Ch:1 Wealth Beyond Worlds: A Trader's Journey

In the modern era, every person struggles to make a living in a harsh world where giving your best is essential for success. Our main character, Max, is a poor orphaned college student who lives in a small apartment and barely earns enough for rent. He has no relatives or friends and feels isolated in this world.

Max secretly admires Samantha, the college idol, but knows he could never reach out to her. One day, while sitting in class, Max was drawing a portrait of Samantha when he was caught by Samuel, the college bully. Samuel, a rich second-generation kid, always uses his money and power to suppress others. When he saw Max's drawing, he made fun of him in front of the class, causing everyone to laugh. Samantha, feeling humiliated and angry, lashed out at Max and threatened to ruin his future if he ever tried to approach her again.

Max was so surprised after hearing those words. He couldn't believe he was hearing this. She was a kind soul and wouldn't get angry just because Max was drawing her portrait, but he didn't know that actually she was also a part of the bully group. She just acted like a goddess and an ideal, but inside she was just the same as Samuel. She also liked to bully others.

Max grabbed his ride and left the classroom in a hurry. While running, he headed straight towards his apartment. He was stuck in his apartment for the whole week, doing nothing but drinking. He had already spent his rent money on the beer. He couldn't afford the rent for this month and he knew that he would surely get kicked out of his apartment.

Just as he was lost in his thoughts, he heard a bang on his door. It was the apartment owner. He told him that he was going to double the rent for this month due to some emergency, but Max knew that it was no emergency. It was actually Samuel and Samantha who were trying to bully him. He also knew the nature of the apartment owner. He was nothing more than a greedy fat man who liked to bully the tenants.

Max couldn't do anything but agree. He knew that if he didn't agree with the terms, the apartment owner would kick him out right at that moment. He clenched his fist and agreed to him, even after knowing that he couldn't afford it. He still agreed to him. Max was puzzled and couldn't think straight. He decided to commit suicide.

He tied a rope around his neck and tried to hang himself. The moment he hung himself, when he was almost dead, the rope broke and he fell on top of a box filled with beers. And suddenly, he opened his eyes. He saw that he was in a grassland, a field full of flowers and a beautiful landscape scenery. He couldn't imagine what he was seeing. He thought that maybe it was the afterlife. When he saw the sky, he saw two moons. And he saw many strange creatures flying in the sky and walking on the ground. He thought that maybe this was the afterworld.

Max heard a loud voice shouting from behind. He saw a carriage pulled by a horse-like creature. It looked like a horse, but it wasn't a horse. He saw a short man with a big beard. He looked like a dwarf. He couldn't understand what was happening and asked the dwarf, "Is this the afterlife?" The dwarf couldn't understand what Max was saying because they both spoke different languages. They were from another world. Max heard a voice saying, "System initialization. The Professional Trader System activated." Hearing those words, Max was surprised. He suddenly saw a screen in front of his eyes. It was a system panel. Max couldn't understand what was happening, but he knew that it wasn't the afterlife. He could breathe, smell the fresh air, and feel the sensations on his skin. They were real.

At the right-hand corner of the panel, there was a term written: logout. He thought that maybe it was a VR game and somebody pulled a prank on him. But he also had the beer bottle with him. He heard the voice from the system saying, "Knowledge of the world is initializing. Entering the host's memories." Suddenly, Max knew the language of the world and gained some basic knowledge about it.

He was suddenly able to hear the words of the dwarf and understand their meaning. The dwarf was shouting at him, "Why are you standing in the middle of the road and blocking the carriage? Get aside!" He couldn't think of anything. He was sitting on top of a box of beers. He took out a bottle of beer and showed it to the dwarf. After smelling the beer, the dwarf went crazy for it. He immediately got out of his carriage and took the bottle. After seeing the bottle, he was surprised. "How could a black crystal glass like this be created? Such fine craftsmanship and details! And even the smell of the beer is enticing!" He asked for the price. Max replied, "You can have the whole bottle if you want." Max suddenly heard the system.

The system showed the price of the bottle and asked Max to select higher than that. Max was puzzled. He told the dwarf that he was willing to sell the bottle for 10 silver coins. It was the currency of the world he was in. The world's name was Quark. It was a fantasy world with nobles, warriors, wizards, and demon creatures. It was the world of novels. The currency system was pretty normal. 100 copper coins made a silver. 100 silver coins made a gold. And 100 gold coins made a platinum coin. Platinum was the biggest currency and only the richest of the rich had it.

The system showed five silver as the price of the bottle. Max tried to sell it for 10 silvers. The dwarf immediately agreed. Although it was a bit expensive, as most of the beer cost around 2 to 3 silvers, only the famous wines that the nobles drank cost more than 10 silvers. But the smell of the beer that Max showed him had a heavenly smell. He couldn't resist but buy it. When he took the first sip, it was so good that he started crying. He said that the last time he drank such a heavenly-tasting wine was at the banquet of the king of dwarfs.

The system panel showed some attributes and other functions. The attributes were mainly wealth, knowledge, courage, strength, stamina, speed, and mana. It was like a game panel in which he could increase his attributes. There was a plus sign written in front of them. He could increase his knowledge, power, and other attributes. The panel also showed his wealth, which was written as 10 silvers. He knew that he could earn money by selling his beers.

He gifted a bottle of beer to the dwarf and asked him to take him to the nearest city. He was thinking of a plan to sell all the beers in the city and live a rich life in the new world. Although dwarves were creatures who didn't like humans, he still accepted. He thought that Max was a kind fellow. The dwarf told him his name. It was Zakar. As they both were travelling in the carriage on the bumpy road, Max was checking the system panel. He accidentally clicked logout. It showed.....