Maxwell tried to calm himself as he was pulled to the real world by the foreign voice. It was a voice he didn’t hear, but felt inside his mind.

  He was used to telepathy, but this felt more than that somehow. He gazed at the dog sitting among the foliage with wary eyes.

  It was apparent that this was something that shouldn’t be here. It looked utterly unassuming apart from its eyes, and what it made Maxwell feel seemed way out of the power scale of this world.

  “You don’t need to panic, I only possess a small echo of what I was once.”

  Maxwell winced as the communication was still very heavy on his mind. The dog didn’t show any movement and kept watching the puppy. Maxwell was surprised to detect something in the dog’s eyes he didn’t expect. It was pure love, in a density that he had never felt.

  “I was not permitted to have a child throughout my existence. In the end, only in this form, I was weak enough,”

  Maxwell could hear notifications as the dog spoke, and he could feel that the strain in his mind was lessening.

  “Who are you?” Maxwell managed to speak through the pressure.

  “They call me many things, but I find them useless now. I was foretold that you would be here, and after an eternity of predictability, I should say, I’m surprised.”

  The dog slowly stood up and started walking towards Maxwell. Maxwell could feel the pressure increase by leaps and bounds as the dog approached him, making his mind resume its previous ache.

  “Any creature at your level should have died, long before reaching here.”

  The animal was now very close. Maxwell looked at it, trying to understand if it had any bad intention, and found that reading the intentions of an immortal dog was a bit hard. The situation was even a bit comical when seen from an outside perspective.

  The dog sniffed him slowly, and from this close, Maxwell could see that it looked really old. Considering that there was a puppy close, that didn’t make much sense. Old dogs were hardly fertile.

  “Apart from its effects, your soul is undetectable. The fact that you have formed a soul is already unbelievable, but for it to be hidden like this...”

  The creature stopped in a puzzled silence. Maxwell could see the otherworldly eyes of the dog looking at something beyond his physical form.

  “How did you generate enough faith to fuse your soul? Never mind that, even if you did that, it wouldn’t be enough. Your spirituality would simply collapse.”

  The creature turned back and got back to where it was. Maxwell still felt surreal. If he was going to meet horrors beyond his understanding, he would much prefer if they were not fluffy dogs.

  “I was told that, a person would come to me in this place. I find it laughable that the system-“

  Maxwell was startled to see the world suddenly lose all color around the dog. It was not even black and white. Colors simply stopped existing as a concept. He felt a headache as he could still see the dog, but it had no color. A moment shorter than a thousandth of a second later, everything was back to normal.

  “Huh, I probably shouldn’t have said that it was involved.” The creature threw a look towards Maxwell. “If it only punishes me this much for this, you must have a high authority already. “I can read neither your karma nor past. I congratulate you, you are the first enigma I have seen in eons.”

  Maxwell was slowly getting used to the pressure from the creature.

  “Should I take that as a good or bad thing?” he asked, managing to produce some sarcasm.

  “It depends, people like you tend to die young, as they can’t figure out how powerful they are and attack something exceedingly powerful.”

  “Due to being able to fight above our level, I presume?” I nearly did that, and it was not even once, he thought.

  “Exactly, the layman finds levels as a great way to scale power. The anomaly finds them as a hindrance. You should be even more anomalous for you to come here.”

  “Thank you, you are most anomalous yourself,” Maxwell said, and he immediately regretted it, as he could see something like a laugh go through the dog’s body. It looked very out of place.

  “You keep your humor even before me. I find it novel, unfortunately, we have a task ahead of us. I’m afraid you are in for a monologue. How is your head?”

  “It’s fine, the usual migraine, probably dehydration, you know. Walking through a dead forest and all.” Maxwell found himself joking a lot more than usual in this situation. He was feeling a bit ridiculous talking to a dog who was apparently something like a god once.

  “It would be disappointing to see you faint because of regular transmission. Your bird is almost as different from the norm as you are, but I can see she is connected to you.”

  “Chirp!” Blueberry, who was still on top of Maxwell’s head, chirped docilely, conveying that she was unique even before meeting Maxwell. The bird was very silent since they entered the cave. Maxwell couldn’t really blame the bird.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Is that so? Anomalies do tend to gravitate together, this is very early for that though.” the creature threw another glance at the bird before continuing.

  “It’s no secret that I am dying. This universe cannot hold me, as my soul cannot sustain itself here. Even this puppy is affected as it is considered a foreigner. According to what I was told by the system,-“ the creature stopped to see if it would face any punishment.

  “Very well. According to what the system told me, you have something that could help him.” The creature glanced at the puppy, signifying that it was talking about it.

  “You want me to save his life?” Maxwell asked. To be fair, Maxwell expected something much grander than this to come out of this ordeal. The creature was obviously very powerful once, and it seemed like it could directly interact with the system.

  “I would find the idea preposterous once myself, but the world of emotions manages to surprise even the most apathetic. I never had a child before, and now, I refuse to let it die, even if I lose everything myself.”

  Maxwell listened to the sorrowful voice inside his head. Since the start of the encounter, this was the first time he could detect an emotion from the creature.

  “I could help, but my power works by paying a price for a desired outcome.” He answered. If the system itself sent him here, he probably wouldn’t be able to hide it anyway, so he might as well get on with the deal.

  “The way you say that suggests the price can be paid in many ways. I’m ready to give almost everything.”

  Maxwell summoned his trait window to see how it would work in a situation like this.

  Trade Commencing.

  Desired Result: Lifting The [Curse of The Alien] From The Puppy.

  Evaluating Trade.

  Maxwell felt a presence entering his mind as he read the prompt. The presence felt familiar, and it didn’t take him long to recognize it as his trait. He felt the recently discovered presence of his etherium soul standing ready, and he knew that he could resist this influence if he wanted to. He simply let it continue doing its job for this instance.

  He felt his body look at the Puppy and his mother, and just like the time with Bob, he felt his mind go blank as the trait saw things beyond his understanding. He felt his mind come to a halt. His sense of time disappeared, and when he was back to being himself again, he could see that the dog was looking at him thoughtfully.

  Task difficulty:?

  30% of the Soul belonging to ??? is deemed fair.

  Proceed Transaction?

  Maxwell took a deep breath. He could still hear notifications as his mental resistance improved without a break. Will I break my mind whenever I want to do a big trade? He sighed.

  He mentally gave an affirmative answer to the system, and instinctively, he knew that the creature would see a prompt now.

  “What a peculiar ability, does it have a name?” the dog asked, also choosing the affirmative option without much thought.

  Trade initiating.

  Error.

  Resource Exceeding The Tier of The User.

  Trait: Merchant of Yliaster Bypasses the restriction.

  Maxwell knew that the dog could see a different version of the window in front of him. He was not sure if it could see the name of the trait, but the dog’s eyes suddenly widened as its pupils constricted, as if it was in shock.

  “You? So he is not-“ The creature was interrupted by the system once more, and Maxwell felt the world just stop. The concepts, energies, and even his trait working on the soul of these creatures came to a halt. The colors were gone, emotions disappeared, and time lost all meaning.

  Maxwell, for a moment, could hear a shriek beyond his understanding coming from the animal, as this time, the phenomenon didn’t stop.

  The creature released a howl, and Maxwell could see a little color return around its body. He had long stopped thinking about it as a dog. In the stopped world, the dog turned his eyes towards him, them being the only thing that still retained their colors, and his mind screamed once more.

  “Kid... You don’t know what you possess. Take everything! Give my trait to my child! Let it be your pet if you want to! Hahahaha... Truly a divine comedy.”

  The dog’s voice screamed in Maxwell’s mind, all words coming at the same exact time, echoing in his mind, making it strain even more. The dog looked up as if it was trying to speak to somebody above.

  “Let this be, and you will finally manage to get rid of me.”

  Maxwell watched, and after a moment, he could feel the world as he knew it start to come back.

  He stumbled and held on to a nearby plant as the world returned and tried to breathe in short gasps. He could already feel the scenes he saw disappearing from his mind as it couldn’t contain them. He lifted his head to see the dog staring at him solemnly. The puppy was still playing happily, like nothing had happened.

  Exception Made.

  Trade Modified.

  For the existence of ??? Their trait shall be bestowed upon their child.

  Trade Difficulty: Impossible

  Proceeding.

  Maxwell raised his eyebrow as there was no mention of this being too high-level for him, but he understood what was happening soon. In the end, he was trading with the system, and it apparently really wanted this trade to happen, so it was helping.

  Maxwell watched as the creature, whose name he still didn’t know, slowly got fainter as if someone was slowly erasing it with an eraser. It turned towards him, and once again he could hear its voice, albeit it was a bit fainter this time.

  “Let my child follow you, Merchant of Yliaster. And you shall have the eternal gratitude of The Traveler.

  With these last words, the figure of the dog completely disappeared as if it had never been there. All that was left was a puppy looking at his disappearing mother with distress. It started howling and sniffing the ground where his mother had stood just a second before.

  Maxwell, shaking with exertion as his mind was tired beyond belief, approached the puppy with clumsy steps. It gazed at him as it continued to howl in distress, scratching the ground, trying to understand where his mother had gone.

  Maxwell put his hand on the dog’s head and watched it get calmer before turning towards him, eyes filled with hope. Maxwell couldn’t stand it. He had always been weak against dogs when it came to things like this.

  Not knowing what to do instead, he kept petting the dog’s head, and with time, he finally got calmer. Maxwell still couldn’t detect anything out of the ordinary from the dog, but at least it was more relaxed now.

  Maxwell was thoughtful about the last words of The Traveler. The being seemed to realize something about him in it's last moments, and by its reaction, it was far from simple. For now, though, he chose to focus on the situation at hand.

  It took some work, but in the end, he now had a dog.