There wasn't a single customer in the store.
A very obese middle-aged man with full sideburns yawned as he rose from the reclining chair behind the counter, greeting somewhat perfunctorily: "May the gold cogwheels turn smoothly, welcome, esteemed guest. Everything in this store accepts custom orders. I have everything here; just tell me what you're interested in, and I'll tell you the price."
Durin fumbled in his pocket for the Synthetite crystal wrapped in black cloth, carefully placing it on the counter's surface. He removed the black cloth, revealing a transparent, prismatic crystal emitting an orange-yellow glow to the middle-aged man's sight.
"How much can you offer for this?"
"Hmm?"
Benso first raised an eyebrow, then his blurry eyes widened. He rubbed them with the back of his hand, picked up the magnifying glass from the table, and carefully examined the crystal. He looked up, his gaze scrutinizing Durin, then chuckled, "You look familiar! Didn't you sell me a set of leather clothing before?"
"Yes, that was me," Durin smiled and replied.
"Synthetite crystals are quite valuable, but… this one looks a bit incomplete! And it's very small!" Benso deliberately sighed, "Now, Enforcers are everywhere in the streets and alleys of Zaun; things are not as they used to be. If I take this crystal from you now, I won't be able to sell it anytime soon…"
Damn it, this guy wants to drive the price down!
Durin held up four fingers, directly interrupting Benso, who was trying to lower the price, "Four gold cogwheels!"
"Hmph! That's impossible!" Benso scoffed, "A Synthetite crystal a size larger than yours is only about 3 gold cogwheels. Yours is so small, at most one gold cogwheel."
Huh? Is the crystal in my hand smaller than normal?
But only one gold cogwheel?
How is that possible!
Durin had considered going to other places to fence the goods, but compared to Ben Suos Grocery Store, they were truly heartless among the heartless; even devils would applaud. It was only because Benso was older and had started to value his reputation, and he would clean up any items brought for sale, not causing trouble for the seller.
But 1 gold cogwheel was definitely not enough. After selling the crystal, he would first have to pay back the old miner's debt to Mr. Reno, which was one gold cogwheel. If this crystal only sold for 1 gold cogwheel, then he would only get a 20% commission these days, which was 4.8 silver lun coins. That was too big a difference from his original expected reward.
After calculating in his mind, Durin decisively rejected, "3.5 gold cogwheels."
Benso shook his head, conceding a step, "1 gold cogwheel, plus an additional 18 silver lun coins. That price is already a lot."
"3 gold cogwheels!"
"No! At most 1 gold cogwheel and an extra 18 silver lun coins!"
"…Two. I know you can sell these crystals to the Chem-Baron." Durin stated his bottom price. If this damn profiteer was still unwilling, he would rather work harder to find other channels to sell the crystals.
Benso frowned, considered for a moment, and reluctantly said, "Alright, 2 it is. But next time you have such crystals, remember to sell them to me!"
"Of course, no problem." Durin readily agreed.
Benso then fumbled two shiny, round, thumb-sized metal coins from under the counter and placed them on the table. One side was engraved with a gold cogwheel shape, and the other side was engraved with a pattern of a sluice gate dam.
This was the currency circulated jointly by Piltover and Zaun, the gold cogwheel!
Benso casually wrapped the Synthetite crystal in a black cloth, then placed it inside the counter, took out a bottle of wine, poured two glasses for himself, and handed one of them to Durin, saying, "This is the pirates' favorite wine, and I like it too! Drinking it makes me feel like surfing on the sea!"
"For Zaun, let's have a drink!" Benso raised his glass in a toast, smiling.
Durin carefully tucked the two gold cogwheels into his inner pocket, then picked up the wine glass and took a sip, asking, "I heard you also sell and repair Augments here, and upgrade enhanced components. Sometimes you even have some contraband from Upper City."
"That depends on what you want," Benso said confidently.
After the experience in the mine, Durin realized the importance of strength; he had to improve his proficiency as soon as possible. But before that, he needed some powerful weapons for self-defense.
Otherwise, with the pain in his body and a large sum of money on him, he wouldn't feel at ease going back without some gear.
"So, what kind of powerful and cheap weapons do you have here?" Durin asked.
As soon as he said this, Benso immediately chuckled. "Hey, isn't this more business coming right to my door? It seems the two gold cogwheels I just gave away tonight can come back into my pocket, and maybe I can even earn a little more."
Cheap and powerful weapons? That would be second-hand weapons!
He had so many of these things piled up in the warehouse that he was planning to sell them for scrap metal soon.
"Of course, I have all sorts; it mainly depends on how powerful you need it to be," Benso nodded, pulling out a pre-prepared product catalog from under the counter. "By the way, listening to your voice... don't you need to consider an Augment modification?"
"No, no, I'm quite satisfied with my body as it is," Durin immediately refused.
Benso opened the product catalog, pointing at the pictures and specifications, and began to speak voluminously: "Alright then, allow me to introduce our gold-standard product, the Wrist Strength Enhancer. It can be powered by diesel, and before the fuel runs out, you can completely smash some unfortunate soul. Its overall structure uses a high-performance impact-resistant frame. Besides the Piltover bank vault door, you won't need a key to go anywhere."
As he spoke, he seemed to feel unable to prove to Durin how awesome this device was, so he immediately yelled outside: "Ekko! Go to the warehouse and bring out box number 35! Ekko! Damn brat, where did he run off to in a moment..."
Seeing no response for a long time, Benso grumbled and squeezed out from behind the counter, about to walk out of the room.
"Got it!"
A boy's tender voice came from outside.
The next moment, the dark-skinned, white-haired boy ran back in from outside. As he passed Durin, he once again caught his attention.
To be honest, this future time prodigy of Zaun actually formed the Wildfire Gang five years later to fight against the Silco Family, and in those five years, he was able to research and invent the "Z-Drive" and control the abnormal ability to reverse time with just a single Hex Crystal fragment.
Ekko felt a bit uncomfortable under Durin's gaze and nervously hurried into the house to move the box.
Benso dragged his bulky body back behind the counter and continued, "How about it? It's a great deal. Now you can take it home for only 2 gold cogwheels! I can even give you a free round of diesel."
He really hoped to sell this thing soon. Six years ago, when it was sold to him, it was still covered in blood, probably stripped from a corpse.
It hadn't sold in years; the device was too outdated and required regular diesel changes. Zaun had too many crazy scientists who developed all sorts of bizarre Chem-Tech. In comparison, this so-called Wrist Strength Enhancer truly wasn't impressive.
Durin was initially quite tempted, but upon hearing the price of 2 gold cogwheels, he instantly gave up. This price was clearly just an attempt to get back the gold cogwheels he had just given him!
"Do you sell firearms here?" Durin asked.
"Guns?"
Benso was startled at first, then immediately denied it: "How could that be! These things are illegal in Zaun; the Piltoverianss control them! I don't know where you heard that, but I certainly don't have any here. I don't want to end up in prison..."
Durin was surprised by Benso's strong reaction. But he knew that the other party's grocery store warehouse definitely had firearms; he just wasn't willing to sell them to him.
"No guns, but why don't you consider a military crossbow? It's good stuff from Noxus!" Benso actively promoted.
Military crossbow?
Durin was about to agree but immediately realized he couldn't use it at all, lacking even the slightest proficiency. Moreover, a military crossbow was inconvenient to carry; he couldn't just carry it around all the time!
Currently, he only had 52 points in one-handed weapon proficiency. The mine experience made him realize that a short knife was useless. He needed a more practical one-handed weapon that could provide armor penetration and blunt force trauma.
He then said, "Never mind. Just give me some one-handed weapons with good materials that are easy to handle, preferably ones that can provide armor penetration and blunt force trauma."
Benso nodded knowingly and immediately shouted into the room: "Ekko! Not box number 35! I need the wooden box from box number 128, the black one! Move it!"
"Got it!"
The boy's responding voice came from inside the room.
Soon, the dark-skinned, white-haired boy, Ekko, walked to the counter carrying a black wooden box. He stood on tiptoes to place the box on top. Benso opened the box and turned it around so the black wooden box faced Durin squarely.
Inside the wooden box was a war hammer, cast entirely from pure iron. Its head consisted of radial blade-like sections, and the blunt end was made of many unsharpened axe blades. However, because it lacked a true sharp edge, it was still considered a blunt weapon, not sharp but extremely sturdy.
Not only was it not afraid of dulling, but it could also dent armor. The war hammer was excellent for both blunt impact and armor penetration, and it was quite aesthetically pleasing, which is why many scepter heads were made in a similar fashion.
It felt a bit heavy when picked up, but comfortable in his hand, and a natural sense of confidence welled up in his heart.
"How much?"
Durin asked.
"2 silver lun coins! No bargaining," Benso said decisively. "This weapon is crafted from excellent steel and is much stronger than that short knife at your waist."
As he spoke, he took a wooden board about 6 centimeters thick from the counter and placed it on a chair, motioning for Durin to test it.
With the wooden board on the chair, Durin raised the war hammer in his hand and slammed it hard onto the board. With a crack, a large amount of sawdust burst forth.
The wooden board, struck by the top, had already broken into two halves, and even the blunt axe blades easily tore apart the remaining wood fragments.
It was impossible to imagine that if an ordinary person were struck in the chest by such a weapon, their ribcage would likely be completely shattered, leaving them a bloody mess.
Durin carefully examined the war hammer in his hand. There was no change to its overall appearance; it still looked just as indestructible.
This test result greatly satisfied Durin. He believed this weapon would make his efforts twice as effective!
"Alright! This weapon it is."
Durin readily agreed.
Of course, when he pulled out two silver lun coins from his inner pocket, he was still very pained, reluctantly arranging them in a line on the counter.
Then, Durin tucked the war hammer into his waistband and put his mask back on. Before leaving Ben Suos Grocery Store, he glanced at the clock on the wall. The time was 1 o'clock.
Currently, Durin's assets were: two gold cogwheels, five silver lun coins, and nineteen copper circle coins.