Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

Isaac rummaged in his pocket for a while.

"Yes, there are."

He placed the item in Camilla's hands, and Camilla suddenly felt its weight upon receiving it.

She opened her palm and saw several glittering gold coins.

"gold!!?"

"These are the things I carry with me."

"No... not those valuable items, I mean... completely useless things, things you don't need..."

“These are things I don’t need,” Isaac said. “When I first came to England, I just made some gold to have some money to spend, and you know, I made too much and still haven’t spent it all, so gold coins are useless to me.”

"..."

Camilla looked at the gold coins in her hand, then at the price of the teddy bear in the magazine next to her, and couldn't help but sigh.

"It practically skips all the subsequent steps..."

"What do you say?"

"nothing."

She handed the gold coin back to Isaac and walked up to Hugh.

"Hughie, is there something on you?"

"I am searching."

Hugh rummaged in his jacket pocket and pulled out a paperclip.

Is this okay?

"Wow...how shabby."

"Didn't you say you could say whatever you wanted?"

"But the difficulty has increased significantly..."

"Difficulty?"

Hearing Camilla's cryptic words, Hugh tilted his head. Camilla, looking helpless, smiled and said:

"It's okay, a paperclip will do. I'll go now and come back later."

Camilla waved with a grin and sped away from the house.

"...What's going on?"

"Who knows?"

--------------

In the afternoon, Hugh and Dallian went out, while Isaac, having nothing to do, also decided to go out for a stroll.

The group visited a bookstore on the street corner.

The shop was built with blackened bricks. Because there was no inconspicuous signboard, it was not easy for people who didn't know the way to find the entrance. However, if you walked up the stairs made of rotten wood, you would find a fairly large shop.

The tall bookshelves were crammed with ancient books, and the overflowing books were piled up on the floor.

An elderly man wearing a hat was sitting inside; he was the store manager.

"Isn't this the young master? Hei no Yomihime is here too. I didn't expect even the alchemist would visit here."

Because of their geographical location, the old man had become quite familiar with Isaac, Hugh, and others.

"If you see anything you like, I'll let you have it. But everything comes with a price."

"Don't worry about that. This man's internal organs or eyes, whatever, take whichever part you want." Dalian sold Hugh without hesitation.

"Don't listen to Darian's jokes."

Hugh smiled wryly and took a letter out of his pocket.

"In this letter...did you really acquire the Illusionary Book?"

"I was hoping that Yomi-hime could do an appraisal... I'm not really sure myself..."

As the old man spoke, he squatted down with some difficulty and began searching through a pile of messy ancient books.

"Um……"

"What's wrong? Are you having any problems?"

"I'm so sorry, it seems to have been sold."

"What did you say? It's sold?"

"Yes, it seems to have been sold along with some cheap secondhand books."

Hugh: "..."

Darian: "What on earth are you thinking?! You actually sold the Phantom Book and the old book together! You old geezer, there's a limit to your dementia!"

The shopkeeper, who had long since become immune to Dalian's sharp tongue, paid no attention to her.

"As people get older, they will inevitably become confused about some things."

"...What book was sold?"

"Let me think..." The shopkeeper lowered his head and pondered, "It seems to be a book with quite a background, the name is something like..."

"The equivalent book".

Chapter 1022: Barter

"An equivalent book?"

"That's the correct name," the store manager confirmed.

Isaac pondered the name.

Upon hearing this name, Dalian's expression changed, and she hurriedly asked, "Do you remember who you sold this book to?"

"I remember she was a very trendy little girl with blonde hair and a lively personality."

"Blonde woman?"

"Yes, he looks like an explorer of the New World, dressed in a man's suit and wearing a hat."

"...It's that single woman."

Camilla is the only one who has recently appeared in this area and meets the above criteria.

"This is troublesome."

"What's wrong, Dalian? Do you recognize this illusion book?"

"Of course I know her. Let's find that stupid woman first."

……

Hughie drove his old-fashioned car without a roof through the town, searching for Camilla.

It was nearly dusk, and the setting sun was reflected on the river.

"Dalian, what are the special characteristics of that phantom book?"

"The so-called equivalent book is a guidebook that teaches people to move towards the desired abundance."

"Does it teach people how to do business?"

"No, as long as the opponent hears you read the text from the Illusion Book, then the opponent must give something of equal value to the item handed over by the owner of the Illusion Book in exchange. That is the law of the Book of Equivalence."

"Equivalent exchange..."

Hugh turned and glanced at Isaac.

Does this book have anything to do with you?

“Although the foundation of alchemy is equivalent exchange, this book shouldn’t be my lost textbook,” Isaac said. “My textbooks don’t teach people how to get rich… Oh, I think they do, there’s a section on gold alchemy in Chapter Two, the Forbidden Chapter, but that part is with the ‘Professor’.”

"I see..."

"Moreover, my textbook isn't called the Book of Equivalents in this world. I remember that 'professor' called it the Book of All Things... It's quite a funny name."

Dalian added, "The owner of the Phantom Book can acquire unlimited wealth by bartering with all the items they currently possess."

"What do you mean?"

“It’s bartering,” Isaac explained. “There’s a story in the Japanese ancient tale collection about a man who found a straw and started bartering it, eventually becoming a very wealthy man.”

"How can you acquire something of higher value than your own through barter? That's not a transaction, that's fraud!"

"If everything had a fixed value, there would be no merchants in this world. Everyone has a different definition of value. For example, a sip of cheap water is priceless to someone who is lost in the desert."

"Yes, in the eyes of those who don't understand art, even priceless paintings are nothing more than graffiti, so they can be exchanged for waste paper. This is a fair exchange. If this continues, one day waste paper will be able to be exchanged for gold bars or even mansions."

“That is indeed a very powerful magical book, but why are you in such a hurry, Darian? If it is a legitimate transaction for both parties, then we have no right to interfere.”

"That's not the key issue; the problem lies in that single woman's personality," Dalian said, displeased.

"You mean Camilla?"

“What is exchanged for value depends on the person’s view of that thing. If she wants to exchange something that someone else considers life, then she must exchange something that she considers life for it.”

Dalian sighed.

"To give a simple example, if a bastard alchemist treats jewels and gold as trash, then this wealth, which could normally buy an entire estate, can only be exchanged for a pile of things that others would consider trash using the power of the Book of Equivalence. Similarly, if she wanted to exchange for a broken watch, and the watch's owner considered the watch to be his life, then the Book of Equivalence would make her pay with her life."

"...Then let's not exchange it..."

"That's a phantom book; the transaction won't stop until it's completed."

"This is troublesome..."

Hughes finally realized how much of a trap this fantasy book was.

Camilla's family were wealthy traders. If it were something that could be easily bought with money, there would be no need to go to the trouble of using a magic book.

In other words, the likelihood that Camilla wants something that its owner would be willing to give up even at the cost of their life is quite high.

Then Isaac remembered.

Camilla had previously taken a paperclip from Hugh, which was likely early capital used in the barter system.