Chapter Fifty-One: Luoyan Scripture "Need a guide, sir? I only want one Magic Stone!" Several young boys and girls swarmed around him.
"No need!" Lei Lin refused immediately.
It was only after visiting numerous markets that he realized these guides didn't actually cost that many Magic Stones at all — some were even stationed by their families to guide visitors for free.
The first time he'd entered the market and handed a Magic Stone to that boy, he had been completely swindled.
As for ordinary markets, they were fairly small to begin with — after a few rounds you'd be completely familiar with them, and there were signposts and such, so generally you rarely needed their services.
Lei Lin wandered through the market at random before making his way to the largest apothecary shop.
"Greetings, honored customer!" An old man with a white beard smiled and bowed.
"I'd like to sell a batch of potions — high-value ones." Lei Lin was very direct.
"Please, follow me!" The old man blinked in mild surprise, then promptly led Lei Lin to a small private room in the back.
Once the door was shut, Lei Lin could even feel the pulsations of an isolation magic formation.
"Our establishment guarantees complete customer confidentiality and maintains the most comprehensive security measures..." The white-bearded old man introduced with a smile.
"Very good." Lei Lin nodded — being able to avoid attracting attention was greatly to his benefit.
Inside the small private room were two sofa-like seats, and on the small wooden table between them sat two cups of beverages trailing wisps of white steam.
"Please, have a seat." The old man extended his hand in invitation.
Lei Lin sat down, sinking into the sofa, and raised the cup to take a light sniff. "Powder of Tilan beans, blended with black pearl — very helpful for apprentice meditation!"
"Your attainments in Potionology are truly remarkable!" A flash of surprise passed through the old man's eyes.
"Well then — I've been in my laboratory running a very important experiment and haven't come out for over a year. Help me put a price on these potions."
Lei Lin placed a bundle before the old man.
The old man unwrapped the bundle and let out a surprised "Oh?"
Inside the bundle were all the remaining potions Lei Lin had prepared for sale, each glass vial gleaming with a brilliant glow.
"Hold on a moment!" The old man produced what looked like a monocle from inside his robes and placed it over his eye.
After roughly half an hour, the old man finally put the monocle away and rubbed his temples with a tired look.
"Thirty-seven portions of Hemostatic Potion, forty-five portions of Antidote, Silence Potions… All of these are of excellent quality and have been well-maintained. I can offer you nine hundred Magic Stones!"
"Very fair." Lei Lin nodded slightly.
The old man promptly collected the potions and stepped out, then returned and counted out nine high-grade Magic Stones, handing them to Lei Lin.
"You must be an Apothecary? Please accept this — from now on, you can enjoy a ten-percent discount at my shop. Furthermore, for any potions you produce, we're willing to offer premium prices…"
As he spoke, the old man extended a purple crystal card to Lei Lin with both hands.
Lei Lin accepted it, glanced it over, and tucked it away. "I'll remember that."
The white-bearded old man then escorted Lei Lin out of the shop. As they parted, Lei Lin asked casually, "You know, I've just finished an experiment and come out. Is there somewhere I can get the latest news from the Marsh Duchy?"
The old man paused briefly, then replied, "If you're looking for more in-depth secrets and intelligence, Gando's General Store is definitely your best bet. His temper is a bit eccentric, but his information is the most up-to-date…"
Following the old man's directions, Lei Lin made his way to Gando's General Store.
The moment he stepped inside, it was indeed extremely cluttered — all sorts of things filled the space, including many items that even his Chip couldn't identify.
But one thing was certain: none of it was fake, which piqued Lei Lin's interest.
"Who's there?" A voice came from behind the counter, and suddenly a wizened old man who looked as though he could die at any moment appeared behind it.
"I was referred by the old man at the apothecary shop. I'd like to ask about some recent intelligence regarding the Marsh Duchy."
"Same rules as always — you need to purchase an item first before you can get any information!" The dying-looking old man's lips didn't move, yet a strange, eerie voice emerged.
"Fine! I'll just pick something at random!" Lei Lin was about to select an item.
"No — I'll pick for you!" The dying-looking old man let out a raspy chuckle.
"No wonder business is so bad!" Lei Lin nearly rolled his eyes. "Fine, you pick then!"
The dying-looking old man rummaged through the shelves behind him in a chaotic fashion. The wooden rack creaked ominously, looking as though it might collapse at any moment — Lei Lin honestly worried it wouldn't hold.
"Found it!" The dying-looking old man pulled a black document out of the cabinet.
The document was covered in writing that even Lei Lin couldn't decipher, and its edges were tattered and worn, as if gnawed by rats.
"This is a remnant manuscript of the Scarlet Great
"There might even be the Scarlet Great Wizard's legacy hidden inside! Once you obtain it, you could advance all the way to Senior Wizard..."
Lei Lin took it with an utterly speechless expression.
"Chip! Scan!"
*Ding! Based on carbon-element analysis and cross-referencing with various documented records, it can be confirmed that this document is made from human skin. Classification: Luoyan Scripture fragment, Cobalt Blue Rare Edition fragment, Scarlet Notes fragment.* "Oh? Chip, what about the old man across from me — how strong is he?"
*Around Third-rank Apprentice. Based on surface fluctuations, he is currently undergoing some form of transformation experiment. Approximate nature: zombification, vengeful spirit integration.* Lei Lin pretended to study the document for a long while before finally looking up at the old man. "This appears to be a torn page from the Luoyan Scripture. You were actually trying to scam me?"
"Absolutely not!" The dying-looking old man hastily cried innocence, though a flash of shock passed through his eyes before he quickly replaced it with an obsequious smile.
"Even if it is from the Luoyan Scripture, it's still the spellcraft notes of Second-rank Wizard Ukmezi himself. Just two years ago, a similar torn page sold for seven hundred Magic Stones. I'll give it to you at that price — how about it?"
Lei Lin shook his head. "The Luoyan Scripture was written in a highly advanced cipher — only a full Wizard would have any hope of decoding it. It's completely useless to ordinary apprentices."
"Furthermore, while the content is written in a high-level cipher, the page number is encrypted using standard Angmar notation!" Lei Lin pointed to a corner of the page.
"Look at this — it's page 73! According to the biography of Ukmezi, the first thirty pages of the Luoyan Scripture only record experiments and observations from his apprentice days. It wasn't until he became a full Wizard and obtained a legacy site that his extraordinary talent truly emerged! And the torn page that sold for a high price before? Its page number was over a hundred!"
"Transactions between Wizards are always based on fair value. This torn page of yours isn't worth anywhere near seven hundred Magic Stones. By my estimation, seventy is its true price," Lei Lin concluded.
"Uh... ha ha ha! Nice weather today, isn't it!" The dying-looking old man tried to hold on, but under Lei Lin's unwavering gaze, he finally crumbled.
"Fine! I didn't expect to run into a true scholar! Just pick whatever you want, then!"
"No need — I came specifically for the information! Consider it purchased!" Lei Lin tucked the black torn page away and set seven medium Magic Stones on the counter.
Although the cipher on this torn page could only be deciphered by a full Wizard, Lei Lin wanted to try using the Chip. After all, when it came to computational power — even without having run any formal tests — Lei Lin was absolutely certain that the Chip was far more formidable than most full Wizards.
"Fine! Fine! What do you want to ask?" The dying old man hunched over the table, gobbling down the Magic Stones one at a time, leaving Lei Lin somewhat stunned.
"I need a huge amount of energy lately! If you'd just given me another thousand Magic Stones, I could have completed the transformation..." The dying old man still wore a look of helpless resignation.
Lei Lin shook his head. "Tell me about the latest news from Black Bone Forest!"
"Black Bone Forest! Are you a student there?"
"Just curious about what's going on there. I'd rather not get caught up in any war!"
"Alright!" The dying old man didn't press further. "I graduated from there myself, you know. Things aren't looking good for Black Bone Forest right now — I hear the Gothic Sage's Cottage and White Forest Castle have joined forces and declared war on Black Bone Forest..."
The dying old man kept talking without pause.
Half a day later, Lei Lin finally emerged from the general store, his concealed face looking grim. "I didn't expect the situation to have deteriorated this badly. Looks like I'll have to stay out here for quite a while."
According to the old man's intelligence, the origin of the war had long been forgotten. In any case, both the Gothic Sage's Cottage and White Forest Castle were powers on the same tier as Black Bone Forest. With the two of them joining forces, Black Bone Forest was at an absolute disadvantage and could only hold out relying on the academy's defensive Wizard Arrays.
"Chip, how long will it take to decrypt this page?"
Lei Lin stroked the torn page of the Luoyan Scripture in his hand. Although this black notebook was made of human skin, he still wrapped it carefully in cloth and tucked it inside his robes.
"Ding! Analyzing! No cipher prototype found in the database — must construct a conjectural model... Estimated decryption time: ... days ... hours!"
"Three months and change? I can wait!" Lei Lin stroked his chin and casually wandered through the market.
Everything he had told the dying old man earlier was the truth. Lei Lin had simply wanted to make use of the Chip and gamble on the odds. Even if it didn't work out, the intelligence the old man had provided was worth a good twenty to thirty Magic Stones.
Although the page number he'd obtained from the Luoyan Scripture torn page was quite early — mostly apprentice-level content — for Lei Lin, who was still only a Second-rank Apprentice, it was just right.
There might very well be some of Ukmezi's Meditation Method records, experimental data, or discovered resource sites on it. If he found even one of those, Lei Lin would have struck gold.
In any case, the Chip's computational power was enormous — Lei Lin was currently utilizing less than half its capacity. Rather than letting it sit idle, he might as well put it to work on decryption.