YM778.TV Chapter 544 - The Astute Trader Meeting
Chapter 544: The Astute Trader Meeting
The night soon arrived.
Angor returned to Moshi Street with a small card in his hand. There was the picture of an eclipsed sun on it, while the back had “Astute Alchemy Guild” written in the universal language.
Above the characters was another engraved line of words, which could be felt by stroking it with a hand. Even then, Angor could not understand these letters that seemed to hold a special energy signature.
According to Sunders, the characters were “Abyssal Tongue” used by certain intelligent monsters from Abyss Plane. What Angor was looking at also referred to “Astute Alchemy Guild”. This told Angor that the guild members did not care whether outsiders knew about their business with abyssal creatures or the Astute King.
Most wizards respected great strength, which meant they both feared and admired Grand Demons. Revealing their names in broad daylight helped the guild members attract a lot of alchemists who desperately sought for power.
The Moshi Street at night looked ever more prosperous compared to the daytime. Angor saw a piano placed at a fork road, which wasn’t there before. An apprentice in a white robe was singing and playing at the same time, and it attracted many bystanders who stopped to enjoy the pleasant music.
Also, Angor saw several runes on the ground that suggested a magic contract. The runes would shine and draw some energy from the audience. It would then fill the energy into some empty crystals placed inside a strange alchemy machine nearby.
It seemed the small concert wasn’t free to watch. The contract did not take too much energy from people, but there were a lot of them.
Again, Angor just learned another means by which low-level apprentices earned their income. Even supernaturals could become street performers.
Angor would admit that the performance was good, but he wasn’t going to join the concert—nobody knew whether there was some sort of hidden unfair clauses in the contract.
To make sure, he took a small detour and steered away from the crowd.
Soon, he reached a loft that sat outside the main marketing area. According to the card, this should be the homebase of Astute Alchemy Guild.
Instead of heading in, Angor remained outside and observed the building first.
The door was wide open, and there were several Rune Monitors standing guard. Anyone who wanted to enter the building had to provide either an invitation card or an item that was to be further identified.
Angor saw about a hundred people entering in ten minutes, which included both guild members and ordinary apprentices who didn’t seem to be alchemists at all. Also, he saw someone he recognized among them.
It was Viking, the apprentice who got left behind by his team and made it out of the purification garden by himself despite losing all four limbs.
It seemed Shan’s story was true. Viking now had a pair of transplanted arms. However, Angor couldn’t see whether those were really Duon arms since Viking was wearing gloves.
He didn’t have anything on his bottom half. Instead, he was riding on a small vehicle that looked like a windmill.
When the time limit for entrance was approaching, Angor walked to the door.
“Your invitation card, sir,” a Rune Monitor said as it floated to Angor.
“So, a trader meeting is being held today?” Angor asked something first.
“Yes, sir. If you don’t have an invitation card, you can present an item. We shall examine it and listen to your requirements for the exchange.”
Angor nodded. It seemed that those without a card could join this “exchange of items”.
He didn’t intend to put any of his possessions for sale, so he simply offered the card he received from Lantis.
As soon as he stepped into the building, he saw Lantis coming to him.
“Welcome to our humble meeting place, Mister Padt!” Lantis put a hand on his chest and bowed.
Angor assumed that there was either a way to identify guests or a detection spell to locate their invitation cards because Lantis didn’t have any problem recognizing him even though he was wearing a hooded robe.
Lantis saw through Angor’s troubled mind and showed him an object shaped like a screen. “This is a transmitter used by guild members. It tells us the arrival of the cardholders. But I tweaked your card just a little so that I can welcome you personally today.” Lantis smiled.
“And to what do I owe such honor?”
“Our guild master just returned from Fairy World, and your name is pretty well-known in the entire Midworld.” Lantis pointed to a hallway. “This way to the meeting, sir.”
“Your guild master is also a citizen here?” Angor asked while walking.
“You can try becoming one of us, by which the guild master will undoubtedly meet you personally, Mister Padt.”
Angor saw that Lantis did not answer his question, so he decided to return the courtesy from now on.
“They say Mister Padt joined the path of wizardry for less than two years, and my oh my, a level-3 apprentice already? Such is the great Mister Phantom for you...”
Along their way, Lantis tried to pry Angor’s information by mentioning Sunders’ name first. Also, it seemed that Lantis didn’t intentionally hide his intentions.
Angor used his good old trick when he didn’t want to talk, which was to smile like a good boy.
There was no way Lantis could force Angor to talk. Angor maintained his silent composure until they reached the meeting hall. With a grim expression, Lantis watched as Angor walked into the hall.
The hall was bigger than it appeared from the outside—there were expansion runes drawn on the floor. Several doors leading to private chambers were lined up along the wall, and there was a giant round conference table in the center of the hall, around which about a hundred people had already taken their seats.
Most of them covered their faces just like Angor. Nobody paid much attention to another visitor, which allowed Angor to find a random spot without a problem.
A moment later, Lantis walked inside when all the seats around the table were almost taken.
“It seems that everyone is here. Shall we begin?”
No response.
“Then let’s start since there’s no objection. We have many new faces among us this time, and we shall begin with our guild members first.”
Again, no one spoke up. Lantis looked around the participants and set his gaze upon a shortie with a pair of really large ears.
“If you would, John Junior?”
“John Junior” fumbled a little and quickly stood up.
“I-I-I want to know something about ‘Froststar Bones’ used by Reformer apothecaries. When brewing Hakusan Potion and Highlight Potion, we used the exact same materials and reaction formula but with different handling techniques. I want to know why...”
As he talked about something related to his expertise, John Junior quickly got rid of his initial stress and became confident.
Next, he explained what he could provide in return—some potions or his help for brewing potions.
Then he left the serial number of his transmitter.
Every participant had a transmitter placed in front of them for them to contact the other traders during the meeting. Anyone interested in John Junior’s offer could use their transmitters to talk to him later, either in one of the private chambers where the guild could guarantee their safety or somewhere else if they preferred outside the building, which might not be as safe.
Angor saw John Junior waiting for a while but without finding anyone willing to talk.
Next, the others stood up one by one and described their knowledge or items for exchange. If someone’s offer had more than one potential “buyers”, he or she was free to choose a customer.
There was an apprentice who wished to buy an amphibious vehicle by offering a vial of Redmoon Potion. Together with three participants who wished to negotiate, they went inside a chamber and came back out, satisfied.
This seemed to be a rare case as most of the offers didn’t even get an answer.
In Floating Mech City, people could buy anything they liked as long as they had enough money, so most of the people came here looking for knowledge.
And in the wizarding world, everyone considered their knowledge to be extremely precious and would not trade them out easily.
After several more people stood up, a man wearing a stylish black robe stood up and bowed to everyone in a polite nobleman’s manner.
“Fair trade! I’ve gotten my hands on some new sh*t. Not the common garbage you find normally, mind you. Get my transmitter if you want’em! My PERSONAL transmitter, not the junk provided by this freaking guild!”