[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/KFCQcTH.png[/img][/center]
[center][color=0869ec][h1]Ananta Aroa[/h1][/color][/center]

[center][b]//A7 - On the Streets [/b][/center]

[hr]
Upon reflection, Ananta supposed it made sense. It did not make her want to curse any less, but she could see why the First Layer would give such a low profit. With the sheer concentration of adventurers that make the city home, it only makes sense that the most accessible layer also produced the least value. There was likely an overabundance of spoils from that Layer, which did what supply and demand usually does…

Oratorio was called the City of Opportunity as a result of the Abyss. For any adventurer, the idea of an area that seemingly endlessly spat out monsters and treasures of each and every kind was both utterly terrifying and incredibly appealing. However, the reality of any true opportunity was the fact of risk. In a market so saturated as this, without putting your life and resources in peril… the odds of turning any sort of profit were so small you may as well have never come in the first place.

Back on the road, before she’d arrived in Oratorio, she’d distantly realized this reality. Until Ananta was able to reach below the First Layer, she wouldn’t be getting anything particularly splendorous when it came to rewards. She hadn’t known it would be quite so bad that the best result on the First Layer would be, more often than not, breaking even… but she would survive.

It certainly threw a wrench in her plans, though. She’d expected the average First Layer delve would at least net a small profit, and Ananta had told Valentine she would make the delve with that thought in mind. It wasn’t enough to change her mind on accepting the request in the slightest, but the time limit was going to make this all the harder.

Five days was… not as much time as Ananta would like. Even just one more day would have allowed this to go so much smoother, but that would not be in the cards. Including today, she had two days to turn something of a profit, and obtain some manner of supplies to delve to the Second Layer. And, more than that, given what she’d learned from the adventurer’s she’d spoken to… the blades she’d brought weren't going to cut it.

The crossbow Valentine had granted her was an incredible boon, and was likely going to be essential in the days that would come, but it would not be enough for the Second Layer. Alongside the supplies she was going to need to purchase, she would need new steel… And she should probably ask around for what specifically would be useful against a Banshee later. 

But, again, that was for later. Right now, Ananta had far more pressing concerns to ponder as she walked. She needed funding, and she needed it quickly. Perhaps if she’d had a connection or two to reach out to for assistance… But she was not in Kamal, nor any city she’d visited before, and had no such friends. In Oratorio, for the moment, she was alone.

Similarly, any thoughts of trying to pick up odd jobs were dashed. From what she’d been told, market saturation was in full effect, and thus the pay for such things was below nothing. So, she’d need to think about alternate methods. Intrusive thoughts of returning to her roots came to the forefront of her mind. Ananta banished them as quickly as they had come. 

And thus, not seeing an alternative, her thoughts turned back to the Abyss and its siren call. 

Ideally, she would join a party, however… with the crossbow she’d been given, it was likely that a number of assumptions would be laid upon her. Ones that she knew full well that she wouldn’t be able to fit. Sure, she could work a crossbow just fine, ease of use was practically the selling point of them. She was good enough to aim, shoot, and kill reliably… but she was no deadeye. She wasn’t going to start hitting hundred plus meter shots one after another, and with the good quality she held, the possibility of a party taking her lack of impressive ability as deception was… Well, it was not a chance she would like to take. 

Perhaps she might function as a porter, it wasn’t as though she hadn’t done such things in the past, but she could see the competition in that market. With the statues that she would be forced to compete against, it just wasn’t worth wasting the time, in her mind.

And thus, her legs had brought her here. To the edge of the First Layer of the Abyss. 

Ananta would need to be as conservative as possible with her gear, and simultaneously secure as many kills as she could. As many spoils as she could. 

[color=0869ec]Her heart ticked faster and faster, yearning to take the next step.[/color]

She would need to keep an eye out for the bodies of the dead. The surroundings would need to be checked, to be sure she wouldn’t be ambushed if she went to take, but unless it was too dangerous to risk, anything that their bodies might hold could be another item that could keep her alive… or that she could sell.

She was losing daylight.

She had everything she figured she might need. At this point, difficult as it was, she would need to have faith in herself.

And so, alone, Ananta began her plunge.