Name; Able drake Race; Homeo-sapien Contracts; *Erebus* Essence; 671902 Skill points; 0 HP; 30/30 .04/s MP; 267/320 1.8/s Age; 7 cycles Settings STR; 5 AGI; 4 VIT; 6 END; 5 INT; 16 WIS; 18 CHA; 8 LCK; 21 Skills Primitive QCQ, lvl 2, F; 96/200 exp.
-Primitive QCQ footwork, lvl 4 F+; 35/800 exp.
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Novice gifted-swordsmanship, lvl 2, E; 8848/200000 exp.
-Novice gifted-sword-slash, lvl 2, E+; 2468/200000 exp.
--Crude draw-slash, lvl 7, E+; 734/32000 exp.
-Novice gifted-sword-thrust, lvl 2, E+; 8422/200000 exp.
-Novice gifted-swordsmanship footwork, lvl 3, E+; 16341/300000 exp.
-Novice gifted-(Sword)-block, lvl 1, E+; 7126/100000 exp.
-Novice gifted-(Sword)-parry, lvl 1, D; 8312/100000 exp.
-Novice gifted-(Sword)-redirect, lvl 1, D; 4198/20000 exp.
-Novice Drakish swordsmanship, lvl 1, D+; 79053/1000000 exp.
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Novice animal handling, lvl 6, F; 72522/120000 exp.
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Novice learning, lvl 1, D+; 642331000000 exp.
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Basic writing, lvl 6, F+; 674/3200 exp.
-Basic Insidious writing, lvl 4, E; 234/8000 exp.
-Basic propoganda writing, lvl 6, E; 289/3200 exp.
--Basic insidious-propoganda writing, lvl 5, E+; 743/12800 exp.
--Basic nhilistic-propoganda writing, lvl 4, E+; 73/3200 exp.
-Basic story-writing, lvl 7, E; 23/6400 exp.
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Basic story-telling, lvl 5, F+; 72/1600 exp.
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Novice improv, lvl 1, E; 7545/100000 exp.
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Basic manipulation, lvl 2, E; 34/1000 exp.
-Basic Ideological manipulation, lvl 1, E+; 2/500 exp.
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Basic Fatigue resistence, lvl 10, F; 7609/50000 exp.
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Novice secrecy, lvl 1, E+; 76729/642000 exp.
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Basic linguistics, lvl 4, F+; 7978/100000 exp.
-Basic word interpetation, lvl 4, F+; 92533/100000 exp.
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Basic magical knowledge, lvl 1, D; 1348/10000 exp.
Basic ancient knowledge, lvl 3, D-; 18623/30000 exp.
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Intermediate economics, lvl 7, C-; 642707/7000000 exp.
Lesser advanced mathmatics, lvl 8; 713433/800000 exp.
I looked at my status, in all it's glory.
I was currently in a carraige, alone. Actually, that darkness drake, still in it's unevolved form.
Again; Only the best.
So no evolving it till I get an extremely high amount of essence. Which I think will take a lot less time after I'm done setting up the business.
I was already inside of Bronkov, first order of business was to pick up a servant, someone with a physique. Though, rather than the blessing of wealth, I had to pick the blessing of ice. Wuwu, I would stay poor!
But seriously, let's enjoy the show;
An old servant who was, like me, hiding beneath a cloak, left the cairrage before the little store with the target. He walked up to the front of the shop, and flashed a silver "Let's talk somewhere private." The person who was the father of the target paused, and then smiled "Of course good sir."
The two calmly walked to 'The back', which was really just the living room of their family. The entire family was there, the target, the mother too "Is this private enough, good sir?" After recieving a curt nod from the servant, who relaxedly sat on a chair as if this place was his own home. The father did not even try to reprihand him, that one piece of silver was too tempting for him to remain staunch in his pride.
"I'll be blunt, my young master has taken an interest in your child for some reason I do not know." The servant said while looking at the late-teen girl with silver/white hair.
Everyone who was in the room, except for the old servant, had an entire shift in manner. The target just stopped with a dreadful expression, the mother became scared, while the father became less inviting. But this wasn't the first time 'Buying' free people, and he flashed two silver coins. Quickly shifting the father's attitude back to something a bit more neutral.
"Good sir, I hop-" A third silver was added. The father bit his lip "Sir, you may not understand, but Stalia is ou-" A fourth silver "Sir, you think that adding more money-" Five silver! "You can't belie-"
"Sush," The servant said confidently as he put a hand into his pocket "If something isn't for sale, you're just not throwing enough money at it!" Quickly ten silver coins were revealed.
The father looked at them, as if enraptured, same with the mother. The father bit his lip "Stalia... If someone is well-off enough to put up ten silver for you, they're sure not to mistreat you in the future."
The target frowned slightly "I understand father."
"Thank you dear." The father said saltily, as if it wasn't his fault that he was unable to contain his greed.
The servant could not stop a smile flashing across his face "So, do you accept?" The father seemed sad, but he was obviously dancing mentally "Yes, yes I do."
The old servant threw the silver to the ground, like feeding the dogs. He looked at the silver haired target, and coldly said "Your coming with me to meet the young master, understand?"
The target nodded solemnly, probably thinking she would have to do it with some rich kid. Sadly, when she entered the cairrage, she was shocked at the fact that the young master was so... Small.
The old servant was having a nice conversation with me "Young master, I can't believe how easy that was compared to the other times I've done this. How does it work?"
"That little act I taught you is there to add a shock factor to override the emotional connection the parents have with their child, that extra impact of doubling the amount has quite the effect. Usually you'd need to pay at least 20 silver for her, but we got her for 10. Quite the big difference, right?" It was so enjoyable to just drain wealth from others, you know that the net loss of the father of my new clerk was a total of 10 silver?
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Normally he'd ask for 20 silver for his daughter who was pretty talented, but with proper negotiation it was halved, and now I have a net profit of ten silver! You can't even comprehend how much fun it is to properly take the price down on a product to an extreme low. Even the servant who bought humans for the drake clan for decades, was in admiration to my supreme skills. I even sugjested the trick he used to buy the slave "I can't believe I never thought about this, I always used the take it or leave it strategy before, but compared to this new path, it was all for nought!"
"Do not worry, the apostle of the deal, Adam Smith, does not discriminate between convertee and a born believer." I clasped my hands together, and in respone the servant did too ""Hail capitalism!""
I honestly don't know how this happened, I really don't. I just spoke to the guy about capitalism and how great it was, maybe a bit of my real passion in getting money from everyone around me was released? I have no idea. It's concerning honestly, how does someone mistake an economic system as a religion? -Oh my god, does he think capitalism is a god?!
I wonder if I can teach the clerk the wonders of capitalism? In a non religious way.
I looked at the clerk "Hello...?"
"Stalia."
"-Stalia, have you heard of the wonders of capitalism?" He said, the same as he had done by the old servant. Getting no response from the clerk, I continued "Well, I expected that you haven't. It is a holy path layed out by our fore-fathers, 'Homo-sapiens'."
"Homo-sapiens? How could humans come from these 'Homo-sapiens'?" Seems like she's currently trying to ignore the fact I'm a child by inducing curiosity in this new term.
I shook my head with a click of the tongue "Did you not know that we're 'Homeo-sapiens'?" I asked her, who was going to rebuke me, while looking at her status, which had changed from 'Human' to 'Homeo-sapien'. The moment she heard the most accurate term to her race, it instantly replaced 'Human' with it.
"Then why are there no more 'Homo-sapiens' left?" She asked, still suspicious.
I sighed lightly "It is hard to explain before I explain a few things, so stay with me," I said "First, if you want to understand what I'm about to say. Remember; Greed isn't a bad thing, excessive greed is."
After getting a nod, I continued "Now the real story; Once apon a time, a long long long- A very long time ago, I think before the gods? I'm not too sure about that. But you can take my word for this, it was a very long time ago. Humans, homo-sapiens, lived at the edge of the starry sky. They were weak, they were barbaric, they were... Seen as a type of monkey by the realm, they were treated as animals. But they were different from normal animals, they could learn, and they wished for more.
Homo-sapiens were greedy, once they saw fire created from thunder, they wanted it. They wanted to keep it, they felt warm from it, they saw the meat it cook and hungered for it. They were obsessed with it, as if it were their only goal, outside of getting more food and drink. One by one, with each fallen to the flames of the skies, they came closer to understanding it. Every single occourance was remembered, every piece of knowledge was put together. And a miracle happened, a small flame was kept apon a stick and slowly burned it.
With this homo-sapiens could transport fire for a moment, they could keep it alive for longer! They made piles of sticks and enjoyed the warmth from the great destroyer of many lands, but after a few minutes of lazyness, they again wanted more. It was so difficult and dangerous to carry around a stick to keep a flame, and the pile of sticks burned out far to quickly. How could they fix this? They kept on trying, using anything they could get their primitive hands on. Did stones work? Did grass work? They tried over and over again, never giving up, even across generations.
It was a matter of pride, a matter of greed. They wanted better for themselves, and their continuations, their off-spring.
And then one day, a weak boy was born, the first apostle, 'Xaliak'. He named himself, a child not loved by others he was. He was sickly, he had little food, he had little to live for. But he kept his greed, and he put a tiny flame in a clump of dead grass. It lasted long, and he could put it in a pile of sticks to make fire.
He kept it secret and kept it with him at all times, finding out that if he blew at it slightly the small flame would grow. But he had nothing to cook using it, so; He sold himself as a fire-starter. Everything you wanted a fire lit, you came to him with a bit of food. And he slowly became more and more wealthy, and he lost his greed. He had all he wanted, he got a woman of his own and sufficient food and drink at a constant pace, life was good.
But a year later, people started to copy him. His food started to run dry and his old greed returned, as his life, made from hard work fell around him. His woman left him for someone else, and he was once again poor and weak.
And so his eyes darted to the only thing he had ever really understood in the slightest of manners, fire.
He thought about everything he knew about fire; It was hot, it needed something to burn, and it got bigger when you blew at it softly while it was small. He also knew that if he rubbed his hands together, they'd get warmer. So... What if he rubbed sticks together? And what if he took a piece of a tree in place of one of the sticks? And what if he put dry gras inbetween?!
And so, with his own two hands, years later, he had made the thing feared most by all animals.
Now... Stalia, what do you think is the moral of this story?"
The clerk was surprised by my instant burst of story telling, and thought for a moment, remembering the entire story. It's good that I wasn't wrong about her, a good memory is needed to quickly state prices to customers! "To... Keep on innovating?"
"No, it's to never stay stagnant in your success. The moment the first apostle stopped wanting more, his life slowly started to fall apart. This is also the moral of the final story." I said calmly, unbefitting of my small stature "But his life progressed the homo-sapien's technological level by a few centuries on his own, so he's called the first apostle, the flame bearer. Any questions?"
"Is that the whole story?" She asked, sceptical such a story exists.
I sighed slightly "Of course not, I just don't have time to write down an entire novel about the first apostle's life right now. I gave you a very trimmed down version, I didn't even add in his state of complete depression after the woman he loved left him, and the revenge he inflicted apon her." To be honest, the entire story was made up on the spot while talking to the old servant, I sadly don't have the patience to write an entire damn novel. But... Since I already have a believer, how about I make this the cult I was planning on making?
But making capitalism the core of a religion is... Not to my best interest. If it was solely captitalism, there'd be too many problems. Since I don't like the idea of capitalism being a god, I don't actually like the idea of there being a god in my religion. Since if in someway someone can act like they have a bigger connection to that god than me, they might be able to take over the cult and put me in the gulag, which I am sure to create.
"Then, what is capitalism." A small crack occured in his soul, and mini buddha had re-appeared from the depths of the abyss! He had fought many battles, and purified many a demon. And he had returned to explain what capitalism was, but shockingly the evil dragon king of the end appeared too change his words "Capitalism is an economic policy created by our anscestors, but there are others too. Capitalism is but an ideological branch of a certain... thing that is classified."
"What others are there?"
I sighed while looking at the store front I had bought, then looked at the clerk "Communism, made by the great comrad Carl Marx, and inherited by the people's republic of china. By the great china men! But that's it for today, I still need to teach you how to do your job."