Merchant Of Yliaster

Maxwell woke up and blinked rapidly as his eyes tried to get used to the light. Immediately, he could feel that he had been sleeping for a long time, as his body felt sluggish due to immobility.

He took a moment to organize his mind, as his memories were jumbled up pretty badly. It took a few minutes for him to remember the happening after he killed the space mage guy, but as soon as he came to the moment when he saw the soul of Drakhabgar, a headache immediately assaulted him.

It was as if his mind didn't have enough dimensions to contain the scene, yet he could also feel that he could forcefully accommodate the memory in his brain. Is this due to the Mind of the Merchant? He theorized, as he tried to remember, carefully ignoring the parts where he observed Drakhabgar in detail.

Everything seemed fine in his soul, and if he didn't know what happened, he wouldn't have an inkling that there was something wrong, but he could see that the figure in his soul space was a lot darker, as if it had more substance compared to before.

Maxwell was a bit unsure how wise it was to keep the guy to be fair, but still, there was a feeling in his soul that things would be alright. Even back then, if he didn't forcefully observe the god, he would be fine. Still, this didn't make things any less creepy.

"Chirp!" Blueberry, who was on the ledge of the window, chirped, looking at him with an unmistakable look of concern. The familiar telepathic waves sank into his mind, giving him a general idea of the situation.

"I've been out for four days?" Maxwell muttered in disbelief. After all the strenuous things he had done, this was the thing that knocked him out for the longest. He could not see why it would take so long for him to wake up, but it was no surprise after seeing Drakhabgar that the world still had many things he knew nothing about.

He got up and stretched, causing popping noises as his joints realized that they had a purpose once more. He turned to Blueberry, realizing that the bird was releasing a steady wave of mental energy, covering the room he was in.

"Are you isolating the room or something?" Maxwell asked, trying to understand how one would do that with mental energy. It would probably work with the same principle as his hypnotic stealth, but it was still very hard to do such a thing without it coming from an instinct. Sometimes, Maxwell truly envied beasts and their way of using their abilities instinctively.

He realized he had a few notifications waiting, so he summoned them. They would probably be about his recent episode, so he was curious.

Soul's Dominion Leveled Up 50→72

Soul Over Matter Leveled Up 18→32

The short list of level-ups promised many changes in the next window, so he immediately summoned the next notification.

Catastrophic Damage To the User's Soul is Detected.

Skill "Mind Of The Merchant" is lost due to extensive damage.

Error.

The Skill Cannot be removed.

Mind Of The Merchant is advancing.

Compatible Skill Detected.

Parallel Thoughts is incorporated into the advancement.

Skill Advancement Complete.

Skill "Resilience Of The Curious Mind*" is created.

Maxwell could feel that until now, he had been just reading through the changes that happened when he was busy getting his mind broken. Unlike normal times, the system did not seem to ask him for permission when fusing skills when there was an emergency. It Looked like his trait once more saved the day, ignoring the system's plans, advancing one of his skills. Maxwell really hoped that these events wouldn't bite him back in the ass in the future.

There was nothing different he could feel, but to be fair, he didn't try to separate his mind or anything since waking up. He summoned the description of the new skill.

Resilience Of The Curious Mind*:

Your branching mind is a fortress that could face the unknown and remain whole. Watch the world with curiosity, and don't fear, your mind shall prevail.

Speak to the divine and look them in the eye, knowing that you will not be dominated by the known boundaries in the fortress that is your mind.

Comprehend the madness, yet remain untouched.

Maxwell furrowed his brows as he read the skill description. Despite what the skill said, he couldn't help but remember the feeling he got from Drakhabgar's soul. That feeling left no place for identity, no place for mortal concerns of everyday life, or any worldly pleasure.

Just by the feel, things lost their meaning, as from it, Maxwell could see that if he continued on this path, things would become meaningless soon enough. Maybe it would take millions of years, but he was sure that a time would come when he would lose his interest in everything that mattered to him now.

Yet, it was quite clear that this skill actually refused that reality with the last sentence its description contained. He was not sure whether he should trust the skill or not, but he would definitely not try anything too drastic with a tier 2 skill, especially when the feeling was so fresh in his mind.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He cleared his mind, summoning the next notification. Things were still not over, as he had more to go through.

Sense Of The Shattered Reality is triggered.

Analyzing phenomenon.

The skill "Religious Lore" is created.

The skill level maxed out.

Sense Of The Shattered Reality absorbs the first shard of knowledge.

Sense Of The Shattered Reality Leveled Up 6→20

Skill "Religious Lore" is removed.

Maxwell stared dumbly at the system for a minute, his mind working on overdrive. Just by this, he could see how this skill would work, and he found it immensely exciting. This meant that in the future, any knowledge or skill he learned would be absorbed by the skill; at least that was his theory. He already expected the skill to work like this, but he didn't expect the skill to work in a different manner when skills fused into it.

Other skills dropped in level when skills fused into them, but this skill, on the other hand, didn't and actually leveled up more than it ever did. Maxwell couldn't complain, as this would mean he would have an easier time upgrading the skill.

It looked like things he got from the encounter were still not over, though.

Title acquired: The Mortal Who Sees

The Mortal Who Sees:

The scenes you have seen in your feeble life are more significant than some gods would ever see.

Any mortal's soul would have been long shattered. Yet you remain whole.

Neat title, I guess. Maxwell never really checked his title list properly, as his memory was more than enough to remember them all, but the thing was getting longer and longer. Without them, not even having a proper function, Maxwell couldn't really see the point of system making titles visible to users, but a time when the titles were useful in some way or another would probably come.

He was a bit surprised to see that he still had a notification pending, and he summoned it curiously, and his face morphed into surprise immediately.

Notable Feat Performed. Experience rewarded.

Level Up! Stats Distributed. (4x)

Level Limit reached for the first phase.

In a day, the nobility ranks will be distributed, and the level limit will be removed as the beginning phase slowly comes to an end.

The third-tier advancement will be postponed until the first phase is over.

The way the notifications were formatted was a bit different from the normal way the system spoke. This was actually closer to his first interaction with the system, where he could freely ask questions to it.

First phase? There are phases to this? Maxwell thought. The world was already tier 2, and Maxwell would logically expect that if there were any phases to the initiation, the first one would cover the tier one, but it seemed like the system disagreed.

Level limit didn't really bother him, as if there was a limit, it would also mean that he would actually get the highest attainable rank in the upcoming event, so there was no need to rush. I probably level up some skills, too. He thought. He still had some tier one skills, and it would be a good idea to level them up until they reached tier two. The compendium, for example, would level up with a very fast speed if he could just focus on it.

Records of Curiosity seems to level up from me using it, not me recording things in it, so I can probably grind that too. He theorized. The alternative would be a bit dumb, as to record more skills, the skill required a higher level.

For now, though, he felt that he should probably show his face around. He was pretty sure that people would be concerned about him locking himself in this room for four days straight. Also, he could see a familiar figure in his dominion.

He once more returned to the exclusive floor, and while he was aware of the state of the place due to his dominion, he still marveled at it, whistling. The floor looked impeccable, and Rodricks seemed to have taken this opportunity to actually upgrade the floor instead of simply repairing it.

The furniture in the room was new, and Maxwell could see that they were actually graded objects, some of them even being tier two. Nesha's cookware also changed, and he could see them fly in the air, having their own mana natures. He could also see these natures interact with the food, so the woman probably had a theory behind what she was doing.

He couldn't help but respect the work, as more than anyone, he would know how overwhelming it was to learn more than one element. It was easy for one's mind to wander among the endless choices the world seemed to offer.

Maxwell tried to focus on the useful ones, discarding the rest for a time where he could figure them out more effortlessly, but his plate was still more than full with the ones he had.

Now, though, there was no time to think about such things. On one of the tables to the side, Maxwell could see the familiar yet drastically different figure of a little girl, as she sat hugging a teddy bear.

Maxwell was startled for a second after seeing the bear with his new senses. He was sure before that his creation was something interesting, but he apparently underestimated how interesting he was.

The connection of negative energy between Mary and Pax was something he couldn't really appreciate before, but now, he could see the little streams of energy travel better than ever. He could see that many different types of energies existed in the stream, and it contained numerous little streams. All of them were flowing towards the bear, as the bear didn't let any negativity touch the girl, and it showed.

Mary was smiling like she was the happiest girl in existence, and right now, her appearance also matched her mentality quite well. She was wearing a beautiful dress, typically worn by noble children, and her hair was properly cleaned, giving her the look of a happy child.

The girl noticed Maxwell as he left his room, and Maxwell could see the girl's expression get somehow even happier in slow motion. It seemed like his perception was a bit off after the level up, so he quickly readjusted it, causing Mary to slam onto his legs with normal speed.

"Hello, Mr Maxwell!" the girl shouted, drawing some glances to them, and took a few steps back. "Ms. Nesha said that you were busy with magic, but Pax thinks you were just sleeping like a baby," The girl said, making Maxwell go into a coughing fit, as he was just starting to say hello to the girl.

Nesha, who apparently noticed the chaos, slowly walked towards them, looking at the girl with helplessness. "Mary, don't you think you are too big for you to narrate the thoughts of toys?" She said.

If only she knew… Maxwell thought, glancing at the unassuming teddy bear once more. Even now, Pax gave him an uneasy feeling, but something containing that much negative energy would give the creeps to anyone.

Nesha, being a noble, it was not hard to see why she wouldn't like the fact that the girl was carrying Pax with him wherever she went. At least, Maxwell assumed that the girl did.

Still, it was also not hard to see that the woman liked the little girl too much for her to reprimand her in a meaningful way. Adding the fact that Mary couldn't really feel any negative emotions, Nesha could only make the girl smile before she answered.

"But Ms. Nesha! Pax is not just a toy! He is my friend!" the girl said with the tone one would use to explain things to someone dumb, and Maxwell couldn't help but laugh out loud. After all, the girl had no idea how right she was.