The Bloodthirsty Dagger and the Ancient Mage
Shin Yujun had sold the bloodthirsty dagger and the ancient mage's amplification bracelet on the Black Market, and thirty billion points now sat in his possession. An easy smile never once left his face.
"So this is what they mean by the leisure of the rich."
He had made an absurd fortune in Bitcoin back on Earth, true enough, but he had spent those days shut away in his room, and the money had never quite felt real. This time was different. He had come to the market with the points in his own hands, and not just any market — one crowded with rare and wondrous items. Thirty billion points. What he had earned hunting monsters would add a few hundred million more, but that hardly mattered. Thirty billion was already a number too large to fuss over.
"It's Shin Yujun!"
"So the sighting at the entrance was real."
Plenty of merchants knew his face, and every eye swung toward him at once.
"He's here to buy, isn't he?"
"Obviously. What kind of market do you think this is?"
"What if he came looking for someone?"
"Even then, wouldn't he look around? The place is drowning in items."
"Hmph. He'll just end up with the Great Merchants anyway."
"Right. You think he'd spare a glance for small fry like us? He won't even look our way."
"I'm still going to wait and hope."
"Our stock is for low-levels. Shin Yujun has to be at least level 700. Give it up, Mikel."
"......"
Not every merchant outside the Great Merchants thought that way. Plenty of high-tier traders fell short of that title and still carried real weight. They were competitive in their own right, and most of them kept one or two top-grade items of genuine quality. The Great Merchants were on another level entirely, but there were still traders positioned to catch the crumbs. A single top-tier player spent far more than dozens of middling regulars combined. The wealth gap between players ran that deep, which was why Great Merchants and ordinary traders alike hungered after famous names.
Yujun had meant to browse at his leisure, only to realize the players' stares were fixed on him to an absurd degree.
...Leisure, my ass.
Maybe he should have hidden who he was. The thought crossed his mind, and yet the situation didn't seem entirely bad.
They're falling over themselves to look good. Not covering my face was the right call.
Merchants closed in, wearing the kindest smiles they could manage.
"Might you be in need of anything?"
"Please, come to our shop! We'll see to your every comfort!"
"Comfort alone won't do! We'll treat you to fine food — and quality items, of course!"
They bellowed loud enough to split eardrums. The moment Yujun frowned, the quicker merchants retreated. They knew all too well that earning his displeasure would do them no good. Other players held vast fortunes, but none had grown this fast, or made this much money in a single stroke. Selling him items was not the only aim.
The Legendary and Mythic gear he sold on the Black Market... even for their grades, those weren't ordinary.
That was the thought of Capcom, a Great Merchant watching Yujun from a distance. Even among the heavenly race he was well along in years, and wrinkles crowded his face. For all that age, he was strikingly handsome, and more than a few of the heavenly folk had fallen for his dignified charm.
"Insane..."
Having taken in Yujun's equipment with his own eyes, Capcom let out a hollow laugh.
"The things he sold on the Black Market were toys."
Capcom possessed an ability others did not. It was neither a trait nor a skill listed on a status window, but he had an eye for items — an eye so sharp it was a wonder the thing had never manifested as a skill. Among merchants, no one could match him. Experience and that discernment had made him a Great Merchant, and he had held the title for decades.
Great Merchants did not deal in items alone. Capcom ran a food business and owned several factories that produced magical goods, though he left the day-to-day to others and spent most of his time in the markets of Heaven. There was no special reason. It was simply fun.
The world was full of every kind of item. Some Mythic pieces carried options so absurd they defied belief; others of the same grade were pathetic enough to draw a sigh. An ordinary person could not tell a good option from a bad one by looks alone, though they might guess the grade. Capcom could. He could not read every precise detail, but he knew on instinct how good an item was.
What in the world is he? Has that boy received the Supreme God's favor?
Without support on that scale, there was no way he could have assembled gear like that only months after setting foot in the Tower of Infinity. The rumors had circulated so wildly that Capcom had assumed they were exaggerated. Seeing it himself, the truth surpassed imagination.
That sword, especially...
It was not even radiating energy. It sat in its sheath, and still a terrifying power pressed out of it. Capcom was a Great Merchant, but he was also a recognized powerhouse in Heaven. He had worked to keep his goods safe from enemies, and good items had a way of making their owner strong whether he sought it or not. Even so, his whole body prickled. Why could he feel the sword's edge from here, while it was still sheathed? A vision rose before his eyes, vivid as if it were happening now — that blade driving straight into them.
What's wrong with me?
Cold sweat broke on Capcom's brow. He did not know it, but that extraordinary eye for items had left him indirectly exposed to the power sealed in the Planet Destroyer's Sword. He jerked his gaze away, afraid his eyes might meet Shin Yujun's, and was startled to find he had grown afraid without meaning to.
Over a single sword?
The absurdity of it pulled a dry laugh out of him. Fine weapons, especially quality ones, had always sent a chill down his spine, but this was something else entirely.
"Old man. What are you doing out here? Not even a single guard?"
Shoman appeared then, several heavenly subordinates in tow.
"Do I really need cumbersome guards? Who here could kill me?"
"I'd say Shin Yujun could."
"......"
He was not wrong. Until now Capcom had underestimated the boy, if only a little. Seeing him in person made the scale of his ability hit all at once. On the weapon alone, Yujun was a monster a tier above him.
"Shoman. You and I want the same thing, and this isn't a matter of a day or two. Why not ease the glare in those eyes?"
"A glare? Your farsightedness must have gotten even worse."
"My memory's still sharp, though. Looking at you now, I can almost see the old days, when you used to watch me with respect."
"...Those are old days, just as you say. I was immature then."
"You still look immature to me."
"Which is why I said your eyes are going. Where, exactly, do I look immature?"
Pride was on the line. Neither Great Merchant meant to yield a word. They also did not approach Yujun rashly. The merchants' swarm had surely left him irritated, and speaking to him now would be close to shooting themselves in the foot.
"That undead..."
"It's a summon."
"A summon that strong?"
"He's famous. I heard he's a growth-type."
"The rumor's true. He's gotten much bigger than he used to be."
Paranet was drawing attention in a different sense from Yujun. An undead had set foot in Heaven's market, the place players passed through more actively than anywhere else. He had been a little cowed at first. Now his nose was in the air.
"Master. A great many here envy me."
"More like they find you novel."
"Even so, receiving such gazes is a pleasant thing."
"Yeah? Speci—"
He had been about to call it peculiar, but who, of any race, disliked being the center of attention? Yujun himself had enjoyed this sort of thing, in his own way. By now being recognized had grown more tiresome than anything, yet even back when he was an ordinary person he had envied celebrities. He simply had not lived their troubles. Now he understood them, a little. The more familiar the attention became, the more the players' interest grated.
Especially with those perverts watching my every move.
In the Tower of Infinity it was a fate the strong could not escape, but it still got under his skin. The merchants' shower of interest was cute by comparison.
The Demon God Worshippers are watching me too, aren't they?
He was confident he could pick out their presence in an instant. Recording orbs were another matter. Three of them currently sat within his senses, and he crushed them with a mana-bullet spell.
Boom!
The act did not mean much, in truth. Recording orbs were surplus goods to wealthy players. Destroy them like this, and there was no end to it.
A guard approached then, his face stiff.
"Magic is not permitted in the market. Offensive magic, least of all."
"I didn't know. I'll be careful."
"Yes. Please see that you are."
Yujun had broken the local rules, but the guard did not come on high and mighty. He had been ordered not to cross this man's mood.
"Today, in many ways, I believe we are seeing the measure of Master's influence."
"I felt it too."
In a market this large, he had become a VIP by nothing more than walking in. Wherever he went, eyes stuck to him. They were blatant, and a little envy and jealousy mixed in, but none of the looks were hostile.
Atradeon told me to go to a Great Merchant.
Yujun decided to secure access first.
"Where's a Great Merchant? A Great Merchant?"
"You call for a Great Merchant the way one calls a neighborhood dog. I am Capcom."
"You're a Great Merchant?"
"That I am."
"Hmm... For a Great Merchant, you seem awfully plain. You don't bring a grand carriage along?"
"Our rising powerhouse nurses some odd prejudices. Is a player not faster than any such carriage? When an inventory will hold one's goods, there is no need to drag one around."
"Right. Anyway, could I see the goods first?"
"I dare say I have brought items that will satisfy you."
"Can't talk about it here. Is there somewhere quiet?"
Yujun dropped his voice to a murmur, and Capcom smiled and nodded.
"Is that not the very basics? Come along."
"Hold on."
Just as Capcom turned to lead the way, Shoman stepped in to block him.
"Are the two of you not a touch impatient? There is more than one merchant here."
"And who are you?"
"I, too, am one of the Great Merchants you were seeking. I carry goods of far finer quality than that old man. I am called Shoman."
"Hoh..."
Yujun's eyes lit up. Had the very situation he had been hoping for not walked up to him on its own?
So this is the place.
Two Great Merchants had already shown themselves before him. This could only be good news.