Mysterious Fog World: Eldritch Nexus

Trading Module

Can be plugged in with the game system to enable the trading function for the player.

Drake used the Trading Module. The crystal disappeared in front of him. He checked the game system, it had another tab called Trading in it.

He decided to check it in detail back at the mansion.

They went back to the territory. They were getting famous day by day. Many buyers were already waiting for them to return so that they could buy the monster meat from them.

They sold all the items that they wanted to sell. But before they left they were stopped by a few players.

“Hello, if you don't mind, can we talk? I am Aran, We are from the Thunder Serpents Guild”, said a confident-looking man while approaching them.

“What! They are from the Thunder Serpents Guild. That's one of the strongest guilds in the Black Forest Territory.”

“What do you mean, one of the strongest? They are the strongest.” The player who said that purposely said it out loud, hoping that the guild players would hear him, and invite him to their guild.

“Do they want to recruit him to their guild? I am so envious. Why can't they ask me?”

The players from the guild looked arrogant hearing the nearby players praising them.

Drake didn't want any commotion so he agreed with them to listen to what they wanted to say.

“Sure, let's go.”

The guild members behind the leading guild members immediately became angry when they heard Drake's casual tone. When they were about to berate him, they were stopped by their leader with a look.

“Thank You. Please follow me.”

Aran, the leader, maintained a polite but confident smile and invited him to one of the big restaurants.

Inside the restaurant, in a private room, Drake and his group sat on one side whereas the guild members sat on the other.

The guild members other than Aran were blatantly ogling the twins. Aran maintained a poised posture but still secretly watched the twins, he thought no one noticed. But he didn't know all his actions were visible that day in front of his guests.

“As I have mentioned previously, I am Aran and we are from the Thunder Serpents Guild”, reintroduced Aran while maintaining a confident expression.

Drake introduced himself and his party. “I am Drake”. Then he pointed to his right, “Yumi”, then to his left, “Ayame”.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Drake, Ms. Yumi, and Ms. Ayame.”

“Mr. Drake, we have heard about your bountiful explorations outside. We are very impressed by Mr. Drake's ability to explore the fog”, praised Aran. Of course, Drake heard the hidden meaning in his words.

Drake kept a straight face and asked, “Have you called me here just to praise me?”

Aran’s fellow guildmates were very angry at Drake for continuously talking impolitely with Aran. He was one of the inner members of the guild and was praised many times by the core guild elders.

Drake ignored the ugly face they were making. His focus was completely on Aran who trying hard to not turn his face against him, as he still hadn't achieved his motive.

“Of course, we have called you to invite you to our guild. I represent my guild and formally invite you to the Thunder Serpents Guild.”

Aran was confident that Drake would be over the moon hearing that and would wag his tail like a good dog to join his guild.

“Oh and what do I need to offer?”

Drake's unexpected reaction caught him off guard but he still maintained his poise and said, “Mr. Drake doesn't need to offer anything. We take care of our guild members. Of course, as a member of the guild, you will need to help your fellow guild members.”

When Drake heard that, he had a strange smile on his face.

“And how do I do that?”

“Nothing much. When you are part of our guild, your companions will be considered part of our guild too. They can help us to explore the fog world outside.”

Drake had guessed all of that from the beginning. He still had that strange smile on his face. But it had an extra mocking touch to it.

Aran didn't like the way Drake was smiling at him, but didn't comment on that, he asked again, “Will you join our guild? Playing with other players provides you better opportunities as players who don't join a guild… may find themselves facing far more difficult challenges alone.”

Aran invited Drake again but with a hidden threat of what might happen if he refused to join.

“I refuse.”

Drake simply refused. He had no intentions of joining a guild and even if he did he would join his family’s guild. Moreover, that guy's attitude was seriously pissing him off.

Aran no longer had the smile on his face. His face was gloomy, he couldn't believe Drake dared to refuse him.

“How dare you refuse our guild?”

“Do you not want to play the game any longer?”

The other guild members started shouting angrily at Drake. Aran didn't stop them that time.

None of them were aware of the increasing coldness in the twins’ eyes.

“If there is nothing else to discuss, we are leaving.”

Drake had wasted enough time on some random nobodies and was not willing to waste another second on them.

Just as he was about to get up, he was interrupted by Aran.

“Wait a minute”

Aran no longer had his previous politeness, but rather the condescending attitude of a superior watching someone inferior to them.

Yumi was about to puncture Aran’s head for his insolence but stopped the twins from doing anything with a subtle shake of his head.

It was not that he was afraid of Aran or his dogs but didn't want to make a public scene. As the city guards still maintained peace on the surface and they belonged to the Falmise Family.

Killing someone in public was like slapping their faces. And Drake and his group were not strong enough to have a head-on fight with them.

Aran no longer addressed Drake, rather he said to the twins, “Ms. Yumi, Ms. Ayame, how about you follow me instead of him? He is just a lone chosen one. But there is a whole guild behind me. Our guild is not only the strongest guild in Black Forest Territory but has branches in other territories too. We can provide you with opportunities that this person could never be able to. I promise you will be prioritized when potions are found so that you can become Extraordinary as soon as possible.”

Aran finally revealed his true purpose for approaching Drake.

Initially, he wanted to first bring Drake into the guild and then slowly snatch his followers. After all, only he was worthy of such beautiful followers.

When he heard about the various rankings, he was determined to have his name be part of them.

Then earlier in the day, when he saw the twins, he saw the twins and found they were a player’s followers.

He asked around about them and found they were new explorers and were very strong. He thought that was a sign and that they were meant to be his followers who would help him in becoming the best player.

He thought that such followers should belong to him, not to some no-name player. As for the fact that they were loyal to Drake, what could a guildless random player do to him?

Many so-called loyal girlfriends and wives left their partner for him when they found out about how rich he was. His money couldn't be used directly in the game but indirectly was still a big help to him.

But his plan was ruined by a random player with whom he wouldn't even interact normally. So he changed strategies and targeted his followers directly.

He was confident that their loyalty to him should not be too high. As he couldn't give them much and was instead dependent on them. But he could provide them with everything so he was confident to increase their loyalty beyond 71 points before the rankings would be announced.

“We refuse,” Yumi answered for both.

Drake just looked at him as if looking at a fool and said, “Stupid”.

Aran flared in anger listening to the twins’ refusal and Drake's mocking comment.

“You dare to talk to me like that. No one has ever dared to talk to me in that tone.”

All his guildmates brandished their weapons ready to attack the insolent fool in front of them.

“Young Master Aran, just order us we will kill them.”

Yumi and Ayame were ready to kill too at their lord's command.

Drake didn't stop them as they brandished the weapons first, so their attack would be considered self-defense.

The door of the private room was opened suddenly. It was the restaurant manager.

“Mr. Drake, is there any problem? Do you need our help?” The manager asked Drake and offered to help him without knowing which party was right. He made many profits because of him so unless it would clash with his interest he would stand by Drake's side.

“Nothing Manager Thomas, we were just having a small discussion. But I think it's now over”, said Drake with a smile.

Then he left with the twins under the fire-spitting eyes of the guild members.

A few blocks away, he ordered, “Kill them. Do it in a place with low traffic. And from now on, kill them on sight.”

They nodded and left.

Drake took the jeep and left for the mansion on his own. When he reached his destination, the twins were already there waiting for him. They nodded to him expressing that they completed the job.

There was still much time till dinner, so Drake decided to pass the time while playing with the Trading Function.

The girls watching that left for the Training Room. They were going to work hard to level up to the Intermediate stage of at least one mastery as soon as possible.

In the Trading tab, there were two options; Shop and Auction. In the Shop, the players could set up a virtual shop to sell their goods. In an Auction, players could auction higher-tier goods.

All transactions were carried out using fog coins. The option for bartering was also available.

He saw many shops set up by the players who were selling a variety of things, like mortal weapons, skills, materials, etc.

Anything remotely close to the Extraordinary was put up in the Auction, like Extraordinary weapons, skills, material, and even potions for sale but only from common paths, and no formulas.

The fight for potions had put their bid to insane heights. For example, the Rank 1 Trainee Mage (Mage Path, Sequence 9) had reached one thousand fog coins. He checked in his system shop, and it was only worth 50 points.

The points of sisters had long since crossed that point, but what they wanted was the Shadow Path potions. Its sequence 9, rank 1 potion was worth 500 points. They looked down on the common paths.

Drake opened his virtual shop under an anonymous name by paying 10 Fog Coins. He then put up two Corrupted Goblin Blood Essence for auction with a starting bid of 50 Fog Coins and closed the store.

He opened a separate Training Room for a few hours and after completion, logged out of the game.

What he didn't know was that items became too popular the moment they appeared and caused an insane fight for them. They were finally sold at 524 and 513 coins respectively.

If it was before the rankings announcement, these wouldn't be sold at such high prices but the rankings made its demand higher.

That was because it was used as the main ingredient for the Rank 1, Sequence 9, Goblin Grunt potion unique to goblins.

Many paths were also applicable to certain species and using them outside of it would only have negative consequences with the best one being death.

Some players by chance obtained it. But it was tasteless for them as it couldn't be used by players.

But with the announcement of rankings, they found a new use for it and that was to recruit goblin followers, and after their loyalty was ensured reward them with the potions. That way, they had a good chance of getting their name in the followers rankings.

They tried hard to find the Corrupted Goblin Blood Essence but couldn't find it. What they didn't know was that it could only be dropped by goblins corrupted by fog which unfortunately was not a single one near them.