While Lu Ning was chatting while eating, a new guest arrived. He had his hands clasped in his hands and was wearing a somewhat torn linen robe with traces of dust and stains on it. His hair and beard had not been taken care of for a long time and were tangled together. A pair of frowning eyebrows even had some wrinkles on them. It looked like A grimace on his face.
Such wandering mages are the norm in Opal District.
"Jaze...get me a beer, please."
Although Lu Ning's outfit was old, it was still very clean. After looking at it, he immediately sat at the other end of the bar, feeling inferior. Even Lu Ning had to look up at him.
But Jaze still quickly poured him a glass of beer from a beer barrel, and it was still a large glass. When the man saw it, he hurriedly said, "I just want a small cup..."
"I'll make up the difference for you. Obviously you're not doing well lately."
With a soft sound, Jaze placed a large glass of beer in front of the man, his tone was familiar, and he obviously knew him.
"Thank you, thank you..." He grabbed the beer glass and actually started crying.
Lu Ning raised her head and glanced at him. This man had an intermediate magician certification plate hanging on his waist, but it was really unexpected that he could be so miserable.
However, Jaze chatted with him in a low voice, and after a few words, he made him stop crying. Other customers in the store could obviously hear this man's voice, but no one came over. I don't know whether they believed in Jaze's ability or not. I don't want to ask this kind of question.
When Jaze came back, Lu Ning made a gesture with her eyes.
"He...has not been doing well recently. I can't say the specifics. In short, he is doing odd jobs nearby. Because of the influx of people these days, he can't find much work to do. He even suffered a lot because of his status as a wandering mage. Some bullying, although it didn’t make it big, all the bad things accumulated and became like this." Jaze sighed, "Actually, there are many people in the same state, and at this time, the weak ones will collapse first."
"He is an intermediate magician."
"Lillian, you are an alchemist, right?" Jaze looked at her robe, "Although it costs a lot, the finished products you make can be sold, and you can also accept alchemy commissions from others, and try to maintain a balance of payments. It’s okay. But for people who purely study elemental and arcane magic, their greatest ability is to be a thug for others, or make money from other things.”
Lu Ning glanced at the man and chewed the last piece of meat steak, feeling quite sympathetic.
Although Lilian's life is miserable, at least she can still continue to study alchemy, and this person... I'm afraid he can't even pay for the tuition, and his magic is not enough to enter the country. No wonder he has to stay in Evarang even if he dies. No, I'm afraid I won't even get the occasional advice from others if I leave here.
She took a sip of the drink and her body became much warmer. As guests came in one after another, Jaze had to receive them one by one and would not always stay here to chat with her.
Not long after, the man sitting alone drinking beer suddenly took out a crystal from his arms. Lu Ning could recognize that the crystal was similar to the gems he got from Catherine and the others, but this artificial crystal was cheaper and had poor confidentiality.
However, the wandering mage whispered a few words against the crystal, then paused for a moment, and suddenly a joyful look appeared on his face, as if... an expression of survival from a desperate situation. He stood up in a hurry, said hello to Jaze and rushed towards The door.
Lu Ning raised her eyebrows slightly, placed the money on the bar, and followed her outside.
Under the night, the man was walking in a hurry and did not cover his traces. Lu Ning easily followed him and followed him through several streets before arriving at the door of a cylindrical building. There was no one here. Guard, Lu Ning made sure at the door that he could enter at will, and then walked in.
As soon as she entered the door, someone handed over a black hooded robe. Lu Ning took it and put it on her head very naturally. The man yawned and pointed inside, gesturing for her to come in.
No inspection at all.
And walking further inside, there was a hall with a fire burning. There were fifty or sixty people standing and sitting inside, all wearing similar robes, and there were even several people of Lu Ning's height. Only then did she understand. Why do you ignore me at the door like this? She pulled up the face-covering collar inside her robe, covering the lower half of her face.
The hall was still a little noisy, with many people talking in low voices. Lu Ning leaned against a wooden pillar and remained silent, but some people came to talk to her.
"Friend, you...are very calm."
"It's nothing, it's not the first time." Lu Ning lowered her voice slightly to make herself sound more mature.
"Maybe you are better, haha. This is the first time I have encountered this kind of thing, and now I feel nervous and excited."
When someone like this came to his door, of course Lu Ning started talking nonsense.
"First time? What are you so nervous about?"
The man smacked his lips: "Usually when we receive any job, we agree on the content and remuneration before starting work. How can we bring everyone together and just say it is a big business and nothing else? What if it weren't for this? If I’m short of money... I won’t come to this unknown place at this time.”
"How long have you been wandering? Not long, right?" Lu Ning glanced at him, "You dare to come out, how come you don't know the principle of finding wealth and wealth in danger? This kind of thing is somewhat tainted, so there is no need to take chances. If you're afraid, it's still too late to turn around and go out."
The stronger she spoke, the more respectful the man became.
"I was wrong. You are right, haha. Isn't it just for money? Anyway, if there is really anything, Evalong will take care of it. How can we care about so much in order to make a living?"
The conversation between the two became a little louder, and someone nearby heard it and came over. Lu Ning's previous way of speaking was quickly misunderstood by others as an experienced veteran, and they began to ask for advice. Lu Ning had already trained this kind of psychological quality in the distribution center. She spoke ambiguous words with a arrogant attitude and quickly deduced the situation of the gathering here from the crowd.
Some of the wandering mages were really poor and always wanted to find some work. Over time, they formed groups, and then people like "brokers" appeared. Whenever they found out about any large-scale project, they would come over and drag a group of people over. Earn a commission from the process. The person who summoned everyone this time was a man from Opal District who had been working in this industry for seven or eight years, codenamed "Gear".
Those who did this did not use their real names. You can tell by looking at the black robes issued uniformly that they did not want to be recognized at all.
When there were more people in the hall, a man wrapped in a black robe and wearing a metal mask on his face came out. His voice was not even human, but a buzzing mask that sounded like a metal echo. echo.
"I'm a gear, and I'm bringing you a piece of business today. I know you've all been affected by recent events, but after finishing this deal today, you don't need to worry about problems in the next three months, because the remuneration Very generous.”
"Don't just talk about remuneration, Gear." Someone shouted, "Money means danger. We all know what we are going to do on this trip? It must not be to do some actual acting with students, right?"
"The requirements are very low. As long as you know magic, you can do it. But the content... you need to do some copying work."
"copy?"
Everyone looked at each other. Copying was required by subjects such as runes, inscriptions, and magic texts. Since the transcribing was magic text, it could not be replaced by an automatic scribe quill, and it always had to be done manually.
"Yes, it's not difficult, right? After all, you don't need any relevant knowledge to copy, just imitate... The employer has some very precious books, probably unique ones, and he wants to distribute some to his family The copy went down, but I was worried that delivering it to the outside would cause trouble to some collectors, so I simply brought Evarang to find someone to complete it. After this incident, the money you took had nothing to do with it, and you couldn’t tell your employer when you went out. Who is it? It’s good for everyone.”
After Gear explained this, everyone felt more relieved. Although copying is a tiring job, it is not dangerous. If you copy wrongly, it will be invalid and will not explode. It is much safer than searching for things in the mountains or working in the laboratory.
"In addition, this time we pay by the piece. Even though I said the remuneration is generous, it's up to you how much you can earn. The employer's asking price is one silver coin per word, you..."
"I can copy him until he goes bankrupt!" Someone shouted excitedly at that time.
"Okay, if you are willing to take the job, come with me. If you are not willing to participate, go to the door and take off your black robe and leave. No one will stop you." The gear pointed at the door, and naturally no one left.
He nodded, raised his hand and knocked twice on a picture frame above the stove. The scenery on the picture began to slowly fade, and gradually turned into a picture of a staircase. Then the stairs poked out of the picture and hit the ground with a bang. on the ground.
Cog strode up the stairs, and the people behind him also formed a long queue to follow.
This is a secret passage, and no matter how it is arranged, the secret passage is definitely not a method of space transmission, but it bypasses the space control of the Evar Gallery. Lu Ning walked in the middle of the team, followed by a few "little brothers" who were temporarily following her. As steadily as she walked, the others behind her were more sure-footed.
Soon, a door appeared in front of the dimly lit passage. The gear opened the door, walked in, and stood at the door to signal everyone to enter.
"Travel approximately one kilometer horizontally, five to eight meters vertically downward, heading southeast." Lu Ning muttered silently. She is already very professional in map drawing. As long as there is no space teleportation, the somatosensory error will not exceed five meters.
After walking into the door, you can see that it is an oval stone room like a cave, with sixteen rooms in a circle. There are more than a dozen people directly opposite the door, using carts to move some covered things into those rooms. Shipping inside.
The cave was very brightly illuminated by torches. Those people were all wearing black robes, but Lu Ning's observation skills quickly spotted one of them. There was an obvious bulge in the fabric on the right side of his neck.
It was indeed the Twilight Thieves.
In this way, the operation probably ended tonight and entered the processing stage. The Twilight Thieves obviously chose a different approach from the previous ones, and this project was also carried out very covertly.
"Eighty people, sixteen rooms, oh, that's exactly five people in one room. You can form a team freely, but you can calculate the number of things you copy, and you can get paid based on the results. There are mission objectives on the crystal in the room. , you can just collect it yourself, you can only collect eight items at a time." Gear began to point out the recruited people, "Don't damage the things, these are all provided by the employer."
Everyone agreed and quickly formed small teams. Naturally, acquaintances were together, and strangers didn't care. Lu Ning walked to a door with "seven" painted on it, followed by four "little brothers" who had been fooled.
Soon the people pushing the carts completed their work. With a wave of the hand, everyone opened the door in front of them and rushed in to start grabbing the tasks. Lu Ning was not in a hurry. She already knew what the real mission here was, but as soon as she entered the house, the door closed automatically.
"Try to see if it can be opened." She ordered in a cold voice. The person behind was stunned for a moment, then tried with her backhand, and it still worked.
"Hmm... Okay." Lu Ning strode into the room without touching the crystal in the center. He first checked the tools and parchment, as well as every corner of the room. This move made the people behind him even more uncomfortable, and they didn't dare to move. They watched Lu Ning's moves carefully.
"There's nothing wrong with the house."
"We...don't we grab some work?" someone asked.
"He has already said that there will be a limit of eight. Why are you anxious? Since there is a limit, each room will definitely receive enough tasks. Putting aside these, any kind of black and gray work must first check the environmental safety. Understand ?"
"You taught me a lesson." Several people nodded hurriedly.
"Let me take a look at the mission situation. You guys come here and keep an eye on the surroundings." Lu Ning raised her hand and touched the crystal. She was basically sure that the thing coming out of it must be a magic book, but... it probably didn't look like it originally did.
The crystal flickered slightly, and a number appeared inside, which quickly jumped to "8". Then, a box popped out from under the bookshelf filled with parchment in the room, with eight boxes neatly stacked inside.
Lu Ning directed four people to take out the boxes. These eight boxes were completely closed and could not be opened, but each box had an egg-sized crystal ball embedded in it. Lu Ning picked up a piece of parchment from the table and read: "Each box is a finished product. Press the crystal ball on the box to display text. Each time you press it, it switches to the next one. There are a total of four boxes in each box. Nineteen words, after the transcription is completed, the price will be calculated based on the number of boxes and the completed transcript."
Twilight is more ruthless than the previous thieves. The previous ones at least only split the magic book into chapters, but here they cut it directly into text. It is estimated that these mages copied the entire book without knowing how dangerous things they were exposed to.
Even if the magic book is cut into this shape, as long as a whole sentence is read, it still has its original effectiveness. Therefore, the level of magicians here is not high, so... they spread it in this way.
Lu Ning pressed the crystal ball on a box and thought for a while. The four of them had each taken a box and returned to their seats, taking out parchment and magic ink to copy the text on it.
She considered it for a moment and sighed slightly.
"Wait a minute."
=
Outside, the gear changed into a flattering tone and smiled at a man in black robes: "They are all people we found according to your requirements. They have nothing but willingness to endure hardship and will definitely complete this job beautifully."
This man in black robe was the one with the sarcoma on the right side of his neck. He glanced at the gear and said, "After this time, you will probably make enough money. You can become an idle rich man in any small country."
"Then thank you for giving me this opportunity." Gear said quickly.
"You're welcome."
As soon as he finished speaking, an almost invisible black five-pointed star penetrated the forehead of the gear, but no blood was spilled. The gear corpse fell, and the rocks on the ground turned into a deep cave, swallowing him up and closing it as if nothing had happened.
