Plane Merchant

Inside the wooden cabin, beside the oil lamp.

Gao Jing sat in a chair, staring blankly at the desk before him.

What kind of chair was it?

A cloud-grain, water-ripple, scaled Premium Full Golden-Star Grain Purple Sandalwood chair!

What kind of desk was it?

A cloud-grain, water-ripple, scaled Premium Full Golden-Star Grain Purple Sandalwood desk!

Awesome, right?

A little cow flying on a plane—awesome enough to reach the heavens!

The set of desk and chairs Gao Jing was using had been custom-made for him by Shan Teng.

More precisely, the old Giant had carved them from leftover scraps.

They counted as a small gift.

Gao Jing did not refuse this practical gift again.

Though the craftsmanship of this desk and chair set could only be described as crude, the materials...

Were more valuable than an equal weight of gold!

It was worth mentioning that although the raw timber produced by the Great World was astonishingly large, its grain, texture, and fiber structure were not much different from the Little-Leaf Red Sandalwood of the Main World.

Its quality was even better!

Yet what left Gao Jing lost in thought was not this desk and chair set, more precious than gold, but the notebook on the desk.

The open notebook was densely filled with neatly written Great Wilderness Script, each character accompanied by phonetic markings and notes Gao Jing had added himself.

This notebook, which Gao Jing had brought from the Main World, recorded a total of 3,375 Great Wilderness characters.

According to the old Wizard Shan Yan, once one mastered these 3,375 Great Wilderness characters, one could read all Great Wilderness texts that contained no cipher script.

So-called cipher script referred to self-created characters used for secrecy. Their number could not be counted, and they were not worth learning.

Setting cipher scripts aside, the 3,375 Great Wilderness characters alone were quite difficult to learn.

Many Great Wilderness characters had complicated strokes and rich meanings, along with particular usages. Learning them took both time and brainpower.

Yet Gao Jing had basically mastered the entire set of Great Wilderness characters in only fifteen days.

He could recognize them, read them, write them correctly, and even hold basic conversations with the old Wizard after the Speech-Understanding Talisman failed!

At least, simple everyday conversations were no longer a problem.

To be honest, Gao Jing himself scarcely dared believe he could be this impressive.

But the memories in his mind were the truest proof.

There was a reason he had been able to master the Great Wilderness Script in such a short time.

First, the Speech-Understanding Talisman's powerful effect was crucial. Being able to understand speech cut the difficulty of learning the writing by more than half.

Second, Great Wilderness Script had many similarities with Chinese, so he faced no obstacle in understanding it.

Finally, Gao Jing's memory was now far stronger than before.

That was also key.

Combined with half a month of tireless, sleep-forgetting study, he had created this small miracle!

Gao Jing felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

It was the same delight and joy he had felt as a student when he solved a difficult problem that had plagued him and scored highly on an exam!

He solemnly put away the notebook.

The greatest pleasure of having storage space was being able to carry a huge quantity of supplies with him anytime, anywhere.

Including things he normally did not need.

Who knew when they might happen to come in handy!

Tap! Tap!

Just then, someone lightly knocked on the room's door.

Gao Jing immediately rose to his feet. "Come in."

This wooden cabin belonged to Shan Yan. Normally, aside from lessons, only the old Wizard himself and Shan Guo'er were allowed inside.

Shan Guo'er never knocked.

The old Wizard pushed open the door and walked in with a smile. "Gao Jing, I didn't disturb you, did I?"

"No."

Gao Jing hurriedly replied, "Wizard Chief, please sit."

Wizard Chief was an honorific for Shan Yan.

In fact, the old Wizard was also the chief of the Mountain Tribe.

Smiling, the old Wizard sat beside the large wooden table. As usual, he pulled out his wooden pipe, packed it with tobacco, lit it, and puffed away.

Recently, he had come every evening to chat with Gao Jing.

On the one hand, this greatly improved Gao Jing's speaking ability. On the other, it gave him a deeper understanding of the Great World.

When he was young, the old Wizard had traveled far and wide, even visiting the Great Wilderness's most magnificent city—the City of Ten Thousand Kings.

His deeply wrinkled face was written all over with stories weathered by wind, frost, rain, and snow.

"This is for you to borrow."

After taking a few puffs of his tobacco, the old Wizard pulled a thick book from his robe and placed it on the table.

Gao Jing was delighted.

He directly ignored the word "borrowed" and stared wide-eyed at the volume before him.

This was the first Great Wilderness book Gao Jing had ever seen.

The book was enormous, more than four meters long by estimation and nearly one meter thick.

It weighed enough to crush Gao Jing to death.

The cover seemed to be made from some kind of tanned beast hide. Its surface still bore clear skin patterns, along with many signs of wear from use.

Chronicle of the Great Wilderness.

Three black Great Wilderness characters ran vertically across it, and an ancient, vigorous aura rushed toward him!

"I bought this book in the City of Ten Thousand Kings. It records thirty thousand years of Great Wilderness history."

Shan Yan said, "It cost me thirty Shell Coins at the time."

The old Wizard shrugged. "Later, I learned that the exact same book cost at most two Shell Coins in the City of Ten Thousand Kings."

Gao Jing could not help laughing.

The expression on the old Wizard's face perfectly conveyed the helplessness and frustration of a young man being cheated for the first time.

It was too amusing not to laugh.

Surely, the memory had left a very deep impression on him.

But Gao Jing vaguely felt that the old Wizard was not merely telling him a joke.

He was also telling Gao Jing that not all people of the Great Wilderness were honest and kind.

There were cunning swindlers too.

"Thank you for your generosity."

Gao Jing put away his smile and solemnly thanked him. "I will never forget the help you and the Mountain Tribe have given me!"

The old Wizard blinked and asked, "Are you planning to leave here?"

Gao Jing nodded frankly. "Yes, I want to go home for a while."

The old Wizard did not look surprised. "When are you leaving?"

"The day after tomorrow."

Gao Jing replied, "Wizard Chief, I would like to make a deal with you—or rather, with the Mountain Tribe."

"A deal?"

The old Wizard looked interested. "What do you need?"

"I need this kind of timber."

Gao Jing reached out and tapped his small desk, then stamped on the large tabletop beneath his feet. "And this kind too."

The old Wizard's expression turned strange. "Just this wood?"

To the Mountain Tribe, both Purple Sandalwood and Little-Leaf Red Sandalwood were the most ordinary building materials.

If they needed it, they could simply chop it down in the nearby forest.

They could have as much as they wanted. It was completely worthless!

"Yes!"

Gao Jing was utterly certain. "This is all the wood I want. What does the Mountain Tribe need?"

Over this period of time, Gao Jing had thought it through clearly.

He was going to start out as a plane merchant.

But making money was not Gao Jing's only goal.

Through trade, he wanted to build a relationship of mutual trust, friendship, and harmony with the Mountain Tribe and with the old Wizard before him.

He wanted to gain true friendship!

"Hmm."

The old Wizard pondered for a moment.

He could sense Gao Jing's sincerity and thoughtfulness.

After thinking it over, the old Wizard took a stone from the pouch at his waist.

Pinching it between two fingers, he held it out before Gao Jing. "Do you recognize this?"

The stone was about the size of a football, grayish-black in color and rather ugly-looking.

Gao Jing shook his head in confusion.

The old Wizard explained, "This is salt."

Salt?

Gao Jing had learned the character, but he had not expected salt in the Great World to look like this!

Could it be Saltstone?

He reached out and rubbed the stone hard, grinding off some powder and getting it on his fingers.

Then he put it into his mouth and tasted it.

It was bitter and astringent!

But the salty taste was there as well.

"I understand."

Gao Jing pursed his lips and said, "I will bring salt for the Mountain Tribe."

He would bring back real salt, salt far better than this stuff!

The old Wizard smiled. "Very good."

Their first deal was formally concluded.

Though they had not discussed the exact amount of the trade, something called trust had already begun to sprout!

"Then I won't disturb you any longer."

The old Wizard put away the Saltstone and rose. "Rest early."

He looked quite pleased.

But Gao Jing was even happier.

After seeing off the old Wizard, Gao Jing suppressed the excitement in his heart and turned his attention back to the book on the table.

With some effort, he lifted the heavy cover. The densely packed Great Wilderness characters on the pages inside immediately came into view.

Gao Jing did not hurry to begin reading.

He took out his GoPro and replaced its battery and memory card with new ones.

Gao Jing intended to photograph the entire thick Chronicle of the Great Wilderness, so he could read it whenever he wanted later.

Tonight was going to be busy!

The first update is here. As usual, please vote.