《The Avaricious Merchant System》Chapter 05 - Striking deals
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When Clyde arrived in the storage space. He found his clone gnawing on his gigantic heart stored there.
With a bloody mouth, what looked like a vampire with two elongated canines smiled at him, "Well, hello there. I’m hungry. Quickly, churn out a few origin crystals for me, I'm having a hard time not swallowing this dragon heart in one gulp as I know you want it to turn your big brother into a bloodline warrior."
His clone obviously looked like him in every way. Same blue color of skin and same height. The only difference was his usual blue hair that was black on his clone.
Clyde didn’t ask for any questions as he retrieved a hundred origin crystals from the system and gave them to his clone.
Seeing this, the clone looked at him weirdly and asked, "That System didn’t tell you anything about me?"
Clyde only shook his head, feeling that the next news would be unbearable.
"I need ten thousand origin crystals a day to survive or I need to eat the equivalent of that energy...and that’s only to survive...if I want to become stronger, I would need more energy and the stronger I become the more energy I need to survive." The Clone said.
Clyde felt his mind go numb and then explode with anger, "System, you cheated me again...How can I afford such expenditure? It’ll be even more unbearable in the future. What kind of clone did you create for me?"
{Synthesizing a clone from your Dragon God bloodline and creating something different with unheard of potential comes at a cost. I mutated it with another more powerful Bloodline coming from a subspecies of Dragon Gods that had been annihilated since times immemorial. Because that subspecies is too strong, it needs an intake of energy daily or it would go crazy and eat anything in sight...so if you want to keep your life and that of your loved ones intact, I suggest you feed him what he needs for now.}
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Clyde had already started thinking about killing his clone to avoid future troubles, but he felt some danger radiating out of his clone’s body. He knew that it was a fight that he could never win even with the current strength of a God that he possessed.
Once again, the so called ‘Merchant System’ had managed to cheat him out of his hard earned money.
He felt like an arm was torn off of him as he took out the remaining origin crystals leaving him at a total of 4,994,188,995 origin crystals.
It was a huge amount, yes, but it would soon become nothing if he didn’t find another dumb dragon god to kill.
...but what kind of creature whose bloodline could be so demanding in energy just to continue existing?
Clyde had to say that he was curious about what his clone was exactly.
The clone opened its mouth and the huge pile of origin crystal turned to prismatic lights that entered it. After a moment, the hungry look on the clone was replaced by an elegant and poised person… a huge contrast to his previous self that looked like a junkie who had been denied his fix.
The blood on the clown's mouth had long disappeared god knows where as he smiled to Clyde, "I guess you’re wondering what I am aren’t you?"
"Do tell...please." Clyde didn’t hide his curiosity.
"I’m part Leviathan. And I can feel this bloodline overwriting the Dragon God bloodline." the clone said.
"Why can’t you be both?" Clyde asked, not understanding why one bloodline could erase another.
"Because the concentration of Leviathan bloodline is stronger than the Dragon God bloodline that was used to create me. In that case, if there’s a great disparity in concentration, the strongest bloodline will devour the other." the clone said.
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"You seem to know a lot of things." Clyde said surprised that his own clone could know things he didn’t know.
"Some ancient memories came with the Leviathan Bloodline. I may be created with you as a template, but I’m not you anymore, which is good for my new persona as your master." The Clone said and then added with a chuckle, "Oh! By the way...call me Levi from now on...or Master Levi when we are in public. Hehe."
{I suggest you give Levi your staff so he can hunt and earn some origin crystals by himself or you can both participate and share the gains...or if you feel like you can't separate yourself from the space staff, you can have me bestow him a Lesser space Staff with the same abilities but less storage space at the low cost of 1,500,000,000 origin crystals.}
{So...what will it be?}
Before Clyde could answer, Levi quickly said, "System, there's no need to ask this miserly person. Just loan me the money...with my strength and capabilities you know I'm good for it."
{No thanks. I don't do such deals….you have no collateral...which is why I asked Clyde in the first place. He has the means and you should strike a deal with him instead.}
Clyde's eyes lit up. After his short time with the system he finally learned a few tricks from it and understood the hidden meaning behind its words.
Clyde rubbed his hands like a shady merchant and when he looked at Levi, he could only see shining origin crystals.
"I am willing to fork out the required funds to get you a Lesser Space Staff, but for lending it to you, I would have to ask for ten percent on every item you successfully harvest and sell to the system." Clyde was feeling an adrenaline rush just for speaking those words.
The system and Levi remained silent for a long while.
At first glance, you could say that ten percent was not a lot but if you considered that Levi would have to pay the fee for his entire immortal life, you'd drown in jealousy thinking of the immense fortune that Clyde could enjoy while practically doing nothing.
"Ten percent is it? ...fine." he seemed reluctant but inwardly, he was gloating 'You could have asked for half and I would still have no choice but to accept. Are you naive, an idiot or...'
Levi's bloodline would never let him understand the train of thought of mortals. He only knew how to devour and continue filling his stomach endlessly.
Clyde only thought of the best price he could ask for after careful thoughts.
There was another daring idea that was brewing in Clyde's head...he was thinking that if this deal worked as it should...then there was nothing stopping him from making more clones.
But first, he had to make sure of one thing, "System, what authority does Levi or a clone have over you? Can they use all your abilities as I do?"
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Of Astral and Umbral
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