So I just look around to satisfy my curiosity and then try to find my way out of the city. Eventually I manage to find the city wall, but it looks nothing like where I entered. Just out of curiosity, I walk out through the gate and find myself back in the hallway.

  Either that was the same city gate, or all city gates are connected to the same door. I can tell that this isn't a different door because it is marked as my entrance location. I turn around and walk back through the door, but I end up at the same city gate that I always appear at.

  That means that it shouldn't matter how I leave the city, which makes things easier. Still, I am going to have to get lost a lot before I will be able to memorize the city. Not that I mind, exploring the city is fun and there are tons of things to see.

  Besides, my curiosity isn't going to shut up until I have explored the entire city. However, before that I turn around, leave the city, exit the hallway and enter my soul palace. The ten materials are sitting there in a neat pile, but only then do I realize that I don't know how to use them.

  I was so busy asking about other things that I forgot to ask how to use materials. I either need to figure it out myself, or I am going to have to go back and ask someone. Since I don't want to waste the time, I first try to figure it out for myself.

  In the end, the method turns out to be stupidly simple, I just touch the material to the wall. When I do, the wall absorbs the material and then the space of the palace grows. I quickly use all ten of the materials and the space of the palace doubles.

  Once that is done I head back to Soul City and start wandering around again. However, this time not all of the buildings are blank, there are signs for pet shops. Argannon wasn't kidding, the signs are all bright colors that are constantly changing.

  It is very eye catching, but if there were more signs it would quickly induce a headache. As I am walking I spot a smaller sign that is less annoying and decide to check it out. When I walk in through the door I find myself in a room full of small to medium cages.

  At the far end of the room is an old man behind a counter who looks like he is asleep. He looks similar to a human except that his skin is red and his hair is purple. He doesn't react to me entering, so I start looking through the cages.

  The cages are filled with animals that look normal other than being pure white. The animals range from squirrels and rabbits to deer and goats on one side of the room. The other side is made up of dozens of species of birds, from sparrows to hawks.

  All of the animals are strangely quiet and just sit in their cages staring at me. They don't look frightened, which is a little odd since I am in my normal form. There are also no beasts that I can see, only what would classify as normal animals.

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  Shopkeeper says "What are you looking for? If I don't have it currently, I can probably get it."

  "Actually, I don't know yet. I am new to the city and someone suggested I find myself a pet."

  Shopkeeper says "Then you are in the wrong store. Go somewhere else. We only cater to beings who can't use normal soul beasts."

  "Oh, sorry. I came in here because your sign was less annoying than the others."

  Shopkeeper says "In this city, the more subtle the sign, the more specialized the merchandise. Look for the most annoying sign that you can find, that will be a general store."

  "That seems backwards, but it is good to know. Thank you and I'm sorry for disturbing you."

  The shopkeeper just grunts at me and goes back to sleep, so I leave the store. I do as he said and look for the most annoying sign that I can spot and head towards it. When I enter the door under the sign I find myself in a massive room.

  The room is far bigger than what should be able to fit in the building, but it isn't too strange. There are all sorts of beasts all over the room and not a single cage in sight. The beasts are just wandering loose in the room with no sign of anything to restrain them.

  They are not acting like normal beasts, they are not fighting or looking at other beasts as food. Even beasts that should be natural enemies are getting along just fine. As I am looking around, a being with a humanoid upper body and a lower body of tentacles comes over.

  Employee says "Welcome! Are you looking for a new pet?"

  "Yeah, a first pet."

  Employee says "Alright, do you have any specific requirements? Or anything in particular that you are looking for?"

  "My main interest is in having it help my soul palace expand."

  Employee says "All pets generate roughly the same amount of pressure. Only higher level beasts generate more pressure, but we don't sell those. If that is what you are looking for you would need to head to a shop closer to the city's center."

  "No, I want a level one pet. I just want the one with the most pressure that I can find. Other abilities don't really matter to me."

  Employee says "At low level there isn't much difference, but at later levels the larger beasts have slightly higher pressure. So I would suggest a mammalian beast."

  "Alright. In that case, what is the biggest beast that you have and how much is it?"

  Employee says "Our biggest beast is a mammoth, but they are fairly unpopular because they are slow. Most people want faster pets because they use them to run around and pick things up. Flying pets are the most popular for that reason. As to the price, the mammoth is twelve hundred soul coins. If that is too much, we have a species of tiger that gets pretty big, that is a thousand soul coins."

  "That's fine. I will take a mammoth."

  Employee says "In that case, please follow me. We have two mammoths for you to choose from. They are different breeds, but there isn't much difference between them. Also, I should warn you that as they level up they get bigger. This increases the amount of space that they require."

  "Oh! How much space do they require? My soul palace is only at twenty feet right now."

  Employee says "That is fine at level one, but you should increase the space before leveling it up. They grow fast, they will be full grown by level twenty. By that time, your soul palace will need to be at one hundred feet minimum."

  "I was told that they level up by eating soul crystals. Is that the only way that they level up? Do they need any other food?"