A deep and rumbling noise echoed through the apartment as Luke walked in. Shadows moved and a shape leapt out at him. It hit him in the chest and knocked the breath out of him. He was knocked backwards and clean out of his mech to land hard on the floor.

  “Jinx, get off. I’m sorry I was gone when you woke up from your nap. I guess I didn’t think you would care,” Luke said.

  She chuffed and looked towards the open door, then back at him and then back to the door.

  “Are you looking for Bosa? I know she was your favorite because she bought you fish, but she’s not coming back. She quit and went to join the army.”

  Kruro slithered over. “Really? That is not what I expected of her at all.”

  Luke really wanted to tell her Bosa was a spy, working on the same team as Kruro and the White Scales, but that would mean betraying her confidence. He had planned on asking them both if they were cool with it, but that plan had gone out the window.

  “She got a really good job offer she couldn’t turn down. I offended this Viscount and he gave her a good position to steal her away from me. Jokes on him though, she was always planning on getting a new job here.”

  “Huh. Sounds like there is more to that story. Particularly since you seem much brighter than when you left. What happened?”

  Luke gave her an abbreviated version as he pet Jinx and smoothed out her black fur. She liked his pets more and more these days. Kruro shut the door and activated the privacy enchantments.

  “That was quite the story. You do have a way with people, making friends and enemies wherever you go.”

  Luke chuckled. “Maybe, but I can’t help it if people want to sort themselves into those two categories so quickly.”

  “Indeed. But may I bring up a serious subject?” Kruro said hesitantly. When he nodded she continued, “You asked for some time to think about joining the White Scales. Have you come to a decision on that matter?”

  Luke made an effort not to sigh. “I have thought about it, almost nonstop since you brought it up. You have my boundless respect for what you do to bring about a better world and universe, but I have decided not to join you.” He steeled his heart as her expression fell. “But don’t think that means I’ll let you die! We are going to figure out a way to help your mission, so your cell leaders will do anything to keep you alive.”

  She sunk deeper into her coils, a hand picking at her green scales. “Why? I thought you were a good and decent man. You said you understood. Why won’t you help us bring them down? Only you can do this, we need that interdicted skill.”

  Luke slashed his hands down. “You don’t need me. The interdicted list is a red herring. My Phantom Shot skill can’t hurt them. The only thing that would happen if we tried to assassinate one of the triumvirate is that the White Scale would get exposed and we would die.”

  “You seem rather sure of yourself.”

  “I am. I discovered while training my skill that my Phantom Shot projectile can be blocked by Armor Adjunct. As far as I know, Armor Adjunct isn’t a rare skill, both Momoh and Imohi have heard of it. I bet they have guards with the skill or something better. The fact is, we can’t kill them with that skill or any other on the interdicted list. The list is probably just bait for dissidents."

  “Are... are you sure?” she said hesitantly.

  “I am. Watch this.”

  He replicated his practice from the train, throwing up Vortex Doors that faced each other and then activating his Armor Adjunct. After carefully aiming, he fired off a Phantom Shot. The shot whizzed through the portals and deflected off his hand. The shot spun through the window and dissipated into nothingness.

  “Phantom Shot is a pretty good skill, very handy when shooting through things, but it’s still magic. Any skill that blocks magic should be able to block it,” Luke said and shrugged.

  “But, but...” Kruro trailed off and stared out the window. “I must tell my scale leader. They have to know this. Will you still join us? You might not be a tyrant killer, but you are powerful. You can still help us free the world from their grip.”

  “No. That’s not me. I want to do anything I can to save your life, you’re a friend, Kruro. But I’m not a spy. My class is War Machine, not Stealth Infiltrator.” He held up a finger. “However, I know I can put you into touch with a spy organization from Earth. That would be a better option for the White Scales anyway. We have decades of spycraft refinement. Every government on Earth spies on the others. I bet they can teach your organization all kinds of new tricks and help out with sabotage efforts all over the world.”

  She seemed hesitant. “I could ask, I suppose.”

  “It would be better if they helped you out, trust me. We never had a glory sense so we’ve always had ways to verify and counter those trusts without the crutch of that glory sense. When we get back to Earth, I bet I can set up a meeting fairly quickly,” Luke said confidently. He bet that people from SPEAR or the CIA would love to have a contact with the White Scales.

  She wiggled her hands in assent. “Alright. I will tell them. I am willing to die for the movement, but I would much rather live for them.”

  “Me too.”

  “Then that’s settled. I will contact them. If they agree with your proposal, I’ll set up a meeting with you and my cell leader.”

  Kruro slithered over to the communication hexagon and started flipping flags. The device seemed to be an advanced telegraph, but Luke didn’t actually know how they worked. Apparently they were secure enough that she could set up spy meetings with them. He made a mental note to figure out exactly how they worked one of these days. For today he had something more interesting planned.

  He gathered together everything he thought he would need for passing his next threshold. Bosa had said he only needed his glory, but he still got a few other things together just in case. He pulled out a tier five core and a nice artifact. He didn’t need to do anything with his glory. It was apparently as high as it would ever get. But as he was double checking everything, he realized he couldn't level up yet. He needed to go shopping first. After seeing how terribly everyone treated Bosa when she was out of glory, he knew he had to do all his social tasks before he potentially lost his own glory.

  He sighed and turned to Kruro. “Actually, before we get into any of the espionage stuff, I would love your help with shopping. I need to sell all the stuff I brought from Earth, and the dispersal from the Falodun Estate. Then I need to buy a bond with Jinx, a variety of potions, some rune books, and maps. And maybe some super strong material I can use to make a mech. Do you think I could hire a guide for the day or?”

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  She slashed her hands down. “That won’t be necessary. With your level of wealth, we should head directly to one of the four Grand Bazaars near the city center. People like you will get a better deal if you fly in and let them assign you a personal shopper.”

  “I don’t know if I need a personal shopper.”

  She waved away his objection and said, “Yes you do. This will be easier than running around the whole city and they will give you wonderful rates in the hopes that something you buy will help them earn glory. Trust me, you already feel like a noble. It’s time to start acting like one.”

  Luke gave her a lopsided smile. “I suppose if I can trust you with my life, I can trust you with my money too. We’ll do it your way.”

  ???

  The rented flying hexagon gently landed atop the eighth floor of the Blue Bazaar. Luke stepped off and onto the landing pad and flicked a few fingers towards Kruro. It would be her job to do most of the talking while he stood there silently in his slim power armor. She suggested he play an aloof aristocrat at first, until they were committed to treating him well. Then he could reveal that he was human.

  An orc dressed in blue and gold stepped out to the landing pad and bowed to Luke and Kruro. He eyed the piles of treasure loaded onto the hexagon and said, “How may the Blue Bazaar assist you today?”

  Kruro slithered up to him and said, “Greetings. I am Kruro of Domestic and this is my master Luke of Machines. We have brought several things to sell and wish to purchase a variety of things. Please arrange a room for us. Whatever is available now will suffice. My master does not like waiting for better rooms to free up.”

  While she talked, Jinx padded off the hexagon and started exploring the area, sniffing everything with a vague interest. She was the main wild card in this interaction since they couldn’t control the phase shifting cat. If she felt like it, she could wreak havoc and get them kicked out. Luke hoped they could get the beast bond done first.

  The orc bowed to Luke and said to Kruro, “Of course. I can see your master is worthy of our respect and I will go arrange one of our finest procurement rooms. Am I to assume that he wishes to sell everything aboard the transport?”

  “Indeed. We wish to sell everything here. When it comes to purchasing, we wish to talk with the bazaar’s beastmaster first.”

  “Right away. Our porters will bring everything along when I escort you to Luke of Machine’s procurement room. Please excuse me.”

  While the orc hurried off, Luke turned to admire the view of the city. The construction motif of the capital was fascinating to his human sensibilities. This close to the city center there wasn’t a speck of green. Metals, glass, and stone dominated the view. At the same time, there was a soft edge to the design, full of curves and organic shapes. He kept Jinx in the corner of his vision. Luckily, she hadn’t decided to wander off yet.

  They were led to their new room a short while later. The bazaar was one large round tower with a wide spiral ramp for transportation between floors. Salesmen pulled carts behind themselves as they wandered between around the different levels. The customers were set up in large booths with soft chairs and refreshments as they watched everything go by. Without doors or even front walls, everything was on display. Buying and selling was a public act here.

  The buyers wore metals, gold, silver, platinum, and iron. The sellers went the other way. Instead of drab metals, they wore brightly colored flowing tunics and dresses. Reds, yellows, and greens were prominent, but there were some purples and blues mixed in as well. The carts they pulled were painted white, so the goods displayed really popped.

  The orc asked them to follow him one floor down to a larger than normal room. He led Luke to a large chaise lounge and instructed the porters to line up his goods across the front of the room. Kruro pushed a few more chairs to the edge of the room and coiled her tail next to his seat.

  Luke pretended he was comfortable sitting in full armor and whispered to Kruro. “Are you sure it was a good idea to go shopping in such a public arena? Everyone keeps telling me humans aren’t popular in the capital.”

  Kruro slashed her hands down. “Do not concern yourself with that, Master Luke of Machines. The Blue Bazaar protects their customers with enchantments and guards. Besides, I believe most of the people here know the truth about humans, not the lies they spread on the street corners.”

  Selling his treasures was easier than he had expected. Buyers came to him and always started with their best offer. They wanted to be seen as rich merchants so that their glory would increase. Luke just had to accept their offers. Artifact vendors came by first. He was interested to learn what kind of artifacts he had gained from the Falodun estate.

  The Runic Pen improved dexterity slightly. The Spellthief Pen broke enchantments. He had two Belts of Might that increased momentum by one and two percent respectively. There were also Belts of Earth, Fire, and Shadow that improved spells of that type once a day. The bottle of paint was actually Fish Ink, a liquid fishing lure. The Chair of Destiny gave predictions on how long the user would live. The stuffed cat was a Nightshade Stalker, able to blind people and animals in a fifty foot radius. The rubber utensils were just utensils, but they kept themselves magically clean and were indestructible. The totem stick was a bit of a disappointment because it induced random hallucinations, a common effect. One set of bracers shot acid, and the other gave the user blindsight. Luke would have loved to keep some of them, but in order to leave the city, he had to have receipts showing that he sold them all.

  The vendor offered him a variety of different artifacts to buy instead. He was happy to buy the Ventilated Chair that let the user sit on literal cushions of air. The Charged Impact Bracers were kind of niche, but he bet they would save his life one day. If he activated them two seconds before an impact, they could absorb any amount of force damage. Even a titan’s punch. Sadly, he couldn’t keep them always active, but he could keep them active for a ten second window, which was an eternity in a fight.

  There were other artifacts that seemed interesting, but Luke decided to save his money for now. One of his main goals was getting access to new runes and he didn’t know how expensive that would be yet.

  Once the artifact dealer left, an alchemist came to evaluate and buy his potions. Most of them were fairly common potions only worth 20 to 30 whites. Health, mana, sexual stamina, and cholesterol potions could be bought at any shop in the city. However, the swirling brown and red potion in the small bottle was a winner. It was a potion that could heal genetic illnesses that standard healing couldn’t touch. The alchemist offered him three hundred white cores for it. He of course sold everything.

  Most of the alchemist's stock wasn’t interesting to Luke, but he did decide to buy a few things. He bought three elixirs of health, and one of mana. Elixirs were basically the same as potions, except that they were concentrated into a thick paste that took up almost no room. The alchemist sold them in sturdy vials that Luke immediately hid in his pockets. He also bought something that wiped out his profit from the previous sale. It was a potion of strength, one that promised to raise his base stat by two points.

  Finally, the Beastmaster came by. Which was good because Jinx had tried to leave three times during the proceedings and only Luke’s foresight kept her from wandering off. He had brought dried fish and kept feeding her snacks to keep her there.

  “Greetings, Luke of Machines. I am Beastmaster Savine,” she said and bowed slightly. The older dwarf pulled out a chair and sat down in front of his lounge. “There are many services I can offer you, from adjusting your bond to providing expert nutrition advice. How may I help your glory grow?”

  Luke sat up and said, “Thank you for coming, Beastmaster Savine. I wish to create a bond with my beloved pet Jinx here.” He gave her a few affectionate pets as he talked.

  Jinx seemed more interested in Savine than he had been with any of the other merchants.

  “You want to create another bond? I can assist in that endeavor. What bond do you currently have?”

  “None yet. That’s why I am so glad to see you.”

  She stood up suddenly, knocking over her little stool as she did. She stared wide eyed at Jinx and hissed out, “You mean that Night Stalker is unbound? You are endangering the whole bazaar.”

  “That’s not what I said, calm down,” Luke said evenly. He wrapped his arm around Jinx and pulled her closer.

  Savine calmed down and apologized to him and the nearby people she had distracted. When everyone was focused on themselves again, she whispered, “What exactly is going on?”

  Luke popped open his visor and gave her a peek of his round ears. He quietly said, “Jinx is a cat from planet Earth, not a Night Stalker. She is a Chosen now, which is why she is so big. Can you still help a human bond with his pet cat?”

  The Beastmaster leaned forward and whispered back, “What you are asking is illegal. You shouldn’t have an unbound animal in the city at all, let alone so close to the inner ring. If they found out I helped you without following proper procedure, I could lose my place in the Bazaar.”

  Luke wiggled his hands. “Yes, you could. But you haven’t called the guards over yet. You are wondering how exactly a human got here and why his glory is shining so bright. I bet helping me today would be a real bonus for your personal glory, particularly since Jinx and I are very likely to go on to do great things.”

  Savine slashed her hands down and stood back up.