Sequence adventurers roaming between two worlds

"In the port area, one hundred steps to the right of the Seagull Tavern, there is a small shop with a wind chime hanging at the door, which is the entrance to the black market."

Leo stood in front of a stone wall, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

Following the notes Scott left behind, he arrived at the entrance to the black market, only to find himself at a dead end.

Was Scott lying?

There's no need for that.

First, judging from Scott's records, he has been to this black market more than once.

Secondly, what's the point of lying in your own private notes?

But if he wasn't lying, and the black market address was real, then only one possibility remains:

To prevent the black market from being exposed, this address is only a general beacon. The specific entrance to the black market changes every time and needs to be discovered by "qualified" people.

What else could be required to enter this black market that involves the mystical side, besides "extraordinary sensory abilities"?

"call……"

Leo took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

A perception attribute of 7 points is more than twice that of an average person.

He began to walk around the beacon point, searching.

Soon, his eyes flickered, and his gaze settled on the wooden door of an ordinary stone hut in the harbor.

He sensed a peculiar fluctuation emanating from this door.

How should I describe it...? It's like a strange, grayish-white dot on a blank sheet of paper.

Leo arrived at the door of the cottage and gently knocked.

Soon, footsteps came from behind the door, but the other person did not open the door. Instead, they stood behind the door, as if waiting for something.

"Star trails shift, spirit fire flickers."

Leo whispered the black market's "code."

"Squeak..."

The wooden door opened inward, revealing a dark environment inside. A masked man hid behind the door, looked around, and then beckoned Leo to come in.

"Go down from here, and you'll reach the location of this black market." The man's voice was hoarse and high-pitched, likely due to him deliberately distorting his voice. "There are masks on the table over there; you can use them, or you can bring your own."

Leo nodded and took out a mask he had prepared in advance, as well as a black top hat, from his pocket.

He didn't trust anything from the black market.

Wearing a gray-silver mask and a top hat, Leo's appearance changed drastically, making him unrecognizable even to those who knew him well.

He followed the entrance to the opened underground passage and went deeper and deeper. Soon, a fairly spacious underground space came into view.

Pale yellow streetlights extend from the entrance into the depths, illuminating the stalls with their diverse styles on both sides.

Leo raised his hand to lower the brim of his hat, and the gray-silver mask covered most of his face, revealing only a pair of calm and scrutinizing eyes.

He slowed his pace, his gaze sweeping over the bizarre and wonderful goods displayed on both sides of the stalls.

On the left, a stall was filled with glass jars of various sizes. The jars contained all sorts of creepy biological specimens—a deep-sea fish with three eyes, a still slightly pulsating purple heart, and segments of tentacles emitting a faint glow.

The stall owner was a hunched old man wrapped in a black robe, who was writing something on parchment with a bone needle.

"I have 'Tears of the Siren' which can be used as the main ingredient for a potion of Sequence 9 of Truth. It only costs thirty Gold Varian. Alternatively, if you have any extraordinary materials related to fire, I can exchange them with you depending on the situation."

Seeing Leo stop, the old man began his sales pitch in a hoarse voice.

Thirty gold virgins?

Upon hearing the price, Leo was speechless.

One gold virgin in Stargazing Port is enough to buy a 700-800 pound beef cattle (purchasing power of about 10,000 RMB).

Thirty gold virgins?

Even if the extraordinary materials are rare, this price is clearly overpriced.

Clearly, what the stall owner really wanted was the fire-attribute extraordinary material he mentioned.

Indeed, those on the mystical side yearn for and pursue further progress on their mystical path rather than wealth.

Leo shook his head slightly, indicating that he had no intention of making a deal. Seeing this, the old man was somewhat disappointed, but he didn't say anything.

Leo continued to stroll around.

After a short while, he had gained a basic understanding of this mysterious black market:

The mysterious figures who appear here are mostly there to obtain extraordinary materials with certain attributes.

At the same time, these extraordinary materials are extremely rare. Including the "Tears of the Siren" in the old man's hands when he first met, there are only four kinds in total, and they are all water-attribute.

After all, it's a port city that thrives on the sea.

The ocean naturally contains mostly extraordinary materials with water properties.

As for the complete tailbone of the Shadowcat?

Forget about this stuff, we haven't even seen a single trace of any extraordinary materials with the Shadow attribute.

Leo immediately understood.

He ventured deep into the black market.

There is only one stall here, and it is a permanent stone house, not a temporary stall, which makes it seem more secluded and upscale.

—Exchange.

This is the name of this stone house.

It's run by the black market organizers, where you can sell any extraordinary materials and buy extraordinary items, provided you have them in stock.

Leo walked into the exchange.

A faint chill wafted over, quite unusual for this sweltering summer day.

Leo looked at the counter.

There sat a man wearing a gray robe and a bird-beak mask.

There were no goods displayed in front of him, only a flickering oil lamp, the light casting his shadow long and distorted.

Leo's heart stirred. He could sense that the man in the bird-beak mask was emanating an aura that was out of place with his surroundings—an extremely restrained yet undeniable spiritual fluctuation.

This is a true extraordinary being!

It's unclear whether it's Sequence 9 or a higher sequence.

A mysterious black market, without a qualified person in charge, clearly cannot maintain order.

"Sir, has the exchange been selling anything useful lately?" Leo sat down in the chair opposite the counter and spoke in a deep voice, his tone respectful but not humble.

The man in the bird-beak mask did not answer immediately, but slowly raised his head.

"There are indeed some good things, but..." The masked man's voice was flat and emotionless, "It depends on what you can offer."

"Exchanges do not need gold or silver."

Leo nodded slightly; he had already learned about the exchange's rules during his previous stroll.

Compared to stalls, items at exchanges are often more expensive, but the quality is more guaranteed.

For Leo, who lacks the ability to discern, the exchange is a better option.

"I have a piece of extraordinary material with the Shadow attribute," Leo said slowly, staring into the other person's eyes. "I think you would be interested."

Upon hearing this, the bird-beaked masked man's eyes suddenly lit up: "With the sun high in the sky, how can we still find materials with the Shadow attribute? Did we find them in some overseas ruins? Or did they come from the east?"

"This is truly a rare and excellent item!"

To Leo's surprise, the other person's eyes showed curiosity, surprise, and disbelief, but no malice.

As if guessing his doubts, the man with the bird-beak mask chuckled softly: "The black market has existed to this day because of its reputation. If we, as the organizers of the black market, were to cheat each other, the black market would have been deserted long ago."

"While materials with the Shadow attribute are certainly valuable, they're not so valuable that we'd resort to blackmail."

Leo immediately understood.

"What do you need?" the man in the bird-beak mask asked, his tone much warmer than before.

Leo thought for a moment: "Some mystical artifacts that ordinary people can use are best, with no or minimal side effects."

He had just seen some mystical artifacts at the stall, such as night vision potion and giant bear potion, each with mediocre effects but astonishingly severe side effects.

Leo really didn't like it.

"Hey, your requirements aren't low, but you're lucky. I have three rare items in my inventory that meet your criteria." The man in the bird-beak mask crossed his arms. "I don't need to elaborate on the rarity of these rare items. They're guaranteed at least a hundred gold virgins. If they were ordinary rare items, I'd trade them all for them."

"But you're asking for a rare item that ordinary people can use, and one with manageable side effects... While materials with the Shadow attribute are certainly precious, these kinds of rare items aren't much different."

"Choose one of these three wondrous items."

As he spoke, he swept his hand across the table, and instantly, three strange objects appeared in front of Leo.