It was a sunny morning, 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 the receptionist and started exploring it.
After studying the map for a while, Ace decided to head 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 various noble families, and most of the inner region was under their control.
That's why it only had a single market, controlled by all the noble families together. Any family that owned property in the inner region and had a hundred years of history was 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 activity. Many merchants came here from outside the city to sell their goods and buy River-Flower City specialties.
At the central part of the main market, the busiest area of the entire market, stood a big, fifteen-story-tall building — quite a famous one at that.
Its name was Kelby Pills & Weapons Shop. It was famous because it was owned by the Kelby family, one of the top three noble families of River-Flower City.
The Kelby family had a history of over 100 years and was also a family of cultivators. That's why they controlled 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 arrived at the main market, he'd asked around about shops dealing in the pill business and found out about Kelby Pills & Weapons Shop that way.
It was one of the biggest shops here that bought pills from outside merchants, and, most importantly, they didn't ask where the goods came from or for 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 before a beautiful young woman approached 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, since 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. He didn't want too many people to see his face.
"Dear customer, you've come to the right place! Please follow me to the second floor. There's a Master Appraiser who will assess your pills' quality and give you a fair price for them," said the young woman with a smile.
She had worked here for many years and could judge someone just by their appearance and demeanor.
'He seems to be from some three-star city, a bumpkin. Hmph!' she scoffed in her heart, and added Ace to her mental list of bumpkins.
Had Ace been someone from the inner region, or of higher status, his clothes wouldn't have looked so old-fashioned and made of such plain material.
Anyone could tell whether he was poor or not, if they were nobles or dealt with such individuals often. And his biggest mistake was that he should never have revealed 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 could poor Ace do? He wasn't a shrewd merchant, and was still quite young and inexperienced. He'd only recently become wealthy and didn't yet know how to handle it. 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.
The young woman brought Ace to a small desk. An old man with gray hair sat comfortably in a wooden chair behind it.
"Master Matthew, this gentleman wants to sell some pills. Could you please appraise them and give him a fair price?" said the woman, shooting the old man a wink that only he noticed and understood precisely.
However, Ace instantly noticed something amiss the moment she gave that signal, because they couldn't hide their disdain from his Soul Sense.
He'd awakened this second sense after forming his Soul Core: Soul Sense.
It was an innate, passive ability that stayed continuously active. It helped Ace detect others' soul fluctuations — he could feel shifts in another's mood or consciousness and detect anyone with malicious intent within ten meters.
'Seems something's off with these two — and this Soul Sense is quite remarkable!' Ace thought, readying himself to escape if something happened.
This old man was just one of many appraisal apprentices at the shop, called "Master" mostly out of respect for his age — he wasn't actually a Master Appraiser.
When old man Matthew received the signal, he knew at once this kid was a bumpkin, and that he needn't take him too seriously.
"Haha, I'll give this little brother a fair price. Little brother, show me the pills you'd like to sell." Matthew said, smiling like an elder addressing a junior.
Had Ace not noticed the hidden disdain, he might have thought the old man friendly. But now, he wasn't about to be fooled by honeyed words — though he couldn't simply leave, either.
Since he was already there, he decided to show the pills first and see how the man would react.
"Here — there are 107 half-white-grade pills in this bag. You can check them and give me a price." Ace opened the string bag and let the old man see the pill bottles inside.
Master Matthew was speechless — he'd expected only two or three pills from this brat's hand, but Ace pulled out 107 of them. The young woman was equally stunned, drawing in a sharp breath.
Old Matthew grew serious the moment he saw the number of pills. 'I can't let this deal slip away!'
A deal like this could earn him a promotion to a higher floor of the shop.
The young woman shared the same thought. "Dear customer, please have a seat, and I'll bring you some iced tea," she said with a gentle smile, hurrying off to fetch it.
"Yes, please wait here and enjoy the tea — it's quite good. I'll appraise the quality of these pills and give you a fair price. Don't worry, I'll be fair." Master Matthew said, sounding sincere this time, and began opening the bottles to examine the pills inside.
Ace was amused by the two of them doing a complete 180 in attitude. Since they were being genuine now, he decided he could relax his guard a little too. He settled comfortably into a chair and waited for the results of the appraisal.
After a while, the young woman returned, carrying a classic tea set on a tray. She poured Ace a cup of iced tea.
Ace caught the unique fragrance, which gave off a faint feeling of cold, and took a small sip. A cool yet warming flavor spread through his mouth, and he couldn't help but praise it aloud. "Good tea!"
Ace had never even had ordinary tea before, let alone something this fine — he was being a bit shameless about it. But the tea was genuinely refreshing, and even carried Qi. He briefly considered buying a few kilograms of it — he was a bit of a foodie, after all.
While Ace savored his iced tea, old man Matthew continued appraising the pills, one by one.
Suddenly, he opened the lid of a red pill bottle, and a thick aroma of Qi filled his nostrils. Matthew felt his Qi begin to circulate faster through his body. He quickly shut the lid and scanned his surroundings — seeing no one paying attention, he relaxed.
But Matthew was dead wrong about that — Ace's Soul Sense had been locked on him from the very start, and the sudden shift in his soul wave and mood hadn't gone unnoticed at all.
Ace simply didn't yet know what the old man had found in that bottle, so he stayed put, continuing to watch him through his Soul Sense.
Matthew had no idea Ace had noticed anything, given how excited his own consciousness had grown. The old man did his best to steady his breathing, set the red bottle aside with the others, and acted as though nothing had happened.
Master Matthew searched through the bag and found a second red bottle, matching the first. He grabbed it quickly, this time cracking the lid only slightly.
The same fragrance drifted out. He shut it quickly and set it excitedly beside the other red bottle, scanning the bag for a third — but there were only two, leaving him a touch disappointed.
After fifteen minutes, Master Matthew finished his appraisal and called Ace over to settle on a price.
"Little brother, I've appraised all your pills, and they're all half-white grade, just as you said. So I'll give you the same price we offer our regular customers, since you've brought us quite a substantial deal. This shows your sincerity, so allow me to show you ours.
"There are 107 pills in total. Fifty-two are Healing Pills, priced at 100 Ruby Coins each; thirty are Qi Pills, priced at 200 Ruby Coins each; and twenty-five are Minor Gate-Opening Pills, at 500 Ruby Coins each.
"That comes to a total of 23,700 Ruby Coins. This is the fairest price you'll find anywhere in the main market." Master Matthew said confidently.
He was, indeed, giving a fair price — but there was still a deeply hidden slyness in his old eyes.
Ace had known the pills were worth roughly this much from the start, but he could sense the old man was hiding something from him, something tied to those two red bottles. He wasn't the naïve kid who'd once been swindled by Billy anymore — he'd 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 the two red bottles and slipped them into his pocket, giving the sly old man no chance to react or refuse!