66

Walking over to a small wooden bench, Cheng Yang took off his cloak and sat down. Imitating his Lord, Ma Tao did the same.

Even so, Ma Tao felt that this plan was even worse than the first one! How was this going to help them find his family? In the end, he decided to trust Cheng Yang and give his plan time to work.

It only took ten minutes for Cheng Yang to put his plan into action. A man wearing a military uniform had just entered the Alchemy Tower. He wasn't just a soldier but also one of Yuan Jianzhe's trusted aides, Sita Fu. He was one of the few people with the authorization to buy things on behalf of the military from the shops in the safe zone.

When Sita Fu entered the store, he nearly jumped in shock. He's made over a hundred visits to the various stores in the safe zone and every time the manager was alone. Whenever he saw another person enter the store, they would be thrown out seconds later.

This time there were two unknown people, both of which obviously were Professionals. Judging by the fact that they were both wearing eye catching pieces of equipment, Sita Fu reached the conclusion that these people were also NPCs like the manager. Otherwise, with the manager's temper, those two would be lying on their faces outside the shop.

Just as Sita Fu decided to ignore the new NPCs, Cheng Yang walked over to him and said, "Brave warrior, I have a wonderful piece of equipment for you if you're interested."

"Equipment?" Sita Fu asked in a disinterest voice. He had seen plenty of equipment for sale but none of it could catch his eye. It was all overpriced junk that only increased a stat by one. The army had a hard enough time getting enough Experience Fragments to buy food and medicine for the civilians, how could they have enough to spare on trashy equipment?

"Yes, equipment and of a very high quality." Cheng Yang said energetically, bringing out a necklace and handing it to Sita Fu.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, Sita Fu took the necklace.

"Black Iron necklace? Adds two to the Physical Attack stat and one to Physical Defense? This is…" Sita Fu was startled by how good the equipment was.

This necklace was enough to make Sita Fu reconsider his opinion on equipment. The Silversmithy only had low grade and crude jewelry that paled in comparison to this one necklace. However, how could such a good piece of equipment be cheap? Although he had a large amount of Experience Fragments on him now, it was for purchasing medication for the sick. He didn't dare to misuse those funds.

"Is this necklace for sale?" Sita Fu finally asked after some hesitation.

"I'm sorry but I can't sell this to you." Cheng Yang said sadly, "but if you were willing to do a small favor for me I'll gift this necklace to you."

"An NPC quest?" Sita Fu wondered. The way that NPC was talking really made it seem like a quest. He showed off a great necklace and refused to sell it but was willing to give it to him if he completed a task. This was definitely a quest!

"Absolutely, what do you need me to do?" Sita Fu asked, his heart racing with excitement.

"I'm looking for a few people and need your help finding them. If it's too difficult to complete on your own you can ask someone else to help you. As long as you find them on your own this wonderful necklace is yours but if you ask others for help I'll give you two pieces of equipment of lesser quality."

"Who are you looking for?"

Seeing this Cheng Yang chuckled to himself. It was obvious to him what this soldier was thinking but there was no way he'd let him take earn a piece of Black Iron equipment.

"I need you to find the Ma Xiangnan couple and their daughter in law Xiao Ling, Liu Wei, Wang Lu, and Zhou Jie…" Cheng Yang said before describing their appearances.

Hearing how many people he needed to find, Sita Fu knew the necklace he had seen was out of his reach. "I'm going to go ask my commander for help. Should we bring them here when we find them?"

"Please do. Once I see all six here I'll give you your reward." Cheng Yang smiled.

Sita Fu quickly bought what he came for and left.

After the soldier left, Ma Tao asked: "Are Wang Lu and Zhou Jie your friends?"

"No." Cheng Yang replied pulling out his alchemy tools, "They are talented people who can be useful to Phoenix Village."

Since he would have to wait a long time for the military to find the people he needed, Cheng Yang planned to refine his potions for the day.

Having leveled up his Profession to Standard-Grade, Cheng Yang was now able to attempt to make a potion forty times. In addition, his success rate was around seventy five percent after his Refine skill had leveled up.

This allowed him to make thirty potions with the forty Energy he had. When he was finished, his Profession was five percent closer to leveling up today. Extrapolating from that number, he would need to refine six hundred potions and twenty days to become a High-Grade Alchemist.

When Cheng Yang finished, he turned around to find the manager staring at him with greedy eyes. His appearance was that of someone who had discovered something amazing.

"You're an Alchemist right? Do you have a Profession Talent?" the manager asked.

Cheng Yang frowned, why was the manager acting like this? The Alchemy Tower manager in Phoenix Village hadn't acted like that when he earned his Alchemy Profession.

"I have one, yes. Is that odd?" Cheng Yang asked.

"Is that odd! This is a Profession Talent we're talking about! Do you know what they represent?" The manager shouted in exasperation.

"All I know is that my potions are twice as effective as normal." Cheng Yang snapped, "Why, can you not do that?"

"You…" The manager forced himself to calm down. "I cannot. However, you can so I wonder, would you be willing to make a deal with me?"

"What kind of deal?"

"It's simple, I'll buy any potions you make for three times the price of a normal one."

Just as Cheng Yang was about to agree, he suddenly he remembered something: if there was a motive, there was profit to be had. Since this guy was willing to buy his potions that meant he was confident in selling them. This meant that his potions were worth far more than just three times the ordinary price.

"I'm sorry but I can't accept." Cheng Yang acted apologetic, "I can't just take advantage of you, it'll make me feel bad."

"Don't worry about me, you're a talent worth nurturing." The manager said with great sorrow, "I want you to mature as soon as possible so don't worry about the terms being unfavorable. If there's nothing else just sign here."

"Absolutely not. When I was transferred, the manager in my village didn't seem to care about my Profession Talent so how could it be profitable? If you buy it for three times the normal price I'm afraid you'll go out of business. Unless you can prove you won't suffer a loss I refuse to sell my potions to you."

"If I tell you why I'm so confident will you promise to sell me your potions?"

"Of course."

If a sly person like Liu Hau were here, he would instantly see through Cheng Yang's façade. Unfortunately for the manager, Cheng Yang had completely fooled him.

"I trust you've noticed how beneficial potions are right?" The manager whispered to Cheng Yang, "However, there are several places where their use is limited. Some instance dungeons will only let you use a certain number of potions and others restrict you to using Standard or Low Grade potions. So, do you see why I'm so confident?"

"Oh? So they were so valuable?" Cheng Yang smirked, "In that case isn't three times the price far too low"

"Didn't you promise to sell?" The manager said with a sour expression, "How can you-"

"I promised that I would sell them, not what the price would be. Since these potions are so valuable doesn't ten times the normal price sound much more reasonable?"

"That price is far too high!" The manager said after a moment of speechlessness. "Although it might sell the profit margin will only be slightly better than a normal potion! Isn't that too unprofitable?"

"Why would I care how much profit you make?" Cheng Yang asked shamelessly, "All I care about is how much profit I'll make. If you don't want to buy them for that price don't try and claim I broke my promise!"

Cheng Yang's declaration shocked the manager. "If you promise to sell your potions in this safe zone then I'll buy them at ten times the normal price." He grunted through gritted teeth. "You also need to provide me with eighty percent of the potions you make every day. Now please just sign the contract."