Arian[Fex] was busy keeping company for both Paul and Fiza[Kazz]. As usual, just like last time, no one was talking to each other at all. Fiza[Kazz] seemed nice, and all, but Arian[Fex] felt like he could never read her.
It also scared him that if Fiza[Kazz] did ever get in a scrap, he and Paul wouldn't be enough to save her. As for Paul, he had just been a grumpy old man ever since he was turned into a vampire.
'Are we really that bad, did becoming a vampire ruin his life?' Arian[Fex] thought. 'Well, maybe you shouldn't go invading other people's places then. If vampires suddenly started going to earth and some of us died, we wouldn't exactly be sulking about it.'
"What's wrong?" Paul asked as he could see that Arian[Fex] had stopped and was looking at him.
"Oh, nothing, " Arian[Fex] replied. "I was just looking at the price of everything in this market. Is it normal to be priced like this? We don't really use credits in the vampire place, but we do have them."
The vampires had their own way of getting credits, perhaps making trades on Earth that Arian[Fex] didn't really know about. He used to have a card that was supplied to him by his father. The primary use of it was purchasing things online in the marketplace.
However, since he left his family, his privileges were taken away. His sister Mill[Sil]ver was kind enough to leave him with a gift. In his back pocket, two advanced tier crystals were given to him. They were the death bat crystals, so they couldn't really be used to turn into anything. But most humans wouldn't know that.
Today, Arian[Fex] hoped to do a little exchange. After seeing the armour being used and how much it had improved the human performance, he was hoping that he might find something for himself.
More than anything, he was looking for armour, since his weapons really only worked with his bare hands. Anything else and it would be difficult for him to control the strings.
Fiza[Kazz] seemed to be uninterested in weapons and armour. Instead, she was looking at the shiny jewellery. However, she had no money, and Arian[Fex] was in control of the money card.
He saw her lifting up what looked like a pair of red ruby earrings.
"Is it okay if I try them on?" Fiza[Kazz] asked.
"Sure, go ahead." The man behind the counter said. She looked at the earrings in the mirror for a few seconds and smiled. "These are perfect."
"Those cost around 1000 credits since the red ruby is actually crafted using parts of a rare beast. But because you're so pretty, I'll sell it for nine hundred for you." The man said.
"Are you sure?" Fiza[Kazz] asked. "Don't you mean you'll give them to me for free?"
From where Arian[Fex] was standing, he couldn't see Fiza[Kazz]'s eyes, but he could see the shopkeepers glowing slightly red.
"Of course you can have it for free." The shop keeper said. Now wearing the earrings, she walked away, and Arian[Fex] was quick to move on as well.
After they had left, the man felt that his head was slightly hurting. "What did I just do? Did I just give those away for free?"
When they were eventually far away enough from the shopkeeper, Arian[Fex] had turned around and was looking at Fiza[Kazz], who still seemed to be smiling about the pretty red earrings.
"Fiza[Kazz] you can't do that. You used your influence skill on him, didn't you?" Arian[Fex] asked.
"Of course I did. I don't see a problem with it. He won't even know what happened to him. It won't affect the mission." Fiza[Kazz] replied.
"But it's wrong, don't you understand?"
But it seemed like what Arian[Fex] was saying wasn't getting through to her. Seeing this, Paul decided to step in.
"You think what you did was harmless, correct?" Paul asked. "No one got hurt, so it's all okay?"
Fiza[Kazz] nodded.
"That's where you're wrong. How do you think that man got that jewel? Most likely, he had paid some Travellers for those parts. Then he spent hours of his life and time crafting it into a fine piece of work. He comes here to this market place, hoping to sell them. Make a bit of profit. If he is successful, then that means he can eat that night with the money.
"Perhaps he has a family he needs to look after. Now that you've taken that jewel, perhaps his family won't be able to eat today."
Tears started to fall from Fiza[Kazz]'s cheeks.
"Really, should I return it then…" Fiza[Kazz] said.
"If you really want to apologize, then do something grander than that. Leave it for now and think about it." Paul said.
It was the first interaction Arian[Fex] had seen between the two. When looking at them, it was as if he was looking at a father and young daughter having a conversation. Arian[Fex] was surprised at this, maybe they wouldn't be too bad left alone after all.
They continued to walk through the marketplace, and Paul started to think. He began to think about his own family. Back at the military base, he had made sure that his daughter Nora[Hayley] had joined with him. He had told her it was random, but in truth, he had asked the supreme commander a favour so that she was close to him.
Now he didn't know how she was. It seemed like the generals had managed to escape the second city from the news, so she should be with the military. Still, it was a worry on his mind, but he had to make smart choices.
One wrong move, and he felt like all the men counting on him in the vampire world would die. The weight of their lives was on his shoulders. With all these things on his mind and the changes in his body, he was right to feel a little stressed.
Being under Archer[Quinn] and with him setting up the deal, there wasn't even much he could do about it. He wasn't in control, all he could do was be an advisor, and rely on a seventeen-year-old to make the right decisions.
Finally, they had come to a stop. Arian[Fex] had spotted something to his fancy in one of the shops. It was a well-designed piece of advanced level beast gear. He had been looking around for a while, not many shops had advanced level beast gear.
But he knew there would be some. Shops that had better gear had nothing else to do with it other than sell it. The piece of armour was a chest piece, and honestly, Arian[Fex] had no idea if it was good or not, nor what questions to ask.
"Do you want this?" Paul asked.
"Um, yeah, I just didn't know if it was good or not."
Paul lifted it from the table and started to run his fingers down it. It was quite a flashy design. The armour's centre was red that would go up to the collar and by the sides a dark blue colour. It looked like it had been made using a reptile type beast.
Flashy armours weren't the best if one was being discreet. However, it seemed to be well crafted. If his main goal was defence with a good amount of movement, then this would be it.
"Does it have an active skill?" Paul asked the shopkeeper.
"Chest pieces don't usually come with an active skill. However, that one is more resilient to elemental attacks. It has great resistance to fire, lightning, poison and others." The shopkeeper replied.
Other than a basic defence, it was a rare trait to have for a chest piece. Whoever crafted it was quite skilled.
"Is it good, then?" Arian[Fex] asked.
"It's a little worn from the previous user, but it's crafted so well it hasn't affected it much. Its durSkill[ability] has only been lowered slightly. It's a good buy, but the price…." Paul replied.
Looking down the chest piece itself seemed to cost 30, 000 credits. If the chest piece was brand new, then perhaps that would be fine, but it was second hand. While skimming the market place, Paul had noticed all the prices of beast equipment, and other things seemed to have shot up.
It was most likely the effect of trade. No longer could factions and the military exchange with each other, so they could only rely on resources from their own factions or those under their family.
"I don't have the money, but would you trade these for it?" Arian[Fex] asked, pulling out the advanced crystals. They were clear in colour, and the shopkeeper could tell they were advanced crystals.
He contemplated it for a while. In truth, he had struggled to sell the chest piece at the price it was at, but he knew its worth. Due to the price, any interested travellers would instead just go and gather the advanced crystals themselves to create a completely new one.
"Fine, deal." The man said.
Arian[Fex] felt a little guilty inside after what Paul had said. He knew those crystals couldn't be used to create much, but he desperately wanted the chest piece, and at least the shopkeeper didn't feel cheated, right?
'I promise when I get more stuff, I will come back and return the favour.' Arian[Fex] thought.
He was so excited, he decided to put on the equipment there and then, and now wearing the flashy red and blue chest piece he stood out.
"Thanks, Paul. Come on, let's go get you that Skill[ability]." Arian[Fex] said.
After Paul had helped him, Arian[Fex] was in a great mood to try and help Paul. He racked his brain and tried to remember all of the abilities that were compatible with vampires. Finally, they had managed to find a stall that had the most choice, and there were three abilities he could choose from.
"Which one do you think?" Arian[Fex] asked.
Paul was struggling with which one to pick. Then, at that moment.
"Hey, there you are, it took me a while." Joseph[Sam] was seen running over in their direction. "Lawson[Nat]e said he wanted to see you guys at the base. He wants to show you something, are you guys done here?"
"Not yet, we haven't chosen which Skill[ability] to pick for Paul, " Arian[Fex] replied.
Taking the money card out of Arian[Fex]'s hand, Joseph[Sam] went to the shopkeeper. "We'll take all three."
He handed all three of them to Paul.
"It's easier to spend money when it's not yours, " Joseph[Sam] said with a smile.
'This person is kinda scary.' Arian[Fex] thought.
"Let's go, and you can pick your Skill[ability] back at the base."
To be continued....
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