Merchant Of Yliaster

"You can't be a human. Creature, who are you?" A tired voice flowed into Maxwell's mind.

"Well, that's just rude now, isn't it?" Maxwell said, stumbling on the landscape before giving up on walking. He floated up, flying towards the mushroom. Walking was a bit difficult when all of your bones were reduced to dust.

Now, he could see the Reverend Iridescent's situation better. Most of the creature's trunk was gone, and its cap was only connected by a few loose filaments of crystalline matter to its body. Any lesser being would be long dead, but the creature still tried to get up.

"You can't be human. Humans don't use affinities like you do, nor can they freely turn into elements like you so casually do. If they could, they wouldn't be destroyed in the first place," the creature sent. Its body was now upright, and the creature finally managed to right itself.

While his right glove was gone, Maxwell started to adjust his left glove like before, preparing to finish the creature off. Now that he was beyond the critical point, he could attack without dying due to backlash. This time, though, he would detach the glove before the eventual explosion.

"I may not be like your humans, but I think you underestimate the variability of our species." Maxwell mentally said. While Maxwell was sure that he was pretty unique. He doubted that there weren't irregulars like him in the outer universe or multiverse.

"Your ignorance is human, at least. This world is a forsaken one. We are not connected to one world, but many others. I have seen an incredible variety of humans through the eyes of my children, and killed many. You, on the other hand, break many rules with your sheer presence, some of them thought to be absolute." The creature stopped for a second.

Maxwell felt that it was siphoning energy from its limbs. The legs of the creature disintegrated like they didn't exist, and Maxwell watched as the hole in the creature's trunk filled up. He was not very alarmed, though, as the Reverend's mana was almost completely gone after this last move.

"Albeit it is an absolute anomaly, your body is not the real problem with you. Your mind is too foreign. You feel more like a god than a human. You communicate with me like I'm some random enemy, yet many before you with higher levels died by simply hearing my voice inside their head. I will try to kill you, as the ways are, but I want one last thing from you. Let me know your name," the mushroom said, its cap starting to glow. Maxwell could see that the creature was doing something he had seen no one do before.

In the soul of the creature, energy was burning, turning into mana for it to use. Maxwell was sure that this was a desperate measure, but it mattered little to him if he died before the Reverend.

"Maxwell Aurelius is my name. Do you have one?" Maxwell said, not bothering with telepathy this time.

"I will remember it for the few moments I have to live. I was once called Great Phyr in the tongue of your species. Remember it, for I wish to live in some form in a world with a future," the creature said, and a beam was unleashed, stronger than any other the creature had released.

It had a multicolored light, and Maxwell could detect no individual mana type from the attack. It was as if the creature managed to create a type of mana encompassing all elements it could control. No shield or method would be advantageous against the attack, and Maxwell could also feel something more from it. The beam had a pressure radiating from it, and soul energy lingered inside.

This was the first time an enemy used soul energy against Maxwell. He was not sure what the effect of this mixed energy would be, but his attack was ready, too. His glow detached, and Maxwell commanded for one last time.

Explode

Once more, there was a dull thud, but this time, Maxwell added something a little extra as he was inspired by the beam attack.

As the blood particles once more moved with a speed akin to teleportation, his mind targeted them without his senses, for they were part of himself, made from his own blood. His dominion vibrated, and he wrapped his soul energy around the particle in a world detached from the regular flow of time. His awareness is working with an efficiency exceeding any other time.

His soul energy, glowing green with an eerie light, connected with the particles, Maxwell using his imbuing ability as a conduit for the attack. He was not sure what this would do, but the world resumed its normal flow when he was done, his mind relaxing.

There was no visible collision, as the beam fired by the reverend simply disappeared, the creature's trunk, and a big part of its cap disappearing immediately. A split second later, a distant wall of the cavern shook with an explosion as Maxwell's attack struck it before exploding.

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Contrary to the red color one would expect, the attack gave a green glow, and Maxwell watched as the walls struck by the attack turned to dust. Even the distant part of the wall was slowly crumbling, its situation similar to his using carving skill on things.

Reverend Iridescent's body, now devoid of the limbs it created, resembled a broken tree. With a groan, the body toppled to the side, but there were still no kill notifications, putting Maxwell on the edge. Even Maxwell's mana was almost completely gone.

"Truly, something else. Farewell, nascent creature. I truly hope you survive this." Maxwell heard in his mind, and he immediately felt a mental wave radiate from the creature. The wave was very strong, but Maxwell was ready. He immediately crushed the wave with his dominion, completely destroying it until he was sure that it was gone.

"Don't be so stuck in a single way, child. Behold, for you will be the last one to see the Resonance of The Six," he heard, just as he was relaxing. A simple wisp of mana was released from the Reverend, and he immediately tried to command it, trying to stop whatever the creature was planning.

The wisp of mana was strange, as Maxwell couldn't understand what element it belonged to. It vibrated, and immediately after Maxwell connected to the mana, the connection was broken as the mana changed.

His eyes widened as the phenomenon started to spread under his senses. The mana around started to vibrate in a similar fashion, starting a chain reaction. As the reaction spread, Maxwell gave up on stopping it. It was not hard to understand what the creature's purpose was, as all brothers had tried the same thing before. The mana in the mushrooms around them started to resonate with the solitary initial particle, and it spread, covering the cavern immediately.

Maxwell's intuition screamed, as staying in the cave meant certain death. Unless… Maxwell had an idea. His figure started to hover as he positioned himself at the center of the cave, moving towards the danger instead of escaping it. He knew that there was no point in running, as the explosion, if it happened, would be similar to a nuke.

He felt for his trait, finding it easy to activate like always. It had always been like he was born with the trait after awakening it. Everything around him suddenly lost its vibrancy as the trait activated, scanning the world around him, searching for anything valuable. The effects were incomparable to any time before, as his trait worked in a much more visible way this time.

Everything started with a simple spark, and some of the vibrancy around him started to return. His awareness was completely unshackled by his trait, the world moving in slow motion. Color bloomed on the Reverend's cap, and immediately, it exploded, covering the mushrooms around him, and eventually, all the mushrooms in the numerous tunnels around him shone in Maxwell's senses.

His domain, previously limited to two hundred meters, stretched under his trait's influence, as it encompassed all of the formations the Reverend Iridescent's home contained. His mind strained, but the scene before him was too beautiful for him to care about that.

Something inside his soul vibrated, his trait urging him to continue. There were no prompts like before, and Maxwell knew that he needed none. With a mental command, the whole existence of the Reverend Iridescent was selected as the resource for the trade.

Maxwell was not sure how he hadn't seen it before, but it was so simple now. Reverend Iridescent was not simply the body he fought, but the whole system of tunnels connecting to it. What he fought was the heart, and not the body.

He felt his soul energy wrap around the cave system. At first, he couldn't understand how he had enough soul energy, but the mystery was solved immediately as he felt his other trait activate. The green tint of his soul energy had intensified, as Etherium Soul shouldered the burden he now faced.

Limitless energy suddenly supported him, exploding from the depths of his soul, making Maxwell smile. It was truly an euphoric feeling. It somehow felt like home. Soon, every single mushroom was wrapped with a layer of energy, and the first notification came from the system.

Resource Selected.

Relative Value For Merchant's Grade: High

What do you desire?

Maxwell already knew what he wanted. If he couldn't get it from the system in a normal way, he would buy it. "Give me a skill that will make me able to create elements," he sent. He figured he could be more careful about the words he used, but at this point, he was almost sure that the system was not very tricky when it came to things like this. If anything, it was incredibly fair.

Evaluating…

Error!

Rerouting.

Usual methods are deemed unsuitable.

Trade not accepted due to limitations.

The Merchant of Yliaster ignores the verdict.

Trade Accepted.

A hint will be given.

Maxwell was alarmed for a second, as the world around him blurred. It didn't take him long to understand that he was not moving, but he was being immersed in a hallucination of some sort. It was a surprise for Maxwell, as he thought he was immune to such things due to etherium. Maybe it's due to the trait? He thought.

While he was busy thinking, the world around him started to take shape. With a sharp shift in his awareness, it all clicked into place. Maxwell looked around, trying to understand where he was, and he was dumbfounded. The place was recognizable, but he failed to understand the purpose of the system.

"Mr. Aurelius? Care to give me the answer?" his elementary school science teacher asked him. Maxwell glanced down, seeing a question booklet open below him. The question was simple.

It asked, "How does fire burn?"