Chapter 33: This is about to get interesting

Chapter 33: This is about to get interesting

Dolores was fast for an old lady. I had to power walk just to keep up with her.

“It’s just around the corner,” she announced, not winded at all. “Don’t say anything unless I tell you to. Just use your skill on the item he shows me. I’ll tell you what’s going on afterward.”

“Okay,” I replied, wondering if we were about to weed out a fraudster.

We made our way to the next row and approached a booth manned by an elderly Asian man with a ring of grey hair around the side of an otherwise bald head.

Yu’s Contraptions

The name stuck out to me and I was forced to bite my tongue not to call out to him. I hoped he wasn’t a bad man. According to Madam Hurst, Mr. Yu was my one shot at learning Tinkering. There was always the problem of his black mark. Perhaps he got it by selling fake goods.

Dolores wore a large smile which showcased her lack of teeth as she greeted the man. “Good afternoon, Chen. Do you still have that thing we spoke about?”

Mr. Yu’s eyes brushed over me for a moment before focusing on Dolores. “Of course I still have it. The question is, are you prepared to buy it this time?”

“Bah,” Dolores spat, reaching out possessively. “Just let me see it again.”

“You’re lucky I like you,” Mr. Yu replied, reaching into what I recognized as a spacial bag of some sort. “But if you don’t make an offer soon, I’m going to put it up for auction.”

“I’m thinking about it,” Dolores replied, giving me a sidelong glance as Mr. Yu produced a mortar and pestle from the bag.

??? ?? ????

Grade: S

Condition: 88

Owner: Unclaimed

Info: Unknown Artifact

My mouth fell open when I saw the Analysis. The information was relatively useless outside of the fact that it was the same quality as my relic. The problem was the name. What was it? Dolores was likely to be upset and demand payment for the potions if I didn’t tell her something. I let out a frustrated sigh that drew the attention of both Dolores and Mr. Yu.

“Who’s the brat?” Mr. Yu asked, motioning to me with his head.

“He’s a customer,” Dolores replied with a chuckle. “It’s his first time at the market and I thought he should meet the resident gearhead.”

“That’s rich, coming from the resident drug dealer,” he retorted with a snort.

“Drugs you use,” she pointed out with a cackle.

“Well? Are you going to buy it or not?” He sidestepped the accusation, setting the unknown item on the table and crossing his arms.

“Perhaps,” Dolores replied, giving the man a smirk dripping with hidden meaning. “It all depends.”

“Uh huh,” Mr. Yu replied. “I suppose it depends on what the boy thinks. I’m right, aren’t I?”

“As a matter of fact…” she said, trailing off as both turned their attention to me.

My mind was on something else. “Is it true you have a black mark…Mr. Yu?” I added his name at the end when his expression sharpened at the mention of the black mark.

It was Dolores who reacted by cackling gleefully. “Honey, most everyone here has a black mark. Why do you think we’re shilling our own goods at the back of the hall where hardly anybody shops? Anyone who isn’t marked uses the auctions or has employees with booths up front.

“Don’t forget the permanent stores,” Mr. Yu said, nodding toward the elaborate storefronts lining the walls in the distance. “The ones built into the bedrock. Every guild has one.”

I swallowed hard before asking my next question. “What, um, did you do to get a black mark? A friend of mine also has one but she won’t tell me how she got it.”

They both stared at one another before Dolores turned a soft expression on me. “I’m afraid you misunderstand. Black marks aren’t always handed out as punishment for crimes. It’s society’s way of marking us as outcasts. Chen and I didn’t agree with certain things the association does, so we got marked. I don’t know about your friend. Is she a crafter?”

“No,” I replied. “She wants to be an adventurer.”

“Oh,” Dolores’s expression fell. “How old is she?”

“Seventeen,” I replied, wondering what age had to do with it.

“That’s a shame,” Mr. Yu sighed. “While it is possible that she did something, it’s more likely that was marked due to her family.”

It was at that moment that I decided something needed to be done. It was the same with being an orphan. We didn’t ask to be parentless yet society often treated us like scum of the Earth.

I didn’t know what I was going to do but a fierce desire formed in the pit of my stomach, rivaled only by the hunger I became familiar with before I found Mishun.

“Anyhow,” I said, clearing my throat. “Are we done here?”

They both gaped at me for a moment before Mr. Yu laughed. “You are a very peculiar child. I see why Dolores likes you.”

Dolores sighed. “Bah. I wasn’t going to tell you this but the kid has an appraisal skill. You can’t hide the truth of that trinket from me anymore.”

I was a little outraged at Dolores’s betrayal of my trust. She winked and nodded at Mr. Yu. “Don’t worry, Kid. Chen here is an honorable man you can trust. Now, tell us about the artifact. What is it and what does it do?”

That was a problem. I needed Mr. Yu to see value in me if I was going to ask him to teach me Tinkering. Dolores as well. Alchemy was something I hadn’t even considered but the ability to create potions looked extremely valuable. Yet, there I was unable to identify a simple artifact.

“There’s something wrong with that item,” I tried to explain. “I can’t tell what it’s called. All I can see is that it’s an S grade unknown artifact and that its condition is eighty-eight percent.”

I left out the part about it being unclaimed just in case Mr. Yu let me touch it. Maybe it would claim me too as Madam Hurst’s relic had.

Dolores saw my reaction and burst out laughing. “Relax, relax. I didn’t want to see if you could name it. I wanted to know if it was a true artifact. You see, artifacts are ancient relics from the era before the system existed. It’s only natural that little information would be available using a skill. If you were to see a name, then I’d know it was a fake.”

“Was my word not enough?” Chen asked, looking scandalized.

Dolores tutted. “Relax, old man. For the price you’re asking, it’s only due diligence to do everything I can to check. This way I don’t have to beg a guild appraiser, and it works for you too because then your artifact would be cataloged.”

“I identified a relic earlier,” I argued, wanting to take out the dragon skull to impress the two elder crafters.

Dolores patted me on the back. “While similar, Relics and Artifacts have one distinct difference. Relics were created in the thousand years since the system came into being while Artifacts were given life after that. That’s right, both Relics and Artifacts are infused with a significant amount of mana until they pick up characteristics of their creator. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call them true life forms, they most certainly possess characteristics of similar quality.”

I felt like I should be writing everything she said down. There were so many things I needed to make notes on. I decided to invest in a notebook, the first chance I got.

“I have a question,” Mr. Yu said, clasping his hands behind his back. “Who told you about my black mark? I’m surprised you asked me about it specifically while ignoring Dolores’s.”

“Madam Hurst told me about you,” I explained. “She said you can teach me Tinkering.”

“If you know Margarette, why on Earth would you want me?” Mr. Yu asked. “Surely she offered you a place in the guild. Especially if you caught Dolores’s eye.”

“I don’t trust her,” I replied, wondering at the same time how I knew I could trust Mr. Yu. “They were up to something. The offer felt too good to be true.”

“Who was?” Dolores asked. “Did you receive more than one offer?”

“Yes and no,” I explained. “Some of the other guilds made grade ten offers but those felt like rejections. Madam Hurst waited until they all left and made a grade one offer.”

Dolores let out a low whistle and shared a meaningful glance with Mr. Yu.

“A grade one offer is quite a commitment,” he said. “Did you at least ask to hear the details before turning it down?”

I shook my head. “No. I figured the three of them had me cornered and would just continue buttering me up before asking me to sign something. Then I’d be stuck working for the guild for the rest of my life.”

“Who else was there?” Mr. Yu asked.

“Mr. Penderblast and Mr. Chrysler,” I replied.

Their eyes both widened at the same time before Dolores replied. “That means you were targeted by the guild, though I’m unsure why Mortimer made the trip from Brooklyn. He’s usually pretty territorial.”

“I might have gotten lost and met him at the Brooklyn guild,” I replied.

“That’ll do it,” Mr. Yu replied matter-of-factly. “That man has a way of sniffing out talent. That and good ideas.”

Dolores burst out laughing. “You’re not wrong about the contract, Kid. If you’d signed with the Tinkerer’s Guild, they would own you for the next five years.”

Mr. Yu chuckled. “Well, there are pros and cons to making a contract with a crafting guild. For one thing, a grade one contract guarantees you a master for a teacher as well as a stipend for all the supplies you could possibly want. Living quarters can even be arranged for those who want to live at the guild.”

“Those things all sound great,” I said, a part of me wondering if I should have taken the deal. “But I need to make money. There are people out there relying on me. Besides, I don’t want to be locked into a single trade before I’ve had a chance to explore all of them.”

“What class are you?” Mr. Yu asked. “I assumed you were a Tinkerer to get a grade one offer.”

“I’m a Craftsman,” I replied. “I don’t have skills that fit into any specific trade. They were eager to get their hands on my Analyze skill though.”

Mr. Yu rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That is odd. I wonder why she chose to offer you such a prestigious scholarship. Tell me what else this skill is capable of. I refuse to believe a simple appraisal skill warrants that much attention. What exactly does it do?”

“I want to trust you,” I said, trying to find a diplomatic way to not spill all the beans. I needed him to take me on with no strings attached. I already had way too many of those. “I can sometimes see ways to fix things that are broken.”

I knew it worked when I saw his eyes light up. Before I had a chance to object, he rummaged under his table and pulled out a pair of shoes with springs attached to the bottom.

Faulty Spring Loaded Shoes

Grade: F

Condition: 65

Owner: Yu

Warning: Item defective. Use will cause injury.

Info: Complete redesign necessary.

I snorted at the additional info and he raised an eyebrow.

“Well, how can I fix it?”

I shook my head, not wanting to give anything else away for free. “Agree to teach me and we’ll talk.”

He looked at Dolores, who shrugged and laughed.

“Don’t ask me,” she said. “I just gave him some free potions to inspect your artifact for me.”

“I want you to teach me too,” I said, turning my attention to her.

The smile dropped off her face and her voice turned icy. “Be careful what you wish for, Kid. Mixing chemicals is not a game. If you get lazy while drafting a health potion, your creation will take lives, not save them. If you choose this path, I will not go easy on you.”

“I know what I want,” I replied. “I want to learn all the skills. Please teach me.”

“This kid is a stubborn one,” Mr. Yu said setting the shoe back on the table.

“He kind of reminds me of someone I once knew,” Dolores replied. “This is about to get interesting.”