Mined Games chapter 6

To my surprise, Riley got us into a private room. I expected him to drop me off and leave, but he apparently wanted to see how deep my pockets were. He paid off the guy at the nearest plank bridge with one of the silvers I gave him, and then escorted us inside and down a long wooden hallway.

The inside of the Ship of Fools was…bigger than it should have been. Like much bigger. We walked for about fifteen minutes and never had to turn. When we reached one of the rooms Riley slipped out the piece of paper the door guy had given him and tapped a bunch of random symbols on the wood. They glowed in sequence, in a variety of colors, and then the door popped open.

“Alright, make yourself at home. Tonight’s auction starts in an hour or so. If you have anything to put up just write a description and slip it into that box.” He pointed across the room to a single wall with a large window in it that overlooked a currently empty room with a stage in it. Underneath the window was a metal door the size of a bread box that could be pulled open to drop things in or receive purchases according to the sign.

I moved over there and deposited the ring of health along with a note. I knew it was a bit of a risk, but I also knew they needed every possible second to hype the thing and arrange for it to be as notable as possible during the auction. Watching me casually, Riley raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything as I walked across the extra plush dark carpet and dropped into one of the red cushioned gilded mahogany chairs.

“So.” He said with mild interest. “What formula are you using? Since you said you need to replace it so bad.” I could tell he didn’t care that much, but he was at the very least trying to fill the time until the auction.

“Devarky’s Mandrifal Cipher.” I said self consciously. At his wince, my embarrassment got even more pronounced. The Cipher was a famously mediocre and useless formula, and I’d only even tried to use it because I couldn’t find anything else. The library I’d snagged it from kept most of the formuli locked up, but the Cipher was so slow and pointless that they didn’t even bother.

He was so shocked he started literally coughing up the glass of wine he’d poured himself from the bottle on the small table between his chair and the one I was sitting in. “The Mandrifal Cipher? That’s certainly…novel. No wonder you’re looking for a new one. That was an attempt by a theorist to create a mana crystal structure that could adapt to any mana type. He ended up just making a neutral mana type crystal in the least efficient way possible.”

“Wouldn’t that be the same thing?” I said in puzzlement. “Like you could cast any kind of spell with neutral mana right?”

Riley sighed. “You can cast any kind of spell with basically any mana type. Specialized types just provide a better result. Some spells can be hamstrung by using conflicting mana types, but neutral mana gives no benefits or downsides. It’s basically the kind of mana you find in standard mana stones you find in unaligned ore deposits and mana condensation points. Not useful for anything specific, but not bad at anything either. It’s mostly the ridiculously overcomplicated method needed to GET to that result that makes the Cipher such a failure. There are plenty of neutral formuli, they just use a much simpler blueprint and condense much faster.”

“How do you know all this?” I finally couldn’t hold back anymore and just blurted out the question. “You’re not much older than me. You can’t have entered the mage’s tower. Where did you learn all this stuff.”

He took another sip of wine, chuckling. “My old man. He was a member of the Ventra clan. Sure, he got kicked out, but he’s powerful enough in the city to do what he does anyway. He gave me all the training a noble or one of the clan members would have. Now, we have a while until the auction starts, how about I give you a crash course on how all this works.” He grinned at me wolfishly. “If you don’t know what to bid on you can’t make this any fun.”

And so, for the next hour, Riley filled me in on the way some mana items and potions worked, giving me at least some basis for deciding what to buy. It was a huge favor actually, because I realized once he started talking that…I didn’t know shit.

Finally though, we saw through the window (which I was informed was one way glass like all the private rooms) that people were filing into the room with the stage to take their places. As we watched everyone set up for the auction proper, I also asked the one question that had been most on my mind. “Why exactly are you helping me?”

Riley turned to look at me cryptically. “Because I don’t know who you are.” At my confused look, he chuckled. “I won’t claim to know everyone in town, but almost every major revenue stream is connected to someone notable. Coins that come into Edgebank come through noted sources. Realistically, anyone able to toss out silver like you should be on my radar, at least by virtue of wherever you got the money being obvious.”

“But what if I just stole it?” I said in confusion. “A few silver isn’t anything big. I could have snatched it from a shop owner or something.”

He shrugged. “Maybe. But you act like there’s a lot more where that came from. If that’s true then you represent an untapped source of income. A way to get a leg up on my competition. And if it’s not…well, I wasted a night. It’s not like I had much else going on. Anyway, hush up, it’s go time.” He gestured down to the stage where a man was stepping out to address the crowd.

“Greetings!” Bellowed the tall, dark skinned blonde man on the stage. “And welcome to the nightly Ship of Fools auction. Buyer beware, we do not guarantee any of the items on display.” The tall, green eyed man stroked his blonde beard, which was braided into a series of intricate knots in three different strands.

I hadn’t known that, but it made some sense, based on the name of this place. Luckily I knew what my own item was for sure, and I doubted someone would try to sell a fake formula, since you can somewhat tell what a formula does at a glance.

The man waited for any outbursts, but the people here were old hands at this, and made no move to disrupt the proceedings, so he nodded and waved the hooded figures behind the stage forward.

Two shrouded forms wheeled up a large table, covered in a series of boxes with tarps draped over them. The man walked up to the first box, stepped behind it, and whipped off the tarp with a flourish as he gestured grandly with his other hand.

“First up!” He said excitedly. “We have a useful and necessary item. Stamina potions.” He gestured to the series of green vials. “As you all know, stamina potions are rare and difficult to acquire in bulk within the borders of Edgebank. They can allow you to forgo sleep, to regain lost energy when exhausted during training, or even to slightly enhance battle prowess. These particular stamina potions are tier two, being an Apprentice ranked concoction.”

I was using slop at the moment, but that was all I needed. So I didn’t bother to bid, waiting for the frankly absurd price of two gold to be settled. As I watched, I turned to Riley. “So, if I put something up for bid, can I wait for it to sell and use that money to bid on future items?”

At this rate I had no chance of possibly getting my hands on something valuable without the proceeds from that ring. Luckily, Riley just chuckled. “You can, they’ll keep sale items on credit. Don’t worry, by the way. Formuli are always the last to sell. It’s the biggest gamble, because while you can tell if they’ll work, it takes study and practice to tell how well.”

I hadn’t really considered that, but fair enough. The next item the man (whose name was Galden apparently) announced was…a staff. I considered buying it actually, but Riley waved me off. “Don’t. It’s a mana item and not a magic tool. I’d say probably thirty percent saturation, so an F-rank mana item at that. It’s absolute trash.”

I put a pin in that for later, wanting to ask about how that worked, but nodded anyway. “That’s fine. Thanks for having my back here, man. I appreciate it.”

He shrugged. “Like I said. You’re weird enough to be worth investing time in. The less you know the more interested I am in where the hell your money is coming from. You’ve clearly got backing from…somewhere.”

Left unsaid was that if he DIDN’T think I had backing he’d have already robbed me blind. The next item was, wonder of wonders, my own ring. I obviously didn’t bid on that one, just watched with bated breath to see who would end up buying the damn thing and for how much.

The answer was…a lot. Fifteen gold. Which was more money than I had ever even seen in my life. Most places in the city used copper as a base currency. It cost five copper to get a nice meal, ten copper to buy new clothes, and so on. Silver was used for large scale transactions. Buying things like magical items or potions or sometimes talismans.

Gold though…I’d been mining for days trying to save even ONE gold, and here I’d just made fifteen times that in an instant. I was blown away. I also had to force myself not to bid on every item as they went down the list, since as soon as I got the money I could see potential uses for literally everything they were selling.

Despite my itchy palms and labored breathing, I forced myself not to be a greedy bastard. This was the home stretch. Finally, they reached the last item, and Galden grinned up at the participants, showing a series of perfectly cared for teeth shined to a sparkle.

“Now, my friends. We have the night’s big event. Our next product is a dangerous and nearly impossible to acquire formula for the condensation of mana.” He whipped off the tarp, showing a glass case inside which laid an open book bound in dark leather.

He gestured to it grandly. “This particular formula is considered a high risk item. Not because it is faulty or life threatening, but for the sheer expense of condensing it. Space mana, my friends. One of the most esoteric and difficult to acquire mana types in the world. ” His grin seemed almost bloodthirsty as he went on.

“We all know that crafters of higher level can incorporate more mana types by melting down objects of other mana types.” He said dramatically. “But we also know that until one reaches the Caster rank it is impossible to create magical items with a mana type other than your primary attribute. A blacksmith able to condense spatial crystal can create spatial items within the first three ranks, an invaluable advantage over any other force.”

“Of course.” He said dismissively. “There’s some risk there because spatial crystal is harder to condense and requires more mana to form, but risks are a given in any business.” Resting his hand on the box, he raised a challenging eyebrow at the audience. “With all that said. Which of you is willing to take a risk on the chance to become a legend?” There was a slight pause and then the crowd exploded into shouts. Damn. This was going to be harder than I thought.