Suspicious Merchant

"Alright. I will sell all this to you at the price of 20 silver coins, no price reduction is accepted. I know if you decide to sell this in your shop you will make a profit of about ten to fifteen silver coins. If we don't have a deal I'll take it somewhere else." James said as he pretended to leave.

"No...no Sir. I am but a humble merchant who has risked his life by adventuring into the forests with no prior preparation and skill all for the sake of my family. This might prompt you that I had no other option to look for supplies but by risking my life. I hope this plight will be enough to change your mind and reduce the cost to about sixteen silver pieces. Mr. Immortal Adventurer, all I have is twenty silver coins from my monthly transactions and part of it goes to the livelihood of my family...." The merchant said his entire life story as he fought the urge to cry.

"Okay. I guess I can do something about that situation. " James said as he looked at the man pitifully.

"Thank you. Thank you very much, Immortal adventurer...." The man continuously thanked James...

"I will be expecting 25 silver pieces for all this equipment or I'll have to look for another partner" James reaffirmed his stance of going through with the deal if only his condition and price were accepted.

This interaction made James look like the bad guy since it seemed that he didn't care about the merchant's plight and the sacrifices he made for his family.

Looking at the short period James currently needed to reach the power level of his past life, one might think the same held in that life.

Mana as a diverse power source with brimming vitality, granted upon its offspring or race, the multiple avenues and pathways for individuals to increase their strength and undergo evolution.

In James' former world, the use of power leveling (i.e Getting exp points by killing beasts and fellow members of the race.) was not adopted and even known. A process of cultivation and storing of mana to help undergo evolution was one of the paths used.

All these different paths led to the same endpoint and the time required to reach that endpoint differed from one individual to another, this was where talent played a factor.

To be able to reach the pinnacle of his world, James had to have talent and the trait of being a hardworking person.

With the magnitude of talent he had, he was able to rise to the top. Rising to that particular power level was not easy as it seemed and it took a far longer time to reach that pinnacle.

Through his journey to the top, as the lonely orphan who had to grab every resource under the nose of his competitors, he met a lot of people and these people were of three kinds.

He had met people who still had their humanity even in the dog-eat-dog world. Although these people were of the lower percentage, they had some effect on him which reduced the repercussions of someone who had gone through what he had.

He had met people who were indifferent to the ways of the world and seek only to reach the pinnacle where they lived their lives unfettered and free.

He had met people who were evil and didn't care about the feelings and emotions of those weaker or less in status than them. These people exerted their frustrations upon the weaker populace.

He had met a lot of people on his journey that shaped his former cold and aloof personality in his previous world. He was so indifferent that every other matter apart from survival and power was of no relevance to him.

The only thing that broke that indifference was his lust. The edge to taste the forbidden but sweet fruit of Qing Xiaoru was what broke that indifference.

One will expect him to carry on that indifference where only power and survival were the only things in sight.

But since his arrival, James had shown varying emotions from surprise, fear, uncertainty, anticipation, joy, and most preceding of all love.

From a certain perspective, one can say love and lust are the major emotions that determine the perspective and personality of an individual.

In the bid to escape from his past of losing his family, he adopted the emotion of indifference but lust was able to break that emotion.

After his first reincarnation where he never knew his parents, he adopted that burden of hatred toward the system where the weak were preyed on but left his indifference behind. He could joke around with Bella upon their first meeting and he was even able to feel fear when he met Nicholas at first.

Somehow he broke that shell of indifference and expressed emotions.

He reacted how he was expected to. When he first possessed James' body he felt the need to take revenge and continue that cycle of hate.

After his second reincarnation where he had Lisa and the hope of finding love through Tabitha, he expressed more varying emotions and interacted with people, and reciprocated the emotions they showed him.

James had grown over the past weeks after experiencing two reincarnations and living through the Extinction. The most shocking part about this was that someone with sharp intuition and senses was unable to determine such a dramatic change in his personality.

But one should note that even after all the r changes he still remembered the different kinds of people he met in his lifetime and how they influenced him. He had the knowledge and intuition to identify individuals and distinguish them into different categories and such a scenario will prove that point.

Nothing had changed. He was still that intuitive, smart, cunning, and cautious person.

He had met a lot of people who had different personalities and perspectives but were of the minor category. Of this category, was the merchant that stood right in front of him.

With James' intuition, he was able to inspect the merchant's facial expressions and body movements. He was able to realize inconsistencies in the merchant's plight speech.

Inferring from what the trader said, he was able to hunt magical beasts and risk his life to get the equipment he puts on sale. But with the trader's level and stats, he knew it was plain bullshit.

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NAME: Brodius

NPC LEVEL: Level 5

HEALTH: 650

RELATIONSHIP: Merchant Guild

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This was the information that popped up when James first met the trader. It will be an obvious lie to tell if he had these stats.

There were only three possibilities to consider for telling such an obvious lie.

To tell such an obvious lie, the trader might be stupid. But from his working conditions, one could infer that his business was on the right track and he had a substantial amount of daily income. A stupid person will not be able to manage a business with lots of competitors to such heights.

Another reason to tell such an obvious lie will be taking James for a stupid person. Even with his young face, James had some special kind of bearing that affected other people. This bearing he had made players he met mistake him for an NPC. With this, that possibility was crossed out.

'Oh. I get it now.' James thought as he finally figured out the only plausible possibility.

The final reason to tell such an obvious lie will be to have the assurance that his stats could not be seen. The merchant might have a special object which prevents people from knowing his identity and status. This was the only possibility that made sense.

' How can a common trader have such an object? Without my soul eyes, I doubt I'd been able to see his stats. This guy is not simple.' James thought as a glint flashed through his eyes.

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