“Young Guso, it seems already, our actions have attracted everyone's attention. This is more condensed energy than has been seen in the City in a long time. Hopefully you have a plan in mind.”

“I do have a plan, but whether it will work is yet to be seen, in the end I can only control so much of what is going to happen.”

“Well then let us be wise and vigilant, for once we let this ball roll there is little we can do to stop it.”

And like so we turned in for the night exhausted from our endeavors, waiting to be the herald’s of a new Era for Martial Citadel.

***

The next morning, I immediately got to arranging all that I would take to sell with me, and to gift away to the City.

It was not the big Market Day the Citadel had every week, but I had decided to enact my plan through the Black Market regardless, as it would create the most buzz around my new items, not only in the City, but beyond as well.

I found a couple of friends who I had interacted with before in the Slums, to help carry not only my cart full of merchandise, but the two carts full of Focus Shards, Yellow Inner Focus Seals, and Inner Energy Gloves.

After my preparations were complete, they headed on over with me towards the Black Market.

As soon as we entered its ground, people looked at me excitedly.

I had already developed a healthy reputation around Martial Citadels Black Market thanks to the quality of my items.

As I looked around, I felt like the Black Market had way more people than usual.

In fact I felt like it had never looked this busy in all the days I had done Business here in the past.

I noticed one other thing: I saw some familiar items being peddled front and center of some market stands.

The closer I looked, the more I realized why they looked so familiar.

It was because they were the weapons I had crafted and sold in the past!

They were now in circulation in the Black Market and being sold at ridiculous prices.

I saw one of my Magical bone tipped spears, that wasn’t even one of my best creations, going for an astounding 7 platinum coins or 10,000 Gold coins!

It was crazy what I saw, I couldn't believe it!

Seeing the exorbitant prices my items were being sold at, and remembering what I had gotten out of them, made me almost get an aneurysm.

Surely I wasn't as good a Businessman as I thought I was.

Not only that, I was just getting ready to give a bunch of free stuff away, all of a sudden I felt like the title of biggest fool in Potestera might not be far from my grasp.

I shook my head and disposed of those useless thoughts, as material gain was not my immediate goal at the moment.

Besides it's not like I was poor, there was no point in being envious of a couple of sly merchants that were making some money off of my creations.

In a way it was a testament to how valuable my creations actually were.

Eventually we did manage to find a place to set up shop.

As soon as we did, a line of people eagerly waited to buy my stuff and see what I had.

I took out my usual stuff, beast organs, meat, parts, and pelts; as well as my crafts, self made medicines, and regular weapons, among other things.

I also took out what was left of my Magical Weapons.

I started helping the customers one by one.

The very first one only wanted a special beast organ that I did happen to have, and after his purchase he was surprised when I gave him one of the bags I had piled up behind me.

“Sir I know you have great items, but I only came for this Snake Liver. I really can’t afford anything else.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s on the house, today for anyone who purchases something from my shop, a free goody bag will be given to them.”

Soon news of my promotion spread around the Market, and suddenly swaths of excited people swarmed around my stand.

It didn’t matter what they bought, from those that purchased one of my Magical Weapons, to those that got only a basket, the same singular bag was given out.

Some people were confused, others who were more ungrateful were a bit annoyed, that despite buying something more valuable, they received the same as everyone else.

Even then the majority of people were just happy to get free stuff.

Eventually I saw people start to open the baggy not even a couple meters away from my shop, and thereafter the reactions I had been waiting to see.

“Lets see what that crazy Guso is giving out! It’s exciting to see what items he has today!

“I know even if it's just something small and even if its free, I know it's going to be something of quality or else why would he do it? “

“What are these things? Is that a pair of gloves and a yellow paper along with some glowing rocks? How weird.”

Soon more and more people started discovering what was inside the bag and the buzz and mystery around them grew louder and louder.

Eventually I saw someone whose uniform I recognized to be from one of the popular Inner Martial Arts Schools, catch a lot of people's attention.

“ Everyone listen! These glove’s aren’t normal! Yes I can’t be mistaken, this is definitely Inner Energy that is emanating around them!”

Everyone grew quiet as the youth put on the gloves, and with ecstasy apparent in his face, he approached a nearby metal flagpole and instantly performed a quick but powerful strike.

Almost instantly the pole was snapped in half.

“I can’t believe it these gloves seem to be some sort of Inner Energy Weapon, I’ve never been able to do that without channeling Inner Energy into my hands before, but these gloves seem to already have Inner Energy imbued within them it’s Amazing!”

Everyone couldn’t believe what they heard, soon other Inner Energy Practitioners also tested out the gloves, and confirmed what the first boy had said.

The environment suddenly changed, as everyone's eyes became green with greed.

Almost everyone at the market wanted to buy something from my shop, especially after it was confirmed that you didn’t even need to be an Inner Energy Practitioner in order to use them.

People fought to be ahead in line and things started to get a bit out of control.

Soon other kinds of information started to emerge from the crowd.

Someone who remembered the Purple Magic Papers, correctly inferred that the yellow papers looked similar.

After ripping one up it was confirmed that the yellow paper was a Buffing item.

People didn’t know what to do.

Suddenly people started to run towards their home.

The news of what they had acquired was too good to be true.

From there on afterwards only extreme madness and covetousness ensued.

Many rich people cut the line, and came forward, and started to demand that they would buy all my bags at whatever price I wanted.

But I made it clear that anyone, no matter who it was, as long as it was their first purchase, would get one of the bags, and that for now that was the only way that anyone could get them.

Many rich Experts’ became livid with anger, and even threatened me, but I didn't budge.

Soon a group of many Martial Artists threatened back that they would defend me if my rules were not obeyed, and so the rich jerks had no choice but to back off.

Eventually I saw the rich kids start to buy the bags off of people who had already gotten them.

I decided to not intervene in that matter, as after the item left my possession, how the person who obtained it decided to make use of it was no longer my business.

Eventually some of the excitement started to die down, as people came to terms that as long as there were still items in my stand to buy, they would be able to get a free Buffing item, and a free Inner Energy Weapon.

And despite the large numbers of people there still seemed to be alot of items in my shop.

I never saw so many baskets and clay pots fly off my shop shelves, as how they were being bought right now.

But as soon as the commotion was close to dying, someone else revealed some more extraordinary information.

The boy, another Practitioner of Inner Martial Arts, had absorbed some form of energy from inside the stone into his body, and the stone had dimmed.

Things got eerily quiet around the marketplace, nobody knew what to make of that information.

Soon more voices of confirmation resounded throughout the square.

With each voice the environment got even more tense.

Something incredible had just been discovered, I could see the joy in people's faces, but there was also fear present in them.

Eventually a man who looked to be quite strong, and who had a commanding presence, stepped forward and headed towards my direction.

Voices were heard.

“Its Rutop, a Dojo Officer from Unyielding Dojo!”

“Wow even someone like him is here, it seems he wants answers, let's wait and see what happens.”

Soon Rutop reached the front of my shop no one obstructing his way.

I remembered his face as he had already bought something from my shop and gotten a bag.

“Young Guso, what is this item you have put in our hands today? And even the other items, surely you know of the value that they possess? Were it not for me personally bearing witness to the events that have just occurred, I would think someone was trying to mess with us. Tell me young Guso what is your purpose in giving away such treasures, and this stone, I must definitely know today what this stone is?”

I looked at him in the eyes with sincerity.

This man had actually made it much easier, for what I had wanted to take place, to become more likely to occur.

“I'm sorry, what great Master do I have the pleasure of talking to if you don’t mind me asking?”

Rutop flinched; he didn't expect me to answer him with a question.

“Sorry for my rudeness, I am Rutop an Official Officer of the Unyielding Martial Will Dojo, and I am currently Ranked At Level C in the Seeiers List.”

“Pleasure to meet you Officer Rutop, of course I'm glad to answer any of your questions. The Crystal you hold in your hands goes by the name Focus Shard, it is a form of compacted energy. To be more precise it is condensed Inner Energy, the first to be seen in Potestera at least as far as I know. What uses it has, I'm sure most of you here can come up with many answers for that question, but my best answer would be to think of it as an Inner Energy Battery. This and the other items were gifts me and Old Man Yupow thought as appropriate to give to the Citizens of this City, for being of help in my growth in the Martial Path. They are sincere gifts from us to the City. Do with them what you will.”

I'm pretty sure I saw the jaws of many people drop in response to the answer I had given.

The people were in shock.

Even Ruton didn’t know how to respond.

Suddenly another man scrambled forward madly and interjected for him instead.

“ You! Where did you guys get such an item, you must tell us immediately! This is a matter of utmost importance!”

I knew I was going to get annoying and rude fools like this one, but I responded anyways, with as appropriate an answer as I could come up with at the time.

“You cannot find this Item naturally in Nature, if you want information on it make an appointment with Master Yupow, other than that, please make way for the rest of the customers.”

All of a sudden the people went wild again, those who had not yet bought anything, made a mad dash to quickly aquire something from my shop, and by consequence get themselves a bag.

The man who wanted to know the whereabouts of the item, and still wasn’t ready to give up, had no choice but to move aside.

Other people still didn’t give up and demanded answers from me.

But I ignored them, and continued selling my items, until all the bags of goodie’s were gone.

Suddenly I realized how much merchandise I actually had, as although I had brought lots of bags with the Focus Shards, even after they were all gone, I still had some merchandise left.

I hoped I could get rid of all that I had left before I had to leave the City.

Otherwise I'd have to give it away.

When all of my bags had disappeared, I decided to call it a day and close up shop.

Even while I was in the process of packing up, the excitement within the Black Market wouldn’t die down.

In fact it was starting to spread outside into the City streets.

It was getting to the point where City authorities had to start implementing law and order.

I did my best to scurry away out of people's sight, but a lot of stubborn people followed me in secret.

Others didn’t even try to hide their intent, openly calling my name, or attempting to use their reputation for me to hearken to their requests.

I paid them no mind, but despite going at the fastest speed, I could while carrying only one wooden cart, as I had left the other two behind, I couldn’t shake them off.

Suddenly I saw most of them stop in dismay as if they had encountered something terrifying, and I finally managed to head towards Yupows’ residence in peace.

The day had turned quite a bit more chaotic than I had imagined, even with the knowledge that my actions would only serve to stir the pot.

I was ready to take a long break and discuss the future with Yupow, and wait and see how things went.