Chương 40: The Merchant

Meno stared at the evolution prompt and let himself enjoy being right for three full seconds. The system had not been a checklist. The popups were training rails. Heat here. Strike there. Say the rune, hammer the rune, pretend the forge only accepted one clean answer because beginners needed one clean answer.

But if a player understood enough of what the profession was doing, if he could see where the metal resisted and where the magic tried to close, the world would let him shove a wrong method through the wall until it became a route. Accept Evolution? [Y/N] Meno did not press Y immediately. Fluxforge Smith looked good on paper. Active magical effects sounded like the sort of thing guilds killed for. But it also smelled like work: study work, book work, rune-combination work.

The ugly part was standing at a forge testing random magical syllables until one of them stopped being expensive smoke. Normal elemental gear was simple by comparison. Tidal Edge II was always useful if the enemy matched. A player could carry a fire-killer, an air-killer, an undead-killer, whatever the bracket allowed. In Uncommon gear, that made sense. Later, when weapons became Epic, Legendary, the plan collapsed under cost.

Nobody sane would own a Legendary blade for every enemy type unless they had guild storage. Runes were different. They looked like spenders. Build charge through hits, then cash it for an effect. Cleanse. Maybe shield. Maybe blink. Maybe poison purge, anti-stun, mana burn, knockdown, whatever the rune language allowed. Meno's eyes drifted toward N. Then Bradbaron burst into the forge.

"Do not decline!" The guards outside had barely started returning to their posts, and several angry players were still yelling insults. Bradbaron dodged between them like a bald cockroach, grinning like the disaster had personally invited him. Meno looked at him.

"I wasn't asking."

"This is Elemental Extraction, two point oh," Bradbaron said.

"Do you know how much gold you could have pulled out of elementals with that?"

"I don't care. What is it to you?" Bradbaron pointed at the Rune Spire in Meno's hand.

"That terrible weapon you just made is crazy in all the right ways. I know you have no patience for quests or rune research. I'll find the combinations people actually want. I'm a mage, kind of. You craft, I sell, we split profit fifty-fifty." Chat reacted exactly as expected. scam baron do not trust bald merchant run WifeLawyer villain arc 50 is way too high Meno looked from Bradbaron to chat.

"You're right about one thing. I have no patience for this. Why would I trust you with items and half the profit?" Bradbaron spread his hands.

"My profession is Merchant. I have Merchant Exchange access. Every major guild uses Merchants because that's where the real stuff moves. I get profession XP from deals, and the AI tracks the contracts, so I can't scam you. If I fail to sell the item, you get it back." Meno narrowed his eyes.

"You're level twenty. Pretty high for someone obsessed with flipping. Are you even good at this?"

"Oh, that." Bradbaron waved one hand.

"I bought carries with gold. Everyone is gold-starved right now, so they were pretty cheap." Meno felt no surprise at all. Of course Bradbaron had paid people to drag him upward. It must have cost a disgusting amount and meant nothing in an actual fight. Fire Adept or not, the man looked like he would forget his spells if a boar sneezed at him. he bought level 20 lmao boosted pay to stand happy whale noises chat hrrroooooom mmmmmwooooo"Show proof," Meno said.

"Sure." Bradbaron's grin sharpened.

"I can share the UI. I just hit Merchant level twenty-five thanks to your daggers. Sold them for three-fifty each." YOU SOLD FOR 200 THREE FIFTY EACH finessed hrrroooooom PrayerBeadDiscount merchant diff mmmmmwooooo [Merchant Exchange Profile Shared] Bradbaron — Merchant Level 25 Access: Merchant Exchange Completed Deals: 723 Active Listings: 63 Total Profit: 22, 940 gold Total Losses: 7, 200 gold Best Flip: +2, 900 gold Worst Flip: -1, 260 gold Meno read the profile twice.

"What the hell." Bradbaron's bald head practically shone under forge light.

"You lost more gold than I made," Meno said.

"That's because your inventory is still full of good stuff, and you sold your dragon materials in the dumbest way possible. Short public auction, too little time, no private pressure, no payment plans. You didn't give people enough room to get greedy." Meno went still.

"You bought the dragon mats."

"I sniped all three because the guilds weren't bidding for some reason." Bradbaron shrugged.

"Then I resold them through Merchant Exchange. Best flip I've had. Private exchange allows payment plans, so bids go much higher. Guilds can spend gold they do not have yet by using gear from their top players as collateral." Meno stared at him. So the guilds had not been bluffing. The cartel had held publicly. The bastards had really tried to freeze him out, and Bradbaron had crawled through the floorboards under them with a sack.

"If you're so good at this," Meno said, "why aren't you in a guild?"

"Nah. That's no fun. I don't want to be told what to do, and I don't need their contracts." Bradbaron smiled like rent had never been a real concept to him.

"I'm already rich outside the game." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Bradbaron laughed, which made Meno want to tax him personally. Instead, he clicked Y. [Profession Evolution Accepted] [Profession Updated: Fluxforge Smith — Level 25] The profession interface shifted. Most of the old blacksmithing categories remained, but a new rune-channel tab appeared beside the standard weapon and armor lists. Only one variant sat inside it.

[Known Variant Pattern: Charmsteel Rune Spire] [Known Rune: Deepwater Rune] The Deepwater Rune could be applied to known recipes, at least in theory. The UI did not explain how it behaved on armor. That made it annoying, interesting, and therefore expensive.

"Okay," Meno said.

"Let's do it. Give me the contract. I don't want to deal with this anyway, and it'll make everything smoother." Bradbaron's expression shifted, just a little too pleased, and Meno remembered that harmless people did not usually move this much gold. [Merchant Exchange Contract Offered] Contract Type: Distribution Agreement Parties: Bradbaron / PrayerBeadGod Terms: You may trade items directly or deposit them into the Bank. Bradbaron may withdraw deposited items from the Bank for sale.

Crafted Items: Profits are split 50/50 after material cost calculation. Other Items: Bradbaron receives 5% of the sale price. Unsold items automatically return to your Bank after 7 days. Either party may terminate this contract at any time. Material Cost Calculation: Material cost is calculated at time of sale using current average material prices from the Public Auction House and the Merchant Exchange. Warning: Profit estimates may cause losses if material prices fall. Accept Contract?

[Y/N] Meno read every line because even he had limits. [Contract Accepted]"Are material prices lower on the Merchant Exchange?" Meno asked. Bradbaron looked offended.

"No. That would make no sense. Why would people sell rare stuff for less? Merchant Exchange is mostly gear, rare materials, and things too political for the public board."

"What stops you from taking my materials, listing them at public prices, and making me eat five percent for no reason?"

"Well, if I did that, you would cancel the contract." Bradbaron pointed at the prompt fading from Meno's vision.

"You get sale reports when you pick up gold at the Bank. You will know."

"Good." Meno opened inventory and pulled out the materials he had already decided were future clutter.

"Sell these." He traded over ten Uncommon III Gravebone pieces. Then the five Rare III Embervein Slivers. Bradbaron's eyes brightened.

"Not the Dream-Burned Fire Essence?"

"No. I'm keeping that."

"Smart enough." Bradbaron accepted the items.

"Do not teach anyone Rune Spire. They will reverse-engineer it from your stream eventually, but it gives us time to make big profits. Now craft as many as you can."

"That'll take a while, and I'm out of Water Essence. I'd rather farm XP. Crafting these doesn't even give profession XP anymore."

"I'll give you Water Essences for free," Bradbaron said at once.

"I bought a bunch the moment you started crafting. Prices will double." [Trade Complete] [Water Essence x10 Acquired] Meno needed gold. If the next hour was forging, then the next hour was forging.

"Fine," Meno said. He went to the trainer first.

"Uncommon III base recipes." The trainer looked him over differently now. Less like an apprentice. More like an apprentice holding a lit torch in a library.

"Three hundred fifty gold," the trainer said.

"Reputable rate." Meno's face tightened.

"That's discounted?"

"Yes." [Uncommon III Base Crafting Patterns unlocked.] [Balance: 1, 214 gold, 10 silver] Meno pointed at his station.

"I'm about to craft five more Rune Spires. It might get heated." The trainer turned toward the public forge, where several players still watched from too close because danger and content had the same smell.

"Certainly," the trainer said, polite enough to be alarming.

"I will empty the forge." That was new. Fluxforge Smith had perks. Within two minutes, the nearby workstations were cleared. Angry players were redirected to another forge wing by apprentices who kept glancing at Meno. The guards stayed outside, but farther back. Bradbaron waited near the wall, patient and smug, which made him look even more like a market fungus. Meno spent the next hour almost blowing himself up. The first repeat craft proved the AI had already stolen his process and cleaned it into a pattern.

The prompts were not the old standard sword marks anymore. They followed his own bad idea: extended blade line, overdraw heat management, additional charmsteel integration, forward-weight correction, forced one-handed design, rune-channel carve timing. The UI requested a runic chisel. Meno did not have one, but the Ashen Crown Tail Spike fit the replacement slot. It would have been strange if the game suddenly pretended the dragon spike could not do what it had just done.

[Tool Substitute Accepted: Epic III Ashen Crown Tail Spike] Each Rune Spire cost too much: five Charmsteel Bars, two Infused Grip Wraps, two Infused Binding Pins, ten Charm Forge Fuels, and two Water Essences. Each one cooked his HP down with forge overdraw. Each one required a wait afterward unless he wanted to burn consumables just to survive his own workstation. So the loop became real progress: ugly, repetitive, and expensive. Heat the metal. Force the shape. Feed the forge. Take burn ticks.

Carve the rune-channel with the Tail Spike. Hammer before the magic healed. Quench and inhale the vapor. Wrap, pin, grind, breathe. Wait five minutes for HP to crawl back from the danger line. Repeat. The UI helped now, not by making the craft easy, but by making the tedious parts repeatable. The prompts gave his hands a rhythm and his eyes a place to lock, so the process stopped scattering his focus every thirty seconds. It was still expensive, still ugly, still hot enough to chew through his HP.

Five more times, the Rune Spire came out perfect. [Pattern Complete] Type: Uncommon II Charmsteel Rune Spire Quality: 100% — Perfect Durability: Maximum Deepwater Rune: Twenty consecutive hits charge the blade. Activate to remove one debuff from yourself. Designed by PrayerBeadGod: Extreme reach while retaining one-handed classification. By the end, Meno's arms felt cooked even through the capsule's safety filters. The forge station looked scorched.

The trainer inspected the last blade without speaking and then moved aside, which might have been respect or professional grief. Meno checked his materials. Charmsteel Bars x21. Charm Forge Fuel x4. Infused Grip Wraps x53. Infused Binding Pins x53. He had bought the wrong bottleneck by a mile. Viewers: 49, 802. Bradbaron approached as if he had been waiting outside a bank vault. Meno handed him four Rune Spires to sell, keeping the original as his main weapon and one spare for durability.

Bradbaron accepted the four blades like they were religious objects, which made Meno trust him more.

"Good," Bradbaron said.

"Very good."

"Don't make that face."

"This face is money." Meno ignored that because arguing would only feed him.

"Buy me the cheapest out-of-combat regeneration potion. Something that stops me standing around like an idiot between fights." [Merchant Buy Order] Requested Item: Out-of-combat HP regeneration consumable Budget: 100 gold Meno confirmed. [Balance: 1, 114 gold, 10 silver] A minute later, Bradbaron traded him a stack of familiar blue-gold vials. [Duneleaf Recovery Draught x25 Acquired]"Twenty-five?" Meno said.

"They are cheap if you know who is panic-selling." Bradbaron smiled.

"Also, you are very bad at buying." Meno stored the potions. He could not go back to Glassdry Catacomb yet. The boss there was High threat. Killing it solo would probably ding him to 30, and if Titan III followed the same pre-twenty logic, then he needed the bracket achievement now. Threat??? solo before Level 30. He had already earned Titan II before Level 20. Titan III eligibility had been blocked before by pending review.

Now he was Level 29, carrying a cursed lamp-post sword that removed debuffs after twenty hits. One level left. One question mark needed. He rested the Rune Spire across one shoulder, the ridiculous blade jutting out far enough behind him that he had to angle it away from the doorframe, and started walking out of the forge.

"Okay," Meno said.

"Which question mark do we poke first with this beauty?"