It was a sunny morning and a typical day for inner region residents, but for Ace, it was the start of his new journey.
Ace ate the breakfast the Inn provided. He received a map of the inner region from that reception lady and started exploring it.
After studying the map for a while, Ace decided to go towards the main market of River Flower City's inner region. The inner region didn't have separate markets for pills and weapons; this was the only market in the entire inner region.
The inner city was divided into many territories by different noble families, and most of the inner region was under these families' control.
That's why it only had a single market controlled by all the noble families together. Any family that owns property in the inner region and has a hundred years of history is called a noble family.
Ace was going there to sell his half-white-grade pills.
The Main Market of the Inner Region was bursting with activities. Many merchants came here from outside the city to sell their goods and buy River-Flower City specialties.
Inside the central part of the main market, this place was the busiest area of the entire market. There was a big fifteen-story tall building here, and it was quite a famous one at that.
Its name was Kelby Pills & Weapons Shop. It was famous because this Shop was owned by the Kelby family, one of the top three noble families of River-Flower City.
The Kelby family has a history of over 100 years and is also a family of cultivators. That's why they control a significant portion of the inner-city areas, and no one dared to mess with them inside the city.
Ace was currently standing in front of the Kelby Pills & Weapons Shop. When he came to the main market, he asked around about shops dealing with the pill business and then found out about the Kelby Pills & Weapons Shop.
It was one of the biggest shops here that bought pills from outside merchants, and most importantly, they didn't ask about where the goods came from or any personal information about their customers. That's why Ace chose this Shop to sell off his loot.
When Ace entered the Shop, he didn't even have a chance to look around when a beautiful young lady came in front of him and spoke with a smile, "Dear customer, what kind of business do you have? Are you selling or buying?"
She didn't beat around the bush and asked him directly because it was pretty crowded in the Shop, and she was in a hurry to deal with others.
"I want to sell pills," Ace answered with a frown when he saw the big crowd here. He didn't want many people to see his face.
"Dear customer, you have come to the right place! Please follow me to the second floor. There is a Master Appraisal that will appraise your Pills' quality and give you a fair price for them." Said the young lady with a smile.
She was working here for many years and could judge someone just by their appearance and demeanor. 'He seems to be from a three-star city, a bumpkin. Hmph!' She scoffed in her heart and added Ace to her list of bumpkins.
If Ace were someone from the inner region or of a higher status, his clothes wouldn't be this old-fashioned and made from typical material.
Anyone could tell whether he was poor or not if they happened to be nobles or dealt with such individuals. And his biggest mistake was he should have never told what kind of goods he was selling right from the start. He should've waited to find a quiet place first and then shown his hand.
Well, what can poor Ace do? He wasn't a shrewd merchant and was relatively young and inexperienced. He had recently become wealthy and didn't know how to handle wealth. No matter how careful he was, he was bound to make mistakes.
The second floor of the Shop wasn't as crowded as the first floor.
The young lady brought Ace to a small desk. An old man with gray hair sat behind a wooden chair comfortably.
"Master Matthew, this gentleman wants to sell pills. Can you please appraise them and give a fair price." Said the lady as she winked at the old man, that only he noticed and knew precisely what it meant.
However, Ace instantly noticed something amiss when she gave the signal because they couldn't hide their disdain from his Soul Sense.
He awakened the second sense after forming the soul core, Soul Sense.
It's an innate passive ability that continuously stays active. It helps Ace detect the soul fluctuations of others. With it, he can feel changes in the other party's mood or consciousness and detect the enemy with malicious intentions within ten meters.
'It seems something is not right with these two, and this soul sense is quite remarkable!' Ace thought and was ready; if something happened, he would escape.
This old man was one of many appraisal apprentices of this Shop, and everyone called him 'Master' because of his old age and showed some respect to this elder. However, he wasn't actually a master appraisal.
When old man Matthew received the signal, he immediately knew that this kid was a bumpkin and he didn't have to be serious while dealing with him.
"Haha, I'll give this little brother a fair price. Little brother, show me what kind of pills you want to sell." Matthew said while smiling like an elder who was talking to his junior.
If Ace hadn't noticed the hidden disdain, he would've thought this old man was friendly. But now, he won't buy his honey words, but he couldn't just leave now.
Since he was already here, he chose to show him pills first and see what he would do.
"Here, there are 107 half-white-grade pills in this bag. You can check and give me a price." Ace opened the string bag and let the old man see the pill bottles.
Master Matthew was speechless because he thought there would only be 2 or 3 pills in this brat's hand, but Ace takes out 107 of them. The young lady was also stunned and took a deep breath of cold air.
Old Matthew became serious after finding out the number of pills, 'I can't let this deal slide!'
With this kind of deal, he can get a promotion and go to the higher floor of the shop.
The young lady also has the same thoughts as the old man, "Dear customer, please sit here, and I'll bring Ice Tea for you." She said with a gentle smile and hurriedly left to bring Ice Tea for Ace.
"Yes, you can wait here while enjoying the Ice Tea. It tastes quite good, and I will appraise the quality of these pills and give you a fair price. Don't worry. I'll be fair with the price." Master Matthew said sincerely this time and commenced opening the bottles to appraise the pills inside.
Ace was amused by those two fellows' 180-degree change in attitude. Since they were being honest this time, he wasn't going to be polite anymore. He sat comfortably in a chair and began to wait for the final result of the appraisal.
After some time, that young lady also came back with a classic tea set in a tray between her hands. She served Ace a cup of Ice Tea.
Ace smells the unique fragrant that gives him a feeling of cold and takes a small sip. A cold yet warm flavor spread in his mouth, and he couldn't help but praise out loud, "Good tea!"
Ace has never even drunk regular tea before, much less this expensive one. He was being shameless here. But this tea tasted pretty refreshing and even had Qi in it. He was even thinking of buying a few kilograms of this tea. He was a foodie, after all.
While Ace was enjoying the Ice Tea, Old man Matthew was appraising the pills one by one.
Suddenly, he opened the lid of a red pill bottle, and a thick aroma of Qi entered his nostrils. Matthew felt like his Qi was starting to circulate faster inside his body. He quickly closed the lid and scanned his surroundings hurriedly. When he saw no one was paying attention to him, he relaxed.
But Matthew was extremely wrong about this conjecture of his because Ace's soul sense was locked on him from the very start, and this profound change in his soul wave and his mood didn't go unnoticed by Ace's soul sense.
Only Ace didn't know what that old man found in that pill bottle, so he just stayed put and kept observing him with his soul sense.
Matthew didn't know Ace had noticed the pill because of his excited consciousness. The old man did his best to control his breathing, put the red bottle on the side like all other pill bottles, and pretended as if nothing had happened.
Master Matthew looked in the bag and found another red bottle like the last one. He quickly grabbed it, and this time, he didn't open its lid completely, just a tiny bit.
The same kind of aroma entered his nose. He quickly closed the lid and excitedly placed it with another red bottle. He searched with his eyes to see if there was another bottle of the same kind, but there were only two of them, so he was slightly disappointed.
After 15 minutes, Master Matthew completed his appraisal and called Ace over to finalize the price with him.
"Little brother, I have appraised all of your pills, and they are all half-white grades, as you said. Hence, I'll give you the same price as our regular customers because you bought this big business for us. This showed your sincerity, so let me show you ours.
"There is a total of 107 pills. Fifty-two of them are healing pills priced at 100 ruby coins for each pill, 30 QI pills priced at 200 ruby coins each, and 25 minor gate opening pills at 500 ruby coins each.
"With a total of 23,700 ruby coins. This is the fairest price you can get in the whole main market." Said Master Matthew confidently.
He really gave him a fair price, but there was also deeply hidden slyness in his old eyes.
Ace knew these pills were worth this much from the start, but he could feel this old man was hiding something from him, and it had something to do with those two red bottles. He was not that naïve kid who was once swindled by Billy anymore and had already learned from his mistakes.
"Make it 23,500 Ruby coins. I need these two healing pills for myself. So, I'm not selling them." Ace grabbed those two red bottles and put them inside his pocket. He didn't give that sly old man any chance to react or refuse!