Xander swirled around, his survival instincts kicking in.

He was only able to stop himself from summoning his Stiletto’s from the inventory at the very last moment.

The voice meant no harm, obviously. At least not at the moment. Otherwise, the person wouldn’t have revealed themselves like that.

But someone being able to sneak up on him like that was not something he was comfortable with.

As a [Duelist], things like that should not be possible unless the other party either vastly outleveled him or had some special kind of trinket equipped.

When Xander saw the old man towering in the doorway of the shop, he was sure it was the former.

As a class that strongly focused on 1vs1 combat, it was a mandatory skill to be able to accurately estimate one's odds.

The odds for victory on one hand, but also the odds to successfully make an escape.

Xander didn’t like the conclusion he came to.

This made him very glad that he had not drawn his weapons just now.

He knew that any encounter between the two of them would not qualify as a battle.

‘A [Berserker]? At such a level?’ He couldn’t suppress a slight shiver.

‘He can’t be someone unknown then. He must have some fame around here.’

Luckily, the savage-looking man truly didn’t seem to be out for blood.

He only looked slightly amused.

Xander scanned the man, but his eyes got glued to the pelt that, like a cloak, was flung around the man's shoulders.

‘Fuck. What is that thing? That isn’t crafted, is it? But where would something like that even drop? If that thing comes from a boss... How do you even fight something like that? Something with such a hide?

‘I don’t have to see the stats to know that I couldn’t even scratch that thing. Even if I had bought those enchants.’

“No, I’m good. Haha. Thank you.” He could only awkwardly decline the offered spar.

That man might mean no harm, and it might have been a genuine offer for assistance, but not even Xander was so brazen as to attack this person. No matter the circumstances.

“Hi, Sam! You guys are back!?”

“Hey there Sev. Seems like you were busy while we were gone.”

He then addressed the unfamiliar person. “First time here?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hmm. Then we’ll see more of each other from now on. I’m Samuel.” Only a fool would not return after seeing the effects of the items sold firsthand, so he was confident in his prediction.

“Xander. I’m Xander. Pleased to meet you!” His introduction felt a bit awkward.

The [Berserker] acknowledged the answer with a nod before returning his attention back to Severin.

He had been referring to the obvious changes that had taken place when he was talking about Severin being busy.

For one, the new customer.

As far as Samuel knew, that was the first time that anyone else aside from his group had set foot into the store.

For another, upon arrival, the fence outside instantly caught his attention, having some suspicions about it.

The last change, of course, was the addition of a new item that he could hardly wait to check out.

“The others are setting up the camp, assuming it’s alright with you.”

“How did they do? Any success?”

Severin had a positive impression of the two. And not only regarding the fact that they were basically his most loyal customers. He was glad to know they made it back in one piece.

As for Samuel, he never even thought about the possibility of something happening to him.

“They did good. I’ll tell you more later. Why don’t you let me see the new thing you got there first!” Samuel could contain his curiosity only for so long.

Xander, who was listening in from the side, was dumbfounded.

Not only did the Shopkeeper and the [Berserker] seem to be familiar, they even appeared to be on quite good terms with each other.

That fact alone elevated Severin’s status in his eyes and convinced him of the legitimacy of the shop and its wares. Samuel was obviously an old customer, and there was no way this all was just one big setup to scam people like himself out of a few gold coins.

‘Someone like him wouldn’t need to scam people. Even if he wasn’t a good person, he could just take whatever he wanted.’

Sigh

He felt a bit silly.

At this moment, he felt that he may have overdone it a bit, accusing Severin like that. The forging of tooltips was, after all, a very severe crime. In hindsight, he was glad that it didn’t come to an escalation.

‘I’m lucky that other guy didn’t appear any earlier.’ He shuddered at the thought.

‘If they are really that close, who knows how he would’ve reacted.’ He could have easily made a powerful enemy. Now he could only hope that Severin wasn’t too resentful.

He quickly blamed the pressure from the upcoming trial for his behavior. Considering for a moment whether he should buy three more flasks now that he was somewhat assured of their effects. But he quickly decided against it. The arrival of the new customer gave him a chance to quietly excuse himself without letting the thing blow up.

“Thank you for your business! I’ll be going then.” He let the two flasks disappear.

‘Isn’t that supposed to be my line?’ Severin thought the change in attitude was hilarious but didn’t call him out on that. “Have a good day.”

Then, recalling Samuel's words and agreeing with the conclusion, he added, “Till next time.”

Severin could indeed be rather resentful. He just didn’t take the incident to heart.

Therefore with Samuel’s entrance, his displeasure had already disappeared, for the most part.

Xander held his breath when he quickly squeezed past Samuel’s enormous frame and all but fled the scene.

He only paused briefly when spotting two youths besides some newly-erected tents, whom he greeted with a nod.

‘Tim and Miriam was it, huh? Better keep an eye out for those as well. If they are under that Sam’s protection, who knows what will become of them.’

Quickly summoning his flying artifact, he left the mountain in a hurry.

The scouting of this place and its surroundings before he entered the shop, as well as the bickering with Severin, had taken more time than he had initially thought.

…

Back inside the store, Severin handed over one of the small green flasks, anticipating Samuel's verdict.

[Weapon Oil – Damage Conversion (5)

Half of the Physical Damage dealt with this Weapon gets converted into Magic Damage of a random element.

Lasts for 30 minutes.]

Samuel already expected the items to be extraordinary. And extraordinary it was.

However, that did not necessarily mean the item was overpowered.

Samuel’s eyes widened slightly, but as far as his initial reaction went, that was it.

It was quite the contrast to the over-the-top reaction Severin had secretly hoped for, and his change in posture clearly reflected that.

That didn’t escape Samuel’s notice.

“Don’t get me wrong. This stuff can trivialize whole dungeons, maybe even raids. Even some high-level ones. But its uses are still rather limited and very niche.”

He was about to give another one of his lessons.

“First of all, it’s obviously useless for most casters. And second of all, think about the best-case scenario. A class that specializes in physical damage. Fighting against what? Well, obviously against a target that has higher physical resistance than magical, right? Otherwise, there would be no need to circumvent the armor. But for most groups and guilds, that would just mean they’d have to bring more casters instead…” He shook his head. ‘What a pity’.

“Maybe for fights between adventurers, depending on the classes. Well, and like I said, in some very particular dungeon and raid setups. The ones where the monsters constantly shift through their resistances, for example.

The fact that it’s a random element…” He shook his head once more, but suddenly froze when he had a certain thought…

‘Now that I think about it. The wording seems unusual. But...that would be impossible…?’

Sigh

“I didn’t think it sounded too bad. And that guy just now was pretty excited as well…”

Severin tried to hide his disappointment as well as possible.

He quickly tried to change the topic to distract himself.

“So, your turn. What happened? I take it they were successful?”

With that, Samuel’s expression turned proud. Beaming like a father, watching his children take their first steps.

“I wanted them to get a taste of the real world. So, I let them do everything by themselves.

Have them gather information on the eligible dungeons. Like what monsters and bosses to expect and how to deal with them. What kind of gear they drop. That kind of thing.

And then, of course, finding a suitable group. Making sure it’s well balanced and that everyone is prepared. In the end, everything seemed to have worked out well. Tim even got a level-up.

Sadly, I couldn’t join them and see them fight firsthand. I was initially afraid that they might get cocky, but it seems that fear was unwarranted.

All that’s left is to take them to one of the nearby camps and have some of the loot identified.”

A faint sense of jealousy and longing pulled at Severin’s heartstrings. Nevertheless, he was truly happy for them.

At this moment, the System reminded Severin of its presence.