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Chapter 72: The Underwater Kingdom, Aquavera (3)

“Well...”

Kai tried to sort out his tangled thoughts.

Though I\'ve solved the problem of underwater movement, it\'s still far from enough to face the nagas.

He felt the need to grow stronger first. Moreover, the quest to find Tardal\'s scale had a thirty-day time limit. Given that time wasn\'t on his side, he had to proceed with meticulous planning.

First, let\'s explore the city and gather some information.

Since Kai was the first to discover Aquavera, it was a city not yet revealed to other players. Naturally, this meant he had exclusive access to the surrounding dungeons, quests, and shop items!

“I plan to explore the city first. What about you, Crawford?”

“I’m gonna head to Helene’s house to rest. All the events today have left me quite tired.”

Although Crawford claimed he was tired, his face looked much brighter than the day before. Knowing this was due to his reunion with his loved one, Kai offered his sincere congratulations.

Crawford replied, “Thank you. But if you ever need my help, don’t hesitate to come find me. I’ll assist with anything I can.”

“Same with me too. And make sure to find me before the day is over, since you\'ll need to renew the magic to breathe underwater,” said Helene.

“I\'ll keep that in mind.”

He couldn’t risk drowning after reaching the underwater city!

Nodding, Kai watched as they walked away, then headed into the street.

Come to think of it, it\'s definitely...

His body felt light, likely due to The Three Treasures set. Realizing this, Kai lightly kicked off the ground and launched upward. As he used freestyle strokes he had learned as a kid, his speed was unlike back then.

If they held a swimming competition in MID Online, I\'d win for sure.

He had even achieved this speed without a swimming skill, which was impressive! If he continued swimming and ultimately acquired a skill, he would be as good as a sea lion.

Kai swam upward to get a better view and observed the city buildings that came into view.

Just looking at the exterior is hard to know what is where. For now...

He quickly spun his body and swam down into an open area that looked like a plaza.

“Huh? Isn’t that a human?”

“I haven\'t seen a human in hundreds of years.”

The merfolk showed mild curiosity as soon as Kai appeared!

Approaching a group of them, Kai offered a bright smile and said, “Hello. I’m Kai, an adventurer exploring the most beautiful city in the world.”

“Haha, Aquavera is indeed beautiful.”

“There’s probably no city more beautiful than this anywhere in the world.”

If compliments could make whales dance[1], it would certainly be the same for merfolk!

Breaking down their wariness in no time, Kai glanced around with an embarrassed expression. “This is my first time in a merfolk city, so I\'m not familiar with my way around. Could you kindly show me around please?”

Since the merfolk used their own characters, just looking at the signs on the buildings didn\'t reveal much about their purpose.

Exploring everything myself would be inefficient.

MID Online was full of unknowns. No matter how smart a player was, without the right skills, they couldn’t figure everything out.

And NPCs are there to answer questions when you don\'t know something.

Going around confidently asking various questions to NPCs was the basic approach for players when visiting a new city.

Luckily, the friendly merfolk were more than willing to share their knowledge.

“Thank you. That was very helpful.” Kai gratefully thanked them.

“It’s nothing. We haven’t had an outsider visit in hundreds of years, so it was actually a welcome change.”

“Come by the tavern if you have time later! We’d love to hear stories from the human world.”

“I\'ll make sure to drop by if I can.”

After parting ways with the merfolk, Kai quickly swam to the weapon shop.

“Welcome.”

“Do you mind if I look around?”

“Go ahead.”

Ignoring the weapon shop owner\'s cold tone, Kai inspected the weapons.

Hmm, most of the weapons are made from bone. Probably because this is an underwater city.

Due to the nature of the underwater city, they couldn\'t use fire to work with steel. Moreover, metal weapons would corrode quickly in saltwater, making them unsuitable for long-term use.

“Huh?”

Then Kai noticed a weapon made from a unique material. It had a blue hue like it had absorbed moonlight, and it had a level of precision and sharpness that rivaled steel weapons on land without any sign of corrosion.

“Excuse me, what metal is this sword made from?”

“Hm? Oh, that’s bluesteel, of course.”

“Blue... steel?”

“One of the metals mined only in the deep sea. It doesn\'t corrode and doesn’t have much water resistance, making it ideal for weapons."

“But how was it forged into this shape? You don\'t have fire to work with, right?”

“Once a month, blacksmiths go to the surface and forge a few items there.”

The weapon shop owner glanced at Kai up and down, as if he were looking at an idiot.

I... I guess that makes sense. Merfolk are known to be adept at magic.

Even Helene used teleportation magic to move instantly, so the blacksmiths who made weapons would be no different!

“May I try swinging it?”

“Go ahead.”

With the owner\'s permission, Kai lightly swung the sword from side to side.

“It’s definitely...”

Even though he swung the sword underwater, it didn\'t seem to encounter much water resistance.

Then what about the Long Sword of the Awakened One?

Kai took out the sword from his waist and swung it the same way.

“Hmm...”

He furrowed his eyebrows. Then he shook his head with a serious expression.

This can’t be used underwater.

As he swung the sword, his wrist felt the strain from the intense water resistance.

Although his underwater movement had improved, that only applied to Kai\'s body. Neither the Armor of the Undead nor the Long Sword of the Awakened One he had equipped could overcome underwater resistance.

That means I\'ll have to get new equipment for underwater combat...

And that meant spending more money.

Kai let out a soft sigh and brushed away the bubbles in front of him before addressing the shopkeeper, "What currency do you accept...?"

"Gold, of course."

Well, at least perhaps that’s a relief.

He was worried that the merfolk might use their own kind of currency, but they used gold too!

Kai looked around the shop and picked up a sword that caught his eye. "How much is this?"

"A handful of gold."

Kai tilted his head, puzzled by the unusual pricing method.

A handful of gold? How much even is that...?

He took out a single gold coin from his inventory and showed it to the shopkeeper. "So how many of these would you need?"

"Ugh, you\'re being such a nuisance with all these questions... huh?"

The shopkeeper, who had been expressing clear annoyance, suddenly showed widened eyes. He stared intently at the gold coin Kai held and asked with a shaky voice, "W-what is this?"

"Huh? It\'s just a gold coin."

“No, that’s not what I meant. I’m asking about this intricate craftsmanship!” The shopkeeper picked up the gold coin with a dazed look and examined it from all angles. "Wow, I heard even the royal family has only a few gold coins with such fine craftsmanship..."

Oh! Could it be...?

Kai’s eyes lit up as he realized something from the shopkeeper\'s reaction.

Of course. This is an underwater city where fire isn’t used regularly.

Weapons were essential for the survival of the species, so blacksmiths would go to the surface once a month to make them, but that wasn’t the case with their currency.

Kingdoms on land have royal mints that produce gold coins.

The reason for creating gold with their national symbols was simple. Currency made transactions easier and established a clear value system.

The merfolk\'s trading methods are very unstructured. Humans don\'t trade like this.

It was due to the merfolk\'s innocence and also because Aquavera was the only underwater kingdom. With few trading partners, they mostly only traded amongst themselves and didn\'t feel the need to mint currency.

And it’s also hard to produce it underwater.

Creating a dedicated mint for gold on land would have been realistically challenging.

So, that means...

Kai was the only one in this city with such elaborately designed gold!

Understanding the situation with his keen instincts, Kai put on a business-like smile and said, "What do you think of it?"

"Ahem, it\'s quite impressive."

"If you don\'t mind, may I explain the value of this gold?"

"The value of gold?" The shopkeeper blinked, nodding with a bewildered expression. "Let’s hear it."

"First, look at the front of the gold. There\'s a finely detailed eagle symbolizing the sky."

"Oh, so this is the bird called an eagle? I\'ve read about it in books!"

The merfolk would never have the chance to see eagles, as they only inhabited the inland regions of MID Online. Perhaps because of this, the shopkeeper nodded eagerly, displaying an excitement that seemed unfitting for his age.

"And on the back is an engraving of the palace of the royal family of Rashion."

"Oh! So that\'s where the human king resides?"

"Yes, it\'s a massive palace that rivals most villages in size."

"Wow..."

The shopkeeper, with his mouth wide open, was already letting his imagination run wild.

"On the front, there\'s an eagle soaring in the sky! And on the back, an engraving of a massive royal palace. This isn\'t just currency. It\'s almost an art piece."

"I agree. It is very beautiful. However... I can\'t lower the price of the sword. One coin won\'t be worth a handful of gold. You\'d need at least twenty of these coins."

20 coins was... 20 gold!

A mere Magic-grade sword cost 2 million won!

Kai felt like screaming at this outrageous price, but he calmed himself down.

I can\'t just pay that straight out.

While it was true his wallet had gotten fuller recently, spending millions for a set of Magic-grade items seemed foolish.

Think, think...

After crunching numbers in his mind, Kai suddenly showed a relaxed expression and shook his head. “That\'s unfortunate. I thought all merfolk were intelligent, but it seems someone here knows one thing but not the other...”

“What did you just say?”

As the shopkeeper scowled, Kai flicked the coin with his finger. The coin, slowed by water resistance, rose slowly and then gently fell back into his hand.

Easing the tension a bit with that action, Kai said, “Sorry, what\'s your name?”

“...I\'m Kaul.”

“I see. As someone who also shares the character Ka, I’ll share a useful piece of information.”

Kai glanced around as if he was about to share a secret and then whispered, “I might be holding this gold now, but what do you think will happen when I leave the city?”

“Well... no one will have it.”

“Nope,” Kai smiled slyly, tapping Kaul’s hand with his index finger. "Wouldn\'t it be you who would hold this gold?"

"I... I see, but that’s only if we went with the transaction."

"Right, so think about it again. As you know, Aquavera could never produce such intricate coins."

“Ahem, aren’t you underestimating the skills of merfolk a bit too much? We could make them if we wanted to.”

Though Kaul seemed slightly uncomfortable, Kai\'s smile only grew broader. "Well, this is disappointing. Are you underestimating the skills of dwarves?"

“D-dwarves?” Kaul asked with a surprised expression.

The legendary craftsmanship of dwarves was well-known among all species.

"You don\'t really think humans made artwork of this level, do you? These were produced under the supervision and guidance of dwarves working in royal workshops."

That wasn’t wrong. Dwarves managed and supervised the molds for minting gold coins. Of course, gold was automatically produced 24/7.

“I see... I did think it was quite beautiful when I first saw it.”

Denying it would be similar to admitting his poor taste!

Then Kaul, slightly flushed, nodded in acknowledgment.

"So, how much would this piece of dwarf-crafted art be worth?" asked Kai.

"Hm..." After thinking for a while, Kaul extended out his hand with a surrendered expression and said, “...Just give me two coins.”

Success!

With a few words and a clever idea, Kai managed to lower the price by a whopping 90%!

As he clenched his fist in triumph, a notification window appeared before him.

Ding!

[You convinced Kaul, the shopkeeper of Aquavera’s weapon shop, who is known to be picky.]

[Charisma skill generated.]

[You have reduced the price of an item by 90% with your witty remarks and eloquent speech.]

[Bargain skill generated.]

1. A South Korean saying that means no one is immune to compliments ☜