บท 77: Meg's Strangeness and the Primordial Tower Trade Market
Knock! Knock!
"Come in!"
Kai saw Meg walking in. The clock was striking eight, and the world had gone dark outside. Stars had come out, and the early moon was smiling down over the town from the horizon, just short of disappearing.
Kai had changed his torn clothes and cleaned the room. His face was still light pale, but it was less from weakness and more from recalling what he had seen over the Blood Ocean.
There was one more change.
Petyr was standing by his side, acting as his voice.
Kai didn't like it, revealing the Character so. However, he had no other choice as well.
He had been already struggling with Advance Emotions Manipulation, hoping to get a good control over it. Then, out of nowhere, his another Elementary Ability became not Advance, but an Elite. It was as if the Universe' rules had overwritten what language meant for Kai. He knew the language he used to speak, but when he actually spoke, only hisses came out.
Moreover, Petyr Baelish was a teenager in appearance, making it hard to relate him to the Master of Coin known across the Primordial Tower's Contestants.
Kai could afford gambling on Meg now recognizing Petyr's real identity, but not her hearing his hisses and not realizing he was speaking Parseltongue.
Morning Mist's gaze landed on the black-haired boy and her eyes widened. "Who's he?!"
From the Mission assigned to her, she knew Red had come alone to the Random World. He couldn't call other Contestants, too, for he wasn't a Captain of Guard yet. Not to mention, she had already concluded Red didn't belong to any Organization. For him to have contacts in this Random World, it didn't make any sense to her.
"Don't worry about me," Petyr said, smiling. "Please report your findings, my lady."
Meg frowned. She looked at Red and found her looking back at her with dead eyes. Something happened when I was gone, she thought. Something 's changed.
Morning Mist remembered a few things, looked at Petyr again, and her heart thumped.
Across the room, Kai's heart thumped, too.
For a moment, just for a tiny moment, his Perception had screamed bloody murder, the woman standing in front of him becoming the Ukrainian Ironbelly. However, in the very next moment, everything returned to normal as if what his Perception had picked was nothing but a mirage.
Then he saw Meg approaching him and he found it hard to stay still. His hands itched. For the first time, Kai realized how much he actually missed his sabers.
Meg crouched in front of Kai and spread a roll of map. "We are here, the town of Alto Mare, the setting of the movie's plot. It is an island, south of Azalea Town of the Johto Region."
Kai's eyes narrowed seeing the names written on the map. Meg's fingers then traced the coastline towards the Southeast and stopped over another town.
"The closest research center is in New Bark Town," she reported. "It is home to the lab of Professor Elm, who gives out the starter Pokemon for the Johto region. To reach there, we must first take a ferry to Azalea Town and then go to the New Bark Town on another ship. The entire one-way trip can take anywhere between 10 to 12 days."
Kai nodded.
"And?" Petyr asked about the second thing Kai had asked her to do.
Meg folded the map and passed it to Kai, taking a furtive glance at Petyr. "The Tour de Alto Mare, or the Water Chariot race we saw at the start of the movie, will be held on 28th June," she answered, taking a seat on the sofa. "I want to take part in it."
Of course, you want to, heh! Kai sneered. Just taking part in it will give you a Milestone.
Petyr and Kai exchanged looks.
"Isn't there an age limitation?" Petyr asked.
"No, you just have to have a water-type Pokemon," Meg said, slyly, curling her stark red hair around her finger. "It is frowned upon, indeed. But we are Contestants…"
"… and by nature shameless," Petyr completed her words, smiling. "Good. Mission over. Another thing…" he said, letting Morning Mist go through the Side Mission Completion notification. "… Tell me about Primordial Tower Trade Market."
Morning Mist almost stood up.
Kai sensed her emotions going haywire, but he still couldn't pick up any sign of fear off her. She's odd… he concluded. She's very odd…
Meg, now beyond stunned, looked from Petyr to Kai and then back to Petyr. "How…"
"Please answer, my lady," Petyr said, leaning back in his chair. "We can do away with these pretenses, no?"
Suddenly, the emotional storm Kai had sensed oozing out of Morning Mist calmed down.
It was so abrupt that his entire body jolted, his mind failing to process even the tiniest thought.
There's no way… Kai concluded, after analyzing all variables and clues he had picked up since his arrival to this room. There's no fucking way she's a mere 3rd floor Contestant. What kind of misfortune have I attracted this time?
Meg's smile returned, her finger resuming its task to play with the hair.
"I can do away with pretenses," the beauty said, eying Kai. "If the Butcher of the 2nd Floor can hold back his obvious murderous intentions."
Kai's hazel eyes almost became slits, his chest boiling.
Meg giggled. "This is my Set Ascension Mission, Captain," she told them, crossing her legs. "I don't care who is this person by your side. I don't care what are your intentions, either. Let's just enjoy ourselves in the Pokemon Random World and complete the Mission before moving on to our separate paths. Deal?"
You will die in this world baby… Kai calmed down, feeling good about passing the judgment.
Sitting on his left, Petyr looked at his master for confirmation and suddenly forgot everything. A smile was lingering across Kai's lips… so devious and vile that only Petyr knew what it meant. The Character lifted his hand and rubbed his neck.
"Alright." Petyr said, looking at Meg with… pity.
"You use Sabers," Meg said, looking at Kai. "No wonder you are asking about the Trade Market. Hmm… I don't know much about it, let me be clear. Let's see…"
…
Primordial Tower Trade Market wasn't an organization.
It didn't have a definite location, either, for a Contestant above the 3rd Set could access this market from anywhere in the Multiverse.
There was just one more condition, and this very condition disqualified over 90% of the Tower's population from accessing the Market. That condition was —
One's Worth must be over 25.
After countless millennia of research and experiments, Order and Chaos' ancient Contestants had concluded that the less the Worth, the lesser would be its growth. In the same light, the more the initial Worth, the higher would be the rewards related to the Worth and its actual value rewarded.
The Primordial Tower Trade Market portrayed this disparity between Candidates openly for all.
Here, Contestants could trade just about anything.
Information, Items, Mission Credits, and almost everything could be uploaded via Systems for all the Contestants of the Primordial Tower to vie for them.
Unlike the auctions, one need not worry about not getting the worth of their Uploads, either. The Systems turned the worth of everything into an equivalent amount of Mission Credits, letting all parties know how much and what they must invest to obtain that particular Upload.
The only drawback of this Trade Market was that before getting one's hands over the traded Upload, there was no way to observe or analyze it.
Still, those who could access the Market preferred it almost 9 out of 10 times over auctions. The reason? The two Systems.
Order and Chaos didn't play the game of partiality. Nor were they known to be subjected to greed or any emotion. They were the only ones whom the Contestants could trust blindly, perhaps. At least when it came to the Trade of insignificant things.
In the Systems' eyes, what wasn't insignificant?
…
Meg looked at Petyr before nodding at Kai.
"You can ask a higher floor Contestant from an Organization buy Sabers for you," she told him. "You may know about the Trade Market, Captain. But without Worth, accessing it is just a pipe dream, at best.
"At worst… its a pathetic, boy's fantasy."
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