Return of the Woodcutter

"Thank you for your patronage!" Roan repeated.

Aito sent him a quizzical gaze, "Why do you have to shout it twice?"

"No reason but my own enthusiasm for servicing a good client!" Roan said while checking the reaction of the surrounding stall owners.

\'The fuck? Is that guy using me for revenge or… shit, why are they looking at me like that?\' Aito thought, then realized the surrounding people were watching with funny eyes, but others, however, had a different expression.

The same expression as those who heard about his title. Somehow, he felt like it would bring him trouble. But that was a matter he would worry about later.

For now, something else worried him. The gazes of other people looking at him like he was the stupidest person in the entire Tower, awoke him from some kind of pseudo-subconscious state.

As if a fog clouding his mind had been lifted. It wasn\'t as powerful as the Lesser Fear used by the Fearmonger he had fought but felt more subtle. Trickier. Sneakier. More difficult to detect, just like hypnotism.

Understanding something was amiss, Aito sent a killer glare to the merchant. "You have three seconds to explain yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Roan said innocently.

"One."

"Please, at least explain."

"Two."

"Wait, wait, wait."

"Three," Aito said. Almost immediately after, he reached for Roan\'s throat.

"Okay, I\'ll tell you!" Roan said, eyeing the hand that had stopped a few centimeters from his adam\'s apple.

"Talk."

"It\'s a merchant skill called Haggling. It influences your decision concerning the purchase of a good. Nothing detrimental to your health." He said, crossing his heart. "That\'s \'Roan guaranteed\'!"

But it was detrimental to his wallet. If every merchant were capable of using that particular skill—which Aito had no doubt they were—his current balance of 105000 TP would likely drop to zero in no time. He had to find a way to counter it.

"It\'s considered fair play on our part, though," Roan said, with an amicable smile. "Merchants cannot make a client buy what he or she wouldn\'t. We only influence people slightly. There are various factors into play, like your knowledge of the market price, life experience, psychological issues, etc. It does indeed, work a bit like the Fear but less potent and with honorable goals in mind."

Aito ignored the shameless part about "honorable goals," and concentrated on the skill\'s similarities with the Fear. If what the merchant said was correct, then maybe…

***

"This is cheating!" Roan declared, pouting like a little boy whose candy was stolen from him. "How the heck did you do that?"

Aito, whose body emitted a golden light, smirked, "No, it\'s considered fair play."

After experiencing the merchant skill Haggling for the first time, Aito had asked Roan "nicely" to guide him around the entire Mall so that he could gain more knowledge about market prices, map out mentally the surroundings, and familiarize himself with the different goods and services at his disposal. The visit had been more comfortable with his tattered viking armor set and Ancient Shard stored inside his newly acquired Inventory bag.

To avoid being influenced by Haggling, Aito had turned Roan into the client and stood beside him to listen to the conversations, since the skill could only be targeted at one person at a time. Also, merchants had a modicum of resistance to their own skill, and Roan seemed to be quite the high-level swindler.

However, some merchants apparently already knew of the ginger man, so Aito couldn\'t gather as much data as he wanted, not that he could remember everything, anyway.

Or so he had thought. Surprisingly, he noticed that his capabilities to memorize things seemed to have increased. Not to the point, he could be considered a genius, but just enough to make his life easier. He attributed that merit to his basic stat Lv2 Body and decided to gather more info on that matter later.

Along the way, he had noticed more than one gaze on him. Some challengers seemed to be impressed by the huge weapon he carried around. Most women looked at Roan beside him, with hateful gazes.

Other challengers, however, whispered "black challenger," thinking they couldn\'t be heard. He ignored them. As long as they didn\'t stand his way, he wouldn\'t act. Aito already had too much on his plate to worry about such petty things.

Aito\'s stroll in the five districts ended back at Roan\'s stall, where he asked the merchant to use Haggling on him once again. Roan had tried to make him buy a random trash picked up on the street for 10 TP. Before he could be influenced by the skill, Aito had activated Fearless Aura, leading to their current situation.

"How did you get that skill?" Roan asked.

"None of your concern," Aito replied. Suddenly, a notification window popped up in front of him.

BING!

[Personal database updated]

\'What the…\' He wondered, before opening his status window with a thought. Nothing looked amiss, apart from one thing.

_______________________________________________

- [Updated!] Fearless Aura Lv1 (Shields the host from the lesser Fear and any other lesser psychological skills.)

_______________________________________________

Judging by how the System updated, Aito deduced that Fear was probably the most potent psychological-related skill, or attack there was. Following that logic, it was normal for Fearless Aura to stop other, less potent, psychological attacks.

"What\'s up? Oh, did you get an update?" Roan asked, staring at his client who was seemed to look past his frail shoulder. "I see. Interesting."

"What\'s that about?"

"Well, you see, the System is like an AI whose programmed to adapt to its host\'s needs." Roan declared. "It will update when a new data you require is found. Be it for your status window, or other things such as languages. Basically, the original data inserted in your brain upon revival were adjusted to your needs, personality, culture, knowledge, etc. So it\'s no wonder that you could understand your giant fanboy despite him speaking Japanese."

Aito had never tackled the language barrier before. But now that the merchant talked about it, it\'s true that he had understood every passers-by\'s conversation despite their different ethnicities.

As for why it didn\'t happen with Jack, he deduced the monkey simply had no actual language to itself, yet. Aito had simply made assumptions, guesses. Using those, he had been able to communicate with the monkey to a certain extent.

"That\'s…"

"Impressive right?" Roan said, completing his sentence. "There are a lot of things the System does for you. Create the necessary neural links between muscles and the brain for your Skills to work. Strengthen your body upon leveling up. Manages your money, boring administrative work, etc. You\'ll come to realize that a great many things in Iris are built around the System."

It looked great and very practical at first glance. Anybody would think that way. After all, who wouldn\'t like to have an AI manage all kinds of boring tasks? One would rather spend its time on more enjoyable things in life.

Aito didn\'t know how widespread the System was yet. But according to what the merchant just said, he could imagine the System did much more than giving powers to ordinary beings.

It seemed to be a part of the overall society itself. Which meant it impacted an enormous amount of people\'s life. Maybe not everyone, but a lot. That realization scared him in a way, since it could only mean one thing.

Absolute control over the masses.

And who controlled the System?

Aito sighed. Of course, the gods would have such a way to keep people on a leash. The real question was, did the inhabitants of Iris know about it? If yes, did they choose to ignore it? What kind of consequences…

He sighed once again. Just why did it have to be so complicated? Why couldn\'t everything happen as he had seen in animes? Be summoned. Be granted unlimited broken powers. Save the damsel in distress. Marry her. Be the hero the people needed. Fool around blessed with a legendary golden plot armor. Kill the evil bastard.

Instead, it looked like a brilliant start for a "happily never after" ending.

"Are you thinking about buying something else from me?" Roan asked, his annoying voice somehow broke his thought process.

\'Damn it, I need to get stronger. \' Aito thought, returning his attention to the matter at hand. \' And that begins with buying a few things. But my current Inventory bag storage capacity might not be enough.\'

"Hello?" Roan said, waving his thin hand in front of Aito\'s face.

"Sell me one more of those inventory bags," Aito asked.

"Wha—I mean, thank you for your patronage!" Roan said, handing over a small pouch capable of storing ten items.

Aito examined the item and using the laces, strapped it to his pants next to the other pouch. However, it soon proved to be a tad bit uncomfortable to walk around with when he took a few steps back and forth.

The one storing his armor set and shiny rock felt a lot heavier than the empty one. Something he hadn\'t paid attention to before. But now that it was plain as day, he realized that Inventory bags weren\'t weightless.

They seem to increase in weight with each item stored inside, but fortunately, the total weight felt less than what it should be. Still, it was a factor he had to take into account since it could become a disadvantage in a fight if it were to make him slightly lose balance at some point.

Having two pouches weighing dozens of kilograms each could hinder his overall movements. However, if he could just keep on one himself, it would be more manageable.

He then remembered their abilities to store literally anything of moderate size—whatever that meant—and tried to insert the first bag he had bought into the other. However, the intended result didn\'t come as predicted. Instead of being stored in the crystallized soul, the pouch just stayed inside the other pouch, on top of the bead.

"Oooh, clever. But don\'t underestimate the manufacturers\' craftiness!" Roan said, waving a finger left and right. "Do you think you\'re the first one to have thought about it? Nope, inventors were."

"What do you mean?"

"Meh, meh, meh. To put it simply, it\'s a matter of profit. Remember the first bag I sold you? Its average market price, in the Tower, is exactly 4000 TP. The second bag you bought cost 1000 TP. Why do you think that is?"

Aito shrugged, ignoring the question and the fact that Roan had admitted selling him an item 1000 TP above the market price. He was reaching his physical limits and didn\'t want to answer Roan\'s question, no matter how obvious the answer was.

After three months on the island, he only wanted to have a restful night in a peaceful place. Something he would have done immediately if it weren\'t for his guide.

"Hum. No fun." Roan said, disappointed that his client didn\'t answer his small riddle. "The answer is profit. Taking into account the crafting, material cost, shipping, and profit, the real value of the 20 items bag is around 700TP. However, the bigshots of the industry inflated the price and controlled the market by purposely leaving a defect in their product that prevents inserting one bag into another. Smart. Simple. Cruel. But understandable. Of course, you could also buy multiple 10 items bags, but it would just be playing in the palm of their hands since it was one of their goals anyway. Plus, as you\'ve seen it, it\'s not that comfortable to carry around multiple bags, even less in combat when it\'s dangling on your waist. Well… military-grade items are a different matter, though."

Aito arched his brow, "But you look like someone who has one of those… military-grade, don\'t you?"

"Don\'t know what you\'re talking about. Selling those here is illegal." Roan said, smirking. "But I\'d advise trying what you did using the 20 items bag this time as the container."

Aito couldn\'t help but snort at the merchant\'s shadiness that he started to like, thinking that at least someone was going against the flow of society—which also more or less meant against the gods—in this Tower.

He did as he was asked, and this time, it worked perfectly.

"Why do you think this one cost 5000 TP, hun? I admit that I\'m shady-looking but that\'s because this appearance has its perks." Roan said with a wink. "Oh, it\'s not exactly military-grade stuff, so I wouldn\'t try inserting more than one bag. Spacial magic thingy can be… fiery. Unless you want your storage to explode… don\'t insert other bags in it."

"I\'ll remember that," Aito replied. "Thank you, Roan."

"No," Roan replied with a joyous smile. "Thank you for your patronage!"