Mai stops at a random spot on the landscape. It doesn't seem any different yet when she reaches forward and touches a certain spot it shivers in the air.
"Hmm... I think I've seen this?" Mai mutters as Sleipner comes up to her.
"If elder sister was here then she'd be able to identify who it is instantly... It's someone with a big ice bird... what's her name..." Mai mutters as she walks off, she knows that the person who left this is friendly as she smiles to herself.
"Elder sister, are you ok?"
Mai looks to the dark sky and walks along with Sleipner following after her, a dark cave has a single woman fighting against an endless swarm of tiny little creatures. Their creepy white-mask face is all that can be seen for miles as her body extends countless purple quills over and over again, they pierce through the body easily yet they never stop. She looks up at the sky yet all she can see is the cave roof, she has been down here far too long.
"I might die here..." she mutters as she looks at the endless swarm of creatures.
The energies come out of her body in endless waves, the entire area is coated in a purple gel substance as she pants for a moment of rest.
"Why did it wake up now?"
She falls over on the ground exhausted, sweat piles out of her body yet she doesn't stay there long jumping onto her feet ready to fight.
Her expression renewed after this short fight as she looks around her.
"You guys regroup quickly..." she smiles to herself and launches into another round of attacks. The lone woman fighting against an endless wave of faceless demons is all that can be seen as the area is engulfed in darkness again. The underground world is dangerous, but it needs to be controlled, if the things came completely uncontrolled then there's no telling what'd happen…
This is the belief instilled in the people of this world from birth.
As this happens underground and the village, Jack is unaware as he walks around the market stalls with Amber by his side.
"Why are you looking for Albert, I'm more than good enough to guide you around here..." Amber pouts, Jack stares at her with their eyes locking for moments. Neither of them breaking for several moments.
"I'm serious" Amber states without breaking eye contact.
"Fine then, but I need help picking out gifts."
"No problem, I'll probably be able to help you there more than Albert at the least" Amber trails off.
"Where'd the usual Amber go?"
Amber breaks eye contact first taking a step away before turning around and pulling at Jack, she smiles as her eyes glow.
Jack looks away as he hears her giggle, "I guess that's still you. So we don't have very long so I need things for all of them."
"All of them, ah well that's fine but I do wonder how many my Lord thinks there is."
"Isn't there only 3?"
"Am I not included?" Amber's voice wavers as her eyes look teary.
"Fine, 4..."
Amber giggles and stops at a market stall, Jack looks around and they're deep within the maze about 5 rows deep and there's people everywhere. He cannot even tell what people are trading as they're also walking around doing deals and passing around food at the same time, it's a flurry of activity and movement yet no one has neared them. Jack can sense a few hostile gazes but as he glances at them, he can see they're players so no big deal.
"So I think this item will suit the new bunnygirl" Amber holds out some carrot themed items. Jack's expression twists as he looks as them in her hands, she pulls them away.
"No?"
"Not quite, I'll have to look to see if something stands out but not that."
Jack looks around and can spot an area with a larger commotion, his nose can pick up the scent of processed herbs that reminds him of the new pill workshop back at the village. Jack drags Amber along to look at what's going on. Everyone makes way for them as he approaches the smell.
The crowd density gets thicker causing him to pause and look around, spotting a sign before the crowd.
'Pill Workshop - CONTEST' is in big letters with, 'SHHH!' and 'QUIET!' in larger letters elsewhere.
The crowd is mostly quiet the closer to the front Jack can get but Amber stops and speaks to Jack quietly, "I'll go get somethings and come back quickly, will you be here?"
"Don't worry, just stay in the marketplace."
Amber nods and leaves him, her expression stiffens up as her smiles disspears and her face becomes rigid, her gaze becomes sharp walking through the crowd.
Jack turns around and works his way through the crowd able to burst through after a few minutes, "Why are you guys stopped here?"
"Waiting for results, shh!"
"SHH!"
"They'll kick us out, SHH!"
....
Jack turns around and leaves this place going through the first door as that's all this place is. A store with 2 doors, there are no windows up a very distinct smell is coming from the building.
A tiny stage is erected at the side but it's completely empty, so Jack opts for the door, it's unlocked as he easily pushes it open.
A waft of herb smell comes over his nose, he wants to sneeze but holds it back as his eyes water.
'Wow' he mutters inside, looking around the sparsely populated room. A single counter is in the corner with an old man sitting down with his eyes shut, a few other people are grinding herbs with a couple of baskets laying around.
Jack walks over to the counter, the old man opens his eyes but doesn't move his body.
"Big crowd outside, are you open?"
The old man picks up his pipe and blows on it, the people grinding herbs don't move while Jack stands there waiting for him to exhale.
"Yes, are you a player?"
"Yes? I need something to offer my friend who is an alchemist, and some seeds would be good too. They're both quite skilled and the rarer the better..."
"We will sell nothing beyond 10 years aged to players, no player has been able to satisfy our stores requirements, so that's all you'll get."
"It's not for me..." Jack opens his storage ring and flips through some of the pills, he takes out a bottle of the most plentiful Lunamarie made. Jack throws the jade bottle over to the man who catches it with skillful hands.
The old man opens the bottle up and takes a sniff, his eye twitches as the smell hits his nose before forcing a pill out of the bottle.
"When was this made?"
"Yesterday."
"That's impossible, the technique is far too perfect. No one can create legendary items like this, especially out here. Did you get it from the system?"
"No. I know the alchemist and I'll send her your compliments, are you able to offer anything?"
"Her... hmm that might explain it, I think I have something... the missy from the auction house came over and grabbed some earlier too..." the old man leaves his post and goes behind a cloth door, Jack watches the people grinding up herbs.
Their eyes are both closed and their movements are slow, the store keeper comes back after a few moments with five small jars and one sealed case.
Jack turns his head to look at them, "Is this the contest?"
"Yes not much, I was expecting more players to show up but it seems there's not many interested in alchemy... It doesn't matter, here's the items but I expect you to not open them until you hand them over. These are delicate and will expire quickly on contact with the air."
The man passes over the 5 jars while keeping the case, Jack looks at it while the old man holds it back for a few moments.
"If I hand this over, I expect your alchemist will want to see me. You have to ensure they are able to, it's important."
Jack's interest piques up regarding the contents upon hearing this but he holds it back, "Of course, I'm not an alchemist."
"Yep of course you're not."
Jack stands there awkwardly before taking the case from the keeper, "The seeds?"
"I found this one, you can try it out. It has been in my family for eons and we aren't sure what it is. We cannot grow it but if it does grow it'll be valuable."
The old man fishes an old grey stone-looking thing out of his pocket, Jack looks at it with his spiritual sense but it's blocked, he uses his divine sense causing everyone in the room to squint at the same time to look inside and confirms its a seed.
Jack puts it away with the other items and looks around the room not noticing the changes in expression, "Well I'll get going now, enjoy your contest."
"Ok."
The store keeper mutters as he's left in a daze watching Jack leave the room, his movements betray his age as he rushes about picking up books and old manuscripts searching for anything but coming up short.
Jack has walked out of the store to a load of onlookers, they're eyeing the case under his arms which is looking valuable and smells like herbs.
"Is that the winner?"
"Are those the winnings?"
"Who is that?"
"Wait..."
"Yea false alarm, it's the guy that just went in."
....
The crowd is riled up and then calms down, Jack steps through the crowd to return to where Amber will be waiting shortly when he bumps into someone.
"Sorry, passing through" Jack speaks without looking up, he wants to continue to walk away but his shoulder is being held.
