Chapter 180 Handing Over The Brooch

A couple of hours later;

Zheng Residence, Maolu district, Imperial City;

Zheng Ha and Mark were sitting before each other. The former had a list in his hand. He was taking a closer look at the items. Allen was also sitting beside Mark like a statue.

Usually, Alina would have followed him for security reasons but today, as Allen had to handle the horse carriage as the coachman, he tagged along with him while the other three were dropped at home.

After looking at the items for a couple of times, Merchant of Spices and tea, Zheng Ha looked back at Mark.

"So, let me recite everything…

Along with 300 barrels of oil every week, there's a one-time purchase of 100 kilograms of brimstone (sulfur) in powdered form, 150 kilograms of charcoal powder, 1 ton of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), 100 kg of plumbum (lead), 100 kg of stannum (tin), 100 kg of brass, 100kg of Herculean steel, 100 kg of Damascus Tungsten, 1 ton of copper, and 100 high ether crystals of 10-carat size each."

Zheng Ha looked at Mark in confirmation.

Mark nodded with a smile, "yes, that's all."

Zheng Ha looked back at the list and fell into thoughts.

After a brief amount of silence, he said, "Owner Lu, I may not be in this business but even I know that Damascus Tungsten and Herculean steel are very rare, and procuring such large amounts is very tough and expensive. Not to mention, the merchants, who possessed them, might not sell to you as they have deals with either the Dwarves or the big three weapon stores. You might have to go to the beast Empire to acquire them at a cheap price.

So, I advise you to find them in auctions. There's one coming up in three months. Maybe, if you have any unique firearm like your flying puppet, you can sell them there."

Mark thought for a bit and gave a nod. He wasn't in a hurry to make his own weapons in the outside factory. He had his own factory inside the mindscape where he only needed to make a design. Then, the assistant robot will create the parts and assemble them, and the system will procure the weapon and mass produce it.

He then asked, "So, the others can be procured with ease?"

Zheng Ha replied, "There's something else I want to suggest. It's regarding the ether crystals. I recommend you acquire the ores instead of polished ones."

"Why?" Mark furrowed his brows. "Be clear."

Zheng Ha then explained, "It's because you can get them half the price of the market. I mean, an Exalt realm expert like yourself doesn't need polished ones to absorb the energy.

I just wanted to remind you about it because high-quality crystals are expensive. Unlike the low and mid-grade crystals, the polished high-grade ones will not be at their base 1000 gold coins price. Their price might increase, depending on the availability.

Of course, this is just my suggestion. If you want polished ones, I will arrange them too but it will take time to procure 100 of them."

Unlike the rest of the Spirit Warriors, Mark gets a steady amount of ether points upon absorbing the energy from the crystal. So, he doesn't have to worry about their size or shape. No matter how rich ore is, the system can completely drain it.

The only problem is that a high-quality ether ore will not just contain ether energy, it will also be composed of different metals and minerals too, based on the location it was mined. So, that would mean a 1000 carat-sized ether ore isn't the same as 100 ether crystals of 10 carats. This is why they are priced less.

Thinking about his maximum benefit, Mark gave a nod to his suggestion too but he changed the number, "then, you'll bring me an ore that is about 1500 carat sized. You can procure them in different sizes too. It doesn't matter."

"Okay, that can be arranged." Zheng Ha nodded with a smile. He further said, "I need about 3-7 days to talk with various merchants in the circle. After that, I will give you the details of the expense and the dates of the meeting."

"Alright, I will wait for your letter." Mark agreed with it and then, got up from the seat. "You will get your 3% brokerage fee once everything is over."

Zheng Ha thanked him with a smile as 3% of this whole deal will net him thousands of gold coins.

Mark and Allen then returned to the store where Alina was looking after the two beasts. Mark was dropped off and Allen made a trip to the carriage rentals to return the horse carriage and receive the refundable amount.

In the meantime, Mark called Alina downstairs.

She swiftly left the two beasts and hurried to meet her master. Since her creation, she always tagged along with Mark wherever he went. The only time she wasn't with him is when she went on a mission to hand over Ji Guanli to the Kunyu bandits. But, it is different from now. She was left behind at the store while Allen was taken in her place.

Even while going to the Imperial Palace, she only sat behind.

While she understands his thoughts, Alina couldn't help but feel sad that she wasn't useful to him for a certain job.

So, she was feeling a little bit useless during the past couple of hours and now that he returned, she couldn't help but teleport right next to him.

Mark was a little bit taken aback by her sudden appearance before him but he ignored it and proceeded to take out a brooch from his inventory.

He handed the platinum grade item to Alina, "take this. From now onwards, this is yours."

Alina took the sun and moon brooch and placed it a few inches above the left ear, attaching it to the hair like a hairpin.

As soon as she wore the accessory, Mark received a notification from the system.

*Ding! Do you wish to bind Sun & Moon Brooch to Alina? Warning: You cannot unbind it later.