Let me know if you spot errors
Next morning.
Misteltein Guild.
Arnold and Elora came back early this morning and revealed her secret. There were suspicions going around already so it was easy to accept the explanation.
What surprised them more was how their GM and VGM are now official. Before Galadriel—who was way too passionate about the situation—would grab Elora to go shopping for girly clothes, Arnold said he had something important to announce, something he decided yesterday during the evaluations.
"Guild Master, you want to take us all on quests individually?" Galadriel asked after he started the meeting off. General meetings are typically just for revising all the work they have to do and discuss how to manage quests the guild receives but he decided to start with this first.
It was just like she said, he revealed that he wants to go on a special quest with each of them over the next few days. Around the table was Nova, Elora, Shealis, Galadriel, Alice and Cameria. Lucia was here earlier but had some errands to run. Whereas Tenma was still camping outside the city.
"It's something called Ascension Trials. You're guaranteed to ascend your limits once you complete them."
Hearing that term, Alice's eyes widened.
'…How does an NPC know about these? Could it be Serz?' Later on in the game, the strongest individuals in Serz enter the Ascension Trials and become annoying foes to deal with if you take up a questline involving them. While Luke could also use them, it wouldn't really change his situation much as a Hero needs an awakening. That's something you don't get though Trials.
'No, I'm certain Serz shouldn't know about Ascension Trials this early on. The first trial dungeon appears in a different world.' Naturally, she had to remain composed to not accidentally reveal herself to this supposed player.
She decided to lay traps for him, after all. Maybe this could be an opportunity? But if he's really a player, it could be dangerous for her with how powerful he is now.
Alice refuses to believe he became so strong through coincidences. Either he is a player or someone connected to him is helping him.
Alice spoke, "I've heard of these from an old acquaintance. Not by name, of course. Only that they can make you strong if you complete the trials you are given. Weren't they built by the Gods to test the lengths humanity will go through to satiate our curiosity? That's how dungeons used to be described as."
"No, they're..." he was about to respond but froze then rephrased his answer, "I'm not sure. My informant just says they're mysterious but heard that people that came out of them came back stronger. Although, I'm not sure how and what these trials are. They've gone forgotten throughout history so there isn't much information about them. Or any at all."
"If they're mysterious then perhaps, we should enter together. The stronger the party, the better the chances of survival, right?"
"No. Only one person should enter at a time."
"How come?"
'She's asking a lot of questions but it can't be helped since they've only just heard about these.' He almost forgot for a moment that these are just NPCs and not actual players.
How could he tell? Well, none of them are hiding their status windows. Only players can do that. That's just ratting yourself out, though.
"If more than one enters, the other enters as a ghost while their main body is left outside the entrance… allegedly. There's no reason to take more than one person with you. Maybe two so that one can watch the first one's body outside while the other goes inside to help navigate the dungeons. Just like ordinary dungeons, we should expect traps and monsters inside so planning routes is essential."
"If these trials can make us stronger, even more so than regular farming, then there may be powerful monsters inside. I'll take responsibility to watch anyone's body." Alice immediately agreed.
That should protect them while they're inside, whether from monsters or raiders.
"Is it worth the risk to do something we have no knowledge of?" asked Cameria, "I don't think I can grow much more than this. I'd rather not risk doing something that won't benefit me…"
"The only reason you think so is because you think within the realm of mortals. To exceed our own limits, we should take trials that Gods built for us."
"Guild Master, are you thinking of letting everyone take these trials if they work out?" Galadriel asked a reasonable question.
"Eventually, yes. But we can't have that kind of secret leak when we're still growing as a guild. Until we're big enough to rival both the Mages Guild and the Adventurer's Guild Headquarters, we need to keep quiet about this. For now, it's just fragmented information so we can't rely on this alone."
"I understand."
"I would've suggested the same." said Elora with a wry smile, "The chaos this would cause could lead to conflicts that turn adventurers against each other. Even the empire would intervene to exert control over these dungeons."
"I've considered that but I trust you all to not leak this."
While everyone was fully trusting of their guild master, Alice had other thoughts:
'Whoever his informant is must not be an ordinary person… Could it be a player hoping to use Arnold?' that was a possibility but Alice heard that he went into the Sy God Dungeon along with the seventh-year students so he must've met the person there, assuming he's not a player himself.
'Whatever it might be, I'll need to keep an eye on him. If it really is a player deceiving him, then I can't overlook this.'
Unlike in the game, Arnold acts selflessly, even fighting on the frontlines in both Nuaria City and the Eswick Valley Town. Even the students who went to the dungeon said in their interviews that Arnold never mistreated them, only protected them. He did kill someone everyone loved and respected but that was because of a curse and Alice of all people knows how dangerous that curse is so what he did was nothing sort of what a Hero does.
And lastly, and the most important thing, Hero Luke is infatuated with Arnold, who treats him like a little brother now. By this point in the game, they've had several fights to the death. This kind of fighting helped Luke grow into a hardened warrior. That's how he gained the courage to fight the demons that invaded the academy.
If Arnold can be redeemed, she needs to at least protect him and see how much more he grows.
A knock came from the door. Since it's just a general meeting, Josephine was told that she can enter if something important comes up.
"Apologies for interrupting, Guild Master." Josephine opened the door and came inside, "A person who says they know you said they brought the things you asked for."
"The things I… asked for?" he didn't recall giving anyone besides Sylphy a task to complete. There's Lunaria too but she wouldn't teleport to him just to bring something.
"He said you requested magic items to use to make a deal with the magicians." Josephine smiled wryly, "The Guild Master moves really fast, huh…"
"I thought you said it would take a bit longer! Isn't that too fast?" Said Elora in disbelief.
"…Let the person inside."
He knew exactly who it was.
**
"What a pleasure it is to see you again, dear customer" a man in a dark hood came inside with a jovial laughter, "I've secured the items you'd need for your upcoming quest Any magician would water at the mouth if they see these items~"
'I shouldn't have underestimated him when he said he'll know when I'd need his help…' Arnold was beginning to sweat bullets at what kind of ridiculously overpowered items he'll give him. If you're a merchant who can travel across the nine realms with ease and have conducted business with many species, there's no way in hell your goods would be ordinary.
Maybe he can get the upper hand in negotiations if they do turn out to be OP items.
"Who is this…? I've never met him before." Asked Elora as everyone was on guard.
"Ah, I prefer doing my business with multiple aliases, to avoid my personal conflict with others from harming my current clients." If it's him saying it, the people he's pissed off aren't ordinary individuals.
They might even be stronger than Arnold as it's not impossible for Mr. Skeleton Merchant to deal with demigods.
"Please call me Mr. Merchant." He rubbed his hands with a chuckle.
While the others looked a bit uncomfortable, they didn't speak up since the man was here to do business with their guild master.
"Right then! Here is what I've secured~!" he waved his arm over the table and, when his arm slid over, various items appeared out of thin air, "Allow me to introduce what I've brought you, dear customer." He picked up a flask adorned with golden engravings and shaped into aspherical form. Inside was a blue liquid.
"[Touch of Venus], an item that allows magicians to fire magic continuously without stopping. The only limit is how much their minds can handle, gahahaha! All you need is one teaspoon of this for the liquid to form a core inside you that can rapidly absorb mana from the atmosphere without you needing to recover your mana. This lasts up to twenty minutes per magician."
"…"
"And this is [Rewind Record], a magic item that creates a phantom of yourself on the spot you pressed this button at the top. If your body takes any damage, the item will swap you and the phantom, with the latter taking all the damage. It's the perfect item for dangerous experiments or recon."
"…"
"This is called [Touch of Giants]." He lifted what looked like an ordinary leather glove, save for the silver runes stitched into its fingertips. "A delightful little relic. While wearing it, any spell cast by the user is treated as though it were performed by a Giant Sage. Range, scale and destructive output increase severalfold. Mountains become hills. Rivers become stepping stones. Ah, but only for three spells before the glove turns to dust."
Silence greeted him yet again.
Everyone's mouths hung slightly open. Arnold's face was buried in his hands.
Mr. Merchant happily continued.
"Next we have [The Thirteenth Hour]." He produced a silver pocket watch with no hands, only shifting stars across its face. "Break the crystal and time around a single target shall stand still for exactly thirteen heartbeats. Not slowed... stopped. A dragon may remain frozen mid-flight while a child walks beneath it. A king may finish writing his will while the assassin's blade never reaches him. Ah, but one should never attempt to use it on a true deity. They dislike such rudeness."
What kind of absurd civilization manufactured something like that? These aren't simple magic items; they're on the level of artifacts crafted by gods!
Arnold's face grew darker and darker.
"And now... a personal favorite."
He gently set down a crystal prism no larger than a fist.
"[Genesis Prism]. Feed mana into it and it will permanently alter the ambient mana within several kilometers. Fire becomes easier to cast. Ice flourishes. Healing magic strengthens. Consider it... redecorating reality itself."
"You're... changing the world's mana to strengthen spells?" Elora asked blankly. There was a glint of greed in her eyes but deep within she knew not to desire these items since they're for the guild's business.
"Only locally so it's severely limit." the merchant replied cheerfully. "Oh, this next one should interest your scholars."
He placed a black quill beside a stack of blank parchment.
"[Scribe of Babel]. Whatever magical theory its owner understands, this quill will translate into every known language simultaneously—including languages that have yet to be rediscovered."
Languages...
Lost civilizations...
Even those historical texts that have no translations can be translated?
Arnold took a glance around the table. Naturally, these items shocked them all.
Mr. Merchant smiled beneath his hood as though reading their thoughts.
"Oh yes. Dead languages as well. For negotiations with the Magic Guild," he continued, tapping the quill, "this alone would make every Grand Magus on the continent crawl across broken glass for the privilege of borrowing it."
Everyone's eyes rested on Arnold. Naturally, even he felt a bit flustered. He'd underestimated this world jumper and treated him as some convenient shop. Since his karma is already so low (in the negative digits), losing karma isn't an issue for him.
But if anyone else, whose karma stat is in the positives, uses the merchant's services, they'll slowly lose their humanity.
After some speculation, Arnold found out that undead typically ask for karma to restore their humanity, while taking the humanity from others. This is their way of cleansing their sins in the afterlife, taking humans by advantage while promising great rewards.
The goods are there to entice you, but the price is chipping away at your life.
How much karma has he collected over the years?
And finally… How serious are his sins for him to not have escaped the cycle of an undead?
"There are many others in my possession but I will leave it up to my dear customer to decide what you will use."
"Guild Master… what kind of life are you living outside of adventuring…" Galadriel sighed as if it's expected of him.
"He had connections with a relic tomb raider… People like them never reveal themselves to the public… How could we be so lucky?" said Cameria with an awkward chuckle.
While everyone else seemed unsure of what to think of this situation, two people among them seemed suspicion of the merchant.
Secta:
· Condition: Hostile, Wary
Alice:
· Condition: Wary
'What's with the sudden wariness from these two?
No, Secta he could understand since she's a divine being who is naturally repulsed by undead. But Alice too? Did she encounter people like him in the past but got ripped off?
Arnold viewed her full status, looking for her karma stat.
'50 000!? That's fucking ludicrous! What kind of good deeds did this woman commit to have this much!?'
The number itself is ten times that of what an ordinary human can accumulate in their lifetime as a devoted saint and religious person. Alice must've gone on many adventurers that made the gods interested in her and place their hope in her.
Unlike negative karma that's determined by the kind of person you will become, positive karma is gained through deeds that are favored by the entire divine realm.
Even Endgame Luke took twenty years to accumulate that much karma. Could Alice… be older than she appears?
'Is it because she's favored by the gods that she can sense that this guy is an undead? He's even in a human disguise so only I should know who he is.'
"I shall be in the city for a few days, studying the goods of other merchants to know who's my competition, keke. Ah, but don't worry, only my most valuable customers receive special goods like relics and artifacts." He then took out a magic bag and put it in front of Arnold, "These are gifts from me so please don't hesitate to use them. The negotiation pieces, however, will come at a cost, kekeke."
-Alert: 2.3 karma has been withdrawn from Player.
· Negative Karma: -5335.7
'Huh? I don't recall it being that low—'
He then remembered his fight with Valtraak.
'Hah, so now the Gods have their eyes on me too, huh?'
The Merchant suddenly placed a hand on Arnold's shoulder.
"I do hope these gifts will help your comrades with the trial dungeons."
"…Thanks once again." Reliable old bastard, he held that back.
"Kekek, I shall see you later, dear customer. Come find me if you need anything else." After wishing them all a good day, he left the room.
'Nice save... Now I don't have to explain how I know about the trials. But the issue is…'
Everyone's eyes were still on him.
'How do I explain how we met…'