The underground market was just as its name suggested; it was underground. It had multiple entrances around the city, all of which could only be accessed at night. Rain had shown her one of the entrances.
A lever sat in the middle of the slummy areas of the city, surrounded by vines of grass. If this lever were to be pulled during the daytime, nothing would happen. However, pulling it at night would open a passage to the underground market.
Other than that, it just sat still until someone pulled it, like now. A passage was revealed; it was actually an elevator. In the dead of night, a hooded figure walked into the elevator after pulling the lever. The elevator plunged downward, revealing an underground subterranean market. It was a different world from the one above.
Anything was for sale in the black market. Helice could see slaves tied to metal bars for sale; some of them were beastmen, birthed from a union between humans and beasts.
Everyone here was wearing an acolyte robe; it was truly a rare sight. Despite being underground, the entire market was as bright as day, evidently due to the large glowing rocks in the skies and walls of the market that brightly lit the place. The market seemed to have no notable boundary; it extended as far as the eye could see. There were murderers and pickpockets here and there; even acolytes behaved like scums.
Helice held onto her batch of healing solutions closely before making her way across to a particular shop. She'd been here before; Rain had brought her here to purchase a basic healing solution. She was now naturally privy to many things in the magi community.
This was to get a feel for what the finished product was like. At that time, she had thought she had gotten it right that one time, but it turned out she was wrong. What she had concocted was not a healing solution; drinking it or mere skin contact with it had almost caused her irreversible damage.
In the row of shops, Helice made her way to one in particular. This shop was owned by an old man who looked to be in his late seventies. The most striking part of this old man was his eyes; they were completely black, with a single golden iris in the middle.
"Hello, Mr. Captain." As for why Helice was calling the old man Captain, it was naturally because that was his name. The man had simply said his name was Captain during their introduction, and Helice had simply said her name was Hel as a feat of sarcasm, but in the end, it had stuck.
"Hello, Miss Hel," the old man named Captain said. He thought for a moment before doubt covered his face. "Don't tell me you succeeded," he uttered in shock. A few days ago, this young lady had come to his stall and purchased a simple healing solution.
Helice arrived at the shop and placed down the box. Inside it was a total of ten healing potions. The old man quickly opened the case and picked up one of the potions. It had to be said that Helice was incredibly talented in potion-making, one of the best he'd ever seen. It took her less than a year to achieve her first success. Unfortunately, she was already very old; otherwise, she might have had a bright future ahead of her. Helice was a twenty-seven-year-old woman, after all; her youth might have already been wasted.
After examining the potions, the old man shook his head. "Unfortunately, this batch is only forty percent efficient."
Potions are priced according to their efficiency; the higher their efficiency, the better they sell for in the market. After nearly a year of practice, Helice was only able to produce potions of forty percent efficiency.
"I will only pay 3 Aether crystals for them," the old man added. Potions with a hundred percent efficiency would sell for ten Aether crystals each. However, the batch Helice brought was only about forty percent; three Aether crystals apiece was already a good price.
Helice had brought a total of ten potions. Three Aether crystals for each potion meant she would be walking away with thirty Aether crystals. This was indeed a bountiful harvest; this was more than other acolytes would make in half a year.
Helice planned on making more. As much as potions of a hundred percent efficiency were important, low-quality potions were just as important. After all, there were always acolytes who could not afford high-grade potions.
After sealing the deal, Helice spent the next few hours purchasing more materials to make more potions. She planned to return in the next few days to sell another batch. Of course, she didn't forget to purchase a psychic scalar, which she learned was called a psychic filler.
The one she purchased, like the first time, was of low grade and could only be used ten times before it shattered to dust.
Helice walked through the underground market. Actually, the underground market was like another city under the City of Midnight. Whether the great families knew of its existence was only logical.
After all, an establishment like this would not go unnoticed. If anything, the underground market was a way to ensure the distribution of magical knowledge was limited to magi only. There were rows of stalls where all manner of things were on display.
Within the underground market, a hooded figure could be seen carrying a large bag. Helice had thought of ways out of the situation, but to her dismay, only Rank 2 acolytes could use dimensional pouches. This was how magi carried their items.
Helice was quite eager to return to the surface; there were a lot of things she needed to do, and many things needed to be considered. For one, she needed to create more potions in order to meet her monthly quota, all the while she needed time to complete the lightning charm. Although she had wanted to sell it, after careful consideration, she eventually decided against it.
Although the lightning charm would fetch her quite a sum, the thing was she actually had no way of defending herself at the moment.
In the acolyte rank, magi would pair up with knights to learn basic combat abilities. In combination with their mind runes, this would make them a formidable force among their peers.
Helice, at the moment, lacked any kind of fighting powers. If she were to be attacked at this moment, she would be totally helpless, especially now that she was carrying her valuables in a literal bag half the size of her body.
Just as she was about to exit the underground world, she suddenly noticed a figure in the distance. Like her, he was adorned in acolyte robes, but from the sigil, Helice could tell he was an acolyte of the Griffith family, one of the three upper families in the City of Midnight.
Unlike the Baron family, the Griffith family actually had an official magus in their ranks. That alone put them above the Baron family, who no longer had an official magus.
"What do we have here?"
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