Chapter 72

Chapter 72

"Before that what currency do you use and are trades acceptable, if so what can be traded and how do you judge the value? And can we touch or only look?" John asks before allowing Alice or Ash to touch or say anything, not wanting them to fall into the possible trap of having to buy something from just touching an item.

"Clever, well currency is coins, but we do accept trades, anything can be traded but I prefer if its items or objects, souls and people can be used but there tricky and I never understood the others interest in them, I find them far too much work even if they sometimes have unique flavours. Oh, and it's more a 'you break it you buy it' type of thing, you can touch unless it has a note or sign saying you can't." The merchant says with a head tilt, a hand coming up to tap what is probably their chin under the scarf.

And with that John allowed the girls to look around as he spoke to the merchant.

"What is the value of coins? Also, you still haven't told me how you judge value of things." He both asked and stated, taking a cursory glance at the goods on display.

"coins are an exclusive things for gamers, not that easy to find but a basic currency for merchants and higher ups, as for trades I use this baby here, it works out equivalent exchange and tells me the value of the object, once the scale is mostly level the deal is complete and even works with coins in a far more fair way." Z tells them patting the weird scale device next to them with pride.

"Hey amazing super awesome merchant Z could you tell me what these things are and the price?" Alice asks from the side, looking over John notices that she's referring to a weird set of masks, some demon like well others like animals.

"Those my curious friend are special possession masks, if you use your appraisal skill you will see the various details, changes and buffs along with any and all curses or debuffs they hold. You will also notice that their quality is all at the 'normal' at the lowest and some are even at a 'high' quality!" Z tells her, there tone reminding him of a chatter teeth person from a video he saw on you tube about some kind of digital circus, and from how Ash seemed to be grinning she clearly thought the same, unable to resist asking where the bubble that should be around was and breaking down into a fit of giggles in turn causing John to laugh and both Z and Alice looked at them confused.

"I think I have some bubble stuff around somewhere, is it trap bubbles, air bubbles, dirty bubbles, blowing bubbles or shield bubbles that your looking for, if I don't have it I will make it a mission to find it and give it to you with a 20 no 10% discount!" Z continued clearly trying to make a sale in a excited tone.

"Ooooh, that's a tenth off the price! If we buy a lot of things, could we also get a discount? Or if we buy in bulk?" Alice in a equality excited tone practically bouncing with stars in her eyes.

"Indeed! If you buy 3 no 5 of the same item or same type of item, I'll give you an entire 2% off there total cost! And if you by a extra 2 ill double the discount to a amazing 4%!" Z says clearly trying to make it sounds far more amazing that it actually was in a tone that clearly showed that they truly did believing it was a great deal.

"I kinda have a question from your whole bubble talk, does that mean you can supply anything we ask for and find it if you don't have it?" Ash asked with some apprehension, clearly wanting something but not wanting to get her hopes up.

"But of course, within the guidelines though and if it's dangerous or difficult the price will reflect it and possibly require half upfront, although well other merchants would shy away from danger or challenges you managed to meet the amazing mega super ultra-awesome merchant Z!" They said seemingly puffing there chest up and pounding it with a hand.

"Sorry Ash but I need to interrupt for a moment, do skills count like the appraisal skill you mentioned?" John couldn't help but ask, he felt a bit bad for butting in but felt it was something really important that needed to be asked.

"Indeed my fine fellow, skills of all kinds can be purchased for the right price, or even sold! Some classes as well but that's done through black merchants which I'm not, but if you where to find one and buy an additional class from them or any other not so acceptable product or item I can assure you that it would be of good quality and 'normal' at the very least at an affordable price." Z says with a tone that you could almost feel a grin from.

"How much do they cost and are there different tiers or qualities to them?" John asks, pressing to find out more.

"Hmm, well I cant say for certain but the cheapest would be around the value of 250 coins at minimum from what I know, and it would be a normal class like cook, but if your looking for one of those really strong high classes like a supreme Sith master or Saiyan then it can be in the 10's of thousands if not far more, and mythical classes are even far beyond that easily in the millions, as for contraband items, there prices also vary from as low as 1 coin for a simple strength boost potion to millions for something like a galactic cruiser or something called the 1 ring, funny enough real life V-Tubers are also in the super high price side." Z says with some thought before there eyes seemed to widen and wave their arms infront of them.

"Or so I've heard! I don't deal with contraband or illegal stuff! I'm clean and respectable and keep everything above board!" Z says quickly in a panic getting a small laugh from John, clearly Z is one who doesn't mind crossing the line and dabbling as a black merchant for profits but was still sceptical about them.

"I was more asking about the appraisal skill, and if you have it in stock." He says, visibly seeing Z's shoulders sag slightly in relief as they reach under the counter and pull out a large stack of paper backs easily numbering 20.

"2 and a half coin each, 10 for 23 coin or trade of equivalent value, no touching as that will activate them and then I will take it as you buying it, there's only 1 tier which is common and would need repeated use to increase its level and get more detailed information, buying the 10 now from me will even get you free lessons on how to use the skill and I'll even throw in 5 lucky draws from my special gotcha machine in the corner where you can get anything from a 'super low' item or a 'mythical' level item! It's based off the gotcha games system and entirely by luck! It's a super limited time bonus as normally it's an entire coin for 5 tickets! After learning the skill, you can freely touch the rest as it doesn't stack." Z says back to the full-blown excited sales persona from before, Alice seemed super excited to try and even Ash seemed tempted, John though new the sinkhole trap Z was using and couldn't help but give them the stink eye remembering how often he was tempted to top up in Fate/grand order.