Chereads / The Ascension Merchant / Chapter 4 - From trash to treasure

Chapter 4 - From trash to treasure

As Joseph walked about the city, he kept going over the very first quest that had presented itself to him, and how would he go about completing it. Very quickly Joseph also noticed the how lively the city was in comparison to the outside, he still remembers clearly how the souls at the entrance held no interest to what was occurring around them, completely devoid of life.

And yet some change had occurred to these souls upon entering and becoming a part of the city, was this temporary? Was some unknown power manipulating these souls? Will it happen to me?

So many questions going through Joseph's mind, these people seemed so friendly and full of life but were they aware that they are dead?

"System, can you tell me how I can turn a trash item into a treasure? Are there any requirements like the size of the item, can you also tell me what would be classified a treasure?" - Joseph had decided to ask the system to get some further clarification on how to complete the quest. Could he turn a piece of rock into a treasured item? If so, din't that seem overly ridiculous?

.....

(Host can be assured that there are no restrictions to the type of treasure that can be created, size of items do not affect the end result. An example would be you as the host can turn large mountain into handful of power-stones which are beneficial to cultivators of the Dao.)

.....

"Wait, System that sounds too good to be true, what are the consequences for me doing that?" - Joseph had never been one to trust anything that sounded to be too good to be true, and the System's response smelled like a rotting fish on a hot day.

.....

(Host is correct the process of turning trash into treasure requires AME for the conversion, if the conversion fails to meet required amount, it will cause the conversion to fail and the host to suffer backlash. To turn a mountain into a handful of power-stones currently requires 1 million AME points, host currently has 0 AME points and backlash would cause the host to suffer true death and dispersion of the soul.)

.....

Deep in thought over what the System had told him, Joseph looked up to find himself standing in front of an inn, looking over it he notices the name *SOUL INN*, "Not very imaginary with the name"- Joseph mumbled under his breath as he walked in.

Inside the inn it was quite lively as new souls had arrived, much like every other day but still a reason to party. While Joseph stood at the entrance, he was amazed at all the people he was seeing drinking, yelling or could have been singing, Joseph was not really sure mostly because some of the souls were not entirely human but some were of other races he had never seen before. Some looked like orcs, goblins, woodland elves and dark elves gathered together with other races that would otherwise be at war. The sight left him rather stunned.

Joseph walked up to the bar and waited his turn to be served. After five minutes the bartender came towards Joseph and asked what he would like. "Do you have a room I can stay in for the night?" - From the size of the crowed in the inn Joseph could not help but doubt the availability at the inn.

Shortly after the bartender returned and passed Joseph a key to his room, and pointed towards the stairs. Inside the room, Joseph looked around where he would be staying the night before going over and jumping into the bed.

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The following morning or what could pass for morning, Joseph left the inn to see the city and find where would he go to for rebirth. Aside from learning where to go for rebirth, Joseph was also looking forward to completing his quests, primarily to see what he could buy in the store tab in the system's menu.

Along one of the streets, Joseph noticed some rubbish that was piling up in one of the side streets, as he got closer Joseph could see material waste that had been discarded from one of the shops and decided to pick a few pieces of trash to take back to the inn and see what he could make.

On returning to the inn, the place was much more quiet then the previous party night, as a new soul he would not have to pay for his accommodation the first week of stay if he choose to delay the rebirth process, but after that first week the room fee for a night equaled to two Soul Tokens.

After nodding to the bartender, Joseph made his way towards his room, soon after he took out the items he was hiding in his pockets and started to make his treasures.

[First treasure was successful, please check your bank]

..

[Second treasure was successful, please check your bank]

..

[Third treasure was successful, please check your bank]

..

[Fourth treasure was not successful, it has been deleted]

.....

Not long after, Joseph found himself too weak from processing 10 treasures from trash, and he was saddened by the fact that out of the 10, 3 of the treasures had been lost. While not knowing what worth they would have had, he still felt the impact of the backlash of creating and failing to produce a successful treasure.