There are thresholds in every trader's journey.
Some are physical: crossing into a realm, entering a market, claiming an artifact.
Others are internal: the first time you risk everything for a trade, the first time you lie to win.
Today was both.
System Update: Cosmic Trader Rank AdvancementCurrent Rank: Rank 2 → Rank 3Requirements Met:✔ Two Chain Artifacts Recovered✔ Trade Volume Exceeded 100 Units✔ Emotional Resonance Verified✔ Inter-Relic Conversion Rate: 89% Efficiency
Congratulations, Trader Kai of Earth. You are now Rank 3.
Perks Unlocked:– Access to Inter-Trader Markets– Eligibility for Barter Arenas– Permission to Initiate Localized Trade Nodes
New Chain Path Available: "The Velvet Exchange" (Status: Open)
The air shimmered around me as the upgrade locked in. I felt it—not just as numbers in my interface, but in my bones. Like gravity shifting. Like the universe taking notice.
Yena grinned. "Welcome to the real game."
We approached the Velvet Exchange through a transit beacon shaped like a lotus blooming in reverse. Cold elegance. Gold-edged warnings.
The gate scanned me. It didn't ask for a password. It asked for intent.
"Declare your aim."
I whispered, "To trade with more than survival."
The gate opened.
The Velvet Exchange was unlike anything I'd seen.
Polished black void stretched in all directions, crisscrossed by hovering platforms of obsidian, silk, and flowing contracts made of liquid light. Traders drifted, walked, or glided depending on their origin. Some had no visible form—just pulses of information encased in bartering shells.
It was silent. Respectful. Efficient.
A towering entity of smoke and stars approached me.
"You're new," it said."And you're early."
"Early?"
"Most take a hundred deals to reach this place. You took forty-seven."
Yena elbowed me. "You're either brilliant… or marked."
I approached the central kiosk to register.
As I placed my palm on the scanner, someone beat me to it from the side—slapping their hand down hard.
"Still slow, huh, rookie?"
I froze.
He looked human.
Terran, even.
Short black hair, techwear patched with trader glyphs, and an old Earth necklace: the Apollo 11 mission emblem.
He grinned like someone who'd already died once and come back for the profit.
"Name's Riven. Earth Sector. Rank 4.""Been watching your progress, Kai."
My name in his mouth felt like a trap.
"You've been… watching me?"
"Every new Chain trader from a dead zone is flagged. Only one per 10,000 light years, remember? So when Earth got lit… we all noticed."
"All?"
"Oh yeah," Riven said. "You're not the only trader with skin in the galaxy. But you? You've got eyes on you, kid."
I kept calm.
"What do you want?"
"To offer you a deal before someone else poisons your path."
Riven pulled out a translucent data cube. Inside, flickered a memory: Earth, before collapse. Real trees. Blue skies. Laughter on a farm. Unfiltered. Unpackaged.
"The Last Spring," he said. "Preserved perfectly. Could sell for 50 C.U. in some realms."
"What's the catch?"
"You give me your next artifact."
Yena growled. "No."
But I asked, "Why mine?"
Riven leaned in close. "Because you're trending toward something dangerous. The Chain's whispering. That doesn't happen unless you've got System Attention."
I declined.
For now.
And Riven vanished into the Exchange, whistling a lullaby from Earth.
We finally registered. I paid the 40 C.U. fee.
And then the market opened.
Inter-trader booths blinked into view.
I could see listings in real time:
Antimatter Seeds for 12.4 C.U.
Compressed Soul Vellum for 3 units of grief
Precursor Alloy (Unknown Origin) – barter only
And then… a ping.
Someone had messaged me.
[Incoming Private Offer – Trader: Unknown]"You turned down Riven. Brave. Or foolish. Let's talk, Kai. You'll need allies before the Chain tests you."– Signed: Trader W
Yena turned to me.
"So. We going shopping?"
"No," I said. "We're going to set up shop. It's time to sell."
Current Status (Narrative Format):
Kai has reached Trader Rank 3, unlocking the Velvet Exchange and inter-trader markets. His C.U. dropped to 30.3, with 91.7 Earth Credits remaining, after paying the steep entry fee. He has encountered Riven, a human trader already entrenched in the Chain, and turned down his first major offer—at a cost he doesn't yet understand.
Now, with access to high-tier trade items and the ability to interact directly with other traders, Kai is preparing to launch his first local trade node, bringing foreign goods back into his homeworld to sell—starting his journey not just as a collector of rare items, but a merchant in full.
But whispers stir in the Chain.
He's being watched.
And not all eyes are kind.
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— S.A.