"Yup! With my power stat what it is, this is easy now!" he seemed excited, and tried to slowly let himself down, even if it was a bit clumsy. "I've always wanted to do that."
"Sure. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," Ashton said with a slight smile, trying his best not to sound sarcastic. That was always a little hard for him, even when he really wasn't trying to be sarcastic, just like now. He was seriously happy that Sam was able to see some kind of good in all this. It was the same for all the other Calibur folk who were enjoying themselves at least a little bit. That was always a good distraction from all the bullshit that was going on.
Even Ashton didn't only get into fashion because he was forced to by the Summoner. He also did it because he genuinely enjoyed it, and it was a good way to push through all the bad stuff that he had to deal with, whether he wanted to or not.
"So, how was the round-trip?"
"Well... interesting. Grabbed a few things. Mostly fabrics, I'll dye those in one of the restrooms since the sinks are out of commission anyway. Also grabbed a few shoes, I'll finish those up later. Met another pixie, but they seem a bit scared so I probably won't form a contract with them. Even so, I'll build a small nest for them with coins until I figure out what to do," Ashton explained, having the Backpacker put everything that he collected down. The room was really filling up to the point that it was hard to find more places to put things, but Ashton would figure something out.
"This really isn't my own office anymore, is it?" Sam asked, and Ashton smiled lightly. So Sam wasn't even surprised anymore when he mentioned more mystical creatures Ashton made contact with, huh? Then again, Sam already knew Poppy, so maybe it just wasn't that special to talk about pixies anymore.
"Nope."
With a dejected sigh, Sam scratched his scruffy beard, so Ashton smiled and had the Backpacker take out a particular set of items that he picked up from a store on the way. Sam had been so prioritised on organising food and first-aid materials that things like this completely didn't cross his mind.
"Stop pouting, take this, and get yourself cleaned up."
Sam stared at the beard-scissors and -oil, confused. "What?"
"I know they're probably not what you're used to, but it's all I could find. Not like I could read the label, anyway," Ashton turned toward the table where the ink ingredients were busy setting, and Sam was immediately trying to hide how excited he actually was to see this.
"Mate, this is bloody amazing. I owe you one, yeah?"
"Nah, just take a look at this for a second and we're even," Ashton said, quickly getting out another coin from his status window, holding it next to the bottle with the ink-pigments. When he left earlier, they were a dark brown, but hopefully they were closer now. "Are these the same colour?"
Sam leaned forward curiously. "You know, I think they pretty much are, yeah."
"Just 'pretty much', or are they identical?"
"I mean... it's kind of dark in here, but I think they're the same."
"Ah... sorry, I forgot how late it was," Ashton apologised. The only source of light right now was probably Sam's phone-flashlight. Ashton quickly got the salamander out of his vessel to light up the space a little bit. Now that he had a better view, Sam took another look.
"Okay, they're the same. You could paint that coin with that perfectly."
Ashton let out a relieved breath. That meant he could finish up the actual ink and finally summon the Salesman, forming his first low-grade contract.
Sam took the things Ashton got him with a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go and take care of my beard now."
"Have fun."
"I will!"
Sam quickly stepped out of the room, and Ashton smiled a little. He wanted to make the ink right away, but there were a few things that took priority at the moment. For one, actually making that 'nest' for the treasure pixie. It should help them last a little longer away from a 'proper' place where they could stay permanently. For a treasure pixie, it was actually quite easy, at least much easier than for a flower pixie. A lot less upkeep, mostly.
Ashton pulled open one of the drawers of Sam's desk and quickly emptied it out, shoving all of the things inside onto one of the nearby shelves. And then, he dumped a bunch of coins from his status window into the drawer. Since he could afford to spend a little more after fighting all those myconids, Ashton mixed in a few more valuable coins with the bulk of them.
With a smile, he let the pixie out and helped them into the drawer. Of course, he put a few more things in there to make it a little more cosy. Some fabric to give them a little blanket to lay down on, mostly, and a small plushie that Ashton found in a store. It was clean enough, of course.
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The pixie was still suspicious and clearly scared, but with Poppy by their side, they seemed a little less intimidated and slowly sat down in the drawer. Ashton made sure to keep it open, so that the air wouldn't get stuffy.
But now, there were some other things that Ashton had to get done. First, finally mixing that damned ink.
Both the pigment and the binder were ready. While the former had turned into some sort of silken liquid that almost acted like extremely fine sand flowing around in the bottle, the latter had turned from an extremely thick goop into a slightly less thick slime.
This step was pretty easy. He just had to mix it together just as he would any other ink. He took a jar, added part of the binder, and then poured some of the silken, gold pigment into it. Now, all Ashton had to do was mix it until the pattern of the entire thing was completely uniform.
It didn't take that long, either. This binder was great at mixing with magical pigments like this. It was part of why this specific recipe was actually Ashton's favourite when it came to low-grade potions.
But there was one more, last thing that he wanted to do. Ashton had the Backpacker give him an item that he hadn't used yet, which he had gotten from the quest reward this morning. The seven-coloured inkwell. One of the colours, specifically indigo, could boost the strength of any spirits summoned with this golden ink. For that, Ashton just selected the right colour, with the Backpacker's help of course, and then mixed the two viscous liquids together. Once again, until the pattern was uniform all throughout. Ashton couldn't see the changes himself, though the Backpacker seemed pretty interested. He could only see the mana pattern change and shift, until finally stabilising back into a new form. Once he was certain he was good, Ashton decided to still double-check through the Pen of Insight.
Basic Golden Ink
Grade - Rare
Pigment - Coins
A special and particularly valuable ink that was created, and enhanced, to specifically summon spirits. Due to the way that it was created, using magic stones as a binder through a special method and pigments extracted largely from 'Magical Coins', the ink itself consists almost entirely of mana.
It was enhanced through another special ink, the 'Indigo Spirit Ink' to further boost the summoning power for spirits. The indigo ink's colour has almost entirely disappeared, leaving behind only a slight shimmer behind the gold.
Ashton smiled, looking at the information that the pen was giving him. It was even telling him how it looked now, which he was particularly grateful for.
But now, with the ink complete, it was time for Ashton to pick out the rest of the offerings. Coins, while they were the most annoying to get, weren't the only thing that Ashton should offer. Generally, you would offer gemstones, valuable fabrics, or rare spices. Since Ashton didn't have much access to the first two right now, he went with the last part.
Whenever he came by any store that seemed like it would have some, Ashton would go and grab it. That included the grocery store at Market Street, since Albert didn't mind if he took something that didn't have much value in this scenario, and even the costco. That meant that Ashton had saved up quite a bit.
It was saffron. Of course, there were some other things that Ashton was throwing into the mix. For one, electronics that didn't have much of a use anymore, but would be rare from the Salesman's point of view. Then there were plenty of books, since information was one of the most valuable resources around, and then Ashton threw in some large magic stones, including some of the ones he got from the slot machine in the casino, just to fill in the gaps and give it all a larger array.
Essentially, what Ashton was trying to do was not only summon a salesman with potential and the ability to really get the things that he wanted, but also to give the spirit a bit of a 'starting fund' so that they could trade for some valuable items right off the bat.
"Alright, I guess now all I need is some space..." Ashton thought, though it was barely even a question where he was going to do this. There was just one place in this building that was free for him right now. Everyone was still outside in front of the building, and most people were too worried to go up onto the roof, so Ashton should essentially have free reign up there.
The initial contracting circle had to be pretty large, since there were a lot of conditions that he had to set up. He could, and should, start writing down all the summoning circles into the tome.
If he was right, then a lowest-grade summoning circle should cover half a page, and then a low-grade circle would cover a full page. A middle-grade would probably get to two, and then after that, if he was still using the same tome at that point, Ashton would probably have to make one circle cover multiple sets of pages.
But Ashton would figure that part out later. For now, he had to take a stack of paper upstairs and get started. Since Poppy was a physical being and not created through Ashton's summoning magic, she could stay outside of his channelling range, so he decided to leave the two pixies alone here in the office for a bit while doing this.
On the rooftop, Ashton quickly called on the undine and fully dried out the floor. It was just raining earlier, and if the paper got wet, that might make the ink smudge. Ashton would need to do a lot of detailed writing here, so he couldn't afford that.
First things first, he laid out all of the paper. It was a huge circle that took up a fairly big part of the roof, and for that, Ashton actually had to move some things aside to make a little more space. When he was done laying down the paper and taping it all together, he asked the watchman to make sure that nobody interrupted Ashton or try to walk onto the paper, since that would ruin the whole thing.
By now, this guy was used to Ashton's random requests, so he accepted and just decided to curiously watch what was about to happen.
And then, with the 'Ancient Summoner's Pen' in hand, Ashton got started. He compressed his channelling range, and dipped the golden nib into the ink.
Ashton decided to start in the middle of the contract circle and work his way outward in some kind of spiral. At least, that seemed like a good way to do it. As long as the mana was stable the whole time, the order of the lines in most summoning circles didn't matter. Meaning, as long as Ashton drew it all in one go, he would be fine.
Just taking a break for a few minutes could mess him up quite a bit, so he made sure to prepare everything he could for emergencies. That meant, he re-upped the offerings of the wisp, sylph, and undine, so that he didn't have to do it in the middle of the drawing. The wisp so that he could 'see' the whole time, and the sylph and undine in case it started to rain again.
But with that, Ashton had made all the preparations to finally form his first low-grade contract.