Spirit Soul

"I won't accept anything lower than a ratio of 2:1. Two Spirit Stones, or two Prym stones of the same grade and quality as the Mana stone I'm holding! This is more than fair. We exchange a big bulk of Mana stones of great quality and grade in exchange for goods that can be easily procured in the Anadra kingdom." Jaden's voice was filled with confidence as he stared down at the old merchant.

The merchant was little, and could only swallow seeing the fierce expression on the Lohar's face.

"Nobody, except me,  will be able to make a mass trade of Spirit and Prym stones in Xira! Not if you want high-quality Spirit and Prym stones!" The merchant knew what the young Lohar was trying. However, he couldn't give up on making a profit.

"We can make a 3:2 ratio, but that is already the most I can afford. The trade with you will use up my entire stock of Spirit Stones and Prym stones. I will have to buy some from outside, let them be shipped over, and all of that costs money, lots of it!" He added.

However, Jaden just laughed in contempt before his hand landed on the wooden table with a loud bang.

"Don't joke with me! I know that you are the biggest merchant for cultivation resources, but we can also sell the Mana stones in the Glacia kingdom if you don't want them!" Jaden smiled evilly at the old merchant, who frowned deeply at Jaden's commentary.

"The Glacia kingdom needs mana stones en masse, don't they? The vast majority of their population are Aldra, and what are they known for? Oh…I remember…they can only cultivate in the path of Maest…" Jaden's smile grew bigger the more he said.

"2:1, take it or we will take our leave!" He repeated his offer. A few seconds passed and the merchant didn't say anything.

This was enough for Jaden to sigh deeply. He acted as if he was wasting his precious time at the merchant's store and turned in the direction of the door.

'You won't get me with this trick!' The merchant thought in his mind, while his brain continued to rattle.

'A 2:1 trade is not worth it. I won't be able to make much profit. The transfer of such a big trade has to be protected by an Acerta stage mercenary, who brings over the spatial ring with everything. I would need to make an advanced Soul contract with the mercenary as well…But currently, the price for high-quality and high-graded mana stones is rising in the Glacia kingdom.

If I don't take them right now, maybe this young Lohar will make an even bigger profit if he sells the mana stones in the Glacia kingdom. I guess he doesn't want all this trouble because he has not have much time to waste trading, so he wants to trade everything in a bulk. Maybe, I can still make 50% profit…that would be better than not making any profit, at all…'

The merchant seemed to have come to a conclusion, but just when he wanted to accept Jaden's offer, he saw that both Jaden and Kyle had disappeared.

"No, fucking way!!" he screamed out, rushing out of the building, to look for the Lohar merchant. And just when he opened the door, the old merchant saw a smiling Jaden looking down at him.

"Add a bunch of Seclon grade potions, and I will accept the previous deal." He said while continuing to smile.

'Evil…' The merchant thought, but he nodded his head, accepting his defeat.

'He knew that I would come back to him…he got me completely…'

Jaden just smiled when he re-entered the shop before he took off his spatial ring, where all the Mana stones had been transferred to.

"Please exchange all of them. The Anadra kingdom doesn't allow fraud, and you can get killed for trying to act funny…so don't be funny." Jaden acted rather nonchalantly. Meanwhile, Kyle just smiled before he went over to the stand where all potions were located.

"I'll take a few of them, and I won't hold back…hehehe" Kyle said before acting like a robber, grasping the potions that held the most value before he stored them in his spatial ring.

Jaden's first trade had been much better than expected. He needed a few tries but the final result was quite good. The first few merchants Jaden encountered tricked him, but Kyle stopped the trade before it could happen. As such, the moment they went to another merchant, Kyle gave Jaden a new chance.

This repeated itself four times until the fifth one was a great success.

Jaden did everything by himself, he gained them everything they wanted and more, and they wouldn't have to trouble themselves to enter some of the Glacia kingdom's cities to get their hands on Spirit Stones and Prym stones.

They didn't have as many of such stones in stock as the Anadra kingdom, where many races used them.

Mana stones were in much higher demand and as a border city, Xira had many advantages in terms of economics. They could purchase goods cheap in one kingdom, sell it elsewhere for thrice the price, and make a huge profit.

Of course, this was only possible once or twice before others would try the same. But slowly over time, the profit would slim down, until a state where a win-win business without one side scamming the other would emerge.

The moment the consensus would be reached, it was hard to make big profits, but given the current situation where a shortage of Mana stones was present, the bulk of high-quality and high-graded mana stones from Kyle was perfect.

However, even then, the merchants tried to scam Jaden because they had figured that he was a rookie in the fields of a businessman.

"Good job!" Kyle said once they left the shop with everything they had wanted to gain.

"I need to get better, I was almost conned again. I make too many mistakes. They can read me but I cannot read their moves…."

Kyle patted Jaden's back without saying anything else.

'I awoke his greed and ambition. Looks like I will have to take care of him so that he won't go overboard.' Even if greed was dangerous, Kyle was quite happy. He smiled and when they reunited with the three girls, he was quite amused to see that Jaden spoke about everything that had happened in an excited voice.

However, Kyle's happy expression quickly stiffened when he noticed that the three girls forced themselves to be happy for Jaden.

'Something happened.' Kyle could tell that something was going on. But he also figured that it was not bad enough for them to be unable to force themselves to smile for Jaden.

Yasmine didn't seem to have cried either, showing that her family was fine. Thus, Kyle allowed Jaden to be happy for a bit longer before he asked.

"Now that the good news is over, I think it's time for us to get to know the bad news." He merely said. Jaden's interest was awoken, and he looked over at the three women, just to see that their expressions had changed instantly.

"You want us to be blunt and summarize everything quickly, right?" Beatrice asked, trying to keep the forced smile on her face.

"That would be the easiest, yeah." Kyle simply returned, before he and Jaden heard them sighing.

"Well, to summarize it quickly, the Thuderclaw Kingdom and the Razgra Kingdom are at war. Assassins of the Nasga race killed the King of the Thundercalw kingdom. As if that is not already bad enough, the Princes and Princesses of the Thunderclaw kingdom caused a civil war. Some of them are backed by big families, who had been loyal to the crown, others have backers from outside, and some are all by themselves.

The entire Thunderclaw kingdom is in disarray, and it looks like the entire kingdom will cease to exist if the Razgra kingdom will issue another attack. Some Aldra kingdoms, including the Glacia kingdom, want to help out but…they're not allowed yet. The borders are closed and the armies, who infiltrate the borders of the Thunderclaw kingdom are attacked.

It looks like the seventh Prince has the most power over the civilians, the military, and the treasury of the kingdom." Beatrice wanted to say much more, but when she saw Kyle's ice-cold emerald eyes, she understood that Kyle knew very well who the seventh Prince was.

"The seventh prince again…" Kyle sighed deeply. "He works together with the chubby merchant, who deals with the Nasga race…so they're still causing trouble."

"If the seventh Prince becomes the King of the Thunderclaw Kingdom, he and the Nasgas will work together, and they may even attack the Lahin kingdom, They will get their hands on everything around the Sadorla Forest…." Selene said, her eyes gleaming full of hatred.

The chubby merchant's doings were engraved in her mind, and she wanted to kill him by all means.

"...Interesting."