The first destination for the two adventurers was Sibyl's old alchemy shop. The wooden decor, the potions with different effects, and the smell of herbs remained the same as they were a few days ago.
"Old customers return to my shop".
The alchemist was laughing as she waved for the customers to approach the counter where she stood. Her beauty was as stunning as ever to the two warm-blooded young men.
"I'd like to order vitality and magic energy replacement potions".
"I just want the vitality ones".
Fay's other potions were still intact, so he didn't need to order a replacement for energy or magic; he only needed the most used potion, the health one. It didn't take long for them to be on the table and for the payment to be made. The security of having them was essential for any hunter, whether experienced or not.
"Any other requests?".
Jon wanted to know a few things about this other world; he wanted to improve himself so he wouldn't be at death's door again.
"My limit will be the iron rank if I continue like this".
His words came out without a stutter after thinking about the desired object; the alchemist should have it or instructions on where to get it.
"Could you sell me a book about magical energy and how to use it?". "I'm a fool when it comes to this, and I'd like to increase my abilities".
The young woman smiled before leaving the counter. It took some time, about ten minutes, before she returned, her hands carrying three books on magic.
"The first book is called 'Magic Theory'; it deals with the theory of how magical energy works and how to use it". "
The second book is 'Magical Elements'; the content is more about elemental affinities".
"The third is 'The Mana'; this book teaches various things like magical energy, elements, affinities, and other essential information".
"I'll buy the first one".
"3 silver coins".
"Here".
The hunter took the book with some excitement, thinking about the world of magic. His bullets could become even stronger after studying the theory more deeply and implementing his own ideas.
"How many coins do you have left?".
"2 silver coins and 50 bronze coins".
"Six silver coins left."
Fay had more funds because he spent much less on potions, having to buy only one.
The blacksmith's forge was very close to the alchemist's shop. It didn't take them long to arrive. The environment was hot like a sauna, with the unmistakable smell of metal, quite similar to a mechanic's workshop.
" Egil left your cut of the spoils. That's six silver coins apiece. "
Dunstan was happy when he saw his customers entering; the happiness of selling a weapon or armor was priceless.
" Looking for a full iron set—something versatile for a spear user. "
" Need some repairs on my gear. "
His smile widened as he got a job to do. The materials were placed on the table to be worked on.
"Anything else?".
Jon was in doubt about a certain thing, for which he didn't want to learn the art of forging to solve the problem. His weapon materialized to show the blacksmith in front of him.
"Could you forge ammunition for this weapon? Its shots depend on this type of projectile".
The ability to create magical energy projectiles was used; the bullet was not made of metal like those on Earth, but of mana, and its tone was bluish like the waters of a freshwater river.
"A contractual artifact is very interesting. You must want to produce artificial ammunition to prevent the unnecessary expenditure of mana".
"Contractual artifact?".
"A contractual artifact is a type of object, weapon, or the like. The difference is that they are obtained after a being from the higher plane agrees to gift them".
The description seemed to match the way he received his Colt; the beings from the higher plane had dragged him to this new world and gifted him with the system.
"I'll get a piece of paper".
Dunstan was looking at the ammunition in Jon's hand; his focus was on the paper and the bullet. The paper contained drawings of how it could be made, the materials to be used, and the possible shapes.
"Show me how you load your contractual artifact and use it".
Walker went through the entire loading process, showing where the bullet was inserted, showing the weapon being unlocked, and also the trigger being pulled to fire it.
"Come back in 7 days so we can test the prototype. We'll make several and test them. The final project should be ready in a month".
"Thank you".
His gaze was now on Fay as he thought about which armor he could offer the boy; the armor had to match his fighting style.
"I have the perfect one".
The waiting time was a few minutes while he gathered the pieces deemed suitable for a spearman's style.
"A breastplate made of iron and animal leather, the perfect mix for an agile warrior".
The front and back were completely made of iron, but the sleeves and sides were made of animal leather. The part made of animal leather was very elastic and guaranteed agility.
"Leather gauntlets with a small part of sacred silver. Protection against evil creatures".
Most of the gauntlets were made of leather—the boys wanted to call them gloves—and the silver parts were present as if they were stitched lines.
"Greaves and sabatons of the same material as the gauntlets, which will boost your spear style".
The sacred silver materials could help Fay when using the power of light given by the Heavenly Father; the small amount was not expensive when only a few lines were made.
"How much is it?".
"It's 10 silver coins. Pay 5 now and 5 next week".
"Thank you!".
Dunstan was thanked with tears in the spearman's eyes, who was running out of money as he saw the amount spent.
"Yours is 2 silver coins to repair your animal leather clothes".
"Thank you".
The spearman left the blacksmith's forge with a huge pain in his savings; he didn't like being as close to bankruptcy as he was now.
"Let's go to the stable now".
"I hope we can buy something".
"Me too".
Jon's first optimistic comment seemed out of character for him; he didn't like to wait for luck to buy a decent mount.
"Where is the stable?".
"I don't know".
The shooter's answer left them both at a loss. Their decision was to head towards a certain known merchant.
"Dimitri should know where there's a good one".
"Yes, your friend works a lot with mounts".
It took some time to get to Dimitri's shop to get some information about mounts.
"Hello, boys". The merchant still had a pleasant face to charm others with his tongue.
"Hello, Dimitri".
Both returned the greeting politely. The happiness in seeing this old acquaintance was noticeable in the eyes of the former inhabitant of Earth.
"We wanted to buy some mounts, but we don't know where to find them".
His smile widened as he heard the call for business coming; the sound of coins was always welcome.
"I can act as an intermediary with an acquaintance of mine so you can buy a decent mount for a hunter".
He went into his shop very quickly, taking no more than 10 seconds to go in and come back.
"Look at the available mounts and also check the price for your budget".
Opening that catalog was something surreal for both of them. The way they looked at it was as if they were buying a car and looking at the catalog.
"Look at this hippogriff! 5 gold coins".
Fay's excitement died at that very moment as he looked at the five-gold-coin hippogriff; the pain in his wallet felt like a pain in his heart at that moment.
"The Pegasus costs 2 gold coins".
Both decided to look at the section with mounts priced in bronze and silver coins; they didn't want to hurt their souls by thinking about the mounts they deemed cool in their eyes. Each of their gazes stopped on different creatures.
Walker's stopped on a black horse with red pupils, priced at 3 silver and 50 bronze coins. The other was on an ox with fur as white as if it lived in the snow and blue pupils, priced at 3 silver coins.
Both animals looked very strong in the illustrations, and their described height was almost 2 meters for both. They seemed like cool mounts in the minds of the two.
"I want the shadow horse".
"The snow ox is mine".
"Now you must give me 2 more silver coins on top of that, for the transport and negotiation fee".
Their pockets seemed to be bleeding when they heard these words; it didn't seem so cheap anymore upon taking another look.
"How long will it take to arrive?".
The shooter's curiosity was piqued as he wondered how long it would take to receive his newest companion.
"1 to 2 weeks".
Discouragement took over as they took the coins out of their pockets to make the payment.
"I'll contact you when the day comes".
They left the shop with sadness for being almost bankrupt; they could hardly spend on anything other than food.
"Let's meet tomorrow to do some mission. We'll meet at the guild".
Night was already falling at the time of the spearman's farewell; he was tired from visiting many places.
"I'm going to have dinner at the Styx Hotel".
"That must be just to talk to Isabel".
"Yes, she should be waiting for me".
One went to the adventurers' guild, because it was the place where he would normally have his evening meals; the other went to the place where he was staying, where someone was waiting to talk.
The hotel's dining room was a large hall with black decor, a white ceiling, and simple drawings of men and women dancing; the colors of the drawings were varied. Jon and Isabel were eating while looking at each other to catch up on conversation.
One's meal was fried fish with some side dishes, the other's was pork with some vegetables. Both decided not to drink beer or anything of the sort during the conversation; they opted for something like juice to keep their thoughts lucid.
"How was your day?".
The hotel employee was curious about her friend's day; curiosity took over her.
"It was normal. I bought several things to prepare for my adventures. Was yours good too?".
"It was good. I'm alive and there was no trouble. The only bad thing is the boredom".
Isabel was calm as she remembered how her day had been; she wasn't missing much besides a little excitement.
"When are you leaving for a mission?".
"Tomorrow. I'm short on money and this life demands a lot of silver to maintain".
"It must be nice to have these adventures".
"Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. The magic of discovering new places is very beautiful, but the heat of a battle to the death is not".
The young woman was laughing as she discovered more things about the man in front of her; the food and the conversation were to her liking.
Time went on and didn't seem to pass correctly; the sound of people talking or the smell of food didn't affect either of them as they talked about the most diverse topics.
Lying in bed was very relaxing for the inexperienced hunter; the feeling of being at home and safe was comforting.
"System, will I ever be able to go back home?".
The feeling of homesickness made him want to ask this of the gift from those of the higher world, who had given him this gift.
"No".
The blue screen was direct when it answered the question; the feeling of homesickness turned into sadness in the same instant.
"System, I'm going to sleep".
The blue screen did not answer anything until the user fell asleep; the answer was something not to be observed.
"Good night, Jon".
Status: Strength: F-
Dexterity: D-
Magic: F+
Agility: D-
Wisdom: D-.