I awoke and tried to pick myself up. I expected to see the grey-blue stones but instead was greeted by the sight of two oddly shaped people pushing me back down. The sun shone high above, and I had to cover my eyes with my arm. I ran my fingers through warm sand at my side and realized I had survived the Mana Storm.

“Ah looks like the land walker lives,” came from my left.

“Where am I?”

“We do not know the name of this beach. We found you inside a broken egg of ice floating near our village. When we saw you laying at its bottom, we pushed you towards land and dragged you here when your egg of ice melted,” came again from the one to my left.

I moved my arm and allowed my eyes to slowly and painfully adjust to the overhead sun. Moments later, I was greeted by the sight of two female fish people by my best guess. Both were covered in vivid colored scales across their bodies. Their heads sported large eyes with a small nose. Their mouths seem to go from ear to ear, or fin to fin and when they opened their mouth, I could see a row of very sharp teeth.

“Your large settlement is just down the coast that way. You can reach it in maybe an hour’s time. Some of our hunters trade fish with them and seem decent folk. We are glad you survived, land walker, but we must be going before father sends out a search party for us,” came from the right one pointing south.

“My name is Zeal. Thank you for pushing me to shore. I haven’t a clue what I would have done if I awoke in the middle of the ocean.”

“It’s quite alright. We don’t normally get to see land walkers, so it made for an interesting morning. If you had put up a fight, we would have just killed you and swam away,” said the one on my right.

“I am Nahla, and this is my sister Morcan. If you ever find yourself near our village, we would love to hear how you came to be in a giant egg of ice. Unfortunately, I can hear the call of the ocean and our much-needed return. Take care of yourself, land walker Zeal.”

I sat up and got a better look at the two. They had long fishtails where their legs should have been. The two sisters dragged themselves back into the ocean and began swimming out to sea. Nahla, the smaller of the two, turned around and waved before going under the waves.

I pushed myself up and looked around the beach. Nothing could be seen from my boat or pillowcase of food. I looked down the beach to the south and began to walk towards where they said the town was. As I moved, I summoned my map to see where I ended up. The storm had blown me way out to sea, then pushed me back towards land. I had a long line of the uncovered orange ocean on my map.

From what I could tell, I was heading to the city southwest of Ray’tha Rise. I could make it in a few nights once I could scrounge together some travel gear and food. I looked down to see my bottomless bag or the hammer wasn’t around my waist. That means I had no money. I looked at the crashing wave and noticed the multitude of fins out in the water. Maybe I could gather a few cores to sell inside the village. They had said they were worth a bit.

I walked close to the water’s edge, but the Gobies stayed out in the water. I walked a few steps into the water and splashed around. This caught the attention of a few of them. I walked back onto the beach and constructed two Ice Lances. When the Gobies reached land to see me alone, they slowly charged at the easy-looking meal.

The first two hit the ground as the lance went through their heads. The third through fifth sharks paid no attention to the deaths of their group’s members. The five Gobbies turned into green dust as the last of them died.

Picking up the five Jade Cores, I tucked them inside the end of my shirt and tied the end to keep them in place before walking towards the south again. As I crested a large dune, I caught sight of the massive port city in the distance.

The city sported massive stone walls that would have dwarfed Ray’tha Rises. These walls went out in the ocean for many meters before stopping at a large stone tower with a massive fire at its top.

Drawing closer, I moved towards the road, coming out of the forest and heading to a gate within the stonewall. I caught sight of a few groups of Beastkin upon carriages or wagons heading to the port. I sorely missed my missing sandals as the road was filled with the droppings of the animals pulling the carts and carriages, so I had to walk on the side of the dirt-packed road to avoid stepping in the refuge.

Coming up to the gate, I was surprised at the lack of guards. People were coming in and leaving without supervision. I watched as the wagon of Beastkin in front of me went through the gate and followed them. A sprawling city grew in front of me after leaving the inner gate. The building were made of stone bricks and mortar. The streets had been made of small stones packed together and were a pain to walk upon till I reached the street’s sidewalks made of flat stone bricks.

I turned around to take in my surroundings and spotted the town’s guard above the gate. They were in groups of two and three and were looking down at those coming and going through the four-meter-long tunnel of the gate.

Turning, I kept walking towards the city’s center and found a large stone tower at the port’s center. Getting closer, I could see guards blocking the door inside and decided against trying my luck.

I was about to begin looking for a shop when I felt rage emanating from the northeast. Luin was pissed, but at what. I needed to get back to her as fast as I could. I asked a few of the Beastkin where the shops were located. Most looked at me with disgust, but an elderly Rabbit Beastkin explained how to get to the commerce plaza. I thanked her a few times before following her directions.

The plaza was in a large open square. Shops with wooden signs lined the plaza’s outer edge. The center was filled with small tents with people on blankets or rugs hawking their wares to those passing by. I walked around marveling at the people and items for sale. There were many more species here than the Beastkin. I believe they were humans as they looked like Elefvian but a bit thicker and had smaller round ears.

I marveled at a group of insect-looking people before I spotted a group of Kobolds that made my blood boil. The rage from Luin seemed to stop, and an emotion close to puzzlement replaced it. I was absolutely sure right then, Luin could feel my emotions as well. I continued going up and down the isles at the plaza’s center but couldn’t find anyone buying cores.

I moved to the plaza’s outer edge and examined a few shops as I walked. The first was a clothing store. A spindle of thread and needle hung from the metal bars above its door. The next shop had a backpack and bag sign, so I entered the building and heard a bell from above the door chime. “Hello, welcome! Can I interest you in a void bag? I have many sizes and styles to choose from.” came a voice from the back of the store.

“Hello? I’m looking for now. Do you happen to buy cores?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I deal with coins only. You’ll need to go down a few doors If you’re looking to offload items for trade,” came the voice from the back.”

“Thank you, I’ll be back after I sell my cores,” I said as I left the shop. The next shop had a campfire with a grill above the door. The next building was much larger and built with an almost pure white brick. Getting closer, I could see specs of blue within the material, marble maybe? The sign above the door was an open chest and stacks of coins inside and around it.

This had to be this world’s version of a bank. I didn’t need their services at this time, so I kept walking. The next building’s sign was what I could only describe as junk in the shape of a pentagon. I could make out a few items, but it was a literal pile of items that made up the sign.

I walked in to find rows and rows of tall shelves with boxes crammed into every available space. “Hello, we’re back here.”

I walked between two shelves until I reached a back counter or platform. On the platform was a half-meter tall spider woman sitting on a cushion. She had the body of a spider, but where the head should have been was the body of a bare-chested human woman with bright red hair and vivid green eyes. “Hello, we are Vertra Of The Araneae. How can we help you today?

“Hello. I have cores I need to sell for coins. Do you purchase cores? I’d also like to ask what you meant by ‘we’ and who are the Araneae? Is that the name of your race?”

“You have never met our kind before, traveler? The Araneae is indeed the name of our race. When I say we, it means we our tribe. We are called Vertra, and we are many,” she said as she pointed up.

I nearly pissed myself as I followed her finger. Three meters above my head, where the ceiling should have been, was a massive white web covering the entire shop. Running across the web were smaller and much larger spider people caring boxes to and from locations. I watched a particularly large spider carrying a chest upside down on the white webbed ceiling bring it over a shelf and then lower himself with a strand of spider silk and deposit the box on a shelf, then return to the web and walk through a hole to the back of the shop.

“Vertra of The Araneae is also our shop’s name but also signifies our tribe to those who trade with us often.”

I thought back to the sign and realized the junk was on a spiderweb. “I have cores I need to exchange for coins. Would you be interested?”

“Oh yes, we will always be interested in cores. What color and ranks do you have?”

I untied my shirt to retrieve the cores. “I have five green cores. How much are these worth?”

“Oh, Tier 2 cores are rare around here. Yes, we would very much like to purchase these from you. We will give five silver for the Rank C and two silver for each of the Rank D’s.”

“I placed the five cores on the platform in front of her. “You called them Tier 2. Do you know the other tiers and the colors of them?”

Five tiny spiders came down from the ceiling and picked up the five gems, lifting them as they climbed back up their stands of silk. A moment later, thirteen smaller spiders, each carrying a four-sided silver coin, descended from the ceiling and then stacked them up in a nice pile before returning from where they came.

“To our knowledge, there are ten tiers of cores found throughout history. Tier 1’s are white and called Bone Cores. Tier 2, the ones you possessed, are, of course, green and referred to as Jade. Tier 3 is blue and called Azure. These are the most common cores traded in the world.

Then you have Tier 4’s, Citrine, and are yellow in color. The orange Tier 5’s are called Amber and extremely rare as the tiers above it. Our tribe has never seen any of these. Tier 6 and above are only written about in books, and their color and name in order of tier go from red, Crimson. Pink, Rose. Purple, Amethyst. Onyx is black, and Prismatic is the divine color, teal.

If you ever come across any of these, we would very much like to trade them with you, even going into debt to get our hands on them. Is there anything else you would like to trade or seek?”

“I need a small void bag and enough food and water to last me a few days travel. How much would that cost in coins?”

The spider lady didn’t even speak. A Multitude of small spider people came down from the ceiling with a small pouch and many bags and water skins. They placed everything on the counter, and eight of the tiny spiders went over to the neat stack of silver coins and removed the top eight coins before going back up. “Anything else you may need?”

“Do you have any better clothes and shoes or boots for the coins I have left?”

A larger spider came down from the ceiling and landed on my shoulder this time. I did everything in my power not to slap him off out of fear. I watched in horror as he laid a strand of silk on my shoulder and began crawling down my back and then legs. Once he reached my foot, he walked across it, tapped my toe, and went back up my legs and back and up to the ceiling.

Moments later, larger spiders came out of the back and dropped down to the platform placing cloth pants and vest with leather covering the front, back, and parts of the arms and legs. Then two large spiders, each carrying a boot, landed on the platform before returning.

Three tiny spiders carrying three-sided copper coins came down, placing them in a neat stack next to the silver coins before picking up the remaining silver coins and returning to the web above.

“You know, I really like the efficiency of your shop. Any chance you have a map of the surrounding area with as much detail as possible?”

“Return with three more green Rank D cores or silver coins, and we can trade for the map. You currently do not have enough for the trade.”

“Thank you, Vartra. I’ll be back soon with the cores for the map and maybe a few other items.”