NOVEL NEXT Chapter 735: Completed Trade
Rork left the other recruitment stones—Normal, Special, Random, and Rare—at his designated stall in the New Genesis Shelter's bustling marketplace.
The moment the case was opened and their colorful glows were exposed to the public eye, it was as if a silent bomb had gone off.
The crowd cheered!
Word spread like wildfire as soon as it appeared. Recruitment Stones weren't just rare—they were extremely important for most survivors.
Since they were already resident of a safe shelter with a consistent supply of food and other necessities, obtaining helpers, workers, or escorts was really important.
This was especially true if you wanted to level up faster.
Sometimes, you would need a group of people that could assist you not just in combat but also in logistics matters. After all, Foreign Survivors like Shane knew how important levelling was.
They also knew that they couldn't relax just because they were safe in the shelter—they must use this opportunity to get stronger.
Survivors began offering whatever they could.
"Three Safety Protection Tokens! Mint condition! I'll trade for two Normal Recruitment Stones!" shouted a new resident as he showed three wooden tokens that Shane had created.
"I'll offer a full crate of Regeneration Serum! They can heal minor wounds… I just need 10 Normal Recruitment Stones or maybe 2 Special Recruitment Stones." another yelled, pushing forward a crate with him.
Aside from them, other merchants from nearby stalls also joined the crowd.
At this time, a pair of merchants offered three long-range rifles with crafted scopes and a set of piercing bullets made of upgraded silver, capable of disrupting even a Zombie Lord's attack for a moment."
One trader even placed a Zombie King's Enhanced Bones, a rare material used in crafting high-grade melee weapons, just for a single Rare Recruitment Stone.
Tanith kept her composure as she took her time evaluating the value of the items before she could accept the deal or not… Of course, she also delegated transactions to three other assistants to make the process faster.
Although they had suffered a bit due to the Zombie ambush, Taurus Mercantile was back in the game.
But still, the real negotiations were happening elsewhere.
***
Somewhere in the inner sector, Shane, Rork, and Arial sat in a courtyard near the Command Center…
Trading a few weapons could also be done within the marketplace, but a bulk of them, including the stabilizers, should be discussed over a table.
Arial also ensured the trade would be balanced and secure.
"I'm curious… Do you have more of these Recruitment Stones?" Shane asked.
Rork nodded. "Yes… We were really lucky."
Shane smiled after hearing this. It seemed that they would be meeting again. "Just in case, are you really not accepting gold coins or Zombie Cores?" Content first released on M_VLEM_PYR.
Rork shook his head and replied. "We can consider selling the lower-tier Recruitment Stones to the public with gold coins or Zombie Cores, but those top-tier stones… we know what they're worth. We aren't interested in coins or zombie cores."
Arial could understand why they were doing that, and he couldn't blame them.
The Epic and Legendary Recruits were extremely valuable. If he could trade it for something that he really needed, he wouldn't hesitate to do it.
"I don't think that we could find another shelter with Zombie Vaccines. Stabilizers. High-Caliber Rifles with upgraded recoil dampeners and penetration rounds. You've got the tech, and we need to protect our caravans out there. I think this is a good deal for both of us."
Shane and Arial exchanged a look.
"That's… reasonable," Arial said.
After only twenty minutes of negotiation, they struck a deal:
Shane was able to receive all 10 Master Grade, 5 Epic Grade, and 3 Legendary Grade Recruitment Stones in exchange for 50 vials of Z-Virus Stabilizers, 6 doses of Experimental Zombie Vaccine-V3, 30 Grim Reaper rifles that were customized for long-range zombie suppression, and finally, 12 automatic Grenade Launchers. Of course, ammunition was already included in this deal.
Shane didn't want to give them any Zombie Vaccines at all. However, after some persuasion and lowering the number of rifles, he was able to give them 6 doses for the leaders of the Mercantile Company…
Anyway, the number of items he traded seemed really low but in the end, Arial was able to convince Rork that even if they looked everywhere on the continent, they'd not be able to find the Vaccines and Stabilizers at all.
***
Hours later, Shane stood at the outer gate of the New Genesis Shelter, together with two Super Soldiers and a few Warden Units.
Shane had cleared the north perimeter and pulled back patrol groups to avoid interference.
Needless to say, Shane planned to use the recruitment stones already…
Shane held the ten Master Grade Recruitment Stones. They were bright yellow in color…
After a few moments, he saw a familiar message.
[ Do you want to activate the 10 Master Recruitment Stone? ]
"Yes…" He confirmed.
As soon as he answered, a familiar scene appeared.
The mysterious gray fog came.
It was thick and unnatural… It seemed as if it spilled from nowhere, but with Shane's current ascension and his high stat, he confirmed that the fog came from the ground or cracked on earth and occupied the sky…
'Hmm… That happened so fast. No wonder I didn't notice it before. I just thought that it came from the horizon…' Shane mused.
Soon, the sky dimmed…
From within the mist… a few movements could be seen.
Ten silhouettes emerged from the darkness… Just like that, their outlines became clearer as the fog receded slowly.
"Let's see what we have here." Shane muttered. It had been a while since he had done high-level recruitment, so he felt a bit excited about the result.
Whether he got a warrior or a working-class survivor, he didn't mind at all. He just wanted someone useful for his cause.
Then, the first figure that he noticed was a tall woman in silver battle armor… Her helmet was under her arm, revealing her dark bronze skin…
'Oh… Do we have a group of knights this time?' Shane mused for a moment, but soon, he realized that he was wrong.