Profit — that was the basis on which all trade was carried out. Whether it was profit in gaining an object or service in exchange for one's monetary tokens, or profit in monetary value by selling an object or service — profit was the lifeblood of the trade.
Merchants were the living embodiment of this concept, as they were to anything that concerned the Trade.
There was always profit to be had in every interaction between a Merchant and a customer, and it was a responsibility of both parties, more so the Merchant, to come out of every trade as the more profitable party.
A customer with enough money and a laissez-faire attitude towards money, in a way, profited more in every purchase because of their low regards to money.
The concept of profits in such cases are extremely subjective, not because of the customer's finances, but because of the nature of the Merchant themselves.
The very concept of 'Profit' was the real currency they earned and it was what they used in trading within the Union.
It was because of this that Merchants had zero regards towards the money they received in their trades — this as well as another reason.
Quotas.
Quotas are the first thing that all Merchants receive every time they set down shop. For younger Merchants that were just starting out, completing their quotas was both hard and extremely important as it was their literal lifeline.
It dictated everything they did.
From volumes that had to be sold within time limits, measure of impact their goods had in wherever they found themselves in, increase in capital for their next stockpiling, and the most important of all, Merchant benefits — their advancements, employment, and lifespan depended on completing their list of quota within the time limits.
Older Merchants had an easier time completing their quotas either because of the slew of perks their acquired benefits granted them, a wider array of goods, or simply due to their expertise and business strategies they'd perfected in their long trade.
How fast they completed their quota and the total amount of goods they sold after every trading session, the value of every antique piece acquired/resold as well as the impact their goods had in that dimension; all contributed to how much 'Profit' they made. Profits which were then used to purchase benefits.
There were also the leadership boards and milestone bonuses that rewarded them with every advancement they made.
As for their wealth of Profits, or Union gold coins when processed into their physical forms, they without a doubt spent the bulk of it on themselves and their shops.
Larger inventory, larger interior space, perfect ventilation, protection services (mental, physical, magic, spiritual, anti-espionage…), shop autonomy, support services(extended quota time, reduced quota, side hustle licenses, trade perception, repair services, quality refresh…) — these were some of the few things that Merchants could purchase for the shops with their profits, and they all came in tiers, Tier I – Tier X, with each tier costing at least a tenfold multiplier from the last. (It wouldn't be a Trade Union if the Union did not find ways to drain their Merchants from their hard-earned profits.)
The services and the tier upgrades were so costly that those that had a Tier V across their services were considered legendary Merchants. The highest Isaac had seen were two of his old seniors who had Tier VIII services and they were pretty much considered myths in the Union. They were so old that half of the Union did not know of them, not even as a rumor, and the other half who knew of them did not even know their names, talk less of having ever seen them.
The Union was so tight-gripped with their coins that every upgrade from Tier III required at least half to a dozen trade sessions. And these were just for shop services and perks.
As for the true personal Merchant bonuses, there were services and trait perks like trade talent(which granted the Merchant a boosted talent ceiling, and which also required trade and side hustle licenses for every single trade talent they wanted to buy), body talent, soul talent, magic talent, martial talent, perception up, treasure scouter, price tag, social clues, ability traits and whatnots from the endless list of tempting options. Like with the shop services, they also came in a division of ten tiers.
Things like the trade, martial and magic talent were completely unnecessary if the Merchant felt like their natural talent was up to par(they would still need the trade and side hustle licenses to ply the trade in their shop) but natural talent also had a ceiling, which was where the higher talent tiers came in play.
While upgrading talent and trait perks were cheaper than shop services, the usual long list of choice picks made getting enough Union coins to buy and upgrade them just as hard as shop services time wise.
In Isaac's case, he stuck to the generous advice he was given and focused singularly on upgrading the necessary and important shop services for such a ridiculous amount of time that he practically forgot about everything else.
For a very, very long time, he remained a tragically weak Merchant but he never really noticed as he had made it a habit of staying put inside his shop for whatever duration of time he kept his market open for.
It was a common sentiment that Merchants rarely involved themselves in violence, so much so that it was common practice to invest a lot in exit strategies.
Because he took the longer route of focusing on his shop instead of anything else, he inevitably ended up choosing the harder route of naturally learning about different trades services to pass time instead of just buying the necessary service tier.
He also saved up a lot on talent and traits as he inevitably picked them up on the way to pass the familiar monotonous boredom.
When he finally decided to stop upgrading his shop services and finally focus on his talents and trait perks, he found out that he had unknowingly picked up a good number of them and had raised them to respectable tiers without ever spending a single coin on them. The only price he had to pay for this was a frankly ridiculous amount of time, even by veteran Merchant standards.
However, time was the one thing capable Merchants never worried about. In other words —in his eyes— everything he had accomplished was a grand profit.
He had paid off the humongous expenses of numerous traits and talents with a practically free resource, time. What else was proof of his Merchant status than this?
Honestly, his only problem nowadays, other than stocking up his inventory, was figuring out which type of shop he wanted to open up. He could open up a multi-purpose shop that attended to his list of different trade services but he never liked that option.
His basic strategy was knowing what kind of dimension he was assigned to and opening up a theme shop that was suitable for it. He could only do this because, unlike most Merchants, he had a lot of options in high level trade services and a sea of items that filled up every trade level.
It is useless getting a high service tier if the Merchant lacks the inventory of things he can trade at that level. The rate of successful trades impacted a Merchant's profits, so too many failed trades – due to either lacking the necessary item despite having the service tier, or because of the customer's limited finances – affected their overall profits.
Take Isaac's current dimension for example; a 21st century Earth with fair advancements and a very minor enhanced population. Their magic community, which was hardly a notable population, was effectively hidden and practically nonexistent.
He couldn't cater fully to their magic communities with how reclusive they were, and he could hardly cater high level techs to the normal population because they lacked the financial buoyancy, so he decided on a mismatch approach for the mismatch dimension – A pawnshop that was likely to deal in everything.
Everything— every decision he made was taken with maximum profits in mind. If there was anything he was addicted to, then no doubt it was the feeling of setting new profit margins.
It hardly bothered him anymore if he didn't sell more of the truly interesting things in his shop, as long as a trade was had and profits were made.
.
...….
He groggily blinked away the sleep from his tired eyes as the shop alerted him of a customer which was enough to banish his dizzy spell.
He was slightly surprised when the identity of the customer registered in his head. He had doubted he would be seeing her again after the last time.
"What a surprise. I honestly thought I wouldn't be seeing you again." He said as much as the bald woman garbed in robes came into view.
"So did I." the Ancient One replied with a helpless shrug that seemed to say 'what can I do?'
She slowly took note of the new arrangements in the shop, the new items on display and the extra walking space it afforded — without losing its pawnshop atmosphere — and finally stopped at the rule board.
"Did that really become necessary?" She asked curiously.
Isaac scoffed but it came out as a half laugh. "You don't even know half of it. It's like they were annoying me just so that I would have to put it up."
She didn't sympathize with him but she understood. "Quite so."
Isaac smiled at her, the same exact type of smile he gave her the last time she came here. It was the type of smile that was waiting at the punchline for the joke to catch up. The classic customer service smile.
"And what good deals have you brought for us this afternoon?" Isaac waved his hand and cleared off the few items that were on top of his counter.
One of her brows raised at him. "And what makes you think I'm bringing a deal?"
Isaac took off his glasses and started cleaning it with a handkerchief he pulled out of thin air. "I have quite the nose for things like these."
He adjusted his glasses until it sat perfectly on the ridge of his nose. "You don't look like the kind of person that is easily tempted, which means you won't be drawn back here by any magical trinket I have. You however look like the kind of person that will flush an Infinity Stone down the drain, as long as you know where the shit goes."
"Fair assumption." She replied offhandedly, neither confirming nor denying the claims, looking calm and detached from the whole thing.
"Of course, I could also be wrong." Isaac added jokingly. He was looking at the Ancient One expectantly as if he could smell some kind of treasure on her person. "So what brings you here today?"
Her sigh was barely audible. She reached into her robes and pulled out a book. "Do you have barrier techniques or artifacts that repel possession. From obscure schools of magic if you can."
"Oho~" Isaac smiled conspiratorially as he left the counter, with her following behind him. "Magical subterfuge, how exciting. So what's the play?"
He came to a stop before one of the book shelves, one that was forbidden-magic-free, and started sifting through them with one hand.
"Trying to hide your involvement, or just stocking up on trump cards?"
"To confuse." She answered. Kamar-Taj had tons of barrier techniques and possession-repelling charms but she didn't go for them because it would have been too convenient. She wanted something entirely unexpected. Something that would truly stop them in their tracks for a moment.
"It doesn't need to be overly powerful." She didn't want to be second-guessing every move she made when she finally decided to take action. Her new lease on life had rejuvenated her cautiousness and this time she was heeding it to the fullness of her abilities.
Standard spells, while they would work, would be highly ineffective and they would have prepared for whatever spells she would resort to. Regardless of whatever contingency they had prepared for, she would take that chance and completely destroy it with what they would never expect.
"Yup, this would do." He pulled out a smaller bind of paper with a smirk on his face that sat between amusement and anticipation. "And we just need… yeah, these guys will do."
He grabbed a bundle of talismans and handed her the book as they returned to his counter.
—Zenin Clan's Rudimentary Barrier Techniques (Jujutsu Kaisen): A book detailing the Zenin Clan's fundamental methods of erecting veils.
It also includes how to make imprints into the barrier(similar to the basic principles of making Binding Vows), acting as rules or exceptions to the erected Curtain.
She gave a cursory flip through the pages and had her interest suitably piqued.
"Jujutsu.. That explains the traditional aspect of it. Though the act of fueling it with the intense and erratic magic tainted by negative emotions is novel, I can't help but find it inefficient and corralled. But maybe that's why it works, hmm, it will be an interesting read either way."
Her brows raised at how Isaac's smile grew at her vocal interest. The man said nothing and just gave her the talismans.
—Sealing Talismans (Jujutsu Kaisen): A bundle of sealing talismans that seals the cursed energy and movement of cursed spirits and curse users. It also coin flips as repelling seals that are highly effective against possession.
Just slap them on the poor sucker and you are good to go.
"Will that be enough?" She pointed at the book she gave him, making him nod and wave her off.
"It just barely covers it." He made the book disappear and settled down into his chair. "Oh, and if you're curious about knowing more about jujutsu, bring something with a little more kick to it. Trust me, it's worth it."
So that was the reason behind his happy smile when she showed her interest; he gave her what she needed but he also made sure that it was something unique enough to draw her attention to buy more. He wanted her as a repeat customer.
She shrugged as she left. It was the tamest thing an extra dimensional being could do.
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