Chapter 281 Old Man
Yang Qiu had visited the materials market before all the spellcasters in Nadeli ran away because of Yang Qiu's arrival and the local trading market was not affected.
Yang Qiu’s reaction at that time was that the Sorenson Mountains had really declined.
Over a hundred years ago, even the essence of blood of vampires could be bought on the Innadeli trading market, and all types of high-level monster materials could be purchased as long as one had money; nowadays, let alone high-level monster parts, there are hardly any living low-level monsters - even the people who run the material farms are gone.
When he entered the city for the first time, Yang Qiu wandered around for a long time before he could barely gather enough materials to cast a teleportation array for living people.
The materials needed for the local magic network are an astronomical number. It is unrealistic to expect to gather them all in Innadri. The neighboring territory of Odysseus is preparing for a war, and Yang Qiu cannot go there and cause trouble for them...so he can only go to the capital of the Rhine.
After leaving the City Lord's Mansion, Yang Qiu used the subspace barrier to conceal his figure and ran to the City Hall for a walk. He secretly left a one-time teleportation array above Rex's office to prevent his home from being stolen when he was not at home and he would not be able to get back. Then he strolled to the station at the north gate and got on the magic steam train that went directly to the royal capital.
The magic steam train from Innadri to the capital only runs twice a week. It has nine carriages, six for cargo and two for passengers. During off-peak freight seasons, straw mats are laid in the cargo carriages to allow civilians who want to enter the capital to buy low-priced tickets and hitchhike.
As for the passenger compartments... a sleeper ticket with a small compartment costs one gold coin, and a passenger ticket without a compartment costs at least forty silver coins. Most people really can't afford it.
Yang Qiu used the common practice of the spellcaster during his travels to get on the train without a ticket and took a seat in the passenger compartment which was only half occupied. Hiding in the subspace barrier as an invisible guest, he took a magazine from the front seat and started to read it...
If the speed of the magic steam train is compared with that of China on Earth, it is considered a slow train, with a speed of only 80 kilometers per hour, but the riding experience is quite good, the body of the train is very stable, and there is almost no bumpiness. Yang Qiu flipped through a magazine, played with his mobile phone, and took a nap. When he woke up, the train had already entered the Wangdu Station.
The station in the royal capital is much larger than the platform in Innadili. If it were in China on Earth, it would have to be the size of a train station in an 18th-tier city.
When the train pulled into the station, many laborers wearing small fur hats and leather pads on the shoulders of their coats would quickly run to the platform, staring eagerly at the passengers getting off the passenger carriages - the passengers who could afford to sit in the passenger carriages had to be at least middle class, and these laborers bought platform tickets to get in just to get odd jobs carrying luggage for passengers, renting horse-drawn carriages, or even, if they were lucky, being hired as temporary assistants for a few days.
Yang Qiu got off the car leisurely and mixed with the crowd out of the station. He showed up when the coachmen waiting outside the station came up to grab passengers, and rented a carriage to go into the city.
King of the Rhine is a big city with a population of millions. Because rich people like to occupy land in the city and build large mansions with large courtyards, gardens and mansions, the city area is quite large, comparable to the third-tier cities on the earth.
Of course, there is no comparison in terms of building height... Most cities have a ceiling of seven floors, with four- and five-story buildings being the mainstream; it's not that this world's technology in building materials is backward, but that there are no elevators, making higher floors inconvenient to live on.
Why isn't the skill point for the elevator lit up... Because rich people don't live above the third floor. High floors that require climbing are occupied by poor people. Even the three-story villas where the middle class live have servants living on the top floor.
Yang Qiu came here to make purchases, not to cause trouble. Before getting on the train, he slightly adjusted his appearance to make his facial features and bones look more like a Rhinelander. His hair was also covered with a layer of light and shadow magic that could change the refraction of sunlight, making his black hair look purple-blue - this level of disguise would be seen through by the caster's external mental power, but it was enough to fool ordinary people.
With the appearance of an "ordinary Rhine man" that made him even more unremarkable, Yang Qiu first found a hotel in a neighborhood in the outer city with a high population mobility and booked a room to obtain a "legitimate address"; he also paid and asked them, who were familiar with the local neighborhood, to find him two temporary servants with good looks and a coachman with his own carriage - people without a coachman and entourage spending money on purchases in a big city would be very conspicuous, and although Yang Qiu was not afraid of being troubled, he thought it was better to have less trouble than more.
After equipping himself with all the necessary equipment for a respectable person, Yang Qiu happily started shopping...
The most convenient and quickest way to purchase high-grade materials is of course to look for branches of Ivory Tower and Alchemy Room - they must be found in big cities like the capital, and while ordinary people cannot find them, it is easy for spellcasters to find them.
But again, he was here to purchase, not to cause trouble. Yang Qiu had a good idea of what kind of image he held in the eyes of the indigenous spellcasters...
So even though it was a bit troublesome, Yang Qiu had no choice but to go to the trading market on his own.
In early spring, before the peak season for mainland trade, the trading market in the outer city of the royal capital, which is closed to ordinary people and open only to groups with special needs, is already very lively.
Yang Qiu entered the market with two tall and strong temporary servants. As soon as he entered, he saw that the Kenya Chamber of Commerce in the north had taken up a lot of space to hold a mechanical creation exhibition. From airships to magic pneumatic cars, to various large and small machines, engines, the latest compressed gas tanks, etc., there was a wide variety of magical and technological creations from other worlds that would definitely make the national team salivate.
Yang Qiu didn't even bother to look at it, he just walked past it... The only advantage of magical technological creations over pure technological creations is that they are extremely expensive, and he didn't even have the interest to take a look.
Further inside, there are the home turfs of mercenary groups, civilian adventure teams, and all kinds of unscrupulous profiteers, as well as all kinds of living and dead monsters, all kinds of exotic flowers and plants, all kinds of rare minerals, all kinds of so-called artifacts and props with story backgrounds, all kinds of treasure maps, antique mummies, and remains of ancient monsters, whose authenticity is unknown... and so on.
Trading in this area requires a lot of eyesight. It is common practice in the mercenary industry to piece together and sew low-level monster corpses into high-level monsters, use farmers' pickled meat jars to pass off as antiques, and even grind ordinary animal bones into monster remains to fool the unscrupulous.
When Yang Qiu first left the tower to travel, he even heard about the tragic incident in which a wizard apprentice purchased by his teacher was deceived by someone who used a bison corpse with monster fur glued on it, and paid a large sum of money to carry it back as a high-level monster corpse ...
Of course, such a tragedy could not happen to Master Yang Qiu and his apprentice, as the old man was as incorruptible as he was.
Until now, Yang Qiu, who didn't even have an apprentice, still couldn't be fooled by such cheap tricks. He always did it himself, and with his spiritual field, he could see clearly what kind of glue was used to stick on the monster's fur.
After wandering around the mercenary's main base and buying some Warcraft materials that were not available in the Tarantan Wasteland, Yang Qiu continued to go deeper.
After passing the alien version of "Liulichang", you will reach the slave market... no, the pet market.
It is impossible for the Rhine Kings to openly buy and sell slaves, but pets are allowed - for example, the ornamental murlocs in the giant fish tanks on the stalls of the Norsk merchants; the halflings with advanced blacksmith skills and somewhat cute looks; the orc cubs who can be trained according to the preferences of their owners; the beautiful human men and women with performing talents... and so on.
These products are all labeled and waiting for new owners to adopt them with smiles on their faces. No one can say that they are not pets.
Yang Qiu walked through the pet market with an expressionless face, then passed through a quiet alley that was impossible to pass through without a spellcaster leading the way, and arrived at the material trading area.
Apart from the Ivory Tower and the Alchemy Room branch, the material trading area is probably the place with the highest density of spellcasters in the entire capital - most of the traveling spellcasters or spellcasters who need to replace material props are concentrated here.
Of course, not all stalls were manned by spellcasters. Most of them were poor apprentices sent by their teachers, or trusted relatives and followers. In the past, Yang Qiu was often sent out of the tower by the old man to sell junk.
The material trading area was very quiet. Many young wizard apprentices tending the stalls were reading thick books. Some stalls that had customers did not have noisy bargaining sounds. Both parties communicated in low voices about certain materials or magic props.
After all, anyone who can enter this area must be at least a mage apprentice, and spellcasters have to be classy, and of course they can't be as noisy as the trading markets outside.
After browsing a few stalls and buying some of the materials he was short of, Yang Qiu was standing in front of a stall tended by a wizard apprentice, selecting the bones of some monsters, when he suddenly heard a voice not far away: "Didn't I say I wouldn't go?"
This voice sounds familiar, as if I have heard it many years ago.
Yang Qiu pulled down the brim of his bowler hat and shifted his gaze slightly to the left.
The third stall on the left, a young man sitting on a chair provided by the market was frowning and talking to the spellcaster standing in front of the stall.
Perhaps realizing that he had disturbed others, the young man lowered his voice slightly and said to the guest unhappily: "Don't say anything more. I will leave the Rhine in two days. You can come to my place when you go to the north. I will prepare tea and snacks to entertain you."
The young man was dressed simply, and looked not much different from the mage apprentices tending the stalls in the market, but his demeanor, temperament, and way of speaking were all particularly sophisticated.
The spellcaster in front of the stall, wearing a gorgeous wizard robe and accompanied by two followers, seemed to understand the other party's temper very well. He was not angry at the other party's refusal at all. He smiled and sighed: "Okay, you are still so stubborn. Then at least write me a letter when you are free. After all, we haven't seen each other for many years."
"I'll remember it." The young man was very impatient and answered perfunctorily, suppressing his temper.
The spellcaster in gorgeous wizard robes seemed to be unable to do anything to him. He smiled and pointed his finger at the young man, shook his head, and led his followers away.
Yang Qiu didn't look at the spellcaster in the gorgeous wizard robe. His eyes were fixed on the young man who still looked unhappy after sending the guests away.
Putting down the monster bone and signaling the two followers hired to act as reception staff to stay where they were, Yang Qiu slowly walked to the young man's stall and took off his top hat.
The young man glanced at him without much reaction.
It is normal for spellcasters who come here to sell and buy things to disguise their appearance. After all, the majority of spellcasters have eccentric and weird personalities, and not all spellcasters are willing to make friends.
Yang Qiu smiled slightly: "Hi, old man."
Young man: “——?!”
