"So much?" The Jura couple were stunned.
One silver coin was equal to one hundred copper coins, and Gray's monthly salary was only about two silver coins. As for Jura, her salary was slightly higher, but it was only about three silver coins. Unless she occasionally treated the wealthy or lords, she would get some extra commissions. Ten silver coins were basically equivalent to two months' salary for them.
"What do you need so much money for?" Gray frowned and asked.
"It's for a mission. I'll pay you back after the mission is over," Dudian said seriously.
Jura and Gray looked at each other and said helplessly, "All right. Consider it as a celebration fee for you. But you have to promise me that you won't use it to do anything bad."
Dudian let out a sigh of relief. He also knew that this amount of money was indeed quite a lot. The Jura couple gave it to him entirely because of his status as a guard. Otherwise, an ordinary child wouldn't be able to ask their parents for two months' salary without even explaining the reason.
The next day.
Dudian, carrying ten silver coins, went out early in the morning and came to the Adventurer's Bazaar in the South Residential Area.
Whether it was the slum area, the residential area, or the commercial district, each was divided into four regions: east, west, south, and north. Each region was extremely vast. Linkang Street, where Dudian lived, was located in the Southeast Region of the residential area. The so-called Adventurer's Bazaar was a free trading market for commoners outside the regular chambers of commerce with business licenses. The goods here were materials that commoners had found in the outer areas of the living regions, near the Great Wall.
In those outer areas, the nuclear radiation in the air was dense, and only some adventurers were willing to go there. However, the adventurer profession usually didn't last long. Generally, they would retire after doing it a few times, using the money they earned to support their contaminated bodies and slowly live out their old age.
However, Dudian didn't have to worry about the nuclear radiation there. He had checked the information. The set of black standard soft armor he received was made of lead. Lead was a metal with extremely high density, which could effectively resist radiation, allowing him to freely enter and exit the outer areas near the Great Wall. After all, compared to the outside of the Great Wall, the radiation in those outer areas was negligible.
However, although he had the protection of the uniform, he would still breathe in the polluted air there. Moreover, the outer areas were too far from the living area, and hiring a carriage to go there was quite expensive. In addition, there were animals contaminated by radiation lurking there, which was very dangerous. Dudian didn't want to waste time going there himself.
After spending five copper coins on the carriage, Dudian arrived in front of the Adventurer's Bazaar. There were a great many carriages coming and going here, and it was bustling with activity. From a distance, he could hear the noisy cries of the vendors. The blankets spread on the ground were filled with various things, such as self-made clothes and cloth doll toys, stones of strange colors, and dried cured meat of rare animals.
Dudian strolled along the aisle.
Half an hour later, Dudian finally found several rough sulfur ores and saltpeter that looked like white ice crystals at a stall. As for charcoal powder, he could make it himself and didn't need to waste money to buy it.
The stall owner was a middle-aged man with dark skin and a skinny body. His hair was disheveled, his eye sockets were sunken, and there were some red spots on his hands, as if he had contracted some disease. Although they were covered by his long sleeves, they were still accidentally exposed when he raised his hand.
As soon as Dudian saw this, he knew that the radiation level in this man's body was extremely high, and he probably didn't have many years left to live, unless he received treatment from the Holy See of Light.
After some bargaining, Dudian finally bought all the saltpeter and sulfur ores on his stall for the price of one silver coin and twenty copper coins. The saltpeter was relatively valuable and cost one silver coin.
"I still need to refine this sulfur ore myself. After refining the sulfur and grinding it into powder, it should only be enough for the amount of gunpowder in one pack. Besides, when going scavenging, except for food and basic weapons, it's prohibited to carry other things. I can't bring much black powder with me. I'll just buy this little for now," Dudian calculated in his heart.
"Little guy, these things are quite heavy. Did you call a carriage, or will an adult from your family come to help you carry them? Do you want me to help you carry them over?" The skinny and dark-skinned middle-aged man smiled after receiving the money.
"No need." Dudian casually lifted the linen bag. The contents, which weighed about twenty pounds, felt as light as nothing in his hand. He carried it and turned around to leave directly, continuing to look for grinding tools.
The skinny and dark-skinned middle-aged man opened his mouth slightly and blinked his eyes.
Before long, Dudian bought some basic alchemical tools at other stalls. In the eyes of ordinary people, the functions of these tools naturally had nothing to do with alchemy. They were just ordinary work utensils. For example, the stone wheel that Dudian used to grind sulfur was generally used by doctors to crush hard medicines.
After buying almost everything he needed, Dudian wandered around the bazaar and took the opportunity to find out what kinds of materials were generally available here. If he needed anything in the future, he could come here to buy it directly. At noon, Dudian turned around and prepared to go back for a meal.
"Boss, just sell me this broken stone for one copper coin. Please!" Suddenly, a young boy's voice sounded.
Dudian turned his head to look and saw a sturdy boy who was half a head shorter than himself standing in front of a nearby stall. He was holding a small linen bag in his hand and was currently gripping a rough black stone the size of a fist.
"No, no!" The stall owner, a short and skinny young man, shook his head repeatedly and said, "This is an iron ore. Although the quantity is quite small, it can at least be sold for two copper coins."
"Boss, even if this is an iron ore, it's just an ore, not iron. You can't extract much from such a small piece. You'll make a good profit with one copper coin," the sturdy boy changed his strategy and began to persuade him. "Moreover, such a small piece is simply not needed in the smelting factory, and no one will buy it. If you sell it to me, you can still make some money. If no one buys it, you'll just have to throw it away."
The short and skinny young man was persuaded by him and hesitated for a moment. Finally, he said, "All right."
The sturdy boy grinned, paid the money readily, then put the black stone into the linen bag, carried the bag, and turned to leave.
Dudian retracted his gaze and was about to turn and leave. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, then quickly turned around and looked at the wrist of the sturdy boy carrying the linen bag. There was actually a tiny black hook pattern there.
"An alchemy apprentice?" Dudian was a bit stunned. He didn't expect to meet an alchemy apprentice here. From Rosyard's notes, he had learned about the lifestyle and some habits of alchemists. One of the things that impressed him the most was that every alchemist had a unique tattoo pattern on their body. This was a symbol of an alchemist and one of the basic ways to enter this path!
The tattoo method here was very ancient. You just needed to mix plants or medicinal powders to make black ink and inject it into the skin with a needle. The pattern outlined could be anything. Even a small dot or a shapeless crooked line could be considered a symbol.
Although besides alchemists, nobles and the Holy See of Light also knew the tattoo method, their tattoos were different from those of alchemists. That was, they would never choose "black" as the pigment.
Once a black tattoo was applied, whether it was a noble or a member of the Holy See of Light, they would be treated as an alchemist. It could be said that this was an absolute proof!
Similarly, if you didn't have a black tattoo on your body, even if you were a real alchemist, you wouldn't be recognized by other colleagues.
Dudian glanced in the direction where the sturdy boy had left. His eyes flickered slightly. Finally, he carried the linen bag and quietly chased after him.