Black Market Business

Fran was unsure how the god on the other side perceived the relationship between the two as 'friendship'.

In fact, from the moment she first encountered the book of the Lord of Radiance, she was filled with vigilance towards that book and what it represented.

At that time, she had just buried Richter in the ground, and sometimes she would unconsciously fantasize about what would happen if Richter's body was discovered.

Therefore, during that period, she was very wary of everything. Later, during the Trial in the Spirit Realm, she was also somewhat dissatisfied that the Lord of Radiance was using her as a pawn.

Although she didn't know if she could acquire Talent from the Spirit Realm without the Lord of Radiance.

It is said that the Lord of Radiance helped her establish a connection with the Spirit Realm, but she doesn't know if it's true.

Fran thought for a long time before speaking:

"Of course we're friends, but you can't let your friend be in a dangerous place, can you?"

"You may not know the current state of the Material Realm. Every piece of land has its own owner, so I have no way to help you develop followers."

"Fortunately, I recently acquired a piece of land of my own, where I can help you develop your followers, but I'm currently lacking something..."

For Fran, friends are friends, it sounds like they'd bring them closer, so she didn't deny it.

The best course of action for her now is to reach an agreement with the Lord of Radiance, so that both sides can get what they want. In this situation, it might not be wrong to call them friends.

At that moment, the Lord of Radiance's words reached Fran's ears again, and she heard the same gentle voice she had heard when she first met Lord of Radiance.

"Perhaps we have slightly different definitions of friendship, but we still have a fairly harmonious relationship."

"Then so be it. You can continue your path as a mage in the Material Realm, and I will give you my power when you need it."

"It was my fault before. Perhaps I shouldn't have made you my Proxy without asking about your specific situation."

Hearing this, Fran breathed a sigh of relief. She had clarified her relationship with the Lord of Radiance and reaffirmed their cooperative partnership.

Then Fran addressed the Lord of Radiance directly:

"As your Proxy, I encountered some minor issues while developing the territory, and I hope my Deity can offer me some small assistance."

What reached Fran's ears was the voice of the Lord of Radiance, tinged with curiosity.

"Oh! What is it? Tell me. If I can solve it, I certainly wouldn't mind helping my Proxy speed up the construction of the territory."

"Nothing much?" Fran stroked her chin, then said directly, "It's just that I'm short of Spirit Crystal. I need Spirit Crystal."

Spirit Crystal are what Fran needs most right now, but it's difficult for her to obtain a large quantity of them in a short period of time.

If she had a lot of Spirit Crystal on hand right now, many things could be resolved quickly.

Instead of the "Sure, this is nothing, just a few Spirit Crystal" that Fran had been expecting, what reached her ears was a voice tinged with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, Lai, I happen to be short of what you're talking about."

Fran frowned upon hearing this. She had initially thought that the Lord of Radiance was a god who had been in the Spirit Realm for some time and would have a lot of Spirit Crystal on him.

However, unexpectedly, the Lord of Radiance himself did not have any Spirit Crystal. To be precise, the Lord of Radiance probably did not have any extra Spirit Crystal for himself.

This made Fran sigh. She had thought the problem with the Spirit Crystal could be solved here, but it turned out she would have to find another way.

"Lai is my pseudonym. From now on, call me Fran. That's my real name."

"In that case, I'll find another way to solve the Spirit Crystal problem."

Fran corrected her real name because there was no point in hiding it anymore, if she were truly helping the Lord of Radiance develop followers in the Material Realm.

So after a while, the other party will find out her real name through those believers, so it's better for her to reveal her name sooner rather than later.

"Okay, Fran, but you don't need to look for any other solutions."

Fran noticed the Lord of Radiance's words, and then she heard Lord of Radiance say:

"The purpose of these believers following you to come to the Emerald Market is to earn Spirit Crystal. So, you can join this operation as well, and then you can take some Spirit Crystal back with you."

Fran was puzzled. In her understanding, people came to the Emerald Market to do business, but she remembered that back in Monsa City, there wasn't much to trade...

If it were about growing crops, then the lords of the Spirit Realm would have plenty of territories for farming, so why would the Lord of Radiance, a god whose future is uncertain, need to do this kind of business?

However, apart from that, Fran couldn't think of any other business the Lord of Radiance could do within the Emerald Market. Besides these legitimate businesses, Fran had some ideas.

In fact, Fran had already sensed it when she arrived. There was no trace of goods here, and coupled with the words of the Lord of Radiance, she knew that the other party had not sent his followers here to do any legitimate business.

"Fran, you've come at the perfect time. We need someone who can get into the central area, and you're perfect for that."

"That's what the Lord of Radiance said," he seemed quite pleased.

"I want to sell this weapon."

At the testing station in the central area, Fran spoke to a person sitting in a chair.

She placed her Purple Shortsword on the table, revealing the runes engraved with a bear and frost on it.

The appraiser who examined the weapon immediately put on gloves upon seeing the Purple Shortsword and began to examine it carefully.

"The finest amethyst, crafted by a highly Arts Artisan, is flawless, and the materials used are exceptionally well-made."

This weapon was forged by Fran using her extraordinary level of Foundry Studies. Although the materials used were not particularly precious, she still crafted it exceptionally well.

"There are some cut marks on it, indicating that it has been used in many battles, but it has been well maintained."

The appraiser made a few marks on the Purple Shortsword with some small tools, then couldn't help but exclaim:

"This is the best-made weapon I've seen in the past three years."

The Magic World is home to a large number of Adventurer and Mercenary, which leads to a high demand for weapons.

As a result, the number of blacksmiths surged, but the overall skill level in weapon crafting did not improve.

This phenomenon is caused by limitations in Weapon Forging technology, as well as low barriers to entry in the industry and Association monopolies.

In order to meet the demand, most blacksmiths did not properly polish each weapon, but rather roughly made a prototype and sold it.

Ironically, those crudely made weapons were actually quite popular because they were cheap, so people didn't feel bad using them, and anyone could pick one up and have some fighting ability.

This led to a strange phenomenon: crudely made weapons sold better than well-made ones, because they were produced in large quantities, were cheap, and were very popular among low-level Mercenary.

If it ended there, this appraiser wouldn't often see crudely made weapons that are still sold on the market.

Because this is a Magic World, there are enchantments and a whole host of ways to enhance weapons, turning what was originally trash into powerful weapons.

What the appraiser found most unbearable was that the weapons generated in the Spirit Realm were actually modeled after those poorly made weapons.

This led him to frequently see bent longswords enchanted with three runes, inferior white iron soft swords soaked in Frost Liquid, and ordinary Oreichalkos daggers encased in fine Cold Fire Steel...

This led the appraiser to frequently berate the blacksmiths who made this junk, questioning how they dared to commission weapons.

And those incompetent Mercenary and Spirit Realm Profession, they're really brainless, using top-notch materials to decorate a bunch of garbage.

He could sense that the weapon had been forged twice, a second forging that transformed it completely.

This time, however, Fran's Short Sword pleased him greatly. He felt that the weapon's excellent quality alone was enough to sell.

And this weapon has more than just these.

The appraiser looked at the rune on the Short Sword, which was engraved with a bear and frost, a rune he had never seen before.

He'd been doing appraisals here for five years, and this was the first time he'd ever seen such peculiar runes.

At first glance, he thought it was some kind of decorative pattern.

However, after getting his hands on it, he discovered that the pattern was definitely not a decorative one, but a rune.

This can be seen from the unique fluctuations emanating from the rune, and the rune itself is extremely powerful.

"May I ask where this rune came from?"

"I don't know either," Fran replied.

"Alright then, would you prefer to have it displayed in a fixed location or auctioned off?"

According to the appraiser, without the runes on it, this Short Sword could have been a regular exhibit at the auction.

However, with this rune of unknown origin added, the Short Sword could become the main auction item.

"Auction." Fran didn't really want to sell the Short Sword; she just wanted to buy some time in the central area, so she chose to put it up for auction.

She would be dumbfounded if someone sold the Short Sword directly from the designated spot.

So she had no choice but to auction it off, though she didn't really intend to sell it.

After registering, she arrived at the center's entrance, where there was a transparent membrane that allowed only those with passes to enter and exit.

Fran looked toward the center of the central area, where a rockery made of jade stood a hundred meters tall, engraved with images of many Magic Creature and famous weapons.

That's the business the Lord of Radiance wants to pursue—the black market business.

He wanted to take the Spirit Crystal stored in the Emerald Market.