“May I ask how you created such a medicine? I’ve never heard of a vile changing” We had made our way through the floor and were now in the small town, the town looked like a mining town, the buildings where made of either rock or weak wooden planks with tin roofs, it only had eight shops in it, the treasure Guild was almost as big as the town itself though and was made of Limestone. The Snobby boy was pulling his damaged cart behind us with his wind magic, he used some wind spell that tethered to his mana or something.

“It’s called an ointment for a start, and the second is with a skill, thats all you need to know” I wasn’t going to tell this boy anything more, I’d probably get taken and forced to make all sorts of medicines against my will.

“If you would like, my father could buy some of those medicines off of you for a fair price” Hmm, so this boy was a merchant through and through, he did have a good point.

“I’ll talk to him about it, Miko, what is that tent over there?” I pointed to a red and white circus like tent in the middle of town.

“Uhh, thats not a very nice place Master Udon, we should avoid it” Miko looked down to the ground and moved to the other side of me away from the tent.

“Mr Udon, that is a slave tent, it is useful on this floor with players renting slaves to use for mining” Slaves huh? The small boy didn’t seem to have a problem with that, he even said ‘renting them’ like some type of item, he might be stronger than he looks, or, his just a snobby rich kid that sees slaves as a means to end…that sounds right.

“So snobby boy, how does one become a slave”

“My name is Ralph, Mr Udon, please address me as such” This little punk!

“Uhh p-please call me Ralph, Mr Udon” Thats better, this snobby boy was pushing his luck.

“The way someone becomes a slave is if they have broken the law and are criminals, players cannot become slaves though, legally they can’t anyway.”

“So what’s the illegal ways someone is forced into slavery” This seemed like a darker side of the dungeon.

“Well, its not a topic I like to talk about but, corrupt people sell slaves on the black market and make up a ridiculous story that they broke the law and enslave them, they are an easy way for someone to make money, some slaves have even been found to be players.” Hmm, the snobby boy did seem a little uncomfortable talking about it, maybe he didn’t want to acknowledge the dark side of a merchants life, slaves could be easily seen as product to sell.

“Are any species targeted specifically to become slaves?” Did they have racism in this world too?

“Most species in the dungeon are looked down on by their guild rank rather than their race but, it is not uncommon for someone to hate a certain race.” So they did, ha! Can’t take the true humanity out of anything with the slightest human genes.

“Why is the tent so big? Are there a lot of slaves?” The tent was easily to tallest building in town.

“There are five levels in a normal slave tent, on the ground level you’ll find domesticated monsters, monster eggs, Baby Monsters and Demi-Humans, most of the Demi-Humans are beaten and broken children, its rare to get one that broke the law and turned into a slave, majority of them are kidnaped and taken from their village. On the second level you find human slaves, more specially, children and young adult female demi-humans, on the third level you’ll find the bigger slaves, so medium size demons, adult humans and Demi-Humans, the fourth level are the high priced species, you’ll find elves, dwarves, beastman, etc. you also get the stronger humans and Demi-Humans. On the highest level you find the auction room, only nobles really go to this level or someone that has money to throw away, these slaves are all high priced, they also use them in battle arenas that are built under the tent.” This sounds like the people just accept the slaves as long as it’s not them.

“I’m guessing the fights are to the death for the pleasure of the wealthy” I glared down at the boy, in my eyes he was apart of that group, his snobby attitude, I could sell him as a slave myself.

“Y-yes, you find the strong monsters, animals, demons and other strong species in the arena” The snobby boy looked to the ground ashamed. Knew it, he has probably been apart of that crowd once or twice in his life.

“Ralph, Master Udon doesn’t mean any disrespect, he just lacks some knowledge when it comes to those types of topics” Miko tried to cheer the snobby boy up, but at my expense!?

“It’s ok Miko, Mr Udon does have a fair point in accusing me of turning a blind eye to that side of a merchants business, even though my father and I don’t sell slaves, we have seen the movement of illegal slaves and have done nothing” Even if he wasn’t directly involved in the ‘movement’ of slaves, he still knew about it, I mean even his wording of them, ‘moving’ its just product to him, he doesn’t see them as real life people.

“Miko should we invest in a monster? We could use it as an escape route or even to carry our bags” I was starting to get annoyed with the amount of luggage we ended up with.

“If we were to purchase a baby monster it could possibly mutate, some monsters and animals can mutate with the owners magic, but are weaker than a pure blood” Mutate into a different kind of monster? Was that what she was trying to say?

“I’ll explain it a little better, similar to a salamander levelling up into a dragon, a pure blood dragon would still be stronger, a baby monster can mutate even further though, some monsters now are only in existence because of this evolution, the Poisonous dragon was a mutation from a normal Land Salamander, but its owner experimented different types of poisons on it and it evolved into the Poison Dragons that fly around today, he managed to breed two of the mutated Poison Dragons and that created the first pure-blood, after that, Poison Dragons became the strongest Dragon”

“Hmm, we don’t know what my magic will do to a monster, we should hold off for now then”

“I think that would be wise” Miko agreed with me, but the thought of making a strong monster did intrigue me.

“My house is just up here,” We made our way through the town and to the other side, the snobby boy’s house was an L shaped limestone house, it looked well taken care of, it was also away from the other buildings in the town.

“Father!” The snobby boy called out, but I grabbed onto his shoulder tightly, I wasn’t letting this reward go so quickly.

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“Ralph! I’ve been so worried, I was getting prepared to go and find you” A tall, muscular blonde man came out of the snobby boy’s house, he wore a black skin tight suit, it was made out of rubber or something, and was it shining or does that mean it's enchanted with magic? He had metal shoulder pads and thigh pads, he had a long, fancy looking sword attached to his belt and metal gauntlets hanging off the other side.

“Are you this snobby boys father?” I shouted out tightening my grip on the boy so his father could sense the situation.

“I am, what business do you have with my son?” The father put his hand on the hilt of his sword,

“Father, I was attacked by a horde of Cave Centipedes and got bit, these players defeated the monsters and even gave me some ointment that healed the Infected Cave Centipedes bite”

“Ointment?” The father still with his hand on the hilt of his sword tilt his head in confusement.

“I promised a reward for saving my life”

“Oh, if thats the case, come on in please, I’ll go grab a reward for you two and your pet” Pet? Was he referring to Vnaa which Miko was holding? The father seemed to relax after hearing his sons story, did he not notice I still kept the boy hostage.

“We’ll wait out here if you don’t mind” I shouted out to him not letting go of the snobby boys shoulder

“I see, an untrustworthy person you see me as, I don’t blame you, you don’t know who I am” The father went inside and came out shortly with a pouch filled with coins.

“Here you go, for saving my only sons life, I present you, 3 Golden Tigre Coins” Tigre Coins!?

“Master Udon, thats too much, surely” Miko tired to argue with the reward, I took the pouch of coins and let go of his son.

“Father!”

“Ralph!” The father embraced his son with a big hug

“Isn't that sweet Master Udon” Miko looked on with a smile

“Huh? Oh, I don’t care” I took the 3 Golden Tigre coins out of the pouch and made sure they were real, I didn’t know what one looked like so I didn’t know.

“A true merchants nature in you, I assure you they are real” The father let go of his son and stood up.

“Like you said, I don’t know you, how do I know if these are real or not?” I studied the design thoroughly, it was a giant golden coin with a black Tigers head imprinted into it.

“My name is Sir Ragar Uloff, please call me Ragar” Ragar put his hand out for me to shake, I looked into his orange eyes and shook it with a firm grip. Ragar let out a hefty chuckle and let go of my hand.

“I like you son, you seem like you understand a true merchant, please come inside for some lunch” Ragar turned around and carried his son into his house, Miko still carrying Vnaa followed them happily, damn it Miko! You’re too trustworthy!

“What is this Ointment my son mentioned? I’ve never heard of such a word” Ragar poured us some tea, we sat around a polished wooden table in Ragar’s kitchen.

“I’d like to ask a couple questions first Ragar” I’m not telling him squat until I know more of him.

“Smart choice, ask away”

“Firstly, who are you? You speak like a noble and have a body of a warrior” He didn’t seem like the high praised merchant his son mentioned.

“You see, I was previously employed by one of the higher floor Kingdoms as their merchant, I’m a non-player but during my time as their merchant I was granted many skills by the Kingdoms players and have been highly rated in a number of those trade skills. The reason I have a ‘warriors body’ so you say, is because my merchants moto is keeping your strength to protect yourself while selling your wares.”

“Smart Motto, your son should take that up himself” I took a sip of the tea after watching Miko drink it to make sure it wasn’t poison, the son put his head down at my remark.

“I do agree with you there, this is the price you pay when you aren’t strong enough to protect yourself Ralph.”

“Yes Father, I’m sorry” Ralph put his head down even lower.

“No need to worry now, you’re safe, thats all that matters. You might have seen some of my work around, I have been called one of the best accessory maker, weapon smith and Jeweller around” He thinks highly of himself

“Nope, haven’t heard of you” I really hadn’t. Ragar spat his tea out hearing my remark.

“What! Really? Non of my work?” Ragar looked and Miko and I, we just shook our heads.

“Interesting, now that you know a little about me, can you explain this ointment that healed my sons bite, I find it very interesting, no one has ever survived a bite from a Cave Centipede, the acid in their bite is supposed to shut down ones immune system in an instant” Hmm, some of these lower floor monsters seem dangerous if they managed to bite you.

“Its called Feverfew Leaf Ointment, it cleans mild infectious bite immediately”

“Interesting, I’ve never heard of a medicine that does that, can you show me it” Ragar looked at me with curious eyes. It wouldn’t hurt to make some, I did have 30/60 MP again, it only cost me 2 MP to make.

“Sure, give me a second” I took out a small glass vile, a Feverfew Leaf and ripped it up, I added the leaves into the vile and then some water, next my MP and done, the vile changed again, it was the same Mermaid wrapped around design.

“There you go, one Feverfew Leaf Ointment” I handed the ointment to Ragar

“Hmm, fascinating, this is truly incredible, I’ve never heard of a skill that allows the vile to change to match the contents within” Ragar looked at it closely, most likely using his appraisal skill, did he know why the vile changed shaped?

“How much would you like for one of these?” Exactly what his son said

“What would you pay? I would also like to know why you think the vile changed” I wanted at least 5 Silver Shark coins for one.

“Hmm, if you give me 10 of these, I’ll give you another 3 Golden Tigre coins, and some connections I have, along with a little basic training, as for the changing vile, I believe the vile you start with doesn’t have enough mana to contain the new formed medicine, like the medicine you create with your mana, the vile also gets imbued with that same mana and changes to a more suitable shape for the new medicine” Connections and training? The way the vile changes does make sense when you explain it like that, but it wasn’t a skill…or is it apart of that Pharmacist skill?

“Hmm, if you provide me the nine viles, you have a deal, I would also like to stay here with my party for the night”

“Sure, I’m assuming one bed for the two of you?” Ragar pointed at Miko and I and gave a smirk

“Huh!? One bed!? I mean Master U-Udon, i-if you want I wouldn’t m-mind, I haven’t d-done anything like that t-though, so please be gentle” Miko rambled on again, what was she saying? She was mumbling so much I couldn’t understand

“No, two beds one room” Damn it Ragar, look at Miko! She’s angry now, look how red she is, she already thinks I’m a pervert, I don’t need you adding to the fire!

“Are you sure kid? Are you that oblivious about the situation you are in?” Huh? I looked at Ragar and tilted my head, what was he on about now?

“It’s ok Ragar, two beds will be fine” Miko waved her hands in the air and got up quickly

“Of course, Ralph do you mind escorting the young lady to her room”

“Of course father, Lady Miko, please follow me” Miko and Vnaa followed the snobby kid up the stairs and into a room.

“Udon, I would ask you to not discuss your medicine making skills with anyone you don’t trust, someone with your talent will be sold on the black market in an instant.” Ragar got up and went to a cabinet behind the table and pulled out the nine small glass viles

“Your son did mention you knew about the black market, I’m assuming you don’t want to sell me? You might be strong, but, you’ll need to kill me before you get the chance to.” I glared Ragar down as he sat back down.

“Calm down Udon, believe it or not, I’ve actually taken a liking to you, you managed to save my son from a disease that no one has ever recovered from and you have the true ‘don’t trust someone’ merchants attitude, I am willing to help you.” Hmm, still seems a little off.

“Is there any help you wanted with anything, any skills?” I might as well take him up on it.

“I have these Trade Skill books that I have yet to go through, can you help with this?” I pulled out the 20 books and showed Ragar, he looked over them and flicked through a couple.

“Interesting, I haven’t seen anyone learn from books in decades, these are some high quality books as well”

“How much can I learn from these books?”

“I would say you could learn up to mastery 6 and some up to mastery 7, the last 3-4 mastery levels will be experience only, if you were to allow me to show you the basics, you could be at mastery 3 by the end of tomorrow” 3 mastery points in one day interesting.