CHAPTER 1

Title: My First Trading Partner is An Awaken

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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"Greetings Tyler Pierce!"

"Who's there?!" Tyler exclaimed and didn't know where to look.

"I am Henry Ramirez. The Platform I have connected me to you," the voice stated.

"Where are you? Show yourself!" Tyler Pierce demanded. He just woke up from his slumber and remembered that he had secured himself to the ruins. He was wounded and fainted and escaped from the pursuit of the invading beasts.

[I can't Sir Tyler. The sub-station platforms were merged in your body making this conversation possible. Without it, I can't connect to you]

"Substation platform? What is that?" Tyler was confused.

"It's a station that was connected to my Platform encouraging exchange of words, ideas, items and the likes," explained by Henry, the voice that Tyler is replying to.

"Is that a joke? You meant to say that I had activated a teleportation platform for myself?" Tyler asked, feeling the intense pain in his arm. The wound dried up but it was still painful.

'Teleportation exists in his world? Oh gosh! Did I hit some jackpot with my first attempt to connect to a substation?' Henry thought.

"If what you mean is to send items from here to there, yes, it was teleportation. However, I think it's a teleportation from one realm to another"

"You meant to say you are not currently in the Dalan Kingdom or anywhere here in the Segia Continent?" Tyler asked.

"Never heard of those places. In addition, the Platform told me that I am connected to someone from universe 55. Though I don't believe it myself, this conversation still exist," Henry immediately replied. He honestly don't know where the place was.

"If you're unbelievable, then I am confused. Anyways, if this connection we have was possible due to the existence of the substation within me, what now?" Tyler asked.

"I am not sure. The Platform encourages me to trade with the person I am connected to, so I am here to trade. The Platform said that I can send anything from my place to you and the same with you," Henry explains. He was eager to trade as this seems to be the answer to his prayers.

"Without any use of energy crystals?" Tyler asked again. If that was the case, such teleportation is legendary since it doesn't use any crystals.

"I don't know why you mean energy crystals. However, the platform does require you to pay a transaction fee of 5% for each of our items by weight," Henry explain some of the rues of the platform.

"That's more legit than using it for free," Tyler said. "Anyways, I don't know what items you wanted to trade."

"I do too. I am not sure what to trade. The Platform only told me your name and the universe where you are from. However, now I am intrigued by what you called energy crystals. What are those?" Henry inquires.

"It really does seem that you are not from this realm. About energy crystals, those are used by us, awakened, to increase our power. It was also used to teleport people to another teleportation point minimum of 100 kilometers."

"We also used it to make healing potions, energy weapons and bombs. The use is so extensive that it becomes our primary currency where gold becomes secondary." Tyler said.

"Do you mine it like other metals?" Henry asked.

"Yes, but the purity of the energy crystals in the mine is so low so we prefer to hunt awakened beasts since it's readily available and only consumes a small amount of salt to be purified," Tyler explains.

'Did Tyler say, salt?' Henry thought.

"Salt you say? The white crystalline powdery and bitter taste thing?" Henry asked as he was not sure if they are talking the same thing.

"Those are high end salt that you describe," Tyler said. He was not in the mood to talk as he was already in pain but still, he was an awakened being so he still can persist.

"You meant that you needed salt for energy crystals?" Henry inquires again.

"Yes. We use salt solution to purify energy crystals. That's why salt is equivalent to gold. It had been like this ever since.'' Tyler explains.

After hearing all these,Henry becomes excited. Still he calmly asked, Tyler Pierce.

"Ahem, can energy crystals cure any form of disease or abnormalities in the body?"

"Well yes. As I said, we can use energy crystals to make healing potions. Why? Do you have abnormalities now?" Tyler asked. He noticed that the talks surround energy crystals and the questioning leads to the healing properties of the crystals.

"Not me. Though I have some skin abnormalities, it is still manageable. However, my father, half of his body is paralyzed and it becoming worse"

"Paralyze? You mean to say that half of your father's body is dead?"

"Something like that but the doctor said that it can still be remedied through therapy but the cost is too high"

"I understand. I think I saw it to some of the common people and to some awakened but yes, I think 1 piece of F-rank purified crystals can cure such illness. If it's not, you just need to continue drinking potion." Tyler thought.

"Great!" Henry exclaimed.

"Not so fast, Henry. As I said, salt is needed. For every gram of F-rank crystals, it needs 10 grams of salt. Mostly, the F-rank crystals are 30 to 40 grams, thus you will be needing 300 to 400 grams of salt in a liter of water." Tyler reiterates.

"I see. How much for an F-rank crystal from you, by the way?"

"Hey are you not listening…" then Tyler realizes something. "No, you are listening but I had misunderstood it! You seem to have salt! Aren't you?"

Tyler becomes excited as he realizes that it was so.

"I do have some salt here. Can I use it to trade it with you?"

"Why not! I too needed it because I am wounded right now!" Tyler said.

"Apologize, Sir Tyler. I didn't know," Henry said.

"Now, I can trade gold and F-rank crystals to you. Since you need both, and I need salt, I will make a bargain for you." Tyler said wanting to trade at a lower price.

"No need. Can you agree with 1 kg of salt for 1 gold coin?"

"Deal! As for F-rank crystals, it is worth 20 gold coins yet you can convert it to the price of salt." Tyler said lying with a straight face to Henry.

Henry seems to noticed that Tyler's immediate response is unnatural. And it was, actually.

The cost of 500 Grams of salt is a gold coin and F-rank crystals is worth 5 gold coins only. However, he multiplied his income by more than 15 times if the deal was closed.

If Tyler think that he won in the trade, Henry too won the dealing as Tyler is not aware that salt is one of the most abundant compounds on the Earth, so Henry finds it too cheap.

"Alright, we can proceed to such trade"

"Nice. Would you want to know how to use the crystals to cure your father? He is unconscious right?" Tyler asked.

"No. He is conscious. For the cure, you wanted to trade it with salt too?" Henry asked.

"That's better and Yes, 50 kg of salt will suffice," Tyler offers. It was basic knowledge but he didn't hesitate to earn from it.

"I see. Wait a bit, I need to prepare the salt. I wanted to trade 10 kg of salt for gold coins, five F-rank crystals and the method of making a cure."

"That will be 80 kg of salt in total," Tyler concluded.

Henry told him to wait a bit as he needed to go to the market to buy salt. Twenty-five kg of salt is worth 220 pesos. He gritted his teeth to buy 5 sacks, paying the shop owner 1,100 pesos.

With a meager budget of only 3,000 pesos and the weight of his family's welfare resting solely on his shoulders, Henry Ramirez toiled tirelessly as a scrap collector, earning a mere 300 pesos a day. Yet, despite the relentless grind of his daily struggles, he remained resolute in his determination to provide for his loved ones.

However, due to this kind of will, he had overestimated himself as late in the evening, he had collapse in their floor inadvertently smear blood on the ring attached to his worn silver necklace. As he regained consciousness, he found himself lying in the same position, his father's concerned gaze watching over him.

During his brief respite, Henry's weary mind stumbled upon a revelation—a hidden opportunity concealed within the ring adorning his neck. It was the Platform, a gateway to untold possibilities, capable of connecting him to other people in another world.

Eager to seize upon this newfound potential, Henry resolved to leverage the Platform to trade salt for more valuable commodities in Tyler's world. However, five sacks of salt is not the type of product that is naturally stored in their shanty house.

Their house was constructed from recycled metal sheets, offered little space for secrets. The space is not wide enough to accomodate his trading product.

"The backyard!" Henry remember that their backyard is not always visited and it was concealed from the passersby. Thus, he asked the help of the two boys who are just a standby in a vreity store nearby to hil the sack of salt in their small backyard.

[The 125 kg of salt is ready for trading 24:59:58]

"So it was real! The salt in front really disappeared!" Henry exclaimed. He also noticed the timer and according to the Platform, if he fails to trade the item, it will be out from the platform after 24 hours.

Henry immediately message Tyler.

[Sir. Tyler, I have the salt that you need. Can I add 38 gold coins from our first agreement?]

"So you still have salt in your disposal?" Tyler asked.

[Yes, I still have 38 kg less the taxes already]

"I see. I forgot the tax that you said. Anyways, let's do six pieces of F-rank crystals, 28 pieces of gold coins and the payment of the general cure for your father's ailment." Tyler said.

[I see. Let's trade.]

Now, the platform collects additional gold coins and F-rank crystals to Tyler to compensate for the transaction fee and sends the rest to Henry. Yet, he received 118 kg of salt which is a big haul!

"Awesome! I can use this to advance to E-rank Awaken!" Tyler is excited.

"Sir Tyler, I had received the gold and the F-rank crystals. Can you tell me how to make potions for my father?"

"Ah yes. By the way, just call me Tyler. Anyhow, it's an F-rank healing potion. It can heal anything with continuous intake of the potion. F-rank healing potion can brings back unhealthy body to optimize one."

"It is very effective for unawakened or ordinary people. When drunk, it will get rid of any toxins from the human body and be mindful of the first effect since the first one is the most smelly part and the secretes are mostly black."

"However, it will gradually become normal until such time that his secretes turn yellowish. I guess if he is done, you can ask the doctor again for an examination."

"Powerful!"

Henry was impressed by the description of Tyler. He wanted to use it too but he still needed to listen very carefully.

"Now, if it's used to the skin, it will make the skin and even the old scar will be gone. So, to make one, you needed first to purify the F-rank crystals. As I said earlier, you need 10 grams of salt for every gram of the crystals and dilute it in 1 liter of water for at least 2 hours."

"I understand"

"Since you are generous, as additional information, after you purify the crystals, the wastewater can be used as a growth potion for any kind of plant. However, don't drink it as it will be hard on the body. The plants have the processing system that can use the growth potion in maximum."

"So if you want to grow vegetables, this wastewater will be a great help. You just need to dilute it to 10 parts. That means that you need to dilute the waste water to 10 liters of water since its concentrated form will kill the plant immediately."

Henry can only be stunned from the revelations of Tyler about how powerful energy crystals are. He was literally impressed.

"Yes. It really was. Now to continue, after you soaked the crystals for two hours, you needed to extract the energy within the crystals using olive oil. You have olive oil on your side, Henry?" Tyler asked.

"Ido. What comes next, Tyler?"

Henry is writing down the process, anxious enough not to miss anything for this one is truly important to him. Though he now has 28 gold coins, he can still resist the temptation to cash it out.