Chapter 20

Once the two walked in and he saw that his son was back with no visible marks, Timothy's father instantly jumped up and also hugged his son as tears ran down his eyes. At last, it had not been very long, but their family was whole and together once again. Timothy explained everything to his parents, but made it seem that because he gave the governor the information, he received many items and artifacts. In this way, it would not seem strange that he was able to acquire so many in the span of just over two weeks.

With so many items and artifacts being withdrawn from his storage ring, Timothy watched as his father took inventory of them all and separated which ones were useful to the family and which ones could be sold rather immediately when the merchant group sent that member out. The three still felt very bitter that Timothy was banned from entering Hollow City ever again, but as Timothy also felt, they could always figure out an alternative.

It took some time but after two months had passed by with his family also assisting everyone, the township now looked brand new and in a new golden age. Each building looked more modern compared to old and somewhat falling apart, and all of the small business owners including Timothy's father had a small market area where they were now located.

This would not immediately make the township stand out, but it was at least enough for everyone within to feel much better about their current condition. Within Bark Kingdom, as well as many others, there would be small townships full of people because not every village was able to accommodate after so many generations.

Without his father knowing, during all of this time, Timothy began cloning every single item that his family owned including the most common of tools. Master Shi explained to him that technically since his family owned these items, that he could clone them using the ability.

As he continued cultivating in the morning as he helped assist his neighbors during the afternoon and evenings, Timothy was still unable to break through to the next cultivation level. His master was not surprised because the higher one wished to go down this path towards immortality, the longer it would generally take. There were of course exceptions to this, but Timothy was not part of that group.

Walking back to the township to begin his afternoon work with his neighbors, a figure appeared not far from him. "According to my findings, you fit the description of the person my master had sent me over to meet." the figure said as he slowly walked towards Timothy.

"You are?" Timothy prepared to draw his sword in case the expert in front of him was an enemy sent by the Dark Hand organization's remnants. However, seeing Timothy's reaction, the expert paused his movements instead of advancing.

"My name is Tommy, I was sent by my master to see what items and artifacts you wanted to sell us and to potentially create a trade agreement depending on what you have and how much of it you have." Tommy told Timothy as he placed both his hands to his side.

"Oh, since that's the case, follow me. I actually recently acquired even more things to sell and I am indeed interested in purchasing quite a few items and artifacts from you." Timothy replied after Master Shi explained to him that from Tommy's mannerisms, it was clear that he was not an enemy that showed ill intent towards him.

The two reached Timothy's house and quickly sat down. Timothy's parents were now working all through the day to make the finishing touches to the township and to make the new business building look presentable. "All of the items and artifacts I wish to sell to your merchant group are inside of this storage ring. Depending on the items and artifacts you have available, I may or may not buy quite a few." he told Tommy before passing over the storage ring.

"I see, I see." Tommy immediately began looking through the storage ring and he did not see any rare treasures inside, but there was enough quantity to make his eyebrow raise slightly. "I can offer you a total of nine hundred gold pieces for this storage ring and everything within." he told Timothy and waited for his response.

"I am willing to accept that offer, but I wish to use it as credit for your merchant group if possible." Timothy played it smart by acting as if he was making a hard decision, but Master Shi already spoke to him several weeks prior on how he should approach any offers given to him. The goal was to be in a position to deal with a single merchant regularly and to slowly build up his personal wealth over time.

"Credit? If I knew you were going to counter the offer with that, I would have slightly raised my offer. Since that is the case, I have quite a few items and artifacts with me presently. They number three hundred and most are different from the items and artifacts you have offered to sell us. Please take a look." Tommy said as he removed one of his own storage rings and passed it over to Timothy.

The two continued negotiating for about three hours until an agreement had finally been made. Timothy would allow Tommy to bring back everything within the storage ring in the form of credit and would deliver a set number of items and artifacts he had looked through since Tommy was smart enough to bring a catalog of items available through the merchant group.

Not only that, but from this point forward, Timothy would be used to offer and items and artifacts everyone in the township wanted to sell to the merchant group and that they would be sending someone to collect the items and to hand over the proper amount of gold pieces two times per year.