Daoist Indranath was very vexed at today's events. From what he had read about Planet Earth in the information scroll the system had provided, it's world spark was damaged which rendered it's population unable to cultivate.
They were level 0 less than 3 days ago, and yet here was a man standing in front of him that had completed a trial meant for level 9 geniuses! Establishing ties and perhaps even a contract with such a monster at a low level meant that his future prospectives would be limitless. He was truly...... unfortunate.
Due to his chosen class, he was heavily invested in intelligence and wisdom, with a greater focus on the latter. To a merchant such as him, what terrified him the most was not a peak expert or a divine weapon, nor was it suffering losses, though that hurt. Profit and loss were part of his profession, he would not be qualified to call himself a merchant if he balked at the first setback.
What he feared the most was the people that he could not understand. The ones that could not be analysed, despite having all the information on them available. Because their actions were not dictated by the most logical choice, the most prudent course of action, they could not be made use of.
This earthling's accomplishments were indeed quite dazzling at the initiate level. However in the wider multiverse, there was no lack of geniuses who have slaughtered super forces as a vagrant cultivator, talent without tact was meaningless. Either this fellow had a death wish or was one of those lunatics who only pursued strength, regardless of danger. Such people could not be relied upon, nor could they be trusted.
Another reason why he believed himself to be so unlucky in dealing with such a cultivator was that it perfectly countered his class. His style was one of slowly probing his important customers, while gathering information and trying to get an idea of their personality and weaknesses, his relatively high wisdom and class helping him in avoiding major mistakes. In this case however, the initial viewpoints were too different and no amount of rationalising on his part would ever consider choosing the trial as the 'correct' decision.
He might as well try to get some benefits of this guy since a partnership was no longer on the table. As Indranath saw it, the lunatic was going to get himself killed by challenging a destiny forger or some super force anyway, so why would he hold back?
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Completely oblivious to Indranath's inner musings, Tim decided to go along with this intergalactic Asian merchant for now, sheathing his sword in indication that he had acquised to this trade.
"Fine then, show me what you got in stock" said Tim, in a far more relaxed tone.
"Certainly, it brings me great pleasure that you have agreed. There are two types of wares that I have to offer, the aisles to your left have various cultivation pills, robes, weapons, manuals and other things that you might find helpful in the multiverse. These are procured by the system, even I have no say in what is available. "
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Taking a pause for dramatic buildup, Indranath continued on " While the other is my own personal collection, containing some of the most valuable and unique items found in initiate level planets! Undisputable treasures waiting for those who can snatch them from destiny's claws, a privelge only held by the strong!"
"Yeah man, uhh, I'll be checking out the aisles first" said Tim and quickly sauntered off before he was bombarded with another sales pitch.
After seeing that all the prices were in those initiate coins, he opened his inventory to check how much wealth he had amassed after his rampage.
[ Current Wealth: 53 Gold 82 silver 11 bronze grade initiate level coins ]
Every time he touched an item to inspect it further, a blue screen would pop up with a description and price. Unfortunately, all of the items available were either low or middle stage initiate level, not a single high stage item was for sale.
He ended up getting a pair of shoes and a shield, both at middle stage initiate level, costing him 10 gold. He didn't plan to retire the claws, but instead test out the feasibility of a rapier and a shield used together in actual combat.
The real priority though, was finding out some information about how cultivaton worked. He still had 5 attribute points left unassigned after completing the trial, not wanting to expend them hastily considering level 9 was the temporary cap for now.
After going through a bunch of different old tomes, he finally found what he was looking for.
[A brief history of the evolution of cultivation by Daoist Forgotten Era.]
Well..... Not quite what he was looking for, but it was the closest he could find. The book cost a whopping 20 gold, but he didn't want to ask that sleezeball Indranath unless he had no option. Leaving his best interests to an alien didn't seem like the greatest idea, unless Tim could get him to swear another oath.
Finally, there was one last thing that caught his eye. There was only a single piece of rectangular paper on an entire shelf, so it had to be something unique.
[Blood Bond Talisman]
[Description: Allows you to locate those who you share a direct familial relation with.]
"Oh, man" was the only thought that came to him at that moment. His fingers were shaking as he pressed confirm, a single bronze coin was removed from his inventory. Unwilling to wait, he grabbed the talisman and let a drop of his blood flow into it as per the instructions.
The talisman gleamed with a white light, and he got a system notification.
[James Quill. Status- Alive. Location- Proceeding towards citadel 532]
[Amelia Quill. Status- Alive. Location- Proceeding towards citadel 532]
The man who had not balked in front of a level 9 elite creature could not utter a single word at this moment. He was just so.... happy. The unseen hand that had a tight grip over his heart, slowly crushing it to keep him in a constant state of torment finally phased out of existence completely.
Timothy Quill felt very free at that moment, as if the shackles of both past and present that had tightly suffocated him all this while finally shattered in their entirety.
He knew that his parents would not be safe forever, but that was a goal to work towards. If it were the previous world, perhaps he would be content living in the his father's shadow. But in this world, he had the requisite qualifications to turn his ambitions into reality. Since the system provided him with this talisman, there had to be a way to get there.
And he would allow nothing to stop him before he reached his destination.