Chapter 29

Just after noon, it was lunch time, but there were quite a few people in the Demon Soul Market.

Ren opened the eyes of the soul and looked around. He was startled when he saw it.

Looking around, almost one-third of the people around were superhumans, and their souls had all undergone transformation, like groups of unique rays of light moving around.

"Are there so many extraordinary people in Longshande?"

Ryan couldn't help sighing that birds of a feather flock together and people form groups. The Demon Soul Market may be the place with the most extraordinary people in the whole city.

While visiting the market, he secretly observed for a while, and saw many extraordinary professions.

Iron guards, shadow warriors, rangers, and gunners are the most, and more than 60% of supernatural beings are one of these four professions; followed by berserkers, fighters, and demon hunters, these three professions are relatively small, accounting for about all of them. 20%; the least number are casters, including shepherds, warlocks, mechanics and wizards, accounting for about 15%.

In addition, there are several supernatural beings of the church, such as the holy swordsman and the nun of the earth belonging to the Church of the Three Gods of the Empire. Ren also found a night watchman who believed in the goddess of the moon. Out of curiosity, he secretly took a few more glances.

However, there are also Transcendents whose occupations cannot be confirmed by Rennes, which may be some kind of rare occupations that are unknown to outsiders.

In just over an hour, it opened his eyes.

In addition to Transcendents, Ren has also seen all kinds of demon souls, flying in the sky, running on the ground, swimming in the water, and many more demon souls that cannot be named and where they were born. It dazzled him like entering a zoo.

After watching a lot, Ren gradually discovered that most of the demonic souls in the market, especially those still alive, were magical beasts, and their ranks were all elementary-level, and intermediate-level ones were rare.

Most of these low-level monsters were not captured from the wild, but were bred artificially.

The empire's devil soul breeding farm is a very mature industry, with all kinds of monsters as the mainstay, especially the devil souls of several common occupations, which basically come out of the farm.

For example, Iron Guard's "Basalt Rhinoceros", Berserker's "Cordies Island Violent Bear", Gunner's "Night Owl", and Ranger's "Long-armed Mandrill" have already formed a complete breeding process, from breeding to feeding. , and then cultivated to maturity, identifying the elements, and finally sent to the market for slaughter to obtain the demon soul. The whole process only takes five to seven years.

Because there is a stable supply of goods, the prices of these types of demon souls are relatively cheap, and the prices of various merchants are between 20 and 30 gold shields.

Because of the rarity of types other than Warcraft, the price soared, usually above 50 gold shields.

These uncommon demon souls, according to the seller, generally come from the death forest in the western part of the empire.

It was a huge primeval forest, located in a super large basin with an area equivalent to two or three provinces. The three sides of the basin were surrounded by world mountains and plateaus. There was only a long and narrow plain in the east, with a length of 2,000 years. Dori, leading to the belly of the empire.

Many extraordinary people will choose to go to the forest of death when they go out to hunt demon souls for the first time. Of course, they are only on the periphery and will not go deep into the interior of the forest.

In the markets of various cities in the empire, most of the demon souls come from the forest of death.

The feathered snake I saw just now was captured by a soul hunting team from the forest of death and transported back to Longshande after untold hardships.

In a magic soul store, Ren wandered casually.

The store is small in size, there are no living things, and it only trades soul stones, so it is relatively tidy and quiet.

Hundreds of soul stones are placed on several shelves for people to observe. These shelves are made of metal, and the lower part is firmly fixed on the ground. The surface of the shelves is engraved with rune circles, which emit energy from time to time, apparently using magic to protect them. Soul Stone so as not to be snatched or stolen.

Each soul stone is about the size of a pigeon egg and is an irregular polyhedron.

The soul stone is a product of alchemy. The raw material is a kind of white crystal, which is transparent when there is no demon soul contained, no different from a glass ball.

After containing the demon soul, the color of the soul stone will change with the internal demon soul, colorful, like precious gemstones.

Get close to the soul stone and observe carefully, and you will see that it is like a ball of paint, constantly tumbling and flowing, showing the strange shape of the demon soul, and the flashing elemental runes.

It is precisely through these chaotic forms and elemental runes that the soul appraiser can distinguish the situation of the demon soul.

With the help of the soul eye, Ren can grasp the real information in the soul stone with just one glance.

These soul stones are all identified by soul appraisers, and then the prices are set. Most of the prices are very accurate, and there are a few that are slightly wrong, and the gap with the real value will not be too big.

Although Ren can also pick up the leak and earn some price difference, it is far inferior to the mid-level Feathered Serpent. In order to avoid attracting attention, he did not make a move.

After reading the soul stone, there is a shelf next to it, without the protection of the rune array, and there are books on it.

Ren glanced away, and a book caught his attention.

"Huh? "Abbreviated Edition of Book of Thousand Souls."

It is said to be an abbreviated version, but this book is as thick as a brick. Ren stepped forward to pick it up, and it felt heavy, not much lighter than a real brick.

He turned the pages of the book. The author was a legendary wizard named Temandola, who was also a master of soul appraisal, and devoted his whole life to the study of demon souls.

The Book of Thousand Souls written by the master records the information of more than a thousand kinds of demon souls in detail, including the classification, rank, habit, weakness, distribution area of ​​demon souls, possible elements in them, as well as the form, name, and function of the elements. , strength and so on. The content of the book is extremely detailed, and each demon soul and element is equipped with exquisite illustrations, all hand-painted by Master Temandola.

"Fuck, this is too awesome!"

Ryan was overjoyed, this book was just what he needed.

He has the eyes of the soul, and he can see through the inside and outside of the soul, as well as the information of the elements, but he doesn't know what these elements are called, and he can't correspond to the elements known to people.

Ren hungrily flipped through the pages, and he didn't forget that every time he read a page, he took a photo with his mobile phone and saved it.

According to Master Taimandola's research, the known demon souls in the world are divided into sixteen categories.

The largest number is not monsters, but insects, followed by fish, and monsters only rank third. There are also thirteen categories of birds, plants, aquatic, spirits, strange monsters, elements, undead, humanoid, giant monsters, demons, demons, dragon descendants, and true dragons.

Under each category, there are several subcategories subdivided according to the differences, adding up to hundreds of categories.

Ryan was amazed, this is simply a biological taxonomy.

Of course, if the biology of the previous life is used as the standard, Master Temandola's classification is simply messy and groundless.

But this is the classification of demonic souls, not biological classification, and there is no relationship between the two.

Ren saw the introduction of the Feathered Serpent in the book, compared with each other, and immediately knew the names of several elements of the Feathered Serpent in the market, namely "air cutting", "whirlwind" and "quick recovery". And it goes without saying.

The whole book has hundreds of pages, and it will take at least a day to read it all.

Moreover, this is an abbreviated version, which only introduces a total of more than one hundred kinds of common demonic souls, which is far from the thousand kinds of demonic souls mentioned in the title of the book.

Ren closed the book and went to the counter, asking, "Boss, how much is this book?"

The shop owner is a thin old man. He read the title of the book, "The Book of Thousand Souls Short Edition, 299 Copper Dollars."

Isn't that three hundred!

Ren made a complaint. He didn't expect that the other world would also engage in such a price gap sales method, but he honestly took out three hundred copper dollar bills from his wallet.

A book sold for three hundred coppers, which was quite expensive, even more than robbery, but knowledge was priceless, and he was willing to pay the money.

After taking a copper liso recovered by the shopkeeper, Ren asked again: "Is there a full version of the Book of Thousand Souls?"

"There are a total of twelve volumes in the full version, and you have to buy them in a special bookstore, or in a large library." The shopkeeper shook his head, looked at Ren, and explained: "The price of a full set of Thousand Souls Book exceeds ten gold shields. , it is very inconvenient to carry, few customers will buy it, so we have no stock, sorry."

Ryan imagined that twelve tomes can be stacked up to fill an entire suitcase, and it would take a long time to browse through them roughly, and very few people have the patience to read them all, let alone spend money to read them all. bought.

"Okay, thanks for letting me know." Ren took the book and left.

After strolling around the market for a while, Ren felt that it was almost done, and he was a little hungry, so he decided to have lunch outside the market and then go back.

He walked halfway, and someone shouted at the door of the shop: "Gambling soul, gambling soul!"

"Today, a new batch of gold-eating ants arrived in the store. They are all alive, and each one only sells one gold shield."

"Buy now and kill now, as long as one element of strength is released, it will be a top-quality secondary soul. It can sell at least fifty gold shields. The quantity is not much, so hurry up if you want to buy it."

Ren stopped in his tracks, quite interested in this gambling soul, which sounded similar to the stone gambling in his previous life.

I just don't know if it's true or not. Is there a way to deceive people?

When he walked into the store, he saw several large tables filled with glass jars. There were two or three hundred jars, made of special thick glass, and the mouth of the jar was tightly sealed, leaving only a small hole for ventilation.

Inside each glass jar is a ferocious ant. Its body is as black as ink, reflecting faint light. Its angular body seems to be made of iron. Its teeth and claws show off a very strong sense of power.

There was a thick layer of translucent solution at the bottom of the glass jar, which should be a special potion. The ants became sore and limp after soaking in it. They scratched the glass with their forelimbs, making sharp and piercing sounds.

"Such a big ant!"

Ren was taken aback. He remembered that the largest bull ant on earth seemed to be only three or four centimeters long.

The gold-eating ants in front of me have a body length of more than ten centimeters at random, and the largest one is more than twenty centimeters, and they are so big that their weight is at least hundreds of times that of a bull ant. It is estimated that a large piece of flesh can be torn off, and even the fingers are pinched off.

If you are besieged by a group of gold-eating ants, the ending will definitely be tragic.

There are seven or eight customers in the store, and they all gather around the glass jar and observe carefully, choosing the ants they want to buy.

"Can this kind of gold-eating ants really eat metal?"

Ren asked a question. He had never seen ants before, and he hadn't seen it in the Book of Thousand Souls.

"Of course." A middle-aged man who looked like a shop owner replied enthusiastically: "Gold-eating ants grew up eating iron ore. These gold-eating ants killed three miners in the mine tunnel in the north of the city a few days ago. The Lord invited an intermediate alchemist to take action, and then packaged and sold it to us, the whole litter is here, and none of them escaped."

"Young man, do you want to buy a few to try your luck?" The shopkeeper's face was full of smiles.

Ryan didn't answer.

The shopkeeper thought he was hesitating, and persuaded him endlessly: "Young man, don't underestimate the gold-eating ants. They are indeed weak, but they are also real insect monsters. There is a certain probability of producing elements in the soul. And it is a very practical element of 'strength'!"

"Do you know how powerful an ant is? They can lift things hundreds of times their own weight. If they were placed on humans, this power would be even more terrifying than giants. The potential is absolutely limitless!"

"Many close-combat professions want the element of strength. It may not be good enough as the main soul, but it is perfect for using it as the secondary soul."

"Just now, a customer bought gold-eating ants with strength elements, and sold 50 gold shields on the spot. If you don't believe me, you can ask everyone."

The shopkeeper pointed to a few customers who were buying ants, and two or three customers echoed, testifying that what the shopkeeper said was true.

Ren made a fuss in his heart. These people are obviously trustees. Is he so easy to deceive?

Maybe the gold-eating ants could really offer strength elements, but the shopkeeper couldn't believe what he said. I was tired of hearing the words about the power of ants when I was in elementary school in the previous life.

He has already opened the eyes of the soul, looking at the ants one by one.

Seeing that his reaction was flat, the shopkeeper had no choice but to walk away to greet another customer who just came in.

Ren even looked at 20 or 30 gold-eating ants, but he didn't find any elements. Moreover, the souls of these ants were very weak. Only two to three ants combined could equal the most common demon soul.

"Sure enough, it's a fool's trick. A broken ant dares to sell a golden shield..."

He secretly scolded the shop owner for being a profiteer, and when he saw more than sixty of them, he suddenly paused his eyes and shouted in his heart: "I'll go, it really has the element of strength!"

The shape of this gold-eating ant is similar to that of other ants. It may be a little bigger, but it is not the biggest. Unexpectedly, it contains an element.

After Ren carefully perceived it, he confirmed that this was the element of power.

He was thinking whether to buy it or not, and picked up the fifty gold shields for nothing, when he saw the glass jar of the ant being picked up by a wizard in a robe and handed over to the shopkeeper.

"Fuck, it's slow to start."

Ren curled his lips depressedly. The other party was a third-level wizard with such good eyesight, so he was obviously a powerful soul appraiser.

The shopkeeper happily took the wizard's golden shield, took a hammer, poured the gold-eating ants out of the jar onto an anvil, and smashed it down with a hammer while it was still dizzy.

boom!

There was a bang, and the hammer seemed to hit an iron block, and was bounced back, but the ant on the anvil was still moving.

The owner of the store had already seen the tenacity of the gold-eating ants. He swung the hammer and smashed it several times, like forging iron, and finally smashed the ant into a piece of rotten meat like a discus, and then stuck a blank soul stone on it.

In Ren's eyes, he saw the soul of the gold-eating ants flying out, as if it was about to come towards him.

As soon as the soul flew out, it was absorbed by the closer soul stone, and the two sides fell into a seesaw, and the soul was about to be torn in half.

"Oops."

Ren forgot that he could absorb souls.

Fortunately, he had explored the phone before and found that there was an option to turn off charging in the battery icon, so he quickly selected it.

Sure enough, after turning off the charging, the soul of the gold-eater ant was immediately absorbed by the soul stone, and the white crystal seemed to be infused with ink, becoming dark and deep.

The shopkeeper held the soul stone, and saw a red rune appear and then disappear.

The smile on his face froze immediately.

The surrounding guests also saw the vision in the soul stone, and exclaimed: "The power element!"

Only Ren knew about it a long time ago, so he was not surprised at all. The wizard had a bright face, took the soul stone from the shopkeeper, and continued to choose the glass jar.

Several customers were irritated, and they chose gold-eating ants and handed them to the shopkeeper. As the ants were smashed to death, none of them appeared.

The sorcerer bought two more, again with no success.

Ren ignored the others and observed the past one by one according to his own rhythm.

But he looked at more than a hundred gold-eating ants, but he couldn't find any with power elements. Then I patiently checked dozens of them, but still got nothing.

Until there were more than 30 left, just when Ren gave up hope and thought it was another ordinary gold-eating ant, three runes suddenly flashed in front of his eyes.

"Fuck! Fuck, trough, trough..."