A group with only elites in addition to Finlay did not face any trouble on the way and by evening, their slow and careful approach took them very close to the destination which was a tall peak with a relatively flat area half way up.
Dokgo Xu bought the group to a halt in the shadows of the setting sun
“We’re here. Brother Ming, that tall peak over there is the place of the meeting. This particular meeting is the biggest and most important one amongst the dozen or so that do get organised in the valley now and then. That was why I didn’t take you to those others. It is very unlikely to find anything substantial in them, especially exotic materials like Metal Qi infused materials.”
Finlay nodded in understanding before Dokgo Xu continued.
“You probably already understand, but the nature of these meetings are primarily…let’s say not completely above board. The prime incentive for such a gathering is to directly trade things without the supervising eye of the sect. This is good for exchanging valuable things on an unsupervised platform. Everything depends on one's eye, whether it be a good trade or a bad one. That is exactly what allows the appearance of valuable treasures here. Sometimes they want a better value for things they already know have some value and other times, they probably want to swindle an inexperienced one.
“Unfortunately, this also means that some truly bad things might also be out on sale. There is no way around it other than staying away from dealing with such shady bastards. This in turn attracts the attention of the sect as they have a responsibility to take down such criminals to protect the students. That’s why, this big meeting often gets raided. There are spies probably in every one of these meetings and whenever someone brings out something illegal, it won’t be long before the meet is busted by a bunch of seniors in Qi condensation realm. So be mindful of such things and leave as soon as it happens.”
Finlay was enlightened after getting a thorough understanding of this event’s purpose and circumstances. He was grateful for the time Dokgo Xu took to explain such things. So, he made sure the other party understood his gratitude by giving 3 Harmonising pills. The other party didn’t refuse such a useful gift right before such an important event.
“So we will split up from here. So that others won’t know that we’re all together. If you see one of us in any kind of trouble, we will help each other. Both through wit and strength.”
After that, all 5 of them split up and arrived at their destination in random order. The path up to the area of the meet-up was almost non-existent. If Finlay hadn’t previously known, he would not have guessed the meet up through these dense shrubs and woods. There were no guards or escorts for the new arrivals, which was expected, considering the whole thing was arranged by anonymous students.
Once at the location, he spotted some people sticking to their own corners. Some guarding various covered bags and boxes, presumably here to sell them, some sharply observing others in the surrounding and some simply minding their own business. Finlay was mostly in the last category, except for when he tried to check the cultivation levels of most of these people. Which was a waste of time, since pretty much everyone of these people were at peak stage as expected from those who had to make it through to such a deep region. Without much to do, he simply waited for midnight or whenever it was the official opening time.
Once the surroundings were decently filled, someone randomly started their sales pitch and took out their wares, with that as the cue, others slowly started doing the same.
“Everybody, Beast pelts, claws and other materials of the highest quality…”
“Beast cores for those interested, discuss prices…”
“Herbs and other Alchemy …”
“I have a few weapons…”
Finlay paid attention to every announcement, but weirdly, he hadn’t heard any sellers who presented single unique items, but several people set up big tables or laid down a sheet of cloth and dumped all of the miscellaneous items they had for sale. Finlay didn’t want to be late and miss his chance. He quickly passed by each person selling things. He used the new ability of his upgraded Analyse skill to scan various items he found interesting.
Purple valley flower
Alchemy herb useful for healing potion creation
Qi infused Iron Mineral ore
Very poor quality material for crafting and smithing.
Blue mountain Rock
Mundane material
Kitchen Knife
Mundane tool used in the kitchen with an upgraded handle, painted on the exterior.
Wind element Tier 1 Beast core
Late stage, decently preserved.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Finlay started spotting fake items, probably intended to scam someone who wasn’t familiar with the items. Finlay once again thanked the gods–literally–for his newly unlocked Analyse function. Nobody is going to be scamming him today.
Fire attribute beast core Tier 1
Late stage; Broken, losing Qi rapidly.
Fire attribute beast core Tier 1
Mid stage; decently preserved.
Fire attribute beast core Tier 1
Late stage; Decently preserved.
“Hello, how much for a single core?”
“It’s 2 Halves(bits) per core,” came the quick reply.
“Same for all three?”
“Of Course! They’re all the same.”
‘Ah there is the scam.’
“Okay in that case…” Finlay took out 2 bits, extending it in one hand and reached for the one good core amongst the 3.
But Immediately, his hand was swatted away.
“What are you doing?”
“...you said 2 per core. I was just doing exactly that.”
“Who said you can pick yourself. I will give it to you myself.”
Fire attribute beast core Tier 1
Mid stage; decently preserved.
Of Course he handed the worst one of the lot arguably to Finlay. Finlay’s eyes turned cold as he took back the hand extended with the bits.
*Snort*
“You must take me for an idiot…”
“Hmp, scram!…For you, I only sell all 3 together or none. Take it or leave it.”
Finlay took the advice as he walked away. He wasn’t deterred by the scammer. As he kept looking, he came across many weird things like mundane useful tools to items of pure comfort. There was even a popular section of mundane tools…for sexual pleasure. Although Finlay was no prude, such mentally distracting things were heavily frowned upon, especially amongst the initiates like them. Who had just started their path of cultivation.
After that, Finlay spotted many useful items for both Alchemy and his fire cultivation, but he refrained from making any purchases as he had yet to spot any good metal element materials. At least none that were better than simply using the Body transformation pills with their over 60% reduced efficacy.
He was growing anxious as he quickly focused on scanning the items that seemed most likely to be of metal attribute. By now, he was completely ignoring the fire attribute as it’s been over half an hour, almost approaching the 45 minute mark since the start of the Midnight meet. In his frantic search, he failed to notice a man approaching him. He was suddenly bumped into on his side. That instantly triggered Finlay’s instincts, expecting some kind of thief. But as he turned, he spotted the familiar attire of one of the members of Dokgo Xu’s group. He signalled towards a stall with his eyes as he simply moved past Finlay. It seemed like the group was helping him locate a potentially useful item. He was sure to thank them later for this help. For now, he quickly moved towards the stall and scanned all the miscellaneous items that were laid out.
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He found several pieces of junk and other useless items, but nothing useful.
Qi infused metal ore
Ore of multiple metals mixed together, hard to separate.
Yellow drying grass
Herb used to staunch wounds; Mundane material
Deep sea granite
Stone popularly used to make extravagant pillars; Has some value at large sizes
Mangle piece of metal
A piece of mangled metal from a Mortal grade weapon; Questionable use as crafting material.
Mangle piece of metal
A piece of mangled metal from a Mortal grade weapon; Due to the high quality of the original weapon, some essences of metal and fire element remain; Useful as a source; questionable use as crafting material.
‘Jackpot!!’
As Finlay was frantically looking through the items, he found exactly what he was looking for. Perhaps even better than what he expected to find. Elemental essence was not as common to find as elemental Qi in materials. Often, it is so rare in nature that most who needed them artificially made them instead. Its value was no less to Finaly’s cultivation. Elemental essence not only provides vastly superior effects to Qi, Essence is crucial for improving his body’s attunement permanently. It may not have much use for a highly attuned attribute like Metal at ‘S-’ Grade, but his Fire attribute at ‘C-’ would immensely benefit from it.
But that putting the cart before the horse. He first needed to check if it has enough elemental essence to be of some use to him and more importantly, if it has enough metal essence for his cultivation requirement. He casually checked over a few other items before picking up what he was truly interested in. He was delighted to find that it was enough to fulfil his use case. With the same poker face he had been maintaining externally, he asked the owner of the stall in a nonchalant tone for the price.
“Hello brother, how much for this?”
The man looked at the item and then at Finlay. After waiting a moment, he asked, “What would you be willing to pay?”
“...How about 5 halves(bits)?”
The man paused and then quickly replied, “It’s 4 poor grade spirit stones. Take it or leave it.”
Even Finlay was dumbfounded at the shamelessness of the person. Even if the essence was extracted and sold in its readily usable form, it might not be much costlier. In its current form, only those with a unique cultivation method for body cultivation, just like Finlay, had any use for it. A blacksmith might not even consider such material as workable since just because of the effort it took to extract useful metals and essences out of it.
*snort*
“What nonsense! I’m only interested in this because of being an Apprentice Blacksmith. Most Blacksmiths wouldn’t even touch it due to the amount of hassle to make use of it. 1 Poor grade spirit stone is my final price. That too, I would have to pay with some pills.”
“Give me 3.5 or you can leave.”
Finlay was left too speechless, but he didn’t have that much money. After some spending, he had only about 2.5 Spirit stones and 25 of the Harmonising pills and he didn’t want to reveal his big collection of Harmonising pills if possible. So he just left hoping to see if the man would change his mind after some time had passed.
With nothing else to do, Finlay kept an eye on the stall as he browsed through the various other stalls, but he was only acting to be interested as that one item would solve all his cultivation problems and he could graduate as soon as by the next month. To avoid suspicion from the previous stall owner, just in case, he occasionally purchased some cheap herbs or beast materials like the antlers of a male deer beast etc in exchange for a Harmonising pill or 2.
Once it had been about another 15 minutes, he was thinking perhaps the previous stall owner might have softened a bit, so he was thinking about going back. Suddenly there was a hubbub as a crowd gathered near a stall, but contrary to the general expectation of them gathering to see interesting items, these people were cussing out at the stall owner loudly as the one in question nonchalantly repeated his words, “Selling 2 mortal slave contracts for 10 spirit stones each.”
“You bastard! Why…”
“...It’s assholes like this that ruin it for all of us.”
“Immoral bastard, you’re dead when you leave here.”
But it seemed none were about to make a move on the shouting person, covered from head to toe in a thick black garb, surrounded by 5 muscular guards in similar attire.
‘Perhaps it’s the guards or they’re following the rules of the meet. Maybe I should do something. Bastards enabling slavery deserve death, but I doubt they could escape Qi condensation realm seniors though…Hmm I seem to have forgotten something…Shit!!’
As he became aware of the situation that the meet is on a ticking timer before the Seniors bust it, he made it back to the stall from before to see if the owner changed his mind. Unfortunately, the man was denser than a mountain. As they say, one can be smart enough to outwit their enemies but there is no winning against someone so stupid that they are impossible to predict.
Fortunately, the group once again came to the rescue of the anxious Finlay. Dokgo Xu came to the stall and purchased some other random item and he commented on the one Finlay was arguing over, seemingly offhandedly.
*chuckle*
“3.5 spirit stones in cash only for some piece of junk?” he left, shaking his head.
This was followed by his other 3 friends, all making snarky remarks, mocking the stall owner. By now, he was getting a bit anxious from the possible raid too and it didn’t seem like there would be any other offers for the sorry looking black piece of metal. Noticing the hesitation, Finlay took advantage of it as he made an offer, seemingly with gritted teeth.
“1 spirit stone and 10 Harmonising pills. I can’t do better than that.”
Finlay knew it was a bit of a gamble to let others know of him possessing so many Harmonising pills, but he knew his window was closing soon and he really needed the item. The consequences truly didn’t matter as long he got it. The stall owners hesitated as his eyes darted around in anxiousness. He eventually relented since this was vastly more value than what he could have even dreamed of for that piece of junk before this event. Moreover, unlike people like Finlay, he had to pack up things and will have some weight to carry as he ran away/
With the item in hand, Finlay was delighted. He turned towards the 4 standing in the distance to thank them. They simply nodded towards him seeing that he had gotten what he wanted and promptly set off from the place at full speed without wasting time.
‘Right the seniors…but that other stall with books…’
Finlay was about to set off but remember that there was a stall with various books with knowledge on Alchemy, Formation, Artifact making etc. But at that time, he was anxious over obtaining the metal and fire essence and didn’t pay much attention. He was confident in running away faster than everyone here. At least faster than others around him. So, he dared to take a risk as he walked towards the stall owner who was frantically packing up his things.
“Brother can I take a look at the books quickly?”
“..wha- what?? Right now?! Are you insane?! Perhaps you’re an idiot!”
“...I’ll be quick about it.”
“I’m not stopping. If you want one, pick and pay from those you see,” he replied as he kept packing his things.
Finlay was already quickly scanning through with his Analyse.
A book on formations caught his eye. He quickly pointed at it.
“This one! How much for it?”
The man almost put the said book inside as he didn’t stop his work, but paused and set that book aside as he replied, “2 spirit stones and make it quick.”
Finlay was okay with the price as he could afford it but he didn’t have it all in cash.
“How about 1 spirit stone in cash and then 3 Harmonisi–”
Before he could finish, there was a loud noise from the crowd as a bunch of figures rushed into the area of the Midnight meet. It seems, the Seniors are here! Finlay paused at the scene as everyone remaining in the crowd ran like headless chickens in random directions. Quickly coming to his senses, he turned around to find that the stall owner and the book were both gone. It seems he didn’t recover quick enough.
With nothing else to do, Finlay also picked a direction with fewer people to flee towards.
To be continued.
Preview - System Status
Identity :
Finlay
Male
14 yrs old
–
Mortality :
Sura (Mortal)
Job :
None
Titles :
None
Cultivation :
Body Transformation stage level 9 (Water, Earth, Wind Triple attribute cultivation)
Stats :
→open←
Skills :
The All seeing eye (Analyse) :
(Grade - E+)
Authority granted by the first god of the world, Dinn. You can peer into the secrets of things and beings of this world as long as you know what you’re looking for. (Requires activation conditions)
Inventory space :
(Locked until Foundation Establishment)
Universal Language comprehension (Grade A+);
Mana Blast (Grade F+)
Preview - Stats
Spiritual :
Cultivation Talent :
S+ Grade (Appears as C-)
Divine Sense :
None
Law Comprehension :
S Grade
Physical :
Body Type :
Five Element body (Grade : B+(Aggregate)) (Appears as C-)
Elemental Attunements :
Metal
S- Grade
Five Element Body Type
(Dominant trait)
Earth
A Grade
Wind
C+ Grade
Fire
C- Grade
Water
D Grade
Light/Darkness(Yin/Yang)
D- Grade
Lightning
F+ Grade
Other Talents :
Weapon Talents :
Sword/Bladed type
A+ Grade
Ranged
C+ Grade
Hand to Hand
C Grade
Polearms/Spear
D Grade
Soul based/Mental type
D- Grade
Qi Circuits :
(Arrays, Formations, Magical Restrictions)
B- Grade
Crafting Talent :
C+ Grade
Alchemy Talent :
D+ Grade