My Muscle System in the Mage World

Chapter 42: Marketplace

"What type of herbs and items are you looking for, young master?"

Aur directly handed him a long list of things.

George was stunned when he saw Aur handing him the list directly.

"What an idiot," he mused to himself.

However, seeing the list, where he hadn't even heard about some of the herbs, he couldn't help but think, "he might not be a fool."

"Young master, I know just the place for getting most of the ingredients, but you have two options to choose from: one is to make an immediate purchase of all these goods, but it will be expensive, and the other is that you have to come back in five days for it to be prepared, but it will be much cheaper. So, what would you like, young master?"

George said with a friendly smile plastered on his face.

"I will take the immediate one then..." Aur said under his mask in a coarse and rather energetic voice.

Hearing this, George's eyes lit up. "A cash cow. I am gonna get a lot from this." His eyes gleamed with greed.

"So show me the way." Aur said as he looked at George.

"Young master, I would need some..."

Aur casually threw five low-grade mana crystals with a knowing expression.

"Is this enough for you?"

"It's enough, young master," George nodded his head, his smile growing even brighter.

It was almost five times his touring guiding fee.

He humbly replied, "Follow me," and went through the street.

Aur looked around at his surroundings where there were only houses with one ground floor and small gaps between the houses creating dark alleyways between them.

The dimly lit road was very paved and flat, even more so than outside the village by a large margin.

He could still see people going in and out, but they were all in pairs of two or even three; only he was alone.

With casual footsteps, he followed George while glancing around the place with curiosity.

Finally, after a long time of walking, George led him to the biggest and tallest building with five floors.

This was the only building with multiple floors; the surrounding buildings were at most one floor.

"Is this the place?"

"No, young master, if you want an immediate purchase of goods, then you have to go there..." George pointed to his right.

"Hmm?" Aur looked to his right, seeing a dark alleyway.

"This is where we will go, young master," he beckoned to Aur and went forward.

"This place looks shady," Aur mused to himself and went towards the dark alleyway without hesitation.

The moment he entered, his vision was filled with darkness. However, Aur could perfectly see through the darkness just fine as he silently followed George.

"Young master, here it is..."

After a long time of walking, George's voice sounded in his ears.

With his footsteps quickening, he directly reached the place, seeing a dim light in his vision.

Revealing a small shop with flickering light.

Aur looked around the shop; it looked rather old and ancient, with windows and a door that were in tattered condition.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Aur's eyes narrowed as he looked at George, his red eyes flashing with a murderous gaze, sending a chill down his back.

"Yes, yes, young master, this is the place. There are only two shops here that can satisfy your needs, and this is one of them, while the other is in the bright light of day, that you previously saw, the four-floor tall building," George hurriedly said, his back already soaked in cold sweat.

"If it isn't, you will face the consequences," Aur coldly stated as he touched the slide and slid it right.

Creak!

The door made cracking noises, and instantly all the dust particles wafted in front of his face, covering his entire body.

Aur's eyes narrowed as he entered the place. However, he didn't know that a red light flashed in his body when he entered the shop, automatically generating his true sketch.

The sketch looked rather chaotic and unclear, as if something was disturbing it, making it unrecognisable as the true form of Aur.

The dim light of the candle filled Aur's vision as he saw an old man with a bald head sitting in a seiza-style while reading a book.

The bald man frowned as he asked, "What do you want?"

"I was introduced here by George," Aur pointed outside where the hunched-back man was staying.

"So, a customer," the old man's eyes lit up. "What would you like, sir? Coffee or tea?"

"I am not here for that," Aur casually shrugged as he handed over the long list of items he wanted.

The man frowned when he saw the list. "Are you imprinting a spell into your mental space?" He looked up, and Aur just nodded his head.

"Straight to the point, I see. I can provide you with all these ingredients, but..."

"How much?" Aur interrupted the old man.

The old man took back his words and looked at Aur with a surprised gaze.

"Tell me the cost."

"Sigh, youngsters these days are so impatient..." the old man sighed. "Back in my days..."

"Stop playing around, old man. Do you believe I can't kill you?" Aur's red eyes narrowed inside the mask of the capybara, and he emanated a killing intent that directly focused on the old man.

Feeling the killing intent, the old man started to tremble as he looked at Aur with shock written all over his face.

"Alright, it will take about 20 middle-grade mana crystals," the old man said with a voice of pity.

However, Aur frowned when he heard this. He had at most 8 middle-grade mana crystals and thousands of low-grade mana from the mine, which in total would be around 50 to 60 middle-grade mana crystals.

But there was one little problem – he didn't have a spatial bag to carry these things. So, on him, he had at most 22 middle-grade crystals combined right now.

"I will give you twelve."

"Boy, this isn't the place where you can haggle," the old man said in a cold tone.

"Eleven."

"You are going too far."

"And you are going too far as well. Do you want me to believe that these simple herbs will cost me twenty mana crystals? Although they were rare herbs and crystals, they weren't so rare that not a single one could be found in the market."

"You can cut costs in many places. Are you sure you need these combinations of herbs? In my time here, I have never seen a spell being built with these combinations."

"This..." Aur hesitated, his expression turned to that of deep thought before he gritted his teeth.

"Alright, I will make it 15, nothing more or nothing less, but I won't cut the items. Is that fine?"

"Make it 16, and you will have yourself a deal."

When Aur heard this, his body visibly trembled as the sound of his teeth being grinded together resounded in the room.

"I will make it 15 and a half. That is my last deal."

"Alright," the man muttered with a reluctant expression on his face.