11: Chapter 11 The mysterious old man saw right through you: You're a novice, aren't you?

Lin Feng spent two hours wandering around the back alleys.

His procurement strategy was simple and crude: look only at white-grade equipment, and only at the cheapest options.

"Boss, how much for this pile?"

He squatted in front of a street stall, pointing at a pile of rusted blades and swords in the corner.

The stall owner was a bald, burly man who was currently squatting and munching on a meat bun. Hearing this, he glanced over. "That pile... it's all scrap. If you want it, take it all for 10 points."

Lin Feng counted; there were about fifteen or sixteen pieces.

"8."

"Deal."

The burly man briskly stuffed the pile of junk into a burlap sack and handed it to Lin Feng.

Lin Feng scanned the code to pay and picked up the sack.

Just two steps in, he felt something was wrong.

It was too heavy.

Moreover, the sack was bulging so much it nearly burst.

"I need to change to a Storage Pouch..."

His current storage backpack was the standard version issued by the Explorers Guild, with a capacity of 1 cubic meter.

It was fine for carrying a few Materials and pieces of equipment normally, but for this kind of bulk procurement, it simply wasn't enough.

Lin Feng walked to the area of the market specifically dedicated to selling storage equipment.

There weren't many stalls here, but each one was surrounded by quite a few people.

Storage equipment was considered rare items and was quite expensive.

"Boss, how much for a Storage Pouch?"

Lin Feng squeezed his way to a stall.

The stall owner was a middle-aged man wearing glasses, fiddling with several palm-sized cloth pouches.

"1 cubic meter is 5,000 points. 2 cubic meters is 12,000. 5 cubic meters... currently out of stock."

"So expensive?" Lin Feng frowned.

"Think it's expensive?" The man rolled his eyes. "Go ask around at other stalls; it's the same price everywhere. Storage equipment is difficult to make, don't you understand?"

Lin Feng indeed didn't understand.

But he needed more space.

Gritting his teeth, he said, "Give me two 1-cubic-meter ones."

"Ten thousand points." The man handed over two gray cloth pouches.

Lin Feng paid and took the pouches.

[Storage Pouch (White)]

[Capacity: 1 cubic meter]

[Description: The lowest-grade storage equipment, can only store inanimate objects]

He walked to a deserted corner, looked around, and made sure no one was paying attention.

Then he took out the two Storage Pouches.

Activate Talent!

[Detected mergeable items: Storage Pouch ×2]

[Same type of equipment]

[Minimum consumption: 30 mana]

[Maximum consumption: 150 mana]

[Warning: Fusing spatial equipment carries high risk and may trigger spatial tremors]

"Risk?" Lin Feng hesitated for a moment.

But thinking about the large quantity of items he still needed to procure, he gritted his teeth: "30 mana, let's try it!"

Hum—

The two Storage Pouches floated up, and the spatial runes on their surfaces began to flicker.

The surrounding air distorted slightly.

Lin Feng felt his head grow heavy as 30 mana points were instantly drained.

Fortunately, his spirit attribute was high, and with a maximum mana of 80 points, he could still withstand it.

The Fusion process lasted for ten seconds.

The light faded away.

A dark gray cloth pouch fell into his hand.

It was a size larger than the original, with silver patterns flowing across its surface.

[Obtained Item: Medium Storage Pouch]

[Quality: E-rank (Blue Excellent)]

[Capacity: 10 cubic meters]

[Effect: Spatial Stability +1, Item access speed increased by 2%]

[Description: The product of a perfect Fusion of two small Storage Pouches]

"10 cubic meters!" Lin Feng's eyes lit up.

The capacity had increased tenfold!

And the access speed had even improved.

"This should be enough now."

He transferred the items from his original storage backpack and stuffed the junk he just bought into it.

Easily handled.

"Continue procurement."

Lin Feng was now full of drive.

With 10 cubic meters of space, he could buy without restraint.

He visited three more stalls.

He bought four piles of white-grade junk, spending less than 50 points.

The Storage Pouch was about half full.

"That's about enough; let's go see if there are any special Materials..."

Lin Feng walked to the deepest part of the market.

This was already the end of the street, and the flow of people had significantly decreased.

Stalls were sparse, mostly selling strange and peculiar things.

Suddenly, he saw a unique stall.

The stall was very small, just a broken wooden table.

Behind the table sat a White-haired Old Man with his eyes closed, seemingly dozing off.

The old man looked to be in his seventies or eighties, face full of wrinkles, sitting in a wheelchair.

The strangest part was the items displayed on his stall.

[Glowing Stone (Green)]: Price 2,000 points

[Ever-writing Quill (Green)]: Price 1,500 points

[Self-heating Cup (White)]: Price 800 points

They were all nonsensical gadgets.

And the prices were ten times that of items of the same quality!

No wonder there wasn't a single person in front of the stall.

Lin Feng walked over curiously and picked up the Glowing Stone.

It felt warm to the touch, with a halo of light flowing inside; it was indeed quite beautiful.

But 2,000 points? This was highway robbery.

He looked at the other things.

The quill indeed never ran out of ink—but the handwriting it produced was very faint, making it not very practical.

The cup could heat up automatically, but the temperature only reached 40 degrees, neither hot nor cold.

"Young man, have you seen enough?"

A raspy voice suddenly sounded.

Lin Feng was startled and looked up.

The old man had opened his eyes at some point.

They were a pair of cloudy but deep eyes, like two ancient wells, bottomless.

"Old Sir, these things of yours... are quite special," Lin Feng said, choosing his words carefully.

"Special?" The old man laughed, revealing a gum line missing two front teeth. "You mean specially expensive, right?"

Lin Feng laughed awkwardly.

"However..." The old man sized Lin Feng up, his gaze lingering on him for a few seconds. "Young man, your Physique... is very pure."

Lin Feng's heart tightened.

He had only recently undergone his Awakening; logically, ordinary people shouldn't be able to tell.

"Old Sir, what are you saying?"

"I said your Physique is pure." The old man narrowed his eyes. "Light attribute affinity... 90%? No, it should be higher. Prodigy level?"

Lin Feng broke into a cold sweat.

This old man saw right through his background with a single glance?

"Don't be nervous." The old man waved his hand. "I'm just an old man making a blind guess. However..."

He leaned in closer and lowered his voice: "You're still a rookie, aren't you?"

Lin Feng: "..."

His face instantly turned red.

How could this old man be so improper?!

"Old Sir, I'm here to buy things..." Lin Feng tried to change the subject.

"I know, I know." The old man sat back, returning to his lazy demeanor. "Just a joke. Young people are so thin-skinned."

He pointed to the items on the stall: "Which ones do you fancy? This old man is in a good mood today; I'll give you a few pieces for free."

Free?

Lin Feng became even more wary.

Pies don't fall from the sky.

"Old Sir, I'd rather buy them. Please give me a fair price."

"Fair price?" The old man scratched his white hair. "The cost of these things... forget it, you wouldn't understand even if I told you. How about this: whatever you pick, fifty percent off the listed price."

Fifty percent off?

That was still expensive.

But Lin Feng was indeed interested in these strange and peculiar items.

He thought for a moment and pointed at the Glowing Stone and the quill: "How much for these two?"

"The stone is 1,000, the pen is 750, total 1,750. I'll round it down for you, 1,700."

Lin Feng's mouth twitched.

That was a very 'generous' rounding down.

But he still scanned the code and paid.

"Thank you for your business." The old man smiled as he collected the money. "Young man, let me give you a piece of advice."

"Please speak."

"A Light attribute Physique grows fast in the early stages, but it's easy to hit a Bottleneck in the Late Stage," the old man said slowly. "Especially for someone with such extremely high purity like yours. If you want to achieve a Breakthrough, you have to find the right path."

Lin Feng's heart stirred: "What path?"

"Realize it yourself." The old man closed his eyes again. "Everyone is different. All I can say is... don't rely too much on your Talent."

Don't rely too much on Talent?

Lin Feng mulled over these words. Even if this old man was incredible enough to see through a Physique, could he also see a Talent? That would be unbelievable!

However, his Talent was [Fusion], and so far it indeed seemed ridiculously strong.

But the old man's meaning... could it be that there are drawbacks to combining this Physique of his with many Talents?

"Old Sir, you..."

"Alright, alright, this old man needs to sleep." The old man waved his hand as if shooing away a fly. "Come back often when you have nothing to do; there will be new gadgets arriving in a while."

Lin Feng knew he wouldn't get anything more out of him.

He put away the stone and the quill and bowed politely: "Thank you for your guidance, Old Sir."

The old man didn't respond; he was already letting out slight snores.

Lin Feng turned and left.

After a few steps, he glanced back.

The old man was still sitting there, like a statue.

"What a strange person..."

Lin Feng shook his head, putting the matter out of his mind for now.

He had more important things to do now.

...

Leaving the end of the street, Lin Feng headed straight for the potion area.

He wanted to buy potions.

Elementary Mana Potions were a key link in his plan.

If he could fuse Intermediate or even Advanced potions, he could achieve a 'perpetual motion'—using potions to recover mana, and using mana to fuse more potions.

Stepping on his own left foot with his right to ascend to heaven on the spot!

Just thinking about it was exciting.

The potion area was even more crowded than the equipment area.

After all, potions were consumables that every Explorer needed.

"Boss, how much for Elementary Mana Potions?"

Lin Feng squeezed his way to a stall.

"Small bottle is 20, medium bottle is 500, large bottle is 1,000." The stall owner was a plump auntie. "How many do you want?"

"Small bottles, give me twenty first."

"400 points."

Lin Feng paid and took twenty thumb-sized glass bottles.

[Elementary Mana Potion (Small)]

[Quality: White Common]

[Effect: Immediately restores 5 mana points after drinking]

[Cooldown: 3 minutes]

Twenty bottles could restore a total of 100 mana points.

It was enough for him to perform many Fusion experiments.

"I'll buy some Health Potions too."

He bought another ten bottles of Elementary Health Potions, spending 200 points.

Adding the various miscellaneous items he bought earlier, he had spent nearly ten thousand points today.

But Lin Feng felt it was worth it.

If the potion Fusion was successful, these investments would return dozens of times over.

"Going home!"

He couldn't wait to hop on his bike and speed toward his apartment.

Ten minutes later, Lin Feng burst through his front door.

Without even changing his shoes, he rushed into the living room and dumped out everything he had bought.

Clatter—

The floor was covered with various scrap equipment, peculiar items, and thirty bottles of potions.

Lin Feng first picked up two bottles of Elementary Mana Potions.

Deep breath.

"Success or failure depends on this one move..."

He activated his Talent.

[Detected mergeable items: Elementary Mana Potion ×2]

[Same type of potion]

[Minimum consumption: 5 mana]

[Maximum consumption: 50 mana]

"5 points, let's try!"

Hum—

The two potions fused in his hands.

Light flashed.

Five seconds later.

A pale blue potion appeared in his palm.

It was a size larger than the original.

[Obtained Item: Intermediate Mana Potion (Small)]

[Quality: Green Excellent]

[Effect: Immediately restores 15 mana points after drinking]

[Cooldown: 3 minutes]

[Description: A concentrated essence of two Elementary potions]

"It worked!" Lin Feng was ecstatic.

And the effect wasn't a simple addition!

Two Elementary bottles restored 5 each, totaling 10 points.

But after Fusion, it became 15 points, a 50% increase!

"Again!"

He fused two more bottles.

Another Intermediate one.

"Continue!"

Lin Feng felt like he had discovered a new world, frantically fusing potions.

The twenty bottles of Elementary Mana Potions were all fused into ten Intermediate ones.

Each cost 40 points (the price of two Elementary ones).

What was the market price?

Lin Feng quickly checked.

[Intermediate Mana Potion (Small)], market price: 80-100 points!

The profit doubled!

And the effect was better!

"Now for the Health Potions..."

Ten bottles of Elementary Health Potions fused into five Intermediate ones.

[Intermediate Health Potion (Small)]: Restores 15 Health points, market price around 90.

"I'm rich, I'm rich..."

Lin Feng was so excited his hands were shaking.

But he quickly calmed down.

"I can't sell them all. I need to keep some for myself."

Intermediate potions restored more, and the cooldown was the same.

This meant he could use fewer potions to support a longer duration of Fusion.

"Stepping on my own left foot... it really works!"

Lin Feng looked at the potions in his hand, a fire igniting in his eyes.

He seemed to see a grand path to the heavens.

Use Talent to make money.

Use money to buy resources.

Use resources to improve strength.

Use strength to explore the deeper levels of Talent.

Outside the window, the night deepened.

Lin Feng sat amidst a pile of equipment and potions, beginning to plan his next move.

The shop was already open.

Potion Fusion was a success.

Next up was mass production and rapid capital accumulation.

Then... pushing for higher-level Fusion.

For example, fusing blue equipment into purple?

For example, fusing skill books into higher-level skills?

For example... those abstract things?

Lin Feng recalled the White-haired Old Man's words.

"Don't rely too much on your Talent..."

He shook his head.

"I'll rely on it for now."

"I'll worry about that when I'm qualified to consider the question."

In the young man's eyes, light flickered.

It was ambition, and it was also hope.