However, Xia Duo's sudden appearance made the two people in the small workshop suddenly quiet. Before Xia Duo could speak, the old man pulled the middle-aged man to his knees and kept begging for mercy:
"Sir, please spare my life. This kid lost his mind for a moment and deceived you. I am willing to give all my property to you, just to ask you to spare his life!"
As he spoke, he pulled the necklace off his neck and held it in front of Sha Duo with both hands, "Sir, this is a treasure I obtained in the ruins when I was young. Please let us go!"
"..."
Xia Duo was a little confused. Before he opened his mouth, he was offering family property and treasures. Did he seem so unkind?
At the end of the day, the buyer and the seller are both willing. Even though he knew the item was fake, he still bought it. He had some thoughts of fishing for law enforcement, but he could be regarded as clearing mines for this family. If it were another mage, maybe It really costs both money and life.
Of course, other mages may not be able to find each other as easily as Sha Duo. [Detection] is a 4-level spell. Just for a fake that only cost 10 gold coins, it is not worth wasting a 4-level spell.
But now that Xia Duo is here, his trip will definitely not be in vain.
He first picked up the necklace and took a closer look at the bead-shaped pendant on it. He found that, as he had guessed before, it was a magic item that could detect spells.
Although Xia Duo did not cast [Identification Technique], the magic on the pendant was not encrypted at all, and was added through [Magic Constancy Technique].
This discovery greatly reduced the value of this pendant to Shado. Although [Magic Constancy] seems to be much more flexible in making magic items, and can even add spell effects to the human body, its stability is much worse than using mithril components. .
Moreover, the threshold for casting spells is very high. Basically, no matter how many levels of magic effects need to be added, it must be at least one level higher in spell casting difficulty. This involves a cycle of elements, because this [Magic Constancy] is not a specific spell, but is a technology.
This was inconsistent with Sha Duo's chosen research direction. What he needed was a manufacturing method with a lower threshold, so as to expand the range of spellcasters capable of participating in manufacturing, and at the same time promote iterative updates of various spells.
After checking it carefully, Xia Duo threw the necklace back into the old man's hand and said calmly: "Get up first!"
When throwing away this necklace, Xia Duo was really reluctant to part with it. He could get this magic item worth over ten thousand without paying almost any price, and it fully complied with the standards of behavior of Master Nese. He would not Anyone accuse him of that.
but--
Almost no need, does not mean no need at all. What he needs to pay is actually a little faith and a little principle in his heart. He actually does not fully agree with the current environment of Netheril.
He and Master Nese's three views are still different. Although they have been more or less affected by being here for so long, some principles cannot be changed.
Fishing for law enforcement, and then coming to kill people and seize wealth. Ask yourself, how can Xia Duo not do it? Even if he doesn't kill people and only seizes wealth, Xia Duo still feels a little disgraceful.
If it's an enemy, it doesn't matter. Just like the arcanist Aquilaine in the Hawke Territory, Shado's sneak attack is a matter of course. Even if there is a more "weird" method, he doesn't mind trying one or two.
But since the two sides are not enemies, there is no need to resort to such deception.
Although Master Nese does not respect justice, he also rejects evil. Even evil people do not necessarily like to associate with evil people.
If it were the protagonist of a book written by Xia Duo before time travel, perhaps the first thing he would say is - "How dare you mess with my mind with just a common thing!", and then he would kill or chop, and finally touch the corpse.
This seems to be pretentious or second-rate, but when it comes to Xia Duo himself, regardless of practical considerations or personal considerations, he is still unwilling to accept this magic item.
However, not wanting magic items does not mean not wanting people.
Of course, some questions still need to be asked clearly before this.
Seeing that the two of them were still kneeling on the ground tremblingly, Xia Duo said again, "Stand up! I don't want to say it a third time!"
In fact, Xia Duo is very disgusted with this form of kneeling at every turn. Although it seems a bit cool and condescending, but from another perspective, will one day he also encounters a being who needs him to kowtow on the ground?
Of course it doesn't matter if others kneel to you, but it doesn't feel right when it's your turn to kneel to others.
This bad habit must be resolutely banned. You and I are both the seeds of a great arcanist or even a high-ranking god. Why should I kneel down to you? If everyone has such a belief, perhaps this is a world suitable for the development of civilization.
So far, Xia Duo has not been asked to kneel down by anyone, but he knows that if a great arcanist asks him to kneel down and salute, he will have no room to refuse.
Although spell casters can be regarded as having their own great power and do not need to use various complicated rituals to highlight their authority like ordinary people in power, there is no guarantee that some people will take advantage of this.
Every time he thought of this possibility, Xia Duo felt irritated.
If you are not as strong as others, you can do nothing.
…
The old man and the middle-aged adventurer in the small workshop finally stood up after Xia Duo's two orders, but they were still trembling and cautious, fearing that the mage in front of them would hit them with a spell.
"Tell me, how many people have you deceived like this?" When asking, Xia Duo used the trial spell and inquiry learned from [Projection Plane Arcane Empire] without leaving any trace.
In fact, it is psychic magic.
[Inquiry] is similar to the [Realm of Honesty] that Leiden once used. It can determine whether the target in the spell field is lying, but there is no holy power involved. It is pure arcane magic and is quite easy to use.
"Sir, we just brought it from Shiboden to Seventon yesterday, and we only shipped one item, and it was bought by your lord." The middle-aged man seemed a little aggrieved in his tone.
It was the truth, but not lying does not mean that he did not conceal anything. Sha Duo continued to ask: "Then did you lie to other people before coming to Severton?"
"..." The expression on the middle-aged man's face began to struggle, and finally his face collapsed. Just as he was about to speak, the old man said first, "Sir, we only sold a few before, and we made it clear in advance that they were just ordinary silver jewelry. They themselves think it’s mithril.”
"Oh? Why did you become more courageous after arriving in Severton?"
When Xia Duo bought it, the middle-aged man had agreed that it was a mithril jewelry. He didn't dare to say that in other places, but he said so in Severington. Did he think that the mages in Severington were more stupid than those in other places? Or are you planning to do just one job and not come to Severington?
He glanced at the clump of silver-white metal threads that had fallen to the ground. The appearance of silver and mithril was still very obvious. The clump of metal threads looked the same as mithril threads in appearance.
If Xia Duo hadn't come into contact with mithril often, he would have been deceived by them. The skills of these two people are really not bad.
"Where did you know the style of this kind of jewelry?" After two ordinary questions, Xia Duo finally asked the real question.
The middle-aged man looked confused and just looked at the old man. The old man didn't hide anything, "Sir, when I was young, I found a damaged ancient magic weapon in the ruins. It had many complicated mithril structures. I took it apart and sold it. Yes, later, later——"
"Later, you felt that selling just one item was not enough, so you started to fake it?" Xia Duo helped him to say the following words.
"yes."
"..."
