Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than the OCs I create.
Kyoto – Dreamleaf Trader
- Souta -
It had been a couple of days since I sent a message to Le Fay and Lavinia, and during that time I spoke with Yasaka about gathering a large variety of mundane animals but making sure to stick to 3 of each since I now had the first world lock removed.
Zoan-type fruits were by far the easiest to make, and they would likely be the next fruit I put up in the store; I would sell the more unique fruits for a much higher price, maybe even set up a sort of auction for them.
I already told Yasaka that 1 of each mystic fruit I made from the animals provided would go to her to strengthen the faction for the potential war against Hagoromo; she must've been worried about it since she never tried declining me and instead looked relieved while showing me her appreciation by pulling me into a rather long kiss.
She told me to give her a week while she sent people out to gather the animals, so I just had to wait until she called or text me about a date.
As for Le Fay and Lavinia, they would both be coming to the store today; they were studying wizarding magic together when they received the message I sent them. They were curious about what I was selling that it would cost 10 to 15 million pounds but didn't raise any concern over the price, though the rich people of the non-supernatural side probably knew about the supernatural and hired them, making it easy to earn money if you were skilled enough, which I had no doubt those 2 were.
They also confirmed that they had familiars to bring along with them.
*cla-cling*
It was an hour later that the doorbell chimed as Lavinia, Le Fay and her brother entered the store.
"Welcome, it's great to see you all again." 'I said, smiling as they entered.'
"Heya Souta, how have you been?" Lavinia cheerfully replied while Le Fay gave a polite wave and a "Hello". Her brother just nodded towards me.
"I've been great; finally got a new product for the store. As you know, I'm sure you'll both be interested in it." I said, pulling out the catalogue listing each mystic fruit and a description of what it would do.
"Here, see for yourselves." I say, sliding the catalogue to the other side of the counter.
They all crowd around the counter reading from it.
I noticed as they were reading that both girls had a holster with a wand on their hips, though they both still carried a staff as well.
After watching their facial expressions go through a variety of changes as they read from the catalogue until Le Fay finally spoke up.
"Sorry if this comes off as rude, but what I've read seems quite unbelievable. A fruit shouldn't be able to change the biology of another creature or object in the way it's described here; it's almost like a devil's evil piece in a way. Without the need to serve the devil in question, wherever or whoever you got these off might be lying to you." Le Fay said sounding sceptical.
"I can understand; I'll let you know now since it'll come out at some point anyway, which is the reason I started putting them up for sale this early on. I made these; it's a speciality of mine due to my race." I said they didn't need to know about the system, just that I was the one that made them.
"You made these?!" Le Fay half shouted in shock.
"I did." I said smiling in return.
"Ooh, the rumours I've been hearing about coming from the West Yokai Faction – that's because of you, isn't it? You can make more of these mystic fruits, can't you?" Lavinia exclaimed, slamming her fist into her palm.
Scratching my cheek I say, "It is. Yasaka has helped quite a bit. At first, she was the same when I told her about what I could make, but when she realised I could do what I said, I was offered to be a part of the faction, and she's done her best to help since then."
"I was always going to sell them as products in the future, but with the rumours, I'd rather announce it on my own terms. The fruits you see here are just for creating or improving familiars; I can create ones that people can eat, but they can be more difficult to create."
"As a freebie since I like you all, I'll let you know of another type that I can make." I said as I explained to them what a zoan fruit could do.
"That's amazing; they're almost like sacred gears." Lavinia said.
Now that I think about it, they kind of are like sacred gears; they both give you a special ability from an object, and they both leave the body on death and can be used by someone else. Go figure.
"So, what do you say? Are you interested in buying any?"
"I would like to, but first is it possible to see if you're familiar if you have one?" Le Fay asked.
"Yeah, sure give me a second." I said getting up to head to the lounge area; stepping inside, I took a quick glance at the changes I had made inside. Now I had a long aquarium tank set up on the wall in there for Feebas as well as everything made fireproof for Cyndaquill. Dennis was currently with Kunou, as he wanted to hang out with Vulpix and Growlithe.
Saying hi and popping a treat into the tank for Feebas, I made my way towards where Cyndaquil was sleeping on his heated blanket and scooped him up as he snuggled into the crook of my neck.
Stepping back into the store, both girls started cooing when they saw him.
"This is Cyndaquill; this is the first stage of his evolution as mentioned in the catalogue."
"He's so cute. Can I stroke him?" Lavinia said.
"Yeah, just be careful of the markings on his back; that's the area his flames appear from." As if hearing me in his sleep, gouts of flames lit up his back before calming down again.
Lavinia and Le Fay spent a moment patting his head before leaving him alone.
"He's quite young still, but if your familiars are older, then once they eat the mystic fruit, they will carry on as normal just with new abilities as well as the ability to evolve to a stronger form."
"I'd like to purchase a water fruit, please; I specialise in elemental magics, so my familiar being able to cast water spells would combine well with some of the spells I already know."
"Coming right up. I'll give you both a 1 million discount for being my first ever customers. The water fruit will be 9 million. Would you like to pay with money, materials, items or a mix of all?" I asked
"Money will be fine," she said, pulling out a black card with various symbols on it.
I was glad Yasaka had set me up with a supernatural bank account for myself and the store; typing in the amount on the card reader, I turned it towards her as I summoned the wavy blue mystic fruit.
After touching her card to the machine, it was accepted, and I handed the mystic fruit to her.
"If you like, you can use it here just to be sure I'm not trying to trick you out of your money."
Nodding, she summoned her familiar, which turned out to be a raven.
Gently stroking the feathers, she tells the raven to eat the fruit, which it begins to do, and after swallowing a piece it begins glowing white. After a couple of seconds the light fades, and in place of the raven was a much larger raven with dark blue colouring; it had a dark steel blue helmet on its head, and the tips of its wings were coated in water, and it had long flowing tail feathers made of water.
"Cor, Corvurf!" it excitedly chirped, hopping about on the spot to inspect itself.
"Amazing." Le Fay said as she crouched down and stroked her newly formed familiar.
"I can still feel my bond with him; he feels stronger than before as well."
"Yes, and the more he trains, the stronger he'll get until he can evolve." I said to her.
"Ooh, me next, me next. I want the psychic one for my little crystal." Lavinia began talking excitedly as she summoned her familiar; it was a crystal orb of ice that floated. You could see vapour drift from its body due to how cold it was.
"That's fine. With this being the only one on sale, it would be 15 million, but with the discount for you, that will be 14 million. How would you like to pay?"
"I would like to trade 3 bars of mithril that has a market value of 6 million in the supernatural world and the rest with money," she said cheerfully.
"Brilliant, here we go." I say as I enter the remaining amount owed before turning the device to her.
After paying and placing the mithril bars she pulled from her personal storage space, I handed her the mystic fruit, which she immediately fed to the ice sprite; it was fascinating to see it freeze the fruit and watch as it flaked into a powder akin to snow as it absorbed it.
Like with the raven, the ice sprite began glowing, and once it died down, we were met with its new form. Its previous circular shape was now a triangular dipyramid with one of its sides flattened slightly, and it had 2 blue eyes blinking. Its body was the colour of blue ice, and at its centre it had a bright pink glow. It now had small chips of ice floating around its body that were followed by pink trails of ice energy.
"Soooo cute." Lavinia exclaimed as she glomped her newly formed familiar whose eyes had now squinted in delight from the hug.
"How about you wanting to purchase one?" I ask Le Fay's brother, as he was watching both girls fuss over their familiar in amusement before turning to me at the question.
"No thank you, I don't see a need for a familiar as a swordsman. If you do get anything related to swords in the future, I may be inclined to purchase something," he said, smiling slightly.
"Fair enough, I'll be sure to let you know if I do."
I was quite happy with today's sales; I also had a new material to work with. Maybe I could make a mithril metal fruit out of it.
[Split]
Underworld – Demon Pit Entrance
"What's the situation, Falbium?" Sirchez said as he stood there watching the battles unfold in front of him.
"Something's got the demon lords riled up; there seems to be some infighting going on between them, and with them not taking proper control of their realms, we are getting a spillover from some of the demons taking a chance to escape." Falbium said with a frown on his face as his mouth was set into a grim line.
"Do you think one of the lords is trying to make a move on the underworld itself?"
"It's hard to say; for now, it's just fodder that my troops are dealing with, but I wouldn't put it past beings like them to take a chance during all the chaos."
"You're right; if one of them appears, keep me informed. I'd rather deal with them as soon as possible before they're able to get a foothold into the underworld."
"I will for now; the situation is stable. I'm just wondering what could have caused them to act out like this."
As they stood there watching over the battles taking place inside, it was a different story.
- Ibaraki-Doji -
As I continued hopping over pools of lava, making distance from the disgusting creature still chasing me, I could hear his voice thunder in the distance.
"DON'T GET IN MY WAY, RRADUUNE; THE LITTLE VERMIN IS MINE TO CLAIM." The lord of the 7th level spits out in that layered voice he has as he shouts from both mouths.
"How amusing, you step onto my floor and try to claim something that has stepped into my domain as your own Dommterix. You've already upset the other lords; you wouldn't want to add me to that list, would you now?" The lord of the 2nd level smirked in amusement at his fellow lord's plight.
"I CARE NOT FOR YOUR WORDS; ONLY THAT I CLAIM WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY MINE." Dommterix roared as his lower mouth began spewing mist into the 2nd level.
"YOU DARE." Rraduune roared back as his 6 red arms flexed and the lava in the area began bubbling.
A whip-like crack sounded out as a chain from the mist battered the lord of the 2nd into a wall; before Dommterix could continue his chase, a fist formed from lava sent him flying backwards.
"You truly have gone mad with power, Dommterix; if you think you can upset all the levels in your pursuit of some gnat, I think it's time someone truly showed you your place."
"JUST YOU WAIT. WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT VERMIN, I'LL SHOW YOU ALL WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BENEATH ME," Dommterix roared as more mist began spewing from him.
At least they're fighting amongst themselves this time; the other levels merely let him pass through, stating their grievance would be paid in full in the future from him trespassing while they sent waves of their own to hinder both him and me.
"Don't let the gnat escape. I want whatever he has; clearly, he has something important to Dommterix for him to act like this. Retrieve it from him dead or alive." 'Raduune said, laughing, as he drove another lava fist into his fellow lord's face.
"BASTARD!!" Dommterix screamed as the chains he created got pointed and grew spikes in his increased rage.
I had to be careful with the enemies here; they bled lava, unlike the other floors, and my energy levels were getting lower from the constant running and fighting.
I kicked off the floor and over another pool of lava as creatures began climbing out of them, some in the form of pitch-black skeletons with lava dripping from their skulls; some of them were just humanoid blobs that rode a wave of lava towards me.
I bounced from rock to rock, avoiding most when I could; if not, I would blast a path through the enemies towards the final floor.
Licking my dry lips from the heat and dry air of the 2nd level, I couldn't fight the grin still splitting my face from the danger ahead of me.
[SPLIT]
- Mephisto Pheles -
"So, you're saying a fruit did this?" I say as Lavinia's familiar hovered above my palm, its new form bobbing.
"Oh yes, it was amazing. Crystal ate the fruit, and then he glowed really bright before transforming to what he is now." She babbled excitedly.
The magical scans I performed already told me that this was the same familiar she bonded with, and yet its form was vastly different and had a new energy to it, one that she said was called 'psychic' according to the store owner.
"Fascinating, and he had more of these mystic fruits on sale?"
"Oh yeah, he had a catalogue with different types. Also remember the rumours from the West Yokai faction; he confirmed that he was the cause of them and that he could make more than just familiar types of fruits," she said as she explained the Zoan fruits the store owner told her about.
"Really now, that's a major shift waiting to happen, and you said he's part of the yokai faction already?" I said, getting a nod in return.
Steepling my fingers I think about the implications this might have; a new form of magic was one thing, but fruits that act like sacred gears will upset the balance of power if he is taken and forced to make them for his captives.
He seemed inclined to sell outside the faction he is with, according to Lavinia, but I doubt he'd hand out anything truly unique. Yasaka's faction might turn into a major power at this rate, so setting up a meeting early to form a partnership might actually go a long way for Grauzauberer. Lavinia is already friendly with him, and if I can get a meeting set up through Yasaka, I can get a feel for him myself and maybe study some of the fruits he has on sale.
Yes, it would be best to get on the good side of someone who can become a power multiplier.
"Keep what you've learnt to yourself for now; I will get in contact with Yasaka to set up a meeting and attempt to form a partnership with them. I know how they feel about devils, but I have long since made my stance apparent on the matter."
"Also remain in contact with the store owner. I won't force you to become friends with him, but I have a feeling he will bring unintended changes to the supernatural, and having him on our side would be for the better."
"Okay, I have no problem with that; Souta is quite polite."
"Thank you, you may go now. Keep me informed of any changes to your familiar."
"I will do. Have a nice day, Mr Pheles." Lavinia cheerfully waves as she skips out of the room.
Grabbing a fresh sheet of paper, I begin penning a letter to Yasaka asking for a meeting.
Here's a new chapter; hope you enjoy it.
It's a bit shorter than usual, but I've been quite busy this week.
Souta finally made his first mystic fruit sale. I felt like the price ranges were acceptable, if a bit more expensive, based on one piece's actual prices for devil fruits if you converted them.
Ibaraki-Doji has almost exited the demon pits and has kicked up a fuss for the devils.
And finally, Mephisto Pheles can already see the changes the mystic fruits will bring and has decided to approach diplomatically as the leader of Grauzauberer.
I also have a new fanfic it's a Douluo Dalu (Soul Land) fanfic, and the MC's martial spirit is the Pot of Greed from Yu-Gi-Oh. I already have an idea for each of his spirit rings, currently only on patreon will be posted here in the future.