"Don't be like that...in the future, you can buy that weapon, and then you can brag with it." Nathalia comforted Alexis, as she stroked the half-dragon's head, walking through the city.
"You're right! I'm going to buy that axe! That one has become my dream!" The half-beast said, raising her right arm as a sign of her enormous determination.
"Ehh!? Wait, your dream is going to be to buy an axe like that? He didn't even look that impressive."
"What are you talking about? He looked pretty good to me..." Alexis replied, placing his hand on his chin and analyzing the details of the object that was etched in his memory. "He was very nice, and although he had some flaws, I bet the effects built into him were very useful."
Nathalia and Alexis' conversation made Luke remember something. So, he opened his inventory in the middle of the street to return the 'Daughter of Hades' spear.
As he took the weapon out of the inventory, a merchant saw the object sticking out of the yellowish square and smiled lustfully.
"Ow! That is an impressive skill, man. Would you like to sell it?" He inquired, approaching the half-wolf and his companions.
"Are you talking about that?" Luke pointed to the square that showed the items in his inventory.
"Yes! It's an inventory skill, isn't it? From the color, I could tell it's... a small inventory? No! I'm sure it could be a normal one."
"You got it right. How much do you want it for?" The half-wolf inquired, as he tapped the handle of his spear on the ground.
"Let's say... 400 pieces of silver is a fair value, no?"
Luke immediately closed his inventory, indicating that he didn't agree with the proposal one bit.
"Are you a skilled merchant, or just a hustler?" Alexis inquired, approaching the situation.
The simple-looking man, who was wearing simple leather armor, took three steps back. "800 silver coins is the best I can do." He spoke, trying to sound like he was not intimidated.
"800 silver coins for a normal skill?" The half-dragon smiled contentedly. "I have a few skills to sell if that's the case." She said, reversing the situation and the man had no way to refuse, after all, he needed skills to make up his new business.
For this reason, the three adventurers accompanied the man to his small store. It was still early and there was no reason to rush, even with so many things to do.
Upon entering the place, Luke saw many shelves full of scrolls and books, but this store, unlike the store where they bought the Return Stones, looked very new and restored.
Knock! The object, which the merchant placed on the counter, made a noise due to its weight as it touched the wood.
The man carefully removed the cloth covering the object, revealing a crystal cut perfectly into a square shape. In the center of that crystal was an octagram with distinct runes at each of its ends.
"Oh! An Epic Class Skill Reader!" Nathalia seemed surprised to see the object, yet Alexis didn't sketch any reaction, either positive or negative.
"You know how to use it, don't you?" The merchant inquired to the half-dragon, avoiding looking at her horns.
"I want to sell 3 rare skills, 5 uncommon, and 14 commons. Then prepare lots of scrolls, please." She replied, leaving not only the man in shock but also the half-wolf and Elf who accompanied her.
Although the practice of buying and selling Gene Skills was something well established among adventurers, it was not an isolated case of those who disliked the practice.
Why? That is simple to answer.
Gene Skills, like Panspermia Weapons and physical boosts, are rewards earned after warriors defeat monsters, and this relationship between reward and rewarded creates an important bond for some people.
There are adventurers of all Ranks who choose to continue with their common and uncommon abilities because they have become attached to them.
"A-are you sure? That's a lot of Gene Skills… I mean, I'd be crazy to deny it."
"I just want some money, young man..." She said, stamping a nervous smile on her face.
Then the merchant gathered twenty-two scrolls with octagrams drawn on them and placed them on the counter as well. At that moment, the woman placed her right hand on top of the square crystal and the man placed his left hand on hers.
For some reason, which Luke could not explain, he felt a restlessness in his chest at seeing this scene. 'What is it?' he wondered.
This was the first time Luke had witnessed a skill transfer, so he put the reason for the uneasiness into the situation.
With each skill transferred to the scrolls, a faint glow illuminated the surroundings, drawing the attention of some people passing on the street. This made the merchant smile because his establishment was new and few people entered a store without fame.
"Oh! I didn't know there was a Skill Shop around here." A redheaded girl said as she entered the store, accompanied by a friend.
Nathalia and Luke immediately recognized the girl. 'She's the girl we found in the Giant Spiders' cocoon...good thing she's alive. We haven't heard from her again.' Luke thought, letting a small smile escape from the corner of his mouth.
'Make yourselves at home! I'm just finishing up some sales and will be right with you. Every scroll has a tag with a skill description!" The simple merchant shouted to the two who walked in.
The two just ignored the merchant, looked around the store for a while, and left. For Nathalia, it was a little frustrating not to be recognized by the girl, but for Luke, it was somewhat predictable.
After all, he was wearing his everyday cape, which hid any recognizable features, and white hair like Nathalia's was not that hard to find around the continent of Broteforge.
However, the girl's appearance was for one thing: after Luke heard about the tags on the scrolls, he began to consider buying a skill.
'Common Skills can't be very expensive, can they?' Luke thought and opened his coin bag to check how much he had.
In it were two gold coins, which were his first month's wages, thirty silver coins, and three bronze coins, which were his share of the rewards from various F-Class missions.
'Off! Why do I feel even poorer after I joined this world of adventurers? And to think that it's been over a month now that I've been living this life... I don't think I've ever been under so much stress.' Luke said to himself, massaging the sides of his nose with one hand.
But he still wanted to buy a skill, even with little money.
'Ideally, a skill that would help me to steal and also to escape...' he plotted.
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