"How is your arm doing?" Aiden asked.
"Honestly, it still feels numb," Kaelen said, moving his now-regrown arm up and down at the elbow. "Like that feeling when you sleep on it wrong."
Selene looked over the arm for what had to be the four hundredth time.
She was clearly still worried.
The process itself had been strange to watch. Selene had concentrated her Mutation as if trying to mutate her own fingers, then infused that energy into Kaelen's stump.
It had taken hours.
Afterward, Selene had been completely tapped out, even using up the last of the energy potions Aiden had prepared for the trip.
But Kaelen's arm was back.
Aflmaril had insisted that the numbness was normal. Apparently, when someone lost a limb and got it back, it often took time before they could use it properly again.
This did not soothe Selene.
Not even slightly.
The next day, they finally reached the outer line leading into Coalhill.
They were not fully unloading the vehicle, only taking what they needed to bring into town. Aiden locked up the vehicle and turned to the others.
"Wonder if that quest we were planning to do is still available?"
"Well, to be fair, it took us a few days to get here," Jax said as they approached the line for the gate. "Someone might have handled it already."
Coalhill was both different from what Aiden had expected and exactly what he had expected.
The city sat inside what looked like a hollowed-out hill. From the outside, the whole place seemed to spiral downward, with roads, buildings, and walkways descending into the earth in rings.
A simple steel wall surrounded the outer edge.
Simple, at least, until Aiden got closer.
The line was much longer than the one at Hopestone, stretching nearly three hundred people deep. Thankfully, unlike Hopestone, where standing in line mostly meant standing around and slowly becoming bored enough to count pebbles, Coalhill had stalls and attractions set up all around the waiting area.
As they joined the line and found the others, Aiden noticed the temperature.
It was hotter here.
Much hotter.
The closer they got to the walls, the warmer the air became. Most of the group seemed fine, but Aflmaril and Jax were both eyeing the city walls like the walls had personally offended them.
"What's with the heat?" Straun asked, wiping his forehead in a way that made a woman in a nearby group visibly lose focus. "I know we're in the sun, but this seems a bit much."
"From what I read, Coalhill uses its walls as one of its defenses against monsters," said the person ahead of them in line.
Aiden glanced over.
She was a human woman who looked to be in her thirties. She wore a work apron and had spots of grease across her hands and face.
"The walls are connected to the forges," she continued. "So they are constantly heated. If you touch them, you can get a nasty burn."
"Well, that's just peachy," Aflmaril said in a sour tone.
Jax nodded along with her.
Straun looked between the two beastkin.
"What has you two so hostile today?"
"In case you haven't noticed," Aflmaril said, "we are basically walking around in fur coats all day. Overheating is not something most beastkin enjoy."
Aiden watched their argument for a moment before Will made a sharp whistling noise in his head.
"Hey, body. Check our four o'clock. There's a shop that looks interesting."
Aiden turned.
A short distance away was a tent run by an elderly elf, which was not something Aiden saw often. The elf sat calmly in the shade, and before him were various items ranging from a staff leaning against one wall to a green gemstone the size of Aiden's fist.
Aiden turned back to the group.
"Do you all plan to do any shopping?"
The others looked at him.
Sena nodded.
"I would like to go shopping. Is anyone else?"
After a moment of silence, it was just Sena and Aiden.
Aiden would have expected Jax to join, but Jax claimed that less movement meant less body heat, so he was content to lie on the cool ground and pant.
Aiden had never been around Sena much. She was usually at Aflmaril or Straun's side whenever he was near her, so she remained a bit of a mystery.
Part of him wanted to try to start small talk.
Before he could, Sena turned to him.
"There was a shop I saw selling arrowheads. I'll check that first. I think I saw one with potions that way."
She pointed in the almost opposite direction of her own shop.
Aiden nodded as she started wandering through the tents.
He was both a bit miffed that he had been blown off like that and glad he did not have to start talking about the weather.
With that problem solved by being ignored, Aiden made his way to the elderly elf's tent.
The elf now sat with a pipe at least a foot long, quietly puffing from it.
"I know elves know when old age will arrive," Aiden said, sitting down on the small cushion in front of the tent, "but I'm pretty sure smoking is not the best way to bring some uncertainty into your life."
The old elf glanced up at him with a gentle expression.
A small smile spread across his face, revealing slightly yellowed teeth as he set his pipe down on an ornate stand.
"What can I say? It is a habit I cannot seem to drop." The elf's eyes settled on Aiden. "Tell me, lad, what brings you to my shop?"
It felt like a strange question.
Before Aiden could answer, Will spoke.
"He's the only one without signage or any obvious marketing attempt. That means his items speak for themselves, or he has some other way to stay in business."
Aiden repeated the thought.
The old elf let out a chuckle and leaned back into a small pile of pillows, making a sweeping gesture with one hand.
"Then you seem to know what you are doing, my friend. Feel free to look and select what you would like to buy."
Aiden looked over the old man's items.
While the tent had many things inside, the actual stall seemed to have only five items for sale.
The first was one Aiden recognized.
An elemental gem.
It looked to be made of emerald and was the size of his fist. Inside the gem, a storm-like pattern swirled.
The one Aiden had used to summon Misty had been barely the size of his pinky nail. While compatibility mattered, an item like this could probably summon a greater-tier wind spirit at minimum.
The next item was a folded cloak.
It was simple in design, dark gray with a slightly threadbare look. Threads poked out here and there, but aside from that, it was intact and whole.
The third item was a book.
In some ways, it resembled the skillbook they had found in the dungeon. However, it lacked the ornate finish of the dungeon book and had an almost handmade appearance.
Beyond that sat a simple black slate. Around it was an open bag containing five crystals. A pen was attached to the slate by a simple string, which did help separate it from a random flat rock someone might have picked up on the side of the road and declared merchandise.
The last item was the staff Aiden had seen before.
It was made of beautiful polished wood, its head coiled into the shape of a serpent. At first glance, it resembled an ornate walking stick, but when Aiden looked closer, he saw gemstones set into the snake's eyes.
The old elf took another drag from his pipe.
"Your eyes are curious, but your brain does not know what to ask. No?"
Aiden looked at him.
"Uh," Will said. "I think he's asking if you want to know what everything is."
Aiden nodded.
Both to Will and the old elf.
The old man pulled a bony hand from his robes and gestured toward the elemental gem.
"This is an elemental conduit stone. It allows even those without an innate connection to spirits to call forth an elemental spirit. This one would call forth a wind spirit."
He moved his hand to the cloak.
Lifting it, he reached for his pipe with the other hand and placed it behind the fabric.
To Aiden's surprise, when the old elf retracted his hand, the pipe was gone.
Smoke and all.
A second later, the elf pulled the pipe back out and took another drag.
"This is a basic spatial cloak. Its storage is limited to roughly the size of a closet, but it remains useful for storing rations, weapons, and other supplies."
The old elf's hand moved again.
He skipped over the book in the middle.
Part of Aiden wanted to believe that was just a sales tactic.
Another part of him kept watching the book out of the corner of his eye.
The old elf moved on to the slate.
"This is a telegraph slate. Anything written on its surface will vanish after a few seconds and be sent to the connected crystals."
He wrote the word interested in neat cursive.
After a few seconds, the chalk vanished from the slate.
The five crystals glowed inside the bag.
The old elf took one out and placed it on the ground. Glowing lettering appeared on the rug, almost like it had been written with Thalia's strings. The crystal danced across the surface as if copying the elf's chalk, writing the exact same message before the words vanished a few seconds later.
Aiden nodded slowly.
Communication would be vital later.
At the moment, though, they could do without it. It would depend on the price.
The old man's hand drifted to the last item.
He grasped the staff.
To Aiden's surprise, the gemstone eyes blinked at him.
Then the rich, dark wood shifted into flesh and scales as the snake uncoiled. It slithered around Aiden in a slow circle before returning to the old elf's hand and becoming wood once more.
"This is a serpent staff. When infused with energy, it can take the form of a serpent, though the breed will differ from user to user. You may also share vision with the serpent, allowing it to be used for reconnaissance."
Aiden nodded along.
Then his eyes drifted back to the book in the middle.
The old elf followed his gaze and grabbed it.
"I see you have a good eye, customer. This is a training book. It contains a very special skill. One that grants tremendous power in moments of stress, but comes at the cost of one's body becoming so strong it begins to rip itself apart."
A chill ran through Aiden.
He was not sure what a training book was compared to a skillbook, but both seemed to contain a skill he could gain.
Better yet, this was a combat skill.
However, a combat skill that ripped one's body apart sounded more than a little detrimental.
It would also be extremely difficult to explain why he bought it.
The old man seemed to notice Aiden's glance toward the book, because he chuckled.
"Tell you what. Each of these items is fifteen hundred gold. If you pay an extra five hundred, I will toss in the book with whatever other item you buy."
"That seems a bit too good to be true," Will said, crossing his arms inside Aiden's head.
Aiden agreed.
"Why would you be willing to make that deal?"
The old elf chuckled and looked toward the sky, where the sun was slowly approaching the horizon. A cloud was painted red by its descent.
"My life is almost over," the old elf said. "And I have lived it to the fullest. The only thing I have left to do is make sure young ones like yourself have what they need to survive long enough to do the same for the next generation."
Aiden blinked.
The words resonated with him in a strange, profound way he could not quite explain.
Still, if this was legitimate, he was not going to give the old man time to change his mind.
Aiden looked over the items again.
Then he pointed and pulled out his gold pouch.