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(BUS)Chapter 69: Mercantile
🕑 Added 2025-02-20 16:59:25 +0000 UTCThere wasn't just guns though but stuff of other sorts as well, food, drinks, clothes, tools, preserved organs, materials, parts, it didn't matter as it was all here. What DID fucking matter though was how ridiculously marked up the prices of this stuff was. Like a single bottle of Edenian whiskey costing over a thousand dollars despite not being from a premium brand. I can say with absolute certainty that that same bottle wouldn't go for more than a hundred on Eden six. There were plenty of other stuff too that I was willing to bet heavily on that should not be so expensive.-
"You just going to stand there and look at my wares or are you going to buy something already?" a voice said with a tone of irritation from nearby.
I turned to look at the source of it and easily recognized it's owner, hard to fucking not when his face is plastered all over the place.
"You must be Marcus." I said casually as I looked him over.
He wasn't anything impressive to look at to be honest, below average height, overweight and with wrinkles and whitening hair at the sides of his head. His arms were quite strong looking but his protruding buddha belly ruined any image of strength he had. His clothes were a brown leather jacket with fur interior, grey cargo pants and the hints of a red shirt under his jacket by his neck. -
"And you are one of those Vault hunters I've been hearing so much about. A piece of advice friend, give up. The vault is about as likely to exist as a Skag is to invite you to a tea party, one lump or two!" he said with a single harsh laugh at his own joke.
"You say that but the mountain of proof that says otherwise seems to disagree. For example the key fragment that I have to open it. Now you tell me, why would a key exist if there was no lock it went to?" I asked with a mocking tone.
"Bah! Just another fool chasing legends. So many have sought the vault over the years and failed, what makes you any different eh?" he shot back disdainfully.
"I'm a Siren, have opened two vaults already and have a single part of the key for this one." I said with a smirk as his eyes bulged.
"You got any proof of that?" he asked suspiciously but clearly already starting to doubt what he thought was true.
"Of course I do, Watch." I said before taking out my house and opening it up right inside the shop.
"Holy Skag balls! It's true! What do you want for that!?" he asked greedily as he eyed the archway and portal to my house.
I shook my head "Not for sale, it's bound to me and there's no way to undo it." I said with a shrug as Ladon walked out of the portal sniffing the air once before snorting and shaking his head in disgust before going back inside.
"And that thing?" Marcus asked with a raised eyebrow at the portal that Ladon had just went back in.
"That's Ladon, my pet dragon. Also not for sale." I said with a chuckle.
"Where did you even find a beast like that? No don't tell me, I don't wanna know. If you aren't here to sell something then you must be here to buy something so what do you want? I've got a little of everything, except guns. I have all the firepower you could ever need!" he said his sales pitch.
I decided to put him to the test "Do you have any Eridium?" I asked curiously.
He frowned and seemed to growl almost in frustration at the question "I don't know what that is." he said with a reluctant sigh.
"It's a sort of metallic crystal that's dark purple pink in color and gives off strange energy readings. Most planets have it scattered across the surfaces or in deep veins below the surface. It tends to be particularly abundant around Eridian structures though for some reason I haven't seen any on Pandora so far." I said not at all surprised by his answer.
"This "Eridium" is valuable yes?" he asked with a greedy look.
"Under the right circumstances, very. Enough so that it can probably be used as a currency all it's own. Of course to anyone who isn't a Siren the unrefined stuff is next to worthless beyond being used to make the refined stuff but obviously you'd need a lot of the unrefined to make a little of the refined. Unrefined Eridium is too stable you see, not reactive enough for most of the sorts of tech that would need it." I explained.
"I'll have my contacts look out for it. For now though can I interest you in anything else?" he asked without skipping a beat.
"Hmm, you got any legendary weapons? Torgue or Maliwan specifically." I asked and his face lit up before he reached under the counter and pulled out a Sniper rifle with carbon hollow butt and a rather unique pump action reload mechanism for slow but smooth reloading of it's internal mag.
It had a light and dark blue mixed coloration over it's entire surface and a Maliwan brand on the side of it's barrel. The moment Marcus released his hand from the gun as he set it on the counter that familiar "DING!" sound rang out and a thick orange pillar of light came off it.-
[Name: VRR450 C Cobalt Volcano
Level: legendary
Type: Pump-Action Sniper rifle
Damage type: Pyro X4
Manufacturer: MALIWAN
Affix: Pele demands a sacrifice!
Shots explode into a large fireball on impact. Very high elemental status chance.]
"What do you want for it?" I asked eagerly.
"Two hundred thousand, no negotiating." he said firmly.
I grimaced at the price as I knew he was price gouging me here as this model of Maliwan sniper usually ran half that price. The problem however was that each one was made to order and as a result were worth even more second hand since getting Maliwan to make and ship a brand new gun to anywhere in the Borderlands when not buying in bulk was a paperwork and waiting nightmare. The same was true of all corporation guns as they all collectively made the process intentionally harder for individual orders while bulk purchases were made easier, it's a profit scheme to be honest. The old man had told me about it when I was getting educated as well as how to get around it for Jakobs guns.-
It was a sort of VIP backdoor type deal for specific individuals who were part of the corporate family. According to the old man all the corporations had something similar though individually different. For Jakobs it was putting in the old mans name on the line labeled "Notary" for an order slip. What this does is flag the old man to review the document when the bots in charge of the order slips look them over. The old man then uses some of that CEO power to express mark the order as first rate priority.-
"Fine, but I want an official bill of sale so you can't try any funny business." I say seriously.
He feigned offense "Do I seem like such a person!?" he exclaimed dramatically.
I deadpanned at him "Your reputation speaks well enough as to the sort of businessman you are." I say flatly.
"I've been slandered I swear I am but a humble arms dealer!" he says and I give him a look that tells him exactly where he can stick that Grog shit. "Fine fine, you'll have your damn bill of sale." he says with an annoyed expression when he fully understood that I wasn't going to fall for his nonsense.
It took a while but he got a bill of sale all filled out and signed by both of us though we had to switch copies after I found a few clauses that he tried to sneak in about reclaiming the gun if certain conditions were met. Conditions that I might add all had the common factor of being nearly guaranteed to happen. Still at the end I got the sniper with no messy strings attached after I gave him the money that he counted on the spot.-
He had a whole ass machine specifically there to make sure that there was no funny business during the transfer of funds. Not that I really even felt the burden at all since this was pretty much pocket change compared to my current fortune. It came as little surprise but the others had long since finished flipping their switches and talking to Peirce about what came next by the time I finally walked out of the store.
_______________________________________________
Alexander Drake
Lifeforce: 591,366
Integrated Traits: [Gun expertise-Uncommon grade], [Clever mind-Rare grade],[Enhanced senses-Epic grade]X2, [Omega body-Rare grade]x4, [Supreme armored hide-Epic grade]X2, [Bone regeneration-Uncommon grade], [Corrosion resistance-Uncommon grade], [Energy projection-Epic grade]x4, [Superior vitality-Epic grade],[Flame breath-Uncommon grade],[Regeneration-Epic grade], [Disease resistance-Epic grade],[Amphibious lungs-Uncommon grade], [Thermal sensing-Uncommon grade], [Water resistance-Common grade],[Active camouflage-Epic grade], [Eridian engineering expertise-Mythical grade], [Efficient lungs-Rare grade]x2, [Fire resistance-Epic grade]X2, [Elemental body(fire)-Legendary grade], [Shock resistance-Epic grade]X4, [Energetic sustenance(shock)-Epic grade]X2, [Radiation resistance-Epic grade]X3, [Energetic sustenance(radiation)-Epic grade]X2, [True omnivore-Rare grade], [Biometallic bones-Epic grade],[Elemental body(shock)-Rare grade]X3,[Quick thinking-Rare grade], [Hyperflexibility-Rare grade], [Strong circulation-Epic grade], [Minor spatial awareness-Epic grade], [Buzzaxe expertise-Uncommon grade], [Siren(Phaselock)(Altered)-Mythical grade], [Pugilist expertise-Uncommon grade], [Adrenal rush-Rare grade], [Mechanical engineering expertise-Uncommon grade], [Gunsmithing expertise(degrading)-Common grade]X3
Stored traits: [Fire resistance-Uncommon grade]X5, [Omega body], [Supreme armored hide], [Powerful vitality], [Energy projection-Epic grade], [Minor regeneration],[Gun expertise-Uncommon grade],[Elemental body(Corrosive)-Rare grade], [Corrosion resistance-Rare grade],[Mechanical engineering expertise-Uncommon grade], [Mechanical Savant-Epic grade], [Mechanical Engineering expertise-Rare grade]
Comments
Christian Jeffress
Thanks for another great and entertaining chapter
