Silver gazes out, seeing for as far as her eyes can tell, an endless dark sky, the only illumination,the occasional flash of lightning, only illuminating thick black clouds. 'What the...how big is this storm? That's gotta be a few hundred miles of black clouds, what demon or idiot pissed off a water sprite this badly?' Silver thinks as she lets out a low whistle, watching the storm rage for awhile in a worried silence. Seeing as how dark the clouds are, one cant tell if its night or day, or even tell what time of day it is without a clock. Standing there, watching the raging storm for an unknown amount of time, silver eventually closes herself back away, hearing the roaring thunder, despite the thick walls.'nothing I can do, but find something to be productive with.' With this, for the first time,except for the few ice cold baths she has in the underground ravine, silver explores the underbelly of her city, walking along dark hallways, the only illumination is the scant few mana conduits running along different paths. Time passes, and she finds all sorts of rooms, like an old armory, storage rooms, some sort of vehicle bay, and eventually, the heart of the city, and the reason for her new found rise, The Mana Dyson sphere. With a feeling akin to being home, Silver walks around the slow moving sphere, a look of pensive thought on her face, and her eyes aglow. 'So, this is my home. It's quite pretty if i do say so myself. So much condensed mana in one place...I know thousands of people would wage a war for this much mana, heh, I guess that is exactly what I did.' These are the few thoughts that filter behind her eyes. Time seems to fade as she savors the sensation.hours slip by, then a day, but she doesn't seem to feel it, all the mana around the Dyson sphere keeping her unnaturally energized and almost dazed from the sensation, Afterwards, its not normal for someone to handle this much condensed mana, much less naturally absorb it, even if its technically hers, she hasn't funneled any more into the core since the first couple of days here.
Meanwhile, in a city, being tormented by the same storms a couple days travel north of Silver's city of the lost, Micah is in a soaked heavy cloak, wadding through streets that had long flooded attempting to shop at any open blacksmiths, at tech shops, even grocery stores, but the unending storm had forced many to close doors, leaving him to struggle to gain anything for this trip but a soggy outfit. After several attempts, he finally comes across an open shop with a dim glow coming out through the glass. Pushing forward, he barges through the door closing it swiftly behind himself, the quiet sound of water dripping, announcing him to the occupent. "Ah, look at ya, lookin' like a drowned rat boy" a gruff and aged voice says, coming from an old lizardman. "But ye ought to know we are closed, the weather is getting worse en worse." The aged lizardman speaks up, wiping some of the forging soot from his hands on his apron. "Come on, a lil barter? Im looking for raw ores or ingots of mithril, and in bulk not just a few,with all the businesses shut down, aren't you losing out on customers?" Micah says, doing his best to entice the only blacksmith still in shop. "And who is buying mithril in bulk? Another smith? Then what will I have to make money with?" Hearing this reply, Micah smirks, already knowing this answer. "A smithy in another city had requested sourcing bulk amount of mithril, something about a new project they are working on, its something huge from what i could see under all the paperwork, but like here the blacksmiths didn't dare split with their ores and ingots, i was hoping for some bartering opportunities to show up here, the buyer is offering at market for the haul, plus 10% for inconveniences." Micah says, knowing full well that with age, not many would turn away a profit. "Hm...tempting offer, but I ain't interested, go back wolf kin, get somewhere dry..." The lizard says, turning away ad if he had said everything he wanted to. "I am sorry but I cant, My queen specially asked me to acquire this." Micah says, knowing very well this could put him in either hot water, or in good hands, but he wants to do his best to bring back this list of high quality ore, silver did ask for it, why? he didn't have a clue. Queen? The lizard mumbles,freezing in his tracks. "Which kingdom did you say you were from?" The lizard asks, having not bothered to turn around yet. "Well, its newly established, and we only have one city, I wouldn't call it a kingdom." Micah says, giving enough truths without giving out to much information.A new queen? Who was strong enough to gain royalty with all these power hungry city lords? The lizard thinks turning his head to examine micah, whom is wearing loose smile, and relaxed posture, and image of someone not worried of future troubles. "And since its so new...you've yet to make certain connections for material...30% above market, and you tell me where this city is, or don't bother me for mightily anymore." The lizardman speaks, not even giving any chance for denial. "Depends...what do you plan to do with the information?" Micah responds, knowing he has the lizardman on the hook, now to see if he is the fish he is looking for. At this the lizard weighs his words, taking a moment to think everything through before responding. "Simple curiosity for now, and perhaps a new trading point." He says staying vague whilst showing no hostility. Thinking it through, micah takes the chance at face value, afterwards, silver would just ransack anyone whom would try her. "Alright...a few days south, the old ruins has been given all new life, the newly appointed Queen is crowned and titled The Bloody Queen. She earned this through a massive trial of combat, Her and her alone versus a small army of hunter's. She is the one to survive." Micah says, a trace of awe and respect in his eyes as he recounts Silver's achievements, despite being held back and against foes whom had organized groups, and equal and greater power, but they underestimated her.Bloody queen?that's not intimidating at all, nope not in the slightest....okay maybe it is, but we will have to see. " Fine you told me who and where, since you did that, how bout that payment?"the lizardman points to a wooden crate in the back of the shop, labeled refined ore, meaning Pre-made ingots, saving smiths time and risks of bad steels, or impurities which can sometimes work its way in during the ore refinement stage. Micah takes a few minutes, reading the label for its details, such as weight and quantities, as he does his rough estimate of the bulk purchase, though the price is quite high, he knows plenty of ways to make the money back with ease. "How does just an even 2 million sound? Its roughly 30% at current market." With a quick trade, and delivery on its way to the stryker, micah isn't quite done looking for things, despite a large chunk of his and silver's wealth having just been burned on mithril. 'Gadgets, where can i find a tech store with what she requested...' Micah grumbles to himself, seeming oblivious to the heavy downpour and flooded streets, spending several hours wandering from street to street only to find locked and closed until further notice signs in windows. Though, a soft melody, barely heard above the drone of rain, catches his attention, slowly leading him to a tiny shop, if one would call the apartment,turned store front, a store. Inside is a young girl, playing quite well with a flute,but the most interesting are the dozens of instruments scattered throughout the store, and speakers, an item on his list, though possible, far larger than silver had thought of,But, they are still speakers. Micah being a bit more social than silver, lets the girl finish her music before approaching, and even though he is moving quite slow, it seems to startle the girl as she squeals,clutching her chest as if to catch her frantically beating heart. "Dude! Like announce yourself or something! Nearly killed me sneaking around like that!" The girl says, showing a lack of a filter. Announce myself? Why would i do that, it would be boring if people always heard me lumbering around Micah thought to himself, but his spoken choice of words differ. " it wasn't my intention to startle you, I saw you were occupied with the flute and didn't want to interrupt." The girl,slowly catching her breath, gives a snarly reply. "Maybe not intention, but someone as large as you has no right being that sneaky." Flipping her hair, finally getting a bit of her bravado back. "So what are you looking for? Guitar? Drums? Acoustics paneling?" The girl asks, listing off the things she thinks someone his size would play or need. "Actually, your speakers, all of them." Micah says, keeping a straight face, how he said it made him think he was robbing this place. "Speakers?just...speakers?" The girl asked, feeling a bit confused on why he needs so many. "Yea, bit of a pet project, don't worry they will be paid in full, but can you package them and ship them to the tourist bay, bay 13 please." He says not bothering to go into details with which even he doesn't have. With that, and a few odd looks, micah pays for more than fifty speakers, totaling nearly one hundred thousand gold, dwindling what little money he and silver pooled together, a sort of start up fund. But his thoughts get dragged into how to make more money and quickly as he trudges through this strange city's layout, occasionally looking at any lit up stores, only to see nothing of interest in most, except a butcher's shop, that despite the weather seems to have quite a bit of fresh produce, stepping in to the sound of a butcher's cleaver thumping down on bone and wood alike, his eyes are drawn to an old minotaur, odd to see one working as a butcher as most prefer mercenary work or bodyguard duties. "Taking a quick browse, micah notes a few different meats, those of tender pigs, and even a few steel backed boars, though their hide is tough they have some of the most tender meat for their tier. "You gunna keep ogling, or do ya plan to buy?" The minotaur says gruffly, though many might see it as rude, micah has seen it all by now, having been dragged all over by a certain shady someone. "How much for most of your stock? Do you have spices too or do you only deal in meat product?" Micah asks, some butcher shops are ran by sensitive nosed people, and don't sell spices, so its better to ask than be disappointed later. "Yeah, I got an assortment of common spices,nothin' fancy, but its enough, all meat tier 2 goes for 12 gold a pound, you can choose why you want, I don't deal with anything higher, you would have'ta go to brienna's house of butchery for tier 3 and above meat choices." The minotaur speaks matter of factory, continuing his work on what appears to be a tier 2 razor horn deer. "Then for that price, I will take every bit of steel backed boar, if you have any more razor horned deer ill take one, and do you have any bear meats?or maybe some soft backed cows? If you have bear, I will take one, and all the soft back cows you have in stock, don't worry I have the money." Micah says the last bit hurriedly, knowing his order seems quite large, but to his surprise the minotaur is unfazed, simply waving a hand, causing a light frost to form over his current work as he gets to work filling a few product crates with the meat choices micah made, using some sort of frost spell to put everything on ice, explaining the high level of freshness, being able to chill anything is quite convenient for a butcher. After about twenty minutes and halfa dozen massive produce crates filled with magic ice, and meat, micah pays. Though the cost nearly completely drained the remainder of his funds, he does his best to pay it no mind. With that and all deliveries on its way to their bay, he makes his way back weaving through flooded streets, his clothes long since drenched, he hair sticking flat on his head and even his ear look dreary from the rain, taking more than an hour to find his way back, though he cant tell what time of day it is through the solid black clouds. Eventually, he makes it to the underground tourist garage, thankfully its well equipped with water pumps to keep it clear and mostly dry...ish. But as he comes up to his bay, though he sees several of his deliveries, and silver's parents' he also notes about a dozen punk looking hunters, all wearing some article of clothing sharing the same patch, maybe a low level guild? A guild branch even? Doesn't really matter to him why does matter is the undertone of aggression he can see from them towards their stuff, which pisses him off. Think you're gunna help yourself to my stuff? You picked the wrong people to mess with. All while thinking this he is in motion, his large from despite dropping over the place, is silent as it moves in behind the group, finally hearing what the group is saying. "Hear in this town, tourists pay a safety and travels tax here, so you can pay up in gold, or we can take a few of these crates off your hands there." Some of the goons, move as if to shift some of the crates, only for micah to intervene, heaving them high into the air pressing their faces into the 12 foot high ceiling. "I believe, its time for you to move your scam on down to more gullible or weak tourists, today is not a good day for us, tomorrow doesn't look good either. "Micah drawls out lazily, having been able to nearly walk between them unnoticed despite his size and presence means all of these idiots are relatively weak, or at least none raviling him, which is close enough.