"Let's go cat, we have a customer." a human merchant, who I speculated to be Ammir shouted the moment he stepped into my room.
I could see a group of slaves waiting in the corridor. All of them were young women: humans, fox girls, some cat beaskin just like me and even one elf.
As I followed him with the rest of the slaves we arrived at the reception room. Judging from the fact that only women were called, the customer had very specific needs. If I am bought, will have to enact my escape plan a bit sooner. It would be for the best to avoid that. Hmm, if I release repulsive pheromones and change skin color to look sick it should be enough.
Once we arrived, the merchant made us form a line. A customer was human and judging from the attire a mercenary or an adventurer.
"Those are all we have that met your requirement, Mr. Blaze. And before you start, the cat girl last from the right is sold with a discount. She is a bit ill and we are running low on medicine. Our previous supplier met his end at the hands of bandits, so while we are looking for a new, we are forced to sell her for a bit cheaper." said the merchant while pointing at me.
"Can't you just use healing magic?" asked Blaze.
"You probably have not heard then," Ammir replied, "The Temple forbid priests from offering healing services to us. Their strange way of opposing slavery. If you ask me it's stupid, only slaves suffer from all of this."
Blaze glanced at me for a moment, but quickly lost interest and moved to other girls by my side. Soon he stopped in front of an elf and started to haggle with the merchant.
The Elf had a sad look on her face. Each time the human looked at her, there was only lust in his eyes. He might have other uses for her, but there was no doubt that offering her body will be one of his commands. Many women here have a similar fate waiting for them, but there is always a chance that someone needs only for a servant or battle companion. Sadly for her, she wasn't among the lucky ones. In the end, she was bought for nearly twenty gold and before they started with a contract, we were dismissed to our rooms.
*
After that human, there were no more customers today and that left me with plenty of free time on my hands. I could probably practice martial arts or try to create more skills, but I decided not to do that to avoid leveling up even more.
My martial arts were very high and I could end up with a new level if 'the system' gave them an evaluation. From the previous words of that merchant, I suspect they can see a part of my status, at least the part that says I am healthy. If it's similar to what I see in my status, then that part also shows my level. Me reaching level 3 right after I got to the second was already quite dangerous. So far they have not noticed. Maybe they just paid no attention, but if it happens again, things might get complicated.
After dinner, using body manipulation, I managed to raise my strength by 7, agility by 6 and endurance by 6, but with nothing else to do, I decided to go sleep early.
*
Next morning I was surprised. I found that one of my 6 unallocated attribute points was used in rising mind power by one while I was sleeping. And why mind power specifically? Hmm, I did get most of it after unlocking 'enhanced mind', is this a reason? Does this mean that each time I go to sleep one of the unallocated points will be spent to attribute representing what I improved most? Why were those points touched in the first place?
After eating porridge again for breakfast I raised my strength by 7, agility by 4 and endurance by 5. It was getting harder to improve as I was getting close to the limits of what I can do.
Before lunch, there were two more customers, but this time I wasn't called. Even the fact that they were here I learned only thanks to my hearing and sense of smell. Customers were nobles this time and merchants were probably afraid to offer me in case I die.
All this free time with nothing to do was very boring.
While I spent time looking over my memories from my old world, it was finally lunch time. Like always Amelia brought food with water. It was the same porridge again and I was getting fed up with it. After lunch, my newest changes were the rise in strength by 5, agility by 1 and endurance by 4. It seems that I already reached limits for speed.
As this was the case, I spent all 5 unallocated points into agility and by observing the changes system made to my body, tried to come up with a way to improve it even further. I even noticed that DNA was slightly altered during the process... But it was a good thing. After observing the changes I already had a few ideas how to improve the body just with the food, but now, with the addition of this new DNA, it was as if I was given a blueprint to make a comparison.
When I looked at my stats I decided that I was a slave for long enough.
<< STATUS >> Name: Melissa Health: 116/116 Level: 3 Mana: 330/330 Race: Cat Beastkin Stamina: 117/117 Gender: Female Strength: 32 Age: 14 Agility: 33 Class: None Endurance: 28 Subclass: None Mind Power: 66 State: Healthy, Enslaved(Bunrak, Ammir) Unallocated attribute points 0
This decision had nothing to do with the same icky porridge for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
If compared to me from the previous life, I was a tiny bit faster now... then again, at that time there was no convenient system I could exploit.
Now then, how exactly should I make my escape?
Killing or just escaping from slave merchants will most likely get a hunting party on my tail. It's not a big problem for the current me, but I also need information on how to remove the collar... and it would be a bit hard to do that with an infinite swarm of wannabe captors. I could try to get that information from the slave merchants while I am still there, but I think that would be a suicide. For one, I wouldn't trust the information I could get from them... especially when both parties knew that a single 'error' in tampering with the collar would cost me my life.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
There are better options.
I can simply wait till I am bought. Merchants don't plan to sell me to nobles, so my new master wouldn't be some big shot.
Even if I escape from this new Master, he might don't have the resources to send someone after me and just him alone wouldn't be an issue. It's nothing like what I would face if escaped from slave merchants. But I had no plans to just escape... once I am bought, I will simply kill my new master once we are out of prying eyes. Only Master can track me through the collar and once he is gone, there is a chance that no one will even know what happened or otherwise bother with me. I could even make it look like the work of some bandits, this way I would be considered dead or kidnaped.
Yes, this was the best course of actions. With the collar hidden by clothes, I could blend in the crowd and research slave collars undisturbed. Hell, maybe I could even figure out the secret behind it when they transfer ownership to a buyer. With the plan decided I started to wait for my new Master. Just as I was able to make that guy earlier to ignore me, I was confident that with the help of pheromones I can make the next one to do the opposite.
*
I didn't have to wait very long and shortly felt the presence of a visitor. And sure enough, the merchant started to gather the slaves.
"Follow me." the dwarf said after opened the door to my room.
This time there were only a few wolf girls, the rest were men from either human or wolf beastkin races. If I have to guess, the customer cared only for a slave capable in battle. As for me, slave merchants just wanted to get rid of me at every opportunity. Once they realize that I am actually healthy, they won't be in such rush and start offering me to nobles as well.
Once we entered the reception room, a customer was looking at the painting hanging on the wall.
"We can start Mr. Reveon." said Bunrak and the customer faced us. He was dressed in a robe that suggested a class of a mage and looked like...
"Dad?!" I let out a surprised voice.
Wrong!
Why I mistook him for my father? He was an elf, not even a human. The face may have looked a bit similar, but almost everything else was opposite.
My father liked to keep his hair short, and they were black in color, the elf on another hand was a blonde with long hair reaching the back. Eyes of my father were dark brown, but the eyes of this elf were bright blue. Only sharp brows looked similar. Pale skin was yet another difference when compared to the dark tone of my father's skin. Yet somehow the elf reminded me of him.
Why?
Smell.
Yes, his scent slightly reminded him, just like his aura. Now that I looked at him with more attention, even his posture was the same and gaze was piercing your very soul, just like fathers. I might have met people who looked more alike, but none could compare to this elf when it comes to the feel of his essence.
And while I was looking at the elf in a trance, he was observing me in return.
"You have very good eye Mr. Reveon, was about to mention her." when the dwarf noticed our staring contest, he started to advertise me with a smile, "We are not sure why analyze doesn't show it, but she is actually slightly ill. Until our supplies of medicine are secured or we cured her ourselves, we are forced to offer her at a discount. She might be weaker than others standing here, but none can compare when it comes to the price. Oh, and have I mentioned that she is still a virgin?"
This isn't good. My escape involves killing my new master and while I know the elf isn't my father... I have a feeling that I would be unable to harm him.
Dammit! Pheromones! I quickly stopped releasing them, but the damage was probably already done.
I averted my eyes away in hopes he takes no interest in buying me, but when I did so, a strong desire to look back swept over me.
He isn't him. He isn't my father... I gave in just after a few seconds and looked back at the elf. Dammit! Why?! Maybe it's some skill like 'charm'? Ahhh! Stop lying to yourself! There is no way anything can influence my mind now. Not with my mental resistance and enhanced mind... Please don't choose me...
"How much?" the elf asked without averting his eyes from me.
There was no lust in his eyes, only curiosity... and something else I couldn't recognize. This is bad!
"I can sell her for 12 gold and 6 silver." replied the merchant while stroking his beard.
"Isn't this a bit too much? I could get a well build house for this price." complained the elf.
"And if you hired a mercenary for a year, it would be the same. But slave will serve you for life. If you consider this expensive then I think she is the only slave you can afford Mr. Reveon." said Bunrak.
"No, I just expected for an actual discount. I will need to spend money to cure her. And mercenary you mentioned would be experienced in battle, with armor and weapons of his own. I somehow failed to hear you mention her worth in the battle. Does she have any?" asked the elf calmly.
But his calmness was only a mask. His face didn't show it, but from a smell, heartbeat and slight change in atmosphere, I could tell he was very nervous. He didn't expect such price and most likely had no money for me. I should be glad about such turn on events, but there was only anxiety instead. Why he affects me so much? Maybe I should suppress my emotions or even remove them completely? No! Never again!! How could I think like that even for a second!? I gave a promise...
"No, she has not, but..." and while I was drowning in my inner conflict the dwarf started to protest.
"See!? This isn't nice Mr. Bunrak. There is even a chance that her illness is more serious than you claim. With all those potential problems she is worth five gold at best." quickly interrupted the elf.
"This is ridiculous!" objected the merchant, "Slave collar alone is worth five gold. I can lower only to ten."
"No no no. This won't do. I need a warrior, not some scared kitty. You don't even deny illness might be serious and I will need to waste time on training her. I can give only 6 gold for her." the elf continued now with the confidence, and this time it was not only a facade.
Why he still needs me if suspects that serious illness is really a thing?
"I never saw an elf like you... Fine! I will offer her for 8 gold, but this is my final offer. I can get more from any alchemist any day, take it or leave it." said Bunrak after starring the elf into the eyes.
"Deal. Why most people I met say the same words to me. I am really that different from other elves?" asked the elf happily.
I somehow had conflicting feelings about all of this. On one side the elf was absolutely right for getting best out of the deal. He once again reminded of my father. During company meetings, he always got what he needed with the right words at the right time... or just used broad light blackmail in front of all. As he liked to tell, if the Information provided by the spies isn't used, it's just a waste of resources.
On the other hand, this felt very humiliating. It's me we are talking about, and this devalue of my price wounded my pride. I shouldn't, but for some reason just because the elf did that, I felt hurt even more. Is this really just because he reminds me of a father? I was not so sure anymore.
*
With an agreement made, other slaves were sent back to their rooms and we proceeded to the next room to finish the deal. We waited a bit for another merchant to arrive as he was needed for what comes next. After Ammir arrived the dwarf asked to hand over money and out of thin air, a coin purse appeared on the hand of elf.
"Space-Time Magic!" muttered Bunrak together with Ammir.
I was surprised as well. After my failed attempts to use inventory, I thought there was nothing similar. Maybe I can learn this from him?
Soon I was ordered to stand in the middle of a glowing magic circle. The dwarf asked the elf to drop a bit of his blood on the circle and after the elf did as asked, Bunrak with Ammir followed the suit.
I started watching everything carefully as this was very important and might have clues how to undo the slave collar.
"Transfer master rights." Shouted the dwarf with the human while touching my collar with a crystal.
Circle on the ground glowed brightly for a moment and then dimmed just a moment later.
"Recieve master rights." shouted the elf as instructed.
The circle glowed once again and then went to its dormant state. Even after watching all of this, I had no idea how it can help with removing the collar. All of this was affecting collar itself and there were no changes to my body.
Your slave status has changed. Bunrak and Ammir are no longer you Masters. Reveon Sile'dur is your new Master.
"Transfer is done and with this, our business is concluded Mr. Reveon. Should remind you to avoid damaging the collar as it will cause an explosion. The slave will receive pain if doesn't obey commands. And in case she wants to kill you or end her own life, she will be paralyzed. The collar also prevents her from escaping, if she does, the pain won't stop and only increase over time, she will return on her own just to make it stop.
If she was kidnaped and can't do that on her own, you can always track her through the link." the dwarf explained while I tried to figure how I feel about all this busines about being sold.