Chapter 18 Malleability
Yuelian
Her eyelashes are so long. I kept looking at her face as she drooled in her sleep. Miyong fell asleep without a care, but I couldn't do that. There were only the two of us left in this building. We don't know who or what could appear. I need to stay awake to keep watch. The quiet night air made me think of an idea that recently came to me after seeing those girls charge their phones with mana.
In principle, mana is just pure energy. I had the idea to satisfy my human body’s energy demand by replacing food with mana, which was a success. Mana almost tastes sweet when condensed and changed into liquid form. However, consuming mana-like food is extremely inefficient. There must be more efficient ways of consuming mana.
I thought about all those skills, items, and materials on the market. Human’s development of mana use is only a month old, compared to those civilizations that might have had access to mana for millions of years, we are less than a baby. We can't just slowly catch up to them naturally. Our civilizations will be destroyed way before that.
I look at Miyong sleeping next to me, her skin would change to Manite form if even a minuscule amount of foreign mana came close to her body. That gave me an idea. I started to look through the market and news sections of the system, trying to find any information about traits and skills that change the user’s body. I found information on the difference between traits and skills on top of my original goal. Traits are passive powers and skills are active powers. While searching the market listing, I noticed that there are less than 5 traits on sale compared to millions of skills, and the price is quite luxurious even for traits that seem very basic. The flight traits are on sale for 500,000 HC. This could mean that traits are extremely valuable so anyone who gets their hands on one just chooses to keep it, or it could mean that it's extremely rare.
I thought about how Miyong acquired this trait while I ran my finger across her shoulder with a bit of mana to activate the Manite.
“What are you doing?” The princess woke up.
“I am thinking about how to save humanity.” I chuckled.
“How noble! My hero!” She rolled her eyes and turned away. “.............you don't have to do that. Let's just live together quietly.”
“If that's what you want. I will.” I kiss her shoulder before getting up to take a shower.
—-------------------------
The ninth-floor window allows me to see the vast jungle outside. It's supposed to be summer but the weather is very cold here. Could it be the side effects of the mana flood?
I couldn't stop thinking about why traits are so rare on the market. There are millions of skills on the market but less than five traits and they are all extremely basic traits as well. Based on how traits are priced, if Miyong sells her Elemental Physique it would cost an astronomical amount. Perhaps we should see how much they would pay for it. I wanted to run an experiment.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“Miyong, can I have a minute of your time?” I said to the girl sneaking up on me.
“Damn! Did you learn Mali’s skill?” Miyong smiles and jumps out from behind the corner of the hallway.
“I want to test something.” I embraced her and explained my plans.
“So I just need to try to sell my traits to see the offer price but don't confirm the sale?” Miyong's eyes are shining. She always liked causing trouble.
“Yup, you want to do it?” I miss doing dumb things with her. The last month has been exhausting in more ways than one.
“Hell yes!” Miyong quickly calls up the market interface and attempts to sell her traits. Fortunately, other people can see the screen when someone uses the market or news functions. It's surprising considering the player status screen can only be seen by the player. She attempted to sell the trait and we both waited for the offer price to be calculated. After a few seconds, a message pops up on the screen.
[A market manager will be with you shortly]
“What?!” Miyong was surprised.
That weird vibration in the air, the same one I felt from the hole that the dragons came out from. A concentration of mana appears in front of us, similar to the GM but formless.
“Excuse me, customers. I am not familiar with these dimensions. Please allow me to adjust to a form you are familiar with.” I could hear the message in my head, different from a voice, more like I just understood what it was thinking. This is not a form of communication that humanity even has the concept of. Instant understanding? Difficult to describe. The manager mana form started to solidify, but it was small, much smaller than a human.
“Yue, this is not what we expected. What are we going to do?” Miyong stuck close to me.
“Let's just wait and see what it wants.” I have some idea of why a market manager appears.
“I am sorry for the wait customers. Now, I need to examine the trait before we can give you a fair price.” The mana cat holds out its paw towards Miyong. She looked at me and I gave her a nod. “Hmm, this is something we have never seen before. How did you even get this? Are you a disciple of some god? Wait it's still too early, the restrictions are not yet lifted. A reward from some dungeon?”
The cat kept talking and looking at Miyong's hand. I felt an electricity shot up my spine. It talks a lot about getting a trait as a reward or getting sponsored by powerful beings, but it never mentions acquiring these traits by practical means. An idea started to form in the corner of my mind.
“Hmmmm, we can offer 30 million HC for this trait.” The cat finally said with a sly smile. I imagine that even if a trait is powerful, most players would take that money. Humans are very greedy for money, it is a result of our society, but not us. HC is no longer important if my theory is correct.
“Thank you for coming all this way, we would like to consider the deal for a while,” I said to the cat.
“I am sorry customer, but you can not make that choice, only that customer can make that choice.” The cat points its paw at Miyong.
“Oh, eh, what he said.” Miyong points at me. The cat looked dissatisfied and immediately disappeared.
“That one is cute, not like the GM. Looks like my skill agreed as well.” Miyong did not lose control this time. “So what now? 30 million is a lot, we can buy mansions with defensive magic built-in on the market with it, but you have other ideas?”
“Yes, the way that cat spoke. I think I know why traits are so rare.” I started pacing around before I realized it. I need to stop this habit. “I think the human bodies are somehow more pliable or suited to transformation. That could be the reason we can awaken these physiques more easily than other species. This is just a theory, for now, I need more data to confirm it.”
“Ok, so we can get valuable traits easier than other races. What's your plan?” Miyong jumped on my back. She hasn't changed even after we became more than just friends. I am glad.
“I will get myself a few traits.”
—-------------------
The sky above all major cities of the world lit up with black light. Blue mists and black masses of some creatures pour out of the portal in the sky. Millions of people started praying to the sky. Even since the black dome appeared and then legendary dragons, many people instinctively felt that the world was coming to an end, but seeing the black light in the sky has cemented that fact. Letters soon appear in the black sky.
Congratulations!
The restriction on humanity has been released. You all now have unlimited potential. As long as you put in effort, you can become stronger. Unfortunately, even in this new world equality does not exist. A chosen few amongst you were born with mana veins. They are already beyond human from birth, there is no way for a normal human to catch up to those monsters. But there is good news! We are giving you a way to beat those chosen. If you manage to kill a player, you can take their player privilege, mana veins, and powers for yourself. We hope to see you soon!