"I seem to have been targeted by something unclean."
"Meow?" Lachi tilted her head, looking at Luo En.
"A person surrounded by mist, whose face I couldn't see clearly."
"Could it be? Could it be the Slender Man?"
"Does this world also have Faceless from urban legends?" Luo En pondered, looking down.
"My destiny didn't warn me, so it should be fine, right?"
Even so, the dream still left Luo En feeling somewhat uneasy.
...
"It seems this mystical item box isn't always effective!"
"Or is it because the steps weren't complete?"
Luo En looked at the mystical item box before him, a helpless and complex expression on his face.
This time, he had followed the instructions on the box's note to Iron Cross Street; although some anomalies did occur, he still hadn't found the notebook's whereabouts.
"Anyway, first, I need to find a way to appraise those formulas and then sell them."
"A sequence 8 formula is worth around 450 pounds, so a Sequence 7 must at least be double that." Luo En mentally estimated the value of the formulas he had copied from the notebook.
"Where can I sell them?"
Backlund has an underground trading market, and Tingen City should have one too.
Moreover, some so-called ritual magic and special divinations often require spiritual materials.
Even if the main ingredients in Beyonder potion formulas are controlled by the Official, the auxiliary materials should be difficult to regulate.
"Like the golden mint and nightshade in the Seer potion formula, they seem to be relatively common materials." Luo En's thoughts wandered as he continued to think.
In other words, some ordinary materials inherently rich in spirituality can also be used in mystical rituals or potions.
"Looking at it this way, completely controlling spiritual materials is almost impossible; some materials can even be grown by oneself."
Luo En estimated that completely prohibiting those materials would require unimaginable financial and material resources, making it theoretically impossible.
Following this line of thought, as long as he found some shallow-level markets selling ordinary materials, those in a 'grey area,' he could gradually delve deeper to find the deeper markets trading Beyonder materials and potion formulas.
"But how do I find the shallow-level markets?"
"What if I come up with the overall plan myself, and then guide the mystical item box to give me specific steps? Would that work?" Luo En looked back at the mystical item box.
Previously, directly asking the mystical item box complete questions led to rather unsatisfactory steps.
Luo En decided to set a general framework himself, then divide it into several steps, using the mystical item box to fill in the specific details.
He only needed to ask small questions that could be solved in one or two steps. Since the mystical item box could only be used twice a day, this approach wouldn't be very efficient.
But if he could figure out the correct way to use this box, it would be worth it.
"However, I still need to be careful. Even if such a market isn't directly controlled by the Official, it should be monitored by the Official to some extent."
"How to get to a market that sells spiritual materials." Luo En asked a small question. This time, he didn't directly mention Beyonder materials, fearing the box might make a mistake because of the word 'Beyonder.'
Normally, places that simply sell spiritual materials are not entirely illegal, so even if there's concealment, they shouldn't be too hard to find, and those places are definitely natural shallow-level markets.
What Luo En lacked now was a breakthrough.
A few seconds later, a note appeared out of thin air in the box, on which was written:
"Go to Tingen City's dock area."
...
Dock area.
Looking at the bustling crowds, Luo En was momentarily unsure how to proceed.
After a moment of thought, he activated his spiritual vision.
The underground trading market should gather a large number of spiritual materials and items related to Beyonder. If that's the case, then he just needs to find places with large and abnormal spiritual fluctuations... Luo En had a plan in mind.
"Eh? What's that?"
Luo En, observing his surroundings with spiritual vision, suddenly noticed an unusual spiritual fluctuation in his line of sight.
It was an old gentleman with white hair.
From Luo En's perspective, the spirituality around him was somewhat inexplicably flamboyant.
"Could he also be a Beyonder?" Seeing that he didn't look like he was just casually strolling, Luo En had an idea.
Since the other party was a Beyonder and had come to this street where an underground market was hidden, it was highly likely that he was here to trade in the underground market. As long as Luo En followed him, he should be able to find the underground market he wanted to go to.
Having made up his mind, Luo En slightly quickened his pace to follow the old gentleman. He closed his spiritual vision and deliberately kept his distance from the man.
Given that the other party was most likely a Beyonder, there was a significant chance he would be detected if spiritual vision was active. For this reason, he even made his footsteps very light, fearing being discovered by the other party.
"Evil Dragon Bar." Luo En followed the other party to the entrance of a bar. Looking at the sign before him, he was somewhat lost in thought.
Why is it another bar!
It seems bars truly are magical places.
He pushed open the door and walked in, taking out the monocle for appraisal from his pocket and putting it on his right eye.
In places where the surrounding spirituality was chaotic, the effect of spiritual vision was greatly reduced. For this reason, Luo En intended to use the monocle's treasure appraisal function to help him confirm some information.
However, shortly after he put on the monocle, a hand directly slapped him on the shoulder with a "thwack."
"I didn't expect, there would actually be..."
Luo En turned his head to see a man of about thirty, squinting his eyes and looking at him.
"Wait!" He carefully scrutinized Luo En for a few moments.
"It's not him after all." His tone held a hint of disappointment, mixed with a touch of relief.
"Who are you!" Luo En pushed away the hand on his shoulder, speaking in an unfriendly tone.
He knew that in such situations, he should appear tough. When dealing with strange strangers, one must not be cowardly; once you show cowardice, you easily reveal weakness, and once you reveal weakness, trouble is likely to occur.
"My apologies, friend, I mistook you for someone else." He smiled and apologized to Luo En.
Looking at the other party's smiling face, Luo En's expression softened slightly; after all, as the saying goes, one doesn't strike a smiling face.
"Since it's a misunderstanding, then goodbye." Luo En turned to leave directly.
"Hey, wait a moment." The other party stopped Luo En.
"I guess this is your first time here, isn't it?"
"If you want to buy or sell anything, you can tell me, okay?" He still smiled as he spoke to Luo En.
"Huh?" Luo En was a little surprised.
"These are all common venues here. If you want something deeper, you can come with me." He waved his hand, signaling Luo En to follow him.
"Don't be afraid, there are rules here. If everyone could just mess around, this market would have closed down long ago."
That's right, and my spiritual intuition didn't sense any warnings... Luo En nodded, acknowledging the other party's words, and followed him into a corridor.
"Today, there's a special trading gathering hosted by me. I have a hunch you'll definitely be interested."
"Why are you helping me?"
"It's not really helping you. For gatherings I host, any transactions that occur give me a cut. I'm also finding clients for myself." He explained to Luo En with a smile.
"Sir, what is your name?" Luo En asked curiously.
"Asking for the name of someone you meet for the first time is very impolite in our line of work!" The man showed a forced smile.
"Uh..." Luo En realized he had misspoken.
"You can call me Meihua 5."