Merchant caravans were usually made with a combination of many clans. So there was an intense competition. To keep it favourable for everyone and so that no one could overpower the others, there was no direct advertisement allowed. So there were no merchants shouting at people to come to their shop. Therefore, it didn't look like a merchant caravan but just a small town.
But still powerful ruled this world. Those that had more force and power gets to become the Caravan Leader, and the buildings were also divided according to the power they had. Those who had the highest power got to choose the buildings first, and those that had low power got the remaining buildings. The powerful had a great advantage; being able to choose the best buildings for their shop. So there was no meaning to the previous rule.
Fireflies were flying all around. 'Why is it called a Merchant caravan when there's no caravan?' Mizar was thinking something when he heard someone calling him.
"Hey, excuse me, but you didn't take your token with you. This is the reward for brea- I mean opening the gate. It can get you a 50% discount on purchasing anything." After saying that, he flicked a green token at Mizar and ran away.
Mizar moved back and let the token fall to the ground. Only after a minute did he picked it up from the ground after making sure it was okay. He wasn't paranoid; he thought that he probably offended the people by yelling at them and destroying the gate.
The token was translucent green like jade with a bamboo craved on it. He kept the token and kept walking. He could hear people's voices and footsteps.
Many people were nearing him, but once they saw Mizar most of their footsteps slowed down. Only some people kept walking at the same pace.
After walking for about two minutes, they appeared in seemed a four-way junction. There were a fountain and a big pond around it.
Looking at other roads, it was complete silence. It looked as if it was an abandoned city. There were lights coming from the buildings that signified it wasn't abandoned.
Mizar walked into one of the buildings of the left road. The three different directions had different things that were available. After you enter this road, everything was related to weapons, artifacts, rare metals, minerals, etc.
'Shan Clan's Equipment Shop'. That was written outside at of the building. Shan clan was one of the powerful clans in this merchant caravan and chose this position to set their shop.
It was a three-storey building. Most of the buildings were three-storey, the highest was five-storey building. There were also some four-storey buildings. Inside, there were many kinds of weapons, equipment and accessories inside glass chambers with their price written below it.
Mizar looked at one of the weapons inside the glass, and a system window showed up.
[Flame Longsword]
{A longsword with flame attribute}
[43% chance of burning enemy]
[Attack+8]
Mizar looked around and saw many weapons and equipment, but he didn't find what he was looking for. So he walked towards the stairs to up. When he was about to climb the stairs, a shop assistant came to greet him.
"Excuse me. Dear customer do you need help in finding something. If there is, you can tell me." The assistant said with a beautiful smile on her face. Anyone who wasn't interested in the things of the first floor usually ends up buying something of high value. In addition to that, he was the winner of the gate opening competition.
"Is there any flying equipment here? I would like to buy one if there is any." Mizar said without looking at the assistant.
"Yes. We have many types of flying equipment. Please follow me." Saying this, the assistant began to walk upstairs.
Mizar followed her upstairs. In the second floor, there were fewer items than the first floor, but items here were of high value.
Mizar looked around, and there were 4 flying equipments. Mizar walked in front of one of the equipment and stared for a few seconds, and a system window popped up just as expected.
[Flying Rock]
{A rock that can fly when infused with mana}
[Maximum Altitude: 200 metres]
[Mana Consumption: 10 mana per second]
He moved to the second item. It was a sword that could fly.
[Flying Sword]
{A sword used for flying and not attacking}
[Maximum Altitude: 250 metres]
[Mana Consumption: 12 mana per second]
The third one was a pair of boots.
[Geppo Boots]
{A boot that helps you jump as many times as you want, plus it helps in attacking too}
[Maximum Jumps: As much as you want]
[Mana Consumption: 8 mana per jump and increases by 1.1 times every time you jump]
[Note: This boot doesn't ensure a safe landing]
The fourth one was a wing.
[Griffin Wings]
{Wings that were possibly made of griffin's feathers.}
[Maximum Altitude: 225 metres]
[Mana Consumption: 11 mana per second]
[Note: This needs to be transplanted into the body to be able to use it.]
Mizar weighed the pros and cons and finally decided on Griffin Wings. The other had the chance of being broken, damaged or stolen. If the wings get damaged, they could still repair itself and could be used anytime. He wanted to get the boots but couldn't because of the fall damage that it inflicted.
There were flying equipment in the system's shop, but they were very expensive. The cheapest was 20,000 coins. Although they were expensive, they still had an additional function.
There were spells for flying too, but they were 100 times more expensive. Only Mage Monarch and above could fly without using equipment or spells.
"I will take these." He said, pointing at the wings. He couldn't say that he will take the griffin wings.
"Okay. It would cost 3500 Mana Stones. Since you have the green token, it will cost 1750 mana stones." The shop assistant still had a smile on her face.
Mizar took out Mana Stones from the pouches on his waist. The shop assistant took out the glass case and handed the wings to Mizar. The wings were small. Only when mana flows through it would it increase in size.
"These wings need to be transplanted. We can transplant it if you want. It will only cost 500 mana stones for you." The assistant spoke in a slightly low voice fearing that Mizar wouldn't buy it hearing that it needs to be transplanted. But the fear was for nothing as Mizar didn't return the wings but he rejected the transplant.
He left the building and came down to the clan and went to his house. He took out the wings from the pouch. It was inside the small glass case. He touched the wings and a notification popped up.
[Would you like to equip it? Y/N]
[Note: It can only be unequipped when it is destroyed]
"Yes."
The wings flew up and became bigger and attached itself it to his back. He had already taken off his cloth.
His spine started growing additional bones on the sides. The veins on the back also stated growing thin branches that attached itself into the wings. Mizar slowly started feeling an additional part in his body. There was no need to say how painful the process was but Mizar didn't even let out a grunt.
After everything was over, the wing became smaller until it became the size of a finger. Mizar flowed the mana through it and it became big. When he stopped the mana, it stayed like that for a few seconds before becoming small again.
Mizar didn't have anything else to buy nor he had the money to buy other things. It was the second day and an idea struck Mizar.
'What if I sell the token. I bet it would sell for a high price.' So he wrote 'Selling the 50% discount token' on a rock and stood at the stairs. Many people wanted to buy it but backed away after hearing the price.
"6000?! Are you out of your mind? I wouldn't even have money to buy other things if I buy it."
"Then go away, don't block the view here, other people can't see. Don't obstruct my business." Mizar said in a straight forward manner.
"Damn that Relic Stone is expensive. If only I had the green token. If I had hurried yesterday I would have won the competition and gotten the token." A middle-aged man was muttering as he was descending the stairs.
Mizar heard his muttering because of his high senses and started shouting "Selling the 50% discount token, only for 15,000 mana stones."
People started gossiping.
"Hey wasn't it 6000 mana stones just now. He has increased it by 9000 mana stones. Is he out of his mind?"
"Yeah. Who would be foolish enough to buy it for 15000 mana stones?"
"Yeah, now his token would never be sold. It can't even be used to wipe the ass."
"He should have decreased his price and instead of decreasing it, he increased it. What a moron."
The middle-aged man also heard Mizar and hurried to buy the token. In his way, he heard people's gossips. He arrived in front of Mizar and said "I will buy the token. But only in the original price."
"15,000 take it or leave it"
"I can't buy it for 15,000. I will not have enough money to buy what I am seeking. I will buy it for 9000 mana stones."
"15,000 take it or leave it," Mizar said the same thing again.
"9500"
"15,000"
"10,000"
"15,000"
"10,500"
...
"This is my final price 13,000. I don't have any more than that."
"Okay, then. It's a deal" Mizar flicked the token and him. He destroyed the rock, took the small sack of mana stones and went up to buy stuff.
He bought many things and sold them all in the system's shop. He got about 2700 coins by selling all of it. He sold the dark staff and kept another staff he bought from the merchant caravan.
He had a special item that he wanted to buy from the system's shop. It was an item called [Penal Colony]. It cost 2500 coins. Its function was to trap someone inside and the trapped person can't get out without the approval of the user. The trapped person's cultivation can't be higher than the user. It can't trap someone of higher cultivation than the user.
It was a piece of land that could be increased or decreased in size. He was going to use this to store his revived undeads.
Two days went by and the merchant caravan left. He went to his daily routine. Even though he could store many undeads in the Penal Colony, the maximum number of undeads he could revive was 102. So, he had 102 hundred beast kings in it. After storing the beasts, he would make it small and store it in his inventory.
Now he had an Undead Army.