Starter Dungeon: A Harem LitRPG (Level Up Harem Book 1) by George Saoulidis & Machine George

Author:George Saoulidis & Machine George [Saoulidis, George & George, Machine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mythography Studios
Published: 2025-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 31

MIRA NEVER LIKED shopping, but she liked being under-geared even less. The market lane jittered with the usual morning madness: scent of fried bread, barking vendors, the ever-present staccato of haggling and cursing. The real trick was learning to move fast enough that no one ever got a good look at your purse, but slow enough that you could clock the angle of every thief and loan shark as you passed.

She found Tamsin hunched behind the bench, surrounded by a glory of gleaming junk. The dwarf’s apron was so dense with scorch marks and polish stains it had achieved a kind of ceremonial camouflage. The workbench itself looked like it had been excavated from a particularly ambitious trash heap and then laced together with veins of copper and bronze. Little bottles rattled in their racks, and several spools of filament hung from the overhang, bobbing like the world’s most hazardous wind chimes.

“You’re late,” Tamsin grunted, not looking up from her work. “Supposed to be here at dawn, remember?”

Mira smiled. “Sure, but you know how long it takes to look this cheap. Besides, you don’t want to be seen doing business with me in the daylight.”

“Not a problem,” Tamsin said, finally glancing up. “Most of my clientele are vermin. Or at least half as clever.”

Mira picked up a tiny brass spider from the counter and let it skitter across her knuckles. “I need something for a sound trap,” she said. “Actually, two somethings. Good dampers, quick-release. Preferably not pre-owned.”

Tamsin plucked the spider from Mira’s hand, toggled a joint on its underside, and set it back in its row. “You want the ‘Eclipse’ line. I’ll need collateral.”

Mira snorted. “You’re calling them Eclipses now?”

“Branded them myself,” Tamsin said, lips barely twitching. “No copycats. Collateral?”

Mira fished the money pouch from inside her coat and turned it out on the counter. A truly pitiful handful of coins clattered onto the metal.

Tamsin didn’t bother counting. “That’s not even a deposit, Mir. Come on, I like you, but I can’t have you stiffing me again.”

“Relax,” Mira said. “I brought a sweetener.” She thumbed a twist of Verdant Thread from a glassine envelope and placed it dead center on the table. “Fresh. Picked it myself. Just like you asked.”

Tamsin eyed the thread, then looked up at Mira with something like respect. “Fine. That’ll hold the bracers until you bring back coin. But the throwables cost extra.”

Mira leaned over, close enough that she could smell the grease in Tamsin’s beard. “Loan me two. One shift only. I’ll pay double on the return.”

“Double’s a scam. I’ve seen your shifts. Half the time you come back with holes in you, or not at all.”

“Exactly,” Mira said. “So what’s the risk?”

Tamsin grunted, then rooted around under the bench. She came up with two stubby cylinders, wrapped in black rubber and stamped with a runic spiral. “Resonance Bolts. You set the timer, throw, and get out of the way.”

“What’s the timer on these?”

“Three seconds. Maybe four if you’re gentle. And for the love of hell, don’t prime it and then change your mind.

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