Chapter 73

In the past half month, the arrival of the army at the forest camp has gradually transformed the somewhat desolate temporary market outside the camp into a bustling scene.

Many merchant caravans have keenly sensed the business opportunities and have gathered from all directions to this lush mountain foot.

The white tents set up resemble mushrooms sprouting after the rain, popping up one after another on the hillside.

He Boqiang returned to the merchant Lakin's campsite. Just as he was about to enter his tent, he saw the curly-haired boy Gabi poking his head out from another tent, grinning foolishly and winking at He Boqiang.

He Boqiang walked over and quietly looked at Gabi.

The curly-haired boy looked at He Boqiang's magic beast leather armor with envy and said with a smile, "Dak, your leather armor is really cool."

He Boqiang leaned against the grass at the entrance of Gabi's tent and looked at the distant Gandaur Mountain with Gabi.

Beyond the sea of clouds, a golden sun was about to set behind the mountain ridge.

The curly-haired boy lay on the grass and asked He Boqiang, "Are you going into the mountains with Suldak and the others tomorrow?"

He Boqiang nodded.

"Be careful on the way." The curly-haired boy had some freckles on his face, and his eyes squinted into slits when he smiled. He reached into his tent, took out an iron can, and placed it in front of He Boqiang, saying, "I think you might need this..."

He Boqiang took it and felt its weight in his hand.

This thin iron box looked a bit like...

The curly-haired boy said proudly, "It's meat in a can. Lakin and I had it once with Ulysses, and it was really delicious."

He Boqiang was surprised to find that canned food existed in this world. Regardless of how it tasted, he thought it was worth trying.

"It's a bit expensive. I can't buy many with a month's salary, but it's very convenient to carry. Do you want a few cans?" Gabi asked.

He Boqiang nodded and gestured, asking about the price.

Gabi's eyes widened, and a hint of joy appeared on his face, though he seemed a bit incredulous. He asked He Boqiang, "You really want to buy it? Actually... I think flatbread and dried meat are more economical."

He Boqiang reaffirmed his decision.

Gabi, like a mouse, 'squeaked' into the tent and took out a few more cans, handing them to He Boqiang and added, "Well, you don't really need to worry about supplies. Merchant caravans will organize transport teams to deliver provisions into the mountains."

He Boqiang patted the curly-haired boy's shoulder, indicating that he didn't mind. Then he untied his money bag from his waist, counted out the exact amount of silver coins, and handed them to Gabi.

These goods belonged to the boss Lakin, and Gabi usually sold them from a stall. Gabi carefully counted the silver coins. He hadn't learned arithmetic, so he lined up the cans of meat and placed the exact amount of silver coins in front of each can. After filling them up, he took the silver coins, and He Boqiang took the cans.

He Boqiang put six cans into his backpack and pushed the remaining one to the curly-haired boy Gabi.

"Are you giving it to me?"

He Boqiang nodded.

"Oh, no, no, I can't accept this gift..."

He Boqiang didn't force it on the curly-haired boy. Instead, he pulled out a dagger from his calf, cut open the can, and found a whole piece of cooked beef inside. He tried cutting a piece with the knife, put it in his mouth, and found the beef to be very tender and flavorful, though the spices were a bit unusual.

Then he handed the opened can and the dagger to Gabi, who widened his eyes and cheered, taking it in his hands. He scooped out a large piece and stuffed it into his mouth, saying to He Boqiang, "I think this goes really well with roasted flatbread."

"I can't imagine how the orcs manage to fit such a large piece of beef into these cans, and they can preserve it for a long time."

"I really envy the orcs on the Pai Plateau. I've heard that when they drive their herds across the wilderness, their bags are full of these cans. They eat canned meat like we eat roasted flatbread. I really envy their life!"

Listening to the curly-haired boy Gabi's continuous exclamations, He Boqiang got up and returned to his tent.

Lakin had recently stocked up on many goods, making the tent even more crowded. Even under the bed, there were some oilskin paper packages.

He Boqiang sat on the bed and poured out all the coins from his money bag. The sound of the coins clinking together, a pile of silver coins mixed with copper coins, gold coins, and three pigeon-egg-sized magic crystals, was all He Boqiang's wealth.

Tomorrow, he still had to pay the blacksmith to modify the Roman sword, which would cost him about eighty silver coins, leaving him with only a few less.

He Boqiang picked out four gold coins from the pile. This money was his share from the second squad's sale of war spoils.

According to Red Socks, this amount was equivalent to his military salary for more than half a year. Since gold coins had a large denomination, silver coins and small copper coins were the main circulating currency.

Thinking about leaving the forest camp, He Boqiang suddenly wanted to wander around the market again.

He sorted the coins back into the money bag, and the sound of the coins jingling in his hand made him feel more at ease.

He walked out of the tent again. The big guy Ulysses had already woken up and was sitting on a wooden frame outside the tent, holding an iron rod. His main task was to keep watch at night to prevent vagrants and thieves from stealing Lakin's goods.

He Boqiang waved at Ulysses.

Ulysses said in a simple voice, "Dak, where are you going so late?"

He Boqiang pointed to the market and walked out.

The sky gradually darkened, and the stars began to appear in the night sky.

The warriors from the military camp returned to the camp one after another, making the market quieter.

Some pine resin torches were lit on the market, and some stalls had colorful magic street lamps. He Boqiang walked along the market stalls, stopping to look at the magic cores on display.

The stall owners tried to chat with him but found that this young man who gambled on magic cores didn't say a word. If he liked a core and the price wasn't too high, he would usually buy it.

However, the stall owners never saw him open any of the cores. He would usually put them directly into his money bag and leave quietly.

After walking around the market for a while, He Boqiang realized that he had unknowingly bought eight first-level magic cores.

He had spent all eighty silver coins in his money bag and even used up the four gold coins he had stashed in his bag.

At a stall at the market entrance, he also bought a small file for five silver coins. When he returned to the tent, he found that his money bag only had a few copper coins left, and all the gold coins and silver coins had turned into eight small magic cores.

He Boqiang sat at the tent entrance, using the weak street lamp outside to file the hard outer layer of the magic cores. The outer layer of the magic cores was very hard, and he had to use a lot of force to peel it off layer by layer.

After filing for dozens of times, he saw that the inside of the magic core contained crystal-like fragments.

As the magic core opened, the small, grain-sized fragments scattered in He Boqiang's hand...

He Boqiang was a bit stunned, looking at the small fragments of magic crystals in his hand. He didn't expect that the first core would yield a pile of not very valuable magic crystal fragments.

These fragments were too small to sell for much and could only be ground into powder to be used as an ingredient in magic ink.

The next five first-level magic cores also only yielded magic crystal fragments, four of which were as fine as sand, and only two were in sheet form, which had slightly more value.

Each of the eight magic cores emitted a faint magical aura.

After grinding them open, He Boqiang found that not all magic cores that emitted magic contained magic crystals. More often, they only contained small fragments of magic crystals.

He Boqiang filed open the last two slightly larger magic cores, and seeing the magic crystals inside, which looked like longan grapes, he felt relieved.

The first six cores could be considered a break-even, but the last two were a small profit.