Chapter 36: The negotiation
"Let's stop this nonsense and show me what you have now..." I said to cut off the sarcasm.
Greater potions: restore life 400 stones, regeneration 400 stones, resurrection 500 stones; greater immunity to elements 500 stones; magical abilities: 700 stones; heroic abilities: 1000 stones, unique abilities 2500 stones.
Although they seemed tempting, magical abilities were nothing more than a broad, varied compendium of spells, useful without a doubt, but in the end, the ability could be unlocked with practice and imagination so why spend my coins now when I could get them for free in a future...
The heroic abilities were more striking: Second chance (when the player is at 5% of his life, the power in his soul will shine, making him recover 50% of his health), frenzy (when the player is in combat against more than one enemy at starting from the 3 consecutive death in less than a minute, he will go into a frenzy, gaining 20% damage for each additional death and will not be able to stop killing for the same duration (5 minutes), mana circuit (the mana within the player is 50% more efficient in its cost and circulation through the body), gigantification (the player can grow up to 50% obtaining 25% strength and constitution and life), noble soul (when the player performs acts of extreme kindness or mercy all allies including the player will recover 25% health), Heroic Valor (when the player fights an enemy more powerful than him, he gains 25% damage against the enemy and a 25% damage reduction), Fated (the player's luck increases by 4), Immune to pain (even if the player receives serious wounds, he can overcome the pain and continue fighting normally, although this does not exempt him from dying from his wounds), regeneration (the player can heal his wounds in an unnatural way, recovering 1% per every minute), Human Weapon (the player's combat skills do double damage), War Disciple (the ability to develop combat skills and advance through ranks is halved, Magic Disciple (the ability to develop, understand, and advance through ranks with magical abilities or magical knowledge is halved). Rest of the heroic abilities are blocked.
And if the heroic abilities left me with my mouth open and with many questions, the four unique abilities on display were even more disconcerting. Understand languages (the player can understand any living language that exists both spoken and written), universal destiny (fate will forever be intertwined with the player and their descendants, luck +6), recognized by the gods (the player is observed by the gods who may intervene, help or guide you in your life), Undefeated (as long as the player is undefeated in combat, the possibility of acquiring special essences from his enemies is doubled). Rest of the unique abilities are blocked.
"Well, let's see what I can get for the junk and then we'll see if we can get something decent..." I said while smiling mysteriously
I began to take out the loot I collected from the red sprites. At first, the merchant looked strange, but when objects that should not fit in the backpack began to come out one after the other, his eyes popped out of their sockets...
"Where did you get a dimensional backpack...?" His eyes were only missing the symbols of the dolas as he looked at the backpack with covetousness...
The table had been filled with a multitude of weapons, and more than 200 bottles of flammable liquid (although I had saved as many bottles as possible).
"For all this, including the jars, I can give you 500 stones," the merchant began to say.
"deal," he didn't know if it was a little or a lot, so there was little else he could do but accept his offer and continue with the show...
Suddenly, while he was putting all the equipment in a bag, he realized something...
"You didn't kill the dem...?" His face was a mix of surprise and shock.
He remained silent as soon as he saw the medallion and the key in my hands... However, his reaction two seconds later surprised me...
"Hahaha, so finally thousands of years later someone has killed the poor exile hahaha, don't get me wrong boy I didn't know him or anything like that, this site is not mine, I only come here when there are participants to do business... "He told me, showing me his best con man's smile...
"Will you offer me something for this or not?" I replied anxiously...
"Of course, don't doubt it, Arlan's medallion... this one is excellent... I don't think you even calculate what you have in your hand, so I won't deceive you; that medallion is a symbol that identifies royalty. Among the demons of universe 22... although it has no magic or special use, if you were a demon without official lineage, you would pay a good price for it... the point is that it is useless to you and it is useful to me for my business that you seem like 2000 stones for it, deal? For the rest of the scrap, I'll give you 500 stones." Thinking about the skills I had read before, he didn't offer me a bad amount...
"And the key?" He thought that the key would have a great mystery and price behind it...
"I don't know what the key is, boy, nor do I know why that demon had it in his possession, but I recommend one thing: keep it; it's of no use to me, and to you or yours, who knows if one day they'll find a use for it? "He took another look at the key as if ruling something out...
I won't tell you that he wasn't disappointed by the fact that the key was worthless, but equally, with the stones he gave me, he could buy one more unique ability.
"Wait, I have more things..." I smiled as he looked for more loot to put on the table.
I continued taking out the lizardmen's equipment; they were of much higher quality than the previous ones. This time, I took out the salamander egg without beating around the bush.
"You never cease to surprise me, boy. I think that few in the history of this sanctuary have killed two of the bosses in the fire tests, and in your hands you have a legitimate salamander egg... I don't know if I will sell it to the tamers of Fritia or to the gluttons of the Volgurs..., how about 350 for the scrap? It is good but not abundant, and 2500 for the egg." The merchant licked his lips while looking at the egg.
"Why are you interested in the stones? What's the point of exchanging them for me?" I asked, curious about the merchant's strange business...
"Boy, in Athair there are races that, like you, passed through this sanctuary thousands of years ago; some in the coming-of-age ceremony like to give a stone to young warriors, but since in Athair these stones do not exist... The few that exist or can be obtained are highly valued... It's a win-win, don't you think? You get rid of something you don't want and I give you things that would otherwise be impossible for you to obtain, a great deal... "
"Who you really are...?" The more he talked to this NPC, the more mysterious he became.
"I'm just an old dream world merchant, the last remaining dream rider... I entered dreams to search, find or sell things that I can then take home and resell to the inhabitants of the lands... and also be good for helping the precursors of the new races so that their survival in Athair is more viable." He continued speaking for several minutes...
In order not to look bad, I pretended to know everything: demons, universes, unknown races, and someone who claimed that this was a dream world. Too much information for the moment...
"And what would you give me then for this?" I took out the three phoenix feathers and placed them on the table...
"Wow, that's a new record... it's not that I don't want all five of them, but it's a very expensive material so I recommend that you keep at least three... I'll enchant them so that you can take them with you when you leave the tutorial. What do you think, 2000 for each one?" I had no references as to what they would be used for, but if the only NPC I had found so far gave me advice, and a good price, what else could I do?
"Deal..." We shook hands and he handed me a paper that said "worth 9,350 stones."
"Don't look at me wrong; there aren't so many red stones, neither here nor in Athair..." He smiled...
This made a total of 13078 stones...
"How did the rest of the participants do?" I asked to have some news.
"There has been everything; some have played a surprising role, but so far none has gone as far as you" she patted me on the back while she told me this.
I chose three of the four unique abilities... understand languages, universal destiny, and being recognized by the gods. Really, given my lack of instinct and combat expertise, I doubted that I could get much use out of the undefeated ability... Still, I had 5575 stones left if we removed the three I needed for the scale...
With four thousand coins, buy the heroic skills mana circuit, disciple of magic, predestined, and heroic valor...
I bought a potion of immunity to cold to calmly face the next challenge... what I would do with the remaining 75 stones? I took three common skills that I had been wanting before entering the sanctuary: eyes on the neck, observing the strange, and resisting fear. The last 15 stones I spent on a basic cold resistance potion.
The merchant looked at me with a smile...
"Well, I think a hero has been born, and a great one; that's good for the newly arrived races... See you when the phase is over, boy."
We said goodbye on more cordial terms than I expected.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Albinus_istamar
Albinus_istamar I know there is a bit of excess data, but there are always points in a novel of this type where the plot stops to complete a power up, right? Well, I hope that in the long term it is worth cutting the intensity for a chapter. Greetings, your author.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone