“You know, you sure have a lotta questions for someone as prepared as yourself. Our city’s history ain’t exactly secret or anything, you shoulda heard about it already.”

“I am from a smaller village far from here. I didn’t learn much about the world since we were self-sufficient.”

“I don’t know any small, isolated villages that can teach you to fight like that, but maybe that’s just me.”

As Perience leisurely strolled along on his way towards the Guild Square, Pion could not help but badger him with questions. She knew nothing of this world, after all, beyond what could be obviously observed. History was clearly different, as were the creatures and the weather. Likewise, the ability to induce luminescence in a sword to strike with much greater power was anything but normal, but for the people of this world it was just an average Tuesday.

“The world you live in is quite large. It would not be unreasonable for there to be outliers like me.”

“Yeah yeah, I get it. No one likes someone else pryin’ into their past. I’ll just take ya to the Guild Square.”

“The Guild Square?”

“Ah, right, a small village like yours wouldn’t have one… the Guild Square is a feature of all of the Chappie’s main cities. Here it’s the area surrounding the Tower. It’s our version of the town square.”

“What kind of shops are in the Guild Square?”

“Typical guild stores. Adventurers Guild for the dirty work and building connections, Artisans Guild for crafters, Merchants Guild for the stuff we can’t make ourselves, Alchemists Guild for all things alchemy, ya get the idea.”

“What currency do these vendors accept?”

Perience stopped walking so he could pointedly turn around and stare at Pion in abject disbelief.

“Alright, that’s just ridiculous. What sorta village doesn’t use money?”

“The one I lived at.”

They shared an uncomfortable silence in the middle of the busy street they were walking down. For a solid 30 seconds, neither moved an inch as carriages rolled past and bystanders watched their staring contest.

“...We use coins. Used to have faces on them, ‘til everyone agreed to use a common coin to make the Merchants Guild happy.”

“I would like to examine and purchase items at the Guilds, but I do not have any coins.”

He reluctantly reached into a pouch he kept hanging on his belt, withdrawing a few silver coins to toss to her.

“I don’t have much, but a few silvers should be enough t’ buy something. Jus’ keep in mind 100 coppers is a silver and 100 of those is a gold. 100 gold is a platinum too, but only the rich deal with that type of money.”

Pion caught the coins in the air. Three silvers. Strange that this man was okay with parting with his money, despite claiming to be somewhat poor. Generous. Cultivating ties with him could prove fruitful, as a means of connecting with persons of higher authority. After observing the products on sale at the Guild Square, it would be prudent to decipher some means of procuring funds for future projects, as well as paying Perience back.

Honestly, the Guild Square was more a Guild Circle. A flat, circular clearing with the Tower in the center and the individual guilds all around. A plaza, where the important intermingled with the commoners, some briskly walking towards their next destination and others just loitering on benches, resting underneath scattered trees planted throughout.

“I’ll leave ya to do whatever you wanna do, alright? If you need me, I’ll in the Adventurers Guild on the other side of the square. Almost broke. Got everything under control?”

“Through examination and logical deduction I am—[Confident]—in my capabilities.”

“Oh… kay. Well, I’m off…!”

His jolly smile faltered a bit and he hesitated before leaving. All in all, Pion considered first contact a success. He probably didn’t even suspect her in the slightest. Truly a master of deceit.

A little bell hung over the door of the Merchant’s Guild jingled as Pion entered. Inside were a collection of stands, reminiscent of a food court in a mall, complete with tables for weary patrons to rest. Unlike the stands outside near the outskirts of the city, these were much cleaner, and the individual merchants at each shopfront clearly invested considerable amounts of money into gimmicks or aesthetics to try and attract more customers.

Immediately she was beset upon by a bespectacled girl of around college age, clearly working as some kind of receptionist or saleswoman.

“Greetings, valued customer! I believe this is your first time here at the Merchants Guild; is there anything I can get you?”

“Is there a section of the build designated for cheaper products?”

The saleswoman plastered smile twitched imperceptibly for a moment. Any normal person wouldn’t have even noticed.

“Right. Over here, ma’am.”

Her voice sounded much less enthusiastic now, for some strange reason. As they walked through the guild, Pion could see an abundant number of customers swarming various stands, and a significant amount of money exchanging hands. Pale white paper, artistically styled pens, gems of different types, and a mix of preserved foods and fresh rations.

[Booting Olfactory Sensors…]

Through the wonders of technology, Pion was able to get a whiff of what smelling felt like. To her, the scent of well-prepared meats, fragrant soups and stews, of herbs and just-baked bread flooded her mind with an indescribable array of numbers and colors. Greens and whites and browns and blues with ones and eights, zeroes and twos.

Emotion Emulator absorbed the data and returned a sense akin to pleasure.

“The budget section is just ahead. Thank you for your patronage.”

The saleswoman’s voice was devoid of any semblance of enthusiasm or happiness. She’d beat Pion in a robotic voice contest.

On the other hand, the miscellaneous products for sale in the unofficial bargain bin area were quite disappointing. A variety of pouches, shoddy knives, pre-prepared rations, containers, etc. Some were quite cheap, only 20 coppers, but unnecessary. Even the paltry manufacturing capabilities she had on hand were enough to outshine whatever they had here.

The only exception was a haggard looking man near the back, complete with a clearly unmaintained stand and a fine layer of dust coating the desk. He probably hadn’t showered within a week.

“What wares do you sell, sir?”

“Clearance section, ma’am. It's just the shit no one wants, to be honest. Bargain bin type crap.”

“Are there any unique items you must sell?”

“There’s one, but I don’t think you’ll like it.”

He lifted a strange, glowing chunk of rock encased in a similarly glowing glass box and placed the ensemble on the table.

“Sample from the mines. Stay near it too long, get sick. Glass box, enchanted with [Containment]. Not included. Got a bit of magic signature from it though, so it’s one silver.”

Magic?

“I request to purchase that.”

“Really? The rock that kills you?”

“Yes.”

“Your funeral.”

He extracted the stone and placed it on the table, stepping back out of fear. Pion placed one of the silvers on the table in exchange, picking up the item and scanning it. Uranium-235. Likely the miners that had excavated it breathed some of the uranium dust. Properly contained in her backpack, it should serve no problem until she could test it later.

“Go do whatever with the rock. Don’t die.”

He reclined back in his chair lazily as Pion left the Guild. For those well-supplied but without much money there were not many useful options remaining. Next, the Alchemist Guild.

The saleswoman didn’t even bother seeing her out, opting to stand by the receptionists desk and pretend there were no new customers.

On Pion’s way to the Alchemist’s Guild, a scrawny child no older than seven bumped into her, swiftly swiping the two silvers she had left out of her pocket. The child quickly escaped into an alleyway, admiring his prize. Instead of silvers, though, there were instead a pair of translucent, shimmering discs which dissolved in moments. Hard Light projectors were very useful, thought Pion. What other functionality could she squeeze out of it?

The Alchemists Guild was much smaller, with racks of potions on the left and right walls with an ornate wooden counter directly in front. A man was corking bottles and flasks, recently filled.

“Hello, customer! Need pots? We gots.”

“I have not used a potion before. I would like to examine ones of a suitably low price, such as two silvers or less.”

“You’re not going to get a very good potion at that price. I can see you’re a first-timer, so take a look at the five-silvers-or-less shelf on your left. If you go over budget I’ll just write it off as a new customer discount or something.”

Suddenly Pion remembered what she needed to do in this kind of situation. She should do the same thing when she next saw Perience again.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Yeah yeah, it’s alright. Letting a young girl like yourself go adventuring without a half decent potion would be a little criminal, so just grab your pot and go.”

“I am not young. I am… 16.”

“That’s plenty young. You don’t act like an adventurer does either, and you come in here asking for good potions under two silvers? It's pretty obvious you’re looking to fight monsters or whatever adventurers do. You seem a bit naive, so a bit of advice: it’s gonna suck. You don’t look particularly muscular, and I’m not seeing any magic from you, so I really wouldn’t recommend becoming an adventurer unless you’re prepared for pain.”

So her disguise needed work. Apparently not only taking on the appearance of a masked teenager was required, but absorbing the practiced demeanor of whatever role she needed to play. Even with her level of processing power, people still confounded her.

The Emotion Emulator spat out some approximation of frustration in response, without being prompted. Strange, since it should only activate when called. Would have to work out its bugs later.

“Frustration.”

“What?”

“Do not mind. I would like to purchase the potion on the second shelf down, sixth potion in.”

“Mana potion? You don’t even have a magic signature. I doubt you practice magic. What would you even do with something like that?”

“I will observe the product and attempt to break it down into its separate components for research.”

“A kid like you? Researching a bottom of the barrel mana pot? When you could just buy a book about them? I mean… whatever floats your boat.”

“I came from a small village. I left to find out about the world.”

“If that’s true you’d probably do better in the capital than in a city like this. All we do is fight the Hammer State. Right now they’re just skirmishing with us, but rumor says the Void Nest has been drawing back lately, so they’ll probably hit us hard soon.”

“I do not know about the Void Nest or Hammer State. I am very new. Is there a history book I must obtain to possess an adequate understanding of the topic?”

“That’s weird, but I guess some people are just sheltered. You can probably visit a bookstore, but what they have is expensive. Paper isn’t cheap.”

“Are there any convenient ways to procure funds in this city?”

“The local militia is hiring any adventurer who wants to help in the city’s defense. It’ll be dangerous work, but it pays well. As long as you can fight, you get paid. You’ll have to become an adventurer first though, and they won’t just let any copper rank enlist.”

“Copper rank?”

“Oh yeah, guild ranks people according to their capabilities. It goes copper, iron, silver, gold, platinum, palladium, flux metal, and skyrock. You’ll have to be at least an iron to enlist, since coppers usually don’t even bother to maintain their gear or prepare before fights. All greenhorns, really.”

“Thank you for the information. I will make sure to put it to good use.”

Pion tossed the two silvers she had left to the alchemist, who swiped it from the air with deft hands.

“Just go, kid. Don’t die to a slime. Wouldn’t want that on your gravestone.”

She placed the potion in her cloak pocket and opened the door.

“Oh, before you go, if you’re really thankful, come back and spend some of your paycheck in the guild shop here! Tell them Emis sent you!”

Pion filed the name away under potential allies. The path ahead was still unclear, but at least she could see the beginning of the road. She would meet with Perience and everything would slide into place.

Everything was going to be just fine.