Chapter 11 Knowing it is fake but buying it
Reason told Amber Xiu that the Alchemy City would never give him the real thing for 500 gold coins, but he couldn't help but want to see how real this fake thing was.
The saleswoman handed a small bottle of silver solution to Amberxiu mysteriously.
It feels heavy in the hand, but there is not much difference in weight.
But when Amber took a closer look, he immediately showed a disappointed expression.
"Your mercury is divided into layers. No, this is all mercury."
Amberxiu was not an expert in alchemy, but he was also an expert and knew what this thing was at a glance.
A small amount of real living mercury solution is then mixed with ordinary mercury. There may be no difference in appearance, but an expert can see the incompatible color stratification of the two.
Living mercury can melt almost all metals and can be easily replaced, but it cannot melt real mercury.
The counterfeiting level of these 500 gold coins is too low.
The saleswoman said with some guilt: "I knew you were an expert. Don't worry, this is a sample. It is meant for people who know the business to see clearly so that we can continue the discussion."
After saying this, the saleswoman quickly changed the bottle.
This bottle of living mercury made Amber Xiu marvel.
At least there is no flaw in the appearance. It may need to be opened for testing to determine whether it is genuine or a fake.
"Two completely different levels of counterfeiting, both worth 500 gold coins?" Amber asked.
"That's definitely not the case. The bottle just now cost 500 gold coins, and this one will cost at least 3,000 gold coins."
Amber was about to say that he wanted to inspect the goods, but suddenly an idea flashed in his mind, and he praised: "This is not living mercury, it is corpse mercury solution. No wonder you can't tell from the appearance, you are smart."
The saleswoman immediately showed a surprised expression, then lowered her voice and said, "Don't be so loud, are you going to buy it or not?"
The saleswoman was panicking. She had only wanted to sell the product to earn some commission, but who would have thought that this young alchemist could tell the fake product at a glance. This was a fake made by the Alchemist Council, and it was said that it was impossible to tell the flaws.
As a result, this young man only took a glance and guessed the principle without even opening the bottle to check the goods? How is this possible? I am afraid that I have encountered a kind of old man who pretends to be a pig and eats the tiger. Why is an old man who is hundreds of years old pretending to be young? !
Looking at the young lady's expression, Amber Xiu knew that he had guessed correctly. To be honest, this trick was not complicated at all.
Living mercury is a failed product of the Alchemy City. They originally wanted to create a new type of slime, but what they ended up with was a mercury slime in a "vegetative" state.
Alive, but without any consciousness, and unable to even move, with only the instinct to devour metal left.
If it weren't for the fact that its metal-swallowing instinct worked pretty well, it would probably have been thrown away as scrap.
But the "vegetative" slime is also a living creature, and living things will eventually die.
Dead mercury slimes will not rot and look exactly the same as when they were alive, so much so that the alchemists in the Alchemy City cannot tell whether they are dead or alive. The only way to tell is to throw a piece of metal into it.
Living mercury slimes can also devour metals, but dead ones no longer have this ability.
I don't know which genius came up with this idea, cutting out a piece of the living mercury slime and mixing it with the dead mercury slime's body, making it into this half-dead state.
The effect of swallowing metal does exist, but it is greatly reduced.
But an outsider probably cannot figure out whether the quality of the living mercury has deteriorated or whether the living mercury has become "weakened" during transportation. They might even think that it can be restored by keeping it for a few days.
As for the inferior counterfeit products, it is probably that the people below saw them and made them on their own. Maybe this saleswoman made them on her own to make some extra money.
It's just that he couldn't fool an expert like Amber Xiu, so he brought out a high-end fake.
The City of Alchemy also knows that the genuine products are too expensive to sell, and without money to maintain them, these living mercury will just keep dying. They are losing money every day, so they have to come up with this kind of dirty trick.
Amber Xiu felt that many people had been fooled into paying full price for such high-end fakes.
A clever but very underhanded move.
As expected of the City of Alchemy, this city has been the richest city in the continent for many years, but it has never appeared on the morality rankings.
Amber Xiu originally wanted to refuse.
Because he wanted to do business with his friends in the Mourning Poets Society.
He was in dire need of money, but the money he earned through fraud would definitely be lost very quickly. The headless knight's eldest brother was the son-in-law of the Bone Dragon family. If he found out that his private money was not hidden well, his wife would definitely find out, and this brother would definitely not help him keep it a secret.
At that time, he will face a legendary bone dragon and the wrath of the legendary headless knight.
After this mixed doubles attack by the couple, the life box of Amber Xiu, the counterfeit legendary, was about to be smashed to pieces. It was definitely a losing deal.
As soon as he returned the bottle in his hand, Amberxiu thought of a problem.
Is a dead mercury slime also considered a corpse?
Amberxiu only had a basic understanding of alchemy, but he was a true expert in necromancy.
He originally wanted to ask the Alchemy Association whether they had ever used necromancy on this deadly mercury slime, but he swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
This idea was just something he came up with on a whim. Maybe the Alchemy Association was blind to this idea and had never thought of it? Wouldn't he have reminded them by saying this?
If it is useful, it will be a good opportunity for the Alchemy Association to turn the tide. These capitalists will definitely not pay him copyright fees.
Thinking of this, Amber said to the saleswoman, "Three thousand gold coins is too expensive. Can it be cheaper?"
"The price is clearly marked. No bargaining."
"The ones with clearly marked prices are genuine, yours is a fake!"
“It really can’t be cheap.”
"Then send two bottles of this inferior product."
…
After some bargaining, Amber spent three thousand gold coins and got a bottle of high-end fake plus a bottle of low-end stuff, and also got two packets of enchanted seeds as a bonus.
It can be seen that live mercury is really unsalable.
Amber was originally planning to walk around a few more times, after all, to feed people in the lich's territory, he needed to prepare more things. But now he only had this bottle of living mercury solution in his mind, and his intuition told him that there was a huge business opportunity here.
After leaving the Alchemy City, Amberxiu rushed back to his castle as quickly as possible, even turning into smoke and drilling in from the roof.
After removing the effect of the transmutation spell, Amberxiu turned back into the evil and ferocious lich and went straight to the laboratory with the two bottles of fake drugs.
Isabel was still diligently preparing petrified lizard oil, and there were already quite a few finished products on the shelf. After Amber's instruction, she finally mastered the preparation method of this potion. This girl with solid basic skills prepared ten bottles of petrified lizard oil, and only failed once, which was a very good result.
But when Amber's eyes swept over the wasted materials, Isabel still felt her heart jump to her throat.
Would this lich be angry because she wasted these materials? Would he turn her into an experimental subject for his necromancy? There was no expression on the lich's skull face, but it looked ferocious. This lich walked towards Isabel without saying a word. She just felt the pressure of survival coming at her, and couldn't help but want to find someone to help.
What about the little boy who could perform alchemy? Is he also a ghost?
Although he only gave me a few pointers, he can still be considered my teacher.
Teacher, please come out and save your students!
(End of this chapter)