Report
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They went through a passage from behind the door. It was a dark, deep place. Dudian was somewhat surprised as he didn’t expect this underground market to be so lively. He was able to identify hundreds of people from the faint smells. Although the special medicine could cover the odors, but couldn’t completely eradicate them.
“Come with me.” Mouse was very familiar with the place so he was in front leading the way.
Dudian followed him.
A brass lamp was lit on the wall at the end of the passage. Two guards were stationed there and their shadows were reflected on the wall.
Dudian and Mouse both reached the end of the passage and came towards another door. One of the guards opened the door and a large mysterious underground market was presented in front of them.
It was a huge underground place designed as a square. It was dim lit by the lamps that were on the walls. There were a wide variety of booths as well as large-scale shops. All kinds of things related to alchemy could be found.
Dudian was surprised. As he didn’t think the scale of the underground market would be so big. Including the guests, buyers and sellers there had to be at least three hundred people gathered in here.
It was also the first time for Dudian to see so many ‘evil people’ from the dark church. He was feeling somewhat strange. Mouse pointed in a direction: “There. Come with me.”
Dudian followed him while looking around the dimly light surroundings. Actually, he was able to clearly see as his vision was much more improved in comparison to an ordinary human. There were small shops, large ones, booths and there was even carpet down on the ground where people sold materials. There were a variety of bottles and jars, as well as peculiar things which he met for the first time. Actually, he even saw dark claws. He wondered which monster they took it from.
“Boss!” Cried the shopkeeper, “Check the alchemy stations! ”
A tall man wearing a dark red mask seemed to be the owner of the shop. He looked at Mouse and Dudian. From their height and voices, he knew that there were children and at most were apprenticed to an alchemist or potion-er. He was lazy to attend to them so he said: “Check, pick and pay!”
Mouse was accustomed to such treatment so he didn’t care much. He pointed to a platform made of stone and birch: “Dog, what do you think of this?”
Dudian looked, said: “The prices are different?
“Of course.” The mouse was very experienced: “This is the cheapest and costs two silver coins. It’s enough for my junior apprentice brother. Of course, if you are rich, then you can also buy high-end products. Such as this one which costs four silver coins. It’s more convenient, but also optimizes the usage of fire. And this one costs seven silver… ”
He showed the platforms one by one and his finger came to stop on top of a gold platform: “This is the best. It costs two gold coins. It has an automatic fire bolt and can clean the ash in the pot. There are two refining pools. For doing complicated experiments, it is an essential platform.”
Dudian glanced at it. It seemed to be cast in brass. The platform’s material and appearance were better and more stable than the rest. However, it cost two gold coins, and he had a single piece of gold coin on himself. He didn’t plan to spend all of it.
“That’s it,” said Dudian, pointing to two silver coin platform.
The Shop owner glanced at him. He seemed to be expecting the same answer: “Pay now and report the address. If it is within the residential district, the latest moment it would be tomorrow night when it will be delivered to you.”
“You also help us with transportation?” Dudian asked in surprise.
Mouse laughed: “Of course. We can’t move such a big thing because we would be easily exposed. They have hidden transport channels. They can deliver it to anyone. Even if you are a noble. ”
Dudian was confused, did the dark church penetrate so deep into the society?
At this time, the mouse suddenly grabbed Dudian, pulled him aside, said: “Come here.”
Dudian was confused at first, but when he saw the two figures in front he understood why mouse acted so. There were a man and woman. They were wearing crow masks and were in front of the shop. There was a dark gold hexagon badge on their shoulders. They were actually alchemists!
“Official alchemist!” Dudian whispered. Both of them were official alchemists but the tall figure was wearing an alchemist insignia which had 3 small suns engraved on it.
From Rosyard’s notes, Dudian had learned that from the apprentice to the five-star alchemist, required a lot of hard work. Each one-star required a large number of alchemy points and would often need a lot of experimental results to be submitted for review.
A three-star alchemist was basically equivalent to Knight of Light from the Holy Church. It has to be noted that even a big noble family, such as Mel had to treat them with hospitality. (Knights of Light have to be treated that way)
“Boss, what good alchemy station do you have?” Three-star alchemist asked the shop owner. His voice was low, apparently, he was deliberately trying to change his tone.
The shop owner quickly stepped forward as he saw the badges on their shoulder: “We have a few which would satisfy someone of your position. This one, for example.” He pointed towards the platform which was the most expensive.
The male alchemist looked at the female one and asked: “What do you think?”
There were two suns on female alchemist’s badge but she was regarded as a number one figure. She looked at his eyes and shook her head: “Bad. There is no insulation pool, not good for decomposition.”
“That is.” Tall figure slightly pondered before saying: “Then you should look for one.”
“This.” This woman sighed, said: “This market should be a monopoly. We won’t find anything. What about this one?”
The tall figure hesitated for a moment, but said: “Well.”
They made the payment and left.
Dudian and Mouse looked at them live in a grand manner.
Mouse said with emotion: “We cannot afford stuff like that, we’re too poor. But it was good to be in little contact with them. Alchemy is so esoteric, ah! Unfortunately, they didn’t talk much or perhaps we could be inspired by their conversation.”
“Did she submit her experimental report to the dark church?” he said, “Why didn’t she submit after doing the experiment? ”
Mouse shrugged: “There are many alchemists who are worried that there will be someone else who would submit the same experiment before them. So the first thing they do submit the experiment and wait for the rating. Of course, you can submit it for review after doing the experiment but if someone else has the same inspiration as you and submits it faster than you? You know that you can lose points which are detrimental while moving up the ranks.”
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