Chapter 88 - 522: Prosperity and Commerce

522: Prosperity and CommerceLocke and Daniel, along with the other passengers, disembarked from the Wizard Ship, while Locke secretly pondered what he should do if he were to accidentally fall victim to a spell from the School of Proverbs."To a certain extent, Dragon Might and the Spell Model of the School of Proverbs are naturally in conflict. Dragon Might is too crude and can directly impact the mind, whereas the Spell Model of the School of Proverbs works by using words and language to influence a person's inner self, which is very precise.""Dragon Might and proverbs are like a megaphone versus a whisper; I can directly use Dragon Might to override relatively basic, or even intermediate-to-advanced, proverbs."Locke recalled seeing in a popular science magazine at the free library that language-based spells of the Mind School have a major weakness—that is, the mental states maintained by verbal suggestion are very subtle and precious states that place high demands on a person's mental condition.And under the onslaught of Dragon Might, none of those subtle states could be maintained.If a person falls into the fear of death, their mind will go completely blank.Locke glanced at Daniel. Although Daniel had only used an introductory spell from the School of Proverbs just now, the underlying principles remained the same. If he encountered similar methods or other proverbs masters in the future, he would have a way to deal with them.But come to think of it, the magic of the School of Proverbs must be profound; what Daniel had shown him just now was likely only the tip of the iceberg.However, since he would likely become Daniel's neighbor and colleague in the future, there was no rush to experience the methods of more advanced proverbs masters right now.After disembarking from the wizard airship, Locke saw a bustling market of stalls surrounding it. There were stalls selling practical Magic items, stalls with violet tablecloths where a crystal ball and two wooden stools were set up for fortune-telling, and various stalls selling magic potions.Besides these, there were vendors selling magic plant seeds, golems, magic rings, magic scrolls, and more, as well as items unique to the Yunze Wetland, such as the local specialty magic clothing and staves only found in advanced Wizard Lands.It was a dizzying array of goods.As soon as Locke and the others left the wizard docking area, they walked into these stalls, surrounded by the sounds of vendors hawking their wares.The stall owners were basically all Formal Wizards, but generally just ordinary One-Ring Wizards, at most in the Gasification Stage.This was normal, after all, half of those who could disembark from the wizard airship were One-Ring Wizards.What was most noteworthy about these stalls was that while the other stalls could generally be seen in markets of other Wizard Lands, there were many unique stalls here that could not be found elsewhere.These were stalls with entertainment or gambling characteristics.For example, a Kinetic School wizard in the Gasification Stage had set up a stall offering an arm-wrestling competition. If you won, you could get two thousand magic stones; if you lost, you got nothing. Participating cost one thousand magic stones.This was purely a mathematical problem; as long as the Kinetic School wizard ensured he won more often than not, he would definitely make a lot of money.There were others, such as game stalls where one had to use specific magic to attack magic creatures flying at high speeds in the air; hitting the target meant winning money, but participating required a fee.There were also stalls for playing wizard chess, and so on.This indicated that the popularity of magic in the Yunze Wetland had reached a certain level, thus giving rise to these entertainment-oriented stalls.Of course, it also showed just how desperate for money these stall-owning wizards were to come up with such ways to earn a few magic stones.It further illustrated that in the Yunze Wetland, a larger Wizard Land, the competition was fierce—so fierce that even One-Ring Wizards were forced to find every possible way to make money due to financial shortages.Locke and Daniel paused for a while in front of a stall filled with stones.Since they were headed to the same destination, they decided to travel together.Daniel looked at the stall covered in stones and his eyes caught a sign standing on it: "Stone Gambling Mini-Game. Participation fee: 1,000 magic stones. Guess the name of the magic ore inside the stone correctly, and take the precious material for free. Guess wrong, and receive a small welcome gift from the Yunze Wetland."Daniel blinked and looked at a line of small text written below the sign: "Wizards of the following three magic categories are prohibited from participating in this game: Constructors from the Shaping School, Earth Wizards from the Life School, and Earth Element Manipulators from the Spellcasting School.""Prohibited: Any wizard possessing magic related to ore identification from participating in this game.""Finally... The Yunze Wetland welcomes you."Daniel's eyes flickered, and he smiled. "This is quite interesting. Stone guessing? I'll give it a try. Locke, do you want to join? It's not expensive, only 1,000 magic stones.""It's not easy to make a trip to the Yunze Wetland, let's play once since we're in a new environment."Locke frowned; he suspected the other party was exploiting exactly this kind of mentality in Daniel, so he said, "I don't have a single cent on me, you go ahead and play.""Daniel, didn't you say you were in a rush to report to the True Knowledge Institute?"Daniel laughed, "It's the first time I've seen such a novel game, playing one round before leaving is fine. Although I can't use identification magic on the stones, I'm still full of confidence in my own eye. I did very well in the General Studies courses at the Tu Qingshan Order."The stall owner said subconsciously, "Having fun is good too. Hmm, paying 1,000 magic stones, 1,000 magic stones at a time is too fragmented. Just give me a magic crystal card directly.""That way, when you're done playing, I'll return the remaining money to you."Daniel was stunned for a moment, but immediately said, "Hmm, alright."After all, the person was right in front of him, and he wasn't afraid of this person defaulting on the debt, since the other party was just an ordinary One-Ring Wizard, while he was already a First Ring Crystallization Wizard.Daniel took out a magic crystal card, and Locke said, "Then I'll go report to the Hall of Advanced True Knowledge first."The stall owner's ears twitched when he heard Locke mention the True Knowledge Institute. "Are you... researchers from the Hall of Advanced True Knowledge?"The stall owner swallowed hard and returned the magic crystal card to Daniel. "I don't do business with researchers from the True Knowledge Institute. You guys should go."Daniel looked at the stall owner, puzzled, "Strange? Why is that?"The stall owner frowned and was about to speak when he suddenly heard someone say in his ear, 'The Enforcement Wizards of Golden Crown Mountain are coming.'Instantly, the stall owner nimbly grabbed his stall with one hand, used a spell from the Kinetic School, and his right hand immediately emitted a kinetic gravitational force, sucking all the tables, chairs, and ores on the stall into his astral ring. Then, he summoned a First Ring level magic creature, a Radiant Unicorn, mounted it, and flew away without looking back.Daniel was stunned; he stood there for a moment. Smart as he was, seeing the stall disappear in the blink of an eye, he immediately realized and frowned, "So these stalls are not legal in Golden Crown Mountain?"After the stall obstructing their view disappeared, Locke and Daniel immediately saw the wizards sent by the True Knowledge Institute to welcome them, holding signs.It was a group of First-Class Wizard Apprentices and a First Ring Crystallization Wizard.The sign they were holding read: 'Welcome Researcher Locke Augustine and Researcher Daniel Brooke.'