Elysium's Multiverse

Chapter 56

The more he thought about it, the better an idea doing a deal here and now became. He wasn’t about to just hand the money over, but there was a good chance he’d be killed and robbed for this amount of wealth if people realized how much he had—even if he did find some way to move it all out of here when he summoned the portal to exit. And even if he did find an Elysium altar after that to buy from. So he was going to use as much of it as he could as long as the deals were reasonable, because he didn’t want to leave it behind in this wretched place.

Then again, how would he know what was reasonable? He literally had zilch to go off. That was going to pose a problem.

The eye evaluated Riven for some time, then let out a wheezing noise as its pupil expanded. “I have a variety of different items you may be interested in trading for. I obviously want those Elysium coins back… Instead of buying from the local Elysium altars, perhaps you can trade them back to me instead? The coins you already carry with you in those sacks can be traded to me as well…if you wish… There’s one item in particular that I could offer you a rather good deal on…and I think you won’t be disappointed.”

Riven nodded, wiping sweat from his brow. It was becoming hotter in here…or maybe he was just feeling off because of the recent fight and damage to his body. “Sounds fair…and I think I’ll be able to trade some of them back to you. Under some conditions.”

There was a long pause.

“What conditions?”

He slowly exhaled. “I want information. I’m going to ask you some questions, and you’re going to answer them.”

A deep, rich laugh echoed throughout the enclosed room in response to his request. The laugh grew louder as the eye thrummed with mana, unnerving Riven just slightly, but eventually it settled down. “Very well! I can provide you with what I know as long as the system permits it…free of charge…though I am surprised by your request. I was under the impression that you were more acquainted with the system than the average newly integrated person, given how easily you managed to survive here. How hilarious. Though this is only the first level of my dungeon…your request explains much of the bumbling about that I have seen.”

The eye circled Riven curiously, slowly moving with a wisp of flame trailing out behind it as it studied him. Stopping in front of him once more, the pupil dilated yet again. “What information do you seek, little vampire?”

Riven didn’t hesitate. “Chalgathi. Who or what the hell is Chalgathi? Why did I get half the money from its bet?”

The flaming eye pulsed, narrowed, and stared at him for some time. “You don’t know?”

Riven shook his head.

There was another long pause before the dungeon answered. “I am not quite sure myself. It offered to take up my bet when Elysium decided to decline it. All I know is that I was able to sense an Unholy aura from its presence as it watched. If I had to guess, it is likely an archdemon or a minor god that isn’t well-known…or perhaps some kind of greater lich. But those are only guesses. I had assumed that you knew or that you were affiliated with it somehow. If this is not the case, it vexes me greatly…because it could have taken the money for itself. Usually bets at such high stakes between greater entities are clean-cut and done behind the scenes, with only the system acting as a mediator. How very odd…”

The dungeon’s voice trailed off, leaving Riven even more confused than he’d been a minute before. So Chalgathi had decided to just give half of the money away as a token of goodwill? Well, Riven had earned Chalgathi that money in the first place—but it appeared that Chalgathi didn’t need to have done what he’d done at all. Riven could still be broke and without reward, by that logic, and he’d not only have been unable to pay the blood price for regaining his minions after their deaths, but he’d never have been able to utilize that money here and now.

Riven pushed the information acquisition to the back burner as he pondered these new details, deciding to go ahead and spend the money while he thought on things. “I see… Let’s take a look at your offers?”

“Certainly. Though you must remember…many of these items will be very hard to come by if you leave here without making a deal. Each of them is also an item customized to your…situation. Instead of a straight price, we will use the barter system with one another, and if you have questions, feel free to ask. None of the creatures within my body will bother you while you decide.”

A series of three screens abruptly displayed in front of Riven, and he soon found himself looking at a three rather pricey, but very high-quality, items.

The amulet was definitely good, no doubt about it. He could pose as someone else and people wouldn’t be any wiser. It was almost like a superpower from the comic books he’d read as a kid.

But Riven stopped right there after seeing the word Awakened. The Black Redemption staff was exactly the kind of weapon he’d been looking for this entire time, even having hit effects with shadow explosions and black lightning discharges as a special. Looking at the staff’s physical attacks alone, it was comparable to the other claymore he’d seen early on in the dungeon that the crazed ghoul had nearly smashed him with right after he’d acquired Blood Lance. More than anything else, though, it gave a passive mana regeneration boost of 68 percent—which was absolutely huge. It was almost six times more of a regeneration boost than he got from his current staff. That would be invaluable in fights, allowing him to push more mana into more spells for more damage. Spell-damage output was in large part based on mana consumption in creating the spell, so mana regeneration was in essence almost a bonus to continued damage output for any mage that entered an elongated battle.

And if he remembered right, these awakened weapons didn’t have souls, but rather were alive in their own right. They were supposed to have conscious thoughts of their own.

He clarified just to make sure. “So…what does ‘awakened’ mean, exactly?”

The floating eyeball made of flames chuckled slightly. “It means that they are able to grow with you. Though they grow in leaps and bounds, through tiers, instead of leveling up like you would. These particular awakened items would be a good starting point for someone such as yourself… They aren’t grand now, but they could become so. I would sell you something better, but you wouldn’t be able to afford them.”

“I see. How would I get them to grow, then?”

“Through experience and finding the right materials for their required upgrades. Every awakened item is unique in what they want or need to evolve, and their experiences will guide their evolutionary pathways depending on use by the wielder. However, some awakened items won’t bind to you because your personalities, fighting styles, or wills do not match up.”

“Gotcha.” Riven rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well, I’ll be out of here in a bit, according to the system notifications, so I won’t be bothering you much anymore. Thus I assume you’d have no problem giving me some advice on what to pick if you were me?”

The eyeball gave him a thoughtful stare, then had another amused laughing fit that lasted a little longer than his mere chuckles from before. “You’re asking me for advice after killing my miniboss and taking my coins? The audacity. I love it… To answer your question, I believe any of these three items would be useful to you. As I said, I custom made this list for you based on what you’d need most from the wares in my dungeon. Or at least the ones you could afford with the money you have… There are others in my wares that would benefit you, but they are far too valuable to part with for what you have to offer.”

Riven blinked, then pulled up his status page to examine his stats before he went on with the conversation.

“Well, my minion Athela told me that I shouldn’t be trying to specialize in more than one route to power. She said to stick with my magic because I was good at it, and that generally it’s hard to level up combination classes that utilize martial arts and magic. If you’re offering me the claymore right now, I’m assuming you think I’d utilize it. Why would you think that after I only used magic in that last fight?”

The eyeball scoffed audibly, then shook itself from side to side as the fires lighting it danced along the walls to illuminate the stone room. “That advice was certainly given to you before your evolution into a vampire, and you haven’t even bothered to look at your class option choices yet. I can see them for what they are—it is within my ability to do so—and it would be foolish not to capitalize upon a combination class now that your race empowers you in physical aspects more so than magical ones. Perhaps specializing in magic could be your primary, but having a secondary focus because of your physical stats would be quite wise. Not only that, but you utilized your spells Blessing of the Crow and Crimson Ice to modify your body so that you could better engage in physical contact with my satyr in the end of the fight. You were in close quarters for about a third of the fight despite claiming to be a mage. I believe it would be in your best interest to reevaluate your classes soon, and if you’re thinking about taking one of the spirit weapons, they would be a good foundation for you to proceed with. However, these items are very expensive and would cost everything you have just for one of them.”

“Everything?!”

“Everything. Even then, I’d be losing a slight amount of what they’re really worth.”

“Huh. That’s not going to fly.” Riven shook his head promptly, and a low growl escaped the depths of the floating eyeball. “Sorry. I have nothing to go off, so unless you have some way to prove to me that these items are worth that much, you can fuck right off into the sunset. Or…”

There was a pause for dramatic effect.

“Or what?” Negrada eventually asked, obviously irritated.

“Or you could make it very much worth my while.” Riven tapped a finger to his forehead a couple times. “I have a decent idea of what a general price range is for food, but I have no idea what magical items would go for. I don’t know how rare they are, or how hard you’re trying to swindle me. But there’s gotta be something you have that would obviously be worth it for me to part ways with the cash, yet it holds little value to you. I need it to be obvious if you want it all back, otherwise it’s a no go.”

There was a long, deep sigh—making Riven wonder just what Negrada was thinking. Then the dungeon bobbed up and down once. “Very well, vampire. I have instructed a team of my treasurers to report back to me within the next few minutes after they search my wares, and I’ll get back to you soon.”

“Fine. In the meantime, I’ll look at my class upgrade options.”

“Take your time, little vampire.”

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