Gold woke with a slight headache, but overall he actually felt as if he had slept for a full 8 hours. Which for him was rare. After sitting up and stretching he decided to finally pull up his new system.

"Status" Gold said.

{Welcome user Chrysos Gold to the Merchant System. Use the command 'info' to find out more about your system.}

Using the info command saw a new message pop up.

{Hello new user and welcome to System Guild. As new new member of the guild this message is meant to inform you of how your system works and what being apart of the guild means for you.}

{The merchant system is simple, if gives you access to the guild shops. This allows you to convert your worlds currency into guild tokens and buy items that you can sell to the people of your world. Please note that as a level 1 access user, you are not able to sell goods to the guild shops, you may only buy.}

{As you level your system you will gain access to better goods such as, skills and abilities, higher tier weaponry and more. The whole point of a merchant system is to make money, the guild does not dictate what you sell goods for or who you sell to. We simply give you access to items that may be rare or impossible to find in your world. As your guild access level increases so to will your perks.}

{One last thing Mr.Gold, your system would usually have access to a status screen. However it has been noted that the world of Tarius has its own status screen that the inhabitants gain when the have a job/class. For this reason the only current features of your system are the currency exchange and the level 1 access shops. Simply use the commands Guild Exchange or Guild Shops. Good luck in your future endeavors Mr.Gold. —System Administrator, Myra.}

Gold had to take a few minutes to read through and make sure he got everything. He didn't expect the system to be from some organization, all the novels he read with systems made them out to be advanced ai that specificly chose that person. This could be a good thing or not, only time would tell. It was also good to find out that apparently the world manifests its own status screen for its inhabitants. Next he decided to open up the exchange to see just how screwed over he was going to get.

{Current Exchange Rate: 50 Silver Snakes: 1 Guild token.}

Good to know but that meant little without seeing what a token can buy him. Next was opening up the shops and seeing what everything costs.

'Guild Shops' He thought.

{Welcome to the Guild Shops. As a level 1 access member you have access to the following shops.}

{Jeff's Junk}

{Toms Toys}

{Karen's Krafts}

{Please select a shop to enter.}

'Those names are awful but at least there's a theme' Gold thought while letting out a little chuckle. He decided to go to Jeff's Junk first.

As he mentally selected the shop, a large black portal appeared in front of him. Just to be safe he decided to stick his left pinky finger in. When it didn't get chopped off or mangled in any way, he shrugged and stepped through.

Coming out the other side he immediately noticed a middle aged man sitting behind a counter reading. The next thing he noticed was the mans ears, they were pointed.

'Of course there has to be Elves. Let's hope they aren't stuck up bastards like they are almost always depicted as.' Gold thought.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The man finally noticed him and looked up with a smile full of sharp teeth.

"Welcome to my humble little store: Jeff's Junk. Look around and see if anything catches your eye. Oh and my names Jeff." The man said while sweeping a hand to all the display cases.

Gold nodded before he decided to start looking around. He saw everything from daggers to skill books. The cheapest thing he found was a butter knife that was .5 tokens. This did not look good for him, if something like a butter knife would cost 25 snakes. It didn't make sense.

"Names Gold. I'm new to the guild, any advice you can give? Because the exchange rate doesn't make any sense." Gold asked the Elf.

"Ahh a new member. Welcome to the guild! What world do you come from?"

"Tarius."

Jeff's eyes went solid white and he sat completely still for a minute before his eyes rolled back.

"Ah yes you are the first guild member from this world. Quite an interesting world, however as the first member the exchange rate won't change until you begin buying and selling. Then it will change as it gets more information about the buying power of the worlds currency. Unfortunately for you, it means early on things are going to be very expensive. Now since you are a new member how about I give you a little gift." The man explained before standing up and walking to a back room.

As Gold waited for Jeff to come back, he continued to look around for anything interesting. He found a sword on one of the wall racks that was glowing blue. Jeff had put a note of each items description with them. Apparently this was a frost runesword, interesting but also costs 300 tokens. Finally Jeff came back and was holding something.

"Ah I see you've noticed that sword, unfortunately that's a bit to much for a new member gift. This however should help you nicely." Jeff said while hold out a book to him.

"That is an inspection skill book. I'm not sure if you have access to your worlds status yet, but once you do, inject mana into it and you will gain the inspect skill. Which is pretty mandatory for a merchant." Jeff explained.

Gold chuckled, of course the first thing he would gain is an inspect ability. How cliche.

"Thank you very much Jeff, this will be extremely helpful. Any advice you can give?"

"Hmm yes, go to the other starting merchants as well. Us level 1 access show owners almost always give new members a starting gift. Help with future business opportunities too. Anyways they won't give you another spell book but they'll probably give items for you to sell in your world." The man informed Gold with a wink.

"Thank you I'll do that. I appreciate your gift." Gold said before walking back through the portal and appearing in his room at the inn.

__*****SMALL TIMESKIP*****__

An hour later Gold came back from visiting the last shop, Karen's Krafts, both Karen and Tom had given him items just as Jeff said they would. Tom gave him a good looking silver horse figurine, it seems more like a collectible then a toy but Tom was adamant that its a toy. Karen had given him a simple silver ring that she had made.

While neither were as valuable as the inspect skill book, but they could bring him quick cash. Which was what he was leaving to do now. He needed to find a place to sell or trade them for a decent price.

Exiting the inn he immediately saw all the stall from earlier, it seems he had only been unconscious for an hour and in the guild shops for another hour if the sun was anything to go by. Looking around most stalls were selling food items, but there are plenty of shops nearby too.

Gold started walking through the different alleys and looking into shops. Finally he found a jewelers shop, inside was a lady who was hunched over inspecting a piece of jewelry with some tool. Walking in the lady stood and quickly turned when she heard the bell above the door.

"Welcome dear customer! What can I do for you?" The lady said loudly.

Gold walked up a set the silver ring on the counter before pushing it toward the jeweler.

"I'd like to see what I can get for my ring." Gold said while acting calm even though his heart was pounding.

For most people this would seem like an ordinary interaction, and it was. But for Gold this was his first true step towards becoming a merchant, and it was exciting. Of course he would still need to get the merchant job somehow.Picking up the ring the lady began inspecting it with the same tool as before.

"Hmm good silver content, well crafted and very little wear. You said this is your ring? Do you never wear it?" The lady asked while continuing to look at the ring.

"Rarely, it was a gift from my father before he passed. I don't want to sell it but unfortunately I need to. I'm not doing well." Gold said while also motioning to his shabby outfit.

The lady nodded before she said, "well I can give you 2 crowns for it."

Gold hummed before countering, "2 crowns 50 snakes."

The lady stared at him before sighing and pulling out the coin. "Hopefully this helps you get on your feet."

"Thank you!" Gold said while smile.

As he walked out the door a pop up appears before him.

[Would you like to take the merchant job?]

[ACCEPT]

[DECLINE]