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[Skill-Eater] Chapter 60: Favor
🕑 Added 2024-07-24 17:27:15 +0000 UTCListening to Ann’s words, Edge’s heart began to race. She had uncovered far too much of the truth in almost no time at all, just by studying the contents of his pack.
He had been in town for less than an hour, and he had already revealed far more than he’d intended. I should have sold half of the claws somewhere else and left the lanterns alone.
At this point, he didn’t have a choice other than to trust her and hope that revealing a piece of the story would keep her from digging any deeper. “I didn’t fight that monster alone. There were some extenuating circumstances that I’m trying to keep under wraps. I’d appreciate it if you kept that insight to yourself.”
Ann gave Edge a long, lingering look, staring deep into his eyes without saying a word. He had the sense that she was weighing the content of his character. Evaluating what it would mean to protect his secret instead of making it known. Appraising not only the value of his haul, but his own worth too, both present and potential.
She must have decided that his future was a good investment, because in the end she nodded. “These lips are sealed. But I wouldn’t tell anyone else what you had in that bag.” With that, she went back to the business at hand, showing no indication that the last exchange of words had ever happened.
“Before we get to pricing the parts, we may as well deal with the miscellaneous times first. That’s an interesting piece of jewelry.” Ann held the necklace in a beam of sunlight to take a closer look, running her fingertips across the etchings on the medallion. “I don’t recognize the make or the symbol, and I can identify the work of most of the artisans on Ord. My guess is that it predates the System colonizing the planet.”
She handed the necklace back to him. “It doesn’t appear to be either magtech or runic. I can give you some credits for the silver, but you should probably hold onto it. It might be worth a lot more to a collector.”
She reached down to inspect the lanterns, after Edge indicated that he wanted to keep the third. “Two basic magtech lanterns, mild damage to the casings, are worth fifty credits each. Another ten for the aether in the tanks. Now, let me work my magic and I’ll tell you what I can offer for the rest of the pile.”
Edge took a step back and gave Ann her space. She was known to be prickly if you bothered her mid-appraisal. He watched with interest as her eyes began glowing with a pale purple light. Wisps of mana flowed across her face as she activated a high-rank informational skill, whose details were a carefully guarded secret. “Hrm. Yes. I see.” She picked up the beaks, made a few notes onto a pad of paper, then examined the talons and claws.
“Those beaks aren’t worth much. They’re too brittle for making weapons. We can sell them as an F-grade alchemy ingredient for some perception potions, but all can give you is a thousand credits for the lot. No point in negotiating, it’s honestly the best I can do. The small claws are an E-grade crafting component. I’ll offer you another seven thousand for the set. The big ones are low D-grade and worth a thousand credits a piece.
“Now this one.” Ann held up the claw that Edge had been using as a sword. “Is usually high quality, somewhere in the mid D-grade. It will sell for quite a bit more than the others, but you’d be best served by keeping it for yourself and getting a weapon crafted at the Forge. Unfortunately, the talons don’t have a use in alchemy or gear crafting. I can sell them to the tanner to make glue, so call it two-fifty, given the weight.”
“Thanks Ann. I’ll sell everything but the claw you’re holding. If you could store it behind the counter for now, then have someone deliver it to the Forge, I would deeply appreciate it. I think I will commission a weapon out if it like you suggested, but I need to take care of a few things first.”
“Alright. You owe me a favor for the delivery, but my discretion is free. That brings your total for today up to seventeen thousand, three hundred-sixty credits.”
“Throw in a change of clothes and a pair of boots and it’s a deal.”
Ann laughed at his attempt to haggle. “Alright, I can budge that much. Pick out something your size from the rack on the way out. Oh, and that bar of soap is on me. Call it charity for the entire town.”
She was about to deactivate the privacy bubble, but Edge stopped her with his next words. “Before I go. I need to use the downstairs bathroom.”
Both golden eyebrows went up this time. “Extenuating circumstances indeed. It’s out of order. Come back in two days, after we close for the night.”
A casual observer might have been confused by this exchange, if they had been able to pierce Ann’s skill and overhear what was being said. Which was exactly the point. That phrase was a code known only by a few, passed on in secret to people they trusted. Edge had obtained the information by paying a hefty sum before starting his run, but Ann only nodded.
“You really have been through hell out there, haven’t you? It just goes to show that nothing lasts forever. The disaster threw the entire world into chaos, upending the old order and beginning the new. Some fortunes topple, while others rise. Just remember who helped you out when you’re rich and famous.”
“Will do Ann. And thanks, I mean it. You really are the best.” She grinned, and then her expression turned hard as steel, a flash of killing intent making him take a quick step back from the counter.
“I have a good feeling about you, so I’m willing to gamble on your future. Don’t make me regret it.” She smiled again like nothing had happened and the feeling faded. She put the tray behind the counter, summoned her Guide to transfer the credits into his account, then let the privacy screen go. “A pleasure doing business. Now get out of here, Edge. You’re fouling up the place.”
She threw a bar of soap at him, which he caught without looking, earning him a round of applause from the people browsing the isles. He picked out a new shirt, pants, and pair of boots from the racks. He had Ann wrap them up, then left through the front door, practically vibrating with excitement.
In addition to having cashed in his very first haul, he was on track to get his first implant too.
Asking to use the downstairs bathroom was a code for requesting to use the entablement’s secret service. The one that was reserved for monster and bounty hunters. People who were able to acquire the dangerous currency known as mortium.
Edge had really been asking to access the mortium exchange, hoping to acquire one of the starter implants the System awarded when a tourist turned in their first lifecoin. He entertained the fantasy for a few seconds, before letting it fade with a sleepy yawn.
He didn’t have the energy to focus on anything in the future, now that he could afford to buy a bath, a meal, and a room for the night, not necessarily in that order.
Seventeen thousand credits wasn’t a fortune by any means. But it was far more cash than he had expected to make in his first month on Ord. It was enough to get a nice room with meals included for several weeks running.
Edge suspected that prices would keep rising as the aftermath of the anomaly reshaped the economy. But that was a worry for another day.
Comments
Bryan Dickerson
Got it. Thank you.
Zed
That brings your total for today up to seventeen thousand, three hundred-sixty credits. > Thirteen thousand credits wasn’t a fortune by any means. But it was far more cash than he had expected to make in his first month on Ord
Bryan Dickerson
Which 4k? By my count its 110 for the lanterns, 1000 for the beaks, 250 for the talons, 7000 for the small claws and 9000 for the big (1 on the first stage two reaver and 8 on the second.)
Zed
where did the 4k go?
Robert McCarter
Thanks Magnus!
Bryan Dickerson
bonus chapter
