All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 196: Let’s Make A Deal

"Well, little one. The real question is, what do you have to offer in trade?"

I was slightly taken aback. Trade was something I had heard discussed, but it wasn't something that I had any real experience in. I was lucky to have some context from past overheard conversations, but even in the castle, the concept of trade was completely foreign. Things were pretty much collected and distributed as Mary and Trent saw fit.

In our place, everyone was given what they needed and pitched in where they could help most. It was quite a useful system, but I could see how it wouldn't scale properly. Especially now that I had some context from my time with Arthur. I had learned a decent amount about supply lines and the corruption of humans with his army. But I hadn't thought of my own ability to trade, as it were.

So I asked myself, what did I have to trade? I only had so many things. So I cast into my dustbin and found a lot more than I expected. While I had kept careful tabs on everything coming in and out of it, I hadn't quite considered them from a value perspective. One thing was certain, though: if I were to dump everything out into this cave, I would fill it several times over in sheer volume and mass.

I was sure both Daedalus and I would be crushed beneath the weight of the stones I had within me. That wasn't even counting the random debris, wood, dirt, dust, and everything else. I even had a little bit of wool from the sheep still floating around. Then there were the humans in time out and the ambient energy that I somehow couldn't absorb into myself for levels. I also had bits of demon carcasses and lots of undead. An entire army of skeletons, too.

Ever since I had reached diminishing returns for transmuting material into energy and absorbing it as levels, I had stopped regularly cleaning out my dustbin as I wasn't getting steady levels from it anymore. Now, with my followers passing some of their experience as a tithe up to me, it didn't really seem necessary.

I was guaranteed slow growth and power without doing too much, and the small amounts from removing any material I had were less useful than they once were. Especially now that my Domain and Void Manipulation allowed me to fix things and turn them into more useful items when needed. So the real question was, what did I have that a dragon would want?

I started ejecting things from my dustbin. I started by pulling out some of the more interesting bits and baubles I had. The carved nature of some of these stones was quite interesting. Perhaps the dragon would find them appealing to his sense of artistic beauty. With a couple of these arranged on the floor, I rummaged about for a few other odds and ends.

Last of all, I decided I might try to release one of the mutated humans again. I was much more powerful than I was when I had last tried. I didn't necessarily want to trade the humans since that seemed rude. But Maybe he'd find it interesting. Who knows, maybe Daedalus would even have some insight into them. After spending so much time in my dustbin, perhaps he was going to be slightly more docile. Or perhaps he wasn't doing so well. I couldn't be sure.

I looked up and checked Daedalus's reaction to the array of various items I had in my possession, and I could see his eyes were wide. The first thing I'd pulled out was a stone statue, and looking at it, I realized it wasn't exactly what I remembered putting in. It seemed that the time in my dustbin had changed something yet again.

There was a soft blue glow emanating from it, and pulses of light started up in its head and pushed down to the foot of the statue. This continued in semi-regular intervals, and it was quite hard to take my attention off of it. But Daedalus was definitely surprised by the last thing I pulled out. One of the humans that had attacked me.

The prosthetic crystal feet had grown in a fascinating way around his lower limbs. They had cleared up and became more transparent.

Where the crystal had been a cloudy purple color, it was now a glass-clear, ridged shape that was roughly the same size as the feet had been. Not only that, but the tubes I had added to allow fluid circulation were far more visible as a consequence.

The matrix of crystals served as a window to the thin streams of red blood running throughout the legs. I had ejected the human into a standing position, and it remained that way, perfectly stock still. But like any human, there were slight micro-adjustments of the muscles and in the calves to maintain balance; while you couldn't see the actual muscles, the muscle replica simulation I had made out of the various types of crystals interfaced with its central nervous system. They were twitching and doing the barely noticeable work needed to keep it on their feet.

But that wasn't the only change. Looking up at the face of the once human captive I had, its eyes had been replaced with crystals. The orbs of purple still had that slight purple glow as they stood stock still at attention. Not flinching, not moving, not breathing.

What was this? What had I done? No, what had I created? This human certainly wasn't okay. Was he even a human? I couldn't help but feel like I might have inadvertently done something worse than intended to this poor person. Luckily, my musings were interrupted.

Daedalus had been fascinated with the statue before this. Still, he noticed when I pulled out the former attacker and had quite the reaction. He reared back in apparent alarm. Somehow, his eyes grew even wider than they already were. I could feel the shimmering heat gathering in his mouth, even at this distance. I tensed, simulating escape plans to protect myself from the terrifying inferno of all-consuming flames that might pour out of it.

"What is that?" He hissed.

Not liking where this was going, I quickly recalled the troublemaker by sucking him back up into my Limitless Dustbin. It didn't help. Seeing that Daedalus had gotten no less relaxed, I replayed the scene of this man and his friends attacking me, my knee-capping him, and finally consuming him. I also tried to convey the idea of me grafting on crystalline body parts to stop the man from bleeding out, but I wasn't sure that quite came across properly.

Daedalus settled back on his haunches but didn't come any closer. His eyes relaxed slightly, and as his mouth closed, I could feel the oppressive heat slowly dissipating throughout the cave and out into the snowy field beyond. But he didn't say anything for quite a while, simply studying me thoughtfully. I didn't make a move, either.

As much as I was fairly certain I had done the right thing, it definitely could look a little bit odd from the outside, and I could feel the power radiating off of Daedalus in such a way that my hard plastic body felt flimsy. It was a strange feeling, especially considering its relative durability compared to what it used to be. That wasn't to say I was afraid of Daedalus, but his strengths were definitely on par with my own.

Eventually, a forked tongue came out and licked the teeth of Daedalus's mouth as he opened it.

"Interesting. It seems that you have some archaic power in you, My friend. That would explain the statue." He said as he indicated the glowing statue he had been interested in since I pulled it out. "Do you mind if I touch it?"

I let out an indifferent tone, and he picked it up gently with his front claws and brought it close to his face, studying the way the light moved throughout it.

Bringing it up to his nose, he inhaled, and I could see some of the crackling light within the statue draw out and waft into the nose of the dragon. He jolted, dropping the statue and sneezing a few times before looking at me with wide eyes and pupils dilated. "Wow, that's a kick!"

"Okay." The dragon snorted. "So. I'm not even going to ask what that whole weird golem-human-chimera-monstrosity was anymore. Let's just… pretend I never saw that." Daedalus said. I hastily agreed, wanting to put that uncomfortable sight behind me. Perhaps I'd ask Beatrice for help with a medical exam later. I wasn't sure if she'd be just as disturbed as we were, though.

"I'm interested in this energy. What? Is it? Do you have to imbue it into things? Do you accumulate it? Is this your energy? Is it something inherent in the objects you collected?"

I wasn't exactly sure how I could answer that, but I did have other types of energy. Maybe he'd be interested in that. I made a noncommittal, shrugging sound and hoped that Daedalus would understand.

He seemed to, as he nodded and continued. "Well, as a dragon, while we do enjoy a hearty meal of sheep and cows, we mainly feed off magic. The amount stored in the statue isn't much more than a snack. But if you have a larger amount, I would happily trade that for an equivalent amount of whatever you would pick from my hoard. Assuming that it's of equal value."

That sounded fine to me. I only had one condition, though, and above my head, my condition scrolled, "Only if you're willing to help me pick out prizes for each of the tournaments. I really am not exactly sure what people want."

Daedalus's head lifted up, and he roared his laughter into the ceiling, shaking the rocks above us. "Of course, my little friend. Of course. I'm amazing at giving out prizes."

"Of course, I'll require a down payment first. What do you say to… half up front?" Daedalus said with a toothy grin.

I had no problems with that, so I readily agreed. So, how could I give him the energy he wanted? Normally I just absorbed whatever energy I generated from transmutation into myself, and it powered me up. Only when it overflowed, did I try to channel it anywhere. That had only happened a couple of times, though, and the most I had managed by way of control was an explosive blast flinging me in a specific direction.

I didn't think Daedalus would appreciate me blasting him in the face. That seemed rather rude. Still, what other option did I have?

Extending my Grabby Arm, I reached up to the monstrous lizard. He appeared to understand my intention and reached out with one of his foreclaws, gently meeting my claw. Maintaining contact for a few seconds, I willed half of the energy up and through our connection.

Nothing happened. Dang. Time to try another approach. Perhaps if the energy didn't "belong" to me, it wouldn't follow my instructions? Instead, I made a channel of sorts through my grabby arm for the energy to run through and "squeezed" the reservoir in my dustbin. The energy bunched up, and once it reached a critical mass, it welled up and started to flow.

I could tell it was working when Daedalus's eyes widened in surprise. It only lasted a second before an implosion in the tiny space between my claw and his talon sent both of us hurtling apart. A meaty thump rang throughout the cave as the dragon was rag-dolled into the back wall of the cave. I was flung out the entrance and sent sailing down the mountainside.

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