14 Jokes on You

The young bold boy pushed the silver coin and little book in Sif's hand, but the latter moved back a few steps, avoiding him.

The young monk brows knitted again. He shook his head and put his little palm under his chin, rubbing it with vigor. After a few breaths, he shook his head again a sighed.

Looking at his little show, Sif didn't know if he felt more annoyed or astonished by the acting skills of the young man. He reminded him of a theater actor, fully immersed in some kind of dramatic play.

He sent again an invisible wave to check the small coin on the young child's hand. His Willpower moved around the surface of the little disc, immediately finding several cracks and fissures. It was definitely ruined! Plus, looking at the damage he could tell that it wasn't recent, so the soul inside those coins could be on the verge of dissipating.

"Listen, I can see the damage on the coin with my bare ey-"

Suddenly the young monk slapped his hands together, stopping Sif's explanation. The latter's face froze: he had encountered strange people during his days, but no one as shameless as this little prick in front of him. He was incredibly fortunate that he was wearing the clothes of the strongest sect in the entire Harmony Territory and there were so many people around them.

"You are truly great at haggling. I must admit defeat again." A look of pain appeared in his eyes for a moment, but it was soon replaced by a determined one. "I will also give you…"

The young man was going to point to another coin from the pile or ruined currency, but he stopped halfway through. A tremor passed through his whole body and he moved his head to face Sif's. Immediately after, a beam of solid golden light shined in his eyes, almost blinding the black-robed youth.

'What the fuck…'

"Enlightenment! This is a very peculiar state of cultivation, that has enabled me to attain a superior haggling ability! I know what to do now!… I will let you chose another item!" The young monk made a large movement with his sleeve, and pointed his finger to a specific direction on the ground.

"You chose, I will say nothing!" he continued, pressing a finger of his other hand on his lips.

Sif stood there in silence for a few breaths. His black eyes moved, scanning the place pointed by the small monk: it was just an empty space, a couple of meters left of his wares. He then looked at the small monk himself, especially his reddened eyes and the tears that were flowing uncontrollably from them.

'This guy is mental…'

It was only because he kept repeating himself that the young child was a monk of the Yellow Temple and that there were too many people around, that Sif managed to push away the need to slap him on the face.

What enlightenment? The moron had just emanated some Light Energy from his eyes! He didn't even use a technique, he just straight up poured energy inside one of the most sensitive places in the human body, almost blinding himself.

'He just blinded himself to pretend that he had a sudden enlightenment…'

Plus, why did it made it sound like he was making him a favor? Why would Sif want to trade a knife that could cut open a bronze ranked beast for a pile of useless crap? Just because he could choose which kind of crap he could obtain, the trade wasn't more appealing.

"If I were in you I would take the Menagerie" he suddenly said the youth speaking behind the finger that was still on his lips. The moron couldn't even abide by his own promise of not intervening in the choice.

"A Summoner shouldn't go around without one. You should have a place where to put your familiar " he added, looking towards Blue.

The scarred woman's face fell. This little rascal! Who was he calling a familiar? The woman didn't understand why Sif was still waisting his time with such an obvious charlatan.

The black-robed youth looked at the piece of formless metal sitting on the ground next to the pile of silver coins. 'What menagerie? It's only a piece or metal? This fucking guy…'

The little prick was trying to make him believe that a random scrap of metal was a Menagerie. At least his other lies were believable. If someone was inexperienced enough he would even fall for the scams. However, this last one made no sense: he was a Summoner! He naturally had ways to determine if a random object was or not a Menagerie! Why would the monk lie on something easily verifiable like this?

An invisible ripple emerged from Sif's body, touching the small scrap of metal and penetrating inside it.

'This'

A shocked look appeared in Sif's eyes. It was truly a Menagerie! Although it looked like a crushed piece of steal, his Willpower found an intricate structure and some very familiar runes inside the thing.

While his realm in the Art of Arrays was too low to comprehend them, he could tell that it was without any doubt the same kind of runes that could sustain a Pocket-Dimension.

Without binding the object, he couldn't tell what kind of Menagerie it was, but any kind would be worth more than a couple of bronze coins. This was incredible! Giving away his black knife for a Menagerie, even if it turned out that it was just the most basic one, was worth it.

'No, wait… this seems to good to be true'

Yet it took only another couple of breath to Sif's critical thinking to kick in. What he did know about the seller? He was definitely a scammer. What he did know about the object? It was something that was required by most Summoners and had a very high price.

Sif spread out his Willpower, moving it on the various merchant in the surrounding. "Hahaha, the little monk has baited another one!", "Sir Daoi shouldn't we chase him away? It's the third young summoner that he had tricked today!", " Oh, look… another one has fallen inside that little devil trap… he will be back in a few days, beaten to a pulp by whoever owns that Menagerie".

Sif eyes kept shining in happiness and greed, but inside his mind was seething in anger. He almost got scammed.

'This motherfucker'

His willpower pressed again on the small object, checking it again. This time he knew what to look for. As expected, soon enough he found a concealed spiritual trace between the inner working of the treasure.

'This thing is already bound to someone!'

He didn't notice it right away because someone had worked really hard to mask it and to suppress the binding.

'This little shit…'

Plus, from the spiritual trace, Sif could tell that it was someone that had a very strong soul. If a random person tried to bind an already owned treasure like this one, whoever bound it would immediately feel it. Stronger experts would also be able to locate the position of the treasure and even use the spiritual power left on it to attack the thief.

A strange look appeared on Sif's face. He grabbed his knife and pointed it towards the young bald monk. The latter's face fell. Did he got discovered?

"Little bro, you really are the real deal…" A smile appeared on Sif mouth as he laughed aloud, giving a thumbs up to the small child in front of him.

The kid looked very vexed by Sif's words, but his eyes remained on the blade in the latter's hands. Sif chuckled and threw the blade to the little monk. Not violently, he simply sent it his way.

The young monk easily grabbed it. His eyes relaxed. It seemed that he wasn't discovered. The yellow-robed child looked at the youth in black while he merrily gathered the various things that he sold him.

A mischievous light shined in his eyes still filled with tears as he stood in place while the young man and his companions left the market. "See you in a few days.." He murmured to himself, checking the black blade he had obtained with a smile. "No runes, no arrays… it definitely doesn't count as a true magic weapon! Ahahah, I can definitely bring it with me to the Trials."

'Tss, see you never bitch… '

A dozen of meters away, Sif retracted his Willpower. He had left it on the bald monk before, just to see what he was going to do when he moved away.

'Trials, uh'

Probably some kind of test that the young monk had to pass, where he couldn't bring magic weapons with him. The black knife was as good as a true magic weapon and that's why he had offered so much to have it.

Sif touched the formless piece of metal in his pocket and smiled again. 'Already bound to someone else? Jokes on you buddy. '

The black-robed youth was sure that he could use his Curse Energy to consume the soul of a Master Summoner given enough time, let alone a small trace of spirit power. He just needed some place where he could be left in peace while he worked on the Menagerie that he so luckily gained.

Sif guided his small group back to the initial district, the one next to the Iron Gates that was filled with taverns and inns. He chose a fairly isolated inn, "Stags of Iron" and walked in.

The main hall wasn't that lively: there were a couple of Fighters drinking strong bear from large wooden mug and group of people betting on a corner.

Sif walked to the counter. A busty woman with an outfit that made her giant breast stand out, greeted him. The youth asked for a room for himself and his companions. "One bronze shard a week" answered him the woman, leaning on the large wooden counter. A single shard of bronze left Sif's pocket and was placed in front of her.

Her reed cheek seemed to become even redder at the sight of currency. "Room 03, you will need to take the stairs, it's the last room at the very end of the corridor." She pointed to a set of stairs on the other side of the hall. "If you need something, food, drinks… company… just let me know"

Sif thanked her paid and started moving towards his room, when he heard something coming from the second floor. First, there was the noise of a door shut with violence, followed by a voice roaring in rage.

"I said that I need it, their ponds will help me heal faster!"

"We are losing too much time here, do you know how valuable is a silver ranked beast?"

When he arrived at the end of the stairs, Sif found himself face to face with a familiar scarred face. It was a tall blond woman, with a profound fury in her eyes. Behind her was a barefoot blue robed monk. There seemed to be some sort of argument between them.

"Oh, it's really Fighter Angry Sun and Lao again…" he called out.

The woman wasn't wearing her armor this time, but a simple brown robe. Moreover, she was heavily injured. Someone had really beaten her up. Her entire left arm was bandaged and she had some new cuts on her neck.

Even Lao was looking more roughed up than last time Sif saw him. It wasn't as bad as his companion, though.

Angry Sun immediately recognized him. "You, you are the bastard of this morning…" She put her hand to her left side, but her finger grasped on an empty space.

"You guys should really take it easier, you look badly hurt... " continued the black-robed man, moving towards his room at the end of the hallway.

The blond woman was fuming with anger. She pointed at Sif, making a threatening gesture. "Do you think you can scare me with you ugly ass familiar? If I want to let off some steam on you I will just do it!" A red aura started to form around her body.

The black-robed youth chuckled, not even stopping. "Oh? Why not… however, I'm busy now… pass by tonight, and I will help you vent all your frustrations."

He entered his room and waited until Blue and Luna came inside to close it, ignoring the fuming blond warrior and her bald companion.