The anger had largely left her tone, but hints of it remained in her statement. Soren smiled and nodded as he pulled a basic kabuki mask from under his robe and put it on. He then offered his arm to Emory who gently locked her arm with his before they walked down the road. The street was lively and packed with people of all ages, many more people than Emory had seen at one time. If she had to guess, there were at least fifty thousand people spread out throughout the festival area. On the road they walked down, vendors were selling food and other consumables which made Emory particularly hungry.
"Is there special food only served as the festival?" Emory asked, "Though we didn't have anything like this on my planet, Earth had similar gatherings called fairs with food you could only find there."
Soren replied, "Some of the food is generally only sold here, like string pie and Hasda on a stick. I imagine you're quite hungry after today. What kind of food would you like?"
"I don't want to stop exploring to eat, but I am starving," Emory admitted as she clutched her stomach, "Let's get some food we can walk and eat. What are those?" She pointed to some sticks of food that looked like kebabs.
"Hasda on a stick. It's really good, but I have to warn you. It's a little spicy," Soren stated as he approached the vendor. Emory paused for a moment to consider then shrugged and nodded her head. After talking to the vendor and showing them a small brooch, he picked up two sticks, each about a foot and a half long, and rejoined her on the path.
"What's Hasda anyway?" Emory questioned as she took a bite from the stick, "It tastes like beef."
Soren elaborated, "Hasda is another animal we harvest for food. It's a big rectangular herbivore that we get all sorts of products from but mostly milk and meat as that's what we've bred them to be for. Though due to their size, their numbers are much lower than Terran, so while you can order Hasda at most decent restaurants and the store, it's a bit pricey."
"That sounds a lot like cows back home," Emory equated, "It's good with the little kick of spice. So, where's this rodeo at? I've been trying to imagine what it would be like all day."
"Unfortunately, it'll still be over an hour until they start. I have a box, so we don't need to worry about seats. Let's walk around for a little bit, and then we'll head to the rodeo," Soren grinned.
The pair continued down the street and looked around while they finished eating. Once they were done though, Emory began taking a closer interest into what people were selling. Past the hot food, vendors were selling preserved food like jams and jerky, but past that, she saw vials of liquids and tiny orbs. When asked, Soren told her that they had entered the elixir area of the consumables. Each potion or pill had a specific effect on the body, largely restoration or enhancement. She was shocked by the number of herbs that could affect magik and the body the Elandrian had cultivated. Of course, they had old tales about the magical properties of different plants back in the Sol System; they just ended up being fictional stories. Perhaps, like finding out Mentha affected the Apleem, humans just hadn't figured out the latent properties of some plants yet.
On Athos's account, Emory ended up buying twenty different kinds of elixirs between the pills and the potions. She put them away in her infinite bag so that humanity could find analogs among their own plants. Some of them improved one's sphere or mana pool while others just restored magik to the consumer. Soren raised an eyebrow at her antics, as these were all low- to medium-tier goods in his mind but decided against making any comments for the time being. After purchasing the goods and storing them away, they kept walking to the end of the street and the turned to corner to enter another section of the festival.
This area was filled to the brim with weapons and armor in a variety of colors and styles. Like humans, the Elandrian employed various weapons from different length blades to axes with oddly shaped ends to polearms with various attachments. Unlike the food section, Emory carefully examined each stall to see what kinds of gear each place sold. The first stand had daggers and swords of all sizes and kinds. Once she got to the swords, she began casting the spell to see the weapon's properties on every sword around the length of a rapier. Most of the swords were between levels two and four, and many of them had skills of some sort as well. One of the shop keepers came over to Emory and Soren and asked, "Is there something I can help you find, miss? You seem to be looking for something in particular."
"I'm looking for a sword for my friend. She wields a shamshir," Emory explained happily, "She's only practicing the Arcane sphere for now and hasn't picked a second sphere yet. She leans on transforming it into Frost. What would you recommend I get her?"
"Well, I've got a shamshir in the back that I didn't put out that might work. Let me go get it. In the meantime, look through those in the last row," the shop keeper replied before leaving through a back door. Emory grinned and moved over to the back row which only had shamshirs and katanas.
"You know, if you want some elite gear, you can have Athos put in a requisition," Soren pointed out as he joined her side, "I imagine you're getting these items for your friends back home. Don't you want them to have the best gear?"
Emory sighed, "I want them to have the best gear, but I also don't want them to see much combat, or at least not war. Also, they are only level two to four; I don't want them to rely on these treasures and not grow stronger. Besides, it's more personal this way."
"I suppose you're right," Soren agreed, "And realistically, after a combined level of twelve, the difference between each sphere level's maximum power shrinks rapidly. At the top, there's not much of a difference between seventeen through twenty. It's all about mana pools and body temperance at peak stage."
"Take a look at this piece; it's quite unique. Now, I have to advise you of the reason I didn't set this piece out. The skill on it is rather tricky," the shop owner called out as he hobbled from the back. He presented Emory with a cyan shamshir that had a large sapphire in the pommel. Like she had done with all the rest of the blades, she revealed the properties of this one.
"Level four enchantment: Arcane. Active Skill: Icy Aspect. Passive Skill: Cold Breeze."
As the words above the blade disappeared, the shop owner chimed in, "The passive skill is easy to understand as I'm sure you can feel the temperature difference since I walked in with it. However, the active skill is a little bit more involved. Anything the blade touches, while the effect is active, will start to freeze from the point of impact. But if you should happen to hit yourself with it active and not have good control of the Frost sphere, it's game over for you too."
"That's simple enough," Emory furrowed her brow, "What's so tricky about it?"
"The skill is active as long as there's some magik in the blade," the shop owner frowned.
"Ah, so it's always on essentially, right?" Soren interjected, "Still, the aspect family of skills is rare, especially the primal aspects because most equipment is enchanted with Arcane instead of the actual sphere being represented."
Emory looked over the blade again before saying, "I'll take it. Please charge it to this account." The shop owner beamed, took the sword over to the counter, and put it gently in one of the many boxes behind the counter.
"Thank you, come again," the owner said as he passed the box to Emory. She bowed slightly as she took the box and stuffed it into her bag like everything else. Together with Soren, the pair moved onto the next shop and continued browsing the wares. The next stand had axes, but since she didn't have a close friend who used axes, she breezed through the store. This pattern continued until she reached the polearms. Once again, she took her time browsing through the javelins, lances, pikes, and spears. Fortunately, due to the skirmish on Temia, Emory had an idea of how Nephenee fought which was more important for a polearm user than a sword user. The weight distribution, length, and composition were critical for such a large weapon unlike an average sword.
After searching through the different weapons, Emory found an interesting lance that was about six feet long and made of a metallic red metal. Then she waved her hand over the polearm.
"Level four enchantment: Arcane. Active Skill: Cannon."
She turned to Soren and asked, "Do you know what this skill is?"
"It's the strongest of the projectile family of skills," Soren answered, "Basically, it allows the wielder to fire a blast from the tip of the weapon. Cannon is the strongest but slowest of the three."
"That's perfect for her, giving her a strong ranged option," Emory smiled. Because of its size, she wouldn't be able to fit it inside the bag with everything else. So, she also grabbed a sheath and paid for the pair. Then they continued on to the next stand which had an assortment of specialty and not-easily classified weapons. In the front was a weapon that looked like a scythe blade on a sword hilt with a morningstar pommel. Out of pure curiosity, she picked it up and swung it around a little bit while Soren snickered behind her. She commented, "This is a strange weapon, but it's incredibly well-balanced. What do you call this?"
"A saromahlek, the standard frontline weapon for our heavy infantry units," Soren said as he carefully took it from her hands, "But you were holding it upside down. See, the blade is a hook that pulls enemies towards you. Then you flick your wrist and smash the opponent at the joint which usually dislocates it." He gracefully showed her the intended attack motion which consisted of a wide sweep followed by a quick pop from the other end.
"You used these against the Mantoan, don't you? I noticed their joints were their weak point when I fought them," Emory gazed as the demonstration.
"Indeed, we do. You must have good analytical skills if you determined that in only one encounter," Soren complimented her, "Obviously it's not very safe to use these on the Uthid. But they make for a decent side arm as well." He passed her back the weapon which she put back on the table and moved onto the next group of weapons. Eventually she found the last of the gifts she was looking for, gauntlets for Gwen and Innes. Surprisingly, the whole back section, four ten-foot tables, was filled with different kinds of brass knuckles, gloves, and gauntlets. "Gauntlets, huh? I'd like to say I was surprised, but I'm not with the way you've handled weapons so far this evening. It's the only thing that made sense," Soren joked.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Emory stuck out her tongue, "No, these are still for my friends. I already have a pair of beautiful gauntlets from my mother." She reached into her bag, pulled her silver gauntlets out, and put them on before showing off for Soren. His eyes widened and his body tensed up as he stared at them intently.
He breathed heavily, "Where did you get those?"