World of Karik: A Game of Villains 29 The Merchants

Well, if they didn't want to show me their whole stock, I would at take a look at what they had for everyday use.

Turns out, it was mostly weapons. And a great variety of them, too. Everything from blades enchanted with cold and fire, to some incredible devices made out of leather and wood. From simple knives to guns that were comfortable to hold and use.

"What's this?" I asked, pointing at a faded plastic box without any badges or inscriptions.

"A catalyst," Ronald said.

"Fine," I nodded. "What can you tell me about it?"

"It's of no use to you," he said. "Do you have any chemistry skills?"

"Of course," I lied. But my deception did not increase. It seemed that upgrading the attribute didn't work if I didn't know if I was being honest or not. Quite unfortunate; it would've made things so much easier.

"I'm surprised," Ronald shook his head. "Unless you're lying to me now, that is. If you are… Your problems and your stats," he shrugged.

"How much?" I asked.

"Eight," Ronald said.

"Eight?!" I gasped.

"What were you expecting, man?" the merchant's son suddenly became angry. "A discount? If you don't like it, get out!"

"Okay, sorry," I said in conciliatory manner. "I'm new here, and I'm still not used to everything."

"It's really strange that David chose you," Ronald said suspiciously. "But it's his choice, and I have to respect it. Do you want anything else?"

"What's this?" I suddenly noticed a piece of dark cloth with rings, necklaces, and bracelets neatly arranged on it. It lay in the corner, so it didn't immediately catch my attention.

"That's what they call jewels," Ronald said. "They grant you protection from magical damage."

Now it's becoming interesting, I thought. These little baubles would be useful against opponents like the Mosquitoes and the Kappa. I observed, thinking that their characteristics would appear in the air…

"Hold them," Ronald laughed good-naturedly.

I followed his advice and grabbed a bracelet with neat black stones and immediately saw what it could give me.

Traveler's Bracelet

+1 magical protection

Apparently, this was not the best thing in offer. Putting it aside, I looked at all of the so-called "jewels", and opted for a bone necklace with +3 magical protection. There was a ring with +5 protection, but I thought that I didn't have enough points to buy the most expensive option. And here was the perfect alibi if someone will see me roaming in the swamp.

"How much for the necklace?" I asked, deciding to start with it.

"Twenty-five," the merchant's son immediately said. "Take the one with the feathers; it's worth ten, and has the same amount of."

"Why?" I asked, surprised.

"It breaks faster," Ronald said, grinning.

After some thought I decided to take the one with the feathers. Ten points was a huge amount for an average person, and I could only hope that I could quickly restore them with my original way of leveling-up. I decided not to spend strength, intelligence and dexterity, and sacrifice some endurance for the sake of the experiment instead. At least I could compensate for the difference with Stone Skin. If something goes wrong I could always buy my stats back. Damn, I was starting to think like the Dmitri and Petrovich. I ought to be careful with that, but I still had to do the experiment.

"Are you ready?" Ronald asked, seeing my interest.

The guy took a rough disk from his pocket and put it in my hand. I felt my fingers being stabbed with small needles.

Select an attribute to transfer.

I managed to mentally choose endurance and ten points. Not on the first try, of course.

You are transferring 10 points of endurance.

Confirm?

"Squeeze," Ronald said.

I squeezed the strange thing in my palm, which kind of started to heat up, and felt as if a needle had been stuck under my skin and now the blood was being pumped out. There was a chomping noise and then the disc stopped burning my hand.

You have lost 10 points of endurance.

"It's yours," Ronald said and handed me the bone necklace. "Just bear in mind that the magical artifacts don't work everywhere. For example, there is of some kind of an anomaly in your swamp, and they are of no use there. I remember David swore that he could not get there once."

Damn it! Since Ronald didn't tell me this until after the deal was done, there was no getting my points back. Well, there was no sense in ruining my image even more by engaging in senseless indignation. So I had to find a way to use the necklace. Especially considering my purchase from the point of view of the justification of my abilities: nothing much has changed then. I would smear feathers in blood and tell them that it now works in the swamp, too. I would even demonstrate it. Imagine the look on Ronald's face!

Hiding a smile so that I don't draw his attention and keeping the cunning revenge for later, I looked at my characteristics. Instead of thirty-two points of endurance, I now had ten less. However, tight under "magic defense" was a ten. Three points from my new purchase, five from intelligence and two from Stone Skin.

"Ronald!" Alex's voice rang out. "If he ain't buying, kick him out. We're leaving!"

"It was a pleasure doing business with you," Ronald said to me with a fixed smile and pulled down the canopy.

I stepped aside, watching the guards appear out of nowhere. They moved the carts and put them away one after another. I realized what has been bothering me—I haven't seen anything drag these carts. Were there horses? Camels? Donkeys? Something else?

The answer made me freeze in amazement. The guards opened one of the carts, and bloated, greenish Zombies came out. They were the same as the one I had just killed. Wait, is that Vadim coming out of the bunker with Petrovich?! So the names of the dead were truly the names of real people?!

"What's that?!" I grabbed our new leader by the lapels and pointed at the green, fat guy.

Chapter end