"Welcome to the Bizarre Bazaar! My name is Styge! Is this your first time here?"
"It's his first time…" Immortal said, pointing at Zhang.
"Well, then allow me to be your guide…"
"What is this place?" Zhang asked, unable to contain his curiosity and not waiting for them to enter the city.
"Since the Calamity of Souls, it has become difficult to do business in the city of Stygai, so the Eternal King, in his infinite and great wisdom, created this place… According to the oldest Necromancers, this huge place was just a small piece of his Soul Box… Which, after being separated from his body, was fixed inside the Central Tower of Stygai, where he shaped it into this place where everyone could do business safely without having to leave their towers…"
"WHAT! Just a part of his Soul Box? How big is the real one?" Zhang shouted in exasperation as he looked at his own Soul Box, which, after three years of meditation, had only gained a tiny additional space…
"The powers of the Eternal King are unfathomable, remember that he is the First Necromancer of this world…" Immortal spoke with a voice of respect.
Zhang swallowed hard and asked another question: "Shouldn't there only be a few Necromancers inside Stygai? Why does it seem so crowded here?"
"Indeed, but have you forgotten that Necromancers are always accompanied by many servants? Some of them stay here in this place doing business in their names. And others are subordinate creatures of Necromancers who have already died or are in the process of resurrection… Furthermore, the mirror that we used to enter here, there are several of them scattered around the world in the hands of Necromancers from other regions of Planetos…" Immortal replied again.
Styge, the guide, took advantage of the pause and continued his explanation, now that they were already inside the streets of the ghost town…
"Inside the Bizarre Bazaar, you can buy anything you want, from corpses, artifacts, Relics, common and rare souls, magical materials, slaves, rituals, magic books… You can also hire all kinds of people or specific services… And of course, you can also sell anything you want, or offer your services… If you're interested, there are many looking for apprentices to become their guinea pigs…"
"I'm not interested…" Zhang said, making the gestures of a shiver, even though he didn't have a body now…
"So, master, why did we come here?"
"Styge, we want to buy some Golden Ghost Dust, check for us if anyone is selling it… Also, Esmer asked for (low-level) Altered Race slaves. Ten of them, he is currently living in my tower, so go through the procedures to send them to him… While you check the Ghost Dust, let's take a look at some items for sale in the surrounding area…"
"Leave it to me!"
After shouting, the ghost butler flew away, and Zhang and his master began to look at the stalls, sometimes they weren't even stalls, just a peddler with the items on the ground while shouting in the Asshai'i language…
"The best version of the Bloodline Curse! We guarantee at least 8 generations of suffering for anyone who offended you!"
"I have two human hearts with soul affinity! You won't miss the opportunity to acquire such a rare item, will you?"
"I have a tonic capable of temporarily reducing the effects of Necrotic Energy to almost non-existent levels!"
"Hey, master, should we buy some of those tonics?"
"There are scammers here too, be careful with such miraculous things…" Immortal warned.
"So, how do we guarantee that something someone sells is real?"
"All sales here can be finalized using contracts with the Bizarre Bazaar itself, that is, using the Eternal King's name in the contract… Although many will avoid this to avoid additional fees… But be wary, and whenever you come here alone, don't forget to use the contract so you don't get scammed…"
"Yes, master…"
"Hey kid, I can tell you're a young Necromancer just by the appearance of your soul… Want to buy an intact corpse of a Shadowmancer? This guy is the real thing! A true, Powerful Mage with many advanced spells! Perfect to be your first Lich!" Shouted a soul that looked more like a zombie due to how deformed its face was.
Zhang approached along with Immortal, and together they began to check the condition of the body.
"How much?"
"8,000 soul stones!"
"What? That's too expensive, I can't afford it."
"7,600 soul stones!"
"No, no… Too expensive, I have 5,500 soul stones, will you accept?"
"Sure, I'll do it—"
"Wait a minute!"
Being interrupted near the end of his sale, the salesman glared at Immortal and was about to push him away when his deformed jaw dropped open.
"Lord Immortal? Hehe, sorry. I didn't recognize you… How can I help you?"
"How can you charge 5500 soul stones for such a weak corpse? Not only did you not say what skill this Shadowmancer had, you also didn't admit how many advanced spells he had in life… Are you trying to gain an advantage over my apprentice?
"I was just going to say that… Well, he only has 1 advanced fire-type spell, called "Great Wall of Fire"… And his shadowmantic skill is called "Permanent Mark", he can mark one or more targets, and always know their locations…"
"Hmm, an advanced defense spell, and a completely useless shadowmantic skill… Finding someone who will pay 2900 soul stones for that would already be a charity for your business…"
"How about 2700 soul stones, a real bargain, huh?"
Immortal fell silent, and Zhang took out the 2700 soul stones from his "Soul Box", passing them to the vendor and storing the Shadowmancer's corpse. Now that he was finishing his Undead Knight, he would work on this body to create his first Lesser Lich…
"Thank you, master. How did you know he only had one advanced spell and his Shadowmancer skill wasn't good?"
"When we get back, I'll give you a list of everyone's names and faces… With just one look, you'd know that both that vendor and his master wouldn't have such a powerful corpse, since they're both quite weak…"
"Well, I was lying about having so little money, but I still saved up quite a bit… So, what's that Ghost Dust for?"
"You're about to learn the "Purge Soul" spell, right? Why did you choose it and not Exorcism?"
"Because Purge Soul causes damage to both the living and the dead. While exorcism only expels the soul from the body of the possessed person, it cannot be used offensively when there are not two souls occupying the same body..."
"And what happens if you use "Purge Soul" on a soul and it dies?"
"I don't know about that..."
"Whenever you use this spell, or any powerful offensive magic spell, the soul is completely exterminated.. And when that happens, 1 in 10 souls will leave behind Ghost Dust. The color of this dust is gray, and almost resembles a burned body.. But 1 in 100 souls killed this way will leave behind a bluish dust. And 1 in 1000 souls exterminated this way will drop a Golden Ghost Dust.. Well, that's just a measure, you could get lucky and get a golden one in just 10 tries, or exterminate 3000 souls and get none..."
"1 in 1000? Is this the Dust we're after today? What does it do?"
"You use these dusts in a ritual to strengthen soul-type creatures… The more high-level dusts you use, the faster the soul will strengthen, the greater the chance of the soul acquiring special abilities, and the greater the chance of evolving…"
Zhang's eyes finally understood why his master had brought him here…
****
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Leery Falcon, Parsa, Scott Robertson, and Pato Senalima!
Magic Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, Kobe Robertson, Paul Gaslac, Niteo akuma, and 704Corleon!
Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley and Avacus!
****
Special thanks to the Patreons:
Sage's Supporter: Jan, Vinnie, frimorigo, Leery Falcon, Parsa, Scott Robertson, and Pato Senalima!
Magic Apprentice: Axel Bour, Gabriele Sulpizio, Takatchi, mandeep singh, Austin, Kobe Robertson, Paul Gaslac, Niteo akuma, and 704Corleon!
Senior Magic Apprentice: Cole Bromley and Avacus!