Chapter 2 The Exchange

Ione followed close behind Elysia as she exited Umbra’s cabin and greeted their red scaled escort. “Hi, Urus told us you were going to escort us through the city.”

With a polite aura, the escort nodded their head. “Yes, young elemental, I am at your disposal.”

As Joe and Eva joined her, Elysia asked, “My name is Elysia. What is yours?”

“Thriah, young elemental.”

Elysia frowned at the formal greeting. Though her instincts told her it was as it should be, she still felt uncomfortable. “Please call me Elysia.”

Thriah nodded their head in acceptance before asking, “Where do you wish to visit first?”

Eva jumped in front of Elysia with almost fanatical eyes. “Shopping district!”

Before Thriah could answer, Joe pulled Eva away, giving Elysia a chance to speak. “I have some things I would like to sell.”

“Very well, young elemental.” Responded Thriah before turning to walk down the pier.

Elysia frowned but didn’t comment on their escort’s refusal to say her name. With a hop, she landed on the pier, followed by Ione. Joe and a slightly less hyper Eva joined them a few seconds later.

Curious, Elysia jogged to catch up to the taller lizard person to ask a question. “How do we understand each other? Are you speaking English too?”

“No, I am not, young elemental. The system automatically translates for us.” Replied Thriah.

“Funky, thanks for answering. By the way, do you know Thrazk? I met him in a dungeon nearby.”

Without breaking stride, Thriah answered, “Yes, young elemental, he is a clutch uncle.”

Weird. That must mean Thriah was from a clutch of one of Thrazk’s clutch siblings. Lizard people relations were confusing.

Feeling weird calling them lizard people, Elysia asked, “What are your people called?”

With a proud smile, Thriah replied, “Chrotile of the Crimson Tribe, young elemental.”

“Thanks.”

Elysia turned her attention to her surroundings as they stepped into the busy streets filled with Chrotile of many colors. Each color appeared to favor like colored buildings, but there was plenty of intermingling to show the different colored Chrotile didn’t appear to be at odds.

A minute later they arrived at a multi colored building with a sign out front stating Crystal Exchange.

They followed Thriah up the patterned scaly steps which had a grippy texture. Thriah led them into the open doored building and past the line up to a counter. After stepping to the side, Thriah ushered Elysia forward as she spoke. “You may exchange items for crystals here.”

Before stepping up to the counter, Elysia asked. “Are crystals a universal currency?”

“Yes, on Terra we could buy anything with crystals as everyone needs mana.” Replied Thriah.

Elysia pouted as she commented, “I don’t. I don’t have mana.”

With an understanding look, Thriah assured, “Not all races can use mana, but everyone can use enchantments with crystals.”

“What is Terra? Is that where you are from?” Inquired Elysia, brushing off her lack of mana.

Thriah’s expression turned wistful. “Yes, Terra was our world before The Merge.”

Despite the odd questions, no one nearby gave her weird looks as if they expected her questions. Even Joe and Eva were silent as they held hands a few steps behind Elysia.

Done with her questions for now, Elysia approached the counter with a blue Chrotile of a similar build to Thriah. “Do you accept skill crystals for exchange?”

The Chrotile behind the counter gave Elysia a smile as they responded. “Of course, young elemental.”

Elysia unstrapped her backpack before digging inside to grab the two bags with crystals. After a quick peek inside, she found the whitish crystal from her first run of Ucluelet missing, but everything else was accounted for. She grabbed the black skill crystal first and set it on the counter.

The receptionist glanced down at the crystal before speaking. “Low grade dark orb. Would you like to exchange it for crystals?”

“How much is it worth?” Inquired Elysia.

“10 medium mana crystals.”

She wished she had something to compare. Was it ten of the crystals she got from dungeons? Or were those a lower grade?

Despite her worries they would rip her off after revealing her lack of knowledge, Elysia pulled out a mana crystal and set it on the counter. “What grade mana crystal is this?”

“Low grade.” Replied the receptionist after a glance.

After a moment of thought, Elysia went all in. “How many low grade crystals equal a medium grade?”

Without a hint of looking down on her, the receptionist explained. “100. Every grade is worth 100 times the value of the lower grade.”

“So you are saying this skill crystal is worth 1000 of these mana crystals?”

“Yes, young elemental.”

Eva attempted to step forward with her eyes sparkling, but Joe used his far superior strength to hold her back.

Should she take the risk? She couldn’t use the skill, but she didn’t need mana either. Though from what they said, the crystals were a currency, too.

Before deciding, Elysia returned her attention to the receptionist. “What do you recommend I buy that runs on mana? Right now I don’t have anything that runs on mana, but I could use some new gear.”

The receptionist’s smile cracked for a moment to allow uncertainty through. “I’m not the right person to ask, but I could call over my enchanter clutch sister. She may even take the skill crystal as payment instead of mana crystals. Dark orb is a strong offensive skill for its tier, especially for someone who doesn’t have combat skills.”

“What about creating weapons and armor with materials from dungeons?” pushed Elysia.

“That would be my other clutch sister’s expertise.”

“Do you have a sister for everything?” commented Elysia.

With a warm smile, the receptionist said, “When one has a clutch of thirty, one tends to have a diversified family.”

Elysia’s gaze gravitated to the west momentarily. “Apparently so. All I have is a twin sister.”

Surprised and curiosity sparked in the receptionist’s blue slitted eyes. “Oh? You have a sister? How unusual elementals rarely have relatives as they don’t have parents unless one counts their element giving them birth.”

Elysia glanced back at Eva and Joe, unsure if she should reveal she wasn’t born as elemental but seeing how no one treated the humans negatively, Elysia turned back to the receptionist. “I wasn’t born as an elemental. When the system came, I turned into a lightning infused human then evolved into a lightning elemental recently.”

The receptionist’s eyes widened, then scanned their surroundings to check for eavesdroppers. Their eyes landed on Thriah, giving the escort a glare to remain quiet before returning her attention to Elysia. With a hushed whisper, she spoke. “Don’t tell another elemental you weren’t born as one. They may kill you on the spot.”

Elysia froze in shock for a moment before also scanning her surroundings, but she found no one paying attention to her aside from Joe and Eva, who already knew about her race change. Even Ione appeared uninterested in her for once, instead eying all the lizard people nearby with hungry eyes. Elysia bent down to give Ione a few head scratches to distract her before she pounced on an innocent Chrotile, not that Ione could hurt anyone. At least, she hoped.

With Ione successfully distracted, purring up a storm on the blue and green scaled floor, Elysia returned her attention to the receptionist. “I would love if you brought your clutch sisters over. I can go grab the materials while we wait.”

“Were you from Urus’s latest catapulted ship? If so, I can send them there instead if the materials are heavy.” Offered the receptionist.

“They aren’t heavy, but yeah, that would be convenient if you don’t mind.”

The receptionist waved off her customer’s worries with a smile. “Oh, I’m sure they won’t mind. They love it when I give them business referrals, especially if it’s from a unique customer.”

Elysia’s eyes shifted down to her backpack laying on the floor leaned against the counter. “Thank you. Do you recommend me paying them in mana crystals or skill crystals? I have three more skill crystals, one of which Thrazk, who I met in a dungeon, said was high grade.”

“I would wait until after they give you a price. Worst case, you can come back here and exchange them later.”

“Okay, thanks again. Do your clutch sisters need directions or a description of my ship?” asked Elysia.

“No, everyone saw your arrival and, unlike you, we know our way around our little city.”

“Little? This place is definitely not little.” Commented Elysia.

“Compared to our cities back home, yes, it is.”

Curiosity piqued, Elysia asked, “Are those cities still that big? When the system came it devastated earth, at least in the places I’ve seen so far.”

“As far as I know, yes. We knew the merge was coming, so we took precautions.”

Elysia frowned then grumbled, “Unless I missed it, we had no idea what was coming, but I wouldn’t put it past our governments hiding it from us with a misplaced notion of helping the public or from greed.”

With a thankful smile, the receptionist revealed, “That’s why my clutch sisters and I decided to live on Urus. She hides nothing from us. The moment she sensed the merge coming over a week ahead of time, she warned us all and took flight to avoid the earthquakes.”

“Wow, and here I woke up alone with my hometown infested with zombies.” Muttered Elysia with a scowl.

The receptionist winced. “Yeah, that wouldn’t be the best way to start things off. We were flying over the ocean when the merge happened, so other than a few lightning strikes and high winds for a few hours, we were pretty much unaffected.”

“That’s so unfair!” Elysia blurted before slamming her mouth shut.

Elysia glanced behind her expecting a line waiting for their turn only to find Joe and Eva listening to their conversation while still holding hands but otherwise no one else waiting for their booth. “Well, I think I’ll head back to my ship and wait. I don’t want to monopolize you.”

The receptionist waved her clawed hand as if it wasn’t a big deal. “My job is to help new arrivals, so you aren’t monopolizing me.”

“Still, I don’t want to keep you any longer, so I’ll head back to my ship.” Decided Elysia only to meet Eva’s puppy dog eyes when she turned around. Did she really want to deal with a hyper shopping obsessed girl while negotiating her gear?

Elysia released a sigh as she turned back to the counter. She rummaged through her backpack before dropping both bags of crystals on the counter. “Could you give me an idea of how much I’ll need for good gear if I provide some materials?”

After peeking in the bags, the receptionist replied, “I can’t say for sure as I don’t know what materials you have or what you want, but you should have more than enough here to buy any gear around your level.”

“If I were to exchange one of the skill crystals for mana crystals, which one would you recommend?”

“All of them have their uses, especially the water breathing and metal sharpening skill crystals, but I think the dark orb skill is your best bet to exchange.”

“Water breathing? That would definitely come in handy.” Commented Elysia before flashing back to her chasing Ione underwater. She would kill for a skill like that before her evolution, but she didn’t think it would have any use for her now. Though she was only underwater for about five minutes, so who knew? Still, best to keep it for now. Maybe Eva or Joe have a skill slot open for it. More people immune to drowning on a boat the better.

“It would be a useful skill for many races, but us Chrotile have no use for it and I’m guessing neither do you.” The receptionist glanced at the two humans behind Elysia before adding, “but I’m sure you thought of that.”

Elysia nodded her head. “What about the white crystal?”

“The high-grade acid spit crystal would be highly valuable for certain races too. It’s usually ill-advised to exchange a high-grade skill crystal for mana crystals. You could get much more for it if you trade it for another item or service, as it’s much rarer and sought after.”

After glancing back at Eva being held back by Joe, Elysia decided. “Could you exchange the dark orb for crystals? I have no use for it and my crew already decided they didn’t want it, so I’m better off exchanging it.”

“Certainly. Would you like the exchange for 10 medium mana crystals or 1000 low?” inquired the receptionist.

“10 medium please.”

The receptionist plucked the black orb skill crystal from the pile before materializing ten blue crystals of the same size as her other mana crystals, though shining brighter than all the mana crystals in the bag containing her solo crystal sash.

Upon comparing the brightness to her mana crystals from the second run of Ucluelet, Elysia asked, “what grade are these mana crystals?”

“High-grade, of course. Those alone should pay for most equipment you may need.” Revealed the receptionist with her ever-present smile on her scaly face.

Elysia’s eyes narrowed as she questioned, “Why didn’t you say so before?”

The receptionist shrugged. “I assumed you knew.”

No longer worried about rationing her mana crystals, she dumped her remaining skill crystals in with the high-grade crystals before handing Joe the other bag of medium grade mana crystals. “Please take Eva shopping for me.”

Elysia turned to Thriah. “Could you escort them? I know my way back to my ship.”

Thriah, who stood silently through the entire conversation, replied, “Of course, young elemental, that’s what I’m here for.”

Afraid to look at Eva knowing the girl must be going nuclear, Elysia packed up her backpack. She gave the helpful receptionist a thankful smile before trotting away. From the corner of her vision, she caught sight of Eva practically glowing.

What was with that girl? It couldn’t be healthy to be that excited about shopping. Was it because it’s a new place? Though she seemed excited when she shopped for them on the tablet, too.

If she didn’t have to deal with the shopping fanatic, she didn’t really care. As long as she didn’t start stealing her crystals to feed her addiction. She probably should lock them in her safe from now on, just in case.