Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3977: I Am A Humble Merchant! III

The atmosphere had grown thick with anticipation and barely restrained greed after Noah finished listing his requirements!

More and more beings gathered around his impromptu marketplace, drawn by the astonishing scent of the Early Living Marine Lifeforms that filled his radiant woks.

Fold Dwellers who had achieved the pinnacle of their limitations found themselves pressed forward by desires they couldn’t name. Living Existences who had transcended hungers felt ancient appetites stirring within them!

Noah surveyed the growing crowd with the calm assessment of a master strategist.

Each face that turned toward him carried its own mixture of desperation, calculation, and poorly concealed avarice. He could read their intentions like open books, their desires painted across their expressions!

As the murmurs of the crowd began to crescendo into something approaching chaos, Noah raised his voice once again, his words cutting through the ambient noise with effortless authority.

”Oh, and a little about myself,” he began. ”I am but a humble merchant known as... the Weaver of Existence!”

HUUM!

Noah’s smile deepened as he continued, his words delivered with the laid-back demeanor of an Emperor!

”Just to make sure that there aren’t any delays and possible accidents and misunderstandings, I will say right now that yes, I have some mysterious backing. And no, I do not care whether you are a Fold Dweller, a Prime Living Existence, an Honored Living Existence, or even a Royal Living Existence.”

The casual way he dismissed hierarchies sent ripples of shock through the assembled crowd!

”Nobody here needs to come and begin flaring their power and authority, however important they think they are, to begin causing any unneeded conflicts. We are here on business. So let’s simply do business and go on our way, okay?”

...!

Oh!

The warning was delivered with such nonchalant confidence that it took several moments for its full implications to register!

”Now,” he concluded, his eyes scanning the crowd with predatory interest, ”do we have someone that has any of the herbs or treasures that I mentioned among those here?”

His laid-back demeanor, his unfathomably calm words, and the sheer audacity of his entire presentation made those watching and listening feel as though they were witnessing something that should not have been possible!

At that moment, a voice cut through the many powerful forces that were beginning to gather around him...a voice that carried musical notes wrapped in barely concealed danger.

”My, my,” came the sweet tones of Royal Law Tristesse as she approached with that brilliant, terrifying smile lighting up her features.

Alexander, Seraphina, and Kaedric followed in her wake.

”What an interesting little marketplace we have here.”

She moved with the fluid grace of a predator that had spotted particularly intriguing prey, her white robes flowing like liquid authority as she navigated through the crowd that parted before her instinctively, her power coming out as an Honored Living Existence!

”I happen to have one of the herbs you mentioned,” she said, ”Transcendent Veilmoss, harvested from the deepest chambers where reality grows thin. Quite fresh, actually...I acquired it just a year ago from an expedition that cost me three Honored Living Existences and a Prime...”𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

...!

Noah’s eyes lit up with genuine interest as he processed this information, but when his gaze moved past Tristesse to settle on the calm figure of Alexander standing behind her, his smile became even wider.

”Ah, for you,” he said, ”I will even apply the friends and family discount, since you’ve got the Peacemaker behind you there. Let’s see...”

Noah maintained his sly smile as he proceeded to take one of the golden bowls, its surface gleaming with authority.

He scooped into one of the woks floating before him, the ladle moving through radiant meat that pulsed with its own internal light.

The portion he retrieved was generous, yet represented only a fraction of what the single wok contained.

He raised the bowl as if ready to make the trade, the motion causing ripples of anticipation to spread through the gathered crowd!

The figure of Royal Law Tristesse felt the pull of that single bowl...a gravitational force that seemed to be drawing every atom of her existence toward the treasure he held.

Yet she maintained her composure. Her smile grew even brighter as she spoke.

”I will actually only take half of that bowl,” she said, her tone maintaining that same dangerous sweetness, ”and you can keep the other half if you simply answer a few of my questions regarding you and your... friend.”

Noah’s expression shifted, his smile fading into something that could have been disappointment or annoyance.

When he spoke, his words carried the flat finality of someone who had no interest in negotiation.

”I’m only here to trade resources, not information. Either make the trade or move aside.”

...!

BOOM!

The silence that followed his words was deafening.

The casual dismissal of a Royal Living Law’s request, delivered with the kind of authority that sought no argument, sent shockwaves through every consciousness present.

Many in the crowd were astonished, though they did not yet know that Tristesse held Royal status...they simply assumed she was an Honored Living Existence, which made Noah’s casual dismissal impressive enough!

Tristesse’s smile grew dangerous in ways that made the surrounding air shimmer.

Yet when she spoke, her voice maintained that same musical quality, though it now carried tlnes that spoke to darker purposes.

”Why, of course,” she said. ”Business is business, after all.”

She waved her hands with elegant precision, causing reality to bend around her will.

An incandescent herb materialized in the space between them, its form enclosed in a protective bundle that floated toward Noah with stately grace.

The Transcendent Veilmoss blazed with its own internal radiance.

Its very presence made the air around it shimmer with possibility, carrying within its fibers the accumulated essence of places where reality itself had grown thin!

Noah’s eyes lit up with genuine appreciation as the bowl in his hands floated forward in response, the two treasures crossing the space between them with ceremonial precision. The moment the exchange was completed, Noah smiled brilliantly, his expression carrying satisfaction.

”Thank you for the trade,” he said, though he knew with absolute certainty that he had just given away something unfathomably cheap compared to what he had received!

|Transcendent Veilmoss

Properties: When planted in Early Veiled Shore soil, this herb will mature in 72 hours, producing fronds that can be harvested every 24 hours thereafter. Each frond contains concentrated essence capable of advancing complexity and purity by 100,000+ points when properly prepared.

Special Quality: When grown in domains touched by Early Creature authority, produces secondary shoots that carry fragments of temporal manipulation properties.

Planting Requirements: Requires soil blessed by Early Creatures. Benefits significantly from proximity to Sacred Totems or similar authority-enhancing structures.|

...!

The information blazed across Noah’s consciousness like a gift from existence itself, each detail more valuable than the last.

This single herb would accelerate the advancement of everyone within his Early Veiled Shore if planted and utilized right, and if Yoshinami liked it enough.. he could possibly gain more chances of her terrifying 24 hour move that was singular as of now!

And this was just one.

He planned to obtain many herbs here to plant in his Early Veiled Shore as the Auric Vitae Grass and now the Transcendent Veilmoss...would simply be the first!