Chapter 12

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Lin Suo had been wandering around various antique shops, purchasing fake antique pieces from the Elves at a low price.

As for how he determined that the antique was fake, he only needed to pretend to be ignorant of the Elven language and express his admiration for their culture. With that, almost all shopkeepers would fall for his act and sell him fake antiques.

He had visited over ten antique shops and spent five gold to ultimately acquire 38 pottery ancient elven jars in various conditions and with different appearances, all fake.

Lin Suo smiled evilly and synthesized many Elven language books he had bought from elsewhere, which he then consumed.

Elven Language +3 (6/100).

Foreign language rapid learning technique!

Unfortunately, this technique could only be applied to language learning.

Lin Suo’s Enhanced Limit-Breaking also reached +3, which was the purple grade.

At this point, he was as proficient in the Elven Language as the Padoron Common Language such that he could effortlessly apply various idioms and allusions. He could also perfectly use the most authentic Ancient Elvish, starting from the syntax, vocabulary, and habits.

Then, with Overlapping Compound, he enhanced the quality of the fake antique jars, modified their details according to his wishes, and add traces of time to make them look more genuine. He made them appear yellowed and discolored, adding dirt deep into the ceramic texture to make them almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

The antique pottery jars he made with great effort even had epitaphs written in Ancient Elvish, indicating that the item was used for worshipping the Elf Mother Tree.

He also added a hidden symbol of the royal family to make it a “bloody profit” surprise for the buyer.

“Perfect!” Lin Suo thought as he examined the perfect antique. He then disguised himself as a traveler passing by on a boat.

After that, he went to the antique shop that had previously tricked him into buying a nine-piece set of ancient Elven artifacts.

The name of the shop was “Uncle John’s Antique Shop” and the owner was an extremely greedy man. It was because of this that Lin Suo targeted him with a slight sense of revenge.

Lin Suo lowered the hem of his cap and made his voice dry and coarse before knocking on the old and classic wooden display case.

Old John, who was wearing single-lens wooden-framed glasses, got up from the counter. The moment he laid eyes on the antique pottery jar, his impatient expression changed instantly.

He became fascinated and approached the jar to examine it closely.

“The pattern, font, painting, and even the epitaph’s inscription style all match perfectly,” Old John murmured.

“How much do you want for it?”

Lin Suo’s eyes flickered, realizing Old John didn’t recognize him. Without saying a word, he gestured with his hand, showing a five.

Old John immediately flew into a rage, his voice like that of a sharp and impatient child.

“50,000 gold? That’s too much! This antique of yours isn’t exactly flawless. The clay used doesn’t look like premium star clay, and the color is not pure enough. The gold spots have already turned black, though it may be due to the corrosion over time. Still, real star clay has gold spots like gold and is difficult to remove. This antique’s condition is not perfect enough and not worth that much.”

Lin Suo silently noted this point and kept quiet about the fact that the deep black spots in the pottery were dirt, not the result of decay…

In a hoarse voice, he asked, “So, how much are you willing to pay?”

Old John hesitated for a moment before reducing the price by a zero.

“5000?” He suggested.

Five thousand gold coins were very close to Lin Suo’s desired price. After all, selling it for 50,000 was just a fool’s dream. Even ancient Elven antiques were not that valuable. Their values were at most 20,000 to 30,000 if they were in perfect condition. If it were a royal ritual implement, then the price would exceed 100,000.

Given Old John’s greedy nature, he would make a massive profit at this price. Lin Suo did his best to fight for a better price, and they finally agreed to a final price of 10,000 gold coins.

And this was only because Lin Suo accidentally knocked over the jar did Old John “happen” to catch it and “happen” to see the royal symbol at the bottom. The latter then changed his words and gave Lin Suo an anonymous gold voucher that could be exchanged for gold coins at any bank within the Dandong Empire.

This was a policy implemented by the Empire’s merchants to control the Empire’s wealth, invest in various industries, and slowly withdraw their capital when they began to profit. It was a no-loss investment supported by policies. Plus, it was a government-run sector that was operated by trusted officials, so it had never been in the red.

As such, the Empire grew increasingly richer.

It was said that soon, the Empire would introduce paper money to recover gold and silver to enrich the treasury.

Returning to the topic, no matter where one was, if one successfully sold an antique, the money could usually sustain one for quite a few years. After completing this transaction, Lin Suo wasn’t planning on continuing in the short term.

In Uncle John’s Antique Shop, Old John took out a magnifying glass and carefully examined the jar inch by inch, quite reluctant to let it go. He could easily resell it at ten times the buying price with his connections, making a whopping 90,000 profit. This was already more than his entire antique shop was worth.

He sneered at the foolish idiot who didn’t recognize the value of the ancient Elven royal ritual implement and sold it cheaply, feeling extremely pleased with himself.

Suddenly, he sniffed the jar and found the scent familiar. He had smelled it somewhere before.

He was sure it was in his shop.

“What could it be? How strange… Wait a minute!”

Old John bent down and took out a fake Elven antique jar from under the counter that he planned to wholesale. He sniffed it suspiciously.

“D*mn b*stard! I’ll kill you! Ahhh!”

By the time he dashed to the nearest back and presented the familiar string of digits, the staff kindly informed him that the account had been emptied.

At that point, he staggered. He had thought of reporting the matter to the arbitration committee, but in an instant, his wrinkled face relaxed.

He did not go!

Instead, he made a trip to the florist, purchasing various flowers. He then went to the pharmacy and bought herbal powders, becoming inexplicably cheerful with light and bouncy footsteps.

All this while, Lin Suo had secretly changed his outfit and was carrying two tote bags as he observed Old John’s changes from beginning to end.

He understood that there was room for improvement in the scent and texture of the jar.

The next day, Lin Suo spent another night in the inn. Then, after hiding half of his gold coins and bringing half of them with him, he went to the housing department.

With Rhein Lin’s identity, he bought two properties, one in the Phil Administrative area and the other in the mix-blood area. The former would be a safe house and sealed off after stockpiling supplies. The latter would be used for permanent residence in the bustling city, where he would make acquaintances and conduct business.

The whole process took 5,000 gold coins. Before he could even warm the gold coins up, they were gone.

That being said, the money came easily, so Lin Suo didn’t feel anything.

The house in the mix-blood area was an antique-style three-story building. He planned to use the first floor as a bookstore to establish his identity as a language master. The second floor was temporarily set up to practice breathing techniques, and the third floor was his personal living space.

With money in his pocket, everything went on smoothly.

It wasn’t until half a month later that he established a foothold on the street and got to know some people. The bookstore officially opened, and classic books from various races were available. Lin Suo even made some movable type molds and bought papers from a factory to create books.

Aside from spending some money on sample books, the other books were all self-made. While doing so, he conveniently learned the Orcish language, noble etiquette, Common Aquan, and more.

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