'What is that light?'
Curious to see what was going on, he walked towards the radiance.
When he arrived, he saw a book in a 2 metre tall and 1 metre thicc bookshelf with only two books glowing.
The cover said 'Encyclopedia Of Medicinal Herbs'.
'How? Can it read my mind? And who even did it? Was it that mysterious time book? Anyways, I don't think it's a bad thing.' Daniel thought while holding the encyclopedia.
On the first pages was a list of the contents written. After turning a couple of pages, he saw the description of the first herb.
The Dennstædtia Asperata is a rare rank 5, medium-sized plant and can be found only in very humid regions. It blooms after 5 years.
It has thin, triangular leaves, which are usually blue-green. It also grows tiny flowers, which can be light silver, red, brown and dark red.
These plants grow separated by a fair distance from each other, but it's tricky to control and maintain their growth.
They can be used to create a poison.
As a defense mechanism the Dennstædtia Asperata produces a thick, sticky wax.
They rely on winds to carry their seeds away to reproduce. Once pollinated, they grow fairly large, delicious fruits.
'I believe I saw a plant earlier which fits this description. And it's even a rank 5 herb.'
He went to the location where he saw it and there it was. The Dennstædtia Asperata was there in perfect condition. Perhaps even more than perfect considering how long it had been gathering Qi inside it.
He carefully read the instructions on how to collect it. After he read them, he picked the herb up. A rank 5 herb. Even in the big cities, such an item is highly coveted by rich merchants and powerful cultivators. Rank 5 herbs can reach prices of up to 100.000 gold coins in some auctions. Of course it depends on the type of rank 5 herb. More common rank 5 herbs only reach 50.000 gold coins. A typical non-cultivator household only gains 10 silver coins a year.
'If I sell this herb, I can finally pay off my debt. However, if someone like me sells such an expensive item, I will most likely get robbed if not killed. I am still weak after all.
But on the other side, the longer I wait, the more I will be in debt.
Right now, I owe that bastard Ravurn 4.000 gold coins. It's not a compared to this rank 5 herb, but ordinary households won't even earn this much in their lifetime. And last year I only owed him 400 gold coins! I really got scammed a lot. I swear I'm never going to gamble again.'
While still thinking, Daniel put the Dennstædtia Asperata in his bag where he already put the Encyclopedia Of Medicinal Herbs and the rank 1 herb Relucita.
Shortly after, he had left the cave. He could walk through the wall now thanks to his refining of the Tome of Time. Other people can't go through it without his consent, except for when a cultivator is too high of a realm.
He looked around to remember where the cave was and he went back to the city Polis.
Inside the city, he walked to the auction house to sell the rank 1 herb he got. He wanted to sell the rank 5 herb when he got money to buy a mask. He wanted a mask so people wouldn't recognise him even though he didn't think someone would.
After he sold the herb for 7 silver coins, he went to the black market to buy a black mask.
He spent 1 silver and 64 bronze coins after some negotiating. While walking away, he saw a stall with a sign that said 'Pick an egg and maybe you'll get lucky!'.
"This looks fun." said Daniel a little too loud.
"Don't buy it. It is a scam. Out of 10.000 eggs bought, only 1 got away with profit." a girl who passed by and accidently heard him said.
'She looks not bad, one of the more good looking girls I have seen.' thought Daniel when looked behind and saw her.
She was on the short side, only 1 metre and 64 centimeters tall. She had black ponytails reaching her waist and a sword on her back which looked far too big for someone like her.
"Well perhaps I will be the second lucky one. Either way, it's only 5 silver coins for an egg and 1 silver coin for a small egg. It's not like I'm going to lose a lot of money." Daniel said while walking to the stall.
The girl shook her head in disdain and walked away without looking back.