"So, the merchant guy didn't mention any items reserved for worthy adventurers, unlike the alchemist," Briar said with a raised eyebrow as soon as we were a suitable distance away from the general goods store.

"What do you think?" she asked as she stopped walking, turning around to look at me. "I don't know," I replied with a sigh, shaking my head, causing Briar's eyebrow to raise further as she looked at me with amusement in her eyes.

"Oho, so Mr. wise guy is finally at a loss," Briar said with a playful tone, lightly chuckling as she looked at me. "I'm not omniscient, okay?" I added in an annoyed tone, my eyes twitching at Briar's mocking expression.

"Whatever you say," Briar replied with a roll of her eyes as she turned around and resumed marching towards the blacksmith shop.

I sighed as I followed behind her, shaking my head and wistfully thinking about how many headaches I would have saved myself if I had just attacked her along with the other contestants at the beginning of the second stage.

...

"Welcome to Farrier's arms!" said a muscular, short elder man with a thick brown beard with a broad smile on his face as soon as Briar and I walked inside the blacksmith shop.

"You can find a diverse collection of arms and armor here, all handmade with the finest of steel by yours truly!" the man added, proudly pointing at himself with his left thump.

"So what can I do you for, younguns?" he asked, still smiling as he stood akimbo in the middle of the store. "I'm Kaden, and this Briar," I quickly introduced while gesturing towards Briar and myself.

"We're adventurers here to take care of the dungeon situation," I explained with a neutral expression, trying to be as direct as I could. "Oh, so the old coot in his castle finally decided to move his noble arse, and help us, poor towny commoners, eh?" he asked with a scowl on his face.

Briar shared a glance, both at a loss at how to reply to Farrier's tantrum, and he quickly realized the awkwardness of the situation. "But I suppose that has nothing with you two," Farrier remarked as he dismissed the scowl of his face.

"Look at me venting my frustration on a couple of younguns, only here do their jobs," Farrier remarked while rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm really getting old, aren't I? he added with an embarrassed chuckle.

"It's alright. I understand the dungeon has been out of control for an entire month, and there have been casualties," I replied in an understanding tone. "It can't be helped if you're feeling frustrated about that," I added in an assuring tone, waving my hand to the side.

"Well said, lad," Farrier said with a smile, nodding in gratitude at my understanding behavior. "So, what can I do you for, young adventures?" he asked, reverting to his earlier easy-going attitude.

"We were hoping to take a look at your works," I said while gesturing towards the many arms and armors strategically arranged all over Farrier's shop.

"And if you have any important information about the dungeon, then it would be a great help for us as well," I concluded, pausing and waiting for the man's answer.

"I'll be more than glad to show you my works, but I'm afraid that I won't be much help when it comes to information about the dungeon," he replied, nodding with a smile.

"I'm busy with my work most of the time, so I don't really have the time to chat with my customers about the dungeon and whatnot," he added, shrugging his shoulders with an apologetic expression.

I nodded at him, and he quickly began introducing his works. "As you can see, I have...,"

...

"And that's all for what I currently have for sale, but I also take commissions for personalized pieces of armor and weapons," Faried concluded as he returned an oversized war hammer to its place at the weapon stand.

"I see, but I already have a suitable weapon," I said as I materialized Bloodsport in my hand. "So I was wondering if you had anything... special?" I asked, trailing at the end of my sentence.

"That I do, but I'm afraid it's not for sale," he replied, firmly shaking his head. "That's fine. We'll think about our options and get back to you tomorrow," I replied while nodding my head.

"Take your time, and drop by whenever you like, lad," Farrier replied with a smile as he turned around and went back to work as I Briar and I waved him goodbye and left.

..

"So that's all the shops," Briar said with her usual smirk as we left Farrier's shop. "What next?" she asked as she stopped, turning around to look at me.

"I'll go around the town to see if I can gather some more useful information," I said as I stopped in front of Briar. "You can go ahead and do whatever you like, though," I added with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Fine. We'll meet back at the inn when it's dark, then," Blair replied with a nod as she turned to leave, slowly walking away without forgetting to add some unneeded sway to her hips as she did so.

...

"Time to head back," I murmured to no one in particular as I raised my head, noticing the sky getting dark and turning around to make my way to the inn.

It didn't take me long to reach the inn, as I wasn't far from it, and walked inside, smiling and waving in greeting after seeing some familiar faces that I made acquaintance with during the day.

There was August, the hunter having a drink while chatting with several people who seemed to be his age and several others, but I merely waved as I made my way towards Briar, who was also having a drink alone.

"You're back," Briar remarked with a smile while gesturing for me to take a seat in front of her. "Find anything juicy or interesting?" she asked as I sat down, trying to make myself comfortable.

"Other than the fact that the fishmonger's wife is having an affair? Not really," I replied, heaving a sigh of annoyance with a scowl on my face.

"That bad, huh?" Briar asked with a chuckle. "Even worse," I replied while massaging my forehead, feeling an incoming headache.

"These people care for nothing other than gossip," I added as I signaled for the inn's owner to bring me a drink. "You would thank that being in such a dire situation, they would be more worried about the dungeon," I remarked with a sigh.

"But it seems that worrying about other people's affairs is more important than that," I concluded as I took the drink the inn's owner brought for me, draining it in one go.

"That's just how humans are," Briar remarked with a shrug. "They think that by looking away from the problem, it would magically disappear," she added with a smirk.

"Away from sight, away from mind, and all that," she concluded with a chuckle. "Are they even humans, though?" I murmured with a sigh to no one in particular.

"Hmm?" Briar hummed in a questioning tone as she didn't seem to hear me. "Nothing," I replied with a shrug, shaking my head to clear it from any useless thoughts.

"Whatever," Briar remarked with a careless shrug. "We already have all the information we can gather," she added in a leisure tone, sipping her drink.

"What's next, oh mighty and wise, undead king slayer?" Briar asked in a joking tone while looking at me. "There's only one thing left to do," I replied with a shrug.

"We stock up on potions and make our way to the dungeon tomorrow," I concluded while waving my hand to the side. "Sure, but kind of potion are you going to buy?" Briar asked with a nod.

"I'm going to buy some strength and elemental resistance potions," I replied after a second of thought, shrugging my shoulder. "Oh, no healing potions or antidotes?" Briar asked with an intrigued expression.

"We won't go too deep, and I won't need any healing potions since the first and second levels only have kobold and goblins," I replied with a blank expression.

In fact, I didn't really need any such potions since I could easily replicate the healing effect with my aura, and I could just as easily flush out any poison out of my system the same way.

But Briar doesn't need to know that, especially since she's obviously trying to fish for information.

"What about you?" I asked, trying to fish for some information as well, despite not needing to do so as I've already read her stats screen and aura patterns.

"I won't buy anything for the same reason," she replied with a playful smirk. "Fair enough," I replied with a smile of my own.