Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3976: I Am A Humble Merchant! II

Alexander’s face remained calm as he looked ahead, his expression betraying nothing of whatever thoughts might be churning beneath his composed exterior.

Yet before he could respond, Tristesse’s voice cut through the moment with dangerous precision.

”What?” she said, her tone still maintaining that brilliant, terrifying sweetness. ”His friend? Someone from the same Nullvein Gravewake Folds as him?”

Her smile grew sharper, taking on edges that could have cut through dimensions.

”Because nobody can get in or out of those Folds...we have locked them down and we’ve been searching through them and finding nothing. So who exactly... could this possibly be?”

...!

They observed in growing amazement as Noah, seemingly oblivious to the attention he was drawing, calmly and regally waved his hand.

Reality responded to his gesture with eager compliance, causing a tyrannical purple throne to materialize from crystallized authority and ambient power.

The throne was a masterwork of arrogant design, its form suggesting comfort and dominance!

Noah settled onto it with the grace of one who had never doubted his right to command the very fabric of existence.

Yet even this display paled beside what followed!

Noah waved his hands again, and reality bent to accommodate his will once more. Radiant glass woks materialized in the air before him, floating with the casual defiance of gravity.

The woks were filled with cuts of meat that blazed with their own internal radiance, each piece seemingly carved from creatures that had transcended the normal boundaries of existence!

The moment they appeared, an aroma began to spread through the air...a scent so intoxicating, so fundamentally appealing to every level of existence, that it bypassed rational thought entirely.

The effect was immediate and absolute. Every entity present felt their very Existences begin to throb with desperate need, as if the deepest parts of their beings had suddenly awakened to the realization that they would never be complete without whatever treasures rested within those floating vessels!

Fold Dwellers found themselves taking involuntary steps forward.

Living Existences who had transcended normal appetites felt ancient hungers stirring to life within them!

Royal Law Tristesse’s eyes became sharp.

”A Fold Dweller from Nullvein Gravewake Folds?” she said, her voice carrying the kind of skepticism that could have withered flowers. ”My ass he’s a Fold Dweller.”

She turned her attention to Alexander with predatory intensity, her smile never wavering even as her words carried the weight of authority.

”Little Asmodeus... Little Alexander, why don’t you tell me about this friend of yours? Apart from you, he seems to be another anomaly from those supposedly empty Folds.”

The request was delivered with such sweet reasonableness that it took several moments for the underlying command to register.

This was Royal Living Law Tristesse demanding information with the kind of gentle insistence!

Alexander, however, simply shook his head, his expression remaining calm even in the face of such focused attention.

His refusal to answer was delivered without explanation, without justification, with the simple certainty of someone who understood that some secrets should not be mentioned!

Tristesse’s smile grew even more brilliant at his refusal!

”Alright,” she said, her voice carrying musical notes that spoke to darker harmonies. ”We’ll do it the hard way then. Let’s see what your friend is selling, hmm?”

---

At the junction of the golden road running across Concordia, precisely at the boundary between the domain of Fold Dwellers and the territory of Living Existences, Noah sat upon his purple throne magisterially!

The three radiant woks floated before him like offerings presented to a emperor, their contents continuing to emit that intoxicating aroma that had begun to draw crowds from across the entire district.

Multiple golden bowls appeared in neat stacks beside his throne.

The arrangement had the appearance of someone preparing to feed the poor, yet the quality of what was being offered spoke to resources that could have purchased entire Folds!

Noah sensed the many auras surging in his direction, each one carrying its own mixture of desperation, curiosity, and barely contained greed.

He had already gone through all the unique herbs mentioned in the trade screen that Thal’dorven the Primordial Fisher had shared with him, cross-referencing their properties against his own needs and the requirements of his expanding domain.

He knew exactly what he was looking for.

Like a mere merchant or peddler setting up shop in the greatest marketplace of Existential commerce, he voiced out his offer with the kind of laid-back confidence that suggested he was utterly unconcerned by the magnitude of attention he was drawing!

”Selling bowls of Quintessential Soup for Herbs and other Treasures found in the Doorways of the Loom!”

HUUM!

His voice carried across the gathered crowd with effortless projection, reaching every ear present regardless of their position or the ambient noise that filled Concordia’s pathways.

”Acceptable Herbs include...” he continued, his tone maintaining that same casual authority as he began listing names that caused visible reactions among his audience.

”Transcendent Veilmoss, harvested only from the deepest chambers of Doorways where Existence grows thin. Chronos Petrichor, found where time itself has crystallized into physical form in Doorways. Infinity’s Breath Orchids, which bloom only in the presence of dead Inevitabilities. Paradox Root, grown in space watered by contradictions of Inevitabilities that have achieved physical manifestation...”

Each name he spoke caused ripples of power!

These were not common treasures...they were materials that existed only within the Doorways of the Loom, herbs that required expeditions into places where the very concept of survival became negotiable!

One would not even know what they were called or named, nor from which doorway they would be found in.

So how the fuck did a Fold Dweller speak about them as if they were grass everyone knew about!?

”Void-Heart Chrysanthemums, cultivated in Doorways where existence meets Collapse. Echo Sage, which grows only where the screams of dying Temporal Inevitabilities have taken root. And for those seeking truly exceptional exchanges...” his voice took on notes of particular interest, ”...Primordial Memory Moss, which contains within its fibers the compressed experiences of Inevitabilities that witnessed the birth of Early Folds. Other Treasures found in the Doorways of the Loom are also accepted...”

...!

Multiple presences began moving toward him. Yet what astonished them more than his casual authority or the exotic nature of his requests was the undeniable evidence of what filled those floating woks.

The pieces of Early Living Marine Lifeforms were wanted by all present.

Such types materials were supposed to be beyond the reach of anyone below Royal status, yet here sat this mysterious figure offering them like common street food in exchange for herbs and treasures of the Doorways of the Loom!

And he did so fearlessly...as if he had nothing to worry about!