Chapter 10: Sympathy
Whispers and advice ran through the Nebulous Bazaar like wildfire. When a player teleported to the bazaar, there were five districts serving as beacons and twenty spawn points within. No names were given to the spawn points and they were marked as plain red dots. From north to south, there was the Dark District, Food District, Recreation Zone, Merchant District, Guild District. Because of the straightforward nature of the Nebulous Bazaar, it was easy to navigate.
Dasha went from the Food District to the Merchant Zone, ignoring the recreation in between. He didn't see a point to it. He could have teleported there but he decided to walk to see and understand the layout and culture of Nebulous Bazaar.
'The culture is simply loud, busy, and annoying.' Dasha was stopped at least once a minute. At this point, he got used to ignoring them. While most people got caught up by a merchant or a guild scout, Dasha refused to be tied down this early. An analysis of the political realm needed to be done first. Rehan was one perspective. He required others.
His eyes darted left and right. In the Merchant District were weapon and armour shops and shady eyes with an agenda.
'No phones in sight. No technology of today.' As though set in some alternate version of the 1900s, there were vinyls and strange 1980-esque gadgets but not a single smartphone or HD television.
"Hey, you! I see those black garbs! You need armour, man! Easy to move and durable armour!"
Ignored.
From the snippets he heard and the conversation with Rehan, guilds were a much better source of resources and weaponry than merchants.
However, there were stipulations. The contracts were strict and a player had to be careful about the fine print. In other words, until Dasha knew more about the rules of the world, he was going to stick to himself.
His gaze kept shifting. After meeting Rehan, he was searching for someone else with strong eyes. Someone who could give him the weaponry he wanted.
Nothing.