Before leaving the Headmaster's office, Alger politely asked for a map of the city. With it in hand, he stepped out of the orphanage and waited on the stone path out front for Ivy to get ready.
Standing beneath the morning sun, Alger slipped his hand into his right pocket and pulled out a silver coin.
In the country of Mytherra, there were three forms of currency—or more precisely, three denominations of a single currency: Cents, Coins, and Pounds. Ten cents made a coin, and one hundred coins made a pound.
Cents were small, brown, circular pieces made of something that resembled copper. They were only a few centimeters wide, rough to the touch, and irregularly shaped. They had no design—just jagged edges and a dull, worn surface.
Coins were the primary currency used across Mytherra. Round and metallic, about the width of Alger's little finger, they each bore an image of a tree trunk in the center, framed by ridged edges. The word Mytherra was inscribed above the trunk, and the year of minting below it. The one Alger held read 965—just four years old.
And then there were Pounds. Unlike the others, a Pound wasn't meant for daily transactions. It was for those who found it too troublesome to carry a hundred coins at once. A Pound was rectangular, made from a strange metal that shimmered with a holographic glow. On its surface stood a tall, vertical oak tree, which looked elegant.
Alger understood the denominations well enough. What he didn't know was what they were worth. That would be his first priority when they reached the marketplace.
He slipped the coin back into his pocket... right as a familiar voice called out behind him.
"Alger! What are you still doing here? Let's go!"
Are you stupid? I'm waiting for you!
Zephyr wasn't a particularly large city, mostly due to its unsettling proximity to Unknown. At its center stood a tall tower, visible from nearly every district. The closer one got to the tower, the more expensive the cost of living became.
The orphanage was located on the outermost edge of the city, where civilization thinned and carriages passed only once every few hours.
But Alger knew a carriage was due to pass by soon. He told Ivy to wait.
In the distance, the silhouette of a black carriage approached. It was drawn by two white horses and looked like it could seat around ten people facing each other.
As it drew closer, Alger raised his hand and waved. The carriage slowed to a stop.
He climbed in first, offering Ivy a hand up. The carriage was empty. As soon as they settled onto the wooden bench inside, a man in a pale brown trench coat stepped toward them—likely the conductor.
"Where to?"
Alger opened the map and quickly scanned the road they were on. The map had nearly every street labeled, but since he didn't yet know what those streets offered, he chose the first one he saw.
"Iron Street."
The man looked at Alger, then at Ivy.
"Four cents."
Alger pulled out a silver coin and handed it over, even though he had exact change in his pocket.
The conductor dropped the coin into his left pocket and handed Alger back six cents.
During the ride, Alger observed the passing streets carefully. Markets lined the road—fruit vendors, butchers, blacksmiths, armoursmiths, and even shops selling Elemental objects.
After about half an hour, the carriage stopped. Iron Street wasn't too far... only a couple kilometers away. Alger and Ivy stepped out onto the cobbled stone.
Iron Street was known as a weapon district. While a few mundane shops lined the area, the bulk of the street was filled with stores selling all kinds of weapons, be it swords, spears, shields, axes, and even gear made with elemental ore.
The quality of a weapon here depended primarily on the Elemental Ore used in creating it. Depending on its purity.
There were two known ways to acquire Elemental Ore:
Mining deep underground, in places dense with Elemental Energy
Hunting animals, since zones with high Elemental Energy attracted beasts that sometimes formed elemental ore internally
Of course, the second method meant cutting open a creature's guts and hoping you struck gold—something Alger had no interest in doing. And the first? Digging kilometers below the surface for years hoping to find something? No thanks.
Elemental Ore could differ in two ways: Its purity and its affinity.
The purity was divided into 9 tiers, starting from Awakened and ending at the theoretical tier of Celestial. By Mining, you could get ore up to the Bound tier. But by hunting, you could get up to Celestial... of course, that meant killing a Celestial being.
The affinity could vary in 10 ways, each corresponding to an Element. This is where mining had a huge disadvantage; you can only get Terra, Aqua, and Inferno affinity Ore by mining. To get the others, you had to hunt.... no other choice.
You didn't even need much ore to make an elemental object. It wasn't the primary material—just the part that gave the object its affinity. Alger didn't know the exact crafting process, but he did know that just about anything could be imbued—armor, weapons, even clothes.
Elemental Ore wasn't only used to craft objects, it could also store Elemental Energy itself.
Alger recalled how, as an infant, Sister Twilight had lit a lamp filled with Elemental ore—those rocks inside the glass.
He was about to take a closer look at a vendor's display when—
"Alger! Look! It's a flower shop! They have so many different flowers! We have to buy some!"
But before he could be dragged away, Alger had a plan.
"How about this—I'll give you a few coins and the map. Do whatever you want, just be back here before sunset, alright?"
He trusted his own sense of direction. Ivy's? Not at all. Without a map, she'd absolutely get lost.
He handed her 2 coins, 5 cents, and the map. He circled their current location and the orphanage for her.
The moment Ivy skipped off, vanishing into the crowds, Alger took a deep breath.
"Finally!"