The most shameless alchemist in history

However, the most precious part of a magical beast is its core, which is similar to the human heart. This is the part of the magical beast that nurtures magical energy and possesses powerful magic. Under normal circumstances, a complete magical core can be sold for at least dozens of silver coins, which is equivalent to a year's worth of food, clothing and other necessities for an average family.

This is just the entry threshold for magic cores. The higher the level of the magical beast, the more precious the magic core. A complete magic core from a high-level magical beast can sell for hundreds of silver coins. If it reaches the steel level, the price will be more than ten times higher. As for magic cores above the flame level, they are extremely rare.

To obtain magic cores, countless mercenaries and hunters enter the Monster Mountain Range every year to hunt monsters, and countless people perish there, turning into piles of bones. Maple Leaf Academy is located on the edge of the forest where monsters gather, giving it a unique geographical advantage.

The shops at the foot of the mountain were opened by discerning merchants who specialized in collecting various materials related to magical beasts, especially magic cores. This led to a large number of mercenaries appearing in the vicinity, but they had always kept to themselves and the students of Maple Leaf Academy.

"Huh? Dure, you mean... you're leaving Maple Leaf Academy for Rock City?" Lance led Dure up the steps at the academy gate. Just over a month ago, they had climbed those steps to begin the Maple Leaf Academy entrance exams, and only after passing through all the challenges did they become members of the academy.

Although only a little over a month has passed, looking back, quite a few things have happened during this time.

"That's about right. Nono signed me up. I don't know what will happen along the way, but if I'm going to Rock City, magic weapons are essential, so I need to find suitable magic weapons for myself in these three days." Dure nodded.

Lance was one of his few friends at the academy, and the two were also roommates, so he didn't hide it from Lance.

“I see. No wonder you were looking for materials for magical weapons, Dure. I heard from the senior students that they bought almost all of their magical weapons down the mountain. There are several shops here that specialize in selling magical weapons.” Lance nodded and led the way.

He would do everything in his power to help Du Lei with anything.

"But buying magic-powered weapons... let's talk about that when we get there." Du Lei patted his pockets. Around Maple Leaf Academy, the main currency for transactions was crystal cards, and he only had four crystal cards in his pocket. It was really a bit stingy to buy magic-powered weapons.

"Du Lei, it's over there. I heard from my senior that that shop has the best reputation. By the way, Senior Jones bought his Serpent's Bite there, and I heard it cost him four hundred crystal cards." Lance pointed to a place not far ahead, even though a lot had happened at Maple Leaf Academy recently.

Many students even fled Maple Leaf Academy, but the area down the mountain was unusually lively, with at least twice as many mercenaries as usual.

"Four hundred crystal cards? I've calculated the purchasing power of crystal cards. One crystal card is roughly equivalent to ten silver coins. Four hundred crystal cards would cost about... four thousand silver coins? That's so expensive!" Du Lei was shocked by the number.

"Four thousand silver coins? That many? No wonder Senior Jones is so amazing. He spent such a high price. It would be strange if he wasn't amazing." Lance had never thought about the value of the crystal card. After Dure's words, he was also surprised. Recalling his previous defeat, he understood.

"There are many ways to obtain Crystal Cards, but for us new students, it's only the ones issued by the academy each month. We've only been enrolled for a little over a month, and due to changes in the academy midway through our studies, plus some deductions for absenteeism, we actually only received twenty cards for the first month."

Dure counted the crystal cards in their pockets. At first, he never took the crystal cards seriously, but now he was starting to feel a little annoyed.

"Those four hundred crystal cards...wouldn't it take twenty months to accumulate them?" Lance was also counting on his fingers.

"That's not how it works. In the academy, you need to use crystal cards for everything from food and clothing to lodging and transportation. You need at least five crystal cards each month to maintain basic living expenses. The academy only gives you sixty free crystal cards for the first three months. After that, you have to earn them yourself," Du Lei explained the rules.

"Is that so? No wonder that guy named Sido extorted Crystal Cards before, they're so useful... By the way, didn't Simon cause you trouble before, Dure? We couldn't do anything to him then, we didn't dare to do anything, should we go and warn him now?"

Lance recalled the time Simon came to cause trouble. Back then, neither he nor Dure could beat Simon, but things were different now.

“Simon? No need, I don’t think he’ll come looking for us again.” Dure recalled the scene not long ago when Simon and his group were scared out of their wits, and chuckled. His chuckle puzzled Lance.

"No way? Could it be that he has turned over a new leaf?" Lance was skeptical of Simon's character.

“Who knows about him?” Dure shook his head. He wasn’t interested in Simon’s affairs; he was interested in the magical weapons.

Although he knew very well that the crystal card in his pocket was too light to buy magic-powered weapons, let alone a bottle of potion, he still needed to figure out the market and sources of magic-powered weapons before he could get them.

.

351 guests visited

The town at the foot of Maple Leaf Academy was bustling with activity and overflowing with people. A large number of mercenaries moved between the shops. Some carried greatswords and looked fierce, while others had axes at their waists. None of the people who came here to do business were kind-hearted.

Some people came to buy things, and some came to sell things. Some people looked around cautiously, clutching their pockets tightly, as if they had acquired something extraordinary and were afraid that someone else would snatch it away. These people were timid. But there were also people who swaggered around carrying blood-soaked monsters.

These kinds of people are just bold. Compared to these ruthless thugs, Dure and Lance are like guinea pigs. After all, they are too different in age and physique. Lance is better off, as he is well-developed and nearly 1.8 meters tall, but Dure is not.

"There are so many people around here. This is really strange. Many people on the mountain have run away, but the area down here is even more lively than when we first arrived. What's going on?" Lance looked around and scratched his head, completely baffled as to why the situation down here was the opposite of that up here.

"Actually, this is easy to understand, mainly for two reasons." Du Lei didn't seem to care about this.

"Two? Which two?" Lance asked curiously as he walked down the street with Dure.

“One is the weather. When we first arrived, it was winter, and the weather was still very cold. Most of the magical beasts were in a hibernation state. Now it is early spring, the weather is warm, and the magical beasts have begun to come out to forage for food, so now is a good time to hunt magical beasts,” Du Lei explained.

“Durey, what you said makes some sense. What’s the other reason?” Lance nodded in agreement.

"Another reason is that the academy has been experiencing a series of upheavals lately, causing a great commotion. We students are filled with anxiety and don't want to stay in the academy anymore, so many of us have left. But it's different for the mercenaries; they must have guessed that the academy is hiding something..."

"Or perhaps there are powerful magical beasts or treasures near the academy. This innate sense of smell attracts them to Maple Leaf Academy to try their luck. They are not students. Danger and opportunity coexist. The more dangerous the place, the more likely they are to find good things. That's what they all think."

Du Lei tried to guess what the mercenaries were thinking. Although he had never been a mercenary himself, he had dealt with mercenaries many times.

"So that's how it is. No wonder there are so many people. We're here. Dure, that's it." Lance pointed to a shop on the right. He had accompanied a senior student here before, so he was very familiar with the place. The shop had many ornate decorations hanging at the entrance, making it look very grand.

"Oh, have some guests? You two are students from Maple Leaf Academy, right? What brings you here?" Seeing two boys in Maple Leaf Academy uniforms lingering at the shop entrance, the man inside immediately came out, greeting them with a smile.

The man looked to be in his thirties or forties. He was only about 1.65 meters tall, just a little taller than Du Lei. He was very thin, with sunken cheeks that stretched out, giving him a horse-like face. His two sharp mustaches on either side were very distinctive.

The small round hat he wore was the perfect finishing touch; with a smile on his face and his hands rubbing together, he had the utterly deceitful look of a shrew.

"We're here to buy magic-powered weapons. Show us everything you have here." Before Dure could answer, Lance explained their purpose. Lance was always a straightforward person. He had never considered things like crystal cards; he only knew that Dure needed magic-powered weapons.

If you ask the shopkeeper to bring out their best items, you can't go wrong.

"Are you buying magic-powered weapons? I understand, I understand. Xiaomei, go and bring out all the best items in the store!" The shop owner sized up Dure and Lance, and seeing that the two had an impressive demeanor, assumed that they were big customers. He immediately called the staff in the store to serve them.

After all, the students who come here to buy things are all wearing school uniforms, and it's difficult to distinguish between different classes just by their school uniforms.

"Understood, boss, I'll deliver it right away!" A clear, crisp voice came from inside the shop; it was a young girl's voice.

"You guys are really efficient here, Dure. Looks like we came to the right place." Lance was very satisfied with the shopkeeper's attitude. Just as he was talking to Dure, a little girl came running out of the back room of the shop.

She looked to be twelve or thirteen years old, younger than both Dure and Lance. She had black hair braided into an unusual style, and wore a gray cloth dress with a front opening, embroidered with plum blossoms, a style that was also quite rare.

"This is the first part. Please wait a moment, guests. I will bring the other exquisite items over immediately!" The girl had more than a dozen boxes stacked on top of each other on her head. The stack of boxes was almost as tall as her, but she still maintained her balance. She put down the boxes and went into the inner room to get more.

"Xiaomei, you don't need to bring out so much. You're going to empty my warehouse... At least listen to me for a second..." The shopkeeper was also startled by the actions of the girl named Xiaomei, and he quickly stopped her.

However, Xiaomei had already gone into the inner room and was busy with something in a flurry, so she couldn't hear what he was saying at all.

"Please don't laugh at this clumsy fellow, sir." The shop owner was quite dissatisfied with Xiaomei's work, but since Dure and Lance were present, he couldn't say anything.

“It’s okay, she’s very serious about her work, but… she doesn’t look like a local.” Du Lei shook his head, not caring. What he cared about was something else: Xiao Mei, like him, had an Asian face.

“Of course, she’s not a local. She’s from the East, just like you… I’m very sorry, although you speak the mainland language very fluently, you look like you’ve come from the distant Eastern Continent, haven’t you?” the shopkeeper asked.

"That's about right." Dure nodded, his answer ambiguous. It wasn't that he was being sly; he genuinely didn't know. From the time he could remember, he had grown up on the snowy mountains.

"That's right. The world is really advanced now, especially with the advent of trains. I remember a long time ago, when I was a child, we were all surprised to meet a merchant from the East. But now that transportation is convenient, it's not surprising that we meet more and more people from the East."

The shop owner remarked with a sigh that he was finding it difficult to adapt to the changing times.

.

352 phase attributes

As times changed, the distance between the world became shorter and shorter. The connection between the two continents, which were originally independent and only visited occasionally by caravans, became closer and closer. Adventurers and navigators believed that there were more than just the two continents, and they set sail with enthusiasm.

More and more new things are appearing, and there are more and more lands on the map. This is an era of adventure, an era of explosion. In Du Lei's memory, he has already met several people from the East. Nan Yin, whom he met in the hot spring village, is one of them, and Xiao Mei, whom he met now, is another.

"Guest, all the finest weapons in our shop are here. You can take your time to choose. We operate with integrity and never cheat anyone, young or old. Oh, right, shop manager, shop manager, please bring out our prized possessions as well." The Eastern girl named Xiaomei ran around inside and out more than ten times.

Each time she ran, a dozen or so boxes appeared on the originally spacious ground. After a dozen or so runs, the ground was piled up like a small mountain. She was extremely fast, and the whole process only took a little over a minute. This left the onlookers speechless, and for a moment they forgot to stop her.

"Xiaomei, is it really necessary to bring out so much? You're...you're going to empty my savings!" The shop owner was taken aback by his employee's enthusiasm. He stammered, knowing that having such an overly enthusiastic employee was a headache.

"Huh? Manager, didn't you tell me to treat customers with enthusiasm, try my best to meet their needs, and provide the best service? I did exactly as you instructed." Xiaomei looked at the manager, puzzled, not understanding why he would say such a thing.

"Oh, are all these magical weapons? They look really powerful. What's this? Can we open it and take a look?" Lance's attention was completely drawn to the boxes piled up on the floor, and he didn't pay any attention to the conversation between Xiaomei and the shopkeeper.

"Ahem, of course you can open it and take a look, sir. Let me introduce it to you..." The shop manager knew that now was not the time to lecture his employees; greeting customers was the most important thing at the moment. He immediately stepped forward to introduce Lance to the magical weapons in his shop one by one.

"Dear guest, you have excellent taste. The magical weapon you are holding is the Thunder Spider Sting. It is a magical weapon with the attribute of lightning. It was made with the magic core of the high-level magical beast Thunderstorm Spider as its core and comes with the special skill Thunderstorm Flying Star. It is a rare and valuable item."

Just as the shop manager was about to introduce it, Xiao Mei, who was next to him, opened the box first and gave Lance a detailed introduction. Inside the box was a spiked dagger about the length of a palm, with a yellowish glow on it. Xiao Mei gently flicked the spiked head with her finger, and lightning flashed across it.

"Thunder Spider Sting? That sounds amazing. By the way, what does 'special skill' mean?" Lance imitated Mei by running his finger along the sting, and a numbing sensation ran down his fingertip. This intrigued Lance, and he asked about the special skill.

"Xiaomei, I'm the store manager, after all. You're doing all the things I'm supposed to do, which makes me feel like I have no presence at all... Hey? Customer, don't you know about special effects?" The store owner slapped his forehead. He used to be the one who introduced the store's products to customers.

He was always very proud when he introduced it, and he really enjoyed the feeling. However, ever since Xiaomei came, she took over all the work. At first, the shop owner was very happy. He was glad that he could relax. Where could he find such a capable employee?

But gradually the shop owner felt something was wrong, because Xiaomei had done all the things he was supposed to do, so what was he supposed to do?

"Special skills are the attack skills of magical beasts. Different magical beasts have different attributes and attack techniques, and the magic core is their source of power. In addition to storing magic energy, the magic core also has a memory function. Wearing magic energy weapons and becoming proficient can help you learn the combat techniques of magical beasts, which are special skills."

Dure had done his homework before coming and was very knowledgeable about magic-powered weapons.

"Is that so? How about this Thunderstorm Star? It sounds like a really powerful move. Can we give it a try?" Lance became interested and for a moment forgot that he had brought Dure to buy magic-powered weapons. He himself was eager to try it out.

"Try it?" The shopkeeper had sensed something was off since Lance asked about the special skill earlier, and his expression had become somewhat stiff.

Because Lance's appearance clearly showed that he didn't even understand basic common sense, to put it bluntly, he was unsophisticated. This kind of thing would never happen to a rich nobleman's son. The shopkeeper was a shrewd person, and he immediately judged that Lance was definitely not of noble birth.

“Lance, this magical weapon isn’t clothing. How can you just try it on like that? Besides, even if it’s magical weapon, you have to see if the attributes and compatibility are compatible. Otherwise, you won’t be able to use it even if you get it.” Dure sighed and explained in detail.

"Durey, I know about attributes, but what is compatibility?" Lance was stunned; it was the first time he had ever heard of this term.

"Don't you even know this? Compatibility refers to whether the personality of the magical beast and the user are compatible. Due to the different types of magical beasts, some are very docile. In that case, magical weapons made from their magical cores are suitable for people with gentle personalities. They are easy to control and can unleash their full power. However, if the magical beast is very violent and kills its own kind, then the magical weapons will be difficult to control and may even backfire on the user."

Durei continued to explain that although he had never used magical weapons, he spent every day in the library and read books for nothing.

"I see. I didn't even know what my attributes and compatibility were. After hearing what you said, Du Lei, I feel like I need to get tested." Lance scratched his head. It wasn't entirely fair to say he was clueless about attributes and compatibility.

Because he has only been enrolled for a little over a month, normally it would take half a year before the attribute and compatibility tests are conducted. After all, students need an adaptation period, and it takes half a year to figure out what their attributes are and what they are suited for.

"Um... you two, did you come here to buy magical weapons or to attend a training session?" The shopkeeper was incredibly perceptive, and his impression of Dure and Lance, especially Lance, was greatly diminished. His expression gradually turned ugly.

"Well... of course I'm here to buy magic-powered weapons!" Lance patted his chest, speaking with great pride.

"Well then, sir, this Thunder Spider Sting costs two hundred crystal cards. Would you like to buy it?" Xiao Mei said with a smile.

"What? A two-hundred-word crystal card? That's so expensive?" Lance then realized that the price of the magic-powered weapon was far beyond their means.

It's not something a guy with empty pockets, who doesn't even have a single crystal card, could afford.

.

353 Singing in unison

Generally speaking, shopping doesn't necessarily mean buying anything. It's not unusual to go shopping with empty pockets; most people have done it. But if someone like Lance goes shopping with empty pockets and asks the shopkeeper to bring out everything, that's a bit unfair.

As for the result, the shop owner, whose face had already darkened, kicked Lance out. Dure also suffered an undeserved misfortune and received no pleasantries as well. The two of them were quite embarrassed when they were kicked out. The shop owner cursed at them as he chased them away. Lance wanted to argue, but Dure pulled him away.

"How could that uncle act like that? He was the one who was too enthusiastic, bringing out everything and even saying he wanted to take the store's prized possession, and this is how he treats people? It's really infuriating." Lance was still resentful and indignant.

"Alright, they're just doing business, and they were so welcoming to us, but we didn't buy anything. It's normal to feel resentful, and we don't need to take it personally. But now we understand that getting the magic-powered weapon by buying it is a bit unrealistic."

Dure was quite open-minded; he was a rational person, and after leaving the shop, he started thinking about how to get the magic-powered weapon.