Chapter 77 – Plants Unlimited
Satisfied with his visit to the Adventurers Guild Jason heads off towards the shopping district. After his rewards yesterday his silver total come out to a nice round 120. “No gold yet but that most common of fantasy currencies only becomes common at level 25. The only reason my two quests even offer a little bit of gold is because one has a special drop and the other has been around too long. The Guild looks incompetent if the situation lasts too long. If I had the time I could have waited another week and the reward might have doubled. Then again, someone might run into Jarr by accident and kill him. Not that the money is actually worth anything to me yet. While I can use it for regular ingame stuff, the coins I get before level ten can’t be use irl. To be fair, this is because until that point monsters drop money and are auto-looted. Once I get past the bottleneck, I can’t just leave the corpses where they lay. Meh, the market is up ahead and I can think about this later.”
Jason turns a corner and is greeted by a multicolored chaos. They lined each side of the street with stalls and stores all trying to grab his attention. However he has a list for what to do and moves past the first street. Beyond the entrance the shops are a lot more laid back. Jason turns down a side street and enters the second shop on the right. While there wasn’t a sign this was one place he had planned to visit even before he began his trip here. Inside the shop they stacked each shelf high with a variety of plants. From potted plants to dried and powdered the shop has everything. Though Jason hadn’t known how well his Energy Herbs would grow, he would want some guidance with them.
After a short while Jason has skimmed most of the shelves and made his way to the counter which is flanked by some chairs. A small bell sits there with a note to ring once for assistance. However when Jason does so not a sound is heard. A look underneath shows it should have worked. He decides it is magic or some such and with care places bell back on the desk. Without another thing to do Jason sits off to the side on a chair to wait. Less than 10 minutes pass before someone comes out from the back. The man would look like a normal human if not for the green skin and grass for hair. He bustles around the counter for a few moments before he turns to Jason. With a warm smile the man greets him, “Ah! A new customer perchance? Welcome to the shop. You may call me Nole. Thank you for only ringing the bell once. It gets annoying when rung multiple times and we here at Plants Unlimited tend to not do business with those who can’t help it. Now if you would inform me what your visit pertains to?”
Jason gets up from the chair and shakes the Nole’s hand. “Nice to meet you Nole. I have been growing some plants while traveling around and pots are just getting a little cumbersome. Plus I am about to hit level 10 and my backpack won't keep everything so tidy after that. Do you have a better solution? Also, besides that could you check the plants I am growing and give me your opinion on them?”
Nole nods while he scratches his head. The man mutters for Jason to wait a second before going back into the rear of the shop. Sounds of objects being moved around and jostled can be heard for a few minutes. Then Nole comes back through the door with a tiny planting tray about the size of a shoe box, the upper half a glass dome. After he places it on the counter and clears anything else off, Nole presses a couple of buttons worked into the design on the boxes side. The planter expands outward to about the size of half a door and the height of Jason’s knee if it was on the floor. With a gesture at it Nole explains, “This here is a portable planter. Yes, the creator named it that just so the initials would be PP. No we employees here do not find it funny. However the boss is the boss for a reason. It should be able to grow a small herb garden no problem and our biggest buyers of this product are traveling chefs. While we do have better options, you can’t afford them. There are no bells or whistles with this except a small bit of security. The expanding feature is controlled by customizable buttons so you can lock out others. If you keep it till you form your core? Then you will be able to use whatever energy type to interface with it and the buttons will stop working. Besides that it functions the same way your backpack currently does. The space inside it does not get jostled around when closed and it provides light for the plants when the sun it out. Normally they cost a gold to buy but since you are a first-time customer and said you had plants for me to judge we can adjust that. I will lower the price if you have kept good care of your plants. However if you did not care for your plants? I reserve the right to raise the price or even ban you from the store. So, are you going to take a chance or just buy it? It matters not to me but while well behaved I would prefer you decide quickly. Because of the local situation and how well behaved, she is your rabbit is welcome here. Still though this shop has too many delicate plants that her kind have a history of wiping out.”