After he received 200,000 mid-grade and 15 million low-grade Mana stones, Max was very excited. He clenched the spatial bag containing the mid-grade stones and thought, 'Only 75,000 more to go. I hope I can find them within a week.'
After that, they bade goodbye to Siana and headed toward the beauty pill shop.
Around ten minutes later, they arrived at the south side of the market. They could see many medicine shops in a row there.
"It seems this part only has medicine shops here," Rima commented.
The servant girl nodded, "Yes, milady. The southern part of the market deals with only medicinal items."
She then led them to a normal-looking shop and said, "Respected guests, this is the shop."
"Thank you for leading us here." Max smiled at her, took out a hundred low-grade Mana stones and chucked them into her hands.
The servant girl's hands trembled in excitement when she was them, however, she suppressed it and said, "My lord. I can't take so many..."
"Don't worry. Just take them." Max said before walking toward the shop.
There were only three people standing in front of the shop, asking a short-statured old Elvin man sitting at the counter about the things they needed. After listening to what the customer wanted, the old man would tell the two servants standing behind him who would go deep into the shop and bring out the medicine the customer wanted while the old man yawned lazily.
When he noticed Max's group approach the shop, the old man raised his head and looked at them and asked, "Humans? What do you need?"
Max didn't mind his cold attitude and said, "Shopkeeper, I was told that this shop has a beauty pill. I would like to buy it."
"Oh, the beauty pill?" The old shopkeeper seemed surprised and asked, "You got money? Let me tell you, It's very expensive."
Max sighed in relief when he heard this. This meant the last beauty pill hadn't been sold yet which he had been concerned about.
He asked, "How much is it?"
"Um, let's..." The old man held his chin and put on a pondering expression. After a few moments, he said, "500,000 Mana stones."
"500,000? I heard it was only around 80,000. How come it's so expensive?" Max narrowed his eyes as he asked. He knew this old man was trying to swindle him. Although he didn't mind spending half a million stones for it since he had millions to spare, that doesn't mean he would pay whatever price the old man wanted.
"What do you know? It's one of the most difficult pills to concoct and the ingredients required for it are also very rare. If you want it, pay 500,000 if not, get lost." The old man snapped.
However, inwardly he was praying that Max wouldn't go and pay 500,000. A few weeks ago, he acquired the formula to refine a grade four pill.
However, just after a few days, he ran out of money because the ingredients were quite expensive and he failed many times when refining the pill, and wasted all of them. So, now he needed more money very urgently so he could start refining again.
However, his shop wasn't doing well so he was still ways off from buying just one set of ingredients. So, he had been wondering how he could gather money quickly. He had some precious pills he could sell, but he didn't want that so he was in a dilemma.
So, when Max showed up asking for the beauty pill, his hope was immediately ignited because he knew the uses of the beauty pill and only the people who needed it very much would come asking for it and normally they would be willing to pay way above its usual price.
When Max didn't speak after he snapped, he became nervous and thought, 'Should I ask for 400,000?'
However, just then, Max spoke, "Okay. 500,000 it is."
The old man became jubilant when he heard this and said, "Okay dear customer. I'll bring your pill out in a moment. Please prepare the Mana stones."
After saying this, he left the counter in a hurry and headed deep into the shop, leaving Max and others standing there with dumbfounded looks on their faces.
Leticia commented, "This old man, he is too shameless."
Max shook his head. He was also speechless. For a moment, the old man was completely indifferent toward them, in the next, his attitude took a 180-degree turn. It was amusing to see, to be honest.
After a while, the old man came out carrying a small crystal case in his hand. He handed it to Max and said, "The pill is inside, please check it and pay up."
Max opened the case and a strong pill fragrance wafted out. Since he didn't know if it was truly the beauty pill, he showed it to Belen who nodded, "Yes, it is the beauty pill."
Seeing this, the old man's expression became ugly and he angrily said, "Young lad, who do you think you are dealing with? Did you think I would sell you fake medicine? Damn it, I don't want to sell to you anymore, give it back and get lost."
He became angrier the more he spoke and by the end of his words, he tried snatching it from his hands.
Max didn't expect him to burst out like this just because he asked Belen to check the pill and was stunned for a moment.
However, reacted quickly and jumped back and said, "I apologize shopkeeper. However, it was not my intention to disrespect or doubt you. I asked her only because I wanted to confirm it was what I needed since it's very important to me."
Hearing his apology, the old man calmed down and grunted, "You'll have to pay 600,000 now since you disrespected me by doubting the authenticity of the pill for whatever reason. If you don't pay, I won't sell it."
Hearing this, a thought crossed Max's mind, 'Did I... just get cheated?'
