Chapter 4 - God merchant or Evil scammer?

A tall man with suspicious eyes kept staring at the youth before him, expressionless. “Good merchant, may I take a look at that bamboo branch over there?” Falven politely asked. The stage the man was in charge of was neither big or small, several small items were displayed on a desk and on the side many kinds of branches and wooden tools could be seen.

“Heavens smile to you, young friend, handle with care. This is a Tribulation Desert Bamboo, it’s only found at south of the Desolate Tribulation Sect, in the Tribulation Desert. Being aware of the price you will pay in the future for hiring an expert capable of working on it, I charge only 80 knight crystals. The price is fair, take or leave”.

The merchant spoke in an assertive and detached way, not showing much involvement. His words were partially true, if this was a Tribulation Desert Bamboo the price would be fair indeed. The bamboo branch was dry, with thin cracks running over the shaft. These were all signs of a Tribulation Desert Bamboo.

Falven caressed the cracks, gently applying his chi, sensing the changes on the shaft. After some time, a victorious smile appeared on his face, a smile that just the merchant before him could see.

The youth got closer to the tall man “We both know very well this is not a Tribulation Desert Bamboo. I have been instructed by Unbroken Fang to find wooden materials suitable for arrows and bows. I can accept risky deals if they are extremely favorable and he can’t know this is with undoubtedly fake, so let's make this an extremely favorable deal. What do you think to add those 4 Verdant Robust Bamboo branches to the transaction? I’ll buy the 5 branches for 80 knight crystals”.

Only the serious merchant could hear his words and the man, still expressionlessly, answered with a slightly annoyed tone “3 Verdant Robust Bamboo branches and 1 Tribulation Desert Bamboo, 80 knight crystals, take or leave”. “Take!” the youth exclaimed vigorously.

Crystals are the universally accepted currency, natural formed crystals containing chi. The purer the chi inside the higher the grade of the crystal. As always, the grades of these crystals are named in accordance to the cultivation stages. 100 Soldier crystals are equivalent to 1 knight crystal, 100 knight crystals have the same value of 1 captain crystal and so on.

The mercenary leader asked him, while his lieutenants all had curious and hopeful looks, “Is this truly a Tribulation Desert Bamboo?” The youth showed an enigmatic smirk “No, it isn’t” and continued his stroll.

“Boss, are you sure you want to do this? If all our crystals get dilapidated for counterfeited goods we’ll be doomed”. After some instants the leader answered to his men, as nonchalant as ever “Don’t be so tragic, we won’t be doomed, at most we would sleep in dog shit for some time” and then followed the youth. His loyal men couldn’t help but sigh, hoping that all this wouldn’t end up in a catastrophe.

After having looked at many goods on display, the youth approached a woman at a humble stage. The number of items on display was not small at all, but their appearance was utterly poor. Most of them seemed old broken components of other tools. Falven indicated a bronze shield, with some patterns carved on top. The many slashes and bruises the shield had suffered during the years made the patterns unreadable.

“1 knight crystal” the youth offered. The woman shook her head and plainly stated “50 knight crystals”. The youth showed signs of uncertainty “10 knight crystals”, “45”, “12”, “40”, “15”, “Heaven’s glory, 35 boy, I’m not going to lower my price anymore”. The lieutenants were astonished by this senseless bargaining for a piece of junk, they were truly regretting their savings were being disposed by a so incompetent one. “Okay generous woman, I’ll spend 35 knight crystals, but not for only one item. If you can add to the transaction that old dagger with a black pattern on the blade it’s a deal for me!”.

The woman pondered for a bit before acquiescing, she had examined that dagger several times and the only conclusion she could arrive to was that it’s just junk. The shield, instead, was a good item. In her opinion its value was exactly around 35 knight crystals in pavilions, therefore managing to sell it for that price in this scamming place was a kind of win.

“Dear Unbroken Fang, if the results are favorable, I’d like to retain this dagger. It was part of the initial deal, don’t forget” Falven said, joyously playing with the dagger in his hands. The mercenary was still nonchalant and seemed to have no worry at all, contrarily to the nervous expressions of his men, who seriously started considering the youth as a freak, a fool that had shattered his brain on the ground losing his ability to think straight.

The youth continued to go up and down in the scamming district, buying several objects in this notoriously sly place, for the horror of the lieutenants. He would spend sometimes just few Soldier Crystals and other times dozens of knight crystals. This lavish spending eroded almost all the savings of the mercenary group.

While he was passing by an old man sitting on the road, with an empty carpet before him, he heard a call “Youth, take a sit, I have something to show you”.

Surprised, Falven had no reason to refute. He squatted down in front of the man covered by a black mantle “Please Sir, show what you have”. With an evil smile the man put three items on the carpet. The first one was a white flute, utterly simple, with no runic pattern or carving. The second tool was a pill, a pitch black one. No chi essence could be perceived nor fragrance smelled. The last item was a purple herb, whose leaves had a spiral pattern naturally formed in the middle.

“You must choose one and only one item. Then, you shall pay for it. Pay the right price. No bargaining, no lies. You need to make a choice and pay the price. One choice, one chance to do it right.” The tone of the man was quite domineering and both the lieutenants and Unbroken Fang were surprised by this commanding attitude. Falven, instead, had to control the fear induced quivers that were spreading all over his body. The eyes of the man seemed deep dark holes, Both him and the objects were exceptional. The being covered by the black mantle was a very high ranked cultivator, an extremely powerful existence.

Falven carefully observed the objects on the carpet and understood that he had to choose the cheaper one, because it was the only one the mercenaries could afford. “I choose the Purple Eying Herb, price… 800 Commander crystals.”

This time, not speaking about the lieutenants, even the leader was astonished. 800 commander crystals were equivalent to 80.000 captain crystals and to 8.000.000 knight crystals, a sky-high price, a sum they had never seen.

“Wise master, please excuse my company, they have never seen a God and thus are failing to recognise one now” Falven humbly and apologetically spoke, bowing his head. “We still do not have so many crystals, but by the end of the day we’ll come to stay true to our word. I am confident you know I would never dare to trick a master as yourself, capable of trampling the sky and obscuring the sun”. “Very well, you can go. Come by midnight with the agreed sum” the enigmatic man dismissed him. The youth bowed once again before leaving, followed by the mercenaries with incredulous looks.

“Young one, what’s happening, are you actually scared by that man?” Unbroken Fang asked. Falven stopped, before seriously looking at him, right in the eyes “Never, never offend or mistreat that man. Life and death are at his disposal here, if he shall say you are a dog, you bark, if he shall say you don’t need a hand, you cut your hand. Now let’s quickly go to the Shining Pillar Pavilion, that expert shall see us no matter what, the business needs to be closed before midnight”. Having said that the youth quickly went forward, leaving the lieutenants with raging expressions.

“Daring to talk like that to our leader after having accepted an impossible bargain, suicidal fool!”, “I shall teach him what good manners are, our leader has given him face and this is the payback!”. The lieutenants started exclaiming angrily, ready to take action.

Unbroken Fang tensely intervened “Dear brothers, please halt your initiatives. We are in a very ambiguous situation, before deciding anything we have to see through it. When light shall breach darkness we’ll act accordingly to the situation. Bowing to the Heavens, decapitating the snakes”.