Trade Association

In a house located in the western outskirt of the Red Wood City, four bloodied men were trembling in front of a man. The man was sitting behind a table and fiddling with gold coins.

"So, the boy wanted to meet in the forest?" The man's rough voice was laced with anger as he stared at the four men with his sharp black eyes.

The four men were very afraid of the man as they witnessed how he tore the limbs of someone using his muscular arms. Looking at the stout figure of their boss, the four men thought that their fate would not be different.

The four men were Uwan, Tuwo, Triye, and Pora. Indeed, they were the four generic goons that Yeshua trashed. The four were currently in the hideout of the Grey Rat Gang. After Yeshua let them go, Uwan and the others did not have a choice but to go back to their gang leader and report what happened. Uwan also told what Yeshua said to the gang leader.

Hearing that the boy was keeping the package enraged Grey.

Grey was the name of the gang leader. Due to the help of someone, Grey had the chance to become an Alterer. He started a gang in this part of the city using his powers as an Alterer and earned money by doing shady dealings. It was only over two years since the gang started and it was only targeting ordinary people since he was the only Alterer in this gang.

But the lost package was not a simple dealing and the one who commissioned it was someone that Grey could not afford to offend.

The package was bought by Grey from the black market and he was supposed to personally deliver it to that person. When Grey returned to the hideout, he left the package to the table in his office and planned to rest for a while before delivering it but it was gone after he came back.

After asking his men, he found out that the one responsible for giving items to the couriers thought that the package on his table was the item that was usually delivered. The man gave Yeshua that package without checking it first. It was this careless mistake of Grey and the man that coincidentally happened that led to this situation.

Getting the package was important to Grey that he wanted to find Yeshua now and kill that boy. But he knew that Yeshua would not stay in his house to wait for him and looking for him in the city would take a while. He just had to wait for the night and deal with that boy. He was an Alterer and was confident that he could kill Yeshua easily.

Even though Uwan and the others returned bloody, Grey did not think much about it as he thought that the four were just useless they could not even defeat a boy. He also did not think that Yeshua would use the time to run away as he was only an ordinary human and traveling the wildlands would be dangerous for him. Yeshua could only stay in the city and would be eventually found by Grey.

"Heh, what can a boy do? Even if he becomes an Alterer now, I can still defeat him as I have higher soul temperance. I'll make sure that boy will regret turning against me."

Grey's anger was apparent as the blood on his hands stained the gold coins he was fiddling. The blood was the same blood spurting from the torn limbs of the man lying on the floor. It was the same man that gave Yeshua the wrong package.

…

Yeshua was currently at the part of the city where important establishments could be found. After separating with Bobo since the fatty still had to return to the bakery, Yeshua walked from the western outskirt of the city to this place.

Before separating with Yeshua, Bobo was still worried but Yeshua assured his friend that everything would be alright.

"I can't blame him. Bobo is only an ordinary human and the thought of fighting an Alterer is frightening for him," mumbled Yeshua while walking towards a particular establishment.

Even Yeshua was worried. He was only an ordinary human before all of this but he did not have a choice since his circumstances pushed him. He could only brave through it and fight to live.

This part of Red Wood City was filled with liveliness as people walked around and entered different shops. Most of these shops dealt with Alterers as they sold gene medicines, gene tools, weapons, armors, and other things for Alterers.

Right now, Yeshua's purpose was to go to the Trade Association to prepare for his plan in dealing with the gang leader.

The Trade Association was different from the other shops that could be found in the city. These shops were owned by different people usually by clans and merchants from the Red Wood City or other cities.

The Trade Association was an organization that gathered all the resources of the city for the easy trade of goods and resources. Hunters could buy gene medicines, gene materials, and genome crystals as well as sell the resources they got from their foraging and hunting.

Of course, they could also buy and sell goods to the different shops. These shops would offer discounts and perks so the Alterers would be encouraged to trade with them. These shops also had their specialties where they sold particular goods and would only buy specific types of resources.

The difference of Trade Association was that it was able to supply genome potions. It would not offer perks or discounts as all the goods were set at market price but it had an abundant selection of different kinds of genome potions.

Genome potions were concocted using a set of formulas. These formulas were kept secret from most people even to most clans. Genome scholars learned the formulas depending if their teachers provided them or if they were part of big organizations.

Even if a clan had a genome scholar did not mean they could produce a lot of genome potions. It also had to be considered the specialization and expertise of the scholar as well as the time needed to concoct a genome potion.

That was the reason why only big organizations such as the Seven Palaces and Trade Organization could provide them. These organizations could amass a lot of resources through the accumulation and the number of their members.

It was just that for most Alterers, the Trade Association became their common place to trade since the Seven Palaces only allowed official members to trade with them. The palaces had a membership system that gave advantages to its members but the entrant fee needed a lot of time for most Alterers to accumulate.

Aside from that, the Trade Association was also supported by the Seven Palaces, so it could also supply gene medicines and gene materials that most clans and merchants could not provide. These resources could only be purchased from the palaces but were not available to Alterers if they were not palace members. It was just that the price was higher if they were bought in the Trade Association.

"It can be said that the Trade Association is an organization that supported the needs of resources of ordinary Alterers," Yeshua told himself after remembering what he learned about the Trade Association as he entered its building.

This was Yeshua's first time entering this establishment even though he stayed in this city for a decade. He knew a lot about Alterers because of the stories told by his father but entering the place gave Yeshua a feeling that he was starting to enter a different world.

Yeshua felt urgent so he did not waste time and followed the signs that led him to the trade counter. There were hunters lining up and Yeshua lined up with them waiting for his turn.

The Trade Association did not have shops inside them but instead had trade counters. There were counters for selling and counters for purchasing goods. The customers only needed to tell the trade clerks what they wanted and the clerks would help them complete their transactions.

Currently, Yeshua was lining up at the counter for purchasing goods. After a while, it was already Yeshua's turn.