Buying Fakes Knowing They're Fake

Buying Fakes Knowing They're Fake

Reason told Amber Xiu that Alchemy City would never sell him the real thing for five hundred Gold Coins, but he could not resist seeing just how convincing this fake was.

The salesgirl mysteriously handed Amber Xiu a small bottle of silvery solution.

It felt satisfyingly heavy in his hand, and the weight did not seem too different.

But when Amber Xiu examined it closely, his expression immediately turned disappointed.

"Your mercury has separated into layers. No, this is just mercury, isn't it?"

Amber Xiu did not specialize in alchemy, but he was still an expert. One look was enough for him to know what it was.

A small amount of genuine Living Mercury Solution had been mixed with ordinary mercury. There was no obvious difference in appearance, but an expert could see the color layers formed because the two were incompatible.

Living Mercury could dissolve nearly all metals and could be easily separated out again, but it could not dissolve real mercury.

This fake, sold for five hundred Gold Coins, was far too crude.

The salesgirl said somewhat guiltily, "I knew you were an expert. Don't worry, that was just a sample. It's meant to let knowledgeable people see clearly before we continue negotiating."

After saying that, the salesgirl quickly switched to another bottle.

This bottle of Living Mercury made Amber Xiu click his tongue in admiration.

At least from its appearance, there was not the slightest flaw. Whether it was genuine or fake, he would probably need to open the bottle and test it.

"Two completely different levels of forgery, both for five hundred Gold Coins?" Amber Xiu asked.

"Of course not. That bottle was five hundred. This one costs at least three thousand Gold Coins."

Amber Xiu was about to say he wanted to inspect the goods when inspiration struck. He praised, "This isn't Living Mercury at all. It's Corpse Mercury Solution. No wonder there's no way to tell from the appearance. Clever."

The salesgirl immediately looked shocked, then lowered her voice. "Don't say it so loudly! Are you buying it or not?"

The salesgirl was panicking. She had only wanted to make a sale and earn some commission. Who would have thought that this young-looking alchemist would see through the principle behind the fake at a glance? This was an imitation personally processed by the Alchemist Council, supposedly impossible to detect.

Yet this youngster had figured out how it worked with one glance, without even opening the bottle to test it?

How was that possible? She must have run into one of those perverted old men pretending to be weak. What was some centuries-old fossil doing pretending to be young?!

Seeing the salesgirl's expression, Amber Xiu knew he had guessed right. The trick was not actually that complicated once exposed.

Living Mercury was a failed product of Alchemy City. They had originally wanted to create a new kind of slime, but what they produced was a Mercury Slime in a "vegetative" state.

It was alive, but had no consciousness at all. It could not even move, leaving it with only the instinct to devour metal.

If its metal-devouring instinct had not been somewhat useful, it would probably have been discarded as waste.

But even "vegetative" slimes were living creatures, and all living creatures eventually died.

Dead Mercury Slimes did not rot and looked exactly the same as when they were alive. Even the alchemists of Alchemy City could not tell whether one was dead or alive. The only way to distinguish them was to toss in a piece of metal.

A living Mercury Slime would still devour the metal, while a dead one had no such ability.

Who knew which genius had thought of this method: cutting off a small piece of a living Mercury Slime and mixing it with the corpse of a dead Mercury Slime, creating this half-dead state.

It still devoured metal, but the effect was greatly reduced.

Outsiders, however, probably could not tell whether the Living Mercury was of poor quality or had been "weakened" during transport. They might even think it could recover after being nurtured for a few days.

As for the cruder fake, someone lower down had probably seen it and tried to make an inferior imitation themselves. Perhaps this very salesgirl had made it, hoping to earn a little extra on the side.

Only when she realized she could not fool an expert like Amber Xiu had she brought out the higher-end counterfeit.

Alchemy City also knew that genuine products were too expensive to sell. Without money to maintain them, these Living Mercuries would simply keep dying. They were losing money every day, which was why they had come up with such a dirty trick.

Amber Xiu suspected that quite a few suckers had already paid full price for these high-end fakes.

A clever but utterly despicable method.

As expected of Alchemy City. It had held the title of the continent's wealthiest city for years, yet had never appeared on any moral ranking.

Amber Xiu had originally intended to refuse.

Because he was planning to do business with his friends from the Mourning Poetry Society.

He desperately needed money, but money earned through deception would surely be lost just as quickly. That Headless Knight was the Bone Dragon Family's son-in-law. Once he discovered that Amber Xiu had not hidden his private stash well enough, his wife would definitely find out, and that old brother certainly would not help him keep it secret.

Then Amber Xiu would face the fury of a legendary Bone Dragon and a legendary Headless Knight.

After that husband-and-wife double beating, the phylactery of a fake legendary like Amber Xiu would be smashed to pieces. It was a guaranteed losing deal.

But just as he handed back the bottle, Amber Xiu thought of a question.

Did a dead Mercury Slime count as a corpse too?

Amber Xiu only had a superficial grasp of alchemy, but he was a true expert in necromancy.

He had originally wanted to ask whether the Alchemy Association had ever used necromancy on these dead Mercury Slimes, but he swallowed the question before it left his mouth.

For the error-free version, check here!

This idea had only occurred to him on a whim. Perhaps the Alchemy Association had also overlooked the obvious and never considered it? Would speaking up not simply remind them?

If it worked, he would be handing the Alchemy Association a perfect chance to turn things around. Those capitalists definitely would not pay him any royalties.

With that in mind, Amber Xiu said to the salesgirl, "Three thousand Gold Coins is too expensive. Can't you lower the price?"

"The price is clearly marked. No bargaining."

"The clearly marked price is for the real product. Yours is a fake!"

"It really can't be any cheaper."

"Then throw in two bottles of this inferior stuff."

After some haggling, Amber Xiu spent three thousand Gold Coins for one high-end counterfeit and one low-end fake, along with two packets of Enchanted Seeds as a bonus.

It was clear that Living Mercury really was not selling well.

Amber Xiu had originally planned to browse a few more rounds. After all, keeping living people in Lich's Territory required far more preparations. But now, all he could think about was this bottle of Living Mercury Solution. His instincts told him there was a huge business opportunity here.

After leaving Alchemy City, Amber Xiu rushed back to his Ancient Castle at top speed, even transforming directly into smoke and slipping in through the rooftop.

After dispelling the Transformation Spell, Amber Xiu returned to his evil, ferocious lich form and hurried straight to the laboratory with the two bottles of fakes.

Isabelle was still diligently preparing Petrified Lizard Oil, and quite a few finished products had already been placed on the shelves. After Amber Xiu's guidance, she had finally mastered the method for preparing this potion. This girl with solid fundamentals had prepared ten bottles of Petrified Lizard Oil, failing only once. That was already an excellent result.

But whenever Amber Xiu's gaze swept over the wasted materials, Isabelle still felt her heart leap into her throat.

Would this lich become furious because she had wasted those materials? Would he turn her into a test subject for necromancy?

No expression could be read from the lich's skeletal face. It looked ferocious no matter what. As this lich walked toward Isabelle without saying a word, she felt the pressure of survival bearing down on her and could not help wanting to find someone to help.

Where was that little boy who knew alchemy? He was undead too, wasn't he?

Though he had only given her a few pointers, he still counted as her teacher.

Teacher, hurry up and save your student!

(End of chapter)