The system referred to the creature as the “Trader of Suffering” whether they brought their precious wares to the sludge-coated grounds of the Metal Mire or the sand-swept wastes of the Rusted Plains. He knew of them by that name, the Iron Merchant, the Salvage King, or how his brother referred to them; the Meat Exchange.

The creature was as mysterious in the board game as Aurelio expected them to be in this world, occupying the thoughts of many forum goers and fan fiction writers as to their motivations and allegiances.

He held his own ideas as to the creatures impulses but kept them at bay to avoid tainting their first, fresh encounter.

The Trader hauled a small cart with them, the shape and composition looking a lot like a metallic ice box with thick banded latches and a thin cloud of swarming nanites circling above the top.

And that was not the strangest sight before him.

The Trader was an insectoid creature that caused a primal revulsion to well up within Aurelio. He wasn’t much for bugs, much less roaches the size of people. The way its mouth opened and closed beneath the worn, wide brim hat made him thankful that his body no longer properly produced bile.

The more he looked at the Trader, the more grotesque the creature became to him. It was like looking at a child’s rendition of Frankenstein’s Monster with the number of grafted limbs, both metallic and fleshy, that’d come to adorn its oversized body. Badly connected pieces made themselves apparent with the way the exoskeletal stubs bit into new limbs territory.

It’d even gone so far as to replace one of its eyes with an elaborately carved obsidian stone. It matched the countless layers that insectoid eyes held while housing an ember that remained encased in the center of the false eye.

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. Didn’t expect to see a bottom feeder like you alive and kicking.” Oja stated with bemusement.

Around for at least the 8th generation then? Considering the creature's business model, it could be an early adopter of the planet's ecosystem.

Phineas looked at Oja and then back at the Trader, “W-what the fuck are we looking at?”

Kalani got closer than Aurelio or Phineas would have dared to go, entering the personal space of the creature to get a detailed look of their head and body, to the lack of reaction from the Trader.

“Most of its body is that of a roach, so we’re looking at a human-sized cockroach here. Why it has so many alterations to its appendages remains an answer held by those two.” Kalani gestured at Aurelio and Oja, waiting for further elaborations.

Oja declined, rebutting, “I gave this weird bastard a wide berth when my crewmates introduced me to them.” They bored holes into the creature, “And that was only after they restrained me from tearing it apart, limb from limb.”

The Trader continued to stare at the group without reaction.

“I didn’t expect it to look like this, to be honest with you all. I was hoping it’d be mostly shrouded.” Aurelio answered. “No offense.” He added.

The Trader did not deign to give Aurelio the dignity of presence, staring off into the vague approximate center of their group.

Beyond the creature's appearance, what unsettled him was the lack of voice, or any reactive gesture really, from the overgrown cockroach. He’d grown up in an era of gaming where mysterious and sometimes insidious merchants would hawk their wares to the player under the expectation of coins or gems and that sort of corny entrepreneurship helped humanize those characters in an odd way.

The Trader did not do this. Aurelio was certain it would never make the attempt. It knew just how valuable its stashed goods were, kept safe within the portable caravan. It didn’t need to hawk its wares.

The fact it charged a blood price for its goods was fact enough that there were consumers in the past quite willing to pay their pound of flesh to wield one of its quality goods.

“Can you show us your wares?” Aurelio asked.

The Trader chittered something and the lockbox responded by opening with a satisfying hiss. Slowly, its items were put on display with the assistance of the merchant's nanite cloud.

WELCOME

[Mirewalker Exo-Suit] - 4 Damage on 3 Limbs/Core. Buyer’s Choice.

[Black Blood Core] - 4 Damage on 2 Limbs/Core. Buyer’s Choice.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

[Titan’s Sunderer] - 5 Damage on either Arm*. Buyer’s Choice.

[Firecaster] - 1 Damage on all Limbs and Core. Start combat with the Ignition Gauge at 5.

[Glassblower] - 1 Damage on 1 Limb/Core**. Buyer’s Choice.

[Coiling Smoke] - 1 Damage on 3 Limb/Core. Seller’s Choice

[Whispering Fungal Stalk] - Free!***

The creature's wares popped up on his display screen and enumerated the iron price for each piece of hardware in his shop.

The fact that the scavengers weren’t expendable this time around and that there were three other variations of this shop available depending on the biome they’d find the Trader in, and sudden investments towards minimizing damage in events like this and layering up on armor felt more justifiable in his mind.

Phineas reached towards the small neuro-jack and found Oja’s reprimanding hand slapping it away.

“Ow,” he soothed the ache in his hand, “What’d you go and do that for?”

“I’m saving you from accidentally making a purchase, you ungrateful little fool. I’ve had to treat many wounds this butcher had left on my comrade back then and I’d very much like to avoid unnecessary injuries.” Oja spat back.

Aurelio, despite the ambient warning, hovered towards the items that held asterisks on the menu. The first was the [Titan’s Sunderer].

The weapon was shaped similar to the spiked clubs oni were found to use in their media depictions, the composition a stark pillar of white stone. His INSPECT element opened up and provided context to the asterisk.

If he suffered a heavy injury in his attempt to lift the weapon for purchase, the weapon would be in his possession and his dismembered arm would be in the Trader’s.

The second weapon, the [Glassblower], promised to permanently maim the buyers chosen limb or core. The maiming translated into a corresponding stat point reduction, but the stat point translation was secondary to the potential pain that would need to be inflicted to cause such a debilitating injury like that.

The final item in question, the [Whispering Fungal Stalk], was not a weapon but a sentient A.I. long since corrupted by its exposure to the various fungal clusters in the Metal Mire. Sure, given enough time, the sentient A.I. could be reeled back into sanity and properly used, but Aurelio definitely did not want to have items that would affect his mental state installed into his systems.

The installation was a non-negotiable component to that otherwise “free” purchase.

If he were a lesser man, he would have considered allowing someone like Phineas to purchase the A.I. and suffer from that chaotic lunacy, but the notion only passed him as a morbid curiosity.

Nothing more.

Aurelio was willing to pay the iron price with his own flesh, and quite willingly with the ways that some of the items available expanded his options for dealing with the other creatures on the planet.

Kalani gave him a scrutinizing look, “You’re considering making a purchase, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I’d be foolish not to consider the option.” Aurelio replied.

“I’m not impugning your decision,” she rubbed the bridge of her nose, “I’m trying to confirm that you’re interested so I can ask you to share your thoughts with the rest of the crew. We’ve made you the unofficial bookkeeper of our equipment and salvage and I, at the very least, want to be informed of what has grabbed your attention.”

He started to pace around the tools and talked aloud for the benefit of the crew, “Our highest priority is acquiring a new exo-suit, especially now that one is permanently in use by our newest member. The Trader here offers us access to a suit and core and it’ll cost me all of the protections that you all would enjoy when dealing with the Malignance. I’d be running into that fight naked, essentially.”

Aurelio knew the risk he took in doing something like that but his weapon afforded him the convenience of being distant from their quarry. He was confident that his crew would keep the creature at bay while Kalani and him pelted away at its flesh from behind them.

Obviously there were drawbacks to the investment.

The [Black Blood Core] was immediately beneficial as a general purpose core that avoided the risk of death within its Meltdown window but they weren’t capable of installing it until they returned to the outpost.

The [Mirewalker Suit] was a strong support suit when dealing with mental attackers but he personally didn’t want to suffer the Heart draining drawback after what he experienced in the outpost, and the benefits it provided over prolonged use better served someone specialized in the Arcane branch of weaponry.

And their only access to an Arcane weapon at the moment was in the [Firecaster], unless the crew wanted to commit suicide together and prance through the Valley to hunt for an Echo.

He was overthinking the situation.

The discussion the group was having during his internal considerations died the moment he grabbed the [Black Blood Core] from its platform.

“Go for the chest and the left arm.” Aurelio declared.

The Trader showcased a subdued glee, mandibles clicking in anticipation as the nanite cloud they commanded buzzed around the chosen sacrifices.

He howled in pain as the swarm shredded through the surface of his skin, leaving his exposed left arm and chest bloody and raw. Their miniature blades blended his skin and the minced armor into a ball. They handed the ball to the Trader and the creature inspected it, assessing the quality like a jeweler would a gemstone.

Satisfied with the sacrifice, the Trader turned to look at the rest of the group.

“You’re going to get a damn earful after this.” Oja threatened him. His other crew members didn’t disagree with the doctors sentiment.