Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 90: Book 2: Chapter 7: Shopping Spree

Read chapter 90 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 2: Chapter 7: Shopping Spree Book 2: Chapter 7: Shopping Spree Like a fist breaking stone, the sun cracked over the edge of the black void of the sky and slipped out over Vrung’s Quarry. A light morning haze rolled off the hillsides and over rooftops, the heavy smell of coal smoke filled in close behind, gaving the whole place a scent of old sweat mixed with a tang scorched iron. Despite the smell, it was perfect shopping weather. The squad spilled out of Celeste’s shop in a slow scatter, still stretching and yawning, rubbing sleep from their eyes and checking weapons like someone might rob them on the way to breakfast. They weren’t technically wrong. “Two hours,” Alex said, glancing up from tightening his belt. “Then we regroup at the well. Don’t get in trouble, okay.” “Define ‘trouble,’” Garret said, already heading toward the nearest smithy with Lance in tow. Eric sighed and followed them. Allie and Cole left in search of medical herbs, ingredients or enchanted items, basically any and all things Alchemy. Meanwhile Henry, and Holly went off in search of their own wares. Kate went off by herself, she didn’t say where. Devon left with Peter to find anything related to Glyphs. Eventually, everyone left the shop, each of them had a small pouch of coins from the money Alex had left over after selling Celeste the Pseudo-Beast Core. He watched them all go with a growing sense of dread. “This is how we end up in side quests.” *** Devon adjusted his glasses as he approached the cluster of rune stalls nestled between two squat stone buildings. Peter walked beside him, nodding politely to each vendor like the men standing behind the stalls were diplomats and not half-drunk rune scribes hawking knockoff fire charms. One stall caught their attention immediately, a spread of etched stones glowing faintly with emberlight, laid out on black velvet like trophies. “Ooh,” Devon said, already stepping closer. “Obvious peak beginner glyphs… interlinked charge flow… this is good stuff.” “Expensive stuff,” Peter muttered, thumbing a price tag. “These are those layered sigils that you and Alex talked about right? Probably elemental-specific.” Devon grinned like a kid in a candy store. “Which means upgrade potential. Especially if we can modulate them with Alex’s glyph plate he got from the Kobolds.” Peter blinked. “You think he’ll actually share that?” “Eventually,” Devon shrugged. “Maybe. If I bribe him with snacks.” *** Allie and Cole didn’t talk much as they wandered through the open-air stretch of Vrung’s market. It wasn’t the awkward kind of silence, either. Just the easy sort, like two people who’d fought side-by-side enough times to let quiet speak for itself. They stopped beneath a faded green awning whose splintered supports and shoddy craftsmanship told them that the whole thing was held up more by sheer stubbornness than physics. Pouches and bundles dangled from crooked hooks, most of them smelling vaguely like peppermint and something that had, at one point or another been alive, been alive, but no longer. Allie’s eyes immediately landed on a mortar and pestle sitting at the edge of the wood-plank counter. It was engraved with healing glyphs that glowed faintly with energy when inspected in just the right angle. “Oh yeah,” she muttered as she picked it up. “This is nice .” The vendor, a hunched old woman with only three teeth and possibly more herbs in her hair than on the table, grinned at her. “Salve-stirrer. One of a kind. Crushes roots, herbs, and mistakes if you grind hard enough.” Cole raised an eyebrow. “Does it come with a translator?” Allie elbowed him gently. “Hush. I like her.” They walked away ten minutes later with some enchanted bandages, a brewing talisman, and a beginner salve kit that smelled like peppermint and bloodroot. *** Across the town, Lance, Garret, Eric, and Zach had stumbled upon a cluster of smiths. Lance was already holding up a chestplate in the sunlight, admiring the way it gleamed. “This one’s got