"And what could it be?"
"Foremost, refers to me as the merchant."
The merchant grabbed the intersection of the cloak to reveal numerous items within and strapped on his jacket. Of course, none of them are truly what he was trying to offer, as his other hand reached onto a dagger.
He took off the glove of his right hand, and stabbed the palm using the dagger. The blood dripped but never reached the ground, it became static in the air. Slowly, the blood branched and revolted, moving uncannily still in a small space within the air before the liquid took an abrupt stop and shaped itself into an array vertically.
MF hasn't seen anything like this before, she never knew how symbols could be used in spell circuits. The man in front of her didn't really come from this era and she should be wary. In fact, her brain had already processed 10,000 simulations of possibilities of what's going to happen, 78% of them ended up in her getting badly messed up, 10% resulted in good, 2% of it resulted in an awkward session of getting pranked.
The array warped the space inside it. In reverse action, it became a scroll.
"The forbidden god had declared their land on Neamh, its mighty followers clad in obsidian of impregnable armor. At the dusk of death, they will harbour a cold cauldron made of ancient deities. This is the Occult Tesseract Law, the forbidden knowledge of the end, He he he he..."
He grasped the scroll violently but the scroll started to twist and twitch the moment his hand was closing in. It shrieked, the scroll wailed in perpetual cry. Each of its disastrous melodies had trembled every 'void' within MF, it's like she had no choice but to acquire it to find out what was going on.
"Fetch me the price," MF said, giving the merchant a devilish smile. But before he could speak, the devil was always ready to bargain. "Will 960 mid grade mana crystals do?"
The cultivation law wasn't her target, it was the knowledge that comes with the forbidden god in it. There was a high chance that this Occult Tesseract Law is a mana cultivation law, which was something MF couldn't utilize. Then again, the 'void' resonated furiously upon hearing its wail. It had to be something to do with the 'void'.
"He he he he, the price won't be in the form of mana crystal." The man shook off the wind like forcefully slamming a door with the scroll on its hand. "Give me the fresh heart of a broken maiden, then this forbidden knowledge will be yours."
"You want me to kill someone, for that scroll? What if there isn't any interest within me?"
"The scroll chose you."
"Then why won't you just give me?"
"Because you're also chosen by me to retrieve the object of the task I gave you." He chuckled.
"If the rain bothers, I could just jump into the sea."
"The will of the forbidden god is the sea."
"The forbidden god is a swamp, muddy and gloomy."
"A playful zest you have."
"You too, merchant."
Both smiled at each other, either because of contempt or something tingled the pique of each to their own. The gear didn't shift so swiftly, MF deemed that the merchant was worth to be trusted for this matter, she might have wanted to dig further, but for now, she would rather collect the important object right away.
"I will give you one day," the merchant said, gesturing his fingers coated in blood.
"No need, I can just give you right away." MF unfasten her short cloak and the black clothing underneath. Without any hesitation, she lunged her right hand into the middle of her chest. Blood spurted to the ground and to the merchant. Just like picking up a ripe fruit, she grasped the throbbing heart still overlaid by red gelatinous water.
Most of the arteries and blood vessels were closed the moment the pumping machine was taken. In this state, MF's body utilized the condensed energy she saved to move.
As if nothing happened, the woman with vermilion gaze approached the merchant, shrugging the life threatening big gap on her chest. "This is the one you wanted, right?"
The merchant paused for seconds, before his fingers were unconsciously prodding upon his forehead, as if there was a sudden migraine attacking him. "The world must've done something so wrongful to you. A maiden so heartbroken, so disappointed, so volatile and greedy." From the pitiful look into a jeering smile, he only laughed. "He he he he."
"That is creepy, just take the heart and get done with it."
The broken heart of a maiden, MF's isn't just broken, she was unretrievable beyond grasp. As for the maiden part, well, her male part wasn't a virgin anymore, but her female part was. Somehow this stupid idea worked.
Because for a concept, the term 'virgin' referred to one's state of mind where their experience was devoid from the feeling of intercourse. In a sense, MF wasn't supposed to be a virgin but because the merchant was referring to the 'heart of the virgin', he meant the body itself, and because MF haven't experienced or even having her current body state its cherry popped, she fitted the requirements to be a maiden as her 'yin' energy was still fresh.
In just a second, the wound closed in. She still had around one month of energy plus the two months of energy from the Kaleya she consumed. It should be enough to regenerate her heart.
'Regeneration'—a passive skill that was always the main cause of her survival in most cases, it took the condensed energy she had and overclocks the body to repair the damaged tissues beyond normal mortal capabilities. The faster MF wanted it to regenerate fully, the faster and bigger the consumption rate was. Just like how she survived the hack and slash from Kashal, which took 56 years worth of energy to be used just in an instant.
Her vermilion gaze that was shaded by the olive oil green eyelashes began to frown. '3 hours before my heart is fully regenerated, the most efficient time between the use of energy without overclocking my body like that time.'
'Occult Tesseract Law' acquired.
A reality-breaking portal was summoned behind the merchant, the top and the bottom edges were morphed into an ominous set of sticking jaws.
"Then shall we meet again, stranger!"
The portal swallowed him whole, leaving no trace of his existence except for the scroll that was currently within MF's grasp.
"There are still a couple of minutes left before Foel ends her shopping spree, might as well I check what is the ominous content inside."