Negotiation

It wore some dyed fabrics and pottery on strings, its skin, and indeed the skins of the others now leaving the building behind it, was an orange/ red and looked almost scaly.

The others following it out at a distance held fine looking metal swords and pieces of armour about their otherwise animal leather clad bodies.

"Shen shi shi, qi lek?"

"Qui Qui!"

Turning to one of the armed Kobolds behind it with an impatient shout the lead creature looked back at Daniel and smiled again.

Throughout this interaction Daniel was too stumped to take action, he had originally tensed with his spear in hand but had been surprised by their gear and preparedness.

A smaller Kobold ran from the building with two square cushions and a bundle of fabric, as Daniel watched, it placed the seats down and laid out the sheet. The leader gestured for Daniel to sit and did so himself, the four guards remaining standing at varying degrees of readiness. Being entirely wrong-footed and deciding to just go along with it, Daniel sat down as well, taking a similar pose to his apparent host.

"Thank you?"

"Shqi shqi, si so ta sila sump?"

"Right, System? What are they saying?"

[Unknown]

The smaller kobold ran off as soon as the sheet was laid flat and now returned with another, between them they brought a rough wooden chest which was then placed beside the leader. Opening the chest the leader started to present items one by one and lay them on his side of the sheet, a small dagger, a rough gem, some small darts, different ores and crafts, all in a seemingly random order.

It explained each one as it did so, demonstrating some and apparently inviting Daniel to inspect them as he pleased. Realising he was not here to kill these creatures Daniel did his best to show rapt attention and make the correct noises to avoid insulting them.

"Damn it, I'd rather be fighting them than this, I always find these things so embarrassing. No one said I'd have to deal with salesmen in this world! Oh god, maybe I should just transfer away."

Seeing his apparent interest with some raw iron the merchant made noises Daniel considered to be a knowing chuckle and made a conspiratorial gesture with his hands, Daniel nodded and plastered a smile on his face whereupon the kobold spoke to its guards and stood up.

"She qu sin pat"

After being beckoned to follow, Daniel, the merchant, one of the smaller ones and two of the guards walked into the quarry proper.

The kobold merchant continued to babble as it led him through the different areas, arriving at a mine entrance before too long. Outside this mine there were an assortment of crates , one of which contained raw iron, as the merchant started its pitch, presumably about the quality of the stuff, Daniel thankfully spotted an area and building with cut rocks outside.

"That, that there, can I see?"

"Shin to sipa? No se quna?"

"Oh yes it's great but stone, I need stone blocks you see?"

After some confusion they were at the stonemasons and Daniel had made clear he wanted the blocks he saw.

The small Kobold laid out the set again with the merchant's back to the stone. The merchant then beckoned for Daniel to begin. Getting the gist Daniel started by pulling a jar of honey from his storage space, much to the open surprise of the kobolds.

Each shouting and chattering at once, the guards even pointed their swords towards him as the merchant calmed them down.

"Sen ni quin supa?"

"No, I know, it's kind of like magic, you know? Like magic woosh!"

Dancing a small flame on his hand and gesturing to the honey he tried to pass it off as just a strange spell. The merchant seemed reassured and gathered some dirt in his hand to hover too, chittering amiably as he did so, then dispersing it.

Daniel pushed the honey forwards and tried to ask about the blocks.

The merchant nodded and tapped one block but made clear he could sell only one for this.

"It was a small jar. I can't say I'm surprised, okay how about…"

They had no interest in his spears but gasped as he made them appear and disappear, the 3 pears he had were enough to net him another block but it was his fresh boar that he needed to offer up in the end, they hooted and nodded for this as the deal was agreed, a process which seemed to involve them switching seats and clapping.

As the merchant was questioning Daniel and pointing to the rocks it seemed to be asking when he would collect them, Daniel showed his flame again before sucking all five blocks into his storage space. As they headed back to the entrance together the merchant pointed out other items and areas and was clearly delighted, the food it had secured already having been taken away to one of the huts. At the entrance it gave him a small pottery token in an oblong shape, Daniel took it as some kind of membership card or receipt.

"I need to ask Tom about these critters, they're like little dragons worshipers who do traps in D&D, I didn't think they were merchants. Well, it looks like I have a trade partner now."

He went back to the boar forest to hunt another of the no doubt dwindling creatures, a process which took over an hour this time, and headed back to camp.

[Quest complete: Hunt the Boar]

[100 exp]

[Turnips and tubours x 25kg]

[Quest complete: Retrieve the Rocks]

[300 exp]

[Hamper]

"I need to prioritise better quests, that is not enough exp. I got to keep the stone blocks though? Sweet. I'd rather have the boar than the veggies but no worries. This hamper?"

Looking at the hamper it was a classic wicker picnic hamper, bigger perhaps but clearly a food hamper. Shrugging and moving on he went back to restock at the inventory and checked his situation.

"System, same as always. How long until I can bring Melissa and myself back here?"

[-0.08 days]

"You mean I already can? How much transfer energy do I have?"

[8047]

"Nice work System! Tell me, do I need to do anything special to give someone the 2.0 system when I transfer them?"

[Upon transfer of any other human the system will automatically be installed, this is covered by the process and the reason for the high transfer energy cost]

"Nice, it's a bit early to go back yet though; I think a change of plans is needed. I'll go gather the fruit and see if I can catch a fish or rabbit while I'm out there. Get a proper feast ready for tomorrow so I don't need to leave her until she's ready. If I have time I'll complete the zombie quest too. Thinking it through, they're not that nice to fight without any MP."

Deciding to keep the Kobold talisman on him he shot off towards the edge of the goblin forest where he'd find the fruits and fish he needed.

"Maybe they're friends and showing the talisman will make them friendly to me? I'll have to hope they don't know what I did to their hunting parties though…"

[1exp]

[1exp]

As he ran he no longer bothered to jump or dodge the slimes in his path, his strength and speed being enough to destroy them out right. Now that his agility stat had reached 21 he could run more than 3 times the average speed of a human, over 20 miles per hour. The change having crept up on him he hadn't realised how dramatice it had become.

"5% per level, and that damn lizard still outran me like I was nothing."

Arriving at the lake and almost falling in in his distraction he closed the map he'd been reading and looked into the crystal clear waters, the salmon were swimming about carefree and plentiful.

"Okay, I'll grab a few and then the fruit, shouldn't take long"

Opening the world map again to check the fruit tree objective marker his lip twitched as the lizard continued to wander around so close by, the temptation was strong.

"I'm not going to make a fool of myself chasing after you again, I already know how I'm bagging you"

Focusing on the task at hand he managed to snag six salmon in a little over thirty minutes, satisfied he moved on to the next objective.

He hadn't been to the forest on this north western side of the river before, he had already seen it was much denser, tall trees of types he didn't recognise grouping up deeper inside. When he reached the outer edge he realised just how much more densely packed it was however, there was no clear way through save a couple of what he would assume were deer paths if he were back on Earth.

Stumbling through as best he could he had no opportunity for collecting wood or hunting, it was effort enough just to move the few hundred metres through to the fruit trees.

He'd already checked the quest objective and knew he was gathering real fruit this time so he wasn't too worried about what he would find.

Breaking through a particularly thick knot of brambles he stumbled into a clear patch of ground and looked about him.