The group was walking along the streets, in the area where most of the popular shops were. They were at the top layer, so everything was particularly bright up here. Everyone was happily buying things from any of the shops, or just sitting around at some restaurant while bathing in the summer sun. It seemed relatively nice up here, as if Foster was going on some shopping-trip with friends.

And in the end, that’s basically what it was. It didn’t feel like they were going to buy things for some kind of medieval adventure in a dungeon filled with traps and monsters… Especially when they entered the first shop. There were large, bright windows in the front, and everything was large and open. All the items were set up neatly along the walls, the prices were displayed underneath them perfectly, and the employees walking around made everything seem like some sort of… weird shop on earth.

He turned his head to look at Lynol and Octer, both of which were looking around surprised themselves. It seemed like this wasn’t normal even for this world.

“So, what now?” Foster asked, watching the two of them try to figure everything out themselves. But not only Foster saw their struggle, but so did an employee. They walked up to the group of three with a broad smile on their face, “Welcome to Tessa’s Armory, may I be of assistance?”

“Yeah, erm… We’re kinda looking for some armor that I can fit over these clothes? Do you have anything like that?” Foster asked. He was kind of used to this sort of thing already from earth, so he was able to handle it rather easily. The employee quickly nodded their head, “Of course! Our armor section is right over here. It seems like you would be looking for a lighter sort of armor, correct?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Then right over here, this is our most popular light armor collection!” The employee explained, leading the group of three right through the isles, until they stood in front of a few mannequins that were wearing different types of armor.

“Personally, I think this would fit you the best.” They said, pointing at one of the mannequins. It was a pretty impressive armor, honestly. It wasn’t a sort of full suit like some of the others. It seemed to just be plates covering the most important areas, leaving the right areas completely open to allow for complete movement. And the metal seemed incredibly sturdy as well, even if it was just thin sheets. And the style seemed neat as well. The armor seemed somewhat sharp and rigid, and weirdly… modern at the same time. Like some kind of modern art piece on earth.

Foster slowly grabbed one of the parts of the armor, and took a closer look at the material. It was super light, but it didn’t seem to bend in Foster’s hands in the slightest. Not even a little bit.

“This seems really amazing, honestly… Just how much…” Foster looked past the armor and soon saw the price-tag for the whole suit of armor.

560000 Val. Thinking about how 5 Val was roughly around 1 Dollar… Foster very quickly put this piece of the armor back down as his face went pale.

“This…”

“-is one of our cheaper models, yes.” The employee replied, and Foster slowly turned around toward the others, slowly shaking his head, “Yeah, I don’t think we can afford it…”

Since the other two had heard the price as well, they quickly agreed, and the group of three swiftly made their way back out of the shop.

“Come on, let’s look around, maybe we can find a slightly… cheaper place.” Octer said with a wry smile, as the group walked around this incredibly busy street. At some point, however, Foster noticed Aster jump out of his hair.

“Hey, where are you going, bud?” He asked with a frown, “We need to find a place to buy some armor.” Foster squatted down and tried to pick Aster back up, but the tiny nature spirit instead started running further away. There was a rope hanging inbetween this street and the part on the other side of the gap, and Aster was just running on top of it.

“Come on! Please, buddy! We don’t have time for this…” Foster sighed deeply, as his friends walked up behind him, “What is he doing?” Lynol asked, but Foster just shrugged.

“No idea, but he’s probably just playing around a bit…” He grumbled, “Sorry about this, I know there’s a lot we had to get done today.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s not your fault.” Octer told him, and Foster smiled lightly. He looked back at Aster and tried to reach over the railing a bit, since Aster wasn’t standing that far away right now, “Come on, jump up.”

Aster stood there, his tiny mask facing Foster, before slowly turning away as if looking deeper into the gap. Naturally, Foster’s eyes wandered for a moment, until he spotted something down there. For the most part, the bottom layer was used as housing for some, or as factories and storage facilities for others. Further toward the center of town, things opened up a bit more according to the employees at the Inn he talked to, but right here, that was a fact. It wasn’t particularly… fancy down there.

But right in Foster’s sight was curious building. It was… weird. It was the only building that really didn’t seem to fit in at all. Like a normal house just standing there, as if a clean break from the surrounding buildings. The structures were tightly built around it though, even bridging above it at some point. It made it seem like this building was simply slid into an open spot at some point, even though it seemed a lot older than most of the other structures around here.

“I think… Aster wants us to go down there…” He muttered, “Sorry, could we… take a look at what’s down there? It seems kinda interesting…”

“Down there? What is there to see?” Lynol asked, leaning over the railing as well. He soon spotted the weird building as well, and quickly seemed just as intrigued as Foster was, “So Aster was trying to bring your attention to that?”

“I think so, yeah… That must mean something, right? You know, him being a nature spirit and all…” Foster pointed out, and Lynol swiftly nodded his head, “I would think so.. Let’s go.”