The Merchant

{Level up}

{Level up}

{Level up}

Sky continued to 'cheese' his way through the dungeon by sending in his lightning birds to kill alligators while he and Jericho hid. 

{Level 85}

{Stat points: 30}

"Yeah those will go into vigor."

{Stat points: 30 → 0}

{Vig: 100 → 130}

{HP: 3150/3150}

Sky thought since he possibly couldn't cheese through the boss fight he needed to tank some hits.

Once his birds returned to him after killing any alligators Sky would drop down from the tree while carrying Jericho.

They continued through the swamp. It was very difficult to traverse with the wet dirt slowing them down, and the fog made it harder to see.

'I have a feeling we are lost.' Sky thought. 

"Sky, I feel something over there." Jericho pointed, she couldn't see it but could feel it.

"Another treasure chest? Neat. Lead the way."

While Jericho held onto Sky's shirt she led him to where she felt something metallic was buried.

She stopped and stood over the buried treasure, at least she believes it's buried treasure.

She raised both her hands to take out the buried treasure.

Out of the dirt, a bronze chest popped out covered in mud.

"Good job." Sky patted her head and opened the chest.

{Congratulations! You have found a copper treasure chest}

{Received 200,000 shells. Bronze sword}

{Bronze sword: 100 damage}

'Wait, why did I get 200,000 shells in a copper chest when I got 250,000 shells in a silver chest? A 50,000 shell difference is not that big. Unless it's because this is a red portal and the silver chest I found was in a green portal.' 

Sky couldn't use his map function to traverse through the dungeon because it was a system ship exclusive function.

Sky held onto Jericho's hand and they continued traversing through the swamp blindly. The more they traveled the thicker the fog, the harder it was to see.

There were also less and less trees, nothing but mud and fog, but also less alligators.

{Lightning bird has died}

Sky immediately halted in his steps. He commanded his birds to go in front of him so if a monster was to ambush them they would get targeted first.

'I sense something but it's not an alligator. I hate this fog!'

The monster he sensed was alone, and it was hard to know what type of monster it was since he couldn't see.

Sky pulled Jericho behind him. The area around them didn't have any thick trees to hide. There was only mud.

He could faintly see his lightning birds through the fog because their bodies were a light source. They surrounded one monster.

{Lightning bird has died}

{Lightning bird has died}

More lightning birds were summoned and they joined the others to fight the monster.

"Weird, whatever it is, it's easily killing my birds.'

Sky kneeled before Jericho and said, "There's a monster up ahead and I need to kill it but I don't know what it is. I need your help, you know what to do, right?"

Jericho nodded a few times.

Sky let go of Jericho as he ran through the fog to see what kind of monster it was.

In front of him he saw a monster made entirely out of mud. It was 4ft tall, had thick limbs made of mud but no face. It extended its limbs fast and wide to catch the lightning birds and absorb them in his body.

'Identify.'

{Swamp monster}

{A monster made of mud. It absorbs its prey and eats them alive, especially small animals. It only lives in swampy areas. Lightning attacks aren't effective against it. It hates ice}

{HP: 1500/1500}

'Shouldn't my summons have dwindled its HP by now?' Sky was confused.

{Mana: 300/300}

{Stats: Str: 100. Dex: 80. Spd: 40. Int: 60. Wis: 10}

{Skill: Absorption: lvl 2: Absorbs enemies and recovers 4% of its total mana and HP}

{Skill: Muddy body: lvl 4: 94% resistant against lightning attacks. 80% weaker against freezing attacks}

{Skill: Muddy heal: lvl 3: When touching mud you heal 30 HP per second}

'Man, do we even have to fight it? And it's no wonder my birds haven't dealt any damage when it heals every second and it's highly resistant to lightning attacks!' Sky thought that maybe there is no point fighting a monster when it benefits from its environment.

'But, I need as much exp as I can get before I fight the boss.' 

Sky went up to Jericho and said, "Use your daggers on it, especially the one that freezes enemies but keep your distance."

"Okay."

'Slowness.' 

A dark miasma surrounded the swamp monster.

{Slowness lvl up}

{Slowness lvl 7 → 8}

{Slowness lvl 8: slows down the target by 40%}

'Perfect!'

The monster felt something heavy on him and it made him slower.

Sky ran up to the monster and yelled, "Triple water slice!"

{Dealt 360 damage}

The monster focused its attention from the lightning birds to Sky. To his surprise the monster was fast even if his speed stat was lower than him and was cursed, but with the muddy environment they were in Sky was at a disadvantage.

Sky kept its distance while its birds dealt insignificant damage to it, as long as it doesn't touch him he'll be fine.

Jericho could faintly see their silhouettes through the thick fog. She grabbed both daggers and threw them at the monster.

Both daggers hit the swamp monster. It immediately froze.

{Dagger of chill has activated its effect}

{Swamp monster has been frozen}

'Now!' Sky ran towards the monster and pierced its head with his trident. The ice broke and the monster broke into several pieces.

{Critical hit! You have killed swamp monster} 

{Acquired: 9,000 exp, 8,321 shells}

{Level up}

{Vig: 130 → 135}

{HP: 3,200/3,200}

{Exp: 13,201/22,000}

"Jericho, come!" Sky said.

Jericho retrieved her daggers using her magnetism ability. 

"Good job. It was a 10% chance and it activated on the first try."

Sky patted her again.

"What was the monster? I couldn't see it." Jericho asked. She didn't mind his headpats, she was starting to like it, if only they weren't covered in mud.

"A swamp monster. Have you heard of those before?"

"I think I have but I don't remember much."

"If you see swamp monsters, don't touch them. Use ice attacks. Let's go."

Jericho held onto his shirt as they continued traversing the swamp. A few seconds later Sky stops abruptly, which makes her collide with him and fall on the mud.

"Sky?" Jericho stood up and tried to get rid of the mud with her hands.

"Do you see that?" Sky said while on guard.

"See wha- oh." 

Both saw two torches through the thick fog. 

"Sky, did people already come here?" 

"No. I would've known by now."

His system would warn him in advance if people were to enter the dungeon. A useful function in case he were to get ambushed by people.

It wasn't common knowledge for torches to appear in a dungeon. 

Sky did see a torch once but that was at the very beginning and in his first dungeon that was created by the system. 

"Stay behind."

Both walked slowly towards the light source. As they got closer they began to see there was a building.

The building was a perfect red square. It was 10 meters long and wide. Two torches hung in front of the building on the edges. There were also two giant wooden doors that covered most of the front part of the building.

The area around the building there wasn't a trace of fog or mud.

"Jericho, has your father ever told you about buildings appearing in dungeons?" 

"No. Never."

"Stand back. I need to see what it is."

Jericho held tightly onto his shirt, not letting go. 

"What if it's a trap? What if it's something bad? Please, don't go." 

Sky looked at Jericho who was both scared and worried for him.

"Birds, go." 

All 9 birds flew towards the building and began circling it. 

"One of you, attack it."

One of the birds proceeds to shock the building, Sky gets a surprising notification from the system.

{Cannot damage part of the system}

'That building is part of the system?' 

Sky held tightly onto Jericho.

"It's fine." Sky smiled.

"Are you sure?"

Sky grabbed her by the wrist and led her towards the building. As far as he knows the system isn't dangerous to him, aside from when he entered the secret boss room, but what was his choice.

Sky opened the doors to reveal a man watching something on laptop. He seemed very happy, and was jumping around like a kid who got the toy they wanted for their birthday. They couldn't see the man's face because it was covered by the black gown he was wearing.

{Congratulations! You have found the merchant for the first time!}

'What?'

"Whoo! Finally! After so many years we got gear 5! FUCKING FINALLY!" 

He then grabbed a handful of popcorn on the side and began munching furiously.

Both Sky and Jericho looked at the man confused.

The inside of the building had a very modern look. With clean wooden floorings, technology they hadn't seen like television, laptop's, phones, an expensive looking PC, gaming consoles with two remotes for each console, and so on. 

They also saw some light sources installed that they hadn't seen either. This world did have some advanced tech such as light bulbs, lamps, stoves, motorboats, steam boats, but not to the point where it was as advanced as modern times.

In front of them was a long wooden counter like one would see in an ordinary shop that didn't let them through. 

"Hey!" Jericho called out to the man. 

The man finally noticed both of them and said, "oh shit!" 

He quickly appeared before them behind the counter. It was as if he had teleported.

'Oh god!' Sky took a step back while Jericho jumped behind Sky.

Sky couldn't see his face at all despite facing him directly, it was completely devoid of light. If he were to shine a light at the man's face it would be absorbed by the darkness.

'Identify.'

{The system's merchant}

There wasn't anything else that the system told Sky about this man.

"Welcome Sky! You finally found me!" The merchant extended his hands towards Sky as if he was expecting Sky to hug him.

"You know me?" 

"Well sort of." The man tilted his head side-to-side repeatedly.

"I'll give you the gist of it, but first, a present." The man took out something from reaching to his face and gave it to Sky, a coupon.

Sky grabbed the item from the man's hand.

{Player coupon}

{Can be used to trade it for items from the merchant}

The coupon in his hand disappeared and appeared in his inventory, only instead of an item it appeared as a form of currency like his shells.

"Instead of explaining, let me show you. Take a look at your left!" The man pointed with both hands.

Both of them turned their heads to the inside of the wooden door. Five items appeared out of nowhere hanging from the door. Each item had a price in front of them.

"And now take a look at this!" The man pointed to the other side.

Three papers appeared filled with words. 

"And now take a look at the special item in front of you!" 

A single but special item appeared in front of them on top of the counter. In front of it it had a small sign, a picture of a player coupon with a '1' beside it. 

"Now look up."

A timer appeared hanging from the roof. {23:59:55} and it was going down by the second.

"What do you think?" The merchant stretched out his hands as if what he had done was amazing.

"What is happening?" Sky asked.

"Isn't it obvious? It's like something you would see in a video game or a common isekai manga." 

"What?" Both Jericho and Sky asked, confused.

"A. Video. Game." The merchant said slower, thinking they misheard them.

They looked at him confused as hell.

"Wait, wait, Sky, you're from Earth, right?" The merchant tilted his head slightly to the side as he folded his arms.

"From where? I'm from the Land of the Free."

"Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" 

The merchant realized what was happening.

"To think G. picked someone not from Earth. Interesting. Interesting… I should've read the file." The merchant picked up a file that contained information about Sky and this world and skimmed through it.

"I think we should go." Jericho said.

"Yeah, but look at this." 

Sky picked up the special item in front of him. It was a thick book with a pretty cover. It had an ice-y cover, with a white gem on the inside. 

{Want to buy an ice trident book?}

{1x player coupon required}

{Ice trident: lvl 1: summons an ice trident. Scales with trident mastery. 5% chance to freeze enemy}

{Can be found in red portals}

{Damage: 550}

{Requirements: Int: 100}

{Mana cost: 80}

"I'll buy it." Sky said.

The player coupon disappeared from his inventory, and the book was his.

"I think I finally got it, oh, you already bought the thingy." The merchant appeared behind the counter again. "Doesn't matter. Want me to tell you what all of this is? Say yes." 

"Yes." Sky said. 

"Every 24 hours the timer resets, as you can see above me. And when it resets, new items appear in my shop, items that will help out the player."

Another item caught his eye. It was a ship in a bottle. The inside of the bottle appeared as if the ship was sailing through a violent thunder and riding the waves.

{Do you wish to buy the ship of the eclipse}

{1,500,000,000 shells}

{Ship of the eclipse}

{HP: 100,000,000/100,000,000}

{Ship of the eclipse is a legendary boat found in black portals. Armed with 200 cannons, 50 mortars, and can fit 400 crew members}

{Ability: Eclipse: Anyone staring at the ship, except the crew members, when the ability is activated by the captain will be blind permanently}

{Ability: Mouth cannon: Has a large hidden cannon installed in the front that can shoot out large cannonballs filled with fire}

{Passive ability: Sun and moon: All damage taken by other ships during the night will damage the enemy ship as well. All damage dealt during the day will heal ship of the eclipse}

Sky gulped upon seeing that. He didn't think it was possible for such a powerful ship to exist, or the fact that it can be found in portals. Then again black portals can only be found in the Land of the Gods.

Since today he thought all ships were man made.

"You want to take that ship?" The merchant asked.

"I don't have enough shells to pay for it."

"That's fine. Take it without paying. It's all yours."

"Really?" Without hesitating Sky took the ship in the bottle and wanted to place it in his inventory.

{THIEF!}

A lightning bolt struck Sky and launched him back into the mud. The ship in the bottle returned to being hanged on the door.

"SKY!" Jericho cried his name and quickly ran up to him.

{HP: 32/3,200}

{Mana: 0/980}

{System lightning: If the user attempts to steal an item from the merchant a lightning bolt will strike the player, sapping all his mana, and 99% of his total health. Ignores all defense and resistance. Does not damage items}

"Hahaha! Victim number 5,224,000 let's goooo- ACK!"

*Boom*

Another lightning struck the merchant and launched him back into his living room.

{System merchant lightning: Whenever the merchant tricks the player to steal he gets hurt and deducts the merchant's pay for the month}

"I deserved that. But it's worth it." The merchant stood up, shook off the fire from his cloak, and appeared behind the counter again.

Jericho helped Sky up. 

"Are you okay, Sky?" 

"I'm fine. That lightning bolt was something else." 

"That was a warning if you think about stealing from the shop! I know I told you to so it's partially my fault. Here." The merchant yelled. He threw something at Sky which landed on his head. It was a glass bottle with a purple bottle that shattered into pieces.

"..." Sky.

It didn't hurt, but he could feel the liquid covering his eyes and face.

{Extreme healing-mana potion}

{Heals 100% of total health}

{Recovers 100% of total mana}

"Woah." Sky stood up feeling better. He got rid of the shattered glass from his head and wiped the liquid.

"Come here, guys." The merchant signaled to both of them. But of course they didn't want to get near him.

"Come on, I don't bite." 

"You hurt him." Jericho said.

"Okay, fine, I'll even give you two very things for free from my own pocket."

Sky and Jericho looked at each other then at the merchant. "No tricks?"

"No tricks."

Both arrived in front of the merchant again. He placed down two items in front of them that he took out from his face.

"For the little lady for scaring you like that and for hurting your friend."

{Red scroll}

{Increases 1 random stat}

{Dead language level is too low to fully understand}

"And for the player."

{Ring of 100 levels}

{500+ HP when worn}

Sky immediately wore it without reading the rest. 500+ HP is huge.

{HP: 3,700/3,700}

{Exp earned by killing increases by 100% until wearer reaches lvl 100. Exp effect can be apply to party members when worn}

"It's the perfect item for you and for your low level party members, don't you agree? Although you're very close to hitting lvl 100."

"Yeah, it's great." Sky obviously wore the ring.

The 500+ HP wouldn't affect Jericho since the system doesn't allow anyone else to fully benefit from the system aside from the player. But it seems some items can be allowed to affect party members.

"Great, now that we're best buds again let me tell you about the papers here." He took the papers from the wall and laid them down in front of him.

"These papers are quests given to you by me or the system: if you complete the quests you'll be rewarded with either shells, and/or player coupons, and/or items. But the ones you reeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllllly need to complete are the 'special quests' that benefit the shop. Take a good look." 

{Monster hunter}

{Kill 100 monsters inside green+ dungeons}

{Reward: 500,000 shells, 50,000 exp}

{Quest failure: None}

{Finding Nemo}

{Find a clownfish for Betty Ling}

{1,000 exp}

{Quest failure: A little girl will be disappointed in the merchant}

{SPECIAL QUEST! Find the merchant 3 times}

{5x merchant summoning item. 3+ quests will be permenantly added to the quest board}

{Merchant summoning item: Can summon the merchant anytime at any place. One time use}

{Quest failure: none}

"Can I just accept all quests?" Sky asked. They all had important rewards that he needed.

"Of course. Also, new quests will arrive after the timer runs out."

{You have accepted two quests}

"Dude, come on, please bring me a clown fish." The merchant held onto the one quest Sky didn't accept.

"No."

"Damn, how can I argue with that?" The Merchant threw the quest paper back to the door where it was still hanging.

{Find the merchant 3 times}

{1/3 remaining}

"Huh, I guess this shop is really cool. Jericho, use this." Sky handed Jericho the red scroll. 

Jericho looked at Sky with eyes wide open. She knows just how valuable red scrolls are, and instead of taking it for himself he's giving it to her?

"No, you take it, you're much more powerful than me so you need it."

Sky took her hand and gave it to her.

"It's yours." 

Jericho looked at the scroll and back at Sky. She started to tear up a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Thank you." 

She remembered the few times when her father would come home with scrolls. Her father never did give her a red scroll since they were somewhat rare, not even green scrolls, and he always used them on himself because he needed them the most.

She understood that. But it was because she ripped a purple scroll by accident that caused her father to leave her and her family.

And Sky has given her green scrolls before, but they raised her Int stat by 7 in total. For that she was grateful, but now she was even more grateful since Sky just gave her the valuable red scroll.

Jericho ripped the scroll and increased her stats.

{Jericho's Int has increased by 50}

"*Whistle*" Sky let out a whistle. 

{Jericho Haydie}

{Level 33}

{HP: 530/530}

{Mana: 470/470}

{Str: 25. Dex: 29. Spd: 22. Int: 94. Mind: 33. VIg: 43}

Green scrolls can increase any stat point from 1-15. Sky has yet to know how many stats red scrolls can give, but it seems like it was 16-50 possible more.

"My mana increased by a lot." Jericho felt the difference. Her mana increased more than twice the amount than before.

Sky smiled at her. Then he took a good look at what else the merchant was selling.

{Ship of the eclipse}

{5x bottle of low-mana: Recovers 50 mana upon consuming}

{Strong dagger: 50 damage}

{Silver sword: 100+ damage. Twice as effective against vampires}

{Sombrero of Nacho}

{200+ HP when worn}

{15+ dex when worn}

{Cost: 200,000 shells}

Sky took off his hat to compare its stats with the sombrero.

{Captain's hat}

{100+ HP when worn}

"Yup, the other hat is better. I want to buy the sombrero. It's a funny name by the way. And the mana potions."

{You have bought Sombrero of Nacho and 5x bottles of low-mana}

{Deducted 205,000 shells}

{Shells remaining: 1.3m}

"It's yours!"

Sky took off the captain's hat and replaced it with the sombrero.

{HP: 3,800/3,800}

{Dex: 53 +15}

"Pft!" Jericho wanted to laugh, not because of the sombrero, but because Sky always wears ridiculous clothes that make no sense.

Alligator pants, a red shirt, metal gauntlets, puffy boots, now a weird hat. 

"Don't laugh. This makes me stronger. Hey, if you're a merchant do you also buy stuff?"

"I do. Want to sell me your junk?"

"Take it." Sky tossed his hat to the merchant. There was no point in keeping it, the 100+ HP doesn't benefit anyone else but him.

{500 shells received}

"That little?"

"I don't get to decide the price."

"Fine." Sky sold another item.

{Sold running boots: 500 shells}

{Sold copper sword: 500 shells}

{Sold 3x alligator pants: 1,500 shells}

Sky got some duplicate alligator pants from hunting them.

"When will you sell better stuff?"

"The shop resets every 24 hours and the stuff that's on stock is always random, same goes for the special item and the quests, not even I know what the next item that appears will be or the prices. It can be items worth billions, like that ship, or it can be useless crap like that dagger. It can also be easy missions with bad rewards, or difficult quests with insane rewards. It's all random."

"I see. Thank you."

"Pleasure's all mine, Sky. You can find me again in another dungeon but the chance is rather small." The merchant bowed to Sky for some reason.

The merchant closed his doors but the building remained.

Sky halted in his steps, then he returned and opened the merchant's shop again.

The merchant began making more popcorn when he noticed Sky was at the door again.

"Dammit. Didn't work."

Sky was hoping that the quest {find the merchant} would go up, but it didn't.

"Ha!" The merchant laughed. It's not the first time a player had tried that.

Sky left the shop, again.

"Are we killing the boss now?" Jericho asked Sky.

"We sure are. But first I want to test something. Ice trident!"

{Ice trident level 1: damage 1045 (base 550)}

{Scales with trident mastery level}

{Mana cost 64} (It was 80 after the 20% decrease in mana cost)

{Trident mastery: lvl 9: dmg 90% increased when wielding a trident. 90% swimming speed when wielding a trident. 45% crit chance and dmg}

"Woah. Cool." Jericho said.

Sky could feel how cold it was yet it didn't damage his hand when gripping it,

"Aside from the high mana cost it's a really nice skill."

It dealt more damage than his living trident and can throw as many as he wants until he runs out of mana, but the neat part about his living trident is that it didn't cost mana to summon it.

And so both walked to find the boss room while clearing monsters on the way.