Dovgrey moved immediately, not to the weapons or armour or bulk areas but the other side of the cart where all the trinkets and smaller items were. He reached out, shoving some of the merchandise aside before he began to pluck various items from the smaller section out.
An inkwell that looked to be made for stamps. Or perhaps had some solid ink within - hard to tell, with the case closed. An orange-yellow pouch with stitching all along the edges that had caught Arthur's eyes, because they definitely looked like enchanted embroidery. A ring and then a piercing, the kind that went into the nose or body or belly button. Finally, he plucked out two different knives from the group and a small statue of a monkey made in a mixture of jade and silver.
"That's... quite the collection," Arthur said, eyeing the statue in particular. Not something he would even have considered.
"Not done yet." Dovgrey next moved to the books and scrolls, flipping through them till he extracted two more out and dumping them before Arthur. “Now I’m done.”
“No weapons?” Arthur said. “No backpacks or packs?”
“Look first before you talk.” A hand waved, and Arthur blinked as he felt something pressing on his mind from the Tower. Realising what it was a moment later, Arthur grabbed at the pouch, curious if it was what he thought it might be.
Pouch of Extradimensional Storage
Effect: Stores up to 80 liters of goods.
“Exactly what I thought,” Arthur said. He touched the first pouch, the one he got when he started, the one he kept all the stones in. The only form of extradimensional storage he had, and only really useful for such small amounts.
On the other hand, 80 liters was about twice the size of a big backpack. Depending on how the pouch worked, he might even be able to store his spear in it. When he raised the question, Dovgrey snorted at him.
“Sure, but I wouldn’t.”
“Why not?” Arthur asked.
“It’s a pouch. You pierce the other end, you destroy the enchantment. You put it facing up and stick your hand in, you’re going to cut yourself.”
“I could put a cap on it…” Arthur trailed off, shaking his head. He could see the impracticality of that. For one thing, he wouldn’t even be able to use his spear if he extracted it, not immediately. The number of times he might need that would be high too. In addition… “This just a pouch?”
“Yes. Doesn’t grow in size or change to fit whatever you can’t fit.”
Stretching the bands as far as he could, Arthur noted it was a good foot across. A decent size, but it wouldn’t fit, for example, a foot or a haunch of meat within. Made storing things difficult if he needed to extract more materials. More to the point, in general, there just weren’t that many drops in a Beginner Tower.
“Weight reduction?”
“95%.”
“Damn…” Now that made a difference. Even if he wanted to put the contents of his current backpack within, all his mundane goods and pots and pans and the like, it would make him a lot more maneuverable. No wonder Dovgrey didn’t bother with the rest of the normal pack. This was better, by far, than any of that.
Arthur put the pouch back down, grabbed the statue next. Let the pressure build a little before letting the notification that was waiting appear.
Howler Monkey of Warding
Effect: Creates multiple (fourteen) howler monkey simulacra that will spread out across the encampment and audibly warn owner of incoming threats.
“Oh, nice.” Arthur didn’t even need to ask why this was chosen. Protective wards while resting were very important, especially as one climbed higher and were alone. Even if you were together, an extra set – or fourteen – of eyes could be useful. “Let me guess though, they actually have to see the threat. So something with good stealth could sneak pass. But they’re monkeys, so they’ll likely take to trees or higher spots to keep watch?”
“Yes. They’re simulacra so they’re better than actual animals as their attention will not wander as much. However…”
“Still prone to wandering a little.” Arthur grunted. No indication of how far they’d spread either, but he assumed that was mostly a question of geography. Not likely to go too far out, being pack animals. “Good choice…”
He put that one to the side, then started sorting a little faster. The ink was an actual block of ink, which could be ground down to make ink. With the right skillset, you could create temporary enchantments. Someone who’d studied the right cultivation techniques could create talismans – one-off use enchantments – to suit the circumstances. No surprise that one of the manuals on offer was willing to teach Arthur how to do that.
“Tempting, but no.” Not because he couldn’t see how useful having such enchantments could be. Or because of how much time it would take to learn a new skill or master it. “So expensive lah. Who got money to burn like this?”
A shake of his head as he pushed it aside, continuing on to the other cultivation scroll that had been pulled aside.
Shadow Sense
Spiritual technique that spreads emanations from an individual’s aura to provide a tertiary sensory method. Can be combined with other aura techniques. More powerful in shadows and darkness and those using Yin chi.
Effect: Creates a tertiary sensory technique via aura emanations. Range and fidelity of the shadow sense dependent upon strength of user and completion rate of skill.
Arthur blinked, reading over the description twice more before he found himself asking. “What’s the range?”
“Starts out short, like a foot or two from your body. After that, it grows as you get better.” Dovgrey let out a little shrug which made his entire shell shift. That brought to mind how the creature had not extracted a single item from the storage compartments of his shell, the place where Arthur was certain all the good stuff lay.
Could he have gotten something there, if he asked? Or was it just a matter of personal items stored in there, to make sure Dovgrey didn’t lose his personal items if he was teleported by the Tower out of danger. Another man, someone willing to risk the turtle's ire might ask. As for him...
“So, this is it? Not as though I can trade all in on for one good thing?" he said.
"You already did that." Dovgrey smiled. "You don't have enough, not with that budget of yours."
"And if I increased it.."
Big eyes drifted down to his pouch, staring at the pouch before coming back up to Arthur. "Not enough, not yet."
"Yeah, I figured." Arthur sighed, moving on to the other items.
Ring of Piercing
Effect: Increases piercing effect of all edged weapons within user’s aura by 15%. Reduces opponent’s physical resistance by 10%.
Arthur grunted as he read the information. Simple enough enchanted item, similar in many ways to his own Focused Strike but an on-going effect. Not perfect, of course, because unlike his own technique, this worked only for edged weapons on the thrust and cut. Not so much use if he was bludgeoning anyone – which meant kicking or punching was out of the question for its effects.
On the other hand, that was only the first part of it. The second portion of the ring meant that even his blunt attacks or any of the secondary crushing or physical damage was going to be more effective. Add the fact that it was a persistent effect and this was a much better ring than his own Focused Strike, even if less effective overall.
“This one’s sangat mahal, eh?”
“Of course it’s expensive.” A nod to the pile. “All enchanted items are.”
He didn’t ask further, figuring they’d get around to bargaining once he was done looking it all through. Arthur had noted that none of the items had a price on it, which reminded him all too much of wandering along Petaling Street with a tourist, trying to find a deal.
Surprising, how much a single fake Rolex could jump in pricing, depending on who you were with or how they acted. He’d once played tour guide to a young lady he’d met at a club, and winced when they’d exclaimed how badly they wanted a fake bag, especially when it was already four times as expensive as he knew he could have gotten it. At that point, bargaining was not a question.
She’d still bought it and thought he was a genius for getting it at half off.
Piercing of Energy Enhancement
Effect: Increases use of Tower Energy by 5%
“Boss?”
“Oh, that one…” A lazy nod. “It’s good.”