SWNOVELXO Chapter 238: Manipulators prawl
"I am willing to buy the nine Keys for three Seals of Destiny!"
"I can give you a Trait Stone from the World of Inbreeding. It can give you the Son of Darkness Trait!"
"I will give you a Spiritual Sword Aura Art. Sell the nine Keys to me for those."
"I will pay with a magic scanner," the Winged Humanoid shouted. "It can help you know the abilities of people at Tier 3 and below. It will be mighty useful to you!"
Mark licked his lips as the demons fell into a heated argument between each other. They spat and pushed, all filled with a sense of desperation.
Some didn't even have anything to sell and still wanted the Keys, it was their hope of survival. Some were waiting for a better moment to bid high. Some might have also seen through his lies. But Mark wasn't worried about them selling him out.
For one, he had nothing to lose if they figured out he was a con man. And then, the ones who noticed would rather watch others lose out than speak out. Why should they warn the idiots?
Conmen had an unsaid law—don't ruin others' game.
Soon, the fake bids would come, Mark thought as his eyes roamed around. Ah, here it is. Lanky bastard, I can see it in your eyes, you are goddamn fake.
"I can sell a Blue Dragon Flower from the Dragon World for the Nine Keys," the Lanky Demon shouted and everyone grew silent. Even the succubus, the Lion-headed Dwarf, and the man with Blade Aura seemed surprised.
The Winged Humanoid, on the other hand, seemed hysterical.
"You entered the Dragon World?" he asked. Your next read awaits at empire
The Lanky Man, having more than five arms, rubbed the back of his head with one of them. "Of course not, the Dragon World is too mighty. They even have Tier 9 beings resting there—any demon who enters gets killed before they breathe twice. The Tier 9s are not limited like the World Wills."
"How did you get the Blue Dragon Flower thing, then?" the one who asked was Mark. "Or, is it that you are bidding using something that you don't have?"
The Lanky shook his head and brought out a blue flower into his hand. Seeing it, Mark's brows furrowed into a tight frown. What was that—it felt weird. And strangely, he wanted it.
Were my instincts wrong? Is he not faking it?
The Succubus hissed in a sharp breath. "It truly is a Blue Dragon Flower!"
The Blade Ara Man was also acting hysterical now, almost completely having forgotten the Keys and his own life-threatening situation at hand. Every demon stopped in place, ready to snatch the flower, but before they could, the Lanky Man absorbed it back into his World Space.
"If you attack me, it's useless," the Lanky said. "I might look weaker than you bunch, but believe me, I myself had also eaten a Blue Dragon Flower. In a physical battle, I am not going to be a bit inferior to you."
Mark flapped his wings, asking inwardly: "What is this thing, Reol'ran?"
"This…" She seemed surprised herself. "Dragons are the most physically blessed creatures of the universe. Even Demons cannot compare with them on that. A Tier 1 Pinnacle Dragon can always fight a Tier 2 Pinnacle Demon in a physical brawl."
"That strong?!" Mark gulped. "A whole tier difference? Not even a minor tier? And their whole species is like that?"
"Indeed. But they don't leave their world and are a mostly peaceful race if not disturbed."
"This Blue Dragon Flower…"
"Yes, it is a mythic flower said to be capable of turning non-dragons into dragons. But… I can't believe a mere Tier 4 creature could get his hands on one of those. It's a noble fruit born from the children who die in infancy from the womb of Tier 7 and higher dragon mothers.
"This lanky demon, he is suspicious."
Mark stared at the man. His Violet Screen was incapable of truly scanning someone much stronger than him. But still, he could see the man's physical and mental stats. It was normal—just what he would expect a Tier 4 normal creature to have.
[Physique: 100K (Tier 4 Pinnacle)]
[Mind: 100K (Tier 4 Pinnacle)]
The man looked back at him, eyes, so deep Mark felt his soul stir. This was the problem about interacting with creatures at a different level—you don't know what they could do. Mark felt a cold chill run down his spine as the creature smiled harmlessly.
"So, for the Flower, you are willing to trade those nine Keys, right?" Lanky asked.
The Succubus, Blade Guy, Lion-Headed Dwarf, and the Winged Humanoid—the most prevalent of the demons there, were all alerted too. They immediately put the Lanky man at the top of their enemy prioritization list.
Some people were strong, some people were weak. Some people were unjudgeable.
Mysterious.
You can never know what they are thinking.
None of them, including Mark, believed that the Lanky was a Dragon. A Demonic Dragon, to be specific. Neither did anyone believe that the Lanky could physically keep up in a brawl with the Succubus or the Blade Guy. But—none of them wanted to try testing him to find out.
Mark decidedly shook his head. "I do not trust you."
"Trust?" the Lanky sneered. "You talk about trust, but the Portal Keys in your hand might as well be counterfeit metals. Who knows if you brought some extras to fool someone? Even goblins can melt metal to look like Portal Keys."
Mark's heart skipped a beat but he said mockingly: "Oh yeah, I knew before coming here that a bunch of strong demons would be stuck here, incapable of even using Soul Senses. So, I deliberately made my servants make the fake Keys so I could sell them."
Many seemed convinced, but the man laughed. "It is indeed true that you didn't have time to make the counterfeit after arriving here, but who knows what your abilities are? Then there was that whole show where golden light hid you from us."
"Well, smart fool," Mark said coldly. "You fail to understand one thing. I am not the one who is desperate for the Keys, you are the one who is desperate for them. If you don't trust me, don't buy. If I don't trust you, I won't sell. Hope you like the afterlife."
The man seemed amused. "You are not interested in the Blue Dragon Flower? If I die, it will vanish along with me. Don't you want it? Give me the Keys, and I give you the Flower.
"This is a bargain for any conman, and what I am selling is worth much more than what all these idiots can sell you combined. So think, little bitchboy who has just broken out of his egg."
Mark scoffed. He was using his Heart Parasite Demonic Art to read their emotions but it was so easily shown on their face, that the extra ability was useless.
But he could guess now. Most probably, this man was another conman and the Blue Flower was another counterfeit. If he sold the Key, the man would sell him the Flower. It will be a trade of stone and stone, both useless to each other.
Then, they would both be revealed as conmen and he would end up not getting anything from these demons.
If indeed the Key in his hand wasn't fake, the man would end up getting a Portal Key, too.
Suddenly, Mark had another question.
"Can't they all use one Key?"
Reol'ran nodded. "That had been my doubt, too. But the way they are fighting over it, most probably, that Tree restricts them from all entering one gate. Or I don't know, something like that."
Coming to a decision, Mark shouted calmly, "I will not sell him the Key, others, shout your bids."
"Oh wait!" the Lanky shouted. "Are you sure? If others buy the Keys from you, I will have to sell them the Flower and they will benefit instead. Isn't that such a waste for you?"
Mark hesitated and in his heart, an image of the man's face seemed to appear, saying calmly, "If you are a demon, be more greedy. Look, you have Sufferings to survive and the Blue Flower would be amazing for it."
Chuckling, Mark shook his head.
He was trying to manipulate him.
I will take careful steps with the main body, no reason to be greedy and get nothing like Reol'ran says, and I will use the Puppet I hid here to bid with these people later after the main body is safe.
"I will say it again," Mark said. "I am not selling to this man. Do any others want to buy it? If not, I will be selling to the people who already bid."
A turtle shell-skinned man raised his hand. "I will sell you an Inner Sun. You seem to have a World Space, but it doesn't have a Sun, moon, or day and night cycles. If I give you a sun, you can properly manage it and make it into a true World."