July 10th, early morning.
Slave market.
When Lear arrived, the sun had not yet risen.
The light morning mist and high humidity suppressed the stench in the air.
This made him feel a little better.
I'd been here once before, so I'm much more familiar with it today.
Quickly head to District 5 and find the Gray Mist Merchant Guild.
This is a chamber of commerce much smaller than the Longya Chamber of Commerce, with a storefront less than 50 meters wide.
Inside, there were no iron cages for imprisoning slaves, but rather all sorts of strange and unusual things.
A series of shackles of various sizes and thicknesses, and dozens of different types of chains.
There were also shackles to lock the neck, gags to stuff in the mouth, and barbed whips.
The Gray Mist Merchant Guild doesn't sell slaves, but everything it does is inextricably linked to slavery.
On one of the shelves were clumps of dried, cow-dung-like excrement.
Earth dragons are herbivorous magical beasts, just like cows. Their feces don't smell very bad to begin with, and after processing, the odor is gone.
Upon seeing Lear, a man with a pointed mouth, monkey-like face, and a thin, withered body, dressed in a luxurious robe studded with jewels, stepped forward to greet him.
"Sir, what would you like to order?"
The voice was sharp and had a certain tone.
This tone made Lear frown slightly.
A quick glance revealed the conspicuously placed earthworm excrement.
Judging from their appearance, they were all freshly dried, which is significantly different from the intelligence reports.
Just as I was about to speak, my gaze fell on a small, inconspicuous area at the very bottom of the shelf.
The earthworm droppings on top were exceptionally dry, and there was still some dust on the surface that hadn't been wiped clean, so it was clear that they had been there for quite some time.
With a slight sense, I could detect a subtle difference between it and earthworm excrement, and my heart stirred slightly.
A panel appeared in my mind.
Dried dragon dung
[Rank]: 2 stars
[Characteristics]: Soaking in fresh blood can reactivate the dragon's might contained in feces. Ordinary life forms will be intimidated by the dragon's might and dare not approach.
Good heavens, even dried feces are a 2-star treasure!
Dragons truly are a symbol of power in this world.
What are these prices?
The boss, who was about to boast, froze when he saw Lear's gesture.
This was garbage mixed in with the goods. He was ripped off badly and originally planned to throw it away, but he couldn't bear to part with it and decided to try and sell it, hoping to get away with it.
What if there's someone who doesn't know its value?
His eyes darted around, and he immediately shouted loudly.
"Earth dragons are usually level 10 life forms, but this is the excrement of a level 12 earth dragon!"
"We originally intended to preserve it for future sale, but we didn't expect it to be preserved for so long that we almost forgot about it until today."
"Although our value is much higher than that of ordinary excrement, our selling price is only the same as that of ordinary earthworm excrement!"
"If you need it, I can give you a 10% discount!"
Lear's lips twitched. Did they really think the buyer was an idiot? How could they say something like that?
This guy is nowhere near as good as the fat boss of the Dragon Fang Merchant Guild.
"Don't try to fool me. Nobody wants this stuff anyway. Name your price. I'll go to the wilderness; it's not far. I just need something that has some effect."
The boss, with his pointed face and monkey-like features, showed no embarrassment whatsoever and chuckled.
"I knew you were an expert; I couldn't hide anything from you."
"Regular earthworm excrement costs 1 gold coin per pound, but I'll give you a 50% discount on this. If you take it all, it'll be 10 gold coins in total!"
Looking at the pile, it must weigh at least ten or twenty pounds.
Buying a bunch of dragon dung at this price is like getting a stroke.
This is a 2-star treasure. It doesn't sound good to say, but what can you do when it's something that fell from a dragon?
"Twenty silver coins, take them all. Don't bother haggling with me. If I weren't going too far, I wouldn't even take them for free, since they're not very effective."
"If you don't sell it to me today, I don't know what the price will be next time. Besides, can you be sure that the efficacy of this thing won't continue to diminish?"
The knife struck the major artery directly.
But his few words immediately shut the boss up.
That actually makes a lot of sense.
This thing has been sitting here for three months, and nobody's even asked about it. Its dragon's might is so weak it's almost unbearable to look at.
Going into the wilderness is risking your life; buying this thing is practically suicide.
"Since you've put it that way, what can I say? Fine, let's be friends, I'll sell myself to you!"
He waved to the side as he spoke.
A staff member immediately jogged over, deftly picked up a bag, packed up the dragon droppings, and tied several extra tight knots.
Lear counted out 20 silver coins, handed them over, picked up the bag, and left.
From entering the store to picking up the goods and leaving, it took no more than two minutes, and the whole process was incredibly smooth.
This 2-star dragon droppings was bought for 20 silver coins.
A huge profit!
After Lear's figure disappeared, the boss, with his pointed face and monkey-like features, proudly raised his head and looked at his employee.
"See? To do business, you need to have the right methods!"
"I'd sell this inferior stuff for 20 silver coins! And you said you wanted to throw it away? Let me tell you, even trash can fetch a good price!"
"You should learn more from this in the future!"
"Yes, yes, you're absolutely right! When it comes to doing business, you're the best, Chairman!"
The man kept flattering him.
The next day, July 11th, the entrance to the black market in the ninth block.
An old man with one arm, dressed in a black robe, had dozens of pieces of ore laid out in front of him.
He slowly stroked the black ore in his hand, ignoring the people walking back and forth.
Based on his many years of experience as a street vendor, he believes that acting superior and indifferent makes it easier to make money on the black market.
They're just fooling those who don't know any better.
Those in the know wouldn't even glance at him. He bought these ores from the dwarven blacksmith's junkyard for a single silver coin.
They're all junk; there's hardly any metal left in them.
What kind of ore can escape the eyes of a dwarf?
Unfortunately, if he hadn't lost an arm while scamming people before, he would have had many more tricks up his sleeve. Now that he's old, he can only rely on this method to wait for fat pigs to come to him.
After a long while, feeling a bit tired from handling the ore, he stretched and caught a glimpse of a young figure approaching out of the corner of his eye, which made his eyes light up.
Isn't this the sucker who spent over twenty gold coins to buy things from tomb raiders at the stall next to him a few days ago?
Here we go again!!
That guy looked at it at his stall first that day!!
He's been looking at his stall for so long, and even bought some tomb raiders' stuff. How fat must this guy be?!
Wait until the other person gets a little closer, then cough lightly.
"Sir, I've collected quite a few fine things in the past few days. Would you like to take another look?"
It's fine to act superior to strangers, but if you spot a fat target, you have to take action.
Lear watched the one-armed old man greet him, his expression somewhat subtle.
Is this some kind of doorstep delivery?
"What kind of ore do you have? Show it to us."
The one-armed old man smiled proudly.
"These are all new stock. I bought them at a high price. The last batch was all sold out. I heard that one of them contained a piece of Dragon Blood Essence Gold the size of half a thumb."
The last batch of goods was sold, but someone bought them all for 5 silver coins.
Because there's half a piece inside, and a few strands of rare metal hidden within, melting it all down might earn you two or three silver coins.
He knew there was nothing he could do; he didn't have the technology.
The black market isn't just about big deals; a significant portion of it consists of people who live on meager wages.
Dragon Blood Essence Gold?
Lear chuckled; this was an incredibly exaggerated boast.
He saw through it but didn't say anything, and silently started searching.
After going through everything, his gaze seemed to have discovered something, and he looked at the one-armed old man.
"What is that in your hand? Can I hold it and take a look?"
The one-armed old man was taken aback, and then sincerely praised him.
"You have a very good eye! This ore is no ordinary mineral!"
Of all these ores, this was the only one he had picked up by the river outside the city last month. He kept it because it felt nice to hold and he wanted something to play with when he wanted to show off.
The other party actually took a liking to it; their insight is truly amazing!
Such a good sheep, how could we let it escape last time? We need to change our strategy and not just keep pretending.
He cleared his throat and introduced himself.
"This is a treasure I acquired from a dwarven craftsman at a high price; it contains a trace amount of mithril!"
A thumb-sized amount of mithril can buy an entire estate in the heart of Loran!
"It's so expensive, I'd better forget about it, I can't afford it."
Upon hearing this, the one-armed old man narrowed his eyes slightly.
"The high price is naturally for a reason. The ore below is cheaper, but would you be interested in it?"
"That's true, but I don't have much money left. I've spent it all in the last two days."
Damn, I was too late.
Others might be lying, but just a few days ago I watched them buy a few pieces of junk for over twenty gold coins and they were as happy as could be.
That spendthrift son, no wonder he can't keep any money.
He was getting restless and stared directly at the other person.
"I see you've come twice already. If you like it, a higher price wouldn't be a problem, would it?"
"You get what you pay for; you should understand that principle."
"It's impossible to get a quality item worth tens of gold coins for just a few copper coins!"
"Okay, then tell me how much you're willing to pay. If it's too expensive, then forget it."
After a moment's thought, the one-armed old man slowly raised his five fingers.
"50 gold coins!"
Then he saw his fat sheep simply throw down the ore, not even looking at it, and try to leave.
He stopped him immediately.
"This was my previous price. But seeing how much you like it today, I'll give it to you for only 30, or even just 20 gold coins."
The other party remained silent, then slowly took out 10 silver coins.
The one-armed old man looked at the other person's outstretched palm and took a deep breath.
"You're really going to kill me!"
Before he could finish speaking, all the silver coins in his hand were suddenly taken, and then Lear felt a stone being shoved into his hand.
"In that case, I'll be your friend!"
You can sell a random stone for 10 silver coins. Where else can you find such a business? I'll go to the riverbank and pick up a few more tomorrow.
This fat sheep is so easy to slaughter.
The one-armed old man was secretly delighted.