Chapter 157 – 157. Unexpected Blessings (2)

There are three options.

If you think normally, you would naturally think that building a market is the best. I think so too.

“But.”

It took me a while to make a choice without proper information.

In the end, I put my choice on hold and went to Asmorphia. You can ask, but there’s no need to wrap your head around without information.

It would be foolish to choose this without asking.

[So you came?]

“Oh, yes.”

As we entered Raythena’s collapsed sanctuary, the image of Asmorphia was overlaid on her stone statue, and she greeted us warmly.

As I was greeted by her, I tried to ask questions.

But Asmorphia seemed to have already read my thoughts and spoke first.

In this space, my thoughts are read almost exactly as they are.

[The first option is also important in that you can use the merchant at any time.]

“Aha.”

I kept thinking about it too.

The first blessing, ‘Merchant Kidnapping’, clearly states that you can kidnap a merchant and manipulate him.

Rather than bringing in merchants and making them sell goods, they kidnap the merchants themselves and use them like slaves. I interpreted this as a kind of slave-making.

The same goes for Agap.

“But I’m curious. Is it okay to bring in a merchant and use it like that?”

There was one thing that made me a little uneasy here. That’s because I’m worried that if I kidnap five merchants and make them work for me, my favorability with other merchants will go down.

I also wondered if the merchants would be kidnapped so easily.

[You seem to be misunderstanding something.]

“Yes?”

[This is a ‘blessing’ defined by the system. It’s literally like a command from God. It may be a kidnapping, but in their situation, it is just a change of place of work.]

“Uh. Then money.”

[Of course, we can’t make them work without pay, so we’ll pay them, right? That’s right, it’s given as a blessing to use the merchant. All Inho needs to do is take a merchant he likes and use it. That is the first blessing]

In a word, merchant kidnapping does not mean that you directly fight and kidnap a merchant, but if you have a blessing, you can invite the merchant to be the craftsman of your base.

[That’s right. As I thought, the kidnapped merchant could be used as a craftsman. A production craftsman will be created at the base. However, if you treat it carelessly, it will run away, right?]

“Are you going to run away?”

[Right. What I’m saying is that you shouldn’t treat it like that. You should think of it as an invitation using the systematic power of blessing. It’s not about making slaves. We need to give them space to settle down and give them time to rest, right? Food, clothing and shelter must also be provided. That’s the basics.]

“Aha.”

[It’s not about making slaves. You should think of it as bringing up to five randomly appearing craftsmen to the base and setting up a shop. If they are not treated well, they will run away at any time. At that time, friendliness is truly diminished.]

There is no need to fight with the merchant, and you can’t treat him carelessly just because he kidnapped you. It’s just that you can use the merchant’s abilities even if the purple gate is not created.

In short, it felt like I was opening a store for a random street vendor. If you didn’t know this and just treated them like slaves, your true friendliness would probably be ruined and problems would arise.

As expected, it was a good question.

‘Anyway, I can’t believe I can bring in five unpaid artisans.’

If you bring a jeweler, they will be able to provide or modify accessories, and if you bring a weapons dealer, they will repair or create weapons for you. I even have 5 tickets to visit the jewelry store.

“And. Wait for a sec. Haha.”

Actually, I was just trying to create a dimensional market. However, when I heard that I could get a free craftsman, I was a little shaken.

“Well, then the second one is.”

This was clearly supposed to kill the merchant in the store.

There seems to be a problem because even if you remove it, you can’t put it on, and it kills you.

[You seem to think of death as something bad. Did you know that? For those who are not permitted to die, death is a blessing.]

Asmorphia’s words were somewhat cold.

You can give death to those who cannot die.

[Except for some ‘unusual people’ like Volv, who we can’t do anything about, most merchants will be happy, right?]

“Is this some kind of trap?”

[Rather than a trap, it feels like mutual aid. The sun would not rise, and eternal winter would come. Not everyone has a good life like Inho. For those survivors, the Dimensional Store is, in a sense, like paradise or an escape.]

He said that if he gets a store, he will be able to get a base where food, clothing and shelter will be provided instead of having to work for eternity.

If you take over the store and become a new merchant there, you won’t have to worry about dying.

Instead, I will have to run the store forever.

“The moment you take over a store, you must make yourself or another person the owner of the store within a week. Hmm.”

[The second option is such a blessing. If it were a family of three, assuming they would never meet again, all three would be able to live without worrying about death.]

In short, this blessing was a blessing that definitely eliminated the three survivors from the struggle for survival.

Asmorphia says that if I hadn’t gotten the skill robbery and the situation was so bad that it would have been better to commit suicide right away, option 2 would have been the best option.

Just by finding the purple gate, you will be able to take over his shop and make a living as a merchant.

[#1 is good for a group of survivors with a certain survival condition and size, and number 2 feels like giving a rope to survivors who are likely to die right away.]

“What about number 3?”

[It’s a good option for those who want to survive more deeply.]

Number 3, market building, is the blessing of opening a market by replacing one infinite labyrinth.

If you use this, you will be able to own the dimensional market.

However, I had to personally find a merchant to open a store in Dimensional Market.

“What is that.”

Come and save the merchant. What does this mean?

[Merchants will not come to you on their own just because you create a dimensional market. So, you should directly negotiate with the merchants of the dimension store and invite them to the market, or make the ‘artisan slave’ that appears with a slim probability in the yellow reward box into a merchant, right?]

“Ah, the love of a lazy wanderer.”

[The engineer of an abandoned ship. That’s right. Those two can be made into merchants. It’s a little different from kidnapping a merchant, but it’s a technician who came as a reward.]

It seems there is more than just one way to save the merchant.

Either negotiate with a merchant, or box shop until you find a slave that can be made into a merchant.

[And you need that many magic stones and coins to manage the market, right?]

“No, if I choose this wrong, it’s completely…”

[Number 3 is the most efficient option when chosen by survivors or groups who have enough magic stones and enough money to invite a merchant.]

“If you choose number 3 without proper information, you might regret it.”

[It becomes a pearl necklace around a pig’s neck.]

Those who cannot freely encounter Asmorphia, like me, have no choice but to make wrong choices.

[Still, if you are a survivor who is good enough to receive this blessing, say a survivor like Inho, there is no problem with whatever you choose, right?]

“That is also true.”

Well, this isn’t a children’s game or anything. It is literally a time of great disaster where it would not be strange if anyone died at any time.

Moreover, it was said that the number of survivors like me who could receive multiple blessings by taking advantage of deprivation of rights was rare.

“Hmm.”

So which one should I choose among these three?

“Wouldn’t it be better to pick a market and have merchants reside there?”

[Anything is fine. Oh, option 2 is not recommended. If a talented person like Inho suddenly decides to become a merchant… Oh, wow.]

In Asmorphia’s situation, choosing number 2 would be similar to a student at Seoul National University saying he would become homeless.

“I guess I’ll have to make it number 3.”

It was a good choice after hearing it once, but it was limited to 5 episodes.

However, if you build a dimensional market, you can attract all the merchants you come across to the dimensional market by offering an overwhelming amount of money.

Yes, money solves everything. The magic gem can also be solved by just pouring dark spirits into the infinite labyrinth and rolling them away.

Moreover, it is said that as the dimension store grows larger, ‘outside customers’ may come, so the more it grows, the more likely it is that it will run on its own.

[Caution!]

[Ordeal imposed!]

As expected, trials were imposed upon selection.

[Trial Name: Highwayman]

[Details: 40 highwaymen will pursue you when entering or leaving the makeshift labyrinth. The highwaymen will run away if the odds are against them, and will reappear stronger the next time they enter the labyrinth.]

“40 people?”

40 intelligent beings are coming to me?

This is quite good news. However, the problem is that if you don’t kill these bastards in one hit, they will become stronger and reappear.

‘Rather good.’

Becoming stronger means dropping more skills and equipment, right?

This can’t be helped now. There is no choice but to release them to some extent and strengthen the compensation by catching and killing the strengthened highwaymen.

[Wh-something. In-ho, it seems like he has become more vicious than before.?]

[After wiping out about 600 people from the Forest of Fallen, they seem to have been blinded by the reward.]

[Indeed.]

Agaf and Asmorphia talked to each other, but decided not to pay attention.

I’m not obsessed with rewards just to like myself. As a reward this time, I gained omnipotent power, so of course I couldn’t help but be obsessed with it.

“Next!”

There are now three more blessings left.