The next morning Samantha emptied her pack of all its contents to leave with Silas (thinking the extra storage might be helpful for any deliveries Aiden might take her on) and put her money in the pocket in the inside of her robes. Slinging the straps over her shoulders, she made her way to All the Fixin’s where she met up with Aiden and his father, named Jacob. There, Aiden showed her some shoes that were modified to be training aids for new couriers learning the more advanced movement techniques, like her. As he had instructed her to do last night, she offered to do favors for Jacob in lieu of paying in coin, but Aiden waved her off.

“Since he’s my pa, I’ll take on the debt as if I’m the one buying. This means, essentially, you’ll be getting the friends and family discount! I’ll just add it on to what you’ll owe me for the job.” he explained, smiling cheekily.

Samantha didn’t love the idea of adding additional debt to the ambiguous amount she already was accruing with Aiden, but she agreed for the time being.

Once the bargain was struck, Jacob took away her current shoes, now filthy and worn from walking around the slums and Aiden’s training, and gave her a fresh pair in her size. Samantha turned them over in her hands, admiring the obvious craftsmanship and hard work that went into the flat cloth shoes despite the low-quality materials at hand. The main modification was that the soles were covered with the skin of a shark fish, a common catch in the river that bisected the city. The scales were uniquely fine, tough, and textured so that they easily stuck and gripped to other surfaces. She had seen the skin used in weapons’ grips before, but would have never thought to put them on the soles of her shoes before today.

In any case, now newly outfitted, Aiden told her to practice at the training grounds until she had either mastered the paths he showed her yesterday or gained 1 point in Agility. He also gave her a brief description of what it felt like to increase a stat, incase she had never trained one before. Samantha knew from her years of spear practice the warm sensation and ability spike that notified you of your acheivement, but she didn't inturrupt his explanation. He said he would drop by occasionally when he wanted to take her on a delivery, and that if she otherwise needed to get in touch with him to send a message through the headquarters. Just before he was about to start his day of running packages, Samantha stopped him.

“Wait! I want to go to the market we talked about yesterday. Can you tell me how to find it and how to get in?"

“So soon? Figures. Well, it is technically part of our deal so… pa! Can you bring out a shopping mask?” Aiden shouted towards the back of the shop where his father worked. He looked back to her and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper, “Don’t worry, I’ll just put the cost of the mask on your growing tab.”

Before Samantha could respond, Jacob emerged with some sort of helmet the likes of which Samantha had never seen before. The face structure was similar to some of the traditional theater masks that performers sometimes wore during plays, but completely blank and without any of the decorative expressions painted on. In addition, instead of being attached to the face with a strap going around the back of the head, there was a seam that separated the faceplate from the back that could be opened and closed with a latch and hinge system. Samantha couldn’t quite place the material that it was made of, but the surface was smooth, matte, and light gray in color.

Jacob handed her the object without fanfare and returned to the back to continue his work, and Samantha looked to Aiden with no small amount of confusion.

“Uh... what is this for? I know I mentioned I wanted to keep a low profile but this seems a bit much.” Samantha joked.

“Believe it or not, this is standard attire for where you’re going. Well, a lot of people decorate theirs as some sort of identifier, but normally only as a status symbol. You’ll fit right in going with a blank mask.”

Seeing that Samantha didn’t fully understand with this short explanation, Aiden went more in depth. “The authorities know about the existence of the Black Market and officially denounce it, but unofficially? There’s always a use for somewhere you can offload items of questionable origin or buy hard-to-get items. The market pays for Enforcers to look the other way, but occasionally the city needs to have crackdowns and make arrests to keep up appearances. That’s why shoppers originally started wearing these, so you’d have a chance to remain undiscovered if you managed to escape a raid. The practice stuck, and it’s become traditional. Incidentally, it also is helpful for people like you who maybe don’t want others to know that they’re in attendance.”

“I see,” Samantha said, now starting to get it, “so what else do I need to know about the market?”

“You’ll need to find an entrance to the waterways beneath the city and pay two small fees to the market guards, one for an admittance token and another for directions on how to get to the night’s location. You can, of course, skip the directions if you want to try your luck wandering around, but they set up and teardown in new locations each day for security reasons so I wouldn’t recommend it. When you get to the market you will hand over your token, and if you leave you will need to purchase another to get back in.” he explained, then paused before continuing “You got all that, or do you need me to repeat anything?”

“Fees to guards, get an entrance token and directions, it’s in the waterways -- got it.” Samantha affirmed, “Are the guarded entrances switched around too, or are they always in the same place so it’s easy for shoppers to find? Also, how should I act when I get down there? Will buying certain things or behaving a certain way make me stand out?”

“You sure have a lot of questions,” Aiden lightheartedly complained, “but at least they aren’t totally stupid ones. There are only a handful of waterway entrances in the slums, so it doesn’t make much sense to switch those around. I’ll point them out to you on a map before I go.

“As for how to fit in… I’ve only visited on a few occasions for delivery jobs, but it’s an experience that really sticks with you. The best way I can describe it is that people down there aren’t your standard Yiveshians. They’re quick to resort to violence because of the anonymity of the masks, whether it’s haggling or gambling. The guards are there to make sure there are no deaths or theft, but mutual beatdowns are fair game and common. My advice? Act tough so people don’t get the idea that they can take advantage of you. Beyond that, you’ll have to decide for yourself when you get there.”

“I see… thanks Aiden. And, what would you say is a typical price for the token and directions?”

“Whatever you let them squeeze out of you,” he said with a wicked grin, “but no less than 10-15 coppers total, usually. Enough to make sure only slum residents serious about buying get in, but not enough to bankrupt customers before they even get there.”

Samantha was expecting it to be more expensive, but what did she know? She figured that the market would be home to both pricey, rare items, and questionably cheap ones, so the cost to entry would need to account for patrons shopping for the latter.

With their brief discussion concluded, Aiden pointed out the various entry points to the waterways on a weathered map of the city that was hanging nearby on the shop wall. She stashed the helmet in her pack for now and mentally marked down one location that tickled her memory, resolving to go there once night fell.

That still left her with several hours of freetime, though. So, she did as Aiden requested and practiced at the training grounds until the clear sky transitioned from blue, to orange, to purple. The new shoes really did help with her technique and she felt like she was already much closer to mastering the courses than she was yesterday. She got the feeling that she was on the cusp of some sort of breakthrough with the technique, but couldn’t quite grasp what it was she was missing. She was sure she would figure it out eventually, so she put those thoughts out of her mind for the moment as she searched out a dark corner to put on the mask.

Taking it out of the pack and latching it around her head, her first thoughts were that the material was cool to the touch and more comfortable than she anticipated. It fit well, sitting close to her skin but not too constricting on the various features of her face. Shockingly, the helmet-like contraption also didn’t inhibit Prey’s Perception as much as she feared it would. There was a larger area directly behind her head that she was unable to perceive anymore, but she retained the ability to see clearly to either side of her and partially behind her even when her eyes looked ahead. If this limitation was a fair tradeoff for the anonymity she received from the mask, she had yet to see.

Following her mental map to one of the places Aiden had noted earlier, she came upon a familiar alley with three hooded figures standing near the center. On her first day here, Silas had suggested that she get more familiar with the “territory” around her temporary home. When she first happened upon this area, she had eavesdropped on a group of men discussing some questionable activities, but had to leave before risking being discovered.

This time, however, she was here for business instead of sleuthing, and thus approached them with an easy confidence that she hoped would prevent them from trying to rip her off with the entrance fees.

The three turned to look at her, and she decided to act first, “I need a token and directions to the location tonight.”

A paranoid part of her worried that they would somehow see through her mask or ask her for some secret password, but the largest just held out a hand wordlessly. She counted out 12 copper pieces and placed them in his hand, not wanting to cause a fuss by trying to get away with underpaying. If she came back another night, she didn’t want to be on their bad sides, after all.

He grunted after confirming the amount she paid, and passed her a carved wooden coin with the image of a River Lotus on its face. The wood surface was smooth and somewhat shiny, suggesting that it had passed through many hands over the years and had been polished smooth by people’s touch. On the backside, there was some strange symbol etched in that was not any form of writing she recognized. Perhaps some sort of code?

Two of the guards proceeded to lift the metal grate up from the ground so that she could descend into the waterways, while the man who took her money gave directions.

“Go north from here, then take your third right. Take the fourth left, then walk 50 paces and there will be a door on the left side. Push your token through the slot and it will open.” he said in a bored and gravelly tone, and then gestured to the open hole in the ground. He seemed somewhat impatient to be rid of her, so she didn’t bother wasting his time with words of thanks that he likely didn’t care for.

The pit was not large, maybe 3 feet in diameter, but it was more than wide enough for her to fit through. A rope ladder extended into the darkened waterways, and she could hear the sound of gently flowing water coming up from below. With her night vision, she could clearly see the bottom only 10 feet or so down, but took the offered ladder rather than jump. As she descended, the guards refitted the grate over the opening above her, sealing her inside the passage.

The waterways were exactly what she expected them to be like, excepting the occasional qi-powered torch that lit the paths for those with mortal vision. Carved out of the earth and lined with stone, small streams of runoff from the rains flowed at the bottom of the tunnel’s curvature. Various mosses and algae grew in the cracks and crevices that were frequented by moisture, and sometimes a rat would cross her path and look up at her with curiosity, too used to seeing humans to be wary, she supposed.

She followed the instructions diligently, the torches placed at each junction making it easy to keep track of what counted as a “right” or a “left”, and before long found herself in front of the aforementioned doorway.

The metal door was completely smooth, with no obvious handles to open it. The only imperfection in the surface was a coin slot near the center, around shoulder height. Intrigued, Samantha pushed against the door just to see what would happen. Predictably, nothing did. Not even the slightest wiggle of movement from the force she exerted.

She shrugged, then pushed her lotus token through the slot as instructed. Silently, without even the sound of a lock opening or squeaky hinges, the door swung inwards away from her and revealed… blackness. Not darkness, but an impenetrable sheet of black that gave her no indication of what would be on the other side.

“Some sort of qi art for privacy? I’ve heard of such things being used in high-end shops when there is a big sale being made,” she mumbled aloud, trying to fill the quiet that had, to her, become somewhat eerie staring into a doorway of nothingness, “which would explain why I didn’t hear anything resembling a bustling marketplace coming up to the door.”

Deciding that standing around any longer was pointless, she took a deep breath and thrust her hand through the veil first, and when there were no odd sensations or pain, she took the plunge and stepped through entirely.

Her first impressions? Bright. Loud. Chaotic.

The market was large, open, and held several hundred people without giving the sense of being crowded or packed. Merchant stalls were neatly arranged along the walls of the square room with large banners above listing the type of items they sold. Many stalls also appeared to have additional security, with one or two intimidatingly large men or women looking over the wares with piercing gazes as shoppers browsed. These individuals were typically cultivators too, which made Samantha think that they were privately hired, rather than part of the standard market security which seemed to have those dark cloaks as an unofficial uniform.

In the center of the room there was a small pseudo-arena formed by a ring of wooden bleachers. There was a man in an extravagant mask standing on some sort of pedestal, pointing and gesturing grandly, and when he stepped down from the box a pair of scarred men stepped into the center of the ring. Both wore masks similar to Samantha’s but clearly made to withstand battle. One man’s metal faceplate bore the fierce countenance of an enraged spirit beast, while the other’s was that of a stoic human fighter. Without warning, they clashed together as cheers rose from the audience and they fought with reckless abandon. These two battled unarmed, but the neat, straight sprays and trails of blood on the ground at their feet suggested that others used live steel.

A cacophony of hoots and jeers rang out though the space to her left as some sort of fight broke out from a group nearby. A man and a woman, both cultivators based on their aura, were throwing blindingly fast punches and kicks in the center of a small circle of onlookers. Other patrons walked around the scene without giving it much of their attention, as if nothing was more mundane than some cultivators duking it out in the middle of the walkway. That is, until the woman released a violent wave of killing intent, which quickly cleared the space.

All the private security hired at the stalls nearby stepped in front of their respective employers defensively, and the cultivators within the cloaked market security forces moved closer to the area in preparation, but neither groups immediately moved to interfere with the fight. It was over almost as quickly as it began though, when the man used an art to deliver a bone-breaking blow to the woman’s midsection. She fell to the ground, coughing blood through the mouth slit in her mask, and the man gave her a final kick before returning to his business. Without fuss, normal traffic resumed around the area and all the market security returned to their original placements. It seemed they really only would get involved if it looked like things were going to become deadly.

As Aiden described, nearly everyone in attendance was wearing masks similar to her own. Those that were not wearing the traditional headgear covered their faces with other means, such as low hanging hoods or veils attached to wide-brimmed hats. There was a fair mix of mortals, Copper ranked cultivators, and one or two Bronze ranked that she could feel from this distance, and it seemed like there was no rhyme or reason to who went with standard blank masks or decorated ones. That suited her just fine.

A sharp cry of dismay rose up from a woman losing at dice to her right, and Samantha observed her openly weeping as she handed over a full purse to a sleazy man looking like the cat that ate the canary. She was in the process of wondering if the suspiciously smug man had cheated the rolls somehow when she was roughly shoved aside and nearly fell to the ground.

“Oi, get out of the entranceway, idiot!” a gruff man complained from behind her before going off to shop. Somewhat alarmed that she had missed his presence due to the many sounds and blind spot in that area, she turned to look at the rude person after recovering her footing, but he had already disappeared into the crowd. The thought crossed her mind to check if she had been pickpocketed by the stranger, but then she remembered that there was nothing in her pack, and she certainly would've noticed if his hand had been searching the inside of her robes for her coins, so she let the matter be.

Ultimately, she decided that he wasn’t totally wrong and got moving. Her first stop would be trying to find the cultivator’s materials that Aiden had mentioned.

That was her intention, anyway, but it was difficult to keep on task with so many fascinating things to look at in the Market. Trinkets, charms, qi art manuals, exotic pets, qi-forged weaponry, raw crafting ingredients, imported materials that were impossible to get from around Yivesh… so many things drew her eye and demanded her attention. There was a fair amount of snake oil, counterfeit technique books, and worthless knick knacks being sold by peddlers as well, but her merchant-trained eyes could tell that most products at the stalls were legitimate. Of greatly varying quality, mind, but legitimate nonetheless.

“You there! Miss! In the blue robes and blank mask!” an unfamiliar man called out to her, and Samantha turned in his direction.

“You’ve got a lucky streak about you--I can tell! What do you say to a little game huh? I’ve got all sorts! If you don’t know how to play, the first round is free and I’ll show you the ropes. Cheap bets with good payouts after that too, it’s a good deal!” he beamed, waving her over to a small table he sat at with various cards and tokens scattered across the surface.

Samantha gave a non-committal ‘maybe later’ as a response, before making a beeline for the banner which read “Cultivation Aids”. As soon as she stepped within 10 feet of the stall, all the busy sounds from the rest of the market seemed to mute and become distant. She paused, wary at the sudden change, when the shopkeep laughed at her hesitation.

“First time visiting my shop? I’m using a silencing talisman to make business a bit easier to conduct. It’s hard to bargain while trying to out-shout the arena crowd, no?” the woman asked, pointing out a crystal-ball looking item in the corner of her stall.

“Yes. It’s quite nice, having a bit of quiet after coming in from all that.” Samantha admitted, motioning generally behind her to the bustling room. This woman only had a single guard at her stall, but he was Peak Copper if Samantha could gauge it correctly. His brown eyes peered at her with disinterest through his mask as she walked up to the counter.

“Wonderful! So, what are you looking for today? I’ve got a little something for everyone, and at virtually every price point, so I’m positive we can strike a deal.”

Samantha had debated on what she should be shopping for before she came. She had originally come to the slums with 1 silver piece and 50 coppers that Thomas had loaned her. She had spent 5 coppers for information from Ol’ Man Whisper, and 12 to get into the market which left her with 1 silver 33 coppers to spend. 100 copper pieces made 1 silver, and 10 silver made 1 gold piece.

Typically, a premium cultivation elixir could cost up to several gold, an average quality elixir would be several silver, with the poorest quality products in reputable shops going for a single silver. This made her ability to purchase legitimate products limited, but Samantha suspected that if people from the slums could afford to buy something cultivation related with their even lighter purses, she could manage to find something too.

“I’m interested in the cheapest cultivation aids you sell, if you could point them out to me?” Samantha asked.

The professional woman asked no questions nor showed disdain that she wasn’t a big spender, just dipping down out of sight to sift through some items behind the stall and pulling out 3 pills and a liquid in small, separate vials.

Going from left to right, the woman explained, “20 coppers for this pill to increase your qi absorption rate for a short time. It will quickly raise your blood toxicity levels though, so the safe dosage is one vial per 2 weeks, lest you risk poisoning and possibly death. 50 coppers for this tincture to increase your qi absorption rate even further, but with higher blood toxicity to go with it. I recommend you get used to the lesser dosage pills first to build up a tolerance, or else it might kill you outright. These final two items are a silver a-piece. This pill will cleanse your body of toxicity, in case you misjudged your limits or want to take more of these qi absorption elixirs in a shorter time frame without waiting for the toxicity to dissipate on its own. I always suggest having one on hand, as it might just save your life. This final pill will make opening a new meridian easier. It will loosen the detritus in the channels, making the forging faster and less strenuous.”

Samantha took a moment to process the information before responding. Unlike the mundane products being sold in the market where she could immediately tell their quality, there was no good way to tell if the merchant was being honest or dishonest about what these cultivation aids actually did or how effective they’d be. She could possibly use Inspect incorrectly on the items to try and get more information, but that would give away she was a cultivator and the art wasn’t meant for that. She wasn’t even sure that the art would give her better information than what the merchant already had.

In the grand scheme of things, 20 or 50 coppers were a drop in the bucket and could be earned in a day, but it would be a significant portion of her current funds that would still have to last her another 5 days at least. She could buy the cheapest one now, just to try later and see if this merchant was genuine, but it would take a good chunk out of her funds. Samantha pondered for a moment if she could make some quick money by gambling to pad her wealth. Games of chance she was reluctant to try, since it would be easy for the dealers to cheat and difficult to prove they did, but if there were some games of skill…? The night was still young, so it wouldn’t hurt to look around more and see her options.

“I’m interested in the 20 and 50 copper offerings, but I’d like to see more of the market more before committing. How long will you be set up here tonight?”

The merchant nodded amicably and placed the items back into the stall, “I’ll be here all night, until others start tearing their stalls down as well. I have multiple duplicates of each item, but these cheaper ones often sell out quickly, so don’t be away for too long!”

Sure enough, as soon as Samantha turned to leave a man in ragged robes and a blank mask like hers came up to the counter, asking for ‘the usual’. The merchant pulled out the pill valued at 20 coppers and the man put the money in neat stacks on the counter, before meandering back into the flow of foot traffic.

Waving goodbye to the woman, Samantha went back the way she came, seeking out the man who tried to call her over to his gambling table earlier. She would see if she was indeed on a lucky-streak tonight, and if not? Well, she’d see about making some of her own where she could.