own. But I had plenty of room in my inventory, so there was no reason not to have a stockpile. It isn’t like the potions went bad, after all, so long as they were kept sealed.

With all that said, what we sold and what we bought came to a rough wash. Kester didn’t push as hard as he could have on the prices, and neither did I. [Bargaining] told me that he got the better deal, especially with how the prices were likely to change in the coming days, but I still came away with better gear for myself and my party, without spending coin, and I knew that, if I returned to Shadescar, Kester would be glad to see me, and take anything I was offering off his hands.

Of course, Kester’s shop wasn’t the only one I was visiting, today. I had some needs that weren’t easily handled with a fence, after all. The [Rite of Summoning] could summon a powerful creature, and then I could either use the [Familiar Binding Ritual] or the [Bind Familiar] skill to make it a familiar. Actually, [Arcane Ritualist] informed me that the ritual and the skill did not interfere with each other. So, technically, there was a chance that I could summon and bind two familiars!

That opened up a wide range of possibilities. From my reading, and what my skills told me, what type of creature you ought to bind as a familiar depended on the type of person you were, and what your specialties were. For example, a Wizard typically wanted some creature that could scout for them, while a Mind Sorceress would typically use the skill on a creature she wanted as a protector. So, the wizard would tend towards birds, rats, cats, and the like, the Sorceress would favor larger, predatory animals were naturally a common choice, though sometimes she would pick a person, or even a summoned being like an angel or demon. Whatever the choice, the primary goal was to have someone who could defend her.

Picking sapient beings for the ritual or skill sounded a little redundant, when things like the [Slave Collar] or [Slave Brand] existed, but that was only if your primary concern was just forcing the person to obey your commands. One of the benefits of a Familiar was that their power was enhanced by their Master, and you could share the effects of many spells and skills, or even use the familiar as the ‘source’ of those effects. And a Master would get benefits from the Familiar, as well, like the Master of a Wolf Familiar getting a keen sense of smell, and being able to use some of the Wolf’s skills. When the Familiar was another person, that got even more interesting.

Of course, the flip side of that was that people still had free will, even as Familiars or Slaves. That meant that you needed to put in effort to keep them happy, or put in ten times as much effort ensuring that they didn’t do anything to fuck you over. Mhyrsha’s memories were very clear on that, especially since she’d used a disgruntled slave to ensure that the former Baron of Windwater had his ‘accident’. The bastard left too much wiggle room in his standing orders, which meant she’d been able to convince the slave of ‘alternative interpretations’ of those orders. The old baron hadn’t ordered the slave not to leave the door unlocked after all, and he certainly hadn’t ordered the slave not to add a packet of ‘mystery spices’ to his wine. The paralysis made it easy for Mhyrsha to arrange the man’s fall down the stairs, and onto a dozen or so knives.

I was heavy-handed in recruiting Jewell and her sister, sure, but I’d put the work in afterwards to make them feel valued, even if the oaths they swore meant they couldn’t go against me. Even with how strong I was, there were still plenty of things out there which could kill me, and I didn’t need an angry rogue ‘missing’ an ambush that would let them get to me, or an upset healer prioritizing healing someone else over me. I only had eleven ‘respawns’, and I wasn’t about to waste them. Which meant any future additions to the team needed to be added with care and treated properly, even if I needed to get a bit forceful in bringing them onboard.

Oh, and then there was the fact that Angelina was likely going to start showing with her pregnancy in a few weeks. She wouldn’t be doing much adventuring after that, too. Actually, on that note, it might be good to consider a wagon of some kind as well, since it would be easier on her than riding our horses.

That also brought the familiar question back into focus. I could switch to healing, if needed. I had the spells, skills, and MP for it. But if I was healing, that meant we wouldn’t have any magic damage going out. So, some sort of mage would be a good call as a familiar. And another protector type, to watch over Angelina when she wasn’t nearby. Definitely needed two familiars, then. Which meant I needed to find someplace we could do some ritual magic.

Not in town, though. I didn’t have great hope in Longchaser ignoring his pride and being smart enough not to mess with me. However, if he did anything in town, then it would be harder for me to use my full force against him, since there would definitely be witnesses. If he tried to arrange some ‘bandits’ along the road, well, I could make sure to deal with them as I saw fit. But first, we needed to get a wagon, some draft animals to pull it, and some ritual supplies.