Chapter 45- Expedient Increase

Abel was making his way to Blossom district after selling off most of his loot at Universal Bazaar.

He had kept some Stone-toothed Rat Teeth to try his hand at forging the Rat-tooth Dagger later on. But everything else other than the ore and Rat Meat was sold off for a princely sum of 17 silver and 48 copper coins.

~Ding Dong

After ringing the bell outside, the door swiftly opened and Coinweaver made way for him to enter.

"Good morning"

Coinweaver sounded as chipper as always, but that was expected when he was making a decent amount of money every day.

His share from the trade of the refined poison might just constitute to a couple of hundred credits but that was nearly 2 month's salary of a minimum wage worker and it was coming in every day!

Although he was very rich in reality, he restricted himself when he started in Faeron. Other than exchanging credits for coins to rent the house they were in for some privacy and comfort, he hadn't bought any skill-essence crystals or equipment.

He was confident in succeeding because he was always humble and sincere when dealing with others, never looking down on the poorest of people when it came to business.

This was the mindset his family cultivated in its descendants and the reason behind their massive success. They would be sincere in all trades and built up a reputation of honest businessman, making potential partners value them over others.

That didn't mean they were pushovers or easy to swindle. If a business partner tried scamming them or something, then they'd make them regret ever getting into bed with them in the first place. The world of business is quite a cutthroat, especially at the highest level. But that only made their family reputation all the more valuable.

"Good morning, I have the goods for the today."

"Did your skinning skill level up?"

Coinweaver asked as he saw the amount was slightly more than yesterday and much more than the day before. Abel simply nodded at the young merchants' question, taking out a stack of Rat Meat at a time. A short 2 minutes later, he was done and waiting for the latter to initiate the trade for the day before.

*Ding*

Coinweaver would like to send you 1 Gold 13 Silver 75 Copper coins, Accept?

Yes/No

'Yes'

Abel widened his eyes in shock! He quickly accepted the transaction and voiced his obvious confusion for the massive increase in funds.

"Why the… how did it increase so much?"

"I told you bro, Chronelix improved quite a lot from the first batch. 33 silver and 75 copper coins is the cost of the loot. When you factor in the increase of loot you got on the second day, it's only natural for the profit to increase by so much. He actually got lucky and refined a middle- grade poison from the Ferocious Rat King Meat you gave me yesterday, that one bottle sold for 12 silver coins hahahahaha"

Coinweaver couldn't hold himself back at the end and laughed in happiness while Abel was still stunned from the sale of poison.

He turned to Coinweaver and inquisitively asked,

"I thought he said the Rat Lord and Rat King can only be refined into lesser-grade poison…"

"Well there's an infinitesimally small chance the end result would be mid-grade but the chances are miniscule at best. Don't expect it to happen again, we were simply lucky this time. But it doesn't matter, the bulk of our profit is actually from the minor grade poison. All we get is a few silvers each from this vial, while the majority actually stems from the normal Rat Meat."

Abel nodded in understanding. He wasn't doubting them, especially with the pact still in-effect, he was simply curious as to how it happened.

In fact, the same could happen in crafting weapons, there was a miniscule chance a miracle could happen in the midst of forging that would propel the finished products stats above what was stated in the blueprint. The chances of such a thing actually happening was much less in blacksmithing but it was still there.

"By the way, you still selling that spacial bag?"

Coinweaver pointed to Abel's old spacial bag hanging on his arm.

"Yeah. I also have some equipment on me, see how much you'll offer for them."

Abel pulled out the 3 Iron Dagger's he'd forged, along with the Eagle Beak Dagger and his old boots.

"Hmmm… I can take all those daggers for 3 silver coins if you throw in the boots for free?"

While Abel was pretty sure Coinweaver was fair in his judgement, he also knew he could get a little more if he tried. The man was actually after the Eagle Beak Dagger, it was obvious from the way he was eyeing it. It was understandable as it had the best stats without a level requirement.

"Sure"

He agreed as he didn't have the time to waste running from shop to shop for a few extra few copper coins, his time was worth more than that.

After sending 20 silver coins for the bag and equipment, Coinweaver couldn't help but ask,

"Do you know Xiang? Is he a friend of yours?"

"Ugh- Yeah I guess you can say that. Why?"

"As a merchant, its always good to have a wide network of contacts. While I know a couple of players that chose to become a blacksmith, they're still too low-leveled making trash weapons and wasting a lot of coins. You think you could introduce me?"

"Sorry. My friend…. is an introvert, he doesn't like to interact with others. If you need anything then just send me a whisper and I'll ask him for you."

Although the answer disappointed Coinweaver, he didn't push any further and simply nodded in agreement. Just reaching a more skilled blacksmith through Red Sky would help him immensely.

"If your friend makes anymore of these daggers then you can sell them to me."

"Sure. Anyway, I have to log out. I'll see you later."

"See ya"

Abel quickly got out of the house, inwardly sweating from the recent interaction. He had been caught off guard by Coinweaver's question but it was reasonable after hearing him mention the current skill level of local blacksmiths.

'It's due to my forging hammer, memories and experience that I could make such weapons when my skill is only Greenhorn'

The mention of his blacksmithing skill reminded him of the updated quest rewards and increase in proficiency after crafting his original design, so he pulled up his skill panel to take a look.

Basic Forging (Trainee 62.6%): Craft simple weapons and armor using various materials.

Cost: 15 Mana and 30 stamina points every 30 minutes

'Wha- Making an original design pulled me right out of Greenhorn!'

Abel's eyes hovered over the 'Basic' prefix and he suddenly understood.

'It's the same as weapon proficiency, after the basic skill reaches max it'll turn into an advanced skill. No wonder making an original design gave me so much experience'

He made his way back to old man Rye's place as he thought of the other few weapons he had in his memories, he couldn't help but get excited at the jump in proficiency he'd be sure to experience when he makes them.

'I should log out and take care of the chores, I promised Melly…'

He reached the old study and logged off without further delay.

Whooooooosh

After stepping out of the pod, he didn't procrastinate and made his way to the kitchen. He got started on the major clean up, from dishes and utensils to pots and pans.

While they would usually wash everything after use, he also understood that Melly was too busy while making dinner yesterday. She had probably taken care of some other chores while the pork ribs were getting braised.

He didn't mind, all three of them wouldn't be so calculative over a few chores around the house like most roommates. They had lived together and gone through too much to treat each other as anything less than family.

After he finished with the major clean up, he took a look at the time and saw it was nearly 6:30 am.

He took out some eggs, flour, milk, sugar and some blueberries. He planned to make some blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

While he was cooking up the last batch of pancakes, he saw Melly blearily make her way into the kitchen.

"You made breakfast already?"

"You still asleep Melly? Isn't it obvious hehe"

She gave him a pointed stare but didn't refute him like Frankie would. She cut up some oranges to squeeze some fresh juice and went to call her boyfriend to hurry up feeding the chickens.

"I swear that big lunk loves teasing your chickens, sprinkling the grains bit by bit. I don't know why…"

Abel heard her mumble to herself but he just smiled without replying.

Frankie walked in right after, looking even more sleepy than his other half.

"Why do the two of you look so tired, did you not sleep well?"

Abel asked as they sat around for breakfast but he didn't get a reply back which prompted him to look up at them. He looked up and saw a bashful and angry Melly giving her boyfriend a fierce glare.

"Ah never mind, forget I asked"

"I swear, just wait till you find someone and see how I tease you to death!"

Abel annoyed the young woman a little more but didn't dare push his luck further and started stuffing his face with food.

"I heard from Ms. Mae that Allison was coming back from Zephyria in the summer"

She asked, trying to get a response from her increasingly mischievous little brother.

"Whether she comes back or not has nothing to do with me, why are you bringing that up."

"I really don't get it, she's a smart and cute girl that adores you. Why don't you like her back?"

"I just don't okay."

"But why though?"

"Look, just because someone likes me that way doesn't mean I have to reciprocate their feelings. I viewed her as a younger sister, a friend in school and I always made that clear. Why did she have to tell me her real feelings and make things awkward between us? Did she not care about our friendship? Wasn't she being selfish in doing such a thing? Anyway, it doesn't matter… it's puppy love that she'll eventually grow out of, especially after spending a year in Zephyria."

The young man's relentless barrage stumped her but she was only pushing for them to get together because she wanted him to be happy.

The old Abel wasn't in the mindset of finding a girlfriend. He had liked a couple of girls in the past but his poor background didn't allow to him think of falling in love. He always equated such a relationship as a major expense that he couldn't afford.

After Xiaowen merged with him, he experienced first love and… first heartbreak.

It was the worst of its kind, the type where you feel like you're all alone in the world and your closest partner had turned into someone unrecognizable.

To walk in on your partner, the person you loved with every fiber of your being, in bed with someone else… it hits different from a normal break up.

It was as though someone had jammed a blunt knife in his heart and it wouldn't budge. A weaker person would despair and spiral into depression but Xiaowen, although heartbroken, was stronger than that.

He had found out about his heart condition shortly after leaving the city and suffering a heart attack in his hometown but he had never spoken of this experience to anyone. He simply told his family that he and his girlfriend had broken up over a disagreement.

The kitchen got quite as Melly eventually chose not to reply. Frankie finally spoke up and eased the remaining tension in the air as they neared the end of breakfast.

"Are we still going fishing this weekend Abe?"

"Uhh, I'm not sure. I'll get back to you on that."

"Sure, don't stress it if you can't. It's not like it's the end of the world if we don't go fishing for a weekend."

Melly and Frankie both worked 5 days a week. They both had a day off in the weekend and another day off during the week but their off days wouldn't always coincide with one another.

"How's your work schedule this weekend you two"

"I got Saturday and Mell's got Sunday"

"That's unfortunate, why don't you see if you can switch shifts with someone?"

"Yeah I'm already trying…"

"It's getting late. You guys should go and get ready for work, I'll clean up."

After the couple left the kitchen Abel let out a sigh. He understood where Melly was coming from, but he couldn't exactly explain his recent memories and experiences so he simply shut her down before she could try convincing him further.

He got up to clean the dishes and pans before heading to the storage room, he wanted to check on the rabbit pelts before he went to his room. He needed to get some sleep.