Shadow Star.
An intelligence organization that had existed for centuries, some even speculate that it dated back to the establishment of murim!
While not many people knew of their existence, as long as you had enough money to pay for it, almost any question that you had could be immediately answered. No one even knew why they desired wealth so much or if that was even their target, but they had faithfully attended to their role ever since the organization had come to exist.
This was the kind of 'business' that Leo had just stepped foot into.
"I'm looking to sell martial arts."
"Huh?"
Seemingly shaken by the casual statement, the feminine voice no longer maintained its neutrality. Bold or not, this was her first time receiving such a request since she became a 'dealer' of Shadow Star!
"Ahem… Where are the martial arts that you would like to sell?"
"Here of course…"
Keeping his poker face, Leo tapped his head. It was time for him to show off a bit.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"If you would be kind enough to bring me some ink and paper, I shall provide you with the goods that I would like to sell."
The dealer who had just restored her calm felt even more confused. Selling martial arts was a risky business considering how protective their owners were. Regardless of the fact that they had the ability to authenticate the items they received, she couldn't understand how this dear customer's mind worked.
They dared to sell information since they had the ability to ensure the customer would pay in the end, but the person in front of her was a 1st rate Martial Artist at best. To make it worse, he was admitting that he held such value in his head! At this point, all she needed was a quick hand gesture and he would be captured!
"Oh right, he also said to tell you that Geom says hello to Byeol."
Naturally, Leo wasn't mindless enough to trust a black market intelligence organization's integrity. He was merely imitating the method that the protagonist would use in the future!
'Did it work?'
As this was a chance given to the protagonist by his cheat, Leo had a certain degree of trust in its effectiveness. However, even if it didn't work, he still had a way out.
Without making it noticeable, Leo had already started channeling the Heavenly Reign Steps. If things went south, he planned to run away and flare up his Scarlet Sky Internal Energy. He would probably get a scolding, but at least their watcher would come to save him before he disappeared from the face of the earth.
This was also why he didn't let Yeon accompany him, one person getting into trouble was more than enough.
"...Give me a second."
After staying silent for a few minutes, the dealer stood up and vanished in the darkness that covered the whole space, only reappearing again after a dozen minutes or so.
"What else did he say?"
"Hmmm… 'That chase was fun.' If I remember correctly."
"Alright, here you go. Feel free to note whatever you like to sell and we will come to an agreement after appraising it."
"Thank you."
After blurting out the script that he had in mind, Leo received the large pile of paper that the dealer returned with. It was time to use his own cheat this time!
Scribble… Scribble…
The sound of the bamboo pen scratching the paper intensified as Leo went into speed writing mode. Although he wasn't a calligraphy expert, Leo's handwriting was still above average even when writing in Korean.
The fact that he had the image of the words in his mind not only made it easy to make a close copy, but it also increased his writing speed to a great extent!
Originally, Leo planned to use knowledge from Earth that had been yet to be discovered here to obtain some funds for his future. Thankfully, his visit to the Heavenly Demon's library made things much easier, now that he didn't have to point out that knowledge's importance.
In a world of murim, worldly knowledge could still be discarded. On contrary, martial arts were always in great demand!
'As expected from someone who knows the boss's friend…'
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe dealer watching the whole penmanship show seemed to have obtained surprise immunity after her little round trip. Just from a quick observation, she could tell that what Leo wrote had a degree of authenticity to it, this had to be a perfect counterfeit at the very least.
"This should be all."
After three hours of nonstop scribbling, Leo took back the Internal Energy that was circulating in his hand before pushing a dozen paper bundles to the dealer. With the certain degree of ambidexterity that he achieved through training in the Unity Lord's path, he could have used both hands in his transcription task. Unfortunately, he could only view one book in his mind, not to mention that the text would still have been a bit shaky otherwise.
"I will be back."
Having established this plan a few years ago, Leo had long filtered the martial arts that he had in mind. In the end, he had chosen those that belonged to extinct organizations or wandering Martial Artists, techniques that you wouldn't suspect to be taken out of the Heavenly Demon's Library! The ones that he had just written were the safest of that pile, the periphery of the Society's collection!
"Your 'information' has been judged to be authentic. Do you want to state a price yourself or would you prefer that I offer the price that we find to be appropriate?"
"You can give me a price, but I still have one more piece of information to sell."
"More?"
"Don't worry, I couldn't have more martial arts to sell anyway. Just like the great drink just now, this will be on me."
Taking the great effort put into this and the risk that he had taken by selling the belongings of the Heavenly Strength Society, there was no way that Leo would stop here. It was time to maximize the value of his products!
"Something big is just about to take place, I trust you know what to do."
"I understand, I promise to provide you with a satisfactory price… Dolyeon-nim"
"Saja Dokja.. You can call me Saja Dokja."