Rosewood Town had four major commercial zones, and Damian had already visited two of them.
The first was the Central Market, though calling it a market was somewhat misleading. It was actually a broad commercial boulevard cutting through one of Rosewood’s wealthiest districts, where major shops, established merchant houses and regional chain stores operated from large permanent buildings.
The Caurelian Continental Bank stood there, along with several high-end equipment stores, restaurants, trading companies, and luxury establishments catering to nobles, wealthy merchants, and successful Standard-Class individuals.
Carriages travelled freely along its paved roads, while street hawking was completely forbidden.
Everything was orderly, regulated and expensive.
The second commercial zone was the Rosewood Bazaar.
That was closer to what Damian traditionally imagined when hearing the word marketplace.
It sprawled across several interconnected plazas filled with permanent shops and smaller kiosks facing the streets. Most merchants there were established residents who purchased goods from certified suppliers, travelling wholesalers, craftsmen and villages before reselling them at ordinary retail prices.
If the Central Market was Rosewood’s mall district, the Bazaar was its collection of independent stores.
Then came the third location, Buyer’s Alley, which was where Damian was headed right now.
As for the fourth...
Damian’s expression became strange whenever he remembered Janet cheerfully explaining it.
"The Black Market? Oh, sure! I can take you there anytime! They sell everything down there! Illegal potions, cursed items, stolen equipment, forbidden magic, monster eggs, fake identities, poisons, smuggled goods... even people if you know where to ask!" Janet had declared with entirely too much enthusiasm.
Damian had immediately decided that particular field trip could wait, not because he was frightened, but because the Black Market would almost certainly become useful later.
However, Damian had spent enough years dealing with workplace politics and difficult people to understand that entering any underground economy while knowing absolutely nothing was a magnificent way to get exploited.
Before truly establishing himself in Valoria, he needed three things: personal power, prestige, and connections.
Personal power did not necessarily mean being capable of punching mountains apart.
Money was power, magical ability was power, political protection was power, and even possessing information others desperately wanted could become power.
Prestige meant having enough reputation that people hesitated before casually cheating or offending him.
Connections meant knowing who to call when something went wrong.
Damian currently possessed very little of all three, so walking into Rosewood’s criminal underground simply because Janet could show him the door would therefore be stupid.
Buyer’s Alley was different because it was perfectly legal... mostly.
Damian entered the district shortly before noon, and noise immediately washed over him.
"Fresh Moonhorn meat! Eight Copper a cut!"
"Two Common longswords for forty-five Copper! Twenty-five each if you only want one!"
"Used Mage manuals! Firebolt, Light and Dancing Lights! Certified readable!"
"Who wants Frost Wasp venom?! Still fresh!"
The street was packed, with temporary stalls occupying both sides of the road and leaving only a broad path through the middle where shoppers moved shoulder to shoulder.
Unlike the Bazaar, sellers here were not necessarily permanent merchants.
Some were Adventurers offloading loot, some were craftsmen selling excess production, and some were villagers who had come into Rosewood for the day.
Others were novice merchants testing whether their products had demand before committing to proper shops.
That created both opportunity and risk.
There were few refunds in Buyer’s Alley.
A stall owner selling cheap swords today might be three towns away tomorrow.
If someone purchased defective equipment because they lacked the knowledge to identify it, that was largely their problem unless actual fraud could be proven.
Naturally, this did not stop people from coming.
Quite the opposite even.
For poorer residents, Buyer’s Alley was one of the most important commercial areas in Rosewood.
Why purchase a brand-new Cantrip manual from the Mage Association when an older mage could sell his used copy here for half the price?
Why purchase retail-priced armor when an Adventurer who had recently upgraded his equipment was selling a perfectly functional old set?
Even novice mages themselves operated stalls.
Damian passed one young woman sitting behind six carefully prepared magical manuals.
She had apparently copied her knowledge of <Light> and <Mage Hand> into specially treated books and was now trying to turn weeks of painstaking scribing into money.
Nobody paid Damian much attention either.
His mage robes indicated status, yes, but Standard-Class individuals were hardly mythical creatures inside Rosewood.
Not to mention that there were other mages shopping nearby.
Damian even spotted another mage arguing with an elderly merchant over the price of dried herbs.
As such, the young man fit in perfectly.
More importantly...
Damian possessed <Appraise I>, and that changed everything.
He stopped before his first interesting stall and casually picked up a thin scroll.
[Tradeable item detected.]
[Would you like to use <Appraise I>?]
’Yes.’
[Item: Scroll of Lesser Fire Ward
Grade: Common
Description: A single-use magical scroll containing a simplified defensive formula. Upon activation, temporarily increases resistance against ordinary flame and low-level fire magic.]
Damian returned it.
Another stall offered weapons.
[Item: Tempered Steel Shortsword
Grade: Common
Description: A properly forged steel shortsword intended for novice combatants. Durable, balanced and without magical enhancement.]
Then came a small crystal sold among spell components.
[Item: Mana Crystal
Grade: Common
Description: Naturally condensed mana trapped within mineral matter. Commonly consumed as an auxiliary power source for low-level enchantments, ritual arrays, magical devices and certain spellcasting procedures.]
Damian’s eyes lingered on that one.
Interesting, very interesting!
He moved again.
[Item: Vial of Restoration
Grade: Common
Description: A common alchemical potion that restores depleted Mental Energy for beings at and below Level 5, with severely diminishing effects above that threshold.]
Another.
[Item: Alchemical Fire Salt
Grade: Common
Description: A processed magical mineral mixture that rapidly generates heat when activated by mana or sufficient physical friction. Commonly used in camping equipment, alchemy, heating devices and low-level fire preparations.]
Every item created possibilities.
The problem was that <Appraise I> only told Damian what something was, not what it would be worth in Shengyuan.
That required judgment and experience.
Damian knew the general concept of cultivation worlds, from spirit stones, to pills, talismans, formations, cultivation techniques, and magical treasures.
He had consumed enough Eastern fantasy media on Earth to possess at least a broad cultural understanding.
Which meant one item immediately stood above the others.
Mana Crystals.
If Shengyuan operated according to anything resembling the cultivation stories he remembered, condensed supernatural energy was practically money.
Spirit stones were often currency, and Mana Crystals contained condensed mana!
Would the Dual-Realm Exchange System adapt them?
Could cultivators absorb them?
Could they power formations?
Could they substitute for spirit stones?
Damian did not know, but the possibility was too obvious to ignore.
"This lot. How much?" Damian asked, pointing toward a wooden crate filled with pale-blue crystals.
The merchant looked him over. "Forty Copper per kilogram."
Damian laughed with amusement and mockery, making the merchant frown.
"What? If you don’t want it, you can leave!"
Damian smirked coldly and pointed down. "You have twenty-six written beneath the crate."
The man looked down, noticing someone had apparently forgotten to remove yesterday’s chalk marking.
"...Thirty-five," he muttered with a light blush of shame at being caught.
But Damian didn’t care. "Twenty-five and I buy fifty kilograms."
The merchant’s expression changed.
A bulk purchase? Now they were speaking seriously!
"Thirty."
"Twenty-six."
"Twenty-eight."
"Fifty-two kilograms at twenty-seven."
The merchant calculated silently. "Done!"
Damian smiled.
His <Persuasion> Specialization certainly did not hurt.
His largest purchase of the day became fifty-two kilograms of Common Mana Crystals, more than half the minimum inventory needed for the Tutorial Quest.
Damian felt rather pleased with himself.
If anything was going to sell well inside a cultivation world, surely concentrated magical energy would.
His remaining purchases were deliberately diversified.
He bought twenty Vials of Healing from an Adventurer liquidating unused supplies.
"Twelve Copper each," the stocky man demanded.
"Ten."
"Eleven."
"Include the padded carrying case."
The Adventurer considered it. "Fine."
Twenty Healing Vials entered Damian’s growing inventory.
He did not think much about them.
Healing potions were useful everywhere, obviously, but cultivation worlds supposedly had miraculous pills capable of regrowing limbs and extending lifespans.
A cheap Common potion that only worked properly below Level 5 did not exactly scream revolutionary commodity.
Still, diversification was diversification.
Damian bought twelve Vials of Restoration for sixteen Copper each.
Another twelve Vials of Vigor followed.
[Item: Vial of Vigor
Grade: Common
Description: A common alchemical potion that rapidly restores physical stamina and reduces ordinary muscular exhaustion for beings at and below Level 5, with severely diminishing effects above that threshold.]
Those seemed practical.
He then purchased ten kilograms of Alchemical Fire Salt, twelve kilograms of powdered Common monster bone used in beginner alchemy and twenty kilograms of ordinary iron ingots from a smith looking to clear older inventory.
The iron was deliberately boring, and that was the point, since Damian wanted baseline goods.
If ordinary Valorian iron somehow became valuable in Shengyuan, that told him something important about differences between the worlds.
If it remained worthless, he had lost almost nothing.
Several rounds of haggling followed.
"Fourteen Copper per kilogram."
"Twelve."
"Thirteen."
"Twelve and I take all twenty."
"...Fine."
Damian quickly discovered he enjoyed this. Not the act of shopping itself, but the information and haggling behind it.
Every negotiation taught him something about Rosewood’s economy.
How desperately merchants needed liquidity, which goods possessed strong margins, what sellers considered dead inventory, and what disappeared quickly when priced below market.
His old logistics instincts blended surprisingly well with <Persuasion>.
By the time Damian finished, his projected trade stock exceeded one hundred kilograms.
He also purchased two Common Shield Spell Scrolls separately for personal use.
Those were not going into the trade inventory.
Damian was preparing to leave when something caught his attention, and not because it looked valuable, but quite the opposite.
A broken stall leaned crookedly between two more successful vendors.
Weapons, damaged armor pieces and monster materials had been dumped across it without much organization.
Behind the stall sat a Tiefling woman.
Damian’s footsteps slowed slightly.
Her skin was a deep smoky-red, while two black horns swept backward from her temples above long charcoal hair tied into a rough ponytail.
She wore battered dark leather armor exposing heavily muscled arms and part of her stomach, with a massive sword resting against the chair beside her.
Her face was sharp and strikingly attractive, while her powerful build possessed enough feminine curves to make the combination particularly dangerous to the eyes.
Damian looked once before wisely focusing on the merchandise.
She was strong; he could feel that much even without knowing her exact level, far stronger than him.
Still weaker than Roland, certainly, but that comparison did absolutely nothing to make Damian feel brave.
The Tiefling noticed him looking through her rubbish.
"If you break something, you buy it," she muttered irritably.
Damian raised an eyebrow. "Most of this already looks broken."
"Then you’re halfway toward buying!" she fired back with a snort.
...fair enough.
Damian casually activated <Appraise I> on several objects.
Junk, a damaged sword, a cracked beast horn, and a ruined armor plate.
Then—
[Item: Withered Mana Core
Grade: Common
Description: The depleted internal mana core of a deceased Level 10 Magical Beast. Most stored mana has dissipated due to improper preservation, leaving only damaged magical pathways and residual energy. Considered waste material for most conventional magical applications.]
Damian stared at it.
A dull grey sphere sat inside a small wooden bowl, looking like a dirty stone.
"How much for this?" he asked with interest.
The Tiefling glanced over. "Pffft, that dead core? Three Copper."
Damian almost laughed.
A Level 10 creature’s mana core for three dollars, according to his crude Earth conversion.
Worthless here, and possibly worthless there too.
But the entire reason Damian was experimenting was to discover what crossed between worlds effectively.
"I’ll take it!" the young man declared.
The Tiefling tossed it toward him, and Damian caught the core as she looked him over again.
"Tsk! A Novice Mage buying garbage, bulk mana crystals and beginner potions. Either you have a plan or you’re an idiot," she commented with a disdainful smile.
Damian, however, chuckled. "I’m hoping to discover which one."
For the first time, the Tiefling’s lips twitched faintly. "...Good luck with that."
Damian left Buyer’s Alley shortly afterward, and by the time he returned home, several hired porters had already delivered the heavier purchases he could not reasonably carry himself.
He did not store them in the system inventory because he wanted to leave a logistical trail for his bulk purchases, as he intended to do business here too.
After all, he wasn’t doing or planning any sneaky business, but open and aboveboard trading.
Damian locked the door, then the real fun began as he touched the first crate.
"Store."
The Common Mana Crystals vanished.
[Tradeable goods deposited.]
[Current Tutorial Progress: 52.0/100 kg.]
Damian’s heartbeat accelerated as he continued, moving through the Healing Vials, Restoration Vials, Vigor Vials, Fire Salt, Monster bone powder, and Iron.
One after another, the goods disappeared into the Dual-Realm Exchange Storage.
[Current Tutorial Progress: 63.4/100 kg.]
[Current Tutorial Progress: 75.4/100 kg.]
[Current Tutorial Progress: 87.4/100 kg.]
[Current Tutorial Progress: 107.4/100 kg.]
A bright notification appeared.
[Tutorial Quest Complete!]
[Stock The Shelves — Tutorial Quest Two.]
[Objective Completed: Acquire no less than 100 kilograms of tradeable goods and deposit them within the Dual-Realm Exchange Storage.]
[Reward Granted.]
[Permanent Realm Passage — Shengyuan unlocked!]
Damian stood motionless.
There it was, the second world finally unlocked!!
His excitement lasted approximately ten seconds before caution returned.
Damian was not going to step blindly into an unknown cultivation world wearing pajamas and optimism, so he spent the next hour preparing.
Staff, dagger, spellbook, guild card, potion belt, component pouch, food, water, and a small amount of physical Valorian currency.
He kept several useful items outside the system storage so they remained immediately accessible.
Then came magical protection.
Damian naturally cast <Mage Armor>, enduring the significant Mental Energy cost before allowing himself several minutes to recover as golden light settled invisibly around his body.
His Mental Energy was restored at a rate of what Damian estimated to be 8 points per hour.
When he left Otter Village, his Mental Energy sat at 17 points out of 70.
As it had been around six hours since the quest was done, his current Mental Energy total was 65, almost full up and definitely ready to rumble again since he still had two spell slots available.
Afterward, he removed one of the Shield Spell Scrolls.
"Better waste a few coins than discover the portal opens above a battlefield," Damian muttered to himself as he activated it.
The scroll dissolved into light, forming a second defensive magical structure around him that layered over Mage Armor.
Was it excessive? Possibly.
Did Damian care? Absolutely not.
He checked everything twice, then a third time.
Finally, Damian stood in the center of his bedroom, his heart beginning to beat faster.
"Dual-Realm Exchange System."
The familiar interface appeared.
[Permanent Realm Passage Available.]
[Destination: Shengyuan.]
[Warning: Host possesses no registered cultivation, identity or territorial affiliation within destination realm.]
[Proceed?]
Damian took one final look around his Rosewood home.
Less than two days ago, he had awakened in a forest knowing nothing.
Now he possessed a Mage Class, a house, and more than one hundred kilograms of goods hidden inside his system storage space.
And beyond this next step was an entirely different world!
Damian tightened his grip around the staff.
"Proceed!"
Space distorted in a quiet, almost unremarkable ripple, without any dramatic explosion, without thunder rolling through the air, and without a pillar of divine light announcing his departure.
It was as though reality itself had simply decided to fold him elsewhere.
Damian’s body simply blurred like bad pixels in a game before vanishing from the bedroom without leaving so much as a footprint behind.
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