7th of Season of Air, 57th year of the 32nd imperial era

Newt and Dandelion stepped onto the second floor, and unlike the relative calm of the first, the noise assaulted them immediately.

"You want sixty-seven crystals for that piece of trash?"

"Now I want seventy! You're insulting my craft!"

Newt gawked at the exchanged shouts, curses, and the prices flying from craftsmen to customers and back again. The second floor had surprisingly more customers than Newt had expected. Possibly even more than the first.

"Why are they so loud here, but everything was quiet below?"

"The guild store has standard prices, with volume discounts, all of it listed, and they have no need to advertise the goods. This place…" Dandelion slowed, gesturing to encompass the chaos of the second floor. "People are trying to attract customers and get as much manarium from them as possible. Unfortunately, we lack time for browsing, otherwise there is much you could learn by mingling with this crowd."

Newt swept his gaze over the mess and paused at the nearest shop. Swords and daggers hung off the walls and in the display, the banner hanging next to them declaring the goods, 'The Best Third Realm Blades'.

"Is he falsely advertising?" Newt asked, and Dandelion shrugged.

"The quality of a weapon depends on the user. A true sword-master armed with a club can beat the life out of a fat, lazy king wielding a legendary blade. Smoothflow's blades are decent, but they are only at the third realm. Old Swiftbeak, on the floor above, is selling fourth realm weapons. I was thinking we let him check your swords, then buy a utility blade you can use until you hit the fifth realm."

Newt gulped, a singular thought on his mind. "How much do his items cost?"

"At least seventy fourth realm manarium for knives and such, several hundred for good short-swords. Close your mouth."

Newt closed his slack jaw.

"I would have to work for you for centuries," Newt stuttered, drawing a smirk from Dandelion.

"Not even close, but if you are uncomfortable with such an expensive piece of life-saving equipment, we can pick something from Smoothflow's shop. I just wanted to save you a couple hundred third realm crystals, while forcing you to use a superior weapon, which could save your life and serve you a while into the fifth realm."

Newt licked his lips. The prospect of using a better weapon immediately was tempting, saving a lot of manarium even more so, but after a moment he realized he didn't understand how he would save the crystals.

"How am I saving anything?"

"Well, you will keep using your third realm weapon in the higher realm for as long as possible." Newt nodded, as that indeed was his plan. Then Dandelion continued explaining. "Eventually, the sword will break or you will be forced to sell it. A used weapon can fetch up to half its original price, often less because it must have suffered some damage over the years of use, a quarter on average. So, at best, you will recoup half the money you spend now, nothing at worst. But even if you recoup the whole price, it will still be pocket change for you, so the money you spend now is essentially wasted."

Newt frowned. Dandelion was making a point, but…

"Won't the same happen with the fourth realm sword when I hit the fifth realm?"

"It will, but you buy a sixth realm sword at the fifth realm, and you use that one. That way, you need not buy a new weapon for every realm, but for every other, and that weapon is superior, giving you an edge for a very long time, allowing you to pay for it more easily."

In theory, the logic sounded fine, but Newt didn't live in theory.

"But I don't have that kind of money!"

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"You have no money!" Dandelion threw his arms up. "At all! What difference does it make if you will end up in debt whatever you do?"

Newt frowned at Dandelion's amused smile, while a man wearing a red tunic turned to look towards them.

While embarrassed, Newt still took Dandelion's lead and ignored the onlooker. "You aren't doing this for money I would owe you. You want favors. It's the same with the Everfrost Order. You are taking their rising stars on a mission, hoping they find something good, and they owe you. Is that right?"

Dandelion shrugged. "It is very likely we find something useful in a den of an ancient high realm manabeast sharing their element. Lady Frostgrave, by virtue of not being blind, saw through my intention."

Newt was silent. There was a piece which did not fit - himself. Why him? If Dandelion wanted to bring the members of the Everfrost Order on a staged fortuitous encounter, why would he need Newt?

They stood in silence a step away from the stairway, and a pair of mail-wearing knights passed them while Dandelion just stood there, watching Newt with a smile. It was a wretched smile. Newt hated it.

Wait… No? He can't be.

"Are you trying to play matchmaker?" Newt whispered, and Dandelion nodded, amused and satisfied Newt figured it out on his own.

"They are a decade or four older than you, but they are beautiful and have a powerful background—"

"No," Newt said.

"No, why?"

"Because I'm not doing it."

"I know. I asked why, not what."

Newt stared at a moment, confused.

"Why are you not doing it? They are beautiful, talented, wealthy, and have an important mentor. You, on the other hand, need a woman."

"I don't!" Newt said louder than he wanted.

Dandelion cocked his eyebrow, saying without words, 'Anyone can tell by the way you walk.'

"I don't," Newt repeated in a calmer tone, looking around, "need a woman. Jasmine was a huge disappointment. And I guess I have you to thank for helping me realize that. If you had not shown me how disgusting she was, I would have remained attached to her, maybe even married her, and who knows what would have happened. Thank you, you are often right about many things, but still no."

Newt expected Dandelion would keep arguing, but the man simply bobbed his head once.

"Good. You know what you want, what you do not want. I will stop trying to act as your wingman, I will stop mentioning brothels, and pulling strings to have you meet a pretty lady."

Newt smiled, grateful because Dandelion was reasonable. "Thank you, but why try to find me a romantic interest in the first place?"

"Well, if you fell in love with one of the ladies, and she loved you back, it would make both of you happy, as well as Lady Frostgrave. Three sharpbeaks with one stone, so to speak."

Newt considered it and nodded. The distraction helped him clear his mind regarding his new sword.

"Let's go up. We will buy a fourth realm short-sword and have Swiftbeak check out my ancestral swords."

Dandelion nodded, turned around, and headed up the stairs one more floor. The third floor was void of customers, and only had three shops with merchandise while the rest stood empty.

One had shields and entire sets of heavy armor, all made of metal. The second one sold leather wares, all covered in glistening saurian scales. It had everything from light armors to seemingly common gloves.

Dandelion headed for the third store, the one adorned with a red flag, which simply said, 'Swiftbeak's wares', but stopped when he noticed Newt looking at armors.

"Heavy armor is mostly for knights, not that mages and mageknights would not benefit from it. That said, donning a cage blocks the outward flow of mana, so most choose to keep their arms and legs free to channel magic into the outside world, rather than the small enclosed space of the armor."

Newt considered the words and agreed. Metal would act like any other obstacle and block his mana, using any fire ability to deal damage would explode in his face, possibly destroying the armor.

"Thick enough steel plate does help against regular saurians' claws and jaws, but it is rather impotent against a longneck or trihorn stomping you. Much like a press, or a knight with a maul, it would leave the armored human in the form of a pancake."

Newt recalled the longclaw stomping the wagon into splinters, and longclaws were lightweight amongst saurians.

"So, what do you use as armor?"

"Magic. While there are no poor awakened, those less well off rely on defensive magic or avoiding damage. The wealthy use enchanted clothes, armors made of specific materials to counter certain elements and such. The best and most expensive option are defensive amulets, these only shield from elemental damage, and crumble after absorbing a sufficient amount of energy, but you need not concern yourself with such eccentricities."

"Why?"

"Because they are so prohibitively expensive. I cannot even gather the ingredients to start making them, let alone purchasing a complete pendant of minor immunity. And minor is very minor. It shields from several attacks infused by third realm mana."

Newt nodded, considering how expensive such items were, and thinking how finding one would solve all his financial pains for the foreseeable future.

"Now come along, we need to choose a weapon for you." Dandelion turned around and led the way to Swiftbeak's shop.

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