Level 4 Human in a Ruined World - Chapter 46

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 46 13. Gate Opening (3)

Boltak’s Wandering Merchant.

Only after hearing the official name of the ‘breathing sound’ through Kubu did Young-woo realize.

That the ‘petty merchant’ the Mir Alliance had sniped at earlier might be this very trading partner.

『The Mir Alliance is a traditional trading group that has been conducting interdimensional trade for a whopping 800 million years by Earth’s time, and is of a different caliber from petty merchants who sell whatever war spoils they happen to obtain.』

‘Since they’re called wandering merchants from the name itself… there’s a high probability they sell war spoils they happen to obtain. They could even be something like a band of bandits.’

The reason Young-woo even thought of a band of bandits was because of the completely different ‘entrance sound’ from the delicate image when they had only sent out their breathing earlier.

Gaaaaaaa…!

This sound, already being heard for the second time, felt like a war horn no matter how he listened to it.

‘This is unsettling.’

Gaaaaaaa!

Finally, with the third sound, the light pillar filled with a complete purple color, and something shot down from the edge of the sky.

Shwaaaaat… Kwaaaaang!

The ‘Boltak’s Wandering Merchants’ that stepped on Earth’s soil in the blink of an eye numbered three in total.

And Young-woo’s eyes widened as soon as he saw the three otherworlders slowly rising to their feet.

“Huh…?”

Indeed, what had been sending out breathing sounds earlier was certainly no lie.

At least their appearance was surprisingly similar to humans.

First, they had two arms and two legs attached in the same positions as humans with similar lengths, and most importantly, they had eyes, nose, and mouth intact on their faces.

If there was any difference, it would be that their skin was nearly translucent, allowing glimpses of the blood vessels and nerve bundles inside.

But paradoxically, this very point made them feel even more human-like.

Didn’t this mean they too were beings with blood flowing through their bodies, just like this side?

“…”

As Young-woo stared blankly at them, one of the merchants who felt his gaze grinned at him.

‘My goodness. They’re just humans.’

They were wearing something like scale armor all over their bodies, making them seem like a more regressed humanity instead.

“Could I have a conversation with those people?”

Young-woo, with his characteristic curiosity activated, asked Kubu, but as expected, a negative answer returned.

―Contact outside the trading procedures is not permitted.

Then, as if telling him to follow the scheduled procedures, it hurried the trade along.

―The brokerage fee for this trade is 10% and is included in the product price. The trading partner is Boltak’s Wandering Merchant.

―Will you proceed with the trade?

My word. To discover merchants that looked similar to humans, and to soon be able to examine the goods they sell…

Young-woo thought that if he had been a scientist studying space, he might have had a heart attack.

“…Yes. Let’s trade.”

When Young-woo gave his final approval, Kubu rolled its white pupils.

―The product list has been completed.

Paaaaat!

What happened next was at least a familiar phenomenon.

Blue blotches appeared chaotically before Young-woo’s eyes, then soon began taking on some form.

Specifically, the form of human characters.

Swish, swish.

‘Oh…’

As the Mir Alliance had warned, the products of those who sold random war spoils were somewhat lower in quality, but instead were very interesting.

1 ― 「Morning Star」 – Ancient Certificate

【Activates in Gate Opening state.】

◇ 80,000 Karma

2 ― 「Kekidite」 – Hero Gem

【Slot : Ability Resistance 10%】

◇ 93,000 Karma

3 ― 「Golden Goblin」 – Relic Slave

【Stores items in subspace.】

【Picks up things that are worth money.】

◇ 350,000 Karma

4 ― 「Gray Rock」 – Unique Shield

【40% reduction in blocked damage】

◇ 510,000 Karma

5 ― 「Paradox」 – Epic Necklace

【Fire Resistance 50%】

【Cold Resistance 50%】

◇ 1 Legendary Achievement

Five products in total, just like the previous trade.

Among these, what definitely caught Young-woo’s attention were the ‘Golden Goblin’ and the last product, ‘Paradox’.

‘Are you kidding me? 50% fire and cold resistance with just one necklace…’

Young-woo immediately thought of dragons.

Of course, anyone who had experienced the reset would have had the same thought.

Because the very first type of mutant that had appeared was a dragon.

―A new monster type, 『Dragon』, has been added to this world.

―[Conglomerate Chairman-Kang Hong-tae] has now become a fire dragon and threatens you all.

Moreover, Kang Hong-tae, who would return someday, was a fire dragon, so wouldn’t he most likely breathe fire?

‘If there are fire dragons, there must be water dragons and ice dragons too.’

Therefore, ‘Paradox’ had to be seen as equipment for facing high-level monsters that could pour out fire or cold.

However, the problem was.

‘I don’t have any more legendary Achievements I can sell.’

He currently possessed 3 legendary Achievements in total.

But they were all consecutive Achievements related to Golden Rain, so he couldn’t touch them.

‘It’s regrettable, but there’s nothing I can do.’

Young-woo stared at ‘Paradox’, which had become like a pie in the sky, for a long time.

If there was one gain, it would be learning that such ridiculous options could appear starting from epic grade.

‘If I had known this would happen, I would have saved one Achievement.’

Young-woo looked at the ‘Snake of Greed’ he had purchased with a legendary Achievement in the previous trade with resentful eyes.

「Snake of Greed」 – Epic Compass

【Always gazes upon precious things.】

The only gain he’d gotten from this thing so far was finding the lens that Mungyeong First Sword Jang Chun-yong had hidden beneath his eyelid.

Wasn’t it practically like spending a fortune on a white elephant?

‘There’s no way I can get a refund…’

Young-woo was quietly watching the Snake of Greed flick its tiny tongue when he suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.

Because.

Hiss.

This white elephant was looking in a completely different direction from when it first started trading.

‘What? Why did it suddenly change direction?’

Young-woo, who had been thinking this, realized something shortly after.

‘Ah… the merchandise.’

The snake had changed the direction of its head right after the alien trading company’s product list appeared before Young-woo.

In other words.

‘It’s looking at the most precious item among these products right now.’

But this was the problem.

Hiss…

What the snake was looking at now wasn’t the highest-grade epic necklace ‘Paradox’, but the ‘Golden Goblin’, which was a whole two grades lower.

‘…Why? Isn’t it turning its head based on simple absolute value?’

Young-woo tilted his head in confusion but instinctively thought the snake’s judgment would be correct.

And the basis for this was none other than this white elephant’s background.

‘Anyway, this thing is also epic-grade equipment.’

So wouldn’t the effectiveness of this equipment be similar to other epic equipment?

The option ‘Always gazes upon precious things’ had similar effectiveness to 50% flame and cold resistance, so it must be the same epic grade.

‘Anyway, there must be a reason why this thing is looking at artifact-grade items instead of epic equipment… Maybe it’s equipment that’s perfect for me, or has incredibly good cost-effectiveness.’

Besides, he couldn’t afford Paradox anyway.

‘My total assets right now are… 894,000.’

It was just enough to buy the Golden Goblin and the unique shield ‘Gray Rock’ with a little money left over.

‘Let’s buy the Golden Goblin first.’

When Young-woo pointed his eyes at the goblin’s tooltip on the product list, Kubu closed and opened his eyelids.

―Processing purchase. Payment will be charged.

Piiing!

Young-woo’s body flickered for a moment, and his karma decreased to 544,000.

And at the same time.

Hiss.

The Snake of Greed turned its head again.

“…!”

Young-woo quickly turned his gaze in the direction the snake was looking.

‘Huh?’

He was surprised once again.

What the snake judged to be the second most precious among this batch of products wasn’t the epic-grade necklace or the unique-grade shield.

1 ― 「Morning Star」 – Ancient Certificate

【Activates in Gate Opening state.】

◇ 80,000 Karma

The lowest-grade item.

It was the ancient certificate ‘Morning Star’.

‘What’s so special about this?’

Ancient certificate. It was a type of item Young-woo was seeing for the first time, so he was slightly interested.

However, the price wasn’t cheap, and if he bought this, he couldn’t buy the unique shield, so he hadn’t planned to purchase it.

‘Even if we exclude epic equipment because there’s no way to buy it right now… you’re saying this is better than a unique shield? Are you sure?’

Young-woo asked this, but naturally, the snake didn’t respond.

‘Damn it.’

It was time to choose again.

Since people who had already completed a transaction couldn’t return later for repurchases, he had to resolve everything he needed in this opportunity.

Therefore, if he bought the certificate following the snake’s opinion, he’d lose the chance to buy the unique shield, and conversely, if he bought the shield, he wouldn’t be able to buy the mysterious certificate.

‘The shield isn’t a bad choice either… Who knows when shield-type equipment will appear again.’

Young-woo muttered this to himself, but he had already decided to follow the snake’s opinion.

Rather than trusting the snake itself, he was trusting the power that its grade possessed.

Just like when he had given up 3 million karma in his first binary choice and selected Golden Rain, it was a bet based on intuition.

‘Even if this bet fails, I won’t suffer a big loss. I can improve my ability stats or body type with the remaining money.’

Eventually, Young-woo confirmed the purchase of the ancient certificate ‘Morning Star’, and like before, Kubu blinked his eyes and an additional 80,000 karma was charged.

Piiing!

Now Young-woo had 464,000 karma remaining.

And what the snake looked at was.

2 ― 「Kekidite」 – Hero Gem

【Slot : Ability Resistance 10%】

◇ 93,000 Karma

It was a hero-grade slot gem.

And with this, it became certain.

‘It’s not just looking at precious things, but also considering my situation.’

The Snake of Greed was essentially a personal shopper.

‘Then if I buy Kekidite too, will it point to Paradox then?’

When Young-woo confirmed the purchase of Kekidite, another line disappeared from the product list…

Hiss.

The Snake of Greed also turned its head as usual.

But.

“…!”

The creature didn’t look at Paradox this time either.

‘It’s looking north again. Does this mean there’s nothing more to buy here?’

Young-woo could only understand it this way.

It meant there was no equipment worth buying even if it meant breaking the Golden Rain Achievement in his current state.

‘I guess the trading ends here.’

When Young-woo indicated his intention to end the transaction, Kubu also closed his eyes deeply and opened them, sending his regards.

―Thank you! All transaction procedures have been completed. Please step back.

Swoosh!

Mediator Kubu quickly disappeared as if melting into thin air.

However, since not all products had been sold yet, Voltak’s Wandering Merchants remained inside the light pillars.

Of course, the products they were selling now were only the unique shield worth 510,000 karma and the epic necklace that required a legendary Achievement.

Practically, only First Swords from other regions who had accumulated karma could use them.

“What… what, that’s it?”

When Young-woo finished trading and turned around, the trio who had managed not to leave the scene called out from a distance.

These were individuals who had adapted well enough to this world to even contend with Day 2 monsters, but even for them, the scene they had just witnessed was nothing but strange and frightening.

“Don’t tell me we’re… going to end up at war with aliens?”

Still, this was quite a progressive line of thinking for humans who had been commuting to the company just two days ago.

At this, Young-woo quietly watched as the merchants inside the light pillar kicked a large stone box out with their feet.

That was probably their version of product packaging.

“Well, in my opinion.”

Grr-grr-grr, grr-grr.

Soon the box began making strange sounds as it slowly started moving in Young-woo’s direction.

“It seems like Gate Opening is currently in progress.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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