Chương 16: 1-15 The black market

"So that's the black market? It smells worse than I expected." Josef's voice was tinged with disappointment.

"What did you expect? Some secret gilded halls inside a warehouse?" Cana huffed as she led their way. The sight in front of him immediately killed his high expectations of a secret black market, after the awkward path he had to take to get there. The two of them had set out after sunset, stalking through the dark. Once again Josef had to rely mostly on his companions to lead the way for him. And he did indeed rely on not only the lycan but also the rat to find his path.

Nibbles had taken a perch on top of his head, hiding under his cowl, with only his black furred face peaking out. Of course, the rat could not give very precise instructions, and would only give the occasional tug on his hair or poke him with the tail. It's not like a human could be steered by pulling hair strands alone, right? Their path had taken them through several dark alleys, though never far from the main road leading down to the harbor.

As the sea breeze grew stronger and carried the smell of salt, they had made their way into the port proper, but under the cover of the dark, away from the illuminated parts. Josef made a note to figure out a night vision spell whenever he had some time, because their current setup took all of the fun out of entering a new part of the city, if he could not even take in the unfamiliar sights. At last, after a lot of awkward shuffling through the dark, they had arrived at their target.

"That's just a fishery." Josef complained.

"It's dark, smelly, and kinda small. Where are the secret auctions, the cutthroat guilds, or the fight clubs? You know, all the fun stuff."

"What kinda story books did you grow up with?" Cana sounded exasperated.

"It's just a market. You buy stuff, you sell stuff. Some of it legal, some not. And no paying taxes on any of them." They had reached the entrance, encountering a fierce looking black lycan blocking the doorway. If that guy ever stepped out of the light, he would probably just vanish on the spot. Though after Cana made eye contact with him and gave a barely perceptible nod, he moved aside to let them both through. Clearly, she was a regular in this place, as she would bring her dungeon loot here for selling.

As Josef had noted, the black market they went to was situated in an old fishery at the edge of the port. By day this place processed fish for the town, but during the night, tables were cleared and filled with merchandise. Three dozen merchants had crammed themselves into the relatively small space, occupying tables and sometimes even the floor, to show off their wares. Most of them had laid things out on a big cloth or something similar, looking like they could wrap everything up and run at a moment's notice.

They probably would if the guards ever showed up to this place.

"So, what are we looking for?" Josef leaned over to Cana, whisper-shouting over the noise of the surrounding businesses.

"We can dump the little shards with just about anyone, they're as common as it gets. Some just don't want the hassle of handling them." She explained as she dragged Josef in a direct line to one of the deeper parts of the fishery.

"But for the big ones, we wanna take them to the Inspector. Don't wanna pass on anything useful. And if my feeling is right, which it usually is, then we have something extremely good." Josef wondered what she meant by that. What could they possibly miss out on with these magic cores? Snaking their way through the crowd, they quickly reached Cana's target. A large wooden booth with doors near the back corner of the building. Wait, is that a palanquin?

As he looked closer, he saw that there really were grips on either side of the booth, allowing it to be picked up. That was one way to handle moving your place of business, he supposed. There were also two entirely pitch black bulls, or minotaurs, standing next to the thing. They certainly had the amount of muscle needed to get it off the ground and make a run. Josef wondered where they were getting all those perfectly colored beastkin for the black market, or if employees just had to dye their fur.

Was there magic that could do that? Probably. After paying a small sum of silver coins to one bull, the two of them had to wait outside, as another customer currently occupied the palanquin.

"So why do we need to bring the big ones here?" Josef leaned in and asked Cana.

"Because there's a chance they still contain one of the creature's abilities, or at least a part of it. Don't wanna risk selling a skill gem as a normal core of the same size. Depending on what's inside, that's like a ten times difference in price. Sometimes a lot more than that," she explained to him.

"We can get skills from monsters? Why did no one tell me that?" He could barely keep his voice down from excitement. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. If he could gain skills from monsters, then he would have to farm the living shit out of the dungeon. He would go up and down the floors daily until he got one of everything there was to get. Maybe he should find himself a bestiary and start planning on what to hunt.

There had to be data on what skills certain monsters had, right? Cana soon interrupted his escalating thoughts.

"Skill gems are so rare that it's barely worth mentioning in our kind of level range. Chances get a little better when you take down bosses at very high levels, but there is never a guarantee." So those gems were the one in a million kind of deal, if not worse. That put a damper on Josef's preliminary grinding plan. Still, if they were so rare, why was Cana convinced they got some? Because the two royal slimes were such a weird occurrence? He would soon find out.

A small, furry creature, covered in rags, hurried out of the palanquin and disappeared into the crowd. Now it was their turn.

"Only one at a time," one bull stopped them from entering together.

"It's his first time here, and we got this stuff together, anyway. Can't you make an exception?" Cana tried to convince the bovine, who stood almost two heads larger than her. Was she making puppy eyes? Before he could answer her, a voice rang out from inside.

"Let them in." And that was that. There was no more arguing as the bull instead opened the door and let them step in. The inside reminded Josef of a confession booth, only the divider was not in front of them, but to the side. He and Cana both sat down on opposing seats, facing each other. The door was closed behind them as a voice came from the other side of the divider.

"It's a pleasure to finally welcome you to my humble establishment, young Josef," the Inspector's voice, definitely male, sounded amused.

"You know me? Have we met before?" Josef couldn't help but ask.

"I do, and perhaps we have. There is very little in this town that escapes my eyes, after all." He gave a dry chuckle.

"Anyway, I know you must have come here for a reason, so let us focus on business first." Hearing that, Cana put one of the large cores, the one from the queen, into a tray, which was set into the divider, and pushed it through to the other side.

"Oh dear, is that what I think it is?" They could hear some humming from the other side as the Inspector checked their find.

"I can see the mark of royalty in this core, a slime. Am I correct?" He didn't wait for them to answer.

"I see waves of pink, liquid but burning. That is the memory contained within this core's magic. A genuine skill gem," he concluded. Cana was visibly excited, her tail thumping against the back of her seat acting as a clear indicator of how happy she was to hear that. Then her eyes seemed to focus on something in front of her and started moving back and forth. Did his inspection somehow give her a system message?

"An exciting find indeed. Congratulations. I would be more than happy to take this one out of your paws for a fitting price, though I understand you might want to think it over first." The tray in the divider slid back to their side. It once again carried the gem from before, but now with a little string wrapped around, with a note attached.

"Now, I believe you have more for me to check?" Josef followed the implicit instruction and put in the core from the slime king. This was how they had split their loot after the fight. With only two enemies, they both simply claimed the one they had ripped out of their opponents.

"Ah, a matching set. How curious. A shadow of royal blue." Once more the man on the other side was humming as he committed his inspection. Josef wondered if he too could one day see the skills left inside gems. He did have the eyes of a dragon after all, even if he started with the budget version. At least for now, he had seen nothing special in the core's description. Then again, he wasn't exactly looking for it either.

"I see an untiring body, made from mana, supple but unyielding," the final verdict rang out. Moments later, a system message appeared before his eyes. ☆☆☆☆☆ Embodiment of Mana (Pinnacle) The mana branching inside of you reinforces and improves your body on a fundamental level. It is no longer just an optional resource, but deeply intertwined with your life. Exact effects differ for every individual. High compatibility detected. Josef was blinking in shock at what he saw.

That rank was on the same level as the skills that he got from his heartstone. Skills from dragons. This was a big one. He understood that immediately. It also sounded like a massively invasive addition to his body. He only had to remember how the slime king's body had withered away as he sucked the mana out of it. This skill definitely had a downside to it. But his system seemed to recommend it for some reason. Maybe because he had gone down the path of devouring mana?

Would he even remain human if he took this skill? The sound of the tray sliding back pulled him from his thoughts.

"You will no doubt have to think on that one. But rest assured, should you be willing to part with it, then enough coins will fill your pouch to allow for an early retirement." The Inspector sounded solemn as he uttered those words.

"Though I doubt you would take the easy way out, right?" He took the gem and inspected the attached tag. It was the name of the skill and a brief description, though that one lacked the last mention from his own system. It also had a kind of seal printed on it, likely guaranteeing the authenticity of the information. He shoved the whole thing into his Portable Hoard. That skill felt a lot less confining after his increase in space affinity, though putting his hand inside still made it feel cold and clammy.

"Now that our exchange is concluded, I have a proposition of my own," the inspector informed them.

"Though I am sorry to say, this business is purely between Josef and me. I would ask you to leave us to it," Cana bristled at those words, her tail immediately stopping as if frozen.

"No need to be upset. I promise to return your friend to you safe and sound. You have my word." She looked over to Josef and met his eyes, looking for his opinion. What was there for them to talk about? This inspector definitely seemed to know more about him than he should have. And why couldn't he help but feel that his voice was familiar?

"All right, I see no reason not to." He nodded at Cana.

"I'll be fine. If something happens, I'll start screaming like a little girl." The joke didn't seem to reassure her, as only the Inspector could be heard chuckling as she stepped outside, closing the door behind her.

"Just to be clear, my booth is magically soundproofed."