"I find that having an abundance of information can help one make the correct decision so allow me to enlighten you Stygian Half-light."

The god raised a hand and Stygian feel and undeniable surge of power, that wasn't Mana.

"WAit!" Cried an urgent Stygian, the god stopped and cocked his head, and Stygian continued in its pleasing pixie voice, "I usually try my hardest to not ask for anyone's name because they usually aren't important enough, but I feel it is important to ask yours."

With a smirk the god responded, "You can call me Threll, now shall we continue?"

Stygian nodded, and the god Threll continued, "Now technically negotiations have begun, I have a great deal more information, and I must say wow. Whatever you did to win this treasure really fucked you. You have less than a month before your body falls apart, now I'd wager a stubborn bug like you could maybe make it a week longer or more before your body finally gives out, but in the end it won't matter."

Stygian went cold, it was worse than the bug feared, there was next to no way Stygian could grow to full size in that time. Getting the aväks would be easy in that time, but thanks to gluttony there was no chance. Thankfully Stygian might have a chance to avoid death. Unbeknownst to Stygian Threll stopped speaking as soon as the bug stopped paying attention, and then continued like nothing had happened.

"Next I should tell you that the revenant you killed is trying his damndest to come back to life."

"WHAT?! HOW?" Screeched Stygian.

"If you will allow me, I'll show you." So saying Threll raised a hand the inexplicable power built up and out from the stump of Stygian's foot shot a ghostly looking worm. Stygian didn't feel the spiritual parasite, but would have eventually felt it. Without hesitation Stygian tore the parasite and the soul attached into fragments that faded into oblivion.

Congratulations! You have discovered a hidden quest, Slay the Fae. You have slayed one of the last remaining original Fae. This Fae was particularly powerful and thus your reward is greater than usually. You have been given a Spirit key. This key can open a spacial gate in the City Door's, any gate that can lead to any realm, shard or dimension that you desire. How you must first find the City of Door's.

There was a withdrawn silence as Threll watched what used to be the final ability of the revenant. The ability in question allowed the dying revenant to tie a piece of their soul to the one that slays them. That piece will grow and eventually destroy the host. The ability is known as Rebirth of the Revenant. It's a high level racial ability that requires a powerful counter spell to undo let alone destroy it. Yet the bug had done it all on its own, despite possessing no magic.

"Now I can help you reach your full size with my godly powers,-" The god wiggled his fingers as he said that. "-and that won't cost much. So we can get you to your next metamorphosis now for barely a pittance. The question is what do you desire Stygian Half-light."

'What do I desire?"

Stygian had never given much thought towards desire, Stygian had needed to survive, had needed to adapt and overcome. The bug had needed to be better so that is what Stygian did, however Stygian did have a dream beyond being physically perfect. The bug desired to face an army of hundreds alone and win, the bug had desired overwhelming indisputable power. Since the hatching Stygian had unconsciously been following the allure of power, but had come to realize merely following or chasing after it wasn't enough. Stygian wanted to become the embodiment of power.

"Power, I want as much power as I can buy." Stygian spoke confidently with eyes alight.

Threll chuckled, "That is what I expected, it is what most people ask, but might I ask what kind of power do you want?"

"Can you bump up my stats?" Stygian blurted the first thing that came to mind. "I no longer have a limit on my stats, at least as far as I know, so with your help I could have some impressive stats."

"I could bump up your stats as you say, but I don't think that is exactly what you want for a few reasons. Firstly the cost would rise exponentially the more stats you buy, and it would maybe get you three hundred points. But that wouldn't be very effective for you. You want over five hundred points in each state before you consider buying from me. After five hundred they get extremely hard to raise. It's the point at which most exceptional adventures turn to one god or another looking for the easy way out. Where you are right now is barely below what would be the physical limit for a human. Above one hundred points and you will truly rise above the natural limit. Secondly, despite the fact that you broke the limits on your body doesn't mean you are any safer in surpassing them. At two hundred is when most people hit a wall where their power becomes too much to handle, having to undergo harsh and sometimes obscure training to strengthen their bodies and minds."

Stygian barely listened to the second half of the explanation, already deciding on something else. "Then I'll take a new thread, something more offense based."

Threll looked at Stygian for a long moment before speaking, "Ahh the golden goose, it's usually what everyone asks for, and I have to tell them no. Surprising that is something I can do for you. You haven't even had a second trial, which I can arrange. However, it'll cost more than half of this treasure, but you'll need to open up some more room in your center. Which I can help you with for a quarter of the horde. All told about seven eighths of this treasure will buy you what you want. Let's look over the horde and see if there is anything you want and hash out the details."

Over the next twenty minutes Threll and Stygian examined the treasure horde as Threll explained how mage often create cross binding, points where a third thread could be bonded where two other threads crossed. While useful it is only step one of a long forgotten process. If you continue to wrap the threads around each other the threads will bind full into a dual thread. Twice as powerful half and thick. Stygian combined Psychic, Repulsion, and Power thread. The bug would have combined the Devourer thread together but it wasn't crossed with anything else, and Stygian was unsure what the combination would do since the bug was unsure of how to draw upon the thread. It was slippery and just out of reach, it felt like Stygian needed to conquer Gluttony and Wrath before the bug could weld the thread directly. After doing so and sorting out the treasure, Stygian's cohort finally made their way towards the bug and brought along anything interesting that they had found.

From the treasure Stygian was left with two magic swords, three scrolls of unknown origin, a hefty sum of gold, and a magically charged set of goblin, well clothes is too generous of a word, but that's what they were. The clothes weren't enchanted, they were just stuffed full of Mana making them surprisingly durable and comfortable. The clothes consisted of a cloak with hood to hide the face, a lower face mask again to hide the face, a long sleeve shirt, hand wraps to, pants, a belt, and boots. All of which was far too large for the deväk currently, but it might just fit after the upcoming metamorphosis. Now I hear you asking why would this man eating monster ever desire clothes, well simply put the City of Door's sounded pretty well established if Stygian's reward was tied to it. Which generally meant highly populated and Stygian didn't want to get killed on site. Or worse publicly shamed for indecency.

From the cohort Stygian gained several very peculiar skeletons that all seemed to have extremely bulbous heads with horribly disfigured frames. There were also a few sword stings from the wasp abominations that Stygian created. Finally the piece de resistance, the revenant's Crown. It had rolled away after the fight and Stygian assumed that it was lost. Well actually the bug just forgot to look for it, but it amounts to the same thing in the end.

Stygian gazed upon the horde and the god Threll, waiting for the god to speak. However the god just idly floated there lost in thought, and Stygian continued to wait. Despite Stygian's rash nature the bug wasn't willing to push a god. Finally after a while the god spoke.

"Before we finish with the main transaction, I was hoping we could discuss something." The god glanced at Stygian waiting for a reply, however Stygian was now firmly rooted in waiting mode. So the god continued quickly, "I wanted to ask you about what it is you did to that parasite earlier. If you give me a full explanation of how you did and where that power comes from I will offer you this."

A twirl of his hand and the god was holding a shard of jagged glass that emitted a purple black energy. As soon as it appeared the world seemed to dim. It was as though everything had become meaningless and life had become empty. As though the whole world was hollow. Then just as suddenly the god shielded Stygian from the effect of the glass.

"This, my shrewd fellow is known as a Shard of Woe. Collected from the suffering minds of a thousand humans, this will not only strengthen your mind against emotional attacks, but it'll allow you to inflict the very same feelings of despair. Plus it should help you rank up your magic. So what do you say?"

Stygian was a bit baffled, this seemed like a bit of overkill just for some info, but if the god wanted it so badly... "Hmm, I could be persuaded for a second shard, and an explanation of what you mean when you say rank up."

Without hesitation Threll pulled a second shard, and began to speak, "Not all threads are created equal, some have much greater power upon the initial binding than some could ever hope to have. However after binding a thread it is possible to absorb powerful items, crafted or natural, to alter the power. This doesn't change the base thread, but it usually acts like an amplifier. Boosting and altering the effect of the thread. This amplifying effect is known as ranking up, I don't know what humans are using nowadays, but in my time as a human it went; Unchanged, Tilted, Bent, Altered, Skewed, Redirected, and Unique. These Shards of Woe will push you into Tilted, your thread worked like normal but with a new tilt to it. So what do you say?"

It was a damn good deal, and well, what did Stygian have to lose? The bug explained about its job Soul Eater, and how the job allows Stygian to intact and see souls. Threll was skeptical and Stygian tried to show him the twins and Alpha, but the god couldn't see the souls of living things, own disembodied souls and only vaguely. So flexing it's newly advanced Soul Manipulation, Stygian crafted a raw disembodied soul right in front of the god. The soul was one of the biggest Stygian had ever made, it seemed to be unstable but much like Stygian's own soul it was unstable. This was even more so fraying visibly as Stygian was holding it together.

"Never in my wildest dreams..." Threll spoke in an awed whisper. "I never thought any but the god of death would be able to fully see souls, and yet you can manipulate them. Though the soul is a tad unstable, does your skill require you make such a large outer portion of the soul?"

"What?"

Threll looked at Stygian concern etched in his godly features, "The outer portion, it's far too large. It disrupts the entire balance and ratio of the soul. Normally it should be a third of the size it currently is. You it causes the soul-"

Threll kept droning on and on but Stygian finally knew what was wrong with the souls it had crafted. They were out of balance, Stygian hadn't paid much attention to the ratio of souls before, but as Stygian looked around the room at all various insects and their unchanged souls the ratio was always the same. Two parts inner one part outer. Stygian quickly fixed the mistakes in every soul nearby including its own.

Seeing how Threll was looking at the soul Stygian had an idea. "If you'd like I can trade you this soul, if you can do three things for me." Threll had all of his focus pinned on the bug. "Firstly I need to go into my next metamorphosis, but thanks to my sin gluttony it will take me far longer than it should. So I need you to shorten the time as much as you possibly can. Secondly I'd like the knowledge to use my magic more effectively and training if possible. And thirdly I'd like to be able to trade with you again. Soul's for item's?"

"I can agree to the first two, but the third one..." Threll let out a deep sigh, "For now I will just say that the Ove-Er I mean the ones watching, disallowed the meddling with souls. Atarcin is shielded from their sight, but you'll need to find a way to hide your meddling and I will happily trade with you. Until then just come back to Atarcin if you want to trade again, and in the meantime I'll grant you a small request."

"Then for now I'll take a mountain of food for my garden."

With that said the deal was struck. Stygian was given ten aväk's hatchlings, two scrolls one for Temporal distortion and the other for a magical tutor, two Shards of Woe, and a mountain of food. Stygian felt like the room was close in, but really the bug shot up in height. Stygian felt peace fall over it and its eyes got heavy.

"Remember Stygian use both scrolls before you start metamorphosis, and be careful in your trial. Perseverance will help you obtain a more power thread..."

Thrells voice faded away as the world grew dark, and just before Stygian passed out completely the bug saw one final prompt.

Congratulations. The god of trade had labeled you as an ally. You can now detect a bad deal.