The night passes uneventfully beyond my earlier experimentation in shape shifting. Sadly it's over all too soon and while the small room provided the privacy I desired, it does not come with a comfortable bed, or any bed at all for that matter. Well, at least I'm roused from my slumber not only by the sounds of others waking up all around but by the jingle accompanying a notification as well.

[*Ding!* You slept. Not bad, but not terribly well either! Health increased by 0! Mana increased by 5!]

I stretch, yawn and rub the last vestiges of sleep from my eyes, as I get up. Not bad. Not bad at all. My Mana reservoir still isn't completely filled, but I have more than enough reserves for now. I take a moment to properly check myself, just to make sure I don't head out still looking like the young lord by accident. Not that I expect to make a mistake like that, I properly changed back to my usual self after all, but its still better to be safe rather than sorry.

Afterwards I get properly dressed again, but I don't head back out right away. I still have a few hours before I need to get out after all, thus I decide to meditate a little more. Not for long. Just an hour or maybe two. Enough to earn another set of notifications.

[*Ding!* Your skill Meditation has leveled up to level 3!]

[*Ding!* Through Meditation your Mana increased by 3!]

Nice. Very nice! This time the skill's level up counts towards the progress of my scoundrel class. It makes me wonder if I could possibly earn an upgrade for my scoundrel class that incorporates some spell casting capability into the class. I'd probably have to pick up some spells for that first though.

That will cost money though. Money I don't have yet. Time too, probably. Time I need right now to either earn more money or build connections. Well, I keep my eyes open. Maybe I'll come across an opportunity. First I have some other, more mundane shopping to do.

Thus I get up, stretch once more and leave the boarding house, dropping the key off with the lady at the front who is on duty now. My first destination is Beldragor's shop, the Paws & Pawn. I have to cross the district outside the wall to get there, but I don't mind. Quite the opposite is true in fact, as this gives me an opportunity to palm a quick breakfast as I move across one of the markets.

The place is quite busy, which is in my favor. Lots of stalls and market cries as well as a never ebbing stream of customers looking at the foods on sale together provide plenty of opportunity to grab a quick bite at a five finger discount. I pick a stall selling sweet breads. The merchant looks pretty well off. No wondering considering the price he charges for the sweet bread with raisins. He does pretty brisk business too. He certainly can stomach the loss of the single bread I palm in passing during a particular busy moment.

My [Sleight of Hand] skill improves a little and so does my [Stealth] skill, as I do my best to blend back in with the crowd, as I leave the market behind while enjoying my sweet treat. It probably would be even better with some butter and jam, but there is no way to easily get any of either, so I have to make do. Just as well. As it is I can easily lick my fingers clean once I'm done.

I reach my favorite dragon's shop not much later. The bell over the door jingles as I enter and I call out a quick greeting to the shop owner once I have closed the door again.

"Good morning!"

That will have to do. Just in case he has a customer who isn't a guild member or at least affiliated with the thieves guild. I'm pretty sure that he knows my voice by now anyway. I needn't have worried though. He is alone, as I find out after navigating the labyrinth of bins, racks and shelves loaded and sometimes overloaded with various pawned goods to reach the counter.

He greets me with a cheerful wave of his tail and a toothy dragon smile.

"Viviona! It's so good to see you again!"

I flash him a toothy smile too.

"It's nice to see you too, Beldragor. Do you have any recommendations for me regarding my inquiry about training my magic resistance skill? Oh! And I'd like to have a look at some additional equipment too. A small shield or a buckler. And maybe a simple hand mirror if my budget allows for it. Nothing fancy though."

He nods along with my words enthusiastically.

"Well, I'm a little torn on the training for your skill. I'd like to recommend that you wait for Sezemat to get back to town. Maybe she has an apprentice with her who could use the opportunity to level up their skills without turning you into toast. I can't say for sure though when Sezemat's caravan will be back around though."

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He keeps talking as he comes out from behind the bars separating his hoard from the rest of the room.

"Your next best option might be to do some monster hunting for the adventurers' guild."

The tip of his tail taps the guild tag I wear around my neck surprisingly gently as he keeps talking.

"You are a member of that outfit after all. Might as well make the best of it. There are a number of monstrous creatures that can be found around here that can wield various elemental powers. Birds with various air powers are most numerous, but they can be tricky. Water Rats and Rock Crabs might be your best bet. They are pretty abundant too and usually not hard to find."

He picks a scratched up old iron buckler from a shelf and hands it to me, then we move on to another spot in his labyrinth of second hand goods. All the while he keeps talking.

"The Water Rats are probably the easiest to find. You just need to follow the river upstream until you hit the marshland where they dammed it up. They live in big families too, so you should be able to pick a fight with a few without trouble. I would be surprised if there isn't a request for their furs and fatty tails up at the guild hall on just about any day. You just need to get up early enough to grab it before anyone else does."

Finally he grabs a small mirror, protected inside a brass locket, from another shelf and we return to the counter. As we do he tells me about Rock Crabs too.

"Rock Crabs are a little harder to find. You will have to look along the smaller tributaries of the river. The clearer and colder the water and the more rocky the bed of those creeks the more likely you'll find them. They can be a little tricky though. They usually have a water based attack, like the Water Rats, but they tend to have a strong earth based defense too, thus their name. Hunting them is worth it though. They are delicious!"

He is actually drooling a little, as he shares that last tidbit of information. An additional benefit of this is that my [Gather Information] skill improves a little too. Additional benefits like this are always nice. This raises another question though. One I decide to ask as I take a closer look at the items Beldragor has chosen for me.

"How does one go about preparing Rock Crabs? Is there something I would have to keep in mind? I'm not exactly a cook after all. I don't have cooking equipment either."

He gives me a moment to check both the buckler and the little locket with the hidden mirror, before he answers.

"Well, if you really want to enjoy those crabs you should bring them back to town then. You can essentially cook them in their shell, if you don't know how to properly gut and clean them, but you really only should eat their legs in that case. And without butter and side dishes they aren't quite as good as they could be. Even if you restrict yourself to the meat from their legs a single one should still be plenty enough for just you. Requests for the adventurers' guild usually will ask for them to be brought back alive by the way. That's the easiest way to make sure they are still fresh and good to eat."

I nod in understanding, as I feel my [Gather Information] skill improve another little bit. I can't help but wonder if cooking one of those crabs in its shell would improve my [Survival] skill or if it would be enough to actually earn me a [Cooking] skill instead. Eh, it's probably the former in all likelihood. Never mind though, I need to focus on another issue first and foremost for now.

The buckler, of course, isn't as good as the one I used during the training at the keep, but it's still serviceable enough and the mirror in the brass locket looks sturdy enough too, even if I will handle it with great care anyway. There is still one more important question I need to discuss with the young dragon though.

"How much for these things?"

Beldragor flashes me another toothy dragon grin, as he disappears behind the counter again.

"Well, if you ask me, three silver shillings sound like a fair price."

I roll my eyes. I might be able to pay that price, even if just barely, but I certainly don't intend to. It's time to do some haggling!

"If you want to pull my leg, just come around to this side of the counter and do it instead of joking like that. I mean, just look at that buckler! You obviously haven't been able to rope anyone into polishing it up yet. How about I pay you a shilling and six pennies instead?"

That of course is a steep cut in price he most certainly won't accept. I'm well aware of the fact and thus I'm not surprised when he scoffs at the suggestion. He waves his tail in a sort of dismissive gesture too, which looks kind of cute.

"Oh, please! We both know the wares are worth more than that, but I'll offer you a deal. How about two shillings and six pennies instead?"

That's better but still a little much for my taste. I look at the buckler and the locket with the mirror once again and shake my head slowly.

"Two shillings sounds more reasonable to me."

I get the impression that Bedragor is getting a little excited. Could it be that he doesn't get a whole lot of opportunities to actually haggle? He sounds a little excited too.

"Two shillings? You really drive a hard bargain, but I'll agree. Under one condition. You help me polish up my scales again too."

I tap my chin, as if I had to think about it. To be honest, I'm already willing to seal the deal though. In the end I nod.

"Fine. I can do that. I have some time anyway."

Now that we have come to an agreement we shake hands to seal the deal and I can feel my [Haggling] skill improve a little.

I hand him the agreed upon two shillings and put away my purchases.

Then Beldragor opens the door to let me enter the space behind the counter so I can join him and get to work. I already know where the rags, brushes and the polish are, thus I grab them so I can get right to work.

"Well, Beldragor, hop up onto your hoard and make yourself comfortable."

He does so with a draconic chuckle.

I in turn don't waste any more time and start grooming his natural suit of scale mail, leaning heavily into every stroke of the heavy duty brush. Who knows, maybe I'll get another skill increase out of this.

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