"Elizabeth! Come and let me introduce you..." Atid said as he smiled at Elizabeth before turning to Luca. With arms outstretched and a glint of wonder flashing across his eyes from spotting Elizabeth"s weapons, Atid said, "Old friend, as you can see, this here"s the Elizabeth we were discussing earlier…" With a natural flow, after introducing Elizabeth, Atid turned back to Elizabeth and said, "And these two… they"re faces you should grow familiar towards. This gentleman here"s an old friend and Martial peer, Mr. Gianluca. As for Sophie over here..."Before Atid could introduce Sophie, the la.s.s took the matter into her own hands, directly cutting Atid off as she said, "Apparently, I"m your identical twin. But… it"s not like I matter or anything..."
Her pa.s.sive aggressive speech was just the kind of trigger Elizabeth"s mind needed to turn this whole interaction into that of a cartoon. As this apparent b.i.t.c.hy clone came out of nowhere, Elizabeth couldn"t help but find her situation humorous and laugh in her heart with an impossible to conceal smirk shining on all the "bulls.h.i.t" in front of her.
All manner of treacherous evil thoughts sp.a.w.ned in her mind as Luca inserted himself into the conversation, apparently reprimanding Sophie by saying, "Sophie! Don"t be rude to Atid"s disciple, you"ll be living alongside her for the next month or so… it"s probably best not to make necessary enemies."
"Huh? Is this a joke?" Sophie looked to be seriously offended as she too pulled out a smirk from her a.r.s.enal of expressions whilst saying, "You think SHE could qualify to be enemies with me? She isn"t even at the p.a.w.n Stage!"
"..." To this blatant trash talking, Elizabeth just took it like a champ. Though that hideous smirk never left her visage, the one looking like she was staring down a complete imbecile, Elizabeth knew that if she were to fight, she"d more than probably come out on the losing side. Still, even if she "held her cool" now, it didn"t mean that this confrontation ended there. No… now Elizabeth was starting to learn a bit about herself, as she was, for the first time, learning to hold a grudge.
"Heh heh heh… this dumb b.i.t.c.h… I"m only two days into Muay Thai training and one day into living with my life on the line. It"s obvious she"s a stronger and better fighter than me, but… If training for this short a time can get me this strong… heh… It won"t be long before she has to watch the f.u.c.k out..." Even if no one told her, Elizabeth had already started developing the mindset of a cultivator. One were everything came down to the strength behind one"s punches and the skill one possessed as a Pract.i.tioner.
"Wait… what?" Suddenly, Elizabeth recalled that she was once more acting out of line. The resolution in her eyes shut off as she stopped looking at Sophie, her mind delving into the depths of her subconscious to try and piece together what had just happened, "Why… why should I care? Why am I even mad again? Mhmm..."
Upon a.n.a.lyzing her fluctuating emotions, Elizabeth became a bit concerned as this wasn"t the first time it had happened and though the feelings were natural, knowing that they shouldn"t be was a thing of nightmares. "Who cares what this idiot thinks of me… Who cares if Sun was hurt… It"s not like he"s been crippled or anything… Why does that b.i.t.c.h"s face seem so f.u.c.king punchable?!" Even as she thought deeply, bits of her subconscious emotions were plaguing her conscious efforts to think critically, and she ended up cursing in her thoughts without intending!
"Enough!" This time, Luca took on a serious disciplinary tone as he glared disappointingly at Sophie. To his act of defending Elizabeth, Sophie acted with false acquiescence as she jokingly put up her hands and walked away as if to say "I"m out." Though she seemed to be gesturing in compliance, anyone looking on with a critical eye could imagine what she was thinking from her still-supercilious expressions.
After dealing with Elizabeth, Luca walked up to Elizabeth and said, "Sorry about that, she"s just a little grumpy from the long flight over."
Elizabeth was still in her thoughts trying to piece together why she was acting out against her usual uncaring ways. Thus, when Luca chimed in, she sounded a bit distant as she said, "Oh uh… It"s fine I guess..."
"Say..." Luca said, dragging his words as he prepared to encroach on potentially hazardous waters. He continued, "Those weapons you have… Uh, how should I put this? I"ve been a tradesman for decades, seeing everything from the most insane weapons of ma.s.s destruction to the rarest antique arms of ancient times. But your weapons… I"ve never seen anything like them. Now, I know it"s rather presumptuous to ask about other people"s personal gear, especially gear as rare as yours, but my curiosity won"t bear to let this chance go…"
Around this moment, Atid was starting to get serious as he was about to shut Luca"s request down. But to Elizabeth this was a legendary chance; one that was hard to imagine not coming straight out of a game"s quest trigger. She didn"t even hesitate to say, "My weapons? Heh… They"re a family heirloom, usable only to people of our bloodline. Though, I wouldn"t mind you taking a look at them or whatever, as long as you trade me some bullets; Magical bullets…" That l.u.s.tfully greedy twinkle returned to her eyes as she made it clear what it was she coveted above everything on Luca"s person.
"Uh, ok?" Luca, taken aback by how easy it was to come into possession of Elizabeth"s gun and blade, made his agreement come off as a question.
Elizabeth, as if worried that he would change his mind and back out of the deal, practically threw her weapons at him as thoughts of her tearing a path through the Forest of Beginnings with guns blazing and a trail of unending bullet casings left on her tail, clouded her mind.
Luca, upon taking the weapons from Elizabeth immediately brought them uncomfortably close to his face to a.n.a.lyze them in detail. Unfortunately for him, Blood Armaments would forever be an enigma to all but their masters. In fact, the moment the gun and sword duo entered his hands, they turned lifeless with what was present in their color schemes desaturating as if in protest.
When Luca tapped the magazine release, the second the magazine"s body left the gun, its body created out of Elizabeth"s Inner Strength immediately vaporized with a Marble Bullet crashing down onto his palm. When he tested Inferioria"s edge for sharpness, he could swear that there were probably clubs with a sharper edge than that evidently harmless blade.
Eventually, he could only return the weapons to Elizabeth with even more questions than before as the peculiarity they possessed truly boggled his mind. Elizabeth knew from the get-go that he"d never get anything out of trying to study her weapons, but she didn"t let the obvious trickery weigh down on her conscience as she wasted no time after retrieving her weapons to say, "SO… What kind of magical bullets do you have and what are their prices… Wait! You said you"re a tradesman right? Then do you also have a supplier of refined ores? If you do I"d like to know the prices of refined ores as well!"
"Uh… prices? How should I explain this? Usually, the currency with which I conduct my trades is measured in "favors" or services to be precise. Magical bullets like these are hard to put into a monetary value as worldly affairs have very little impact on, well… the Martial Society. If you wanted to buy these bullets with say… US dollars, they"d each go for a couple million dollars.
You"ve already let me look at your "family heirlooms" which in a sense is a service I value greatly; the reason being the rarity of the materials, which I"ve yet to even understand, used in making your weapons. Thus, for letting me take a peek at your weapons close up, I"ve judged the service"s value to be worth around ten or so of my bullets.
You could take ten of these right here and now, or, you could wait a couple days for me to get a hold of their value in refined Lead. I see your gun uses rather "unorthodox" ammo, looks to me like it"s some sort of mineral rock? Anyway, all my bullets are made primarily with refined Lead and with a special copper alloy for the casings. You don"t seem to used jacketed bullets, but if you want, I"ll throw in a good amount of copper alloy as well, if you take the ore as the deal.
But… if you tell me a bit more about your weapons I can throw in some more bullets or ore to your balance..."
After that weighty explanation, Elizabeth was given a chance to get more out of the deal, but she refused to give out any details about her Blood Armaments as they weren"t a thing native to earth or probably even the current dimension. She said, "Sorry, I don"t know much about my weapons, only that my family"s tradition is to pa.s.s the armaments down from older generation to the next… About the deal though… Can I see one of your bullets real quick?"
Luca, though a bit sad that he couldn"t learn more about the mysterious Blood Armaments, slowly withdrew one bullet from his own gun and gave it to Elizabeth. With the bullet in hand, Elizabeth used her Status to check on the bullets properties, and upon reading the description, a look of cringe threatening to drown the world on disappointment appeared…
[Status
Name: Magically Challenged Lead Bullet
Grade: Low-tier Mortal Grade Bullet (Threatening the Line to Below Mortal Grade...)
Description: Crafted with utterly horrendous and completely butchered refining methods of ancient times, this bullet"s only redeeming qualities are the well-done inscriptions and energy synchronization optimizations done at the moment of crafting. Though the Refining Rate approaches the single digit mark at 11%, because of the superior Inscriptions this bullet possess, its range of fatality CAN reach levels on par with even High-Grade Mortal Bullets.
Effects: Damages ent.i.ties up to Level 25. Typically fatal to beings Level 1 and below.]
Somehow, Elizabeth managed to control herself to not blurt out, "How is this trash worth millions? Dear G.o.d..." She still had her look of total disgust as she handed back the bullet. From the moment she read the details of the bullets inception to the moment Luca took it back, she"d held onto it as if it were laced with dogs.h.i.t as her fingers pinched the head of the bullet and she shook her head from side to side.
Whilst continuing to shake her head, Elizabeth said, "On second thought, never mind..." The way she acted after receiving the bullet left Luca not knowing how to react…