The Dawn of the New World Chapter 1575

The piece Hao Xuan was holding looked like it was an unrefined nugget of pure silver with a scant few impurities mixed in. Longtrouble's pupils turned into saucers the moment he laid eyes on the sparkling piece of ore.

"Oh, this one?" Hao Xuan brought it forward so he could get a better look, "It's for me. Hope you don't mind the extra five gold. With the one I gave you it should be just enough to cover the cost of the fee and this piece-"

Before Hao Xuan could even get the words Longtrouble swapped the piece in his hand for the one in Hao Xuan's.

"You take this, I take that!" he exclaimed with surprising hostility- as if he was ready to fight Hao Xuan to death over it.

Hao Xuan put forward his most disappointed expression and nodded, "Oh...okay...sure..."

Longtrouble brought the piece to the unsealing device and quickly activated it. It took nearly a minute and a half for the process to finish and by the end he was left with a swirling mass of small metallic flies.

The goblin's eyes almost fell out of his head as he shouted, "The Argent Bees?!"

There were even sounds of movement from the backroom but in the end Poli did not reveal herself, choosing to congratulate him from a distance.

"Looks like you finally hit it big Tami. That's some good money! You want to sell them to me? I'll give you 1500 gold right now!"

Her offer broke Longtrouble out of his daze as he angrily retorted, "You wish! I can get at least 2200 for it!"

"Only with the right buyer," she clarified, "Not just anyone can raise an entire swarm of these little miscreants, you know. It's a lot of work!"

"Even so, 1500 is too little!"

"Well that was just the starting bid, we can negotiate once you finish with your new client...hehehehe."

It was only at this point that Longtrouble remembered he now owed Hao Xuan a quick run through the market.

"Oh...yeah. He'll have this one too," Longtrouble threw another coin on the counter and withdrew the Ardent Bees from the glass case.

"I'll be back once I finish Poli!" he told the mysterious store owner before turning to Hao Xuan, "Do you want to unseal it now?"

Hao Xuan shook his head while placing the piece of rough substrate inside his robe, "No, it's fine I'll do it later."

"Your choice," Longtrouble shrugged and walked out.

Hao Xuan gave the shop a once-over before taking his leave.

'Ardent Bees are classified as an A-grade beast. Out of the hundreds in that swarm, only one or two will reach maturity but each one should go for upwards of three hundred thousand cursed gold if I'm not wrong,' Hao Xuan quickly did the calculations in his head.

'Their ability to manipulate and control most natural ores is quite unique and well sought after by numerous blacksmiths or treasure hunters. They don't do bad in combat either and as long as the opponent is unprepared it could deal a massive blow to them.'

But just like earth spirit, it would take a long time and countless resources to properly raise these bees but any large power should be capable of it.

So the price of roughly 2000 gold Longtrouble was talking about was not bad at all, especially considering it basically fell into his lap.

'Hmm, shame he failed the test though,' Hao Xuan smirked while patting his robe, 'The one I gave him first should have been worth a lot more than those bees. Unfortunately, he couldn't control his greed.'

Hao Xuan swiftly caught up with Longtrouble who was in quite a hurry now. All that potential gold was burning a hole in his pocket.

But despite being so visibly flustered by the recent developments Longtrouble did not let that get in the way of his real job.

"Okay," the well-dressed goblin clapped once to get Hao Xuan's attention, "Let us begin. Do you have anything specific you want to ask first?"

"Yeah, what is this place? Why couldn't I sense it before?"

"Oh, right. I forgot you are new to all this, usually a mentor will explain such things before you venture out."

Longtrouble pointed at the gray wall Hao Xuan had passed through to come here.

"That is a doorway created by an artifact called the 'Shattered Gateway'. I'm not sure how it works but it temporarily connects an outside space to a 'Night Market' closest to the artifact at the time of its activation. The 'Shattered Gateway' artifact is only sold within the inner sanctum for- I think, 120,000 Cursed gold? Once the doorway is created, anyone with a mark can pass through it given they have permission from the owner or higher authority."

Hao Xuan's brow began to furrow.

'That means someone just casually used a 120,000 cursed gold worth artifact to create a doorway to this specific 'Night Market' and I accidentally passed through it because of the marks.'