Chapter 34: Supplies
"So, we're finally going down to the middle floors." Nico said as the three of them walked through the streets of Orario.
They had just left the guild after talking to Rose. She was not exactly happy with them wanting to go to the middle floors already, as she thought they were advancing too fast. But when she thought about them slaying the Infant Dragon, she couldn't find any reason to dissuade them.
Instead, she sat them down and gave a 4-hour lecture on the middle floors, which made all three of their heads almost steam from too much information. They were let go afterward, and they started making preparations.
The floors 13 to 17 were known as the Cave Labyrinth. The whole place was made of Bedrock and was rich in minerals. There were tons of people who made profits by mining precious metals on these floors to then sell in Orario. There were even familias that were solely dedicated to mining, just like Demeter was dedicated to farming.
Of course, these floors were dangerous, and these familias needed a minimum amount of power to be able to carry out these tasks. Dedicated miners to harvest the resources and strong enough guards to keep the monsters off of them. As such, it was a pretty profitable business venture.
Cassian thought about harvesting these minerals himself but decided against it. The metals on these floors weren't particularly high-tier and could be easily bought in Orario's markets. Mining them himself would be a waste of time and a net loss. Plus, he was already working with stronger materials than them, such as the Under Coral from the Water City.
The main dangers of these floors were the layout, the monster spawn rate, and the new monsters.
The layout of these floors was far more complex than the upper ones. They were broken into twisting mazes with numerous paths and hazards. It was extremely easy to get lost here if one did not know what they were doing, so preparing for that was one of the most important things for adventurers venturing there. Rose provided them with a map, but the complex nature of these floors meant that the map could only cover the main and bigger paths.
Thankfully Cassian's nose served as a safe net against getting lost. It was certainly not infallible as scents could be disturbed or washed away by various things, but it was still something. These floors also had various ravines and holes in them that could be used for fast traveling between floors, so there's that.
The monster spawn rate spiked a lot as soon as the middle floors started. It was one of the most important things, newbies needed to adapt to or they would get overwhelmed and wiped out by endless monster hordes.
And the monsters themselves also naturally got stronger, but they also gained more variety. Hellhounds, for example, were extremely dangerous due to their natural, ranged attack of breathing fire. Numerous adventurers were incinerated by those monsters and that was why the Salamander Wool was such a popular and practically required item.
And once, individually level 2 monsters started appearing, that's when things started getting really difficult. Especially since these monsters, like the Minotaur for example, also had higher intelligence than upper monsters. Nothing extraordinary but still a complication.
It was two days after Cassian started his training with Takemikazuchi. He thought he could finish all his objectives in 1 day, but the forging of armor for Nico and Leo took a lot more time than he initially expected. So, he spent the last two days training with Takemikazuchi in the morning and forging afterward.
The two were currently wearing those armor.
Nico's was a scale armor made from the Infant Dragon's hide. It was an interesting piece to work with, as it was the first scale armor Cassian had made. But it turned out pretty okay. Around what a low or mid-level 2 would wear. The dragon's naturally orange scales were tanned and darkened into a dark color, so that Nico wouldn't be running around in bright orange get-up in the dungeon, attracting everyone's and everything's attention.
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Nico himself was quite happy with the set and quite liked it.
Leo's on the other hand was made of solid metal, the Under Coral like her sword, and a mish-mash of leather in certain parts.
It suited her combat style quite well and offered good protection. It wasn't quite up to par with Nico's armor as the material was inferior in quality, but it came very close and she was equally happy with it.
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"Yes, we are, but we still need to get some things over with first. Will you two be fine by yourselves?" Cassian asked.
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it. We're in the middle of the city. What could happen?" Nico waved his concern off.
"I'm not worried about something happening, idiot. I'm worried about you two being played for suckers and getting ripped off." Cassian replied, annoyed.
They were currently splitting up to buy the last items they needed before diving. This way they could save time.
Nico and Leo were going to purchase Salamander Wool for both of them. The Salamander Wool protected its wearer from heat and coldness, and both of them would need that very much. Cassian already had enhanced resistance to natural elements, so it was unnecessary for him. Plus, it was not like the wool protected one from Hellhound's breath. It only protected from the extreme heat the glancing blows would produce. A direct heat would still incinerate a level 1 adventurer with or without Salamander Wool.
Nico was also buying a staff for himself. At first, they were going to visit that shop Riveria favors to buy a staff. The Witch's secret shop is supposed to be… well, a secret. So, it was not easily available information. They asked around and surprisingly, Rose knew about it and where they could find it. Although, in retrospect, it shouldn't have been surprising considering Riveria and Rose are quite close, though Cassian didn't know the exact history between them.
Rose didn't have a problem giving them the directions to the Witch's shop, but then also quite bluntly told them that they were too broke to shop there, causing their heads to fall. She then helpfully provided recommendations to another shop that sold magical instruments, but at a lower price as the quality didn't reach the Witches. Not that surprising, since nothing Riveria favored would be low quality.
However, despite that, they would still have to sink almost all of their budget into a decent staff. They were just that expensive.
"C'mon, I'm not stupid! I already know the rough prices so I'll negotiate within those ranges. Why can't you trust me on something so simple?" Nico became defensive.
"Remember that time when you bought a 30 Euro Lego piece for 150 Euros that I gave you? And the Lego box turned out to be full of ROCKS!"
Nico at least had the decency to look embarrassed. In hindsight, buying a "Super Limited Edition" Lego that will cost a thousand Euros soon, from a sketchy dude in an alley may not have been the best of ideas.
"T-That was one time!" He exclaimed with a blush of embarrassment.
"Oh, you want me to list the other times as well?" Cassian countered with a raised eyebrow.
"A-Ah… Come on Leo, we should hurry to save time!" With that, he grabbed the confused Leo's hand and ran away while dragging her along.
"Hmph, dumbass." Cassian amusedly snorted, before heading off as well.
His job was to buy healing potions for their dive.
He contemplated which pharmacy to buy them from. Dian Cecht familia would have the highest quality potions, so Cassian thought about going there but changed his mind.
Miach familia would be the better option. While it was true that Dian Cecht would have better quality potions at the moment, it was not because Miach was inferior. He simply did not have the funds or resources to compete right now.
Miach familia had gone into steep debt, when Naaza, their familia captain, was mauled by monsters and had to get an expensive prosthetic. The other familia members were not happy with being hit with a debt like that and left the familia, leaving only Miach and Naaza struggling.
Cassian decided that it would be best to become a regular in their shop and build a relationship with the Miach Familia. After all, being close to a God of Medicine could be extremely valuable in the future. And helping them in their hour of need would allow them to forge a strong bond with one another. Especially with Miach's benevolent and dutiful personality.
It may be a bit manipulative from Cassian, but it's not like it would be harmful to Miach and Naaza. Quite the opposite, they may benefit from it immensely, so Cassian didn't feel bad about it.
Making his way to the Blue Pharmacy, the Miach familia home, he reached it quickly, as it was decently close to the guild.
The building was… well certainly not in the best condition. It wasn't exactly delipidated but Cassian could understand why customers weren't lining up outside.
Making his way inside, he saw a Chienthrope manning the store. She looked as if she hadn't slept in days and was on the verge of passing out with bags under her eyes.
Cassian could see a bit of life enter her eyes as she saw him and straightened up.
"Greetings customer, how can I help you?" She asked though the tone of her voice was droopy.
"Hi, I'd like to purchase some potions to dive into the dungeon." Cassian replied with a friendly smile.
"Of course, what kind of potions are you looking for? And what grade may I ask?"
"Regular healing potions. 10 high-class ones and 30 middle ones, if you have them."
"Of course! I will show them to you right away!" Some of the sleepiness vanished from her tone as she saw the prospect of making a big sale. Normally, they could barely sell around 10-20 potions per day, but now she could sell 40 in one go! And 10 of those were high-class!
"Also, for reference, if I like the quality of the potions today, I'll be coming back here frequently and buying more in bulk." Cassian threw out there and sure enough, Naaza became affected.
Her eyes widened and the perpetual sleepiness in her tone disappeared completely as she went about getting the potions. Hell, she even smiled a bit.
"Of course, dear customer! Miach familia's potions will not disappoint you in the slightest." She said cheerily as she abandoned the batch of potions she was picking up and went to another to start packing them.
'Heh, she was going to give me diluted potions, wasn't she?' Cassian thought, amused at the scam. It was a pretty good way to save money after all. And with Miach's ridiculously charitable nature, it was all but necessary to take such measures, unless she wanted to be homeless. That's why Cassian didn't take any offense to her intentions, he could understand them after all.
"Oh, I wanted to ask something. Would it be possible to move the potions into metal flasks? Their current glass containers aren't exactly very durable and tend to break." Just like it did in their previous battle.
The glass tubes were not good portable devices for adventurers to carry around potions. Far too fragile. That's why Cassian thought about putting them in something more secure. That wouldn't break from a little slam into a wall. But there should be a reason why no one else was doing that, right? After all, it was such a simple solution.
And sure enough…
"I'm sorry dear customer, but that is not possible. The potion is a delicate substance and easily corruptible. It reacts negatively to almost any material and becomes diluted, losing its effectiveness. The glass the tubes are made out of is special and keeps the potions in pristine condition. But that comes at the cost of being fragile." Naaza answered with disappointment. After all, potions breaking in fights was a major problem among adventurers. Carrying them safely was also one of the many duties of supporters, which made discrimination against them even stupider.
"Ah, I see. That is quite disappointing, but nothing I can do about it. How much is it?" Cassian said and looked at the bag she had finished packing.
"30 middle-class potions and 10 high-class potions. 305,000 valis in total."
'She's not jacking up the price. Good.' Cassian handed over the valis and picked up the bag. "Thank you for the potions."
"No, thank you for the patronage. We hope to see you again in the future!" Naaza said in honest anticipation. If she could make him a regular, they could improve their situation by a lot.
'Although I've never seen him. Buying that many potions must mean that he should be around level 2 or even 3, right? Is he new?' Naaza was left to ponder these questions as she went to report the good news to Miach.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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