The Gene of the Ancients (Rogue Merchant Book #2): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (top books to read TXT) 📕

buy out his hide and the ship. Three hundred thousand... Somebody, how much is an astral nave with all the stuff worth?

 

Alcaron: Around half a million. The equipment’s no less than two hundred thousand.

 

Tao: So he’s offering us half. Your thoughts?

 

Alcaron: Hurry up, he’s almost at the peak. He’ll teleport!

 

Tao: Money is dust. A fine kill is priceless. Finish him up, guys! Fire!

 

* * *

 

Several days later, the Watchers’ clan meeting.

 

“What the hell is happening?!” Komtur shot out, nervously pacing the clan hall. “We need to farm Helt Akor! We need to defend Eyre — orcs have taken three forts on the northern border! And we have hell breaking loose right under our noses!”

“Yeah, the carebears are whining. They’re all over me,” Olaf nodded. “By the way, about the Paths — how about we add Cat into the raid? His sword could help against hard bosses. I’m getting tired of wipes.”

“Let’s talk about it later. Have you seen the kill rating? PROJECT dropped an astral nave in our territory! How is this even possible? And PKers have lost all shame! Balian, why are you silent?”

“We can’t catch them,” Balian grumbled. “They won’t let us. All they do is rob caravans. Freaking wimps, afraid of real PvP! As soon as we try hunting them, they log out and hide.”

“Go destroy it, for Heaven’s sake! Send a fake caravan, open a pentagram!”

“Tikhon, go teach a fish to swim!” the Raccoon flared up. “We’ve tried it thrice, and they aren’t taking the bait! But you must realize we can’t guard all the caravans.”

“Everybody’s tired of running on empty. No fun, only wasting ingredients on pentas,” Damian added. “And our guys are getting restless, too. They say they aren’t obliged to escort peddlers in the borderlands.”

“My opinion is we have a spy in our midst,” Olaf said quietly. “They’re dumping info about our events, that’s why they aren’t taking our bait.”

Everybody looked at Abel. The shortie shrugged.

“I ran a check on those PKers. They came from the south, where Alex Token forced everyone into submission,” he said. “Those guys were against him... I know some of them, too, like Arrow. They aren’t willing to speak.”

“Yes, I know them, too,” Komtur nodded. “They’re reckless.”

“Too reckless! If we enlisted them, they could be useful.”

“No, we can’t set foot in the same river twice. I don’t want a traveling circus in my Watchers. I have enough clowns as it is. All right, moving on. Does anyone have any specific suggestions? We need to figure this out.”

“Cat has an offer,” Olaf said. “And I think it makes sense, considering the situation. The gist of it is, we need to unify our trading. Abandon isolated NPC caravans. Start buying out everything from our tenants locally and send the goods directly to the Bazaar in bulk.”

“Setting up such a scheme would be a hell of a task. Who would do it?” Balian snorted.

“Cat was the one to propose it. He’s taking it upon himself.”

“He’s probably itching to help us, no strings attached!” Komtur chuckled. “Olaf, there’s a catch. Knowing Cat, a ton of them. What say you?”

“Yeah. He’s definitely stirring the pot. He’ll probably start buying way cheaper and take the extra money for himself. I’m no pro, but I estimate his profit to be ten percent. For a million-gold turnover, it’s a lot.”

“Whoa! Are the carebears ready for such a deal?”

“What choice do they have? They need to move the goods. Their warehouses have limited space, they need to pay NPC miners and for outpost upkeep. Time’s running out. And all in all, it’s convenient for them, too. They won’t have to waste time hiring NPC caravans, buying and selling stuff — they’ll sell everything at once and get their money. Cat’s asking for access to our third account for this. He doesn’t have enough money to buy.”

“Okay, now that’s something. Do you think it could work out?”

Olaf paused to think, twiddling his blonde beard.

“I think it could,” he said finally. “But only if half the profit would end up in the clan treasury. It you put A and B together, you’ll realize who’s at the bottom of it all. But...in the end, what do we care?”

Chapter 15

FOUR HUNDRED thousand. That was the amount in my account. I had five or seven more in buying and selling lots in the Bazaar, but I wasn’t even counting that small potatoes. Not bad for my four months of playing. I would even say, great.

“Heya, Cat! Looking good!” AlexOrder said, coming up from behind me and clapping me on the shoulder. “Nice set you got.”

Of course I did. Wandering Merchant Set was a set of four items worth twelve thousand gold. With a smile, I patted the shining black skin of the slim-waisted jerkin that tied together with similar boots and gloves. Dressed in it, I looked quite respectable. Mostly, I didn’t care for gear, but that set truly inspired me: it was Light Armor with high resistance and physical defense values, but most importantly, it significantly boosted Charisma, added around 100 SP to Leadership and Persuasion, and increased inventory space and weight limit. It went well together with the cape from the temple of Tormis.

The only problem was that the set wasn’t personal, which meant that it could be dropped. I could only wear it in safe places, and with my life, safety was an unattainable dream.

The second set of items I had bought back during my first week of playing was still in my chest: cheap trash intended for ventures I knew would be risky. I also needed combat equipment, but for that, I planned on sponging off the clan warehouse, as full-fledged members got a free set of suitable armor before going into battle. I had