Quest Academy: Silvers, page 32
It took a few minutes of deliberation before he hit send, and immediately doubted he made the right choice. Q-Cred was the backbone of everything at the academy, so he wasn’t going to throw such a great opportunity away…especially when it was going to be reported to Jez in the Administration class. Sal couldn’t keep the grin from his face when he thought of Jez seeing his Q-Cred income. Even if he only managed to Appraise the eleven listings that Vanessa sent him, he’d be miles ahead of the others in the class.
Finally, Sal saw a message from Anders, which actually caught him by surprise. It was a simple message that thanked him for lunch earlier in the day and that he hoped they could do it again sometime to talk about bandage-bots and attack-drones. Sal sent him a quick response to say that he’d like that, and they should set something up before the next Crafting class.
He spent the last few minutes clearing the notifications from the Credit floor that continued to pour in. It was like the mythical hydra: for every message he marked as read, two more would filter in to replace it. With a sigh of defeat, Sal placed the tablet back on the bed and made his way to the shower. He was rested, and he wanted to be clean and presentable before he went to the workshop. It was likely going to be another long night, but Sal didn’t care. There was a Legendary sniper rifle waiting to be Appraised, and bags of Q-Cred waiting to be earned.
Chapter 43:
Appraisal
Dressed in a simple T-shirt and jeans, Sal made his way into the workshop. He wasn’t sure whether there was protocol for wearing the uniforms considering it was technically the weekend, but he didn’t really want to subject himself to the boring gray attire when a newly crafted suit was waiting for him. His gloves felt like a second skin, and it had almost pained him to take them off before his shower. He wondered whether that was the same sensation that Hannah had spoken about with her gauntlets.
Upgrade had promised to teach him how to use them, and Sal couldn’t wait to take her up on that offer. When he entered through the doors, he was surprised to see that the normal lull had been replaced with absolute chaos. Dozens of students were clamoring around the workbenches, shouting across to one another, with many rushing between the spaces. Sal had to crane his neck to see the regulars, who looked positively dismayed by the situation. Before he could even clear the entrance to the workshop, a familiar voice shouted out his name.
“Salvatore! Come over, there’s a free bench here!”
Josh’s voice pierced through the noise, and Sal saw him waving erratically from the far side of the workshop. A few heads turned at the sudden bark of his name, and more than a few of them contained looks of contempt. Sal deliberated on whether he should ignore him and continue over to his desk, but he eventually thought better of it. With a tight smile, he made his way over to Josh, who was gesturing eagerly at the space beside him.
“I knew you’d come! You missed the tour of the other floor…but you need to wait for the guy with the beard to come back. Wears a big apron, think his name was Forge,” Josh nattered as he gestured toward the elevator to the side. “Upgrade sits over there! She’s busy, though, so she couldn’t talk to us much. But how cool is this place!”
Sal looked over to where Upgrade was sitting and saw her pained expression through the fake smile she directed right back at him. He wanted to laugh, but he strangely felt a sense of solidarity with her. The invasion of students felt like intruders on their sacred place of work.
Sal turned back to Josh and kept his smile fixed. “Thanks, Josh…I really appreciate it. I’m actually here to do a bit of Appraisal work, to earn a bit of Q-Cred on the side.” With that, Sal tried to extricate himself, but Josh wasn’t finished.
“Are you for real? How did you get that in only a week?”
Sal heard the accusing tone and knew that Josh was seconds away from jumping to conclusions. Leaning in close, he brought his voice down to a whisper. “First day when we were doing the rounds, I went over to the regulars and did some free Appraisals for them. Asked if they’d have any odd jobs that needed doing and they took me up on it.” Sal bent the truth a little, but it was enough for Josh, who looked back at him with wide eyes.
“Just like that? Think they’d need some Restoration work done?”
Sal shrugged and gestured over to them. “You’ll never know unless you ask. It would at least put you on their radar. Appraisal is a tricky skill set to find, so I was really lucky. Restoration is a great skill, though—my mother has it. You could make a fortune with this group. When they fuck up something in Crafting, you can bring it right back to how it was…for a price.”
And with that, it looked like it dawned on Josh how he could commercialize his ability. A mixture of disbelief and excitement washed over his face as he looked around the room, as though seeing Q-Cred everywhere. Sal gave him a wave as he made his way over to Upgrade, but Josh seemed to barely notice his departure.
“Did you tell them to come here?” Upgrade groaned quietly as Sal approached her bench. “They don’t know anything yet, and all they’re doing is sitting in those benches and shouting out their hopes and dreams.” With an aggravated sigh, she finally looked at Sal. “Get my messages?”
He grinned and nodded in return. “Thank you for selecting me for the Fast-Track course. I’ve got no idea what it’s all about, but it sounds important.”
Upgrade sat up and stretched her back with a tired sigh. “You’re very welcome. So…I’m willing to risk all the rumors these shits will concoct when I drag you into that room over there to Appraise that beautiful sniper rifle.” As her arms came down, a grin appeared on her face. “Credit floor can get their pound of flesh from you afterward.”
Sal didn’t need much convincing as he made his way toward the room, with Upgrade only a few steps behind him.
“Should I turn around and give them a wink?” Upgrade mused quietly to Sal as they walked. “Maybe drape my arm over your shoulder?”
She teased him with a few more suggestions until they finally reached the room. Sal held his hands up to her, and Upgrade stopped abruptly, confused. He wiggled his gloved fingers and smiled at her. “Appraisal first, then you can teach me how to use these!”
Upgrade paused for a moment in thought before countering. “Appraisal. Coffee from Alex…then I teach you?”
Sal conceded immediately, suddenly craving more of the Alchemical concoction. Alex was right when he warned that it would become an addiction.
Upgrade continued as she walked around to the other side of the table. “Some of us didn’t get to have our beauty sleep last night…” Bending over, she retrieved the neatly folded shirt and slacks that had been meticulously Crafted the night before. Sal extended a hand out to take them from her, but Upgrade stopped suddenly with a grin.
“Appraisal first. Then clothes. Then coffee…and then gloves.” Sal stared at her for a moment before Upgrade broke with a laugh and a shake of her head. “I’ve been awake far too long…I’m getting delirious.”
Sal gestured to the couch. “You’re more than welcome to have a nap while I work on this. The longer we’re in here, the better your rumor sounds,” he finished with a laugh.
Upgrade didn’t so much as hesitate as she dropped the clothes onto the table and threw herself onto the couch. “I’m just closing my eyes for a little bit. Wake me when you’re done. I want to know everything!”
Before Sal could even retort, Upgrade was asleep. She hadn’t even used the blanket that was folded on the armrest.
He unfurled the blanket and gently draped it across her. He couldn’t believe that he had known her for less than a week, and she had managed to make such a profound impact on his life. Without her Upgrade skill, he would never have created the Mythcrafter ability, and he wouldn’t be standing where he was right now.
His gaze moved to the Legendary sniper rifle, and it humbled him to think that he orchestrated the creation of it. He wasn’t naive; he knew that it would have been impossible without the capabilities of Martin, Gosia, and Upgrade. But it was his design and his power that brought those perfect parts together to create a masterpiece.
Activating his eyes, Sal started his Appraisal. The documents were already sitting there waiting for his feedback, so he got to work. What usually took minutes lasted closer to an hour. Appraisal was similar to reading a book, as every item had its own individual story.
For someone learning to Appraise without the ability, they would see the materials, the composition, the characteristics, quality, and craftsmanship. What Sal saw with his eyes was an innate understanding of the item’s essence. Rare items gave off a blue hue, Epic would show off purple, and Legendary was an orange light. When the rifle had first been presented to him, Sal saw the different colors that weren’t aligned with each other.
His eyes questioned the weapon until it revealed its secrets. He rapidly wrote down the range, impact, and damage rating of each hypothetical round. The recoil was drastically reduced from before, and the sights were capable of tracking targets by essence signatures. There were three modes of fire, which included silenced, explosive, and essence-tethered.
Surprisingly, the weapon had a trait of self-cleaning, which it had somehow picked up during its evolution. The rate of fire had increased, and every shot was guaranteed to be a critical hit. Sal tried to find some flaws, but there was nothing to be found.
Sal moved the weapon around and inspected it from every angle. His eyes found the same information again and again until they discovered an unseen element that Sal would quickly write down. It was difficult to be precise without a frame of reference, so he could only go by what the rifle was telling him. With a better understanding of firearms, Sal would be able to interpret the information much better, but for now he had to settle for what he could officially validate.
It went on like this for another twenty minutes before Sal finally conceded. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. There were no drawbacks or downsides to the weapon at all. Sal couldn’t fathom how a Mythic-grade item could possibly surpass the weapon in front of him.
He stood in silence for a few moments, looking at the rifle in awe. His Appraisal was complete, and he would need to submit it to the Credit floor and Vanessa. With that thought in mind, Sal wondered whether he should go up to meet her as Myth and ask her to send down everything to the room for Sal.
Turning around, he saw that Upgrade hadn’t moved a muscle and was still fast asleep. Glancing back to the table, he caught sight of the clothes and entertained the thought of changing in the room while Upgrade slept. Every part of his brain told him it was a terrible idea and that she’d absolutely wake up and ridicule him for the rest of his life. When he picked up the shirt, he overruled his brain and decided that now was the perfect time to change. In the interest of decency, Sal moved to the other side of the table and quickly started to change.
Despite all his fears and thundering heart, Upgrade didn’t so much as budge. When the shirt made contact with his skin, he gasped in surprise. It contracted around his chest and shrank to fit his physique perfectly. Sal twisted and turned and raised his arms over his head, and there was zero discomfort. It felt as if it were tailored specifically for his body. The slacks fit perfectly at the waist and leg, and Sal wondered whether it was a tailoring trait that made it fit so well. Much like the gloves, Sal felt as though the clothes were an extension of his body. There was no leap in power capability, and it didn’t feel like the clothing was brimming with essence. His eyes could see that the tucked-in shirt, the slacks, and the gloves were all connected by an invisible circuitry of essence.
Just as he was about to further Appraise the new clothing, a vibration from his jeans caught his attention. He picked them up and rooted through the pockets until he found his folded tablet. Opening it up, he was greeted with another stream of messages from the Credit floor, offering him the opportunity to Appraise the new haul from the successful dungeon clearance.
He was about to take the rifle Appraisal papers and make his way up to the Credit floor, but the sight of Upgrade stopped him. He didn’t want Vanessa to come down to collect the rifle and see Upgrade asleep, so he decided to leave the papers for later. She had let him sleep the night before, so Sal was happy to return the favor. She had her own card for the door, so he dimmed the lights and locked the door behind him. The noise of the students had only managed to get louder, and Sal was grateful to be on his way to a different floor.
Chapter 44:
Hypotheticals
If Sal thought he was going to be escaping the chaos by going up a couple of floors, he was in for a rude awakening. The entirety of the Credit floor was absolute mayhem, with staff rushing around and transporting goods and attendants talking to frustrated-looking strangers. He almost wanted to laugh because it was a scene he was very familiar with from back home.
Whenever a dungeon clearance happened, or a new floor was beaten on a tower, the guilds would swamp the auction houses to find out if they had picked up something valuable. He could see that the attendants had been dragged into the cataloguing process, and judging by their pained expressions, it wasn’t something they particularly enjoyed. A few of them glanced up at his arrival, but nobody made any effort to engage with him.
Sal couldn’t blame them, as it was likely going to be just as hectic for a few more hours. There were stacks of empty stylized chests that were being carefully packed by the attendants at the different booths, all under the watchful eyes of who Sal assumed were the Reavers Guild. He didn’t see any familiar faces around him, so took out his tablet and sent a quick message to Vanessa.
While he waited, he looked to his right and saw dozens of chests stacked up against the wall. The item numbers were all in the four hundreds, which matched the listings that he had been receiving throughout the day. He barely managed to blink before Vanessa appeared from the other side of the room. Her high heels clicked against the marbled floor and her smile was both radiant and genuine when she saw him. As she got closer, her head tilted ever so slightly in surprise.
“And who might you be?” Her tone was playful as she stepped around Sal, making a show of looking him up and down. “May I?” She reached forward to touch the fabric of his sleeve, and Sal gestured that it was fine. He desperately hoped she wouldn’t hear his increasing heartbeat from where she stood.
Vanessa didn’t go for the sleeve, and instead traced her fingers along his chest before bringing her hand up to caress the collar of his shirt. Moving closer to get a better look, Vanessa’s voice turned into a whisper that washed through his ears.
“Incredible craftsmanship…might have to get you to make me something just like this.”
Sal couldn’t tell whether she was genuinely flirting with him or teasing, but he was okay with either of them. He was skilled at negotiation, but Vanessa was proving to be a terrifying opponent. As he opened his mouth to reply, Vanessa moved in front of his face with a smirk.
“Maybe you could measure me and see if it gives you any inspiration?” With that, Vanessa took a step back and gestured at her tight-fitting uniform. When her eyes locked back onto Sal, her sly grin was still in place.
Maybe it was because of how flustered he was, but Vanessa seemed to sense an opening to push him one step further. Having grown up with compliments about his silver eyes, Sal was used to attention from the opposite sex, but this was completely new territory.
“Whenever you’re done with the sniper rifle, I’ll book us a private room and we can…explore some ideas and see what pops up! How does that sound?” Vanessa’s voice was borderline seductive and the playful wink she gave him before stepping back was going to stick with him for life.
Just like that, the air of professionalism returned, and Vanessa was once again the dignified attendant of the Credit floor. It just furthered his suspicion that this was just a game she was playing.
Sal composed himself as best he could. If he was honest with himself, he doubted that Vanessa wanted him for anything more than his Mythcrafter ability. He felt way out of his depth but the knowledge of the Legendary rifle down in the meeting room gave him a negotiation advantage that helped calm his nerves.
“Crafting an Epic-grade item is pretty difficult, and should take quite a bit of time…but, since we’re talking about hypothetical meeting rooms, and hypothetical commissions…”
Sal chose his words carefully and watched Vanessa’s reaction. Her smile was still predatory, and Sal realized that she enjoyed this back-and-forth very much. If it was a game, he’d play with her.
As if to spur him on with his current train of thought, Vanessa tilted her head slightly to one side. “Go on…”
Sal forced a laugh as he pretended to come up with an outlandish concept. “What would happen if I put an evolutionary trait on the Epic rifle? Allowing it to reach to Legendary grade over time?”
Vanessa’s eyes widened, and her lips parted. He could almost see the gears turning in her head as she processed what he had just told her.
Before she answered, she raised her two hands and gave him a playful smile. “So, we’ve two answers here, but I’ve a feeling you want to know one of them more than the other.” Her right hand extended her index finger as she spoke formally.
“I can tell you how the Credit floor would act as a broker with the Reavers Guild to get you compensated, and we’d give you our VIP rates going forward to ensure we keep you happy and working with us.” Vanessa then raised her left hand with her index finger raised, her voice turning once again back to a sultry whisper.
“Or…I could tell you how I would keep you happy and working with me.”
Sal didn’t even pretend to think about it as he immediately gestured to her left hand. Vanessa lowered her right hand and brought her left to her face, where she rested her finger against her lips. She looked to be in thought, and Sal watched her lips curl into a smile.
