Maxwell smiled as he checked the sword he was holding. Who didn’t want to create a magical artifact at some point? He definitely did. He used observation on the sword once again to see what exactly changed. He could hear some level-ups, too, but he would check them later.

  Guided Sword of House Leyn - Tier 2

  A sword guided by the Merchant to exceed its potential. Formerly being a tier 0 family heirloom of the House Leyn it was strengthened by a talented but young blacksmith, reaching tier one. This is an anomaly among artifacts, having an affinity while being purely made from metal.

  Increased Efficiency In Channeling Wind Affinity Mana.

  Increases Wind Mana Regeneration.

  Passively stores wind mana. Stored mana can be unleashed to strengthen an attack.

  Maxwell was satisfied with the weapon he had created. However, the businessman inside him cringed a bit because he was definitely overpaying Darve. I guess I can count on this advertisement.

  He could feel the sword was charged to the brim from the mana he was trying to push in; maybe he could use this mana to make a demonstration. He tossed the sword towards Darve.

  All this time, the young man was watching him like he was crazy. To his senses all Maxwell was doing was standing while holding the sword. Towards the end though, even he could see the green tint the sword gained.

  He caught the sword gracelessly taken by surprise. He stared at it for a couple of seconds before his face turned weird. Maxwell smiled as he watched the man go through several emotions as he apparently used observation on the sword.

  “Who are you?” Darve asked, looking at him in wariness. Unlike Maxwell, he lived in a civilization where the system was starting to become normal. He knew that the system didn’t mention people in descriptions if they were not extraordinary.

  He expected the system to say something like “a talented hermit” when mentioning who was responsible for the changes, but the system seemed to embrace the alias this guy chose immediately.

  “Just a merchant in the woods,” Maxwell said smiling. He quite liked being mysterious. It made people behave a lot less smart than they actually were.

  “I want to say that I can’t take this, but I can’t go back without my family heirloom,” Darve said as he was still checking out the sword. “What’s guiding?” He asked.

  “You can say that it’s my kind of magic,” Maxwell answered unhelpfully. Darve seemed to get the message though as he didn’t pursue the matter any further.

  “I will take this, but I will pay this debt on first chance. If you ever come to the Kralor you can come to me for support.” Darve said, sounding grateful.

  Weapons are probably crucial for classes like his. Bob and he was different as Bob received buffs when he didn’t use items. He didn’t need an active item to do what he was doing.

  “I will consider that if I ever visit,” Maxwell spoke genuinely. He didn’t dislike this man.

  Darve seemed satisfied to hear that as he started doing some basic swings with the sword. He made an elaborate dance with the sword. Maxwell could see that the young man was quite a talented swordsman from his movements. Darve finally unleashed his last attack toward the forest as he used the strengthening ability of the sword.

  They watched as a wind blade shot from the sword, traveling rapidly. With a smooth whizzing sound, it cut through a couple of trees in the distance, making them topple. Pretty impressive, considering it’s a free attack, Maxwell thought. He was a bit amused to see a shocked expression on Darve’s face.

  The young man quickly gathered his composure, realizing that he was making an idiot of himself. “Sorry, that attack was comparable to our strongest long-distance fighters.” he clarified.

  Why are these guys so weak? Maxwell contemplated. The metal mana bolt he used on the crocodile for example, was not slowed down before puncturing through multiple trees.

  “Why are they so weak?” Maxwell asked as he couldn’t help it.

  Darve had an ugly expression for a second before answering. “It's not like they are too weak. Apparently, your standards are too high,” he said.

  “Chirp” Blueberry added from outside with a voice somehow sounding like it was boasting.

  Darve looked at the bluebird curiously and after a second Maxwell could see the weird expression on his face. He probably used observation on the bird.

  “How does a bluebird even reach level 10?” he asked making Maxwell chuckle.

  “I found it like this,” Maxwell answered truthfully. “Are you leaving now?” he asked.

  “Yes, I hope you can visit the city soon. You could create a very successful business with this skill.’’ Darve said, looking at his sword at the end. They both knew that other forces in the city wouldn’t be happy about such a significant new player, but they both kept their silence.

  ’’I might consider that in the future; I have more leveling opportunities here though.’’ He said.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  ’’We have quite a few rifts that we must keep in check close to the city, so I highly doubt that. But that’s not my call to make. Another time, Merchant.’’ Darve said speedily as if he was in a hurry to leave. He immediately started walking, too, so he might actually be in a hurry.

  ‘’You forgot your workforce,’’ Bob who was silent throughout this discussion shouted after the guy.

  Darve froze for a second before looking at the mercenary who was on the ground, tied by ropes he was carrying before.

  ’’You can take him as a bonus payment.’’ He said and darted away without waiting for their answer.

  ’’Huh?’’ Bob asked dumbly. The mercenary suddenly started struggling as he was terrified by this idea. Maxwell just hit him with a blast of telepathy to silence him.

  He could guess why Darve did what he did, but it would suggest Darve was a lot more intelligent than he thought before. Maxwell guessed that, Darve probably realized they were uncomfortable with the idea of having slaves.

  Maxwell was surprised that the guy could hide it so well. Now, though, he once again needed to decide what to do with this mercenary.

  He could kill the guy, but that felt unnecessarily pragmatic. He didn’t feel helpless right now. He could also use him as an experiment subject, but the same could be said about that.

  He suddenly had an idea he was curious to try. He poked the mercenary with his foot and watched as the guy gave a startled gasp, waking up dazedly.

  ’’What would you give up to keep your life?’’ He asked the guy.

  ‘’Please don’t kill me. Please. I have children. I will give anything!’’ The mercenary mumbled as he seemed out of it quite badly.

  This was more than enough for Maxwell. He made the guy pass out with another telepathic curse before summoning his trait window to see if his experiment worked or not.

  Target: Mercenary

  Consented Resources: All Aspects

  Maxwell stared at this notification, contemplating. The system was quite evil if it handed out traits like these to people. Just because of a slip of the tongue, he could now take everything from the guy. He could take his life, his soul, his lifespan, everything.

  He carefully sent the interface his intention. At this point, he was pretty used to treating things like humans as a target for Soul’s Voice. It was a weird experience to think so fluidly without words, but it was really useful.

  Soul Intent Received.

  Target resource set to: All memories related to the puppy and Maxwell Aurelius

  Resource Accepted.

  Value is determined as low.

  What do you desire?

  Maxwell checked the system message, and he was satisfied with it. It was a small trade, so it was normal for it to have low value.

  Ironically, this was the first time he was using a resource that was not too complex or high-level, so he could actually see an evaluation of value.

  Maxwell didn’t know what he should wish for, though. He already got what he wanted with the price the man was paying. He decided to try some different options to see what he could do with this trait.

  He first wished for Soul stat increase for himself to see if he could become even more broken.

  Acceptable trade: A points increase for 2 days

  Huh. That’s useful for sure. Maxwell thought. He could use this feature to see what these resources were equal to. He wished for strength next.

  Acceptable Trade: A points increase permanently.

  Maxwell was amazed after seeing this notification. It didn’t make much sense for his soul stat to be this valuable. He tried the other attributes, and he found that he could get two for vitality while the others were the same with strength.

  After some thought, he decided to wish for something relatively simple. He transferred his idea to the system, not specifying anything except a single quality to lower the value of the trade.

  Acceptable Trade: Clothes Repairable By Mana infusion

  He was very satisfied with this trade proposal. He really wanted comfortable clothes after wearing these rags for days. He also wanted them to be repairable. He chose mana infusion because that seemed to be something advanced most people didn’t have. That probably lowered the value of the clothes as most people couldn’t repair it.

  He finalized the trade like this. He would check the attribute trade again with something more valuable. 1 point in strength was a lot less important to him than clothes.

  He carefully observed the mercenary while waiting for the system to do something. This time, though, the scale of the trade was apparently too small for him to feel anything. Trade was finalized without him sensing anything.

  Trade Completed.

  Good Luck Merchant.

  Maxwell read the notification calmly and suddenly felt weird. He was completely focused all this time to percieve any change that the system made on the environment. Why was he wearing the new clothes now without him feeling anything?

  One second, he could feel that he was wearing the rags; in the next second, he could feel that he was wearing the new clothes. The change was so seamless that he didn’t realize it happened until a couple of seconds later.

  Ok, too low-leveled, I get it, Maxwell thought, as he sighed. He suspected this was an attempt at humor by the system. Maxwell was very curious about who or what was behind the system, considering its weird sense of humor.

  He felt the clothes with his skill to check them. He was now wearing black pants and a black shirt. They were simple enough, and they didn’t seem to have any extraordinary quality. He observed the clothes.

  A Set Of Clothes - Grade 1

  A set of clothes for The Merchant, repairable by a specific skill of his.

  Maxwell, at first, couldn't understand why the system was so careful with the description, but he quickly figured out the reason. Anyone could observe items. If they saw something weird on the item like his trait’s name that alone would make the item more valuable as it would be a clue about the workings of the system.

  The System seemed to like being mysterious, and it certainly wanted to stay like that. That’s why the explanation was this simple. It simply didn’t contain any information.

  He got up and did some stretches to see if the clothes affected his movement. He discovered that they were like a set of clothes you could buy cheaply at a random store. Not too comfortable, but okay.

  I probably should have made a set of clothing repairable instead of making the system create it from scratch… Maxwell thought. He didn’t even know what the material he was wearing now. He finally had some normalcy in this world, though, so he wouldn't complain.

  After getting over the excitement over his new clothes, he summoned the system interface to check his long-neglected notifications.