7 Ch. 6- Shopping and Colosseum

After my long day yesterday, I decided to sleep in a bit and recover from the exhaustion that had been piling up after a few days of continuous work and exercise. Waking up later in the day, I shower and feed my summons a core each.

Jareth seems to have taken to copying me and what I do, and so he nibbles at his core as if it was a sandwich. Brutus, on the other hand, gobbles his down as soon as I hand it to him. I have to be careful when handing it to him, as I've had a few close calls with him nearly chomping off my hand out of eagerness for his meal.

I seem to be unique in the summoning profession as many summoners have taken to treating their summons as tools or weapons to slay monsters rather than companions to be treated equally. One of these oddities of mine is that I seem to have picked up the habit of feeding my summons with every meal that I have and usually have them eat alongside me, especially while out hunting where they can be out freely.

Perhaps this regular feeding has helped contribute to their rapid growth, because in the few short days that I've had them they've not only gotten stronger and more capable, but they've grown noticeably larger as well.

I've just kept up this trend as a habit and it seems to have a great effect on their growth, which would have remained stagnated for a while had I followed the traditionally accepted method of feeding the summon a bunch of cores at once in hopes of prompting an evolution.

This method was finicky at best and had about a 50% chance of actually working, it also seemed to slightly injure the summons as a result of spontaneous growth all at once and as a result, it could only be done again after a long period of time had passed and the summon had recovered.

I hurriedly eat a single credit breakfast and then head to the market to look around for some equipment or consumables that may be useful while hunting. There is an informal market that was set up near the center of the city during the beginning of the New Era and it has continued to exist since then, the only rules of the market are no fighting and whoever gets there first has the rights to set up shop for that day.

As a result, the market begins early in the morning and is when most of the goods are sold, by the time I got there most of the inventory had been sold and the only things remaining were things of lesser value.

After looking through the stalls selling various wares I manage to find some common wolf and goblin cores and buy 4 of each. In addition, I purchase an illusion crow core to strengthen Brutus' illusion shadow clone ability for 6 credits, and for Jareth the core of a shield bear for 7 credits. Spending a total of 21 credits at the core market, I was left with 66 credits in my account.

It was well made and functional, but clearly used which I didn't mind much as long as it provided protection. The pants themselves were nothing special, they had bristly grey fur on the outside and the inside of the pants was a soft brown leather that had obviously been treated well for it to feel so comfortable.

After my wild spending spree and putting on the pants I had just bought in their changing room in the back of the store, I head to a restaurant for lunch and pay 2 credits for a large sandwich full of meat and vegetables along with a tall glass of ale. I tore through the sandwich and filled my empty and complaining stomach which was protesting more than usual as a result of all the walking I did that morning.

I quickly finish off the ale by taking large gulps of it in between bites to wash down the dry but flavorful bread. As I eat I decide that since I have paid off our rent for the month this early on and have the means to make plenty more money, I can go to the colosseum to bet on some of the summoners fighting each other. I haven't ever been because I never had the money to, but now that I can make plenty of money just by going out for a day and killing a few monsters I don't have that problem anymore.

Having made my mind up on what to do today, I walk towards the giant stone colosseum and get in line at the front entrance. I take a few moments to admire the giant oval-shaped building made completely from granite with almost no breaks in between the stones to the point it looks as if it was carved from one colossal stone.

I suppose it makes sense that it looks so perfect considering the deity who created it also built the entire city and had the power to combine the seven original continents into one giant continent. I pay the entrance fee of 2 credits by sliding my watch under a scanner near the entrance and enter the imposing building that just seemed to scream strength and violence.

After adjusting to the light inside the building I take a look at the lineup of fighters posted on the wall, it shows the known information on the competitors and their summons, which I suppose is to draw more interest and help the spectators make informed bets off of the little bits of information provided.

After judging which summoner has an advantage over their opponent I select 2 summoners to bet on out of the 10 matches going on today. One of the summoners named Damon was a newcomer to the arena, but he seemed to have a strong variant summon that he was using in his fights, it was a Plague Harpy that was able to spread sickness and poison its prey with its sharp poisoned talons.

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Although he lacked experience, he hadn't lost the two previous matches he fought and has a type advantage over his opponent who had a common imp as a summon. Betting credits on him would earn me triple the amount I bet due to the summoners' inexperience in the Colosseum battles and his opponent's relatively strong consecutive winning record.

It would come down to whether the imp could manage to capture and mangle the harpy with its' sharp claws or if the harpy could poison the imp and keep its distance while the poison worked through the imp. With its' aerial advantage, the harpy was more likely to win as it could escape the imp at any time while the imp had no ranged ability and would have to get the harpy while it was attacking. After my analysis of the likely battle strategy, I decided to place a bet of 10 credits on Damon and his plague harpy.

The other summoner was heavily favored to win as he was a veteran competitor with a high tier centaur as his summon, and as such, I would only earn 1.5 times the credits I would bet on that match. It was almost a guaranteed win, and so the winnings would be much smaller than on the other fights. I decided to put another 10 credits on this fight to earn some easy pocket money and pad my pockets just a little more, only if everything went right through, sometimes upsets happen and the underdog could win if they were an unknown competitor or were hiding their strength.

Having resolved who I was going to bet on, I head over to the plain-looking betting booth and made my bets with one of the tellers working the booth. I scanned my watch under the reader to put my money down and received my betting receipts in return. After taking the paper receipts and stuffing them in my storage so that I wouldn't accidentally lose them, I went over to the stadium seating and chose an empty seat up close to get a good view of the matches.

After the first two matches, the favored summoner to win that I bet on was up. Due to the similar strength of the summons, but the type advantage of the favored summoner, he quickly won his match. The summoner had a tier 3 fire spirit and faced off against an unfortunate dryad that was easily suppressed by the fire being spewed at the dryad.

The dryad did its' best to avoid the fire and even summoned roots and vines to ward off the flames for a short time, but it was inevitable that the dryad would be burned to ash, it was simply a matter of time till it happened. By the time the fire reached the dryad and was almost engulfed in flames the opposing summoner wisely forfeited in order to prevent his dryad from being killed, the moment he spoke the flames halted and the dryad was left unharmed aside from a few minor burns.

I was excited at the prospect of gaining even more money from my bets and eagerly awaited the summoner match with Damon and his plague harpy. After 4 more matches, the battle I had been waiting for finally came.

On the right side was Damon and His plague harpy which was currently on the ground next to him so it could conserve energy, and on the left was his opponent with their common imp. The imp seemed hyped up in anticipation of the coming battle and was jumping up and down to burn off some excess energy. The imp was the size of a child with bright red skin and fingers that acted as sharp knives that seemed like they could cut through just about everything.

When the match began, the imp rushed the harpy which had started on the ground and hadn't yet taken to the air. The harpy seemed to be preparing to take to the air with its' mottled brown and puke green feathers on display due to its' wings being splayed out in preparation for pushing off into the air.

As the imp closed in the harpy had oddly enough yet to take to the air where it could avoid the imp. When it got into range it lunged towards the humanoid bird with its claws in front of it in preparation for tearing into the summon. At the last moment the harpy finally moved managed to not only successfully dodge the incoming attack, but it managed to scratch a deep wound into the right shoulder of the imp as it took to the air.

The wound was quite deep and seemed to be progressing quickly towards infection as dark black and green vein patterns began to show up near the shoulder wound, it was so deep that even the shoulder bone could be seen within the large gash. The battle ended shortly after that ass the harpy simply remained in the air and allowed the imp to be further weakened from its plague wound that continued to spread.

When the wound had reached the point of encapsulating the entire right arm in lines of infection that seemed to completely cover the limb, the harpy finally swooped down to take out its' weakened prey and unsurprisingly succeeded in its' attempt to take out the imp.

Unlike the previous match I had bet on where the summoner forfeited to avoid having his dryad die, this summoner allowed the battle to continue despite the unfortunate position the imp was in. He seemed to be holding on to the hope that the imp would manage to get lucky and trap the harpy when it comes down from above to attack, unfortunately, no such thing happened as the imp's reflexes were hampered from the infection flowing through its' body.

The harpy, in a brutal display of dominance first clawed out the imp's eyes, and then as the monster flailed about in blind panic the harpy swooped down once more to pick up the imp by its forearms. The flying summon took to the air with its' prey in its arms unable to fight back and when it had reached a great height dropped the imp.

Gravity quickly took hold and the monster splattered into a great pile with blood and viscera going everywhere which transformed into a dim crystal that went back into the callous summoners' storage. Damon was declared the winner and after a short celebration yell along with his harpy summon he left the arena so that the next match could occur. In total, the match only lasted about 3 minutes, but it felt much longer with as enthralling as the match was to watch.

With both of the matches that I had bet on winning I go to turn in my tickets to the betting booth, and receive 15 credits from the first match and 30 credits for Damon's match. The gross earnings ended up being 25 credits and left me with a total of 71 credits.

Feeling satisfied with my earnings at the Colosseum I decide to head back to the market for some additional supplies for when I go hunting in the monster plane for extended periods of time. This of course only occurring when my storage space gets large enough to hold enough corpses that would warrant an extended trip.

I manage to make it to a rustic looking adventuring supplies store to purchase some hunting and camping necessities. I prowl through the store looking for anything that might be of use to me and eventually settle on a few items that I think might be of use.

I pick out a cast iron pan for cooking which will allow me to preserve my credits while in the wild by eating meat that I obtain from my kills, it cost a measly 2 credits so I immediately snatch it up. Then I pick out an insulated sleeping bag with a detachable liner for warmer climates for 2 credits.

I toss in a lighter and some waterproof matches for 1 credit, as well as a set of skinning/bone cutting tools made out of a tier two monsters bones for 6 credits. A large canteen and a set of metal utensils and a plate that was hiding under a tarp in the corner are immediately snatched up for 1 credit, otherwise, I would have to eat all of my meals with my hands or on a stick.

I smell them before I see the large batch of Monster repellant scent sacks that are selling for 3 credits and add them as they are a necessity for being safe while sleeping. As I near the counter I see a set of Emergency light sticks made from the compounds found in giant lightning bugs for 2 credits and decide to get them as well, I mean I've already spent this much and they may be useful in the future.

Having Finished my spending spree, I'm left with 54 credits and decide to call it a day before I end up spending anymore. When I get back to the apartment I don't see or hear Mira and assume she is either sleeping already or still at work, but I decide the latter option is much more likely.