Dungeon of Niflheim

‘Wow, first time in a while I’ve seen someone so.....’honest’.’ Ryan thought to himself while trying not to giggle. He had other words to describe Frost but honest seemed kinder. However, he didn’t dislike people like Frost, in fact he was rather fond of them.

Although he was an accomplished merchant and did what he could to gain a profit he never abused the relationship between merchant and customer. Even when he made money the customer would always leave with something, he had his own moral code. Seeing Frost acting so ‘honest’ in front of him he couldn’t help but feel warm and decided to educate the young man. If he wasn’t such a kind merchant, he would significantly lower the prices he offered for Frost’s other materials

“Young Frost what you’ve brought out today would normally get you perhaps 8 to 12 silvers depending on the merchant and market but that’s for normal materials. You not only provided perfect quality materials without damage, the poison sac is completely full, containing far more poison than normal. With that you’d easily make anything from 25 to 30 silvers when trading with the skin and crystal but since you have showed such expertise in dealing with these materials and are a clearly a young man of great talent, I added another 5 silvers to establish a good relationship.” Ryan looked deep into Frost’s eyes. Five silvers was nothing in the grand scheme of things as long as he could have Frost regularly trade materials here in the Beta camp it’d be more than worth it. Generating a good relationship between the supplier and merchant was sometimes far more important than profit, continued, long term sales was much more desired than short term deals.

Frost cupped his chin as he pondered Ryan’s response, understanding the meaning, he then smiled and nodded his head. “Thank you for the lesson Ryan.”

“No problem no problem, just make sure you don’t get taken advantage of by more unscrupulous merchants, trading here in the future would be best.” Ryan didn’t even hide his desires this time, blatantly revealing his hand to Frost.

Frost chuckled slightly before nodding his head, he had no problem trading here in the Beta camp often, it was fairly close to his home after all. This could be the beginning of a great friendship.

With a friendship being established Ryan then moved to the other two items requested, two D-rank monster magic crystals.

Magic crystals could be split into two types, natural and monster. Monster magic crystals were the crystals that were contained in the bodies of monsters, allowing them to grow in strength and cast magic even without an advanced knowledge base. The stronger the monster the more pure and dense the crystal.

.....

Natural magic crystals were ones that could be found in nature, where mana was dense. Magic crystal mines were highly prized commodities amongst the many kingdoms of Nova yet usually only produced low ranking crystals. Natural magic crystals were less violent in their magic providing a more stable yet weaker source of energy. Best used in simply magic devices such as lights, cooking equipment, arrays etc.... for weapons and more offence magic devices monster magic crystals were much more desired.

It is rumoured that high ranking magic crystal mines were present deep within the most harshest environments where the mana is incredibly dense such as the core regions of the Glacial mountains, but it was unproven. Northrend had a few magic crystal mines in its domain but only rarely were D-rank magic crystals produced therefore hunting monsters for their crystals never lost favour.

Certain magic crystals would have some alignment to elements depending on the monster. Most of the monsters present in the external regions glacial mountains had some leaning towards the ice element with their crystals but not enough to limit their use. The ice aspect wasn’t dense enough to cause a problem, meaning they could be used as an energy source for any magic device type.

Ryan once again picked up the item and closely examined it, checking for damage, its rough weight as well as grain structure before using his [analyse] skill. Many merchants with the [analyse] skill simply skipped the old fashioned checks, but Ryan felt that one would get rusty and complacent as a merchant if they did.

“Two D-rank monster crystals, no obvious damage.....yetis?”

“Yes”

“Hmm interesting choice,” Ryan’s eyes quickly glanced at Frost before returning to the crystals. “Yetis have very little usage materials wise when at D-rank but their crystals are pretty solid, average level for D-rank but without any damage so the majority of the energy is still successfully stored....I can give you 8 silvers for the crystals as stated in the original price.” Magic crystals were not rare and at D-rank there was little variation between monster crystal’s energy output, yetis being rather average dropped some points in the price but since they were of perfect quality Ryan offered him the original price.

Frost couldn’t help but let out a small sigh and shook his head. The yetis were D-rank and by far a greater danger than the other monsters he hunted yet compared to a single ice snake they couldn’t even amount to a quarter of the price. It was slightly depressing.

“Sounds good Ryan, I’d like to complete the quests with these items then.” Frost agreed to the price given by Ryan. All together with the added crystal and skin he’d get 43 silvers, not bad for an hour or so’s work. Far more than what he would have gotten from completing regular E-rank quests back in Furano.

“Alright give me a second.” Ryan rang a bell on his desk summoning a secretary.

“Yes sir?” A pretty young woman, likely in her late teens or early twenties entered the room. she was human and had long black hair and was quite cute. She was dressed in a formal pant suit and held a clipboard against her chest. She wasn’t that curvy in any area but was slim and athletic in appearance. The young secretary glanced quickly to Frost before facing back towards Ryan, unfazed by his pretty appearance.

“Please deliver these items to Asahi and Geram respectively along with the invoice for the pricing, they can come to me if they have any disagreements.”

“Right away sir,” the woman placed the items in a spatial ring and promptly left the office to carry out Ryan’s orders.

“Haaaaaaa she’s the perfect secretary, attractive and cute, shame she’s so cold.” Ryan shrugged and shook his head in dismay. He wasn’t one to sleep with his subordinates, but he did like being surrounded by beautiful figures.

Frost wasn’t one to pry so he just ignored Ryan’s comment yet internally he did find her quite attractive.

“Here 43 slivers as agreed upon..” Ryan removed 43 silvers from a chest in his office while at the same time jotting down the sale in his register. Frost gladly took the coins and added them to his spatial ring, increasing the fortune he was carrying around.

“You mentioned that you still had materials, if you’d like I can give you a fair offer on what we require?” Ryan was more than happy to purchase more of Frost’s materials given the quality he’d already displayed but he was still a businessman, if he and the merchants under his charge had no need for the product they wouldn’t purchase it, this wasn’t the adventurers guild after all.

Feeling closer to Ryan, Frost then began to list all the materials he currently had on hand that he was willingly to sell. He still wished to keep a bunch of items to experiment with.

The two of them negotiated for the next hour or so throwing prices back and forth along with chatting about one another. Eventually Ryan agreed to buy a fair amount of monster materials from Frost as well as all the herbs he gathered. The price came to a whopping 2.5 gold coins along with 43 silvers he gained close to 3 gold coins for what was effectively a single days work. His expenses for the day added up to just a few silver for his shelter and food. His weapon was undamaged and the main piece of armour his chainmail vest was still nearly intact, and his robes had a self-repair function.

Other adventurers would likely have to split this money amongst the party on top of being for repair fees and restocking their equipment such as potions plus it’d be unlikely for a single group to being able to hunt such a large number of monsters in a single day. Frost was already C-rank with a great weapon, skilled in martial arts, chakra, and magic plus had an incredible reserve of stamina. He was considered a powerful force. C-rank was truly when one is seen as a capable combatant, and he was only growing.

The secretary returned while they were negotiating, reporting that Asahi and Geram had no problems with the price, she then silently returned to her own office to get back to doing paperwork without a change in expression.