5 Shopping and The Ceremony Begins
I spent the night in the barn, luckily for me Little Rat brought me some clean clothes, bandages and some food.
It was just black bread and water, but with how hungry i was, i devoured like it was the best of delicacies.
After a good clean up and having dressed my wounds, I had a nice night of dreamless sleep.
The next morning at dawn, me and Little Rat set off to the city, both of us garbed in robes to cover our faces.
We got past the gates with no trouble, much to our relief.
After almost an hour of walking we reach the high end Merchant Streets, where we will buy the Crystal for Little Rat.
It feels like a different world here, the streets are clean with guards patrolling at all times, beautiful women garbed in colorful clothes and handsome men, looking valiant, can be seen coming and going from the different shops.
The mysterious alchemysts shop, elemental weapons smiths, Elemental beast leather crafters, and many others shops line up the streets.
We head for a shop called Carol's Crystals, a shop owned by one of the big families of the city, with a great reputation on their fairness of treatment to normal and rich people alike.
As soon as we enter we can see the glows that line up the shop, as the different crystals cover the walls in their cases.
Next to their cases is their price tag, a hair rising number to any commoner. With only the price of one, they can live comfortably for a few years.
High Level Water Crystal: 171G; 183G; 165G; 166G... There are several tens of them, with an average price of 170G.
Low Level Ice Crystal: 3.550G, 3.700G. Only two in stock, the price skyrockets for those of advanced elements.
Medium Level Thunder Crystal: 11.000G. With only one in stock.
Medium Level Light Crystal: 34.543G. The crown jewel of this store.
Looking at the prices that we can see at plain sight, it's obvious to us that there's only so many crystals that we can afford.
"Let's go appraise how much the crystals we have are worth, and then choose which one you're going to buy" i say while my sight can't get away from that Light Crystal.
"alright, but really, a Light Crystal is worth more than 34000 Gold, a family of farmers can live for tens of generations with it" he said.
After all, there are 4 types of currency in the continent, Copper, Silver, Gold and White Gold. The exchange rates are as follows: 100 copper is 1 silver, 100 silver is 1 gold, 1000 gold is 1 White Gold, only big organizations and stores deal with that kind of coin, most people will never see a white gold in their whole lifes.
Like the Light Crystal in the store, it's been unsold for the past 3 Years, and will continue like that, at least until a rich moneybag comes to the city or a highly talented kid is born in the family, at that point it will be used as an investment on him.
We approach the appraisal counter, and put out our Crystals to get a price.
"2 murky Low Level Earth Crystals of bad quality, 16G and 15G each. On the other hand, 4 clear Low Level Earth Crystals of high quality, 27G, 26G, 27G and 25G each." he monotonously counted.
"A total price of 138G, is that alright with you?" he asked us with a bored face.
It seems he's used to seeing bigger quantities of money moving.
"Yes, we are good with it" i answered quickly
"By the way may I know, how do you assess the prices of the Crystals?" i asked right after
"It's because of impurities, those crystals with a clear color regardless of the tipe are worth more than those with a murky look, depending on the clarity, it's price" he answered annoyed.
"Alright, thank you for your help" I answer seeing he's not keen on explaining.
"I tough there was only one price for crystals, but it seems that it can vary" said Little Rat wondering aloud
"Seems so, but that means more money for us taking in account that Earth Crystals average price is 20G" i answer
"Yeah, and looking at the qualities of the ones we had, those 2 murky ones were obviously the ones the school gave out. Cheapskates" he grumbled.
"That doesn't matter, let's get your crystal, a High Level Wind Crystal is worth 110G from what i recall, taking in account the money we have, let's buy a clear one, it should be worthwhile" i tell him while signaling to a shopkeeper.
"Are you sure, you will need the money, plus my parents could only give me 2G more" he asked worriedly,
I ignore his complaints, the stronger he is, the better our lives will be in the future, a hand can't clap by itself after all.
We ended up spending 121G in the best quality Wind Crystal they had.
We bought some simple clothes and an expensive pair of boots.
After that we went to a small inn renting two rooms for a month.
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As the days pass, I'm nursing my wounds in my room, and Little Rat, making honor to his name, is sneaking around, scouting the relationship between Mark and Reginald, the rich guy from the Covenant.
He also brings back news that Lana is looking around, worried for me. I have to contain myself from going to meet her. We will see each other in the ceremony.
Finally, the day comes, the school is beautifully decorated, and everyone wears their best clothes.
Every big character of the city comes to watch, after all, there are only around 350 elementalist awakening this year, with some of them coming from influential families, and those commoners can become good foot soldiers to their factions.
We arrive on time, garbed in robes to not be recognized outside school, once we approach the gate, we are asked to take them off, to check our identity.
As we enter we see a small stage, sitting there are the important people of Meran, and right in the middle of it, there's an old man, looking aloofly at the distance. The heads of the big three families, acting deferentially toward him. And right next to him is Lana, looking around.
As our eyes meet, her gaze lights up with joy for a second, and then anger takes place.
"You're in trouble bro" Little Rat rejoiced in my problem
"Don't forget you were the one who hid me, and she asked if you knew where i was" i spat back
"F*uck, big bro, boss, my good brother, you can't do that to me!" He says as his face pales.
Right at this moment the principal takes the stage, announcing
"Let the Awakening begin!!!"
