After the second embarrassing encounter with the old elf, Liam sat by himself in the elven eatery with some mushroom dishes in front of him and a big jug of wine, which he quickly emptied.
He was hoping that he could take a shortcut, but it looked like this was going to be a hard grind with no end in sight. "Damn it." He was in a bad mood. However, he was not ready to give up just yet.
Even though the old guy was painfully infuriating, this was too important to give up. On the other hand, he couldn't simply go around hunting barbarians like chickens for days on end while also getting no experience points.
This was a lose-lose for him, no matter which way he looked at it. Unless… When Liam emptied the second jug of wine, he landed on a better idea.
He wasn't only good at fighting. He had two more tools at his disposal to win over the elves and enhance his standing in Kimoria. One was his forging abilities, and the other was his alchemy skills.
Not to mention that both of these were huge time sinks, just like the reputation battle he was currently in. So if he could do these both together, he would benefit a lot. A plan slowly took shape in his brain as Liam stood up and left the eatery.
But he did not jump right into anything. He first did a tour of the marketplace, where the elves usually conducted their trade.
Just like the royal palace, there were other teleportation gates for other places. What he saw just now was only a small portion of the elven city.
However, Liam didn't yet have the necessary permission to visit these places. So, he stayed put in this marketplace for the time being and observed the surroundings.
Once again, the first thing he noticed was the presence of abundant herbs. Some of these herbs were entirely new to him, and he had no idea what they were or what they did.
As he crossed by these new items, he paused and made sure to purchase some. Enough for him to gain some understanding of the herb, but not so much that he would raise any red flags.
"This is truly a Godsend location to purchase herbs." After only covering a quarter of the market, Liam had already made a number of purchases. "Wait, with these many herbs, it is so weird that they do not have any potions or pills for sale?"
Liam approached one of the stall owners to inquire about this. He first made a purchase and then asked the elf, "Do you know where I can find some potions for sale?"
Naturally, the elf gave him a hateful look before answering his question. "Hmph. Not everyone can purchase our potions. "Our products are the best in the world, but they are not accessible to every living thing that crawls to our lands."
Liam politely smiled and then left the shop without sparing another glance at the prideful elf. He was not disappointed. This was something he had already expected.
In the demon settlements, alchemists were a rarity, but over here in the elven lands, how could the same thing be true? With so many high-quality herbs available, it wouldn't be very difficult to nurture several top-tier alchemists.
And unlike the demons, the elves were well aware of the worth of their herbs. Even Liam's purchases were not cheap, in part because the prices were jacked up for him because he was a human and in part because the herbs were of high quality.
Taking everything into account, Liam swiftly arrived at the logical conclusion. Here, his forging skills would serve him a lot better than his alchemy knowledge. Now all he had to do was wait for Lyana to make another trip.
Like clockwork, the elven woman once again came looking for him after sending off her mother. Once more, she apologized profusely and repeatedly to Liam.
"Don't stress about it. In all honesty, I know you gave it your all. My destiny does not include learning from such a… ahem… wise elder. Let it be." The gentlemanly Liam smiled and said, "I actually have another favor I need to ask you..."
A couple of hours later…
There was a brand new stall in the elven marketplace, and surprisingly this stall was being run by a human being no less! The elves almost couldn't believe what they were seeing. Such a thing couldn't possibly happen in their lands, and yet here it was!
"I appreciate this a lot." Liam smiled at the elven woman in front of him.
"Please don't mention it. This was the least I could do." Since she hailed from a noble family, she was easily able to pull strings and get this done.
After all, this marketplace was for commoners to exchange goods, so there wasn't much fuss. After making sure everything was fine, Lyana bowed and left.
Liam then finally started the second phase of his plan. This time, it had to work! No, it will work! He was sure of it because what he was planning to sell was anything but ordinary.
Not bothering to display any items in his newly set up shop, Liam started taking out some things one after the other. In a few minutes, the makeshift shop turned into a proper forging space.
Not long after that, something new once again happened in the same marketplace. A human being was grabbing the spotlight in the elven settlement by continuously hammering on the same weapon for hours together.
At first, the elves did not take notice of him because the purple sword he was forging did not seem like it was anything special. However, after three hours, the weapon began emitting a strong and powerful aura.
Moreover, the weapon was also being forged right in front of everyone. Soon some of the elves started drooling as the impressive weapon in front of them was slowly finished to perfection.
<Ding. Your Forging skill proficiency has increased>
<Ding. Forging successfully completed>
<Ding. Dawn's Sword>
<Ding. Rating: Semi-Epic>
Liam lifted the purple sword, a replica of his own sword, and nodded in satisfaction. He then placed the newly forged weapon on the stand with a polite smile on his face.
Almost instantly, a loud uproar erupted among the elves who had gathered around and had been watching this one-man show up until now.
This was a fine weapon! No, it was an amazing weapon! They did not even have to inspect it. They could tell that much just from looking at it.
And this weapon was made right in front of their eyes by this genius, hardworking human being! Liam's status among this small elven community instantly skyrocketed as everyone clamored to buy the weapon from him.
As commoners, they did not have the chance to buy high-quality weapons like this, and especially now since they were at war on all sides, a weapon like this could change their whole life!
"I will take it for 1 gold coin!"
"Snort! 1 gold coin? Who are you trying to cheat? I will take it for 10 gold coins!"
"Hey, wait a second. I will take it for 20 gold coins!"
"30!"
"40!"
"Damn it! 41!"
Different numbers started flying left and right, and finally, a tall elf walked forward and announced confidently, "61 gold coins."
Everyone else immediately grew silent, as they couldn't afford such an exorbitant cost. They also did not have that many gold coins at hand. So they had to give up.
Liam didn't care much about the cost as earning money whilst selling this was simply a side hustle. His main motive was still the reputation gains, and that was going to take some more time.
Heh. Liam grinned as he looked at the crowd around the shop. No, maybe it won't take that much time after all.
