34: First Bargain!

His trip to the black market had been successful and he was on his way to visiting the first store alongside Clara; the girl he just met.

He had his eyes darting around the place as he slowly walked forward and he certainly wasn't surprised at what he was seeing.

With over a hundred thousand deaths each year and countless people losing their homes in fights, it wasn't a surprise to see them doing whatever they could to survive.

The little financial support they were receiving wasn't enough to keep them going and the saddest part was that more than thirty percent of those was because they weren't able to receive aid on time.

Some went as far as committing suicide, others managed to stay only to become nothing but street beggars and the few that came midway didn't do so easily, there wasn't any nice way out of the harsh reality.

' They really did great at hiding how fake these products and items are, had I not been prepared, I could have seen myself losing hard.' He thought as his eyes continued to dart around the area.

" You did say you were looking for certain things but you didn't tell me what they were. We've passed several stores and you haven't bothered to stop at one." She stated, her eyes too looking around the place.

" Let's go here then." He said, pointing towards one of the stores closest to them.

She hesitated for a while before quickly following behind him as they both quickly walked into the store.

His eyes kept on looking around every single piece of equipment and artifact on display even as they both walked in.

" Quite decent." He mumbled as he approached the counter.

" I'm looking for the best sword you have in store." He said.

The shopkeeper instantly came out from behind the counter and began to attend to him. He seemed decent compared to most he had seen but he already knew how bargaining at a place like this worked.

" Here, it's the best one I've got." He said, handing him a black sword.

It was curved at the tip and almost the same length as his dual swords of divine despair with the same hilt size as well.

But the only difference was that although they were totally different colors, while his own glimmered under the dimmest of light, this one was a bit too dull.

" How much for the sword." He asked, holding back the urge to say every defect the sword had.

" Five thousand paxri." He said after a slight pause.

He must have been cautious of the lady with the kid but so far she didn't seem to mind whatever it was he was doing as she simply kept looking around the store.

Immediately after he heard the price mentioned, he held out his forefinger and slowly stroked it across the edge of the blade.

He looked up at his hand after he was done to see that nothing had happened to his hand, not even as much as a scratch.

He then proceeded to try and bend the blade but it was very stiff, resulting in nothing but a slight crack only he could hear.

" You might as well keep it until you're forced to sell it for a hundred times lower than you just mentioned but I guess you'll have watched it become something far different from a sword before that could happen."

He held up the sword for the man to see as he said everything but there weren't any great reactions from him, just minor facial expressions.

" A hundred paxri." He bargained.

He was planning on lowering the price as much as he could, a trick he had learned from his mother back in the real world although she could go a little overboard at times just like he was about to.

" You have to understand boy, though the sword might be a bit rusty, It's still a Tier 2 weapon, it should have been sold for a higher price than I even mentioned."

" A Tier two revitalization potion is almost the same price, what happens when I want to polish the sword then? You're not the only one working towards avoiding a loss here." He said, putting aside the sword with a stern gaze upon the man.

Without any more words, he turned around and began to slowly walk towards the exit. He wasn't sure whether he was doing things right but there were many other places where he could try again.

" Fine... you can have it for five hundred that'..."

" Two hundred." He cut in, turning towards him once more with an intent stern gaze.

" How about three."

" Deal."

And with that, the purchase was made and he walked away with the sword placed away in his void storage.

" You're a bit terrible at this aren't you?" She asked with a slight giggle as they both walked out of the store.

" Well, it did go far better than I had planned." He said as he shyly turned his gaze to the marbled ground.

They both continued forward when a man came running towards them.

" Perhaps you'd love to sample what I have in store at the best rates that can be offered. Perhaps you would need some enhancement ores for your weapons." He offered, revealing his brown set of teeth.

His clothes weren't the best as well; they were slightly ragged and very unpleasing to the eyes.

He hesitated for a while as he gazed at the man standing before him with an irritating smile on his face. He was heading deeper into the danger area and things were only about to get trickier.

Just as mentioned there weren't any nice ways for people like the one standing before him to become rich. Wearing ragged clothes to fool people into feeling sympathetic wasn't a first sight for him.

Countless times, every single day people would constantly get scammed and robbed but no one dared to speak of their misfortunes, not that there would be anyone to hear their complaints anyway.

Putting the moment of his pause to a halt, he nodded his head slightly and slowly followed the man into his store.

It was just as he had thought, the good and fake enhancement ores and shards although slightly mixed up were divided well enough to raise suspicion from his buyers.

" Talk about a cheating schemer. This is certainly something I'll be looking forward to taking on." He thought with a smile on his face as he looked around the store.

" I'll be taking..."