Once Ken had calmed down, finishing up his tea, he took a walk around. He hadn’t realised that his family would have brought this low, and that they would have been treated so poorly outside their own town.
[To not give my family a future, wasn’t that too harsh, dearest uncle of mine?]
Even now, when he thought of his uncle, he felt so sick to his stomach. He clenched his fists together, shaking in anger, but sighed after a few moments.
[Save the anger for later, Ken. Right now, you have important matters to attend to.]
Ken turned to face Chan. “We have business to attend to,” he said to her. “Let’s go.”
“Yes, Master!” Chan nodded her head and then followed him out.
Ken and Chan hadn’t talked about the other wolf girl yet, it hadn’t come up naturally. He noticed the way she’d look at the wolf girl sometimes, and he figured that they had been friendly before.
They made their way to the Commerce Pavilion, taking the carriage that they had bought. They had one of the Leafblades take the role of the driver, and they had been quite receptive to it.
“My old bones are getting stiff doing nothing but chores.” Uncle Ked said. However, being a driver was a much more noble profession than a labourer, so Ken assumed that’s why he enjoyed it.
“Is the Commerce Head in?” Ken asked one of the workers, who recognised Chan first and then nodded to Ken. He was taken around back, where he was poured some tea.
“It’s good to see you, Commerce Head Salma,” Ken said.
"You as well, Disciple Ken. We haven’t seen each other in so long, I thought perhaps your Master disapproved of us.”
“Ah, well, perhaps that might be the case? I haven’t told her about how much I enjoy your company yet, so let’s keep that a secret for now.” It was a light joke, but Ken realised that Emerald might be annoyed by it. “Anyway, I was just wondering if everything had been stored within my vault?”
“I recently checked, and all your items have indeed been gathered into your vault. Were you planning on taking some items out?”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Ken replied back with a smile. “Yes, that’s one of the reasons why I came. I wanted to double check everything and then take a few items which I’ve been needing. However, I also have another request for you, Commerce Head.”
“Please do tell me, Disciple Ken. If it’s something within my ability, I will surely do my best to assist you.”
“Are you able to host a few private auction lots? Not auctions, exactly. I would like to create a few lots and then have the Commerce Pavilion work as an intermediary to guarantee the trade.”
“Is that how you sold items previously?” Salma asked, tilting her head It was rare to ask for something like that, but it was in their jurisdiction. Typically, people went to the Auction Pavilion for such things, but she was glad he had brought the matter to her.
“Yes, that’s right. I would like to do something similar here. In exchange, I will create a high grade earth pill of your choosing, as long as you have the ingredients for it.”
“Will you expand on the terms?” Salma asked, wishing to hear more about what he had in mind.
"I wish to create several lots to put up for auction. The Commerce Pavilion will put them up on auction and will collect the offers, but you are not allowed to look at the offers made.” Ken waited, noticing that the woman’s eyes changed slightly.
Salma had to think. It was a hard ask, since they needed to guarantee the items on his half, but the buyers wouldn’t know she wouldn’t be checking the items and Ken couldn’t blame her if he got scammed. She nodded her head for her to continue.
“I will check everything, and you will inform those who won the lots. I will be creating these lots to be traded for martial arts manuals. In exchange, I will create a high grade ready pill of your choice as long as you have the ingredients."
Salma remained silent for some time, still dwelling on her thoughts. “I would like the high grade earth pill first,” Salma said. If he was the one creating it, she wanted to see his abilities first. “If it’s not up to my standard, I’ll have to ask for more as our fee.”
“Of course, Commerce Head.” Ken smiled. “Which pill would you like?”
“The tiger singing pill.”
“I assume you have the ingredients?” Ken asked.
“I do,” Salma said. She looked at Ken, wondering how he could be so confident. The tiger singing pill was one of the hardest high grade pills to make, considering what went into making it.
A worker brought a large pile of ingredients to her, including a Fiery Tiger’s fang worth roughly fifty gold pieces. It was extremely rare, to the point that very few Fiery Tiger fangs were ever seen. Due to the price of the material, the tiger singing pill was actually just a pill one would use for status, rather than to actually consume.
“Would you like to lend me a furnace? I’m sure you’ll trust your own furnace rather than one I use.”
“I would prefer that Disciple Ken uses a furnace he is familiar with.”
“If that’s what you wish for.” Ken nodded. “Do you have a room where I will remain undisturbed?”
“Of course.” Salma led him to a room which had a couple of Martial Experts stationed nearby. It was fairly small, with large thick walls and was some ways away from other buildings.
“Perfect.” Ken brought out his furnace. “Would you like to stay and watch.”
“I would love to watch,” she said.
Ken then began to prepare the ingredients, placing in the Fiery Tiger’s fang first. He then called out his white fire, which flowed into the furnace. He concentrated with the fire because the fang was quite a precious material. Fifty gold coins was a large amount of money, and he didn’t want to compensate that Commerce Head for his stupidity.
The fire continued to flicker against the fang as it began to melt, joining with the other ingredients. Ken needed to expend quite a bit of effort, his brow beginning to sweat. Eventually, the fang was completely melted, and he started to refine the materials together.
An hour passed before the pill shot up, allowing him to finish refining the pill, which landed within the palm of his hand. Ken was sweating buckets by the time he was done, his breath ragged.
“Amazing!” Salma smiled. She hadn’t expected the disciple to be so good. In fact, there was no need to call him a disciple with his skill, he would match some of the greater Alchemists within the town.
[Thankfully I’ve been treating him with respect already…]
“Then I believe you are willing to accept?” Ken asked.
“Can I refuse now that I’ve seen your skill?” Salma asked. She wanted to ask more, but she understood that there were things you could ask and things you couldn’t ask. Ken obviously was hiding something, or it was that Emerald was an even greater entity than she imagine.
Or it was both.
The thought terrified her, but there was also an excitement with it.
[What a fun young man!]
“I’m glad.” Ken wrote down the items for each lot.
The main lot was a low grade mountain pill, but he also had another few lots consisting of different items. Ten high grade earth arrays. Fifty middle grade earth arrays. Ten high grade earth pills. Fifty middle grade pills. 100 low grade pills.
The 100 low grade pills were the most common lot since most minor families could easily access them, and the major families would most likely vie for the low grade mountain pill and the high grade items.
Each one would hopefully bring him a large amount of martial techniques. The families wouldn’t hand over any great techniques, but as long as there were one or two hidden gems, he wouldn’t mind it too much. Even having access to these manuals would assist him in his plan.
“Do you need help with anything else?” Salma asked, giving him the best fuck me eyes she could. She also noted the arrays, but said nothing about them.
Ken coughed into his fist. “I think I’m fine for now.” Ken excused himself quickly, wanting to be done with her before she seduced him.
With his main business done, Ken gave Chan a look. He donned a disguise quickly and went to a store which sold manuals, with Chan following some ways away.
There wasn’t anything within the shop which was any good, so he grabbed a few manuals which caught his eye because they sounded cool, before finding a manual under it.
Silent Shadow Sword.
[Whoa!]
He grabbed the manual, not knowing what it actually was, but since it sounded cool, he handed it to the shop owner.
“How much is this?” Ken asked, keeping his voice neutral.
“That one is ten gold coins.”
“Ten gold?”
“If you don’t have the coins, then leave.”
“Fine, but I want all of these.” Ken motioned to the manuals he had picked up, sliding in a few more into the pile.
“Go ahead. Now pay up.”
Ken handed over the ten gold coins and quickly put away the martial art manuals. The man had obviously tried to overcharge him, but that was fine. This kind of technique was going to benefit him, and the man hadn’t seen the few manuals he had picked out.
With that, Ken escaped from the store, quickly getting lost in the crowd.
The store owned swiped up the gold coins. “Finally! I’ll be able to take her out with this much coin. That’ll shut her u-“ He looked at where a few manuals had been. Very quickly he stood up and ran out of the shop, poking his head out. “Young man! Young man!”
Unfortunately for him, Ken had disappeared.
“Oh no! They’re going to kill me!”
Ken had swiped a few books which were reserved for other people, including one called the Floating Flower Fist which had been reserved for a particular person.
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Once Ken had calmed down, finishing up his tea, he took a walk around. He hadn’t realised that his family would have brought this low, and that they would have been treated so poorly outside their own town.
[To not give my family a future, wasn’t that too harsh, dearest uncle of mine?]
Even now, when he thought of his uncle, he felt so sick to his stomach. He clenched his fists together, shaking in anger, but sighed after a few moments.
[Save the anger for later, Ken. Right now, you have important matters to attend to.]
Ken turned to face Chan. “We have business to attend to,” he said to her. “Let’s go.”
“Yes, Master!” Chan nodded her head and then followed him out.
Ken and Chan hadn’t talked about the other wolf girl yet, it hadn’t come up naturally. He noticed the way she’d look at the wolf girl sometimes, and he figured that they had been friendly before.
They made their way to the Commerce Pavilion, taking the carriage that they had bought. They had one of the Leafblades take the role of the driver, and they had been quite receptive to it.
“My old bones are getting stiff doing nothing but chores.” Uncle Ked said. However, being a driver was a much more noble profession than a labourer, so Ken assumed that’s why he enjoyed it.
“Is the Commerce Head in?” Ken asked one of the workers, who recognised Chan first and then nodded to Ken. He was taken around back, where he was poured some tea.
“It’s good to see you, Commerce Head Salma,” Ken said.
"You as well, Disciple Ken. We haven’t seen each other in so long, I thought perhaps your Master disapproved of us.”
“Ah, well, perhaps that might be the case? I haven’t told her about how much I enjoy your company yet, so let’s keep that a secret for now.” It was a light joke, but Ken realised that Emerald might be annoyed by it. “Anyway, I was just wondering if everything had been stored within my vault?”
“I recently checked, and all your items have indeed been gathered into your vault. Were you planning on taking some items out?”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Ken replied back with a smile. “Yes, that’s one of the reasons why I came. I wanted to double check everything and then take a few items which I’ve been needing. However, I also have another request for you, Commerce Head.”
“Please do tell me, Disciple Ken. If it’s something within my ability, I will surely do my best to assist you.”
“Are you able to host a few private auction lots? Not auctions, exactly. I would like to create a few lots and then have the Commerce Pavilion work as an intermediary to guarantee the trade.”
“Is that how you sold items previously?” Salma asked, tilting her head It was rare to ask for something like that, but it was in their jurisdiction. Typically, people went to the Auction Pavilion for such things, but she was glad he had brought the matter to her.
“Yes, that’s right. I would like to do something similar here. In exchange, I will create a high grade earth pill of your choosing, as long as you have the ingredients for it.”
“Will you expand on the terms?” Salma asked, wishing to hear more about what he had in mind.
"I wish to create several lots to put up for auction. The Commerce Pavilion will put them up on auction and will collect the offers, but you are not allowed to look at the offers made.” Ken waited, noticing that the woman’s eyes changed slightly.
Salma had to think. It was a hard ask, since they needed to guarantee the items on his half, but the buyers wouldn’t know she wouldn’t be checking the items and Ken couldn’t blame her if he got scammed. She nodded her head for her to continue.
“I will check everything, and you will inform those who won the lots. I will be creating these lots to be traded for martial arts manuals. In exchange, I will create a high grade ready pill of your choice as long as you have the ingredients."
Salma remained silent for some time, still dwelling on her thoughts. “I would like the high grade earth pill first,” Salma said. If he was the one creating it, she wanted to see his abilities first. “If it’s not up to my standard, I’ll have to ask for more as our fee.”
“Of course, Commerce Head.” Ken smiled. “Which pill would you like?”
“The tiger singing pill.”
“I assume you have the ingredients?” Ken asked.
“I do,” Salma said. She looked at Ken, wondering how he could be so confident. The tiger singing pill was one of the hardest high grade pills to make, considering what went into making it.
A worker brought a large pile of ingredients to her, including a Fiery Tiger’s fang worth roughly fifty gold pieces. It was extremely rare, to the point that very few Fiery Tiger fangs were ever seen. Due to the price of the material, the tiger singing pill was actually just a pill one would use for status, rather than to actually consume.
“Would you like to lend me a furnace? I’m sure you’ll trust your own furnace rather than one I use.”
“I would prefer that Disciple Ken uses a furnace he is familiar with.”
“If that’s what you wish for.” Ken nodded. “Do you have a room where I will remain undisturbed?”
“Of course.” Salma led him to a room which had a couple of Martial Experts stationed nearby. It was fairly small, with large thick walls and was some ways away from other buildings.
“Perfect.” Ken brought out his furnace. “Would you like to stay and watch.”
“I would love to watch,” she said.
Ken then began to prepare the ingredients, placing in the Fiery Tiger’s fang first. He then called out his white fire, which flowed into the furnace. He concentrated with the fire because the fang was quite a precious material. Fifty gold coins was a large amount of money, and he didn’t want to compensate that Commerce Head for his stupidity.
The fire continued to flicker against the fang as it began to melt, joining with the other ingredients. Ken needed to expend quite a bit of effort, his brow beginning to sweat. Eventually, the fang was completely melted, and he started to refine the materials together.
An hour passed before the pill shot up, allowing him to finish refining the pill, which landed within the palm of his hand. Ken was sweating buckets by the time he was done, his breath ragged.
“Amazing!” Salma smiled. She hadn’t expected the disciple to be so good. In fact, there was no need to call him a disciple with his skill, he would match some of the greater Alchemists within the town.
[Thankfully I’ve been treating him with respect already…]
“Then I believe you are willing to accept?” Ken asked.
“Can I refuse now that I’ve seen your skill?” Salma asked. She wanted to ask more, but she understood that there were things you could ask and things you couldn’t ask. Ken obviously was hiding something, or it was that Emerald was an even greater entity than she imagine.
Or it was both.
The thought terrified her, but there was also an excitement with it.
[What a fun young man!]
“I’m glad.” Ken wrote down the items for each lot.
The main lot was a low grade mountain pill, but he also had another few lots consisting of different items. Ten high grade earth arrays. Fifty middle grade earth arrays. Ten high grade earth pills. Fifty middle grade pills. 100 low grade pills.
The 100 low grade pills were the most common lot since most minor families could easily access them, and the major families would most likely vie for the low grade mountain pill and the high grade items.
Each one would hopefully bring him a large amount of martial techniques. The families wouldn’t hand over any great techniques, but as long as there were one or two hidden gems, he wouldn’t mind it too much. Even having access to these manuals would assist him in his plan.
“Do you need help with anything else?” Salma asked, giving him the best fuck me eyes she could. She also noted the arrays, but said nothing about them.
Ken coughed into his fist. “I think I’m fine for now.” Ken excused himself quickly, wanting to be done with her before she seduced him.
With his main business done, Ken gave Chan a look. He donned a disguise quickly and went to a store which sold manuals, with Chan following some ways away.
There wasn’t anything within the shop which was any good, so he grabbed a few manuals which caught his eye because they sounded cool, before finding a manual under it.
Silent Shadow Sword.
[Whoa!]
He grabbed the manual, not knowing what it actually was, but since it sounded cool, he handed it to the shop owner.
“How much is this?” Ken asked, keeping his voice neutral.
“That one is ten gold coins.”
“Ten gold?”
“If you don’t have the coins, then leave.”
“Fine, but I want all of these.” Ken motioned to the manuals he had picked up, sliding in a few more into the pile.
“Go ahead. Now pay up.”
Ken handed over the ten gold coins and quickly put away the martial art manuals. The man had obviously tried to overcharge him, but that was fine. This kind of technique was going to benefit him, and the man hadn’t seen the few manuals he had picked out.
With that, Ken escaped from the store, quickly getting lost in the crowd.
The store owned swiped up the gold coins. “Finally! I’ll be able to take her out with this much coin. That’ll shut her u-“ He looked at where a few manuals had been. Very quickly he stood up and ran out of the shop, poking his head out. “Young man! Young man!”
Unfortunately for him, Ken had disappeared.
“Oh no! They’re going to kill me!”
Ken had swiped a few books which were reserved for other people, including one called the Floating Flower Fist which had been reserved for a particular person.
Announcement Thanks for trending again everyone! If you're interested in seeing more, don't forget my Patreon! I've posted up to chapter 2.33!
