Seven Legends, Seven Cups of Wine (Please Follow-up Reads)

No one knew when Shining Tavern had first begun appearing in the kingdom's major cities. Not just in Emerald Kingdom—Travelers had even found traces of Shining Tavern in the other six kingdoms.

It was an organization spread across the entire continent, combining underground trading, Bounty Commissions, and many other functions.

Of course, to ordinary people kept outside by the sky-high price of one Gold Coin per drink, it was just a playground for stinking-rich people and those royal nobles. Beautiful girls in revealing clothes could be seen everywhere inside, twisting their waists like water snakes. Many came from Foreign Lands, with a charm all their own.

Inside and outside the tavern were two different worlds.

Levi had a Great Knight for a father, so he naturally knew of Shining Tavern.

If he could, he did not want to enter.

But now Emerald Merchant Guild had already run out of stock. He could only try his luck here.

"A cup of Lion King Spirit."

Pained, Levi took out a Gold Coin and handed it to the Burly Man with the strength of a knight.

For them to have a knight-level powerhouse guarding the door showed how extraordinary Shining Tavern was.

It was a miraculous organization that seemed somewhat detached from nobles, royal power, and even the divine authority of the church.

One Gold Coin could buy a cow, or a good Knight Longsword, or get the lofty priests of Icewind City's Holy Radiance Church to perform a Holy Radiance Prayer for you.

But here, it was worth only one drink.

Of course, it was also an entrance ticket.

The Burly Man handed over a cup of wine glowing with a faint golden light.

"Drink it, and you can go in."

This was Lion King Spirit, used to commemorate Lionheart Knight Rhine, that powerful Legendary Knight.

In all of Shining Tavern, there were only seven kinds of wine, rotated over seven days. As the tavern's entrance ticket, they were all priced at one Gold Coin. They were, respectively:

Lion King Spirit, Blood Wine, Hundred Flower Fine Brew, Snowflake Beer, Black Rum, Golden Strong Ale, and Nameless Wine.

Other than these, there was no other alcohol.

These seven kinds of wine were said to commemorate seven deceased Legendary Knights.

Lionheart Knight Rhine, Blood Knight Brad, Hundred Flower Knight Elena, Snowflake Knight Freier, Black Knight Blake, Golden Knight Gerrick, and Thousand-Faced Knight Nameless, whose true name no one knew.

Because of this, many people guessed that the true boss behind Shining Tavern had to be a legendary Legendary Knight. Only then could it open across the Seven Kingdoms, and even set up Black Markets right under the noses of the nobles and royal families in the major cities.

Levi was not worried that the wine had been poisoned. After all, Shining Tavern's reputation was quite famous in the underworld.

After finishing the wine, he walked into the tavern, and heat and clamor rushed at him.

The scent of hormones filled the place, mingled with the heavy smell of alcohol.

At the bar, a gorgeously dressed Beautiful Madam was drinking Hundred Flower Fine Brew on her own.

Inside the tavern, quite a few people wore masks like Levi, but there were also many who relied on their skill and courage and showed their true faces.

Rough men played drinking games, drank, and teased the tavern's serving girls, only to be fiercely scolded by the madam. Even then, they did not dare talk back.

Everyone knew that those who dared lay hands on Shining Tavern's staff never came to a good end.

Levi passed through the noisy crowd and arrived at a hidden Domed Room behind the tavern.

This was where the tavern's trading market was. In front of simple stalls, people hawked their goods. There was also a large Wooden Board with all sorts of commission details written on it in chalk.

These commissions were all personal commissions. Shining Tavern was only responsible for providing the platform.

There were commissions of every kind, and so they had also given rise to a profession specialized in accepting commissions in exchange for bounties: Bounty Hunters.

Many Wandering Knights had become Bounty Hunters.

Levi walked around the market, and in the end, his expression brightened. He stopped in front of someone wearing armor that covered his entire body.

On this person's stall sat a small black bottle. Even with the lid on, the thing inside gave off a strange, captivating fragrance. Levi had smelled this fragrance many times as a child when his father prepared secret medicine.

Ambergris.

"Two hundred Gold Coins a bottle. No bargaining." This person in armor was clearly a Formal Knight. Levi could sense the powerful aura on him. Although it could not compare to Knight Fred, before Levi, it was still as dazzling as flame.

"Ambergris has always been one hundred Gold Coins a bottle. The price has been stable. If you sell it for two hundred, how could you possibly sell it?" Levi still could not help saying.

The knight sneered. "You still want to buy Ambergris for one hundred Gold Coins now? Dream on. You can go to Emerald Merchant Guild and take a look, see if you can buy any. Right now, that White Horse Knight of the royal family is trying to advance to Legendary Knight and has practically monopolized all the Ambergris held by Emerald Merchant Guild across the entire kingdom. There's basically no Ambergris flowing onto the market. Are you buying or not? If not, stop blocking my business."

This knight clearly did not have a good temper. Levi thought, No wonder Emerald Merchant Guild was out of stock. So it was all bought up by White Horse Knight.

Levi naturally knew White Horse Knight. He was known as the strongest genius of Emerald Royal Family in a thousand years, the First Under Legendary Knight.

Levi had no choice. He also did not want to wait for Ambergris to drop in price. Who knew when that would be?

"How many bottles of Ambergris do you have here?" Levi asked.

"How many do you need?" The knight looked at Levi.

"Two bottles." Levi had five hundred Gold Coins on him now, originally meant for buying Ambergris. Even if it was expensive, he had to buy it.

Two bottles of Ambergris, turned into Black Snake Secret Medicine, should be enough for him to break through to Formal Knight.

"Fine. Didn't expect you to be so weak yet so rich. You must be some noble's child from the Northern Territory," the knight said to himself.

However, Levi did not respond, so the knight stopped making himself look foolish.

Levi received two bottles of Ambergris from the knight. After verifying the goods and finding no problem, Levi tossed down four hundred Gold Coins, equivalent to more than five years of financial revenue for his territory. His heart was bleeding.

"You got a bargain. If I didn't urgently need money, putting these two bottles of Ambergris in the [Shining Auction] the day after tomorrow would earn me at least another hundred Gold Coins. If you still need Ambergris in the future, you can find me at Shining Tavern." After the knight finished speaking, he hurried off with the Gold Coins.

Clearly, this guy had a channel for obtaining Ambergris.

Having bought Ambergris, Levi had achieved the most important goal of this trip. He still had over one hundred Gold Coins on him. He planned to buy a Bloodline Breathing Technique, then go home and try whether the Proficiency Panel could break through bloodline restrictions and let him practice other families' breathing techniques.

After walking around, he still did not come across anyone selling breathing techniques, so Levi could only wait for the [Shining Auction] the day after tomorrow. This was a small auction held at Shining Tavern on the last day of every month, where some precious items would be auctioned.

There would definitely be breathing techniques. When Levi was young, he had once attended a Shining Auction in Flower City with his father. At that auction, an extremely rare, excellent-quality, non-bloodline breathing technique had fetched the sky-high price of five thousand Gold Coins!