This morning was exceptionally uneventful. As usual, Zhou Ning arrived at the Alchemy Building. Since his Alchemy skill had reached intermediate level, it was no longer cost-effective to upgrade by using low-level materials there. Therefore, Zhou Ning planned to resign in a few days and rent an alchemy laboratory outside the school.
Although he didn't have much experience, Zhou Ning's professional ethics meant he never slacked off at work. He secretly browsed the forum for a while in the alchemy laboratory, then made some low-level potions, gaining a few hundred experience points. Rosie then came to take over, and the two of them, with a tacit understanding, sat together and ate lunch.
The one who came to hand over the firearms to Zhou Ning at noon was Sherlock. As the captain of the Sun Keepers' Third Squad, did he not have any subordinates? Heaven knew why he was being worked to death.
"Five handguns, two long rifles, 111 vikta in total," Zhou Ning said, handing the firearms to Sherlock.
Sherlock took the guns, counted them, and then handed Zhou Ning a wad of banknotes: "Count them."
"No need to count. This isn't our only business, is it?" Zhou Ning, though overjoyed, pretended not to care as he put the banknotes into his inner jacket pocket, smiling.
"You're right," Sherlock also smiled, then handed Zhou Ning a bag of bullets. "Here are 50 bullets. The processing fee is 10 currency per bullet, as you said. If there are any new firearms, you can bring them along with the finished bullets to the Xilin General Store in the West District. Someone there will be responsible for receiving them. You know, we'll be very busy for a while."
"No problem," Zhou Ning readily agreed, taking the bullets. Official organizations were indeed generous; 50 bullets meant another income of almost 50 vikta, instantly filling his wallet.
In Blystone's currency system, Vini is the lowest tier, and vikta is the highest tier. One vikta equals 10 currency, and one currency can be exchanged for 10 Vini.
50 vikta was already a huge sum.
However, the next problem was that Zhou Ning could only make potions and bullets in the alchemy laboratory attached to the school's Alchemy shop. But this alchemy laboratory was often rented out, and the supply of materials was limited, making it impossible to produce in bulk. After much thought, he decided to advance his plan and rent an alchemy laboratory outside the school.
He tore open the Weather prediction stick, which showed one red line and one light red line. This indicated that there would be special Weather this afternoon, such as heavy rain or snow. The worst-case scenario was acid rain, but it shouldn't come to that.
Zhou Ning rented an umbrella from the shop and walked out of the school.
Speaking of umbrellas, there's a bit of a joke. Zhou Ning didn't quite understand in the game why people here often rented umbrellas even though they clearly had them. So, he posed the question to an NPC in the game. The NPC answered without hesitation: "Umbrellas are expensive!" At first, Zhou Ning thought the NPC was being silly, but later he learned why people in Apocalypse World had to borrow umbrellas. It turned out that umbrellas in the game were actually a luxury item. Among the wealthiest merchants in Daklan, one started his fortune by selling umbrellas.
Furthermore, in the game "Apocalypse," there were quite a few modes of transportation. In Daklan alone, there were public carriages and intercity trains. Later, in the Northern Lands, there were air vehicles like griffins and airships.
Fantasy and science coexisting, it was quite wonderful.
The public carriages in Daklan City were pulled by two strange creatures similar to Kodo beasts, which people called Gnu. They were standard Northern Land creatures. The carriage could seat over a dozen people, stopping on demand, which was very convenient.
Five minutes later, a public carriage passed by, and Zhou Ning waved it to a stop.
"To Blair's Bookstore in the Old Town," Zhou Ning told the coachman.
"Blair's Bookstore? This carriage doesn't stop there. You can get off at the Red Violet Leaf Tailor Shop and walk for 5 minutes to Blair's Bookstore," the coachman said.
"Alright," Zhou Ning nodded indifferently.
"Three kilometers, the fare is 6 Vini." A woman of about thirty on the public carriage stretched out her hand to Zhou Ning and winked at him, "Don't think you can get a free ride just because you're handsome."
She was the ticket collector responsible for collecting money.
"Okay," Zhou Ning took out 6 Vini from his pocket, handed them to her, and took the ticket she offered, then boarded the carriage.
The carriage was quite empty at the moment, with only a few people seated. This was probably related to the sluggish economy of Blystone in recent years.
Zhou Ning sat in his seat, closing his eyes to rest. He had two goals for this trip to the Old Town: one was to purchase materials and rent an alchemy laboratory, and the second was to find a bargain.
About ten minutes later, the carriage arrived at its stop and halted.
After getting off the carriage, Zhou Ning followed his memory to a shop called "Blair's Bookstore."
The shop owner was a pot-bellied middle-aged man, about forty years old, who was currently wearing a monocle, sitting in a recliner, reading a newspaper. Piles of old books were stacked densely all around him.
This should be the place.
Zhou Ning's heart settled, and a smile appeared on his face: "I heard from a friend that you have a set of Alchemy books by Windegun here?"
"Windegun?"
The shop owner sat up from his recliner, took off his glasses, thought carefully for a moment, and nodded: "I should have them, but I'll have to look for them."
This "Blair's Bookstore" was the only used bookstore in the entire Old Town. Business wasn't particularly good, but it had a vast collection of books, so he naturally couldn't remember the exact location of a specific set of books.
Zhou Ning nodded: "Then I'll leave it to you."
Half an hour later, the shop owner hurried back, holding a stack of old books: "These are them, a set of five. See if they're what you're looking for."
Zhou Ning picked up a book and flipped through it, confirming it was the set written by Windegun. He was secretly pleased, but feigned an expressionless face and said, "This is the set. How much?"
"This set is an old book from the Old Faric period, at least 20 vikta," the shop owner blinked his small eyes. He had actually acquired this set for two vikta. Seeing that Zhou Ning really wanted it, he cleverly named a price that would make Zhou Ning feel the pinch but not be too unwilling to pay.
Zhou Ning twitched his lips, turned, and started to leave. The shop owner became a little anxious and grabbed Zhou Ning, "Then what do you say?"
"I'll pay at most one vikta."
"What? One vikta? Why don't you just rob me? These are old books from the Old Faric period!" The shop owner became agitated, as if Zhou Ning had offered a rather insulting price.
"Three vikta, not one Vini more."
With that, Zhou Ning turned and walked away, striding forward, silently counting: one step, two steps, three steps... "Wait!" The shop owner agonized for a moment, then stopped Zhou Ning and said, "Five vikta at the lowest, I can't go any lower! You have to leave me some money for my hard work, right?"
Zhou Ning immediately stopped, turned his head, and said, "It's a deal."
Shop owner:... The final outcome was a happy one for all parties. Zhou Ning held a stack of old books, turning to leave as if he had found a treasure.
The author of this set of Alchemy books, Windegun, was an Alchemist from the Old Faric period. He invented a self-contained system of Alchemy, combining engineering and Alchemy to create various Alchemy puppets, which he then sealed into special cards, much like yu-gi-oh!.
If this guy were in modern times, he would definitely be a genius like Seto Kaiba, creating a Windegun Entertainment Group and developing a duel virtual imaging system, which would take off in minutes.
But he stubbornly decided to pursue something like "life Alchemy," attempting to give Alchemy puppets life.
As a result, he attracted the encirclement of six nations. In the end, Windegun disappeared without a trace.
In his previous life, a player found a clue and discovered that Windegun had hidden his Alchemy in a set of old books, using a coded language.
Later, that player obtained this set of old books and deciphered a special kind of Alchemy, but this player was a bit wasteful, only using it to create some mechanical small pets, although this also earned him a lot of money.
Zhou Ning arrived two years earlier than him, finally getting this set of old books before the player.
Finding a secluded spot, Zhou Ning hid the books in his inventory and headed straight for the Trade District.