The Kingdom of Eonis

[Bloodedge]

"Sou ka," Kou replied. It was rather interesting to him that a girl gamer had the wherewithal to go out and purchase a virtual reality setup to use with such a game as Age of Eternity. As Miki spoke further, he found himself staring absently at her and thinking about this rare occurrence. 'Is she really a girl, or is it one of those really weird guys? If she scanned her face... there's not a single blemish or discoloration. I have good skin because I have OCD, but girls who put that much into their appearance are never gamers,' he thought. Meanwhile, Miki went about explaining her plan to gain mounts and gear before approaching the Lizardmen. The way she thought to approach the situation was very 'grind friendly' for a gamer of the female persuasion, but if she was truly into such a thing, he had another idea. "That is a lot of grinding. If you're willing to do that though, I data-mined an Ultra Rare Mount that can only be picked up from another player now. Maybe even with us being in the game, we can check out the Auction House and see how long it would take to get one. Think that's worthwhile?"

[Apollymi]

Whatever misgivings Kou was having about Miki and her actual status as a living breathing female gamer, there was a bit of silence between them and it allowed her mind to wander. 'I wasn't really put off by the whole warthog thing... but I wonder if the world is level appropriate. Seems like if it is properly real this adventure could get scary...' the girl's mental tirade was cut short by an apparent idea that was had by Kou. "You data-mined the game? That's pretty cool... I didn't know real people actually did stuff like that..." she mused only to realize she had no idea what an auction house would be in this version of the world. "I heard you could get some pretty good deals at auction houses. I wouldn't mind something like that, especially if it'd save me a bit of money. But... do you know where it is?" she asked. The idea of an Auction House was something that allowed players to interact with each other and trade items they didn't need for coin or other items they wanted. Such a place might not actually exist within a world were the things they were looking for were standard. Though... it seemed like it should legitimately. As she thought this over her expression shifted to that of a scowl, but she was truly just trying to figure out if such a thing existed or not.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course," he said about his data-mining of the game. "I figured this game had too many secrets for all of them to be let out. It just so happens that there was a closed beta before release, and they got access to something the developers decided they didn't want in the game. Only that original wave of mounts exists, so it'll probably be a ridiculous price... but I think it's worth having the goal early to know what heights to reach for," he explained, knowing this mount was something most players couldn't dream of having. In essence, it was almost a combination of the mounts these two had in mind for themselves. It seemed Miki was interested enough in the mount, but wasn't sure where the auction house was. Of course, he'd quickly become familiar with its location within the game, so he immediately began moving in its direction. "There's two things an auction house will do for you. It'll either save you a lot of money, or cost you a lot of money, depending on what you're looking for. Either way... it'll save you a lot of time if you've got the money for what you want." Before long, they would be stumbling upon the are he remembered the auction house being located. However, there was a very sketchy building in its place. "Well... that's new."

Whether these two thought to actually enter this strange building or not didn't matter at all. No, they would be greeted strangely from behind by a man shrouded by a hooded black cloak, sporting a purple scarf around his face to cover all but his eyes. "Welcome, Strangers! Got lots of deals for ya'. Come on inside!"

[Apollymi]

"I understand... I didn't play it in Beta... I did pick up the guide book when I woke up the other day though... I needed to know some things. And by some things I mean like all the things... I don't think I know anyone clever enough to data-mine, though. Well, I guess I do now... that's pretty cool," the girl said seemingly happy. She realized she never really got to discuss video game related things with other people. And it was fun to nerd out a bit, even in this rather limited way. Either way, it seemed this lad knew where to find this auction house, and as such she followed along with him as he went towards it. "Hai hai, at the very least it will give me an idea of the rarity of the stuff I am looking for," she said calmly. But as they approached this new building they were greeted by a sketchy man, and if she was being honest, this building didn't look altogether 'safe' either. 'Hm, I wonder if auction house is considered a negative thing in this universe. It looks more like a black market, from a light novel,' she thought absently. Still if Kou was content to approach it, she would as well.

[Bloodedge]

Kou thought he wouldn't have been very surprised if Miki had played Age of Eternity during its beta stage, considering the sort of setup she claimed to have been playing it on. Alas, she was also not a participant. "Data-mining isn't that special. It's probably the simplest level of coding, just going into the game's files and looking for words," he said just before his attention was grabbed by the male who seemed to be a merchant of sorts. In fact, his voice and the words he chose to use as greeting reminded Kou of something very interesting. In turning to look at the man, his eyes widened; there was no mistaking this individual. "Holy shit, the merchant from Resident Evil 4!" he exclaimed, though the man he spoke of had already entered the building. Whatever 'sketch factor' the merchant had initially was gone the moment Kou recognized him from another game, and he followed directly into the shop. Various covered cages were within, as well as numerous chests and crates, weapon racks, etc. "Got lots of goods in today. What can I interest you in, Strangers?" the man asked, to which Kou merely viewed a warthog tusk in his possession before glancing in Miki's direction.

[Apollymi]

Kou claimed that data-mining was a low-tier skill and apparently one that required very little. But what he couldn't know, was that Miki in her regular life didn't have the sort of friends who would play such games. Nor did she directly know anyone who would take such an interest in things, enough that they might be even minimally motivated to look into them at all. "Eh, it doesn't have to be 'that special'," she commented complete with quotation marks made by her fingers. "You actually looked into something you were interested in... I don't know anyone else who likes games enough to do that sort of thing. So it's still cool!~" the girl claimed, somewhat admitting to a distinct sense of loneliness which she had as a person who enjoyed games but didn't have friends who did as well. As they moved along and were greeted by the shady merchant, it seemed that his voice was recognized by the lad as belonging to a merchant from another game. His words, made a slight memory click in the lass' head and her eyes widened as well. "Sugoi! It is!~" she squealed with delight, content enough to follow along to hear what else this merchant would say. As they stepped into the building it was full of cages which made more concrete this lass' earlier thought. "Definitely a black market, though I suppose that is what an auction house would translate to," she said aloud though it was unintentional. She had no idea what the lad was after, but it was likely whatever goods this man had to sell that could be useful to him, in general a mount or something like that.

[Bloodedge]

"Ah, gomen. We thought we were going to end up at a different spot where we could pick up a rare mount, and maybe unload some of our own stuff," Kou said to the merchant, still struggling to get over his fanboy moment. He also had a moment to be surprised by Miki's recognition of the merchant, but that was something he could bring up later if he felt so inclined. "Not to worry, Stranger! I've got rarer beasts than you can imagine, and anything you've got, I'll buy. So, what are ya' sellin'?"

Kou took another moment of pause. The words spoken by the merchant produced a powerful nostalgia that he couldn't just overlook, but a simple moment of elation was enough. "That's great! We've got a load of Warthog tusks, hooves and stuff. Got anything else?" he asked while returning his attention to Miki, wondering if she'd gathered any additional loot from the farm.

[Apollymi]

Miki was stuck in a moment of nostalgia as well, which only grew when the merchant asked about potential items for sale. Her eyes widened and shined with happy brightness that managed to overcome the normal disposition of her face. 'He said it!~' she thought which though in her head was almost palpable. Beyond this moment of fangirl elation, she was asked if she had anything else to sell. While at the farm she'd collected a great number of warthog pieces but a few other things were in her pack as well. A couple of small jewels, as well as a small satchel of berries from one of the nearby bushes. "Just this stuff. The warthogs here will eat anything, including things they can't digest so I found a couple of these while I was skinning stuff. The berries looked like something I saw in the guidebook so I figured they could be useful, though I'm not really into alchemy or anything," she said in offering towards this particular goal. She'd been thinking she might be able to do something with the extra, or at least guarantee they'd have money for food and shelter with a bit of the extra, but it wasn't as if they couldn't simply earn more so long as they were careful.

[Bloodedge]

Miki did indeed have more to offer the merchant. Kou took her offering as a go-ahead and placed all of his own items on the counter between himself and the merchant, assuming Miki would do the same with her items. "Oh, and I have this!" he said whilst reaching into his satchel to produce a small crystal for the merchant to inspect. "Ahh! I'll buy it at a high price!" the man spoke, triggering another nostalgia trip in Kou which made him incapable of keeping the grin from his face. "What sort of high price are we talking? We could use some information as well... like where to find a Ryuuko." The merchant had a strange reaction to this mention. He did, in fact, know exactly where to located something called a Ryuuko, and it was far simpler to find that it seemed to be. "Ah, of course. I have just what you're lookin' for. I can't sell you one, but you can take a chance at gettin' it for a hundred Silvers."

[Apollymi]

Miki placed all of her items atop the counter as well, for the merchant to look over. However upon inspecting the crystal offered up by Kou she heard a line of dialogue which brought a squeal from her person. She simply couldn't believe her good fortune in being apart of a moment like this. If nothing else, the highlight of her life so far here, was finding another gamer like herself, and speaking to the merchant who was essentially a walking talking nostalgia trip. "Squee~ Sugoi!" the noise escaped her before she managed to look abashed. Still there was the matter of the merchandise that the young man was looking for, which was apparently some kind of rare mount. Apparently the merchant could give them a chance to get it, betting a hundred silvers on such a thing. 'Oh... that is a lot. But he doesn't seem like a noob, and knew enough to have a pretty good idea of the preparation needed to get to dragons. With that in mind, I can assume even without knowing the manner of creature a Ryuuko is, it has to be something worthwhile,' she had this thought and was willing to go along with what the lad wanted in order to get this creature to help them out.