Chapter 29: Trade Hall

  James remained standing in place, his eyes growing more and more bloodshot. He suddenly closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands, screaming into them. Afterward, he lowered his hands, showing that the numerous bloody veins had disappeared from the whites of his eyes. He began pacing in his lab, mumbling to himself.

  “Strange… Why did I become so angry? I never used to be like this. When did I start feeling such intense agitation? I need to calm my mind.”

  James continued to pace back and forth, his eyebrows slanting as he frowned deeply in rumination. After a short while, he stopped and took out a crystal orb.

  “It’s me. I’m going to need you to further assess his strength for me.”

  “Yeah, I know one of your friends had to be sent to the infirmary. That was because she wasn’t good enough.”

  “No, I'm not asking you to do it yourself. Do you not have anyone else you can use?”

  “Fine, fine. I’ll back your faction if you do this for me.”

  James placed the orb back down with a sigh. Though he still did not understand why his emotions were so intensely negative, he had to at least try and do something to solve it. The only method he knew of was to destroy Damon to assuage his own jealousy.

  The next morning, Damon set off with Dylan to visit the Trade Hall. When Damon had mentioned the previous day that he was going to the Trade Hall for the first time, Dylan had ‘graciously’ offered to be his guide.

  “Older Brother Damon, the Trade Hall is over there! See that large building that looks like a pavilion? That’s the one! It’s modeled after the actual Verdant Sigil Pavilion that runs the Assembly’s commerce!” Dylan restlessly chatted from beside Damon. He seemed quite content with showing off his knowledge.

  Up ahead, a structure with seven stories stood tall with a curved roof and overhanging eaves decorated in a magnificent, yet elegant pattern. The entire roof and outer wall were covered in verdant tiles, making it glitter under the sunlight. Though it was mighty and grand, Damon thought it might be a bit much to blind everyone looking at it with the shiny tiles.

  Damon and Dylan walked into the Trade Hall, where they saw a wide open area, filled with cabinets displaying various goods. The goods on display here were subpar; the true treasures would either be in the hands of the managers or perhaps not even at this location currently. Many apprentices were milling about, looking at the various wares. They could also see many men and women wearing completely verdant robes, looking obviously different from the Academy robes. These were the attendants.

  Suddenly, from across the hall, Damon heard a cheerful, high-pitched voice yell out.

  “Hey! Hey, you! Damon Fletcher! How come you didn’t activate my arcane mark yet?” A pretty and petite young girl with blonde hair tied up in a ponytail came bounding over from a distance. At her original location stood a young man with visible surprise and a hint of anger and frustration on his face.

  In a flash, a small girl was standing in front of Damon and Dylan, smiling at them with a silly grin.

  “Hello! Good to see you again! I expected you to activate the arcane mark, but you still haven’t done so in over a week! Shame on you!” The girl pointed at Damon’s face while acting angry.

  Damon closed his eyes and counted to 10. He hoped it was a figment of his imagination and she would be gone when he opened his eyes again. Yet, when he finally did so, he was greeted by a close-up of her face.

  “Agh!” Damon shouted in shock as he retreated a few steps. The girl had stood up and almost pressed her face into his while on her tiptoes.

  “Why are you closing your eyes? Why aren’t you answering me? Oh, and who are you, kid?” The girl smiled brightly and looked between the two boys. It was Claire.

  Damon inspected Claire for a second, realizing she was wearing the robes of a Trade Hall attendant. Over in the distance, he could still see the young man looking over in annoyance and bitterness. He was probably in the middle of a transaction with Claire when she had completely forgotten about him and sprinted over.

  Just as Damon was about to remind her of the young man’s existence, Claire spoke first.

  “Seriously, Damon. Why didn’t you add my arcane mark to your communication orb? It can’t be that you still haven’t obtained one, right? You need to add it quickly, otherwise the remnant arcane power in the mark will fade, and you will no longer be able to do so!”

  Damon became intrigued by her words and immediately forgot about the existence of the young man as well. “Oh? Is that how it works? I managed to get a communication orb from the Legacy Hall Leader, so I should add your mark now!”

  Damon withdrew a crystal orb and two sheets of parchment with arcane marks inscribed on them. These two were the arcane marks he had received from Igor and Claire. He placed the pieces of parchment against the crystal orb, which promptly absorbed the inscription, leaving it blank as though there had never been anything there.

  Claire withdrew her communication orb as well, before whispering into it as it glowed softly with a translucent light. She had a devious smile on her face as she did so.

  Damon looked down at his communication orb, which was flashing as it displayed an image of Claire’s arcane mark. Once he channeled a tiny bit of arcane power into it, he immediately heard her voice as though she had whispered directly into his ears.

  “Hahaha! Now I can chat with you whenever I want!” This message echoed in Damon’s ears.

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  Damon felt a shiver run down his spine. He had become too relaxed since arriving at the Academy. Unknowingly, he had been cornered as he had once been before. He believed this occasion to be even more dangerous than before. He felt an impending doom soar over his head as the thought of being contacted tens, or hundreds of times a day, flashed through his mind.

  After a brief lapse in his focus, Damon returned to the present. He glanced at Claire once more before his curiosity got the better of him. He couldn’t help but ask, “Hey, Claire. You were working in the entrance hall a week ago. How did you suddenly get a job as a Trade Hall attendant? Did they move you for some reason?”

  “Oh, that! I quit my job as the entrance hall attendant because it was way too boring! I didn’t see another person for a week after you! I even asked the Mission Hall to find me a companion to work with, but they didn’t have a single application. Can you believe that? So, I decided I’d come over here because the Trade Hall is always busy! I don’t like the Mission Hall, and the Legacy Hall…”

  Flailing her arms in the air with an aggrieved expression on her face, Claire looked like a chimpanzee fighting another over their territory. She suddenly stopped twisting and jerking around when she reached this point in her sentence and turned around to look at Damon.

  “Wait, did you say you got your orb from the Legacy Hall Leader? He’s known for being a stingy old man, charging outrageous sums of merit points to glance at a single page of a book and trying to scam you if you let your guard down for even half a second. How did you manage to wrangle anything out of that greedy old man’s claws?” Claire was genuinely surprised when her thoughts arrived at this point.

  “Oh, yeah. I was scammed into cleaning the Hall for him, and he gave it to me as a token. By the way, how did you quit your mission and accept a new one immediately? I was told I wouldn’t be able to quit my mission for an entire year since I accepted this one…” Damon asked, still feeling slightly dejected.

  “Hehehe, it's top secret! Let’s just say, my words carry a lot of weight around here. So, you’d better be nicer to me from now on! I don’t have many friends, and I have already decided that you’ll be my friend from now on. You got that?” Claire crossed her arms across her chest and gazed at Damon with a satisfied smile.

  Why me? Why did she have to choose me of all people? Is this a form of fate as well? Are the heavens forsaking me for the lives I have reaped, tormenting me instead of smiting me directly? Damon could only cry his frustrations at the heavens inside his own mind.

  “By the way, I asked who you were, kid. What’s your name? How old are you? Where are you from? What department are you in? I’ve never seen you before. You seem pretty close to Damon! You must be a pretty good person then.” Claire changed her target and started firing off a series of questions and statements.

  “I… Uh… I’m Dylan… I’m… In the… Materials Handling department…” Dylan mumbled as he looked straight down at his feet.

  “Tsk. Tsk. I don’t like wishy-washy people. Be more confident in yourself! Anyway, I think I need to get back to work now, so I’ll see you later, Damon. You have to answer my communications, okay? You can’t just ignore me, okay? Okay?” Claire looked like a child begging for candy as she stared imploringly into Damon’s eyes.

  “Okay, Claire… I’ll answer as long as I’m not busy…” Damon shifted his glance to the side as he made a feeble excuse.

  “Haa… I guess that’s the best I can get for now. See you later, you two!” Claire sighed, but she did not appear dejected. Instead, she looked even happier than she had earlier. She ran off backwards while grinning and waving both her hands at them. Even though she was running backwards, she somehow managed to avoid anyone in the way, as she zoomed across the room.

  The hurricane had passed once again, leaving a bruised and battered Damon behind. Damon glanced at Dylan, who was sweating profusely as he held his breath.

  “Why do you look so terrified? What happened?” Damon asked in concern.

  “Older brother Damon! How did you manage to talk to her so casually? You do know who that was, right? It’s Claire! Claire Dumont!” Dylan finally managed to let out a breath, upon which he immediately dragged Damon behind a nearby display cabinet before beginning to grill Damon.

  “Yeah, I know her name is Claire Dumont. She was the examiner for my recruitment assessment. What of it? “ Damon asked back in confusion.

  “No! I mean… Don’t you know about them? House Dumont? Did nobody else tell you? They’re a HUGE family in the Academy! Her grandfather is one of the three Wardens of the Assembly, and her father and mother are both Adepts! One works as the Principal of the Arcane Academy, and the other is the Verdant Sigil Pavilion Master!” Dylan whispered to Damon through cupped hands before looking around cautiously.

  Damon’s eyes widened in shock. He was so astonished that his mouth also fell open while staring at Claire, who was currently helping out an apprentice on the other side of the Hall. The apprentice talking to her was obviously distressed, and other apprentices were moving away from her, avoiding her like a plague.

  “What! How? When? What?” Damon was dumbfounded to the point that he could not express his thoughts in a comprehensible way.

  “Yeah, though that’s the sad part about her. According to rumors, she had quite a lonely childhood because everyone was too afraid of her family background to play with her. Eventually, though, she managed to get over her gloom and became incredibly social and friendly instead. What made her change is not known. Yet, people are still hesitant to approach her or converse with her. They treat her so delicately and politely, she struggles to grow close to anyone. Some apprentices who have a high social standing similar to hers try to befriend her, but she is always unwilling to talk to those types.” Dylan stated as though it was common knowledge. However, behind his nonchalant exterior hid his bubbling delight at being able to teach Damon with something.

  Damon looked at the kid in amusement. Only 12 years old, and he is quite intelligent already. He is also very good at sourcing information. Perhaps he would be a fit for the Mindspire Tempering Sutra? No, the mind cultivation path needs to remain a secret. He decided to never reveal it, not because he was unwilling to share the Sutra, but because he had first-hand experience of being hunted down or betrayed due to it.

  Damon quickly got over the idea of Claire’s lineage as well. So what if she has powerful parents? That has nothing to do with me. As long as she treats me with sincerity, I will return the courtesy. Though maybe I could possibly scam something good out of her… No! Stop trying to scam everyone. Hall Leader Tidus has rubbed off on me the wrong way!

  Damon had to circulate his mental power to calm his mind of all thoughts. He did not want to turn into an old scammer. He had to return his focus back onto his goals. He had come to the Trade Hall to research the market prices so that he could know the value of merit points.

  “I also need to buy additional medicine for my injured node, just in case… And I need to purchase more artifacts. The arrows I own do not work very well against cultivators. I need to increase my arsenal of weapons. Actually, I should try and contact Igor and see if he can connect me with some vendors…”

  As Damon was listing out his tasks for the day, an angry voice boomed from behind him.

  “You.” A tall young man with a thin body was speaking while pointing his long, slender finger at him.

  Damon looked around himself, only to see Dylan and nobody else. He pointed to himself while looking at the young man with a questioning gaze. He was the same young man Claire had abandoned earlier.

  “Yeah, you. I don’t like how a mere nobody like you took up so much of Claire’s time, when she doesn’t even give me the time of day. I challenge you to a duel so I can teach you to know your place.”

  Prologue to the story before Chapter 1.

  Damon's backstory, and a little snippet into the larger world at play!