Divine Beast Ascension

“What things?”

“You don’t need to know just yet,” chuckled Oli, devouring the rest of his sandwich and fries. “... Don’t stop eating on my part. Then again... you stay here. I’ll go get my items appraised.”

As Oli got up, Fulkar felt like he was at a loss somehow. “Wait. You’re the one who paid for all this, so why-”

“I’m sure they don’t mind you staying since you’re with me. And with the mask, you should be fine. Just don’t rile anybody up while I’m gone.”

“And what if there’s a good item?” asked Fulkar.

Oli shrugged. “I doubt it. Perhaps one preliminary item will be worth a thousand gold, but I doubt it will attract my eye.”

.....

Sighing, Fulkar wasn’t sure what else to say. But he did stand to offer Oli a bow before Oli stepped out of the silent formation. “Well... Thank you. I greatly appreciate all the help you’ve offered me and will make sure to pay you back however possible, even if that means going beyond my abilities in the upcoming qualifier.”

With a smile on his face, Oli gave Fulkar a slight bow of the head. “I look forward to it. But if for some reason a suitable sword appears while I’m away, go for it.”

Oli then stepped out of the silent formation and walked toward a server station by the wall. Their server spotted him and stepped out, bowing yet again. “Are you ready, sir?”

“Yes. My companion will be staying here. Is that alright?”

“Of course, sir. That will be no issue at all,” replied the server, lifting his head. “Then, please, follow me.”

“I’m in your care,” Oli smiled as he replaced the bottom part of his mask to again cover his full face.

The man led Oli back into the main hallway and down the stairs to the main floor. To Oli’s surprise, Oli was led to a particular door that hid another stairwell, one going further down. There, Oli noticed the architecture and decorations were less lush and more industrial, but they held true to the colors of cool blue, white, and silver. One end of the basement had numbered rooms and the other end had massive cargo doors, likely for storage.

“Please, sir, we’ll be in room nine,” the server stated, leading Oli down the new hallway. He then knocked on the door with great courtesy. Though no one replied, the door was quickly unlocked and the server held it open for Oli. “I’ll be back in one hour. If you decide to cut the time short, our appraiser will guide you back to the lounge section.”

“Thank you.” Oli nodded and tossed the server a few gold coins while entering the room.

The server greedily took them and closed the door. Like every other employee that had served Oli, he was ecstatic to receive his commission for all the extra services Oli spent money on.

As Oli entered the room he paused to face the man sitting across a large, ice-blue table. He bowed right away. “Thank you for letting me meet you on such short notice.”

“Thank you for booking me,” chortled the old-looking man. He too stood up and gave Oli a bow as well. But despite the humble behavior, Oli could tell that this man was at least a perennial.

“Then, I assume by paying for the room, all information regarding the items I reveal will be contained within Icicle Palace. Is that correct?” asked Oli.

The appraiser bowed and smiled. “Of course. Anyone willing to pay for secrecy shall be allowed their secrecy. I will grade and personally remember everything that you offer for appraisal, but I will only make written records of the items you offer to sell to us or through our auctions.”

“Very well. Then I’ll start with these.”

A mound of weapons appeared on the table, somewhat startling the appraiser from the sheer volume.

“Hmm... twelve mortal weapons, and a five with embedded cores. Not bad young man. If I were to guess, it seems you were starting an amateur collection or you stumbled upon one,” the old man joked while quickly picking up each item one by one. It didn’t take the man long to finish, less than a minute per weapon. “Would you like me to list their individual worth? Or are you looking to trade them in?”

Nodding, Oli replied, “I’d prefer the total trade-in price.”

“In that case... I can offer you up to twenty thousand gold, given the included five elder-grade weapons with embedded cores,” remarked the man.

Oli nodded again. Thanks to the information he got from the weaponsmith not long ago, Oli knew that he at least was given a fair price. “Very well... Then I’d like to check these as well.”

Next, a hill of cores appeared on the table. That’s when the appraiser was truly taken aback.

“I can sell cores here as well, right?” Oli chuckled.

“Of course, you can. We’ll gladly purchase all cores you’re willing to part with.” The man immediately nodded and got to work. He was even faster appraising the cores, but there were more of them so it still took another fifteen minutes.

“... Forty-seven cores. There are a few novice grades and some adept grades, but the great majority are elder grades. And nearly all of them aren’t ice-type, so they hold some extra value due to the recent disparity of non-ice cores in the region. To get so many, someone would likely need to clear an entire territory or take most of a lifetime to collect them, at least without a great deal of luck or a powerful backer. For this whole mound... offering one hundred thousand gold wouldn’t be enough. We’ll offer one hundred and twenty thousand gold for the cores. That brings your total to one hundred and forty thousand gold including both the weapons and the cores.”