132 Shady Dealings Part 5

Just like Maverick the woman had no need to hide her face. She had brown eyes and elegant curly hair that moved around a lot when she walked. When someone reaches rank 1 it is a status symbol of power. Laws are bent in your favor unlike when your a normal human since you have now reached a status to be treated like a normal person that actually matters.

When someone like that hosts an underground trade gathering it means many things of which are the reassuring facts that the place is wll protected, the trade will go smoothly, and the low probability of being scammed. For someone like that to hosts a trade gathering its likely because that person is a rouge mage.

Who is a person who didn't conform to the rules set to midget cultivators impact on the world, join a legal organisation, and is most likely a criminal wanted for something. Rouges are complete different from wanderers who also arn't part of any legal organisation, but they do mostly follow the law, and at times offer their services to people and other organisations.

The woman's boots made heavy thumping sounds on the wooden floor as she made her way to a tall stool in front of everyone. Once she sat down she took a quick look around the room at the various people who were either standing or sitting in chairs before she spoke.

"To any everyone here I am your host many know me as Foxtail you may call me Fox for short. Before we get started I must explain a few things, first things is that I am skilled in divination meaning I can easily tell the difference between a real and a fake item. So, if anyone trys to trade a fake item in my presence they will have me to deal with.

Second thing is that your not allowed to resell an Item you just bought in here on the same day. What you do with it outside of these walls is your own business. Third once the gathering is over you will all leave one at a time in 5 minute intervals randomly regardless if your in a group or not. Forth thing is that you must remember that this is an underground gathering price her are set strictly on what the owner of the item wants and how much you value something so no complaining about prices being to high. Simply negotiate to find a middle ground.

The forth thing that I would like to mention that I have already received the items those amongst you would like to trade. I will be selling the items given to me in their place to keep the sellers identity enormous when I do so I take a 10% commission fee but only if the item sells. It is not required to give me your items to sell.

If you feel what you are selling is safer in your own hands than you can wait till the free exchange to come up to the front where you can then sell the item yourself or make a request to the whole group to see if anyone may have what you seek. If there is still anyone who wishes for me to sell an item in their place tell me now and we will go into the backroom".

Everyone in the room stood still Fox seeing no one speaking out moved the gathering along.

"Alright then lets get started. The first item for sale is a pack of 10 magic scroll that can release an advanced apprentice level spell called [Thunder strike]. Each magic scroll is valued at 60 magic crystals each. While loud the spells is quite fast and hard to dodge for people at an apprentice level and its strong enough to instantly kill a mortal, but then again what isn't. The owner wants a new advanced level spellbook that's either lighting or wind based. He is also willing to accept a magic item of a similar element geared towards attack or defense".

A bunch of people were interested in the first sale especially Desmond because that spell was significantly stronger than anything he could safely perform and they where 10 of them no less its would be more of a question why wouldn't he buy them. As much as Desmond wanted the spells he could only watch them be taken by someone else because he couldn't satisfy the requirements.

Inside of Vincents entire stash there wasn't a single book or scroll that mentioned anything about lighting magic and for the stuff that referenced wind magic none of it reached the level of an advanced apprentice.

"The next it is up for sale is a pair of inscribed magic items called incinerator gloves. The gloves are capable of igniting by themselves but the power of the flames is beginner grade. They can also automatically adjusting their size to fit the wearers requirements, and hardening to become as hard as metal while still retaining there flexibility and comfortability. The owner wants defensive related magic item the element doesn't matter it just has to be intermediate grade or higher. You can also use something else that can attract the owners attention".

Desmond was happy that one of the items that he put up for sale was being sold so early. The gloves Desmond put up for sale where the same ones he took from Vincent's stash. Desmond decided to sell them because the gloves while cool were useless to him. The strength of the blue flame it produced was equal to that of a beginner grade spell, so even if Desmond did use them he would only be able to roast a steak with his bare hands.

Which is exactly what Desmond did with them on his free time. The only useful aspect is the hardening that the gloves do a feature that Desmond can't exploit because he can't punch through walls with just his body strengthen. He has to use magic to strengthen himself and weaken his taget before he can do that.

Making the intended purpose of the gloves squandered so long as they remain in Desmonds hands. As for why Desmond only asked for Defense instead of an attack related magic item is because he knew there was no way he was actually going to fight anyone. To fight on the front lines you have to be rank 1 at minimum which was something Desmond was glad he wasn't.

Fox took out the magic item to show to everyone which resulted in a few interested gazes, but less then before because a war was around the corner from starting many people wanted things that could increase their survivability if even just by a little. Desmond gloves while nice would be considered a luxurious purchase at the moment.

While it wasn't what most people desperately wanted Desmond's gloves didn't go without a few offers.

"I'll trade 6 deadly mana poison potions called [lovers kiss]. If someone at an intermediate rank gets infected with it there is a 80% chance of death. Advanced apprentices have a 30-40% chance of dying while becaming severely injured if they do survive".

"I offer to trade 4 intermediate grade spell scroll called [bind]. It can restrain a taget for up to 5 seconds though that's depending on the strength of the taget.

"I have a body cultivation technique that I'll trade for it called [copper skin]. It can make a persons body as strong or stronger then the natural metal they absorb into their body".

The person who made the last offer was Gerald he took an immediate interest in the gloves because they suited his fighting style. Desmond though about the offers for a second until he ultimately decided pick the cultivation technique [Copper skin]. The other three offers where not valuable in Desmond's eyes because he already had those items. Vincent's stash had an assortment of scrolls, potions, magic ingredients, and spell books.

The thing he lacked most of at the moment was magic ingredients because they mostly all rotted away over the past 2 years. The most abundant item Desmond has in his layer is 20 bricks of pixie dust and over 300 bottles of skooma. The only reason Desmond chose to take all the drugs and leave all of Vincent's guns was because he thought that at the off chance that he couldn't make a living in his new home becoming a drug dealer would have been easier than becoming an arms dealer.

As soon as Desmond finished thinking about what he wanted the host Fox sent Desmond a mental message. Desmond didn't like people intruding inside of his mind but he let the matter go to complete the deal. The trade went smoothly but Desmond wasn't ecstatic after he secured the technique because he knew he could probably get Zane's will to tell him everything about the technique.

The reason Desmond traded for it was because Desmond didn't trust Zane's will. Desmond wanted to see how good the information Zane's will provide him was because for all Desmond knew Zane's will could have left important info out of things. To know the truth Desmond would gladly sacrifice a few piece of magic equipment.

Time passed and many items where bought and sold. A few people where willing to part with their items for magic crystals, but ultimately nothing really interested Desmond because he already had it or because he could easily get the same thing out of Zane's will. The stuff regarding alchemy interested Desmond a lot but he held off on trying to get anything that wasn't a complete potion because his knowledge in that field was lacking to much.

'This sucks this is my first trade gathering yet almost none of the stuff here is of any use to me. I can't get my hands on certain things because i'm lacking things people actually want. Not to mention that not a single defensive or attack magic item was up for trade because everyone was keeping them for themselves. I need to visit more than one trade gathering the stuff at these places is just to random'.

As Desmond was sulking because he couldn't buy anything nice another item of his came up for trade which was a magic wand. The second his magic wand was put up for trade the atmosphere changed a bit because that was exactly the kind of item most people wanted but could find no one to sell.

The host Fox saw the intrigue of a lot of the guests their but the value of the item in ger hand met nothing to her just like everyone's fervent gazes.

"The next item is a magic wand that is capable of increasing the amount of earth, wind, and water elements you can collect in the air. Thus shortening the casting time of spells and increasing the overall damage of a spell by 20%. The owner wants a suitable magic item that can defend their self with or some thing that can boost their survivability. An item that can peak the owners interests is also suitable".

After fox finished speaking many people stopped hiding some of their good stuff and offered it up for trade. Desmond was interested in a bunch of the items people where talking about but one person stood out to Desmond.

He was a cloaked figure who stood on the other side of the room who said, " I'll trade a marrow beatle and 50 blood thinning pills. The marrow beatle can eat a person's bones then reform them till there as hard as steel. The blood thinning pills will help in the circulation of enery through the body during physical exercise".

Desmond didn't care much for the blood thinning pills what Desmond found great interest in was the marrow beatle because he knew how many times his body has been torn apart more than anyone and he hated it every time it happened. The second Fox sent Desmond a mental message he told her what he wanted and she conveyed that to the buyer.

"The owner doesn't care about the blood thinning pills the owner wants to know is if you have something similar to that marrow beatle that can alter a persons physical body and increase their physical strength?".

The buy didn't take long to answer back he replied, "yes, I do have a different kind of creature that can do that called ventricle worms. They can replace a person's entire muscular system in a matter of weeks the a rapid process of eating and continues breeding till nothing is left of the old muscular system. Each worm can only live for 5 days but even after the task is complete they don't know when to stop so a person would have to take a poison bath to kill them all after their done. Its en extremely painful process might I add".

"The owner doesn't care about the pain and would like to trade the wand for your marrow beatle and ventricle worms".

"I can't make that trade because those thing put together are worth more than the wand thats only worth around 2,000 magic crystals. The owner of the wand would have to add something else to complete the trade".

Fox took a second to speak to Desmond then replied, "Would 1,000 magic crystals satisfy you?".

"Yes, its just enough to cover the difference".

Desmond was happy when the trade concluded to obtain such an explosive increase in physical strength would take months or even years with a body cultivation method which was time Desmond didn't have.

As the gathering went on Desmond traded a few [anti-divination] scrolls along with 700 magic crystals for a piece of enchanted chainmail that can disperse blunt force to the entirety of the body instead of just one place. Desmond was glad he had what the owner wanted because not only did the chainmail make a good piece of armer it was something that he could study to eventually reproduce the effect of amongst the rest of his clothes.

After what seemed like an excruciatingly long time Fox took out her last item for trade. Inside the bottle was a red liquid of which many people knew all to well but this bottle was different because inside that liquid contained an aurora.

While valuable the potion Desmond showed Fox had practically no value to her she had consumed to many of them in her life forcing her to find other ways to heal. That's how she was able to sell such a high grade potion without emotion.

"As everyone her know a war is about to start and like in every war people are going to die but with this it doesn't have to be you because unlike those who have already become rank 1 they don't have a second life. But with this grade 1 healing potion you can have one".

No one in the room needed an explanation as to what a grade 1 healing potion could do for those at an apprentice level. For an apprentice the effects of a grade 1 healing potion could only be described as a miracle. It can completely repair a person's body even in the worst conditions just like it did for Desmond when the Mirror Man tore him apart.

Ferrise saw the potion and desperately wanted it, but when he hurd the what the owner of it wanted he knew he couldn't meet the conditions.

"The owner wants as much info on wills and the star path as possible. More specifically how wills are affected by contracts".

Desmond did not trust Zane or his will at all. Though he knew he was out classed Desmond still wanted to find someway to out smart Zane. To not be prematurely killed off before he has fully explored the depths of magic Desmond graciously sacrificed one of the three rank 1 healing potions that he had left leaving him now with 2.

Many people where dissapointed disappointed when they heared the requirements. A lot of info in the world is restricted for someone until they become rank 1. None of the people there where rank 1 not to mention that the thing Desmond wanted info on was about wills and the star path which is one one of the least chosen subjects people choose to study and cultivate their techniques in.

While in the silent room people thought Desmond's request was hopeless there came laughter. Way in the back a plain looking figure stood up and proclaimed, "I have what you seek".

That person was Maverick, he had envious and skeptical people staring at him. But if they knew about the kind of info junkie Maverick was they would have all instantly believed in his words.