Some people had dreams and held to them with a resolve as firm as steel, constantly venturing out to search for Oddities while working hard to meet their basic needs.
Others simply hid here, reining in their greed and sensibly refusing to venture out at all. They knew that sooner or later, Barry Danton's activities would come to the attention of certain Grand Wizards' factions, perhaps even the Supreme Council. Still others merely adapted to the twisted rules, eking out a little profit in the cracks.
Ruger watched the Wizards passing him in the canyon, studying their expressions and their robed figures.
Some bore obvious scars, their emaciated frames impossible to conceal beneath their gray robes, yet their movements remained nimble and their eyes bright. Others slumped idly in corners like heaps of mud.
Ruger paused and looked at a fish stall.
A Wizard sat leaning against the wall. Beneath the glow of a permanent Light Spell, he had laid out four large, plump fish, drawing quite a few glances.
The fish seller's composed demeanor struck Ruger as particularly ridiculous, as though he were selling some high-end potion or alchemical apparatus.
"I'll take this one."
Ruger walked up to him and pointed at the fattest fish.
The man looked up with an expressionless face, seemingly somewhat disdainful, as though Ruger were not his intended customer.
When Ruger did not leave, the man finally spoke.
"Potion formulas, knowledge I deem worthwhile, spell notes, high-grade materials, uniquely modified spells-"
The fish-selling Wizard leisurely rattled off a long list of jaw-dropping prices.
Ruger's eyes widened, and he nearly turned into the Demon of Miserliness, but he quickly caught on.
He really was not the man's target customer.
First of all, this was a Wizard who still had faith in the future. His trades