"And what would you trade me for the karfunkel?", Seth asked interested. An experienced hunter such as Yudrid could have all kinds of interesting material! Upon his question the dwarf left the room and went back into her workshop, only to soon come back with a sizable chest in her hands.

"In here are two ingots of dark steel and 5 chunks of black iron ore. I will waive the costs for dismantling the Snake and give you another 25 gold on top. All of it together should come to a worth of about 80 gold, which is approximately as much as you would get for the karfunkel from a rich buyer.", she said and opened the chest for Seth to see.

Iron ore that has been exposed to natural mana and darkness for a long time. Can be smelted into Black Iron.

>

Looking at the ore with gave him the catalog entry for

Black Iron is as strong as high-quality steel and holds inherent affinity to darkness and magic, which can bring unexpected results when turned into equipment.

>

Seth guessed that dark steel, was made from black iron, as the description were almost the same.

Dark Steel is stronger than any regular steel and rivals the properties of mithril. It holds inherent affinity to darkness and magic, which can bring unexpected results when turned into equipment.

>

The dark steel ingots were about as long as his hand and as thick as his wrist, while the chunks of black iron ore were comparable to his fist. The moment he saw them, he wanted them. He did not care, whether what Yudrid said was true. He had no use for the karfunkel, but these materials made his heart race! He took the chest of materials away from her, before Yudrid could even comment at the fire in Seth´s eyes.

"Deal!", and the chest vanished in his inventory. Now everything from the dismantled juvenile and the new material had found their way into his inventory. And when the chest vanished into his inventory, he realized another thing. It had the same effect as the bags and was displayed as "material chest"!

While Yudrid, who was surprised that Seth did not even try to haggle, went to get the gold, Seth started putting his valuable materials into the chest per drag´n drop! Joining the new metals were the drake tooth, the boa fangs, the box with the magic core, the blood garnet and the 3 pieces of mithril ore.

Asso knelt on the ground with the karfunkel in his hands. He looked like he was close to crying in joy. Was he going to swallow that thing? Did Yudrid even wash it, after pulling it from the snake's brain? Eww, Seth did not want see that and averted his eyes.

Yudrid came back and took the karfunkel away from Asso, who was about to kiss the thing.

"Stop slobbering all over it, I'm the one who bought it. And I will only give it to you when I´m sure you learned your lesson.", she grumbled and gave Seth the money.

"I guess, I will take my leave now. Hey Asso, can you bring me back to the inn?", Seth asked.

"Oh, sure", Asso had already completely accepted his role as a free tour guide. Maybe he could train him to become a free butler...? Nah.

They entered the thick fog once again. Fortunately, the lizardman was able to find his way in this neighborhood even in the dark and they soon reached Seth´s inn. Contrary to his expectation, Asso actually also entered the Inn and took a room for the night. Maybe their short run-in with a swamp siren had shaken him up a little more than Seth thought.

What Seth found when he finally entered the room was a pouting little fairy sitting on the pillow with crossed arms and legs.

"Where have you been!? Fin was waiting! Fin wanted to eat together with Seth! Fin is now starving!"

"Oh! Hey Fin, listen I-", Seth wanted to explain, but was interrupted.

"No! Fin won´t listen! Get Fin food first!", the brutish diva demanded and left Seth no other choice than to go and get their dinner. they ate in uncomfortable silence as Fin kept shooting evil glares at him, over their food.

"Now! Talk!", the tiny overlord demanded her explanation. So, he explained to her what had happened today. He talked about the pitiful excuse of a commercial district, hurried over how they might have to stay at the palace for a few weeks, because he made a deal with the lord and the short story of how they met a swamp siren and got the materials from the big snake.

"So, we will stay here for a few weeks in a palace?", her pointy and sharp ears had easily picked up the information Seth had tried to hide by only mentioning it briefly. The young blacksmith sighed, why did she have to be so smart despite playing cute most of the time?

"Yeah, 2 maybe 3 weeks. It´s really a wonderful opportunity to grind my skill and even get money for it. "

Fin aced disappointed and sighed. "Ok then. I wanted to stay a little longer anyways. I still have no good clues about the former guild master. We missed the latest airship anyways. But try to be done in 3 weeks if we want to catch the next airship in Oriekot. Otherwise, we will have to wait another 4 weeks, you know?"

Seth looked baffled at the little fairy. So, they had time anyways! He felt a lot better about their stay now. He had a lot of stuff to try out and finally the chance to experiment and grind again. Maybe they could even visit that dungeon? And he would have the chance to stay at a real palace! he rubbed his hands in anticipation of the royal chef´s skills.

Asso joined the two the next day during breakfast. He was still a valuable asset for Seth to get around in the city, so they talked about going to the guild and making this his menial quest for the time Seth stayed in Zhiqe. When they were done with the breakfast, it was time for Seth to face his biggest obstacle.

Harmond. He really liked this sympathetic hairy man, with great cooking skill and did not know how to explain, that they would move to the palace. He feared to hurt the older man feelings. in the end he jumped over his shadow and explained his deal with the lord to Harmond.

"Oh, isn´t that great for you? You got work! You worried about me? Haha, don´t worry. our business is doing great and you can come back any time you want", Harmond reacted warm and understanding. He even wanted to give them the silver for the remaining 2 nights back, but kept it after Seth protested vehemently.

With this they left behind the first inn of another world, Seth had ever stayed in. Asso lead the way for Seth and Fin to the palace. They would take a look at their room before Fin would split of to look for information.

Waiting in front of the palace was a man with a crazy white mane of hair. he wore a typical butler outfit and walked up to them when they entered the premises.

"Hello there. Are you....em em Seth? The blacksmith the young lord talked about? My name is Russlan, the head butler of his highness. I will show you to your rooms.", he gave them a heartwarming smile. They split off from Asso and the wholesome old man invited them into the palace. Seth had been here yesterday, but Fin ogled all the ornaments, busts, statues, and paintings that decorated the residence like a little kid in an amusement park. Russlan gave them a little tour through the living space of the lord and then brought them to the guestrooms.

They were big luxurious rooms. You could tell it had been a long time since somebody lived here, but they were clean and well-kept. While Fin stayed a little in the them, enjoying the soft new mattress, Seth followed Russlan to the Armory.

The Armory was closer to the servant quarters that were to the back and kind of split off from the main complex. He had taken a short look at the Armory yesterday and they didn´t stay long. Seth asked the butler to bring him to the storage rooms.

They had to cross the nearby servant quarters to get to the storage area. The staff rooms were tiny narrow and run-down. The bare stone walls were moist and moldy and what little tapestry could be seen was moth-eaten and slowly tuning to wet dirt or slime on the walls. The place was deserted. It was almost as if the old butler Russlan was the only one still living in this desolate place.

Russlan stopped before a big once sturdy wooden door. Seth was sure it would fall apart if he touched it a little too roughly. The old man took a small magic lantern from the niche in the wall beside the door.

"This is the door to the basement. All the weapons and other equipment are stored down there. The lord told me, that if there is anything else you fancy down there, you can take it. My old bones can´t handle the steps down anymore. I hope you can forgive me for not coming with you.", he gave Seth a warm smile and handed him the lantern and a key ring for the storage room and basement.

And thus, began Seth´s descend into the basement of the palace.