Chapter 220 First Timeline (2)
The mission assigned to Zick was different than in the second timeline.
[ "Become the greatest merchant all over the continent. Not only in the grocer's profession, but in all the other aspects of the merchant profession, you must be the best. Only then will you have any right to fight to be the next head of the family." ] The letter oozed arrogance, giving off a domineering feeling.
Zick threw the letter in his hand into the dustbin, he did not think such a nonsensical mission would be thrown at him.
Zick rated his skills in the merchant profession to only be above average. He just had more knowledge than the others.
It wasn't worth mentioning before the people who learned and experienced the life of a merchant from a very young age.
Some people were just born genius, while some were born mediocre. No matter how Zick tried, he would never be able to surpass those geniuses in their fields of expertise.
Zick, who had turned 12 years old, sent off the messenger. He heaved a long sigh, even if it seemed impossible, he was going to do it anyway.
The position of a duke was just that appealing in Zick's eyes. The chances of finding an item that might help him, increase the potential might appear.
A woman entered the room after knocking, she had sharp brows, a high nose, and aquamarine eyes. She was Jasmine, an executive and a high-rank mage of the Gaweil merchant group.
Truthfully, Zick found her by chance while exploring a way to strengthen himself, in the ruins of the old civilization. The team he sent brought her back to her unconscious state.
For unknown reasons, Jasmine had lost all of her memory. Taking advantage of this fact, Zick recruited her while feeling dirty in his mind.
Feeling like a hypocrite, Zick decided to let her live a somewhat good life as a secretary. She was very talented, she showed impeccable ability and behavior.
Zick had to give up on that ruin along the way, as many of the mercenaries he gathered also began losing their memory.
"Your mood seems to be gloomy as ever sir."
"Oh, nothing, just another annoying problem that made its way on my list. Well that aside, call all the executives handling the individual projects." Zick said, getting off the chair.
Time awaits no man, he has to get moving as soon as possible. Zick was currently a low-rank knight, it was thanks to the potions he bought and the result of all the money he put into exploring lost ruins. His potential was at the high rank.
Like that, time began moving at full speed again. This time around, Zick began moving to be the best merchant, while still looking for a way to grow stronger.
.....
Zick, who had turned 14 years old, arrived in one of the cities of the Mhydrasvil empire.
During this time, he was able to spread his influence to all aspects of the trade. Whether it was transportation, auctions, or gambling houses. Using up all his knowledge, Zick achieved success in many places, but failures were bound to occur here and there.
There were quite a few projects that failed. The one with the most success would be air transportation for goods.
After recruiting many alchemists, this project was completed.
And now, all that Zick could rely on was his imagination.
As Zick stayed in the city, an incident occurred near that area. A huge explosion occurred around the mountains, destroying dozens of hills at once.
How the incident occurred was a mystery to everyone, but Zick was able to tell one thing — No ordinary being could cause such a thing.
He dispatched some of his subordinates too, for investigation. Surprisingly, these scouts brought back some clues that Zick was not expecting.
It was still early morning at that moment.
After musing over it for a while, Zick decided to dispatch another group of scouts. If he was not wrong, the being that fought there was injured without a doubt.
Zick and Jasmine moved out this time too, they were planning to continue the journey, after taking a look at this clue.
The reason for Zick's rush was very simple, it was because he sent his scout very quickly, so he was the only one aware of it. But after a while, the city lord would dispatch soldiers to look around without a doubt.
Keeping a positive mind, Zick arrived at the location and began following the trail on the ground. A deep route was made on the ground, destroying many trees in its way.
Jasmine, who was beside Zick, showed a strange expression. The mercenaries who were peak-rank knights also showed different expressions.
Zick was a middle-rank knight, but he could not sense anything.
"Everyone, stop in your position!" Zick lifted his arm, before ordering all the mercenaries who were high-rank knights to guard this place.
Zick was more cautious than anyone, his shrewd mind gave him signals saying that — something good awaited him. His instinct was refined from all his experiences till now, he put a lot of emphasis on it.
Moving to the side, Zick called out the priest that he had hired. He was going to form a seal with everyone here, so that nothing about this goes out.
The Mercenary did not find this course of action weird at all. Merchants were beings who put their benefits over others after all.
Everyone agreed to Zick's seal.
Jasmine sighed looking at his action, the past two years Zick would always behave like this, it was as if he was wary of everything. It didn't take long for her to notice that he had trust issues, doubting even the smallest thing.
Leaving the other guarding, Zick, Jasmine, and the peak-rank knights moved deeper into the forest.
As they went deeper, the presence in the air grew heavier, mana with nature's characteristics. It was their first time sensing such a thing in their life.
As they went deeper, Zick could make out some details too. There were two sources of this weird presence.
After a few more steps, Zick ordered everyone to stop again. He gestured for Jasmine to go forward and take a look first, he somewhat trusted her, at least more than this mercenary.
Jasmine moved forward with a nervous look, vanishing from their sights. After a minute, she came back with a pale expression.
Seeing this, Zick smiled to himself: "Stay here and guard this place, let no one pass."
The mercenaries were flabbergasted at once, they were curious as to what was releasing such presence, but that was not possible anymore, they all felt horrible internally.
The one's that Zick recruited recently were staring at him with blank looks. Zick's cautiousness was on another level, he formed a seal just in case too.
What Zick found at the end of the trail was a baby dragon, it appeared to have suffered injuries and was unconscious.
The hand of a dragon was laying in some distance, it was the only part that was left of the dragon that entered the dragon lord's den.
Zick from reality squinted his eyes, it was apparent that a huge battle had occurred at that time. The only way these two just-born dragons could defeat another dragon was by using the soul remnant of the dragon lord.
After this, the first timeline's Zick went on his path like always. He formed a good relationship with the two newborn dragons. They began living with him, and they both were quite similar in their expressionless faces.
And he created potions from the dragon's hands too.
He went to the academy, then even came to find living excitement. But things did not go on like that for long, the magic disaster occurred transporting everyone away.
That was the real beginning of Zick's journey, many hardships presented before him, one after another.
Zick's personality was tempered by all these events, making him more broad-minded and shrewd.
At the beginning of the demonic race war, the world distorted and crumbled away again.
This time a huge amount of time was skipped, directly showing an apocalyptic scene.
The ground was barren to the extreme, the sky was red with shades of black everywhere. The air desolateness wafted in the atmosphere.
Zick from reality jerked his eyes, feeling himself to be in control of the body.
"What do you think? Wasn't it interesting?" Another Zick who appeared older than him appeared beside him.
Zick shook his head and firmly spoke: "Not one bit, though I learned hundreds of new things, I would have preferred it if you just appeared like this earlier."
"Well, I planned to do just that, but because I even sacrificed myself in the end by stressing myself, many of my memories traveled back in time too." The older Zick spoke indifferently.
Zick got to the point: "Tell me the way to become a god and the reason you or more specifically, why I killed myself."
The older Zick nodded his head: "You won't have to worry about that then, the only requirement is for you to be a single entity."
"A single entity?"
"Yes, only the power that you have cultivated must be present in your body and soul. The reason you aren't able to strengthen your soul is for this reason."
Zick began considering rapidly, he did not think it was so simple, but at the same time so hard, at least for him. He had dozens of different powers in this body, like frenzied energy and the black miasma from the creepy doll.
The dragon power had already become one with him, so it could be counted as a whole entity.
A possibility flashed by Zick's head, making his eyes narrow.
"That's right, you can use the mist of annihilation, discarding that one ability doesn't matter much. This way the agreement with the giant race would be fulfilled too."
Just as Zick was going to open his mouth, the one from the first timeline lifted his hand: "I don't have much time left, we are merging into one quite quickly. Let me just send all the important information to your mind."
Zick nodded his head, he did not like useless chatting anyway.