The evening sun slowly slipped below the horizon. The sky over Paldia turned a gloomy orange-purple, further deepening the tense atmosphere that had blanketed the entire city.
After the Golden Lion Guild left the shop with the Bloodthirsty Leather Armor, rumors about “the antique shop at the edge of town whose NPC merchant keeps special-grade items hidden” spread among the Players like wildfire!
Dozens of Players flocked to Sean’s shop, hoping to get their hands on C-rank weapons or armor. But Sean played the part of a calm, unflappable merchant to perfection. He coolly turned them all down with the same answer: “Sold out.” He only agreed to buy junk items, monster materials, or battered equipment that Players brought in to dump.
Rather than making the Players give up, this only heightened the excitement and drove their “hunger meter” even higher!
Jingle...
The bell above the door rang again in the early evening, when most Players had begun returning and gathering inside the city’s safe zone to prepare for the rumored monster horde invasion event.
A figure in a long black cloak embroidered with silver thread silently entered the shop. They moved as lightly as a cat and stopped in front of the wooden counter without making a sound. Slender hands in dark leather gloves slowly lowered the hood, revealing an oval face, intelligent, piercing azure eyes, and long, flowing silver hair that gleamed beautifully in the dim oil-lamp light.
A name and status appeared above her head, making Sean narrow his eyes.
‘Player: Lumiell (Lv. 9) — #1 Streamer / Independent Guild Member’
“Welcome to the Used Gear and Scrap Merchant’s shop, Player...” Sean greeted her in an even tone. “But if you’re here looking for a C-rank weapon, you’ve come all this way for nothing. The only thing left in stock is—”
“I’m not here to buy anything...” Her sweet, clear voice cut him off, though it carried an unmistakable seriousness. Lumiell stared steadily into Sean’s eyes. “I came here because I want to know... are you really just an AI that was programmed this way, or are you a ‘human’ who got trapped in this world just like the rest of us?”
Her direct question made the shop fall completely silent!
Sean met Lumiell’s gaze without flinching. A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. As expected of a top-level Player and famous streamer, her perception and situational analysis were many times sharper than those power-crazed Players from the Golden Lion Guild.
“That’s an interesting question.” Sean replied as he slowly sipped his herbal tea. “In a world where the game System has gone haywire and the Log Out button has disappeared... does the answer to who I am really matter that much?”
“It matters...” Lumiell took another step toward the counter and lowered her voice until only the two of them could hear. “Because I just used a special Eye Appraisal skill to examine the item Singha Iron was wearing... The ‘lifesteal’ option on that armor doesn’t exist anywhere in the database of the original version of Chronicles of Atheria!”
Her azure eyes blazed with excitement. “It’s an item that was ‘newly created’ or ‘modified,’ isn’t it? And the only person in this city capable of doing something like that... is you!”
Sean chuckled softly. He was pleased by the woman’s sharp intelligence and decided to fully open negotiations as a Dark Merchant.
“As expected of Lumiell...” Sean set his teacup down with a sharp clack. “Then let’s get straight to the point. You came to me at this hour. What do you really want?”
Lumiell smiled faintly when she saw that he had more or less admitted it. She opened her personal inventory and placed a material on the wooden counter.
It was a fist-sized, deep-purple crystal. Blue electricity surged inside it as if it were alive!
[ Item: Wrathful Lightning Core (B-rank) ] [ Details: A high-grade rare material dropped by the Lord-rank boss ‘Lightning Wolf.’ Drop rate: only 0.1%. ]
“This is something my party and I nearly died farming. We almost destroyed the city in the process...” Lumiell said with a serious expression. “I want you to use your Unique Skill... and make me one magic staff. The best one you can possibly create from this energy core.”
Sean immediately reached out and touched the purple crystal. He felt an enormous current of electrical energy flow into his body. The Dark Merchant Forge within him responded instantly with hunger!
[ B-rank material detected: Wrathful Lightning Core x1 ] [ Additional materials required: Ancient Magic Wood x1, Silent Refined Scrap Metal x3, Low-Grade Magic Core x5 ] [ Success rate for crafting a B-rank Special Grade item: 85% ]
“That’s excellent material...” Sean looked up at Lumiell. “But this alone isn’t enough to make a perfect staff. I’m still missing the magic wood and several additional magic cores.”
“I can get the additional materials within half an hour!” Lumiell answered immediately. “But what about the exchange? What do you want as payment?”
Sean smiled slyly. He didn’t want gold coins or ordinary money. He could create those himself whenever he wanted. What he needed most right now was “information power” and an “outside network”!
“My payment has two conditions...” Sean said evenly. “First... every time you stream or spread news among the Players, I want you to promote my ‘Black Market at the Edge of Town’ and act as my voice, drawing Players who focus on farming materials to bring their junk here and sell it to me.”
“And second...” Sean leaned closer and met Lumiell’s eyes. “When the monster horde invades the city tonight... I want you and your party to keep an eye on the ‘GM’s behavior,’ or the System administrators, for me. If anything abnormal happens, come tell me immediately.”
Lumiell paused, slightly surprised by the second condition. But her instincts as both a streamer and a fighter told her this was the most worthwhile investment of her life!
“Deal! You’ve got it!” Lumiell immediately held out her hand and shook Sean’s.
“Then... welcome officially to my black market, Ms. Lumiell.” Sean clasped her hand in return with a radiant smile.
The alliance beneath the shadows between the Dark Merchant who controlled the item-forging System and the young streamer who held the attention of every Player on the server had begun... And the night of the monster horde invasion was about to begin in just a few minutes!