Bella was able to keep up with the slower pace that the quads had to travel, the road too rough to go any faster.

I asked Martin how long the trip would take.

"Not sure, this will be our first trip since the world went to shit."

I looked at the man, expecting him to be joking, he wasn't. I groaned but it wasn't like I had anything better to do.

We ran into a few wandering monsters, I let the others handle them for the most part, only involving myself if the creature became dangerous.

"Paul, why don't you fight the monsters?"

"No point, plus you three need to level more than I do."

"Wait? How do you know we're at a lower level?"

"A skill I picked up called Identify. There are other variants of the skill but you should be able to pick up one in the Bazaar if you're interested."

"So many things that we don't know," Martin said with a frown.

"The only advice I can really give is, experiment, try new things and maybe you will learn something new."

"Thanks, we will endeavor to do that."

We exited the swampy area around Arman and started back across the desert. According to Martin, it was faster this way. We stayed towards the transition from swamp to desert for the most part. The ground was hard enough that Bella's speed didn't suffer too much. The quads had to slow as to not leave us behind.

Martin offered to have me ride the quad but I declined. Bella had been cooped up long enough, let her enjoy the run and the freedom.

The trip took most of the afternoon, but we got lucky, Biloxi was still in the same location.

As we neared the city we could see people going about their day. A few armed groups patrolled around the city. One group stopped us.

"Hol up, state your business?"

I decided to check the group while Martin talked with them. None of them was over level nine. I did see one man's eyes go wide as he looked at me, he elbowed his buddy and whispered something in his ear.

The man interrupted the conversation between Martin and the third man. "What brings such a high leveled person such as yourself to our humble neck of the woods?"

I was going to ignore the man's question but his tone told me, not answering or answering wrong may be seen in a poor light.

I sighed, "Just helping some friends, why does it matter?"

"So, where are you from then? Judging by your level it was someplace that saw a bunch of fighting."

"Chicago and north of there and yes, there was a lot of fighting. Three groups were trying to claim the city for their own."

"And you belonged to one of these groups?"

"No," I said, gritting my teeth. I didn't want to answer this next part, "I was a slave."

"So how-," the man started to say before I interrupted him.

"Look, I'm done explaining my situation, are we free to continue?" I responded, my voice tinged with anger.

"Watch your tone boy." The man said, putting his hand on his sword. His friend held him back before the situation could devolve any further.

The one who had talked to Martin spoke up, "I see no reason to turn you nice folk away. Mind your manners in town though."

I pushed Bella forward and past the group of men. She let out a clicking hiss at the one that reached for his sword earlier. I smiled, giving her a reassuring pat on the side.

The others followed behind me as I led the way into town. Unlike Arman, there was no wall surrounding Biloxi. It was just too large of a city to wall it off, hence the groups of armed people patrolling. As we got farther into the city I started to see tell-tale signs of a Bazaar being nearby. Small stalls with creatures not of earth dotted the sides of streets. I didn't see anything quite as odd as when I visited the Bazaar in Chicago though.

I saw a centaur, some elves, a few dwarves, along with some other humanoid species I didn't have a name for. It was still an experience for me, seeing these new species, but it floored the other three. All of the races seemed to be getting along. Maybe people finally figured out how useless their petty differences were in the face of the apocalypse. It was too bad it didn't stop people from being greedy or looking for power over others. But people were people so that wasn't likely to change.

A few more blocks down we spotted the Bazaar.

"Well, here it is, ready to head inside?"

The other three nodded and we rode inside. Once through the others looked around in wide-eyed amazement.

"You weren't lying, this place is huge. I was expecting something the size of a superstore," Martin said.

"Well, where should we go first?"

The three turned to each other and discussed what they needed and how many credits they had. "Can you take us to where they sell mana engines?"

"Uh... I can certainly find out where they are sold."

I looked around at this Bazaar. It was more reminiscent of the one in the Fox Valley as opposed to the one in Chicago. All of the stalls looked to be temporary structures. I went up to one of the stalls and asked the Elf if she could point me in the direction of someone who sells mana engines.

"I could, but how does that help me?"

"Well, what do you sell?"

"Clothing and trinkets mainly."

"Hmm, I could use some new clothes. Got anything that would fit me?"

She showed me an assortment of clothing, but nothing sized to fit a human. She refused to give me any information without purchasing anything so I just walked away. Someone would know. While I imagined it was better for merchants new to the Bazaar, I much preferred the more permanent designed Bazaars, at least those had signposts.

We talked to ten other people before one was nice enough to point us in the direction of a shop.

"Look, fellas, I thought this was going to be a different sort of Bazaar. Since this one is one of the temporary styles I'm not going to be much help with finding what you need. If it works like the one I visited before items tend to be grouped. So when you find one merchant selling the item you want, there may be more nearby."

"No problem, Paul. Should we just meet you outside?"

"Yeah, just head back to the portal. I have some things I need to get so I will meet you there when I am finished."

The three rode off, getting odd looks from some as they drove their quads.

While they were busy finding what they needed I headed off to find a blacksmith.

I walked into the nearest smithy I found. This one was run by a dwarf with arms thicker than my legs. "Ai, what can I do fer ya."

"I'm wondering if you can take a look at some armor I have and see if it's repairable?"

"Ai, can take a look, names Vorgot."

"Nice to meet you Vorgot, I'm Paul," I said, pulling out my Mage Bane armor.

The man looked it over with a calculating eye, examining the broken pieces of Mithril before he harumphed. "Wha idiot modified tha plates after they were shaped, withou magically quenching them?"

"That idiot would be me."

"Hmm. The broken plates are a complete loss, might be able to melt, and recast them but that would be time-consuming and pricy. Best to just make some new pieces."

"What about the unbroken pieces?"

"They need to be removed and magically stabilized for the Mithril to work properly. I could do it, or you could find an enchanter that might be able to."

"Can you quote me a price?"

Vorgot started counting the plates while mumbling numbers. "Ai could do it for six hundred credits. If yer wanna to save a few hundred yer could drill out the rivets yourself. This nah include the new plates, thos a cost you fifty credit apiece."

"Hmm, let me think on it. Do you make weapons at all?"

"Ai, what sorta weapon you have in mind?"

I pulled out my staff and handed it to him.

"Ai see it's had better days. You wan same or different?"

"What material holds up best against skills? Most of the damage to the staff was from me stacking too many skills on it at once."

"Mithril, always best for tha. Not good for main portion of staff though," the dwarf said, pausing to stroke his beard, "I ga no wood more capable tha your Eldarwood staff, bone I got."

"Bone?"

"Ai, most large creatures steeped in mana, bone is much more resilient."

"Mithril is a bit light, can it be mixed with a heavier metal to form an alloy?"

"It can, will lose some of the properties Mithril be known for but shouldn't affect it too much. You wan tungsten mix or something denser?"

Something denser would be nice, I was also doing away with the blade. While nice it didn't hold up well to my style of fighting, despite what Old Man Trumbo said.

"Something denser would be good, can you add something for piercing, on each end?"

"Ye no want blade?"

"No,"

"Fair," the man replied. He pulled out a piece of paper and sketched a design. I nodded in approval.

"Ye lookin at two thousand for the staff."

I cringed at the price, "Care for some trade?"

"Ai, maybe."

I showed him what I had to offer. He wasn't interested in Sharla's old armor, but he said it was decent quality and an armorer might buy it. I decided not to offer him the slave collars, there was no telling how he would react to seeing them. The only other items of value I had were the Mana heart I got from the Sand Devourer and storage rings. The rest I didn't want to sell.

I eventually traded him the old mana heart to fix up my armor, replace the damaged plates, and carve a new plate with a larger socket for my larger mana heart. That included the cost of replacing all the rivets. For two of the staff, I had to trade him all six of my small storage rings, plus a thousand credits. I'm sure he got the better end of that deal by far.

'I really should find out how much storage rings go for.'

I watched as he expertly popped the old mana heart out of the armor, catching it in his hand. He looked at it with a toothy smile before it disappeared into a storage item. He moved over to his bench and pounded out four Mithril plates to replace the three broken ones and the one I was going to replace in the center. In less than ten minutes he handed me the four plates. They were already cool to the touch.

"Take bout a day to finish the rest. Ai be here same place on the morrow. Yer need to bring those four back so Ai can stabilize em like the rest."

I nodded as I left the shop with his locator token. I wandered around a bit looking at other wears until I came across a shop selling messaging plates. I asked the creature behind the counter if they could send messages to someone you have never met?

It set three colored plates on the table, "Silver for bonded, blue for known, black for unknown. Which would you like?"

"How much for a blue?"

"One hundred credits."

I decided to purchase two of the blue plates. I wanted to send Frathsar a message, now I had something to do it with.

After another few minutes of walking around, I found someone willing to purchase Sharla's armor. I didn't get much, only four hundred credits but I was glad to be rid of it. I also picked up a few basic wooden staffs for experimentation purposes.

With my shopping completed, I rode to the exit