Chapter 5: Mysterious Old Man

Waiting for the old man to finish his business, Theo decided to look around but didn't move from his position.

The crime rate in this place was high in this world, so he couldn't let his guard down. Even when he was talking to the old man, he had turned on the camera that he hid inside his shirt, recording the conversation.

This way, even if the old man tried to play the fool, he had enough evidence to get back his card or money as compensation.

The same applied when he walked around the store. The old man might consider him a new customer instead of a seller. Even if he claimed that he had sold the card to him, the old man just needed to say "he didn't know anything."

Therefore, this recording could be presented to the authorities as proof to help him.

With this thought in mind, he proceeded to observe his surroundings. There were not many people in this shop, but he felt that the weapon was clean and looked dazing.

'I don't have eyes for weapons, so I can't really say anything regarding the weapons here, but from the appearance alone, they look pretty nice.' When he lowered his eyes a bit, he noticed that the prices were not that different from the market. 'Should I buy a weapon here? No, since I have a new identity, should I use another weapon?'

He lost in thought until the old man returned and tapped his shoulder. "Young man. Are you going to trade this? I have confirmed the card and can buy it for 10,000 Zils. What do you think?"

' 10,000 Zils? Is it high, low, or average? Ah, it's my blunder. I should research the price first. Because I never had a card like this, I didn't think it through.' Contemplating for a minute, Theo decided to take the deal.

However, when he was about to say something, he remembered the weapons inside the store. He checked their prices and asked the old man instead. "By the way, can I buy the weapons using the money I got?"

"Sure. Which weapons do you like?" The old man nodded with a smile.

Theo then searched the weapons and took two weapons—one sword, one spear.

"You have good eyes. This sword is made of Pure Stone as well, so its capability doesn't need to be questioned. It's an Elite Weapon. As for the other one, it's made of Caloric Metal, not that much different than the sword. It's also an Elite Weapon."

Suddenly, Theo realized another thing. He had been too focused and overthinking the whole situation to the point he forgot his real identity. No money and no status. If such a person suddenly wielded an elite weapon, especially after a tragic accident not long ago, many would suspect him. With so many bullies in his school, he couldn't afford to stand out.

Realizing all this, he picked up another spear. "I would like to buy this one as well."

"This one is a normal iron spear. The quality is quite good. For your brother?"

"Ye-yes. It's for my younger brother."

"Well, your younger brother is lucky to have a brother like you." The old man nodded and registered the weapons. "The total is 8,700 Zils."

"Yes. Please proceed." Theo nodded.

"This is a special service from me. I will give you the belt to carry your sword." The old man appeared to like Theo quite a bit. The belt alone was supposed to be 300 Zils, so it was very expensive for Theo. It was equal to one month's rent in that cheap apartment.

Theo accepted the gift and nodded his head politely. "Thank you."

"I will send you the remaining 1,300 Zils." The old man took out his device from the pocket.

Theo did the same, so the old man could scan the device number to send the money. He then typed the amount and sent it.

In just one second, Theo received the notification about the transfer and confirmed it with the old man.

"Thank you very much." He thanked him and grabbed the three weapons, ready to head back home.

"Thank you for your patronage. Do come here again if you need a weapon or sell material. I will be giving you a special discount."

Theo didn't think much about it since he got pretty good weapons. Even though the two were considered Elite Rank Weapons, they were at the very bottom, barely reaching Elite Rank.

He was still satisfied with it, though.

He believed the next weapons upgrade would come soon, so there was no need to search for a perfect and expensive one.

Turning around, he left the shop and went straight home.

Unbeknownst to Theo, half an hour after he left, the same woman who hunted the turtle he killed earlier turned up. She walked to the old man and called him with something that no one would ever expect.

"Grandfather. Let's go back home."

"Why? I have already retired."

"Even so, you shouldn't be here. If you want to run a shop for your retirement, we have many shops on the other side."

"This is why all of you are still relying on me. You have never understood my plan. Do you think I am here just because I want to be here? No. There is another reason." The old man shook his head.

"What do you mean?" The girl furrowed her eyebrows.

"Our country is small and became independent two hundred years ago. Unlike those superpowers, what we need the most right now is talented young people to raise the country's worth. Unfortunately, the clean city doesn't allow me to see talented individuals."

"So, you are here to scout people? For our family or the country?"

"Both." The old man shrugged. "Just earlier, I met a peculiar one."

"Hmm?" The female tilted her head in confusion.

"I don't feel the aura of the strong from him. Even if you are a student, I can speculate how many battles you have fought with your aura alone. Like you, I can see you are still Elite Rank. However, what I see from here is nothing as if he is just a Normal Rank…"

"So?"

"He sold me a Pure Stone card. Can you believe a Normal Rank Hunter actually killed a Rock Turtle?" The old man smiled slyly.

"What did you say?"

"He sold me a Pure Stone Card."

"Where is he?" She slammed the table and looked at him intensely.

"Why are you acting this way? Look, you are bothering the customers." The old man pointed his finger around.

"You haven't returned for a month, so you must not know this." The female facepalmed and explained. "I had a mission to kill a Rock Turtle pack as an assessment. However, we made a blunder and let one of them escape. But when we investigated it, we found that it was already dead in the outskirts of this Art Beats Castle."

"Ho?" The old man became even more curious. "Look. I just proved my point. I met the man who killed the turtle not long ago. You wouldn't find him elsewhere in the clean "road." He looked like a poor guy. Even when I bought the Pure Stone Card with 10,000 Zils from him, which was 2,000 more than the marketplace, he didn't realize it."

"That's not the point. Where is he? I need to invite him to my group immediately."

The old man ignored her and continued. "He acted clumsily and changed the topic by buying a few weapons from me. Well, I am fond of his way of dealing with the situation. He just needs the experience to make it look smooth, but that can be fixed in the future. And the way he acted as if he has a brother? I almost laughed since he surely didn't have one. The only thing that piqued my interest was his choice of weapons. He bought two spears and one sword."

"Grandfather! I need to look for him. I don't have time to listen to your rumbling. Where is he?"

"Do you think you can find him? I just explained how he behaved earlier. He must have put careful thoughts in his plan, so do you think you can find him if I tell you now? Let it be. And you need time to cultivate someone under level 50, which is the threshold for the next rank…So, it's better to let him grow a bit before recruiting him. Besides, he has a weird mask and carefully fixed his hair, so I couldn't see it. Yeah, no point in searching for him." The old man shrugged.

The female's body shook and finally calmed herself down. She still remembered what her father said regarding her grandfather. The old man before her might not be the strongest person in the country, but no one could match his eyes for talents in the country. If he told her that person was good, they needed to recruit that person as soon as possible.

That was why she acted that rashly earlier.

"I am sorry for yelling."

"It's fine. Youngsters should have more energy than this old bone." The old man waved his hand, telling her it wasn't a problem before looking at his bank account.

ID: 280100110231

Name: Nart Eilric

Balance: 1,098,143,700 Zil

"Look! I only lost 1,300 Zils to find a talented man. You need to learn from me, hoho…" The old man laughed naughtily, teasing his granddaughter.

"You are bullying me now." She pouted. With a single look at his ID, there was no need to say the woman's identity. But unlike how the media reported on the other side, she acted just like a child that wanted to be spoiled by her grandfather.