Jack's POV

  "Herbal weeds for ten credits, herbal weeds for ten credits," I called out to the men, women, and other creatures alike as they walked past me in the crowded street.

  The shops were lined up in two rows facing each other, and sold everything from garments to food to weapons that one could use when inside the dungeon proper.

  Right now, we were all inside a tunnel that connected the safe zone to the rest of the dungeon. The ceiling here was high and dark but enough magic orbs were lit up some fifteen feet high that there was no darkness down here. And amidst all that hustle, bustle, and brushing past each other with some snarls and growls. I was standing to one side with the dungeon's earthy wall to my back and had held up the weeds in my hand.

  The lower floors of the dungeon would open up at midnight. Thus, all sorts of creatures had gathered in that market which was close to one of the floor exits. And I knew for a fact that the crowded street would soon be empty as the hour was drawing close. So I started waving those weeds in my hand and calling out even louder.

  The lanky wolves with no armor, the dwarfs with chipped hammers, the barbarians with worn out axes, and the elves with their bows. Ignored me. But the humans. My own kind. They gave me the stinky eye as always. Especially the mages.

  If only I was dressed not in rags. Had a shop like the other vendors. And my herbs weren't in a wet sack placed on top of my bare feet. Then I may have been able to sell my herbal weeds with ease.

  But I had hope that despite those short comings I would not go home empty handed. The herbs I had gathered were fresh and could be used to stop bleeding in the dungeons when one runs out of magic potions. So I knew there was always a demand for them.

  "Herbal weeds," I called out again, showing the weeds in my hand to everyone and at the same time to no one in particular.

  "Are they fresh, boy?" came a voice from a cloaked man who was standing and checking out the goods of the vendor next to me until a moment ago.

  The man was about six feet, with graying hair, and cold eyes. His sky blue cloak covered him from shoulder to ankle, and I couldn't tell what sort of weapon he was carrying on him. But from the looks of it he seemed to be a mage. Because fighters and tanks don't have round cheeks like those or a face with no scars.

  "Are they fresh?" he asked again looking at the weeds in my hand.

  "Yes, sir." I maintained my smile as my father did when we sold things back in the day together. "Would you like—"

  "How do I know that these are a real deal?" His gravelly voice made his face look a little hardened. But I didn't let my smile falter and continued to be on guard. Because this man was too neat and tidy to be from the dungeon proper and he was easily in his late fifties. Just seeing him had made me recall my mother's words of warning.

  Be vary of the old folk in the dungeons where a great deal of young and foolish perish.

  "How much for a dozen leaves?" he asked, inspecting the weeds in my hand from afar.

  "Ten credits," I said, finally lowering my stretched up arm.

  "The vendor two shops down is selling them for seven—"

  "My leaves are fresh," I countered. The man looked away from the weeds and at me. "I picked them myself not two hours ago. Here…" I offered him a single green leaf which was the size of my hand.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The man took a sniff, and the way his eyebrows rose made me smirk.

  "How much for the entire thing?" he asked, without hesitation.

  I looked at the wet sack which was resting on top of my feet, and back at him. I had about ten dozen of those. But before I could quote my price, he spoke up, "Seventy credits for the entire thing," he said.

  "The best I can do is ninety," I said, with a shrug, willing to give the old man ten credit discount.

  "Deal…" He smiled.

  Damn, I should have said ninety five... I thought, when he just agreed to my counter offer in a heartbeat. But a deal was a deal, and I was the one who had set the price.

  He put his hand forth for us to exchange the credits. So I reached in my pants pocket which might have been blue once, and pulled out a hand held device. A rectangular transparent tablet the size of my hand. "Ninety credits it is," I said, punching the number manually into the screen, and showed it to him.

  "You don't have a screen boy?" he asked me, with a raised eyebrow. "The System usually takes care of this…" He looked at the device I had held.

  "The shop belongs to my mother," I lied, with a straight face, and held out the device for him to scan with his palm. "Ninety credits," I said.

  He hovered his palm over the device and moved his eyes on the screen that had popped up on his end to accept the transaction.

  The device buzzed in my hand a moment later, letting me know that the payment was successful. So I hid the device back in my pocket and reached down and offered him my entire stock. And the moment he touched those leaves, the entire thing vanished in thin air.

  "Rare quality," said that man, as the System identified the herbal weeds for him the moment they became part of his inventory.

  I smiled at him and went down to pick up my empty sack. If I were lucky. I knew I could gather some more herbal weeds in time and make some extra money before the adventurers left the safe zone at midnight.

  But before I could say goodbye to that man, and be on my way.

  He stopped me.

  "What's your class, boy?" he asked me.

  "Fighter," I said, just for kicks.

  Confusion took over his face.

  "I'm selling things," I said with the wet sack over my shoulder. "I'm a merchant," I lied. "My mother is a herbalist. She tells me where to go and what to pick, and we split the profit."

  "And your dad?"

  "Not in the picture," I said, with a straight face.

  "I see…" he said, a somber look taking over his face. "For a moment when I saw that scanner." He paused, while looking me straight in the eye. "I thought you were a blank." The fake sympathetic look on his face told me that he was sniffing for something, and I didn't like that one bit. "Are you a blank?" he asked.

  I chuckled out loud trying to throw him off while alarms blared inside my head.

  "I have been inducted," I said. "And I have spent two whole years inside the tutorial—"

  "Ah," he said, with amusement on his face. "You are from the previous generation…"

  "Yes, I'm indeed," I said, killing my chuckle but maintaining my smile. "The new generation folk are luckier, aren't they?" I asked. "No more spending two years in a tutorial," I said.

  He nodded at that. "The System is actively trying to get everyone inducted," he added. "Even giving out some juicy stat bonuses to the people who find the unindicted." He lowered his tone as if giving me some taboo information.

  "Hard luck," I shrugged, while maintaining a smile and not breaking my eye contact with him. "But I'm way too old to be a blank—"

  "If you don't mind me asking." He cut me off. "What did you do in the tutorial exactly while being a merchant?" He furrowed his eyebrows as though really curious about it.

  Compared to the hustle and bustle of the street. The back and forth of the vendors and the customers. He looked like he was in no hurry to end the conversation and be on his way.

  "We aren't supposed to talk of what we did inside…" I said.

  "Oh…" He closed his eyes for a moment as if he had just recalled the System rules. "It has been to long that it slipped my mind." He smiled at me all beaming.

  "Happens…" I said. "See you around Mr…"

  "Jensen," he said.

  "Mr. Jensen," I said, with a nod.

  "Will I find you here tomorrow?" he asked.

  "Of course," I said, with a bright smile. "But no discounts tomorrow."

  He gave me a knowing smile that asked me to make a run for it. So without wasting another breath. I walked past him, and wanted nothing more than to blend into the crowd. My mother was right when she had asked me to be wary of the old folk.

  "What's your name, boy?" he asked from behind my back.

  I stopped to turn back and look at that cloaked man.

  "Jack," I said. "A merchant…" I added.

  "A merchant…" He smiled as if he knew my secret.

  As if he knew that I was one of the blanks.

  A human who was not integrated into the System.

  *****