Embark on the Road

by Tai Baiyang

  The stars aligned themselves and formed a familiar bill. After that, the mechanical sound rang beside Zhang Mu’s ear and he started looking at the price of the three Xi’an’s local goods.

  Although he knew that Xi’an’s local good had a high price in no. 37’s era merchants shop, Zhang Mu didn’t expect it to be so high. A tinge of happiness fell on his face. This outright smile made no. 37’s face darkened. This time, no. 35 not only sacrificed himself, but he had also dragged him along too.

  However, if you compared it, no. 37 didn’t have much of a loss. From a certain point of view, he even earned a bit. This is because, at the starting stage of a training ground, spiritual essence was very rare. If he used his gold leaves as an exchange for spiritual essence, it is still worth it. But, no. 35 more than what he could afford for it and that was a heavy loss for him.

  No. 27 looked at Zhang Mu with a complicated expression. Zhang Mu was the ultimate winner in this exchange but because of him, he could also break the records for the highest achievements obtained for era merchants shop within this area.

  But, for some reason, no. 37 felt that something was weird.

  He didn’t think about it for long. It might be because he never let any of his sub-merchants gained the upper hand in an exchange before.

  Maybe he was just thinking too much. Maybe he was just irritated by all the things that had happened ever since the era merchants shop opened at this new training ground.

  On the other hand, Zhang Mu was calculating his profit with bright eyes.

  The bill in front of him told him how much wealth he had now. “tea tree oil, one. Worth half a gold leaf.”

  “Baked buns, two. Worth one gold leaf.”

  Even these two local googs were worth so much in this era merchant’s shop. What about those biggest bargaining chips he had? The number that appeared on the bill was the reason by Zhang Mu’s smile.

  “White Jade Donkey Statues, one. Ten gold leaves.”

  There were no emotions in the words. However, Zhang Mu’s heart had already exploded. Ten gold leaves. When he bought it from no. 35, he just paid 2.4 gold leaves for each of this. This meant that the price flipped by around four times.

  Three times profit. What did a three times profit mean? Capitalists were willing to give up everything to get this number and Zhang Mu got something even more amazing than this.

  This meant that with the eleven White Jade Donkey Statues he had as well as the tea tree oil and the baked buns, Zhang Mu would get 113.5 gold leaves. Even if he deducted the ten leaves for the mission, the five for entering the shop early, and the ten leaves for no. 37, he still had 87.5 gold leaves as profit.

  Zhang Mu was just an era sub-merchant. The initial funds for his mission were just four gold leaves. Now, his profit was almost 20 times the initial funds. This showed how powerful the market price fluctuations could be.

  This was the reason why no. 37 didn’t have any other thoughts even though he was being bluffed by Zhang Mu. With one mission, Zhang Mu did around ten times more than what a basic sub-merchant could do. Even though the era merchant’s shop just opened and there were only profits and no loss, it was still very scary.

  Zhang Mu just started the era exchange so he had no experience at all. No. 37 could only think that he was really lucky to get more than 100 gold leaves for an era exchange that had the base of four gold leaves.

  However, no one else would be able to get this amount even if they managed to the maximum amount of goods. This was because Zhang Mu’s situation was special. If no. 35 didn’t use his authority to increase the number of items in his shop, his profits would be decreased by half. No matter how highly he thinks of Zhang Mu, he would not use his chance on him. One year is a long time. There was competition between the era merchant’s shop too so he needed to use the right things at the right time. If he was on the losing end, this chance would be his only chance to turn the tables around.

  The situation that happened to no. 35 had not appeared for a long time. If he lets Zhang Mu wiped out all his local goods, he would be dead. No. 35 had no choice. Who lets him have such a bloodthirsty era sub-merchant who killed all the powerful evolvers in his area? He was quite unlucky too.

  Hence, Zhang Mu met all the situations that were beneficial to him.

  This was why no. 37 felt that this person was really lucky. A person’s ability, character, and many other things could be change. However, a person’s luck was a complicated thing. In the entire universe, nothing could be used to change one’s luck.

  People as powerful as them didn't dare to define luck. However, they had many years of experience and although they couldn’t make someone lucky, they could pick such people out from the crowd.

  No. 37 started thinking if his luck got better after coming to this training ground. At the start, he didn’t want to put all his eggs in one basket because every merchant needed to avoid risk. But, he felt that it was a correct decision now to put all his resources on Zhang Mu.

  Although the era sub-merchants he chose in the other training fields were still okay, they did not have the luck and none of them were talented. His sales were always at the bottom.

  He felt that with just Zhang Mu, he could try to take the number one spot in the era merchants shop this month. It was a spot that he hadn’t taken for a long time.

  Thinking about this, he started to calm down.

  If there were other era sub-merchants in Luoyang now that knew what no. 37 was thinking, they would most likely want to kill Zhang Mu.

  Not only was Zhang Mu the first sub-merchant who had many privileges, no. 37 even wanted to place his bets on him.

  If it was evolvers in the future, they would not want to be era sub-merchants even if they knew that there were empty spots or if they were invited to be one. An era sub-merchant looked glamorous upfront but if he didn’t complete his mission, he would be sucked dry, literally.

  Chapter 104: The Final Tabulation

  “Are you done? Can we finish the transaction now?” no. 37 looked at Zhang Mu was staring at the bill in a daze. He couldn’t help and reminded him.

  “Yes, okay.”

  Zhang Mu was thinking about how he would spend this amount of money and only regained conscience after no. 37 called him. He remembered how he finished his first mission in his past life. He completed it after much hard work and managed to get a minimum of ten gold leaves. When he looked the special gold leaves redemption catalog that no. 37 had, he felt so much hopelessness.

  The items that no. 37 had never been opened. However, it would be impossible for Zhang Mu to opened it now too. He took a look at the most expensive item that no. 37 had last time due to his curiosity. The price of the items was fixed so Zhang Mu that although he had a lot of gold leaves now, it was just a small fraction of the actual price.

  After he completed more missions, his era sub-merchant authority would gradually expand and the initial funds for each mission would get higher and higher. Zhang Mu never achieved it before but he heard other people talking about it and mentioning that the one that had the most authority had an initial fund of 100 gold leaves. You could imagine the final amount he would receive. However, for someone with that kind of abilities, why would they be satisfied with this amount of leaves?

  “A bag of tea tree oil, two baked buns, 11 While Jade Donkey Statues. Do you want to change all of them into gold leaves? All the gold leaves will be calculated into this mission and after deducting everything, the rest is yours.” No. 37 had retracted all his emotions as he started the transaction. This was the first time he had such a drastic change in emotions but his professionalism was inbuilt in him already so when he did the exchange, there were no personal emotions involved.

  “Of course. Can I leave them on me? If that is the case, I might as well exchange ten mission with you,” Zhang Mu replied with thinking.

  No. 37 continued, “this is the procedure for the exchange. It is my duty to remind you. However, I didn’t think that you would
react so quickly. For the first transaction, every local good must be taken out. Although you are very smart, the era merchant’s shop will not give you the chance to find a loophole. Give out everything or these things will be deemed useless.”

  “Deemed useless? Who would be so stupid to give these things to you all like that?”

  No. 37 was indifferent to Zhang Mu’s sneering and continued, “the reward for the completion of the mission is the thing that is the most important to all of you. The addition gold leaves are just bonuses.”

  He paused. “But your situation is a bit different. Your additional reward will definitely be more than your reward for mission completion.

  Of course, it will be hard for this situation to happen again. I just want to remind you that only at the start of the Paradise will such a situation happen where everything will have a profit. As things start to settle down, everything will be back the normal transaction. It will be your own business if you have a profit or a loss. If your judgment is wrong or if you are unlucky, it is not rare for you to suffer a loss. Hence, it will be hard to see a time when someone’s profit is ten times.”

  Zhang Mu listened to him quietly. He knew that what no. 37 said is correct. However, he did not place too much importance on it. He knew about the direction of the price fluctuations in the market as well as the movement of the trend. As long as there were no big changes, he would not suffer a loss.

  Although that was what he thought, he still listened to no. 37 obediently.

  Actually, no. 37 had trespassed his authority by saying all these things. There were many things that he couldn’t say now due to the purely business relationship between the era merchants and their sub-merchants. They were a boss and employer relationship. The things that he said requires Zhang Mu to figure it out himself. As long as Zhang Mu failed enough, he would find his right path of success.

  However, no. 37 didn’t want to lose now. He needed to become the number one in the first quarter ranking of the era merchants so that he could pull his results higher.

  Era merchants had their own rewards and punishment system. He had been on the brink of punishment for a long time.

  Now, Zhang Mu’s morale was too strong. He needed to splash cold water on him. No. 37 felt that no matter how lucky a person was, they would have their downtimes too. He felt that he needed to push Zhang Mu’s downtime further away so that he could get past the first quarter. He didn’t know when his other three era sub-merchants would be filled up and the second sub-merchant was just someone alright. Hence, he placed all his hopes on Zhang Mu.

  He didn’t know that Zhang Mu didn’t rely much on his luck. Even if he did, it was just less than half of it. If Zhang Mu knew what he was thinking, he would probably sneer at him.

  When he was reborn, he never thought about failing again.

  “Well then, the deal is done. Deduct.”

  After gaining Zhang Mu’s approval, that cold voice sounded again and the era local goods floating above their head disappeared into the stars.

  After that, a sound appeared in Zhang Mu’s ears. It sounded much cuter.

  “Number 001, mission no. 001 is completed. Calculating your rewards and sending them over now.”

  “10 first-rank power enhancing potion, 10 first-rank agility potion, 5 first-rank recovery potion. Rewards finished and sent to your merchant’s ring.”

  Zhang Mu glanced at his era merchant’s ring and then looked away. These rewards were good for the other era sub-merchants but for him, besides the 5 first-rank recovery potion, the others were dispensable.

  “I guessed that you would not be pleased with your rewards. Your improvement is too great. However, I feel that you will be interested in what comes after this.”

  He seemed to see through Zhang Mu’s disinterest. A small bag appeared in no. 37’s hand and he held up the bag and asked Zhang Mu, “there is a total of 87.5 gold leaves. Do you want to use them now or deposit it here and accumulate it for future use? You can use it once every two months only. Think about it carefully. Do you want to use it now or accumulate it?”

  The only person that you could trust to hand your money over to was yourself. This was what Zhang Mu realised after going through the future. Hence he didn’t hesitate when he replied no. 37.

  “I want it now.”

  Chapter 105: Burning Morale

  No. 37 was indifferent about Zhang Mu’s decisiveness. After all, this was the first exchange. No many people would be able to withstand the temptation of the unknown future rewards. Also, Zhang Mu’s wealth was comparable to ten times that of other people so it was no strange for him to make that decision.

  “Ojay, I will remind you first that gold leaves can be used to exchange for crystals. However, I do not encourage you to do that. You should know that it is easy to exchange for such cheap tokens but if you want to get it back, it will not be easy. This is a one-way exchange.”

  No. 37 still took the chance to tell Zhang Mu about this. Although the number of crystals a gold leaf could exchange for was sizable, it was useless in helping him increased his abilities and strength. As the world gets more dangerous, it would get more and more difficult for him to complete his mission. This was not what no. 37 wanted to see. That was why he hinted Zhang Mu and reminded him to make a logical decision.

  “I know. I understand,” Zhang Mu acknowledged no. 37 and asked him to open his Treasury.

  I know that you can get 1000 crystals with one gold leaf. However, if I am still enticed by these small gains, I am wasting my chance.

  Zhang Mu thought to himself. Actually, you couldn’t blame no. 37 for being worried. Although 1000 crystals didn’t seem like a lot, Zhang Mu had 87.5 gold leaves. That would mean that he can get 87500 crystals and that was a huge amount.

  Even if Zhang Mu organized all the survival base in Luoyang and searched for crystals, he would not even get 5000 crystals within 20 days.

  Seeing the excitement in Zhang Mu’s eyes, no. 37 decided to not say any more things. He had already overstepped his boundary. If he did anything more, he would get into trouble. Hence, he shook his cloak and the stars got summoned. They flew over from afar.

  These shining stars were totally different from the ones before. One was heaven while the other was earth. Even the lines on them seemed to be crafted on after much thought and it seemed very real.

  What surprised Zhang Mu the most was, these few stars seemed very different from the ones no. 37 showed him last time. It was just his own feeling but he couldn’t lay his finger on what the difference was.

  However, when the stars landed between Zhang Mu and no. 37, he got a sudden realization. These stars were like little children, shining and jumping around behind no. 37 as though they weren’t summoned by him.

  Yes, this was the feeling. It was life!

  These bright stars were different from the beautiful by lifeless stars that he saw just now. They had life in them.

  Before the list was even shown, Zhang My already shocked. Life appeared in the stars that no. 37 created. That is very scary.

  No. 37 seemed to have noticed Zhang Mu’s disbelief and didn’t hurry along with the transaction. He held the stars that were surrounding him as though they were his greatest creation. He spoke slowly in a warm tone, “you should have noticed the difference. I rarely use them. I would only personally attend to the first and second sub-merchants and there are very few people who will exchange for bonus items. They used too much energy every time they were used but I can’t bear to let them be immersed in the lonely darkness. Hence, I use them to carry the bonus items.

  This is related to a certain rule. Only one step is left. Such a waste.”

  At this moment, no. 37 suddenly felt that he spoke too much and quickly shut his mouth up. He waved his hand and dispersed his masterpieces around him. He resumed his tone and told Zhang Mu, “this is not something that you should think about now. Take it as I didn’t say anything. We can start the exchange now.”

  Zhang Mu
was really shocked. He was not a newbie. When he heard no. 37 talking about a rule, he felt that it was a very powerful energy. After all, he was an era sub-merchant who had a deep understanding of the future.

  Zhang Mu remembered that a few months after he was reborn, he received a piece of news that a level 6 evolver came into contact with a new energy when he was battling. This is the rule.

  He didn’t know the exact details of the news but the situation of the battle was enough to stunned Zhang Mu. That level 6 evolver who was called Thunder God was surrounded by a few level 6 evolvers and over a hundred level 5 came into contact with an energy called the rule when he was at the brink of his death.

  There were no details about the battle. The witness might have all died but when people arrived at the scene after the battle ended, the image that laid out before them explained everything.

  All the level 5 evolvers were dead!

  Among the level 6 evolvers, three were dead. One was dying and the last one went crazy from his injury. He kept talking about the rule and hence, ‘the rule’ started spreading in the Mainland and spread to the rest of the world.

  “The rule’ was deeply etched in Zhang Mu’s mind after that. This was definitely what no. 37 said just now. When an evolver reached level 6, there was no big difference in terms of abilities. It would be hard for a person to win against two evolver, much less win against 5 other level 6 evolvers.

  The only reason this would happen was die to the rule.

  Everyone knew that it was hard for a level 6 evolver to level up anymore so the rule must be the bottleneck of level 6.

  When he heard no. 37 mentioning about this casually just now, he knew that he must have definitely reached this level. After all, he never knew how strong an era merchant was last time.

  From the looks of it now, they must be those humans who have broken through level 6?

  If that is the case, era merchants were not invincible too.