Amidst the hushed voices and finger pointing, Hartley made his journey uneventfully towards the center of town, he had many things he wanted to buy, but first he had to know how much the materials he were carrying was worth..
He went into the general armory store first...
"Welcome sirrrrrr."
The red haired girl behind the counter dragged the ending of her words as she stared at Hartley, Hartley smiled, cupped his fist and bowed from the waist respectfully.
"I am Hartley and I am here to sell some materials if you are interested"
"Ahh Yes Yes"
The red haired girl stammered....
"Sorry for"....
There was an awkward silence..
"No need" Hartley waved his hand dismissing the thought and started unpacking some pelts. Hartley had no idea how pelts were graded so he just took out the ones that were easier to kill.
The red haired girl finally calmed down and introduced herself as Zhi Ruo, Hartley nodded and continued...
Zhi Ruo eyes bulged when she saw four perfectly intact yellow stripe leopard pelt.
One has to know that the yellow stripe leopard was one of the fastest low level fierce beast, it was a very difficult task to capture or kill one with its pelt perfectly intact.
Zhi Ruo grabbed the four pelts and immediately inspected them thoroughly and then offered 5 gold coins each....
Hartley squinted his eyes, not knowing if the price was good or bad he feigned his consideration.
Zhi Ruo gritted her teeth and said, "Six Gold!! and that's it, thats my absolute highest offer".
Hartley smiled, "thank you Sister Ruo," she blushed red like a beet, fiddled her thumbs and looked at her toes as she said "thank you"...
Hartley left the store feeling elated with 472 gold coins.
In the Waltham province 100 copper was 1 silver, 100 silvers were 1 gold and a thousand gold coins was a gold card...He had traded most of his pelts but he still had the half step xiantian Giant Boar that was killed by the Black Bear.
Hartley left the armory asking himself "Am I rich?" He remembered from his days in the orphanage that commoners could live frugally on tens of silver for a year, and here he was in possession of almost half of a gold card... If the Lou Clan realized they set him up on a gold mine, they would probably puke blood..
Next stop the apothecary: Hartley had dozens of beast cores which could be used to make potions or talismans and could even be used to cultivate.
Some experts could use the cores to directly cultivate but it was a better choice to have it broken down and turned into medicinal dans.
This way the expert would have less impurities circulating through the body which would weaken it over time.
If an expert had too much impurities building up inside the body over a period of time, it would negate any potential strength to be gained from crossing to a higher sub-realm.
Although Hartley doesn't know it right now all these beast cores are useless to him because he is cultivating Blue Star energy and not an elemental energy.
After entering the small apothecary building, one could smell medicinal scents wafting throughout the building, it gave a soothing and energising effect.
There was a white haired elderly man sitting behind the counter, behind him there was an assortment of jars and jade bottles stocked neatly on the rows of wooden shelves.
After Hartley entered the man squinted his eyes as if struggling to see and then went back to normal.
"What can I do for you young man?" The white haired man asked.
Hartley went in there not knowing the ranks of beast core but came out knowing how to recognize the different ranks a beast core possess, he ended up selling 8 rank 1 cores 5 rank 2 and a rank 3. Hartley left the store with over 1600 gold coins added to his 472 from earlier, a wide smile brimmed across his face, he really was rich..
Right before he left something caught his attention. It was a Blue ring floating in a display case, the item was rather plain but because of Hartley's affinity for the Space and time element he was immediately drawn to it.
He pointed at it and asked, how much? The old man with white hair giggled and said 1200 gold... Hartley did not even hesitate he paid for it right away and left.
After Hartley left, a man appeared in the middle of the shop, seemingly out of nowhere like a magic trick, dressed in a hooded black robe his face was well hidden.
" Who is he?" He asked with a gruff voice.
The white haired old man answered "I don't know, can't remember seeing him before."
The person dressed in the black robe mused for a while, "Strange I feel like his aura is one step away from the Xiantian realm but he has no elemental affinity that I can recognize. Interesting."
The man then disappeared from the spot leaving behind a slight waft of wind and a rumbling sound..