Chapter 20

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

“Are you selling native products?”

Native my ass!

Lin Suo didn’t hesitate to speak frankly, “Last month, at the auction of the antique guild, someone sold an Elf royal family ritual implement which was only a clay pot.”

Old John was shocked, and his skinny body trembled with fear, but it only lasted for a moment.

“Why are you telling me about this?”

“I sold you that item,” Lin Suo said shocking words.

“You…?!!” Old John jumped up in fright but quickly made excuses, “It’s not my business. I gave it to someone else and I wasn’t the one who submitted it for auction either.”

“The authenticity of that thing is clear to us. Do you have any interest in long-term cooperation?”

Old John shook his head like a rattle-drum.

“Give it up! I, Old John, run an honest antique business and never sell fake antiques. In terms of that clay pot, you deceived me! Leave now, or I’ll call the enforcement team.”

Lin Suo stared at him straight-faced, his right hand grabbing a metallic object on the counter.

“Uncle John’s Antique Shop’s decades of reputation…”

Creak~

“I can’t… possibly…”

Creak~

“Cooperate…”

Clang!

“Pleasant cooperation!”

Lin Suo smiled.

He dropped the balled-up metal jewelry and shook John’s hand, revealing his pearly whites.

“Pleasant cooperation.”

Although forceful repression is good, it would not last. Ultimately, it would depend on the benefits.

Lin Suo placed his handbag on the counter and unlocked it.

“No matter how much you sell, give me 50,000 gold coins monthly. My people will contact you later. No selling in the auction, only retail. How about it?”

When Old John heard 50,000 gold, he instantly felt dizzy. But when he saw the dozen or so exquisitely crafted “antiques” in the handbag, he was stunned.

This was because, with his level of antique identification, even he couldn’t tell the problems with these antiques. The distress technique was superb, these antiques looked like the real thing.

There were antiques from Elves, Beastmen, Sea tribe, humans, and all sorts of other races. Each had its unique features.

This was a super team! He had to hold on tight to the other party!

When Old John returned to his senses, Lin Suo had already disappeared. Only a note was left on the table, scribbled with the location, date, and instructions on proceeding.

Yes, Lin Suo only planned to meet with Old John once.

In the future, they would agree on a location where he would hide the antiques and leave immediately after. When Old John needed them, he could just go and get them there. This way, it would be much safer.

This era has no surveillance cameras, so this setup was already perfect.

With his soon-to-be Ultimate Knight strength, Lin Suo believed that he was no inferior to others if he brushed up his reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance awareness. If anyone wanted to mess with him, they would need to at least be an official Magi.

With the pitifully short mental power detection distance of the Magi apprentices, they could hardly detect him. Plus, there were no resident official Magis in Koster.

Doing illegal things required boldness and attention to detail.

Upon returning to the study, Lin Suo removed his disguise and resumed his handsome and noble appearance. He sat behind the counter, flipping through pharmaceutical books while wearing his self-made gold-rimmed glasses.

The cultivation time for the Meditation Technique every day was limited. Forcefully meditating would only exhaust one’s mental power space. As the saying goes, “Too much is as bad as too little”.

During the day, other than keeping an eye on the bookstore, Lin Suo spent his time improving his various skills and arts’ proficiency in practicing.

Today, he had yet to acquire a single ability that could be classified as a skill. He estimated that he would probably soon get a knight combat skill or a Magi’s spell.

He was also working to get the money to get those skills.

As far as he knew, the price of apprentice-level spells was not high. It was far less valuable than items such as the Enlightening Flower or Meditating Techniques.

For instance, in White Rose which was operated by Koster’s White Tower, the most expensive apprentice-level spells were defense-oriented. They could reach a limit of 100,000 gold coins. In comparison, attack spells only cost 30,000 gold coins while practical spells ranged from 30,000 to 80,000 gold coins depending on the effect.

Of course, this was only the price for apprentice-level spells. No one would sell stage-one spells. Even if the commercial industry of Dandong was highly developed, those spells were still nowhere to be seen on the markets since it was a matter of foundation inheritance.

The Dandong Empire’s gold coins were only the size of a fingernail, and they were not pure gold but a mixture of other metals.

In the Magi’s alchemy, many items used gold and silver powder as materials. Therefore, although gold coins were a common currency, they also had a specific material value.

If the value of gold powder were converted into magic stones, the refined gold powder from 100,000 gold coins would be sufficient to exchange for ten magic stones. However, no one was willing to trade so much gold powder, which was useless in such amounts.

As such, the estimated value would be much lower. Plus, gold coins were currency. The market would be short of that money if one used them to refine gold powder. Doing this once or twice would be fine, but doing it repeatedly would lead to problems.

Issues related to the Empire’s control of gold coins were also involved.

Other than illegal private transactions, there was no other place to exchange gold coins for magic stones. That being said, it was already good enough to be able to buy spells with gold coins, and there was nothing to be dissatisfied about.

Lin Suo had his eyes set on some apprentice-level spells, but unfortunately, he needed more funds. The fake antiques could only be sold slowly. It was best to sell them to passing ships or individual merchants in the ports of Koster to ensure their wide distribution.

This would reduce the likelihood of the deceived customers finding the source. It was already an absurd profit to get fifty thousand gold per month. Even nobles could not earn this much.

As expected, dealing in luxury goods was a tax on intelligence.

However, to purchase a spell, his funds were still very much lacking.

Lin Suo thought about it and decided to use the Enlightenment Reagent to test the waters. However, he couldn’t sell it himself. He needed a trustworthy agent who could handle the matter so that if something happened, it couldn’t be traced back to him.

Before that, he needed to solve the problems of obtaining the Enlightening Flowers and satisfying his cultivation needs.



A few days later, Valia came, as usual, to scrounge for food. Walking into the Rhine Bookstore with her hands behind her back and bobbing her head, she asked, “Rhein, Rhein, what are we eating today?”

To be honest, Lin Suo was sick of vegan food at this point. Every time Valia came, he had to accompany her and munch on fruit salad, and he had eaten enough.

He hid the just-made pig shoulder, then picked up a cucumber-like vegetable and cut it into small strips.

“Spicy cucumber mixed with sweet melon…”

It was a legendary salty, sweet, and spicy taste, with a crunchy texture that most people couldn’t handle.

Unfortunately, Valia liked this taste and often brought ingredients over herself.

“Yay!” The Elf simply sat on the sofa and didn’t budge, so Lin Suo could only speed up and make another few normal fruit salads.

“Here.”

“Thank you, I won’t be polite then!”

The Elf’s cheeks bulged, making her unable to speak clearly.

“By the way, Rhein, why do you like to eat Elven food? People like you are scarce.”

Lin Suo’s face turned black. He took a bite of the apple and it tasted like wax to him.

After a while, when Valia finished eating and drinking her fill, Lin Suo immediately put down his fork.

“Valia, how’s the matter with the seeds of the Enlightening Flower?”

“Well… Giving them to you is no problem, but you’ve already completed your enlightenment, so why do you need the seeds? Besides, the magic energy concentration in Koster is too low to sustain the Enlightening Flower.”

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