9 Buying Materials

Raizel felt that even though he allowed the shopkeeper of Menschen Treasure Shop to open an account for him, he still felt more comfortable with the money in his spatial ring so he had collected the money in cash.

He had no fear of these so-called robbers the shopkeeper talked about. Besides, it would be a slap on his face if someone could successfully steal from him even in his weakened state.

The 600,000 credits he had inside his spatial ring made him feel a whole lot better. It was an odd feeling, that mundane money could improve his mood. Cultivators are meant to deny all mundane desires and wants in order to seek the Dao, his master always hammered. He wondered why his master continued emphasizing it, at that time, he had no mundane desire.

He refused to think on it further, pushing it to the back of his mind as he surveyed the street before him. There were more cultivators here than downtown so many people were crowding the road. Cultivators were not allowed to fly in Tempest town but they had much more speed while walking, sometimes you couldn't see a person's face as he zoomed past you. The cars were driving at the speed of sound. 

Raizel's eyes glistened, he could tell that the cars were specially equipped with small formations and arrays, which were different from the cars he saw downtown. His hands itched but he controlled himself, he just had 600,000 credits, he was really poor, he could no longer sell any of the things in his storage ring, those remaining were relics of his past plus he felt they would be much more expensive outside this city.

The shops were also different, most of them were made of wood and stone, and the brittle glass he saw downtown. He looked at one of them, Bones talisman and equipment, and entered it. Raizel looked around curiously, his eyes darting to the section with rows of swords. They all looked the same. He went even closer towards the shelf.

"Good afternoon, sir. Would you like to buy the Cloud sword 7th edition? It is the latest from the Cloud Industry."

"Cloud sword 7th edition?" He asked curiously. 

Remus looked at the finely dressed man and nodded silently to himself. He has probably never used a mass-produced sword before. "Sir, please, here are handmade swords, we have swords from well-known masters."

"So these are not handmade?" He asked, his eyes still on the Cloud swords. How were they produced? They were so identical. Their structure, power, it was as if they were made from one mold and they are at least 200 on this shelf.

Remus was confused. Just as it is hard to understand an emperor's mind, it is also difficult to understand a customer's mind. "No sir, they are mass-produced. The Cloud clan mass-produces over 5 million swords every year".

Raizel looked at him for a while making the man fidget for a bit, "I would like to see your talismans".

Remus took him to the talisman's section. Blotts store was just an ordinary store as they had only tier-1 and a few tier-2 talismans. The only thing was that there were too few battle talismans, most of them were auxiliary talismans. Light-body talisman, Soundsaver talisman, stealth talisman, speed-rush talisman, crimson-food talisman, chilling talisman, beast-taming talisman, Lunalamp talisman. Raizel's heart jerked, what are all these? 

"Sir, did you see the one you want to purchase?" The man was slowly becoming weird in his eyes.

"Are these all the talismans you have?" Raizel asked him with a serious expression. 

Remus looked at him and looked at his store's talisman shelf. There were about twenty-five tier-1 talismans and eight tier-2 talismans, which was quite a lot compared to other stores. "Do you want a custom order?"

Raizel shook his head, seeing these poorly crafted talismans, why on earth would he? He can make better ones himself. If his master was the one in charge of this store, these talismans would not see the light of the day.

He checked the price range of the talismans, 500 credits to 3000 credits, he nodded. With that he walked out of the store, leaving Remus even more confused, "Weirdo". He muttered in his heart, not daring to say it out loud.

He visited the three other stores that sold talismans and came to a conclusion. It was too peaceful now, in his time, who would care about food preserving talismans or talismans that could make your car faster? Battle talismans were all stores sold unless you wanted an auxiliary talisman custom made for you. But this was not a bad thing. With three new books on talismans in his spatial ring, he walked into a shop that sold raw materials.

Talisman ink, talisman paper, talisman brush, all these are things that were needed to be bought. Another thing was that this store was the most receptive to him, after all, he was going to become another customer. An old man with grey hair was at the counter drinking a bottle of … Raizel sniffed, it doesn't seem to be wine. He didn't know what it was and he was not going to ask.

The old man seeing him quickly hid the bottle away, smarted down his clothes and said with a smile too wide to greet a customer, "Good Afternoon, what do you want to buy?"

"Talisman inks, brushes and paper." Raizel said as he began to look through the store. It was stuffed, ores, herbs, seeds and so many other weird things in different bottles but it was these weird things that made Raizel's eyes sparkle.

"Nether vine and crimson sand grass. Do you have the processed version?" He was quite happy to see these materials; they were not treasures but they were quite rare. They were materials that could only be gotten from the Giza plains south of the Wastelands.

The man was so surprised he hiccupped, "Yo…you know these materials?"

Raizel just watched him without saying anything. Was he supposed to know it or not?

The old man felt a bit uncomfortable under his stare but he felt it was just an illusion, "Did you see it on the internet or did you read it up?"

"Do you have the processed materials?" He asked again.

The old man almost swore, "Of course not, I will process it on demand."

"I will like it processed, how much…."

"How much what?" He asked, the aftereffects of his drinking was starting to catch up on him. He was seeing double.

"Money. How much money?"

The old man thought for a bit, he didn't need money and he was not really sure what how much money was.

He laughed a bit, "No money, just tell me how you know."

Raizel raised his eyes, "I read it in a book."

"In a book..oh.. so you have not gone to Giza, how lucky…how lucky."

Raizel did not bother asking him how he was lucky or not. He knew better than to argue with a drunk. "I would like to buy some other materials." He went around, picking all the materials he would need. It was unfortunate, the man did not have his favourite type of brush but this one made with the tail of a may root bird would suffice. He raised it up and down, considering its weight, he arched it in the air before dropping it on the counter, it would do nicely. 

He picked two cheaper brushes as well. When he was done shopping, he looked at the old man who was sitting down staring at him. He was glad that the materials had the prices written below them. He quickly calculated everything before telling the man it was 80,000 credits.

"I know, I know. I am not drunk."

Yes, you are drunk. Raizel said in his mind. The reason he stayed away from the sect gathering was because he disdained this very action.

"You don't believe me. You think I am drunk."

At that moment, an equally old man entered the store. Despite his age, his back was very straight like a sword that would rather break than bend. The drunk man looked like he had found a saviour and turned to him to complain, "Old Simon, he does not believe me. He thinks I am drunk."

Raizel stared at this old Simon, while the blood aura on the drunk man was the greatest he had seen since he woke up, the one on this Old Simon was at least four times greater than that of the drunk man.

"Young man, sorry, my brother is like this when he gets drunk. Are you done selecting what you need?" He dragged the drunk man to a chair and dumped him there. His action was like he had done it a hundred times.

"Yes, the total is 80,000 credits." He showed him his materials and gave him the wad of bills. Most people he paid with cash were instantly surprised, the man did not as much as flinch. He just kept the money in a drawer behind the table.

Raizel looked at him and asked, "Do you know any rental shops available in this town?"