With the negotiations complete at 19 big coppers for the big jug and 8 big coppers each for the small jugs (35 Big Coppers worth total), I buy the Stain remover and pick up the glass jugs.

The seller is surprised and appears to assume I’m a cultivator, since you'd normally need a cart and multiple people to even move these items.

Moving somewhat quickly, I weaved my way through the crowds and reach a side street leading to the working sections, areas that many artisans and sellers used to build their products. The one I am approaching appears to be a massive wood preparation area, specifically for staining and removing stain from products.

The ping is showing a man that is clearly directing others to perform certain activities, like staining a product in a certain way or to place one in a different area for more work.

He is most definitely the expert for this craft. I can also see more wealthy merchants in the distance, but I’m unsure of whether they know the craft. The scan doesn’t point toward them.

I head to the expert with the jugs slung over my shoulders.

The staining expert looks me over quickly, seeing that I want something, and gruffly raises his voice at me.

“What do yer’ want? Can’t you see we are working here? We are already behind and if you waste my time, there will be more than just money to pay.”

My scan lets me know to get straight to the point. Direct pitch.

“I have a stain remover that can get unwanted wood stain out of your products within 5 minutes and at a lower cost than what you are using now. There are no side effects to anyone using it, if properly cleaned off.”

I shrug the jugs slung over my back to the ground in front of me, drawing his attention to them.

“I can show you now, if you’d like to test it on some waste products.”

My scan tells me to just stand there, saying nothing else. No matter how much I want to go into more detail.

To just stand there and not move.

Confidently.

 

He gives me a long stare. Some other workers come up to him with something, but he raises his hand and makes them wait. All while staring at me, his eyes unmoving.

He then barks at one of the young men that came to talk to him, one who seemed nervous and twitchy.

“Jin! Grab that noblemen’s chair we were going to have remade. The one you fucked up.”

The young man winces at the callout, but practically sprints to grab it. Clearly trying to make up for his mistake.

The young man quickly brings over a large, but very discolored stained chair, setting it in front of him.

The expert gives a quick nod, indicating for me to work on it.

Quickly, I grab the smaller bottle and a nearby empty staining bucket. One man nearby is about to complain, as it was likely his, but the expert shuts them up.

I look at the expert and request something.

“I need this filled 3 fourths of the way up with water. These bottles are concentrated mixtures.”

His eyes squint at me and I realize I gave away my higher education. Most people in this world wouldn’t know or understand some of those terms unless they were in those fields or educated.

He waves at the guy who was about to complain, who brings it back quickly.

Once he returns, I fill the rest of the bucket with the stain remover concentrate and mix it together.

This world also has paint brushes, so I use a clean one and cover the chair in the stain remover mix. Once it’s completely covered, I look at the expert and indicate we will need to wait.

Half way through the 5-minute time, we can see stain bubbling to the surface… like some kind of froth or living creature. As soon as it started, murmurs erupted all around, with a bit of a crowd forming.

The expert’s eyes are locked onto the chair, watching every part of the process. The frothing stops being as dramatic into the last minute, settling as a layer.

After the 5 minutes is done, I grab a wet cloth and wipe the stain away. It’s all gone. It’s quite an interesting reaction, as the mixture combines with the stain chemicals and then turns into something that repels wood, forcing it to bubble to the surface.

It would need only a light sanding to make it like brand new.

The expert grabs the wood, stroking and touching it all over. He slaps it around at high speeds but with a light touch, not leaving the slightest bit of damage. He ends up even tasting the wood near the end.

I’m not totally sure why he did that.

After he’s done, he’s shaking his head in disbelief, turning to me.

He gives me a look before asking, “How much?”

My scan tells me his price would easily be 2 Big silver Coins, for the big jug. 1 Big Silver Coin for smaller jug. Especially, considering that they are concentrated.

They can afford this, because they use it for products from noblemen, charging exorbitant prices for the staining and creation. The products and processes they use now are time-consuming and even more expensive.

If I wanted more, I could easily get it.

 

Instead, I go another route.

“I know something like this big jug would likely be worth around 2 Big Silver Coins or much, much more.”

I can see him take a breath of cold air, as he awaits my price.

“However, I prefer cultivating relationships more than money.

“Let’s make this 1 Big Silver for the big jug and half that for each of the smaller jugs. I would like this to be kept a secret.”

He pauses in confusion and then realization of some sort. He quickly turns to his workers. After a few terse words, they scatter off fearfully. More than their jobs were threatened, if they speak a word.

That scares me a bit.

It’s clear that his earlier threat wasn’t a joke. I feel like this is the norm at this level of business, but is a little riskier than even that normal level. That there are forces involved that have some darker tendencies.

… Why does my scan always put me in dangerous zones?

 

Ah. I should really put a filter for that in the scan.

Which really makes it my fault.

 

Sigh.

 

I focus back in.

 He hands me the money first, without question. He speaks in a near whisper.

“I can do that. Can I assume that I'll be able to get more of this product from you in the future?”

 I think pretty hard on his question.

Do I really want to keep working with such a dangerous guy/group, especially when the provider is so close to him and they'll figure that out quickly?

No. I think it would be better to earn some goodwill and let him know the provider immediately.

This way I can disconnect myself from his direct business, while being able to draw on him as a partial reference, in case I want a bigger client.

The only issue is, that is still a big ask, from the result of only one transaction. I’ll have to review the riskiness of an ask, before doing it… that way I don’t cause any waves.

He looks heavily concerned by my hesitation, which actually is much shorter than they were before, thanks to my increased reaction speed. Before he can vocalize it, I answer him.

“I’ll do you one better, in the interest of our relationship. Do you have a piece of paper and something to write with?”

His eyes squint again, but he hands me a personal notepad and writing pen (of some sort).

I write the location of the local provider and list that it is the stain removers’ creator, selling it for massively cheaper.

Before handing it back, I look him in the eyes and state something. Prefacing why I still charged him some money for this.

 “Likely, you more than anyone know the value of being able to determine whether something is good for your industry. It takes certain skills to understand whether something will work correctly.

“… if you are looking for how I could tell this would work, he has stain coming out from the part of the wood table he put the jugs on. Not as prominent as was done here, but anyone who has worked this field will notice the signs of a remover.”

I give a sigh and place the paper in his hands, showing a bit of frustration in my eyes to him.

“Please… please note, that I truly only give this out of goodwill and not anything deeper. Take it as such.”

 

After giving this, my scan gives me the signal that if I don’t want to be kept here, I should leave immediately. I turn away and head back towards the street.

The expert’s eyes widen immediately and motions one man to sprint in the provider's direction. He looks at me as I walk away.

“How will I get ahold of you?”

“I’ll find you. Don’t look for me. I’m sure you’ll be able to determine who I am, at that point.”

As I walk away from his confused team into the crowds, I mull over my own words.

Unfortunately, that will probably be the truth. My identity as the alchemist will come out soon. I believe Big Sis Crane has already done some work, as I have noticed no one looking for me.

That’ll change soon.

The Alchemist Guild will connect the dots and even if they can’t attack me directly or something similar because of my sect affiliation, they’ll leverage their strength in other ways.

Only good thing is, I get a strong feeling from my scan that I’ll be already in the middle of testing by the time they figure it out.

As I use my scan and abilities to evade even some of their cultivator eyes, I can’t help but to wonder if I should keep going.

 

 

… the money is so good, though.

 

I continued to do this many, many times throughout a large part of the day, with different products and industries. My speed, strength, stealth, and scan serving me greatly in each one.

And most importantly, with less risky situations…

I’ve also become even better at using my scan to completely evade cultivator eyes in the crowds. There are surprisingly quite a variety of others who look similar to me in this large outer city market area. Both in skin color and clothing.

It became trivial to lose any pursuers.

My saving grace is that they are not allowed to use spiritual senses on crowds, being that it is a huge taboo to do on cultivators. Enough to immediately start a feud and seek death.

Even more so, after I just helped them. They’d only do so if they were confident that they could get away with it.

 

So, I consistently got away cleanly, with almost all of them eventually heeding my words to not look for me.

 

I may have made a little too much money today…

Oops.