The tower of life Chapter 11 - The Black Market

Hope reached his home after three days. He saw the skeleton he had killed in front of the door. Moving past it, he looked at the next door.

Hope: "Kara helped me when I was injured and cared for me after my monster hunting. I didn't see her. I asked about her, but she was moved to another camp. I need to thank her. If she is back, I need to see her. My detection isn't picking up any presence. Maybe I am the first one here. I will see her when she is back."

Once inside, he collapsed on his bed, feeling a mix of exhaustion and relief. Suddenly, he remembered what the investigators had said about re-registering.

Hope: "I totally forgot about that. My hunter's ID won't work anymore. They told me to re-register, but with everything that's happened, I forgot. I need to register, but first, I need to sell these runes. The normal way is not possible because of my license. I need to go to the black market and sell all my loot. That's better because I can get more skills by trading runes there, and my identity will be safe too."

Some time later...

Hope arrived at a building with all his runes. It appeared to be a normal residential complex. Hope felt a strange sense of normalcy. He entered the lift with another person, who pressed the button for the third floor. Hope remained still. Once the person exited the lift, Hope concentrated his mana in his finger. His fingertip started to glow a bluish-white light. Hope was really trying hard to concentrate and pressed the open button. The door opened to pitch blackness; Hope walked straight towards it. Stepping through, Hope was momentarily blinded by a sudden flash of light.

When his vision adjusted, he saw the bustling black market spread out before him like a massive bazaar. Both sides of the road were lined with sellers. It felt different from anything he had seen.

Hope: "It's exactly as they told me. When I was in a party back then, they told me about this place—a subspace created by an item with multiple hidden entrances and only one exit. It's my first time here, but it feels familiar. The subspace is vast. To think an item created all of this. Oh, my Detect skill is going crazy—there are a lot of live monsters here.

Let's see what I want. I need more skills: attack, magic, support, defense, and mainly escape skills. The higher floors will be a lot more difficult, so I need to be prepared. And if anything interesting catches my eye, I definitely need to buy it."

He wandered through the stalls, using Appraisal to inspect the goods. At one stall, he found an intriguing item.

Hope: "Black Minotaur Horn: crafting item. It's really rare. I should buy it."

After some haggling, Hope traded the horn for one rune.

Hope: "It wasn't easy, but I only had to give up one rune. It's not safe to walk around with this many items. I need a subspace skill."

Hope continued his search for a subspace skill, moving from stall to stall. Finally, he arrived at an old man's stall located at the far end of the city. The stall had eight items displayed. Among them was a ring with the Subspace skill, a dagger, three magic grimoires, a black orb in a bottle, a coat, and boots. Hope used Appraisal; all were rare items with skills. They were worth nearly or more than the items and runes he had. The old man sat calmly, seemingly indifferent to the bustling market around him. Hope noticed several people eyeing the items greedily, but the old man paid them no mind.

Hope's inner thought: "All of these items are rare. If I absorb them, I will get many skills. It not only has the subspace skill ring, but it also has grimoires too. I can fully utilize my mana now. It will really cost a lot—more than all the runes I have. I need to haggle. Please, my luck stats, help me now."

Hope: "That dagger—how much is it?"

Old Man: "I'm not interested in money. Show me something you can trade for."

Hope: "Sorry, I only have money and common rank items with low durability. If you sell this to me, I will give extra. Some of these items are nearly destroyed, like the ring there—its durability is nearly zero. So let me take these items off your hands."

Old Man: "Boy, don't play a player. I can sense the mana from the items in your pocket. Those people eyeing my stall? Do you think they are eyeing my items? They're sensing the same thing I am sensing. They're after you. Once you leave here, you'll be attacked."

Hope: "They can sense my runes. I was careless. I hid the stones in my coat's pocket, thinking of the robbers in the black market. I am trapped. I need to escape."

Old Man: "Boy, do you think you can escape? They're professionals. They've already cut off your escape routes. Let me ask you something: why do you think I have all these items and haven't been attacked? And in this pretty lonely area, why haven't you been attacked?"

Hope: "Are you their leader or something?" Hope got into a fighting stance.

The old man laughed, a sound mixed with killing intent that sent shivers down Hope's spine. The intensity of the laugh was more powerful than anything he'd felt, even from the elf girl. The people hiding in the shadows scattered in an instant.

Hope, drenched in sweat, looked at the old man in total fear.

Old Man: "Boy, I like you. I'm not the leader of the bandits. I'm just searching for one. If you want to buy my item, trade with items I can use."

Hope: "This killing intent—I have no power in my will to fight his. He is a monster. I used Appraisal on the items, but why didn't I do Appraisal on him? I have to avoid a fight. I need to give my runes for my safety."

Hope reluctantly handed over all the runes he had to the old man. The old man's eyes widened briefly at the sight of so many runes. He smiled slightly, returned two runes to Hope, and said, "It's a pleasure doing business with you," and walked away.

Hope was shocked but quickly regained his composure. Realizing the bandits would soon come for him, he activated Eater. The black, purple-tinged teeth devoured the subspace ring, granting him the skill. He quickly placed the items, two runes, and the horn into his new subspace.

Subspace F: Can hold 15 items inside.

Hope tried to move using Dash but knew he was being watched. He activated Camouflage instead and escaped there.

Some time later...

Hope found himself in a crowded area.

Hope: "I'm pretty sure I escaped, but why do I still sense people after me? I even changed my clothes."

He used his Detection skill and moved from one shop to another, running inside other places and using Dash. The pursuers were above the shop, following Hope from one building to another. They finally caught up to him in a shop filled with monsters in cages. The pursuers used a mana rope to bind him, and when one stepped out from the shadows, it was a skeleton in Hope's clothes. The pursuers got angry and crushed the skeleton's head.

Pursuer: "He must be near. Spread out, search for him, kill him, and take his items to me."

Hope, hiding at the back of the shop behind the live monster cages: "I think I escaped, but how are they following me?"

Suddenly, a presence alerted Hope, and he took a combat stance. An assassin emerged from the shadows before him.

Hope, in a battle position, looked at the assassin with Appraisal. His skills were so much higher; Hope knew this was an unbeatable fight.

Assassin: "That was a neat trick. So, you are a summoner, huh? But why are you fighting with a dagger and you other skills? Are you a rare class? I don't care even you are. All I need is your items. If you give me that, I will be on my way."

Hope: "I sold everything for money. If you want money, I will give you the money. Just let me leave."

Assassin: "I can sense there are no items with you, but my other senses are telling me that you got something better than money. I want that."

Assassin (inner voice): "I finally tracked him down with my Mark Target skill, but where did the items he had go? He must have traded them for a better item, but he said money. Who is foolish enough to sell all the items for money? I sensed it earlier—he had a lot of tower items. If he traded with that darn old man, he should have the old man's item. Anyway, I want to get what he has."

Hope: "There is no way I can escape. I need to win here. By comparing his stats, he is nearly B or just about B."

The assassin, with a dagger, and Hope, holding his dagger, attacked each other at the same time. The assassin had the upper hand, but Hope managed to keep up.

Assassin: "You are matching up to my speed." He boosted his speed and strength, increasing the attack power. Hope got blade cuts all over his body.

Hope moved backward and used Dash to jump

to a shop's roof. The assassin, expecting that, blocked him and kicked him to the ground. The noise from the monster was so loud that people near the place fled in fear.

Assassin: "Boy, you can't run away from me. I have a Mark skill. Even if you escape, I can find you."

Assassin's inner thought: "He is this weak, and how did he get so many items? And where is it? In our fight, I was trying to find out where he hid the items, but it's not on his body. I tracked him from the old man's stall to now using my Mark skill. He didn't stop. Where is he hiding it?"

Hope got up and attacked continuously, but all the attacks were deflected, and Hope got hurt badly by the assassin's dagger. He fell down into the monster cages. The assassin cut Hope's legs, making him unable to move.

Assassin: "The fight is over. Tell me where the items are, and I will spare you. I don't want your life; I only want the items. Anyway, you can't kill me or even hurt me with this level of power. So agree to my offer, and I'll even sweeten the deal. I will tell the others to let you go from here alive. So give up the items."

Hope, all in blood said you have no use for items when you are dead, and fell back crushing the monster cage.

The assassin laughed hard, looking up and saying, "Even if you are dying, you are not telling me the location of the items. How greedy are you?" He looked back at Hope.

There was no one there. He looked and saw dead monsters with dagger wounds where Hope had fallen down.

Assassin: "He escaped." He looked to the Mark skill, and the location was the same. Through the Mark skill's screen window, a dagger appeared for his throat.

Hope came out from Camouflage and forced the dagger to hit the assassin's throat but nearly missed and pierced it in the left arm. The assassin, with his right hand, tried to kill Hope with his dagger, but Hope placed his hand in front of the dagger and pierced his hand. The assassin tried to pull it back but Hope said, "Merge," and the two daggers became one. The dagger Hope had became more powerful, then he cut the assassin into two pieces.

Assassin: What happened? "You killed me? You're not even a C-ranker, and you killed me? I can't believe it." He said with his dying breath.

Hope fell down and used Detect, saying, "Eater." The black, purple teeth devoured the assassin's body, and a message appeared:

Skill learned: Mark

At the same time, the old man Hope sold the runes to came out of a door connected to a large building. A group of people arrived quickly and said, "Sir, you were in the black market? We looked everywhere for you. Sir, please inform us when you take tour trips in the future."

Chairman: "I want you to find a person. I want you to get all the details."

Staff: "Sir, can you give me some information?"

Chairman: "He is a kid below 20, but he had all of these runes, and he had some rare runes too. I think he is below C. I am curious how he got all of this desperate being a low rank. Check all the black market entrances and find out about him when he gets back. Do not make direct contact. He is a surveillance target only. Give me his file when you find out about him."

At the same time, Hope used his Mark skill to know where those assassins were. The Detect skill helped him to avoid them. Hope was trying to escape.