"The best weapons from The Thebilis Castle, guaranteed to be 100% new, of high quality, and of good quality. Now they only cost 4,500 gold coins... What? No, no, no, this is already the lowest price. You want it?" You know, I don’t have any middlemen..."
In the small room in the underground sewer, Hank, who seemed to have completed his task, sat on the iron pipe in the corner of the room with a nonchalant expression, holding a wine glass he took out from nowhere, and watching the people led by the hunchbacked old man. , two players selecting goods - until now, they have been walking around this small room for half an hour, but they still haven't bought anything. As for the reason... it's as simple as Mengzhu said. .
"Four thousand and five hundred gold coins! We can't get it out even if we are beaten to death!"
"No money? Why come to the black market if you don't have money..."
The old man rolled his eyes, and then continued to put on what he thought was a kind smile: "The cheapest thing here is the long knife over there, which is worth 1,200 gold coins, but you still don't want it...or Do you think about those magic potions? They are all high-end products from the Mages Council..."
"They are all consumables, why are they so expensive..."
"I'll emphasize it again, little girl, you can't buy these things outside." The old man looked at Mengzhu with squinting eyes: "Things that are rare are valuable. You should understand this truth, right?"
"Hey, I don't believe you can't come out if you go to the Mages Council..."
"Shh... stop making noise."
Pulling on the other party's clothes, Duan Qing stood in front of the little girl: "Well... this old gentleman, your products are indeed very good goods, such as that big shield over there and that helmet. , we all really want it, but the price... is indeed too expensive, and we can only watch helplessly, which is really a bit regretful, a bit regretful..."
"Hey, Hank."
The old man suddenly turned around and shouted to the man in the corner: "What kind of trouble do you want to cause by dragging these poor guys over?"
"Hehehehe..."
Looking at the two awkward adventurers, the middle-aged man chuckled: "I just... want them to see the world."
"That's it?" The old man pointed to the two people beside him: "Just the two of them?"
"Why, do you look down on them?"
Hank shook his head: "Old man, it's been so long, when have I ever tricked you?"
"Hehe, that's true."
The old man, with his hands behind his back, looked back at the two of them: "What do you mean, let them see my magnificent shop and then go back like this?"
"If you don't mind..." Hank took a sip of the wine in his glass: "It's okay to give them a few."
"Ha, how is that possible?"
The old man turned back and walked towards the man-made compartment at the back of the room: "It would be easier to make me bleed... than to kill me."
"In that case..."
Hank put down the glass he was holding: "Why don't you try that one?"
"That one?" The old man looked back at him and asked, "What is that one?"
"The same trick you used to make your fortune when you first came here."
Hank blinked: "Don't tell me you don't play now."
"Damn it."
The old man jumped up like a monkey: "Let me play now? If you let me play now, won't I lose money steadily?"
"According to the rules of the black market, transactions are voluntary for both parties." Hank grinned: "And we at the Valia Tavern have never received any news that you have quit."
"you……"
"Don't get excited, old man, I think this gameplay is still very attractive."
Hank pushed his hands: "Aside from bringing customers here like I did today, do you usually have customers coming here? No matter how valuable your things are, if they can't be sold, they will be nothing, right? If there is a new way, you can Attract people to your shop, especially these adventurers..."
Looking at the old man's uncertain face, Hank leaned forward: "It's just a matter of time to make money, isn't it?"
"Um……"
There was a hoarse low growl in the old man's throat, which was a sign that his heart was shaking. But after a moment, he made up his mind, because the man sitting in the corner added slowly: "Not to mention..."
“Whether you will lose money in the end or not, ultimately, fate has the final say.”
"All right."
The hunchbacked old man stared fixedly at somewhere on the ground, muttering something in his mouth, but finally raised his head: "Wait a moment."
"Master President..."
Seeing the old man's figure disappearing behind the cubicle, Duan Qing asked hesitantly: "What on earth are you..."
"Don't worry, he won't lie to you." Hank laughed: "With his current supply capacity, no matter what you choose...it won't be too bad."
"Choose?" Mengzhu asked, "What to choose?"
"coming."
With a heavy landing sound, a large iron box was thrown to the other side of the compartment, on the ground behind the counter, attracting everyone's attention. After putting down the heavy object with difficulty, the hunched old man did not stand up immediately. Instead, he continued to squat on the ground and said: "Let me prepare first. I haven't used this method for a long time..."
"Well……"
The two people, who had never understood the reason, could only watch helplessly as the old man put a note on the iron boxes, then slowly stood up and walked towards the compartment again with his hands behind his back. It wasn't until this process was repeated many times that the old man looked at the rows of boxes, stood up with some satisfaction, and then clapped his hands: "These...should be enough."
"Old sir..."
"Stop talking nonsense and give me the money first."
Scratching his forehead, Duan Qing just wanted to ask again, but the first thing he got was a skinny hand: "One time fee is eight hundred gold coins."
"Do, do what?"
"Gamblers, I can't let you gamble in vain." The old man rolled his eyes again: "To tell you the truth, there is no discount! This is already the lowest ticket price."
"Damn..." Looking at the iron box with notes stuck on the back, Duan Qing finally understood what the other party meant: "So it's a lottery? Isn't this a clear trick?"
"What kind of lottery? I said it's a gambling product!" The old man stared and said, "Do you understand the word gambling? These boxes have just been delivered, and even I don't know what's inside! Once the tickets are opened, they will be opened on the spot. , good or bad, keep or sell, our store..."
"Ignore it at all!"
The working sound of the magic lamp was humming slightly, and the breathing of several people echoed in this place. Duan Qing and Mengzhu looked at each other, and for a moment they didn't know what to say: "Really, really?"
"Those are all cargo boxes, I can prove this." Hank on the side said in a low voice: "After all... some of them were carried over for him by my men."
"Do they all have the same value as the other things here?"
"Little girl, do you know where the Castle of Thebilis is?"
The old man opposite was about to blow his beard and glare, but the man behind him spoke again and asked an unrelated question. He smiled faintly, took another sip of wine, and then looked at the low ceiling in the doubtful eyes of the two people, as if he was reminiscing about something: "That is... a castle located east of Redcar, the scenery It's quite unique and the food is delicious, but if you want to travel, I advise you to give up this idea as soon as possible, because the people there are strong and strong, and there are heavy troops everywhere. It is the fulcrum of the empire's eastern defense line and the largest weapons supplier to the empire. .”
"It's not easy to want something from there to appear here." He lowered his head and smiled.
"That is to say..." Duan Qing's eyelids drooped: "The things here..."
"They're all black goods." Hank added slowly: "Just take them."
"Well……"
The two players present fell silent again, but unlike Duan Qing's silence, Mengzhu had already begun to think about paying: "With eight hundred gold coins, you can take away one of the equipment here... What do you think? It’s all earned.”
"But it may be worthless." Duan Qing reminded: "Crafts, consumables, and contraband... Even if these are not successful, we still have to consider whether the quality is excellent or sophisticated, or whether it can be used. …”
"It doesn't matter. The worst case scenario is that we can just sell it."
"They are all black goods. Anyone who sells them will easily get into trouble. When the time comes... it will most likely just be thrown back here." Duan Qing said in a low voice: "Judging from the previous situation, we basically don't want to sell it." More than eight hundred gold coins. If we can accept this result..."
"..."
After another period of whispering, the old man with hanging eyelids yawned impatiently, and then watched the two players who had been discussing for a long time take out their respective money bags, put it together for a while, and then turned around and threw it away. On the small counter: "Eight, eight hundred gold coins...are all here."
"Thank you for your patronage." The old man said feebly, hung the money bag behind himself, and then took out a wine glass: "Let's smoke...or you can just choose whichever one you like."
"Is this still possible?" Mengzhu immediately said excitedly: "Then we want the biggest one..."
"Hey, sister, don't be impulsive!" Duan Qing pressed down the little girl's hand: "The biggest...is not necessarily the best."
"Yeah...that's right."
The two people started to get entangled again, looking left and right: "Can't we... go in and touch it?"
"No." The old man said expressionlessly: "Except for betting... you can't do anything."
"...Okay." The little girl said sadly, and then covered her mouth with one hand: "What should I do?"
"Choose the longer one, maybe it's a long sword."
"……Really?"
"I just made a wild guess. The truth is the same as before."
"Then what should I do? If I choose the wrong one, I will regret it to death..."
"Otherwise, let's draw lots. I'm good at this. I've done it countless times in Fars Fortress."
"With your luck... your equipment is only worth a piece of clothing, and it was made by someone else..."
The whispers echoed in front of the counter for a long time, until the old man became impatient again and gradually stopped: "Let's smoke one."
"good--"
After prolonging his tone, the old man stretched out his hand to push the wine glass forward: "Hurry up, it's getting late."
Mengzhu nodded, put his hands on his chest and prayed for a while, then he cautiously reached into the broken wooden wine glass and slowly pinched out a small piece of paper: "This, this... what's the number?"
"You can't see it yourself?"
"oh oh……"
Feeling the sweat on her hands, Mengzhu nervously spread out the note, then looked at the number on it: "Ten..."
"Number 10?" The old man raised his eyelids inexplicably.
"Nineteen." The little girl whispered.
"well……"
So the old man became even more listless. He slowly turned around and walked to the long iron box that Duan Qing had mentioned before. He looked back and forth a few times, and finally lifted it up with a sigh: "This damn fate..."
"Number 19, it belongs to you now."
He placed the box on the counter and said loudly.
"Wow……"
Involuntarily, she let out a shocking cry. The little girl rubbed her hands and asked, "Can we... open it now?"
"Of course." The old man waved his hand feebly: "It's up to you."
"Quick, help me open it...Wow, why is it so cold?"
The tentacles were filled with a shuddering chill. Duan Qing and Mengzhu endured the freezing feeling in their hands and pushed open the iron lid of the box together. White mist with low temperature flowed out from around the box, as if the temperature of the entire room had dropped a little. It was not until the mist dissipated that Duan Qing saw what was covered by them and belonged to the box. The cold light emitted by the objects in it.
It seemed to be an ice sword.
【Icefall (Epic)】
[Weapon power: strong]
[Equipment requirements: Strength 25, Agility 15, Spirit 10]
[Strength +2, Agility +1, Spirit +1]
[Cannot be enchanted or embedded]
[Equipment special effect: Ice Shadow, when you attack a frozen target, your attack speed will be increased, and the effect depends on your agility value. 】
[Equipment special effect: Waterfall, when you attack a frozen target, your attack has a chance to trigger an ice explosion. The effect depends on your mental value. 】
[Seals: 2]
[The ancient Igrama clan used weapons made of unknown materials. The special materials and techniques not only give this weapon the power of extreme cold, but also give it a strong sense of smell for the cold outside, allowing it to exert unexpected power when attacking. 】
[The Igrama clan advocates severe cold, and most of their works are famous for their extreme coldness. Although this talent allows them to control the power of cold very well, it also makes these items quite repellent, making it difficult for even experienced warriors to master. 】
After waving his hand to dismiss the emerging information, Duan Qing lowered his gaze somewhat numbly and slowly took the appearance of the weapon into his sight - in front of his eyes, the partition inside the iron box In the temperature layer, a long sword almost made of ice was surrounded by a thick white cloth, lying there quietly. The extremely irregular sword body was covered with ice spikes, as if blue and white ice flowers were shooting out. Outside the tip of the sword, which was carrying a lot of stray debris, there were streaks of blue cold air that seemed to be continuously blowing along the direction given by the long sword. On the silver hilt, there were inscriptions engraved on it. The wonderfully patterned hand guard extends downwards with silky silver threads, covering part of the sword body, and together they outline a streamlined line.
"made money……"
Different from Duan Qing's sluggishness, Mengzhu, who clenched his fists, jumped up with joy: "We made a profit!"
"Hehe, hehe." Feeling the chill on his hand, Duan Qing slowly retracted his hand: "It looks very attractive, but the attributes and special effects..."
"It's really a bit biased."
"What, you're not satisfied?"
Looking at the old man who had hid in the back and seemed to not want to come out to talk anymore, Hank stood up slowly, then walked behind the two of them and asked.
"Of course we are satisfied with the weapons of epic quality... Well——"
"Once again stopping the little girl who couldn't restrain her excitement, Duan Qing asked the middle-aged man in a low voice: "Can we...really take it away? "
"...You still don't believe it?"
Hank laughed, then patted Duan Qing on the shoulder: "Darkness, fairness, opportunity... and freedom, these are the unique rules of the entire black market exchange."
"As long as you are willing to bet, you will be rewarded handsomely."
He narrowed his eyes and whispered. (To be continued.)
