《Merchant Arts Legends》 Prologue The gate of Filisha Kingdom was bombarded by canons by its neighboring kingdoms. This is the biggest war that happened since distant history. Every soldier of the attacking kingdoms is confident that the fortress harboring the King of Filisha who tormented them would be destroyed any minute. ¡°Aim!¡± Everyone is excited. The hardships they endured marching to this land of despair are all fading. Once the fortress is destroyed, they are prepared to kill all soldiers on site. The sun is glistening. It is bestowing the light for the soldiers to see the scared faces of their enemies. These enemies are the same people who oppressed them; killing and abusing even the elders. Those are the ones who raped the women of their kingdom and turned their little sons and daughters to slaves. ¡°Release!¡± ~Bannggg! The wall collapsed. The war cry of the united soldiers from different kingdoms was as loud as the wall falling. They trampled every enemy on their way. They entered the fortress, fighting with all their strength, sparing the citizens, while purging the soldiers willing to defend the King. ¡°Give way!¡± A man on a horse took the spotlight. He was the General who commanded the three-year war against the Filisha Kingdom. He has the ability to control the huge number of united soldiers from different Kingdoms. Every soldier held their ground. The general in a shining matte black armor entered the Palace. He moved and killed the Imperial soldiers on his way like carving through a cake. After a minute, the soldiers then saw the man with his horse raising his right hand. His hand covered with a bloody glove holds the head of the heartless King of the Filisha Kingdom. ¡°Huraaaaaaah!¡± ¡°We won!¡± The shouts of the prideful soldiers diminish the remaining courage of the imperial soldiers. The new era will begin. The soldiers who fought can now see a peaceful future for their families. Some soldiers were silent, offering their victory to their fallen loved ones who inspired them to continue fighting for their freedom. Some were crying, some were happy and some hugged their fellow soldiers. It is a victory for them. ~ Will you fight for their freedom? ~ ~ Or join the forces leading to these people¡¯s despair? ~ ~ Will you be involved in this world? ~ ~ Or focus on your own transcendence? ~ ~ You choose! ~ ~ Tales of Dreams ~ Most of the people in the world, especially gamers, are in front of their TV screens. It is the date of the first TV commercial of world-famous game Tales of Dreams to be released next month. Everyone was hyped by the short video. It is their first chance to see the most-awaited visual content of the game. Fortunately, they weren¡¯t disappointed.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I¡¯m so excited! When is the release? I want to play already.¡± ¡°You are excited but you don¡¯t know when is the game going to be released?¡± ¡°The first day of selling the dream gear is tomorrow. It will be open until next week if I remembered it correctly.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve tried to pre-order but the three million gears available for our country were sold out in just a day.¡± ¡°Luckily we still have one week to set up our gears.¡± ¡°It is just sad that you have to buy the game and the gear separately.¡± ¡°They said that the developers for the game and the gears are different companies, they just partnered 10 years ago for the game.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you just be thankful that we can experience this kind of game? We have never seen anything like this before.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t wait to experience dreaming while playing a game. It sounds weird but the 3 years of the beta test gives us confidence.¡± ¡°The game drive I ordered will be delivered today.¡± ¡°Mine too!!!¡± Tales of Dreams. The virtual reality game developed by Axion Corporation and Suzumiya Technology Inc. It is a game that transcends time and psychological entities. The game allowed the players to play through the dream gear, a tool made to control brainwaves, manipulating the images of dreams to display the media from the game drives. The game was made through a decade of effort by the developers, led by the genius of the Century Mark Elstin. He is an American scientist expert in the study of brains. He is followed by the best neurologist of the world which shares his accomplishments. Mark Elstin is partnered in polishing his works of brainwave imaging with his long-time friend Kaito ¡°Kite¡± Suzumiya, a Japanese game developer. These two people were called a gift from the Gods by the masses because of their accomplishments. And now, the world is rejoicing again with the release of Tales of Dreams. The game is also called ¡°The game for everyone¡± as all can play the game in the manner of sleeping. The three-year beta test proved that there are no implications of physical fatigue or related phenomenon when playing the game; it is labeled as ordinary sleeping. Employees that fuel the economy can¡¯t be bothered about their playing time. A lot of people hailed the two geniuses for giving them an opportunity to enjoy games again while having corporate jobs. ¡°Is this the house of Niwa Minori?¡± ¡°Coming¡­¡± ~ ¡°Good morning we have a delivery for Niwa-san.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m him.¡± ¡°Uhmm¡­ let me check first¡­.. Ah yes, Niwa-kun. We are here to deliver your dream gear and help you to set it up and explain to you the instructions. We also made advances and brought with us your gaming drive.¡± ¡°Yes, thank you, come in. Please just call me Minori.¡± As a son of a businessman, Minori almost had everything in life. He just needs to ask his parents if he wants to buy something. All he needs to do in his life is to study well so he will be prepared once it is time for him to take a position in the company that his parents hold. Minori never had a grudge to his parents, he understands everything they do and just accepts the fact that they have little time for him and her younger sister. He never hated them, except for one thing, they named him Minori. Every time people hear his name; they will think of him as a girl and be surprised once they saw Minori. This time, playing the Tales of Dreams, he wants to have a manly name. ¡°Thank you for your efforts.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome Minori. Just remember that the game-opening would be tomorrow. Don¡¯t call and blame our customer relations if your dreams tonight are not about sexy elves hehe. The game would be online by 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, install the game drive first before pressing start.¡± ¡°Understood, goodbye and take care.¡± ¡°Always check your internet connection, byee!¡± Chapter 1: Merchant? [Loading Drive] [Loading Success] [Game Launching] [World setup complete] [Saving progress] [Welcome to Tales of Dreams] [Please create your account] Tales of Dreams, The most awaited game of the century. It has the same platform with almost all role-playing computer games released prior to its creation. It has Different classes, quests from NPCs¡¯, Kingdoms, monsters and different species to choose for. Everything is perfect. Every people in the world were agitated upon its release. The time has come, and everyone was in their own rooms creating their accounts. Albeit the perfection of visual presentation that is presented to all fanatics through various TV Commercials, one down-side of the game perceived by others is that you only have one life in playing the game. ¡®Brain waves signature recognition¡¯ ¨C once you died in the game, all the money you¡¯ve saved up, items, level, and even the items on your storage subscription, would be gone. Dying means the ending of your gaming career. The brain wave imaging storage saved on the game drive would be wiped out and you¡¯ll need another game drive to play the game again. Unfortunately, none is currently available due to game balancing. Axion stated that it would take them long to produce another set of game drives for the gamers. This feature was bashed by many. Some ranted on their social media account; some made an online petition to remove this feature. With all their efforts, however, the people never succeeded. Such a function of the game is very vital to sustain its economic value. Every economist knows that removing such a feature will force the game to bankruptcy. Tales of Dreams has a 1 gold coin = 1 dollar exchange policy. This feature gives the players two positions in playing the game. Pay to win or win to live. Those with a high-end living reality are expected to enjoy the game by transferring their own money to the game through financing bodies that allow them to transfer currencies online. Socialized citizens, on the other hand, are expected to grind their way up in the game to provide for their living. Those who planned to commit to the game full-time can enjoy the ¡®Awake mode¡¯ feature of their gears. It keeps the body active which changes the gaming platform from sleep mode to a normal VR model. Moving the body, however, won¡¯t affect the movement made in the brain waves imaging. Some people are expected to move their bodies¡¯ corresponding to the game movements so it is suggested to play in free space when playing in ¡®Awake mode¡¯. The game has undergone many studies. Economic effects are sustained by the government bodies¡¯ partnered with the Axiom and Suzumiya group. Every aspect of the game is prepared for launching.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. [Please enter your name] `Brock [Please enter your gender] `Male [Please select your race] `Human [Please select your class] `Berserker [Please select your country and hometown] ¨‹ ¡°Brother! You told me you will help me studying before playing games.¡± [Brain wave imaging error] [Dream gear removed] [Auto save¡­] [Welcome to the continent of Vertice, you have chosen the Jasmine Kingdom, Bydell City as your hometown.] Minori stumbled and woke up clueless in front of her sister. Rin, her sister, just removed that brain gear from his head. He composed himself and remembered that after installing the game drive, before sleeping he kept the brain gear ¡®on¡¯ so he will be notified once the game opened. It¡¯s already 6:15 in the morning, 15 minutes after the game opening. He is currently facing his sister while sitting on his bed. Minori acknowledges that he promised the other day that he will help her sister studying for her college entrance exam. However, right now is not exactly the best time to do it. ¡°Can we do it later after I exceeded the 15-hour playing limit? You know how much I anticipated playing this game Rin, pleaaaase?¡± Minori is very close to Rin, he protected her all his life and treated her as his favorite person. They are together all the time, missing their parents who are busy handling the operations of their family¡¯s company. For Minori, his little sister is all he got. They only have two years'' difference between their ages so they are very fond of talking to each other. Sometimes though, Rin seems like the older sibling. ¡°You are always occupied with your games.¡± ¡°Ehh-¡° ¡°Why don¡¯t you just help me managing things at home?¡± ¡°Rin-¡° ¡°You barely help with the house chores. Given you are the one who suggested to not accept maids at home, you have to manage the house properly!¡± ¡°Hold on a sec-¡° ¡°I¡¯m mad now! You deserve a boiled egg for breakfast! I¡¯m going!¡± After eating the hard-boiled egg serve by her precious sister, Minori helped Rin with her errands. He was itching the whole time to lay down create his account. Finally, things were finished. He wore the brain gear then pressed the awake button. [Welcome to the continent of Vertice, you have chosen the Jasmine Kingdom, Bydell City as your hometown.] Minori was surprised. He doesn¡¯t remember finishing his account creation. He found himself standing in the beginners¡¯ area. The place was packed with people. There are NPCs with white names on their heads. It is a very nostalgic sight. The air is very fresh. His clothes, boots, and beginner armor, they all feel real. The citizens around him, all the people, they are alive. The sun is very humid. Minori is very glad being able to experience these things. He then looked at the time flashed in front of him; he figured that it is already 11:00. He is five hours late in grinding. His plan is to take over this world. He wants to be the hailed top ranker of the game. His goal is to be a brave and tough berserker that charges to every enemy without a second thought. Minori started to explore the game options. He was very amazed by how incredible the content of the game. Lastly, he checked his profile. Name: Brock Race: Human Class: Merchant Level: 1 HP: 100/100 MP: 30/30 ¨‹ ¡°Eghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!¡± Brock, Minori¡¯s character, was surprised. He needs to delete his account immediately. Chapter 2: Weighing Scale ¡®This is a bug!¡¯ Tales of Dreams doesn¡¯t support class changes. If I want to change my class, I have to change my game drive as well. Unfortunately, game drives are sold out just before the game opened. According to the news, it would take another five years for Axion Company to add another batch of players. There are currently 30 million players in this world. The developers immediately grab their profits after pre-selling the game and they won¡¯t even manage this game for long, all they will do is produce. As per Mr. Suzumiya, they are not in charge of this world. All they have done is to create the visual categories of beings and things of this game. They put-on the strict description of those creation afterward, then that¡¯s it. The progress of this world will always depend on how we, players, would interact with NPCs¡¯. Every event of this world, unlike with pc games before, will not be hosted by the so-called administrators. Every phenomenon to arrive in this world is uncontrollable and players will have to unite, somehow, if we want a game balance. Many argued what if the world is destroyed by an unforeseen event. Mr. Suzumiya answered that the God¡¯s of this game were all described and tasked to prevent this world from perishing. Thus, if an apocalyptic NPC emerges in this world, it will be reduced to atoms by the Gods unconditionally. I completely understand every aspect of this game. I spent days reading every feature of the game from the content releases. I thought that time that I am well equipped with knowledge about the game. I thought I can somehow become a ranker and trample most of my opponents. But what is this? For goodness sake. I am a merchant? I didn¡¯t even choose this class. I sorted my mind after a volume of curses slipped out of my mouth. Thinking, maybe this is due to Rin¡¯s removal of the headgear while I was setting up the account. I don¡¯t even have a choice. I¡¯ll have to wait for half a decade if I want to buy a new game drive. This is unforgiving. I really don¡¯t know what to do. I am currently out of ideas; maybe I have to message the developers. I fixed my posture. I don¡¯t want to waste my first hours in the game complaining. I found a bar near the beginner¡¯s area and ordered cheese bread. I sort out my mind. My last hope is to encounter a class change quest with the class I desire. I¡¯ve finalized my plan. I¡¯ll have to earn my spot in this world even as a merchant. I¡¯ll journey with this class until I have enough experience and money to leisurely find a class change quest. I don¡¯t want to spend money from my parents for this game so I¡¯ll have to grind doing merchant activities. ¡°Excuse me, sir, our party is missing a damage dealer, would you mind to join us to the forest?¡± If in normal circumstances I am accepting this offer. A newbie wouldn¡¯t know, but an experienced gamer will always ride on a bus with parties. Solo-ing monsters in the forest will obviously give you higher experience, but the duration of farming is inefficient. Having a party with organized positions is very strategic in fuelling up stats and levels. ¡°Sorry but I¡¯m a merchant.¡± ¡°A merchant?!¡± Their party consist of seven people. The game doesn¡¯t allow seeing any information about other players, even their names, if the players are not in ¡®friend¡¯ or ¡®party¡¯ status. NPCs, however, can be easily distinguished between players since they have their names above their heads. Although I can¡¯t see their information, they look like a decent party. ¡°Yes, I can¡¯t join you.¡± ¡°Yeah ,alright haha, sorry for disturbing.¡± The person who looked like their party leader apologized. It doesn¡¯t look like he meant it though. Is a merchant weird to you? Then just go and don¡¯t piss me. I quickly stood up after the group left the bar. I¡¯m currently shocked after seeing something. I also took my leave fast upon seeing my inventory with a place to go have in mind, the Palace. - [Weighing Scale] Rating: Unique (Growth) Durability: 10/10 This is the weighing scale awarded to the first merchant of this world by the Gods who acknowledged the founding of the profession which changed the world into a well-developed society.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The weighing scale is passed to the first merchant of the era when another set of beings enter the world simultaneously. The previous owner of this scale was the first person to enter the journey of a merchant. He is the first one who crusades to other land and trades his products in the era of hunting. The scale is passed on to you now as the first person to accept the journey of a merchant in this era. The item¡¯s rating is degraded by two ratings when passed on to another merchant¡¯s inventory. Conditions of use: The first merchant of his era. Weight: 100 Cooldown: 0 I was doubtful the first time I checked my inventory. I have 10 each of normal rated mana and health potions. But those are not the ones that took my attention. I have a weighing scale, a unique rated weighing scale. Early in the game, there shouldn¡¯t be an item to be found above normal grade. If someone finds a rare rated item, he should thank the Gods already. What about me? Not normal, not rare, most definitely not epic, but a unique rated one. ¡®The item¡¯s rating is degraded by two ratings when passed on to another merchant¡¯s inventory.¡¯ I¡¯ve read the descriptions again to be sure. But I guess my eyes don¡¯t lie, this item already skipped the legendary rating. It has been a mythic rated item just before sliding in my inventory. My body hairs are electrocuted. This item is a cheat. I can easily price my goods while making sure I have my profits. It also has a function that lets me analyze items and even the hidden properties of those items. Forget about being sad for not being a berserker, this is interesting. I am all hyped by this item, but there¡¯s a much bigger reason why I should burst into gratitude right now. I took a run to the palace; there is no time to think it through after trying to identify the hidden properties of the weighing scale by using its own skill to itself. I am very excited by the events to be developed due to this unique rated weighing scale. [Weighing the Weighing Scale] [Hidden properties found¡­] [Weighing Scale] Rating: Unique (Growth) Durability: 10/10 The merchant who owns this weighing scale is easily recognized by the King of every kingdom. The merchant will experience the King¡¯s providence trusting that the merchant will improve the market and economic condition of the kingdom. King¡¯s providence series quest will be created after meeting the king of a kingdom. Conditions of use: The first merchant of his era. Weight: 100 Cooldown: 0 - [Hidden quest/Class Quest finished] As I was thinking that the surprises have ended, the system notified me that I have finished a hidden quest specifically for my class. My eyes almost jumped as I looked at the notifications. [The first merchant¡¯s Weighing Scale Myths] Difficulty Level: SSS The first person to accept the merchant journey, Basara, was blessed by the Gods. For Basara¡¯s accomplishment, the Gods gave her a weighing scale as a gift. The Gods designed the weighing scale to transfer itself to a distinct person of every era for humanity¡¯s development in terms of trading. To protect the era, the Gods bestow the chosen merchant the gifts of body enlightenment and assist to wealth. The merchant is destined to unlock the arts that the first merchant unlocked through his journey. The merchant will travel to every kingdom while improving the economy of its lands. He will be a slave of the world¡¯s development and will grasp the highs of this world as a legend. Quest Clear Conditions: Discover the hidden properties of the mythical weighing scale. Quest Clear Rewards: Body Enlightenment and Assist to Wealth (¨‹) Assist to wealth + 1,000,000,000 Gold Body enlightenment Experience + 200 Health + 20,000 Mana + 5,000 Strength + 500 Stamina + 300 Agility + 300 Intelligence + 300 Dignity + 200 Composure +100 Luck + 100 Political Power + 100 Insight + 100 - [Your level has risen] [Your level has risen] [Your level has risen] [Your level has risen] [Your level has risen] [Your level has risen] [Your level has risen] [Your level has risen] [Your level has risen] [Your level has risen] [+100 stat points can be allocated] - [New Stats Added] [Dignity] Respected by people who you¡¯ve done transactions with. [Composure] The probability of being affected by an abnormal state is lowered. If affected by an abnormal condition, you will recover quickly. Effectively use poker face in negotiations. [Luck] The likelihood of a lucky phenomenon will increase. Stat points can''t be distributed to this stat. [Political Power] Seen by commoners as a respectable person. Allowed to request an audience from Kingdom officials. The higher the number, the higher the position can request the audience to. [Insight] Discover the target¡¯s will and emotion. Predict risks. Easily figures when someone is lying. The higher the number, the higher the probability. Stat points can''t be distributed to this stat. - [New quest created] [Journey to King¡¯s providence] Difficulty: N/A Quest Clear Conditions: Go to the Palace and meet the King of Jasmine Kingdom. Quest Clear Rewards: Experience + 10 My speed is very astonishing. I should be hiding my cheat stats to people but I am very excited to see things through. After minutes of running, I arrived at the teleportation portal of Bydell City. I immediately ripped the teleportation scroll I¡¯ve bought along the way then teleported to the nearest portal in the Palace.