Nameless King

“You want to know the prices? Well, listen carefully.” Pronounced Sven and proceeded to explain.

“Different souls contain different amounts of Soul Essence, so determining the exact number of souls you need to exchange for one Void Soul is quite difficult. But, I can give you average prices, which are usually pretty fair.”

Wain nodded. He listened carefully to Sven and didn’t miss a single detail. It was important information that would help him make an accurate plan for allocating his souls in the future.

Money was significant in all worlds. It could be used to obtain almost anything except true feelings and a real power.

“One hundred Common Rating souls is possible to exchange for one Void Soul. Last time you handed me several hundred Demonic Ants souls and only got one Void Soul, but I didn’t fool you. Demonic Ants are rather weak creatures, and their souls are rather low in energy. But, the main reason was that I included cocktails in the bill.” Sven pronounced.

“I see, that’s not the problem. Then I got everything I wanted out of this place. Go on.” Calmly said Wain.

“For twenty-five Rare Rating souls, you can buy one Void Soul. For six Epic Rating souls, you can buy one Void Soul. If you have a Heroic Rating soul, you only have to spend two souls. For one Ascendant Rating soul, you can get three Void Souls.” Sven explained in detail.

“Hmm, I see, on average, with each increased Rating, the price drops by a factor of four. The only exception is Ascendant Soul. I can get more Void Soul for them at the average price.” Mumbled Wain.

“Yes, you should realize that even though you need a hundred Common Rating Souls to get one Void Soul, that’s only the beginning. For one Void Soul, you can only buy the weakest equipment. Of course, any item can be put to good use, but I’m not talking about unique situations.” Said Sven.

“I get it, but you were talking about Primary Chronicle souls, am I right?” Asked Wain.

“Yes, the higher the Chronicle souls, the higher the price. There’s no trick here. It’s trivial logic. But, the price ratio among First Chronicle souls is slightly different compared to Primary Chronicle souls.” Pronounced Sven.

“I’m listening to you.” Calmly said Wain.

“To get one Void Soul, you need to hand me ten Common Rating souls or two Rare Rating Souls. For one Epic Rating soul, you get two Void Souls. For one Heroic Rating soul, you get eight Void Souls. For one Ascendant Rating soul, you get forty Void Souls.” Sven muttered.

“Serious differences. Tell me, how much is the most expensive thing you can sell?” Asked Wain.

He was curious to know how expensive and powerful things existed. Also, Wain understood that Sven wasn’t the only one who could trade souls for Void Souls and trade. But, at the moment, Sven was the only merchant Wain had access to.

Sven smiled and said, “You don’t need to know that because then there wouldn’t be any intrigue. But, to increase your interest, I will tell you that it is much more than a million, a billion, or even a trillion. You will need an incredible number of souls. You would have to destroy entire cities and islands to get that item!”

“Huh, no matter how the world changes, money will always be one of the most important factors in it.” Mumbled Wain.

He understood that even though he was powerful, he needed money and in significant quantities.

The problem was that the only way a human didn’t need money was as if he was the strongest in all worlds and dimensions.

In that case, he could get anything he wanted simply because he was strong. But, it took unshakable strength. This person should not have been defeated even by billions of other beings.

“Of course, trade helps people communicate with each other, build relationships, and progress faster. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just like everywhere else, there are minuses and pluses.” Said Sven.

“Yes… Only for some, there are many more pluses, while others have only one plus among hundreds of minuses. Money is a dangerous yet necessary thing for which people are willing to kill each other.” Said Wain.

He knew better than most how money affected the world and how it could change people and influence decisions. In time, Wain’s thirst for money subsided, for with his power, he had no need and no shortage of money, but it was not always so.

Wain was different from many people, but he could not be unique in every one of the millions of aspects of human life.

When he was still young, he had to do a lot of terrible things to make some money. At first, these were forced measures because otherwise, he would have died in some dumpster. But then he was consumed by the lust for money.

Wain was getting more and more, and he wasn’t going to stop. But, then, underneath the mountains of his gold, he noticed something. It was an invisible and intangible thing, but when Wain saw it, his lust for money began to subside.

That was power, not much at all, but Wain felt that had infinite potential. It was then that the part of Wain’s journey that made him the judge of his world began.

At that point, Wain had an enormous amount of money, ranging from simple bills to gold, rare metals, and jewelry. He measured his fortune in warehouses filled to the brim with gold.

But, he understood that even all the money in the world would not help him gain the power to be a reaper for everyone who lived on the planet.

A lot happened that day. Wain decided to radically change his life and move in a different direction. Then he became a loner and gradually built up his power, but some things didn’t change. Like before, he spilled rivers of blood, paving the way to his goal.

Those who once killed someone were said to have blood on their hands. That would be an incorrect comparison in Wain’s case. It was more like a sea or even a whole ocean of blood, but apart from that, Wain was a true destroyer of hopes and dreams.

Every time he killed someone, someone’s fate was shattered. Wain didn’t believe in fate. He believed that everything depended on the person himself or any other factors. He thought about it a lot because he was often faced with choosing to kill a person or not.

“Yes, money is significant, but when a man gets paid for his work, it helps him feel needed and not useless. An emotional attitude is essential in any situation. Okay, Wain, you wanted to ask me something. What is it?” Sven asked.

Wain nodded, “Recently, I was caught in a spatial rift and was about to enter the Void, but suddenly instead of an inky door with hundreds of eyes, a bone gate appeared. I didn’t chicken out and went inside. I found out later that I was in one of the Purgatory zones. What do you know about it?”

Sven was a little shocked when Wain mentioned Purgatory. Wain was not supposed to have information about this place in any way. Sven didn’t know how Wain knew about it, but that was none of his business. It wasn’t until a little later, anyway.

“How much do you know about the Purgatory zones?” Sven asked. He must have realized how knowledgeable Wain was on the subject.

“Not much at all. I know that Purgatory is connected to the World of Darkness and that these zones are complicated to get into, as well as having terrible dangers lurking in them.” Proclaimed Wain.

Sven nodded, “I’ll tell you all I know, but I must warn you that even I don’t know everything. The Purgatory zones are some of the most mysterious places in the entire universe. Sometimes I think it’s just impossible to understand how it works.”

“I see,” Wain said briefly.

“But, as you know, everything in this world comes with a price, and especially information. If you want me to tell you about the Purgatory zones, you have to pay three Void Souls.” Said Sven.

Wain nodded, he was not surprised that Sven asked for payment. In his mind, three Void Souls for such information was not much.

At this point, Wain had 2173 souls. That was quite a lot. A man would have to single-handedly empty several Dungeons or Nests to get that many souls. But Wain was somewhat lucky.

He took advantage of the invasion of monsters from heaven and was able to get a little more than two thousand souls in one powerful attack. Wain could have used those souls, but he didn’t see the point in doing so.

He had no shortage of Soul Essene at the moment, but he could use souls to obtain Void Souls. This currency of the World of Darkness was highly useful.

No one in this world needed bills or materially useless metal now. Money was now the souls of other creatures, it sounded incredibly cynical, but it was reality.

“Okay, I agree,” Wain said briefly and reached forward. He could pass as many souls as he wished.

Sven smiled and did the same. The next moment, three hundred white souls moved into Sven’s body.

Whoooosh. 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝙤𝙫𝒆𝒍．𝙘𝒐𝙢

The next moment three gray souls appeared in front of Sven. An ancient aura emanated from them, and they were as deep as the abyss.