Chapter 1065: At the Market

The little crow jumped around me happily, like a bird jumping for joy: although she was indeed a bird. The child was not very smart yet, but he knew that the treasure he had discovered was recognized, so he was particularly happy.

I turned over and over to observe the silver-white metal plate in my hand. The little crow rummaged through it from the "garbage pile" in the corner of the yard. The other party's items there were all unknown items found by Sakina and Sona from ancient ruins. , because they could not find a use for the time being and no one could recognize their value, but they were not willing to throw them away, so they were piled in the corner. This piece of silver-white metal is only about the size of a palm. It is as light as a piece of metal in your hand. It has a low density and high strength that are completely inconsistent with the material it is made of: I tried it just now, and it is impossible to break it with just hands without using extra strength. Let this piece of metal, which is only a few millimeters thick, experience any deformation. Its outer edge is irregular, but there are no signs of tearing. It seems to have been processed like this. One side is smooth, but the other side has many neat and regular dents. The dents are embedded with crystals of unknown purpose. The metal plate There is a neat row of small characters on the lower edge, which looks like some kind of serial number.

With such an appearance, it's hard not to associate it with high-tech mechanical equipment. Although I can't see the purpose, I guess it is some kind of part: it comes from a device that is beyond the technological level of this world.

In fact, even if it is not a part, it is definitely not what should appear in this world. The processing skills of this piece of metal are quite high, and the composition is weird, making it such a strong yet light thing. It’s not that easy to process.

"Where did you get this?" I asked Sakina holding up the metal plate.

"Uh, let me think about it," Sakina frowned. There were a lot of things piled up in the yard, and they would go to a certain ruins for adventure every now and then. If they wanted to recall this inconspicuous metal plate, It’s really not easy to come from where. Sure enough, after thinking about it for a long time. Sakina could only shake her head apologetically, "It seems that time has passed. I have long forgotten where I found this."

Sona saw the disappointed look on my face and immediately added: "But I have a little impression: we seemed to have taken this to the market to sell it, because it seemed lighter and stronger than any metal. The alchemist might be interested, but the alchemist who bought it returned it within a few days. He said that the metal could not be processed at all, did not conduct magic, could not be melted, and did not react with any alchemical materials. It has no merit except that it is very hard, and it cannot be copied. I think it is of no use, but if you are interested, you can take it away. It is useless for us to keep it here. "

Sandora took the metal plate, looked at it over and over for a while, and shook her head: "We are not interested in this piece of metal. We are interested in its source. This thing... shouldn't appear in this world."

"Sorry, I can't help you anymore." Sakina smiled awkwardly and clapped her hands. "By the way, there is someone who might know!"

Sandora immediately narrowed her eyes: "Who is it? Can you find it now?"

"I'm afraid not now. He should have gone to the market." Sona shook her head. "This is the time when the explorers go to the market to sell things. We should also go there. If you are not in a hurry, you can follow. We went over there, and that man is also an adventurer, and very qualified. The areas he usually explores are similar to the places we two explore. Maybe he has seen something similar to this."

Sakina nodded repeatedly: "That's right, Sona, let's go to the market. It's still early today. Maybe we can buy something. The stall we rent is not too far from that old man's stall. , just in time for everyone to go there together."

She told us the second half of her sentence, with a look of hope on her face. Of course we had no reason to refuse and immediately nodded in agreement.

Sakina and Sona first went back to the house to pack their things, and then came out carrying two huge backpacks. It seemed that these two large bags were the "goods" they wanted to sell at the market. Sakina smiled proudly at me: "Although I dare not say anything else, we are still very confident in our strength. Let's go. There are so many things to deal with today. They were all obtained from the last expedition. This time The harvest from the expedition has not yet been sorted.”

You said that two girls carrying such big bags in front of me, can I feel guilty? Of course not, so I slapped Lin on the shoulder decisively: "Go over and help." I don't know why, but recently I felt no guilt at all when I gave Lin this kind of work.

"Ah, don't bother, this one is very heavy..." When Lin went to take the backpack, Sakina suddenly exclaimed, but she stopped moving the next second: Lin was just holding two feathers. He "squeezed" the two huge backpacks and then jumped to the front of the team. Sakina looked behind dumbfounded and suddenly burst into tears: "The only strength I am proud of..."

Bingtis patted her shoulder: "It's okay. The only thing that silly girl is proud of is her strength. You deserve it."

The Explorer's Market feels very similar to me as an open-air vegetable market with rental stalls. It doesn't have very good facilities, nor does it have many rules. A large area is divided and then planned by the Sentu authorities. Neat stalls were set up one after another. Each stall was separated by iron stakes and wooden boards, with simple wooden countertops for placing goods. These stalls were rented to explorers at a very low price. According to Sakina, Almost like free use. It can be seen that this kind of market is more inclined to public facilities or welfare facilities. As one of the largest lost world transfer stations, Sentu has not only gathered a large number of explorers, but also attracted a large number of scholars and magic professionals. Therefore, the secret law here is also quite large. For the Sentu authorities, The Arcanum and other high-end academic facilities are the mainstay of the economy, so they don't charge much in this market for explorers.

However, this does not mean that explorers can gain much practical benefit from this system. As a vulnerable group in society, they are also a loose class without any organization. Explorers always suffer losses - the people they do business with are the dominant intellectual class. No matter in terms of knowledge, status, or power, explorers are in a position where they have to be exploited, and they also have to Facing highly biased market managers and other miscellaneous departments, these things are the main reasons that make life difficult for explorers.

"If there is a conflict with the scholars, no matter what the reason is, we will all suffer. When the city guards come, they will put most of the responsibility on us." Sakina said this with a very angry face, "After all, there are many Everyone thinks so. The explorers are a bunch of uneducated vagabonds, and all of them are prone to violence. Once trouble occurs, we are definitely the ones who are at fault. As for the scholars, they are the educated class. Who would doubt them? Sona and I have been arrested several times by the city guards, and every time it was because of arguments with others..."

"It's not that you're too stubborn," Sona glanced at Sajina dissatisfied, "and you're very impulsive."

I immediately felt the same. Sakina is indeed a person who is not very good at suppressing her emotions. She writes all her thoughts on her face, and it is normal for her to easily conflict with others.

As we speak, we have arrived at our destination. Sona found the stall she rented, and I found that the only difference between this place and the vegetable market is that each stall is very big: the walls can be used as shops. But after looking around, I understood why such a large space was reserved here—a few dozen meters away there was a team of explorers selling animal bones, from ancestor elephants.

"There are some older explorers who will form a large team. They are much more powerful than the two of us," Sakina noticed my gaze and said casually, "In addition to exploring the ruins, they sometimes even I will go to the wasteland of the Lost World to hunt wild beasts. Those wild beasts are full of treasures, but they cannot adapt to the environment of the mother continent. Therefore, they are still a specialty of the Lost World and are often sold at very high prices. Of course, the two of us are not Come to think of it, the two of us are quite inconspicuous here."

In addition to the explorers of various races in various stalls in the market, the only ones left in the market are the "customers" in high-end clothes wandering among the stalls. They are here to purchase alchemy materials or research materials. Sakina may I already realized that we knew nothing about the explorer business, so I took the initiative to explain. Only then did I realize that except for a small number of the people who came down to purchase things were scholars themselves, the rest were basically their apprentices. As assistants, scholars don't do their own errands, and they don't like such a messy environment.

"Many alchemy materials produced in the lost world are fixed. After telling the apprentice what to buy, there is no need for the scholar to do the errands on his own," Sakina said while putting her things on the table. "Only when those masters are interested , I only come here in person when I want to find novel materials. After all, there are still many lost worlds that have not been fully explored. Explorers often have new gadgets that no one has seen before, oh, such as the one you found. A piece of metal, no one knows what this rare thing is for. Scholars will be interested in this kind of thing. They call this kind of activity of searching for novel materials in the market "Taobao" (I especially want to add: Customer If you are satisfied, will you give me a good review? But I held it in for a long time.) Under normal circumstances, this is the biggest opportunity for explorers to make a fortune, but it also depends on luck. Sometimes things you think are valuable may not It’s worthless in the eyes of the scholar, and the price has been kept very low, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Lin Xue's eyes raised slightly, and she curled her lips and said, "Actually, I was tricked. Although you found the thing, except for those technical geeks, who knows how much the thing is worth. It must have been tricked. "

Sakina smiled. Obviously she knew the situation, but what could she do? Explorers basically don't have much knowledge. If they had more ability besides courage and strength, they wouldn't do such dangerous work, especially races like half-dragons: they are born unable to learn magic. In this era where the magical intellectual class rules the world, never being able to learn magic is equivalent to being destined to be illiterate forever. Everything of high value in the world is incomprehensible to them. Is there anything worse than this?

"Actually, we are quite lucky," Sona smiled wryly and spread her hands. "Being used as a test subject by that mage master was a blessing in disguise. Although we couldn't learn magic, Sakina and I also learned a lot about pharmacy. and materials science. They were all secretly memorized at the beginning. Although they are not comparable to real scholars, they are often useful in judging ordinary and weird materials. When I first started to 'work', this knowledge also helped a lot. Yes. We are not so easily deceived."

"Now, where is the old explorer you were talking about?" Qian Qian went for a walk outside and then came back.

"Oh, wait a minute. Sakina, take care of your things and I'll lead the way." Sona hurriedly put the things on hand and led a group of us toward the park more than a hundred meters away. Walking to a stall: that stall was in the corner, and there was only an old man looking at it who looked sleepy. There were only a few things on the surface, which was very inconspicuous. My heart suddenly moved: According to the general routine, it would be like this in a bustling market, but I would be distracted. He was sleeping on the side when he should be attracting customers. There are obviously a dazzling array of products everywhere, but there are only a few tattered items in their own stalls. They are definitely hidden masters. Their sleepy eyes hide a lifetime of wisdom. Hidden among the rustic rags are rare treasures. Usually, their family will prepare one or two girls to be married for you - could it be said that I have been following a non-mainstream route for so many years and finally a mainstream plot will appear? Already?

Just as I was thinking about it, a strong, shirtless man pushing a flatbed truck suddenly shot out from behind. The big man rushed to the old man's stall and unloaded the large packages from the flatbed truck. He started pouring things out with a sputtering sound, and the drowsy old man suddenly became energetic when he heard the sound. Tengdi jumped over to help pack things, muttering a lot: "I wonder why you came here! It took us only half a pack of cigarettes to get here and you've been gone for almost an hour! How many things have been delayed, you... When I got up early and came out, I told you to push the car and you didn't listen. Well, a big old man just came and bought all the things, leaving me standing guard at an empty stall and watching others selling goods. Are you a waste of money? !”

The big man lowered his head and worked quickly, saying, "Dad, don't be angry. It's still early today. We still have to sell in the afternoon..."

Me: "...hehe, the old man is quite energetic...hehe..."

It was impossible for a large group of us to stand next to the stall without attracting attention. The old man had just packed a few things when he saw us. He immediately put down what he was doing and patted the shirtless man on the shoulder: "Hey, what are you talking about?" Come on, business is coming - you guys look like you are either scholars or aristocrats, you must be here to shop for treasures, right? We just happened to take out a few treasures from the bottom of the box at home, and two of them are from the boys a few days ago I just found it from the cave in the Gray Forest, I swear there is absolutely nothing like it on the market..."

The old man was probably more motivated to do business than to be an explorer. In the blink of an eye, he began to introduce his collection endlessly. I heard that this must be a semi-"retired" explorer and now his son. He inherited the mantle with several teammates, but we are not here to listen to him sell things. However, Lin Xue opened her mouth several times but failed to interrupt the old man. In the end, Sona couldn't help it and said loudly: "Wei Well, uncle! Please listen to others first!"

The old man was stunned, as if he had just seen Sona: "Oh, it's Sona, when did you come?"

"I've been standing here since just now!" Sona looked unhappy. Anyone who was ignored like this would definitely not be happy. "Uncle, have you completely become a businessman now? It seems that you already know how to do business."

"Nonsense, I have a dead-brained son. I don't know how to support my family!" The old man yelled angrily, and his gray beard trembled, while the "brainless son" didn't dare to express his anger. Standing next to him, the contrast is really eye-catching. On one side is a burly man who can easily win more than a dozen bodybuilder awards by just standing on the stage with some oil on his muscles. He lowers his head with a shy look on his face. It was an old man with gray hair and a stooped back, and his voice was as powerful as a bell.

Shandora went straight to the point and took out the metal plate without any nonsense: "Sakina said you might know the origin of this thing. Do you recognize this?"

The old man muttered: "I stopped working last year, but since Sakina said so, it might have been before that..." As he spoke, he took the metal plate and looked at it over and over again. , said firmly: "Two hundred ropes."

I was stunned: "What?"

"Two hundred suo," the old man raised his eyes, "No one else has ever seen such an inconspicuous thing. The information fee of two hundred suo is already very cheap. How can these gentlemen still care about such a small amount of money? Can’t do it?”

Sona immediately looked at us awkwardly and said to the old man in a hurry: "They are friends of Sakina and I!"

This time it was the old man's turn to be stunned. He looked at our massive "noble parade" and suddenly tugged on Sona's arm: "Did you eat the wrong thing? You are just... you understand."

"It's true. They are traveling scholars who met us when they were in the ancient city." Of course Sona knew what the other party was surprised about, so she simply explained a few words, "Anyway, don't mention the money, okay?"

The old man looked here in disbelief, gritted his teeth and stamped his feet at the end, as if he had come up with a good idea: "Otherwise, you just think I don't know about this, can you just give me the money first?"

Me: "..." Lingmeng, I may have found your long-lost father!

Seeing that Sona couldn't stand such a stable temper and was about to go violent, the old man finally lost his temper and waved to us: "Go to the Sky Tower and have a look. There is a layer there. I remember there is a bunch of strange metals." , I don’t know anything else - what, you really don’t want to buy something? Even if you don’t need alchemy materials, it would be good to find a few beautiful stones and go back to make some jewelry..."

In the end, we finally lost money. Fortunately, Lilina brought the currency of this world with her. We bought a lot of weird stones and went back. Well, we should have bought a bunch of snacks for Sandora.

Just as we turned around to return, we suddenly heard a noise coming from not far away, mixed with Sakina's sharp voice. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to (.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation.)