Vendor

Bai Qi took a look into the pack once he turned the corner. He saw an assortment of coins, mostly bronze, except for 5 which were silver. There were two daggers, one metallic bronze and the other a dark iron. In addition, there were a few odd things: two metallic magnets, a small crystal shard, and a few books.

* 'What kind of haul is this?' *

Bai Qi could hear the disappointment in the thing's voice. "At the very least, something is better than nothing."

* 'That measly wealth? That's enough for some meals at the very most and maybe lodging for a week if we sell everything else. Sigh, humans are so poor.' *

"Humans?"

* 'Never mind that. You need to find the Mage tower before it gets dark.' *

Understanding that the thing didn't wish to talk, Bai Qi slung the pack over his shoulder and started walking down that street. He soon came across one of the main streets. "How many main streets are there?"

* 'Five if I'm not mistaken. There are 5 factions in this city, so it would make sense to divide the factions in their own sectors with 5 roads.' *

Bai Qi nodded, since that was sound logic. He looked at both sides of the street and immediately saw the difference between the stores on each side. While the sector he was in focused on weapons and other items that benefitted a warrior, the shops on the other side focused on pills and medical items.

Before, in the warrior section of the city, he had only seen 2 shops of that kind, an apothecary and a pill shop. However, alongside the main street, as far as his eyes could see were dozens of these shops. There were shops selling dried out herbs while the shops next to them were selling bottles of medicine.

Taking in the sights, he set off towards the city square.

Bai Qi reached the center of the city after a good 20 minute walk at a brisk pace. He couldn't help but marvel at the size of the city once again. It was built into the shape of a circle, with a radius of about 5 miles. Each section was specialized and they all met in the middle of the city.

When he finally entered the middle of the city, he noticed that the center statues actually housed a second function rather than just as markers for the different sections of the city. The base of the statue served as an entrance way for something. At least it looked like an entranceway, there were 5 doors, one on each side. However the base looked too small to fit 5 rooms, there was barely enough space to fit one.

"Excuse me," Bai Qi said, waving at one of the people on the side stalls. "What are those doors for?"

The man looked up from his stall. "Buy some food and I'll tell ya," he said, smiling. "Best meat skewers in the entire city right here."

Bai Qi laughed. He walked up to the stall and looked at what it had to offer.

"Spirit beast meat to the right, and ordinary animals to the left."

"Spirit beast?"

"Rather low quality, but yeah, it's still the best you'd find around here."

"How much for one?"

"2 silvers for a spirit beast skewer, and 3 bronze for everything else. There's different assorted meats for each choice, though spirit animal skewers are limited."

* 'Grab a spirit animal, you can make use of the residual energy.' *

"I'll take that skewer second to last on the right." Bai Qi said, pointing.

"Good purchase," the vendor said smiling. "That's spirit tailed chicken, hard to come by, but a sure delicacy. Anyway, what was it that you wanted to know?"

"What were those entrances for?"

"It's simple. Each one of them is an entrance to the Arcanum archives."

"Archives?"

"New to the city?"

"Yeah, I guess. Just arrived today."

"Well each branch of the city has their own archives, and that's the entrance to each respective branch. If you need to know anything about any subject, or need to get any records, it's located at its respective branch."

"The statue seems a bit small to house an entire library," Bai Qi commented dryly.

The vendor laughed. "The mages did something, roomed the entire space out. When you enter there's a kind of a tight feeling you get, and then, there you are, an entire library."

"How big is it?"

The vendor laughed again. "I'm a commoner who belongs to the merchant branch. I haven't gone inside yet, but I've heard that the apothecary and the mage archive sections are the size of small cities, not much smaller than this."

"That big?" Bai Qi raised his eyebrows.

The vendor smiled. "You probably don't believe me, but you will soon enough. I'm guessing you're here for trials 3 days from now? Bit from sunset, so about 2 days actually."

"Yes I am," Bai Qi answered. "I came from a very small town and happened to get noticed because I had moderate talent. So I'm a bit lost since it's my first time in the city."

"Ah, I see a lot of cases like you. What sect are you trying to join?"

"Mage."

"Mage? Really?" The vendor asked, shocked. "Mages are rare, count me surprised. You nervous for the selections?"

Bai Qi laughed. "Hopefully it works out."

"So uh," The vendor nodded toward the skewer. "You gonna eat that or make me feel like there's something wrong with my food?" He said it in a serious tone, but in a way that made it easy to tell he was joking.

Bai Qi laughed. "My apologies." He took a bite out of the skewer, and was greeted to a sweet and juicy piece of chicken. "Delicious."

"Glad you liked it," the vendor said. He smiled, "You wouldn't mind buying another piece?"

Bai Qi laughed. "Alas, I've fallen into your trap. Pass another of the same kind, and two of any random ones. Wrap it up, I can't eat everything here."

"You got it boss." The vendor said. "Anyway, since you're lost, looking for any specific inn or building you need to get to, or would you like me to recommend? If recommendation, my cousin runs a pretty good inn down by the apothecary sect, though it's a bit of a walk from here. 2 silver 6 bronze coins please."

Bai Qi handed him 3 silvers. "Keep the change. Anyway, I needed directions towards the mage sect tower if possible. As for an inn, the person that brought me here told me I could either bunk at the mage sect's inn for the time, or the Silver Moon Inn."

The vender looked up shocked. "You aren't playing with me are you? Silver Moon Inn, what kind of a fool do you take me for? If you're gonna tell a lie, make it more believable."

"Is it that famous?"

"Third most important building in the entire city. Reserved for the actual army use. Heard from a friend of mine that the mages did quite some work on it, the whole thing can fit half the army in it in times of emergency. Anyway, if you wanted to know how to get to the Mage tower, just head down the main street for the mages. And get out of my sights," the vendor said laughing. "Silver Moon Inn my ass. In that case, I'm actually the city mayor."

Bai Qi laughed. "I have no reason to lie to you. Thanks for the directions, and for the food."

He turned and looked at the Mage sect statue, which was facing away from him, with the warrior directly in front. Following the line of sight from the mages statue was one of the large main roads that led out of the city. He started walking away.

"Be sure to visit," the vendor yelled out cheerfully. "Gets boring here"

Laughing, Bai Qi waved goodbye, as he walked towards the road.

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Guess who's back, back again :))

Chapters will be about once a week, until I can get a pace up, still busy with school.

Silverbro, idk why you still kept gifting stones, smh lemme get first place back.

Shoutout to SkylarWolfe, a lurker who hasn't written a comment, :)) Thanks so much for gifting votes, even when I was gone, means alot. if there's any other lurkers out there that check in regularly, I appreciate it.

Drop a comment, leave some stones, point out any mistakes. :))