A merchant is a weak casual class. This is the view that many people held of the merchant profession not just in Ages Online, but in most VRMMORPGs available. It is a job mainly for those who like to explore, to go from place to place buying and selling items to raise their wealth. Accounting and economics, a merchant must be well-versed in those areas in order to survive and prosper.

Rarely does one see a merchant in the frontlines fighting, for they have almost zero attack abilities. Most of their skills involve the handling of money, usually to aid in the act of bartering such as getting discounts in stores or selling their items for a higher pay. With their gift for persuasion and bargaining, they are usually the go-to class for inventory management and market trade. Guilds needed them, the market needed them and the ordinary player public definitely needed them. Therefore, even though they are labelled as ‘casual’, they are indispensable.

At this current moment, a merchant stood in front of him with his red name visible for all to see, proclaiming that he will ‘kill him gently’. Under normal circumstances, anybody would snort at the boast, but this was not any normal circumstance.

“All of you… stay back.” Beast protectively moved his own body between the incoming danger and the party. If his guess was correct, the man is a PKer and the only PKers around this region right now are the Qqers. The Qqers is a band of players who specialise in player killing and it would be logical to assume that Alpyrius was no exception.

But a merchant who specialized in player versus player combat? Thinking about it hurt Beast’s mind. The notion of it was too much for him to reconcile in a short span of time. Anyway, the main point was not how he does it, but the fact that he could. That alone made him more menacing than any other ordinary merchant. There was also the chance that a merchant was not his real class as well.

The last time someone he knew belittled a ‘merchant’, he ended up stabbed in the back and through the neck. Beast had no wish to end up the same.

“What do you want?” He asked, trying to drag the time so he can scan his surroundings for weakness to exploit.

So far, the Olurin girl did not seem to have any intention to move. That was good.

“The seal of course.”

At the mention of the seal, Beast’s mind snapped to the other name associated with the artifact.

“Quarent?”

“Quarent?” Alpyrius opened up a status window to check something as he came closer and closer. “Yes, that does seem to be his name alright.”

Even though he had already considered its high possibility, hearing it straight to the face still left Beast astounded. It was why he had received points for killing Fyrzen. It was also why Scrublord had been cautious with his members’ lives during the siege, despite the fact that they should be able to resurrect within 24 hours real time as they were supposedly outside the event.

The reason why the Qqers suddenly joined the war with seemingly no benefits to themselves was not because they wanted to sate their own bloodlust, but because they too had a joint operation given to them by none other than the fourth prince of Honduria.

“Well… Olurin and I don’t really like to fight because it gives penalties to our business. So how about this, you give us what we want and we can treat it as though we have never met each other.”

Beast just glared at the man as though he had made a ludicrous request.

“No? Then that’s too bad.”

In a blink of an eye, Alpyrius closed the distance with speed thought impossible for a merchant to achieve. Something too fast for Beast to follow lashed out, generating a bloody gash across his unprotected chest.

“Urk!” The pain came moments after the deed was done.

-232 HP!

Before he could recover enough to retaliate, the man was already out of his range. That was not all, for a metallic object slammed into Beast’s forehead a second later with enough force to cause his head to flick backwards from the impact.

-155 HP!

The offending object clattered to the floor, revealing itself to be a single gold coin.

Beast gawked at the flat disc on the ground. “What the heck are you?”

“A merchant.” Alpyrius lightly replied.

“Lies.”

“I assure you it isn’t.”

He moved again with that speed, but this time Beast was ready. He still had no idea what the merchant used to attack with but he would be damned if he were to get hit twice in a row. He might not be able to see what it was, but he could still detect the arc of the slashing movement. With an evasive footwork well honed in the Penguin Dojo, Beast cleanly stepped away from the path of the attack.

The look of surprise on the Alpyrius’s face when his attack fell short was priceless, and so was the window of opportunity opened up by that miss. Sticking out his foot to trip the merchant, he also borrowed the momentum from side-stepping to launch a punch into Alpyrius’ cheek, activating a skill as he did so.

“Desperado Backlash!”

The resulting couple sent Alpyrius crashing onto the ground but the man rose up soon after as though he had not suffered significant damage at all.

“Good try but not good enough. For our sakes I will make this quick.”

Upon his declaration, Alpyrius took out five bottles of liquids of different colours and began downing them one by one. With every potion he took, an aura of the potion’s corresponding colour wrapped around the man and Beast could sense him becoming distinctively stronger.

It was buff potions, and seemingly high quality ones at that.

He moved again, and this time, Beast could not even react in time anymore. Another laceration instantly joined the first.

-371 HP!

-225 HP!

Another hit. Another gold coin.

That was almost a 50% increase in damage.

“Beast-kun!” The male archer almost rushed to his side before Beast stopped him.

He fumbled as he uncorked a healing potion of his own to drink, deftly avoiding another gold coin that almost struck his eye. “Stay where you are Aveye, and keep an eye on the other one!”

“But-”

This man must have been extremely rich to afford such dispensable luxury items, even to the extent of throwing gold coins as projectiles. Usually, the only class that would have such money to spare would be the merchant class, but he was only half convinced.

“How did you get that trade permission?”

“Forgery.” The answer was plain and simple.

“That speed… and defense?”

“Equipment. Extremely high-end equipment and enhancements.”

Enhancing is the high level art of reinforcing existing equipment that is known to only a select few blacksmiths in Ages Online. Rather, most blacksmiths are not at the level where they could learn enhancing yet, and specialized equipment and materials are needed to even perform the act. This lack of supply and the useful abilities and stat increases that could be imbued into equipment made it an extremely expensive service to buy.

The glowing equipment he was wearing should also be at least on the level of magical rare, if not legendary items that would cost a small fortune to obtain. If what he claimed of him being a merchant is true, that would be the most probable reason why his speed and defense were so high despite him being of a non-combat job.

It is the power of money at its finest.

“Seems that you are starting to accept that I am but a mere merchant.”

“Honestly, I don’t really care.” Despite Beast’s show of nonchalance, anyone could tell that he was mentally shaken.

At his current level, even his inflated stats would not be enough to help him bridge the difference in pure power that the merchant is getting from his myriad of buffs and equipment bonuses. There was no other choice; he would have to unveil his trump card or lose.

“I call upon the power of that which runs in the blood of kings. Prime: Bloodline Aura!”

Bloodline Aura, the skill given to him by the very thing he was trying to protect right now. As the Vanadic Tome fluttered to the section detailing the Seal of the Lord, a dim red power glowed from the artifact’s page, enveloping Beast’s body and giving him a 30% boost to all his stats. Coupled with the invocation, it brought his effective level to the high 90 at a massive drain of 200 mana cost.

In that instance, several things happened at once. Another gold coin flicked past, narrowly missing Beast’s throat. Someone, probably Duplent, gasped. “That power! How in the world…?” Beast, with his newly enhanced dexterity, charged at the merchant, stopping right at the last moment for a feint.

Alpyrius fell for it hook, line and sinker, dodging a blow that would never come. Instead, he opened himself up wide for Beast’s sweeping kick that took his feet from right under. As he collapsed onto the ground, a follow-up fist smashed into the merchant’s face, adding onto the momentum that would soon translate into pain.

Before Beast could enter his favorite combo for the last few seconds of his Aura, a sudden sharp wound sliced open on his shoulder blade, causing him to falter in his strike. It was that same attack again. This time though, he could see what it was. Hidden under the merchant’s cloak was a coiled horsewhip that lashed out and back within a fraction of a second. Before Beast could react, the same horsewhip coiled around his hands, restricting his movements.

“ALPY!”

A loud hum sang, followed by sudden galloping that filled Beast’s ears. His instincts told him to dodge, but his body was bound in place. Alpy the alpaca slammed into the Lore Keeper at insane velocity and would have tossed him meters away if not for the whip tied around his hands. Beast felt as though his arms were about to detach as pain racked his entire being. In just one attack, his health had been reduced to below 20%.

“Urgh.”Beast groaned face down in the ground as the residual hurt was washed out by his ragged breathing. Thank goodness this was simply a virtual reality game. If it were real, Beast shuddered to think what the consequences would be.

It was just like he had been hit by a freight train. Moreover, there was a wet, uncomfortable feeling on his back…

Your Lunar Fleece maximum durability has decreased by 1

Your Lunar Fleece maximum durability has decreased by 1

What in the world?

Beast arched his neck backwards in horror to see the alpaca chewing happily on his newest equipment. With every chomp, the state of the leather deteriorated.

Your Lunar Fleece maximum durability has decreased by 1

Your Lunar Fleece maximum durability has decreased by 1

“What the f*ck?”

A boot struck his stomach right after he cursed, decreasing his health further into critical zone.

“I admit you are a little interesting with that skill of yours. Seems that it is time-based too.” Alpyrius dusted his clothes. Beast had not noticed before this but it was no longer ragged wear and instead luxurious finery easily worth thousands. The appearance had changed, most likely due to a skill the merchant had used.

“But you are still no match for two of us Qqers.”

T…two?

He must have unconsciously said it out loud.

“Alpy here is a member of the guild too, don’t you know? Oh wait, you probably won’t. We aren’t as attention-seeking as that twit Togepee. Right Alpy?” Alpyrius cooed as the man gently stroke his alpaca’s head.

That innocent-looking llama-horse hybrid was good enough to be a full member of the Qqers? He needed to wash out his ears. There must have been something wrong with them.

Your Lunar Fleece maximum durability has decreased by 1

On second thoughts, maybe not.

“STOP EATING MY CLOAK!”

Beast angrily kicked out with his foot in order to prevent the precious durability points of his already nerfed cloak from decreasing even more. He had no idea what the beast’s defense were, but it eliciting a painful cry from the animal all the same.

“Alpy!”

Straight away, Alpyrius was clouded with worry for his alpaca pet, so much that he momentarily took his attention off of Beast. Taking this opportunity, he quickly scrambled away from the merchant-steed duo and drank a recovery potion to repair the damage sustained.

They are more dangerous than they appeared to be, even after the first reveal. Beast finally realized the full extent of it. One decks out in full high-tiered equipment and performs multiple stat enhancements while the other specializes in enemy equipment deterioration and support. It was a terrifying combo aimed at achieving maximal ability gap between their opponents and them. This was the reason why there was no need for the catgirl to join the fray; he could not hope to win to begin with.

“You. Hurt. Alpy.” The merchant bit his words with gritted teeth. He seemed positively livid.

However, Beast was not about to entertain that.

“Prime: Bloodline Aura!”

Instead of charging forward like everyone thought he would, he retreated backwards in full speed. Beast then grabbed onto the second prince much to the latter’s bewilderment.

“What are you trying to do?”

A look of confusion appeared on the merchant’s face. Regardless of whether Alpyrius guessed what he had intended to do, the former quickly dropped the defensive posture he had assumed and advanced to close the distance.

He was only deterred by a narrow miss of an arrow shot by Aveye the archer, who began to attack now that Beast had moved out of the way and freed his line of sight of the merchant.

“Arrow Vulcan!” In a well-honed movement, Aveye slid arrow after arrow out of his quiver and shot them at Alpyrius and Alpy.

Beast inwardly thanked the archer for knowing what to do in this situation. That distraction was much appreciated.

“Your Highness.” Beast gripped and summoned his strength to his arms. “Fly.”

“Hey wait-“

Their objective was not to win, but to send Duplent to safety. If Beast were to drag anymore, they might not even be able to do it. With all of his might, Beast boosted the man up high, upon which he barely grabbed onto the roof edge of the adjacent house with a crash.

Your Throw skill has increased to Basic 9!

It was fortunate that this was a town with low buildings. Any higher and they would not be able to make it.

“Mealgar, climb! Go after him.”

“What? You are asking a fat man to climb up?” Incredulity was written on the historian’s face.

“Do it!” Beast hollered as he fished out a javelin and threw it at Alpyrius in addition to Aveye’s arrows, forcing the merchant to keep his attention on him. Mealgar had no choice but to scale up the building wall after Duplent, who had recovered from his daze and was starting to pull himself up the ledge.

At least the second prince knew what to do.

The merchant, however, was not amused. “What the f*ck-!?”

Using the remaining time left on the aura, Beast threw javelins after javelins at the Qqer. With the intensity of the barrage, Alpyrius had no choice but to return fire with coin projectiles. Arms burning from the exertion made earlier and the abuse he had suffered, Beast’s aim lacked power and his spears were easily deflected but it locked the merchant down all the same. Suddenly, Alpyrius took out a scroll from his pockets and tore it.

In an instant, a ball of swirling wind coalesced with the scroll at its origin before blasting down the alleyway like a shotgun of moving air, dispersing all the arrows and spears in its wake and buffeting Beast with the violent gale.

It was a spell scroll, magical slips of expensive paper which had an invocation written on them that cast their designated spell upon consumption. It was a system inherent in most games, mainly to allow non-magician classes to be able to conduct some form of magic, but most people usually do not bother with them because of their high prices and low efficiency. Alpyrius on the other hand seemed to be an exception.

Oh wait, he forgot that the man was filthy rich.

In that brief reprieve that followed the disruption of Beast and Aveye’s attacks, Alpyrius tore another scroll. This time, a flash of white lightning crackled through the air towards them at top speed. With his bearings in shambles, Beast had no chance to dodge the incoming attack. Instinctively, he turned his back to the spell and braced for impact.

Reflection has been activated!

Recharge: 7hr 49 mins

To everyone’s surprise, instead of dealing damage the spell rebounded off Beast back towards Alpyrius and struck the astonished man right in the chest. Electricity coursed through the merchant’s body to the smell of burning flesh, temporarily paralyzing him. Despite it being a direct hit, it seemed that it did not deal much damage; Alpyrius magic defense is as high as his physical one.

Yet, what it did do was to buy Duplent enough time to run across the roofs of the houses with parkour and disappear out of sight. Beast silently thanked the Lunar Fleece for its power.

“You!” Alpyrius cried upon realizing that his objective had given him the slip. At that moment, he switched his priorities and turned to chase.

Beast was behind him in an instant.

“Your opponent is here! Prime: Bloodline Aura!”

Infusing all of his remaining mana into his fist, Beast launched a vicious punch towards the man’s unprotected back, slamming into him with a powerful impact.

Dazed Blow has been activated!

Not only did it destabilize Alpyrius’s balance, it also inflicted disorientation. The merchant stumbled, but managed to keep his footing after a few precarious steps.

“ALPY!”

Once again, the alpaca steed leapt into the defense of its owner. Beast was already prepared for that. He dodged just in time to avoid the same charge attack that would have instantly taken out all of his remaining health this time round.

With the miss, the alpaca’s uncontrolled momentum caused it to charge right into the wall, slamming into it with ferocity. It was that chance that Beast took, and he took out a javelin and aimed it straight at the dazed creature. If he could get the paralyzing effect to work on the alpaca, it would break the sickening merchant-pet combo and definitely make the battle much easier.

Before the throwing spear could pierce the animal, a body threw itself into the spear’s path, hitting it instead. Alpyrius the merchant grimaced as the effects of the venom kicked in, but he then took out from his inventory what appeared to be an antidote, his intentions of nullifying them clear.

At that very moment, an arrow shattered the glass bottle, spilling the clear liquid onto the ground.

Beast flashed Aveye a thumbs up as a sign of a job well done as he got back into battle gear, launching several punches that forced the merchant to go on the rare defensive. It looked like they might actually win after all.

That thought vanished as quickly as the aura surrounding him did.

Beast was immediately beset upon by the lightning fast horsewhip which lacerated his thigh the moment the effect left him, followed quickly by it coiling around his hands in a move similar to the one before. Caught and restrained, there was nothing else he could do but brace himself for the impact amidst the ominous humming.

Powerful alpaca hooves kicked at Beast, slamming him to the side of the building.

-566 HP!

You have been stunned!

“Thank you Alpy. Now go occupy the archer.”

Within seconds, Alpyrius had him suppressed.

Aveye saw the situation and wanted to help, but was blocked none other by Alpy the alpaca. The most he could do was to fire arrows from a range in order not to repeat the pounding Beast had received under the hands of the alpaca combo.

“You have been very annoying, do you know that?” Alpyrius took out another vial of antidote and downed it.

“Nope.”

“Now you do. I have wasted quite a bit of money trying to deal with you so I am going to take it back.”

“How are you going to do it? Make me pay you back?” Beast scathingly retorted.

“Precisely. Extortion!”

You are the target of Extortion.

A random amount of money has dropped from your inventory.

Gold coins scattered all around them, all from Beast’s own pockets. Beast himself had no time to lament or be horrified over the monetary loss, for Alyprius had moved on in his threats.

“Besides money, do you know what else merchants specialize in?”

“No.” Beast answered out of spite more than anything.

“Items.” Alpyrius whispered in his face. “Ransack!”

You are the target of Ransack.

An item has been forcefully dropped from your inventory.

A heavy thud slammed into his back at full force, surprisingly dealing no damage. What it did however, was to cause an item to fall out of his inventory with an audible clink. A ring clattered against the pavement for all to see, much to Beast’s alarm. That could have been one of his artifacts, or even worse, his Vanadic Tome!

“That…” A new voice he had not heard before resounded through the alleyway. “That is Fyrzen’s ring.”

It was the catgirl with the crystal hammer. At the ring’s appearance, she took what would be her first step from her position. Slowly but surely, the catgirl began making her way towards the heat of action.

Aveye was perturbed by the sudden addition of a third Qqer into the battle, but he held his wits just fine, shooting arrows after arrows in both directions. The only problem would be that they had not much effect on the outcome and he was rapidly losing ground. The alpaca was simply too fast for him to land a hit, much less the other Qqers.

This meant that Alpyrius had free reign with Beast.

“I will teach you what a merchant knows about poison.”

Beast felt something pierce into his body. The merchant had taken one of his discarded throwing spears and stabbed it through his chest, pinning him to the ground.

-235 HP!

You have been afflicted with Toxxi-venom!

-210 HP/10 seconds

It was lucky that the spear’s base damage was pretty low, but the poison applied to it was a totally different story.

Then, Alpyrius took out another flask of dirty green liquid which he smeared the tip of another spear with. This time, he grazed the tip across Beast’s arm, taking time to make sure that Beast felt the poison pumping into his bloodstream.

-19 HP!

You have been afflicted by Adder’s Tongue

-320HP/ 10 seconds

Another flask of red liquid. “This one is pretty expensive.”

-33 HP!

You have been afflicted by Rancid Flayer

-370HP/ 10 seconds

That dropped his health to below the 100 HP range. The next tick he would be dead.

“You know what?” Beast uttered through all the pain he was feeling, a sadistic grin on his face.

“What?”

“You lose.”

Pon.

You have been summoned by your party member Naomi!

Yes/No

One jab of his finger with his remaining strength was all it needed to generate a blinding flash of light that illuminated the alleyway as though it were day.

After the flare faded, the only living beings left at the scene were Alpy, Alpyrius and Olurin.

…….

“Urgh…” Beast heaved. He had emerged in what seemed to be a small empty house. The time was exactly 10 minutes after the plan had been activated. Around him, all six of his party members were worse for wear, but still alive. Shadun in particular, had several cuts while Mealgar was sweating and panting like he had just done five years’ worth of exercising all at once.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

There was a bustle around him almost immediately.

“Oh my god. Beast. What in the world happened?”

“Naomi-chan! Please heal him! Hurry!”

“Mealgar…” He had not much time left. Even if Naomi were to heal him he would still not make it. He needed to confirm the most important thing.

From his prone position, he caught sight of a large object entering his dimming field of vision.

“Did Duplent make it?”

“Yes.”

“Okay good.”

You suffer ongoing damage from Toxxi-venom!

-210 HP

You suffer ongoing damage from Adder’s Tongue!

-320 HP

You suffered ongoing damage from Rancid Flayer

-370HP!

You have died and suffer a game lock out penalty.

Author's Notes:

My apologies for the release delay. I recently had a lot on my plate, and is also falling sick :(

Also tried to participate in the valentine's day contest so I can get a chance to showcase this story on the front page.

In any case, please continue supporting Ages Online.

Cheers!