This magic apprentice is so old, not well maintained, and has a lot of wrinkles on his face. There is some white hair between his sideburns, and most of Qin Yin's black hair or brown hair can't hide it.

However, this old apprentice was cleanly dressed and had a special cleaning technique on his body, which was almost spotless.

Seeing the meekness in the old apprentice's brown pupils, Salin first despised it, and then couldn't bear it. This person will not be able to become an official mage in his life, and if he hadn't discovered the magic string potion, he would probably be in the same situation more than thirty years later.

Not everyone has that kind of opportunity, and not everyone has their own courage or recklessness.

If you can't form a magic string, you'll never become a respected mage. Many people changed careers, went to learn swords, and even became thieves for a living.

"What can you do?" Salin didn't ask Rex either, they had come to Alchemy City to inquire about Jason's whereabouts. The Grykos family can't send someone to collect intelligence in Alchemy City, and this Rex doesn't say that Salin understands it. If you want to find someone, it's better to ask the head snake.

In Ceylon City, for example, if you want to find someone as quickly as possible, you have to find a child like Dick. Before he became a thief, Dick did almost anything. He is stronger than Saline and can also work part-time jobs.

"Adults, do you want to stay for a long time, or do you want to leave in three or two months?" asked the old apprentice with a smile.

"We haven't figured it out yet, but let's make plans for a long stay. ”

"In that case, let me introduce myself, my name is Sumano, a senior apprentice. ”

"Saleen. "Saleen didn't introduce Sumano to anyone else, this old apprentice was just a passerby, and at this age, even the gods couldn't change his future. Sumano was destined not to have any lifelong friendships with someone like Rex, and there were a large number of magic apprentices in Bitterwater, eighty percent of whom were under the age of eighteen.

Su Manor still smiled and said, "Lord Salin, if you live for a long time, do you plan to buy a house or rent a ready-made house?"

"Oh, what's the difference?"

As Saleen asked, Sumano's stomach grumbled and she screamed. He smiled awkwardly, but took the initiative to say, "Lord Salin, I can explain everything for you, so can I have a glass of ale?"

The old apprentice expressed it euphemistically, and Salin nodded: "Lead the way, don't be too expensive, I can only afford to pay the gold coins." ”

Su Mano bowed down and made a gesture of please, with brisk steps, and led Salin and the others through the narrow alley on the side of the street, and came to another road, he said as he walked: "My lord, although this is an alchemy city, it has the same place as other cities. For example, things near the city gate are at least 10% more expensive.

Salin didn't reply, it was the first time he had walked into that kind of alley, and on both sides of the alley were huge and incomparably tall buildings, and when he looked up, he could only see a glimmer of sky. Moreover, the walls on both sides are similar to the walls of ordinary towns, and the materials used are some substitutes for steel and rock, except that they cannot directly depict the magic array, there is no difference in the degree of solidity.

The buildings on both sides have the feeling of falling towards the center, and if a magic trap is designed here, it will be difficult for the great magician to escape.

The city was unlike any town Salin had ever seen, it was as if it had been relocated from another plane, and it was alien to the human city that Salin knew.

Sumano walked a dozen streets with five men before stopping in front of a tavern.

"Lord Salin, is this house okay? A person can spend a dozen gold coins at most. ”

Salin nodded in agreement, a dozen gold coins, which is all the income of ordinary people in a year. Placed in the Alchemy City, it is just the consumption of a meal. This kind of life, before he met Jason, he couldn't have imagined. At that time, his biggest dream was to go to the Whale of Ceylon for a meal, preferably once a month.

In Ceylon Whale, as long as you don't order whales or monsters in the sea, one gold coin is enough for other dishes. I remembered that the first time I was in distress was because of a gold coin. Salin sighed with emotion and followed Sumano into the tavern.

Salin also stayed in Qin Yin for a while, and knew that Qin Yin customs, ale wine was relatively expensive, because the Qin Yin Empire attached importance to agriculture and imposed heavy taxes on ale wine. If that nobleman dares to make wine without permission to evade taxes, he may even be deprived of his fiefdom. It's not like this hasn't happened, there is a viscount who even went to war with the emperor [***] team for this, and the end can be imagined.

Therefore, Qin Yin's tavern is actually a restaurant, and the wine served is mainly fruit wine.

A waiter greeted him and took six people to find a place to sit down, Salin didn't find the sign of the dish, and the waiter handed over a thick book.

"What is this?"

"Recipes, you can choose your favorite dish by following the pattern above. The waiter patiently explained that there were many people who came to Alchemy City every year, not only magicians, but also some ordinary people. Most of these ordinary people are aristocrats, and they come to Alchemy City to play in order to hunt for curiosities.

"Oh?" Salin took the waiter's recipe and flipped through it. On each page of it was a whole magical image, with soft colors, and it seemed that the magician had magically recorded the appearance of the dish and left it on the recipe made of the monster's skin. This cookbook is thick and heavy, at least more than a hundred pages, and I don't know how many gold coins it cost.

Of course, all this will be earned back from the consumption of guests, although the number of Qin Yin nobles is not as large as in other countries, there are not many rich people at all. Coming to Alchemy City may be a good choice for many people. There are so many magical landscapes here, so much magic that is integrated into life, and Sareen doesn't know any other city that is so wonderful except in Holy Rock City.

In other cities, there are many wooden signs hanging on the walls of the restaurant as soon as you enter the door, and the names of the dishes that can be made on the day are written on them.

This cookbook is nothing more than that, with the addition of a gimmick of magical images, it can make people appetite high. What makes Salin feel more intimate is that the magic image of this recipe also indicates the ingredients of the dish, as well as the corresponding price for each month.

Salin glanced at it roughly, he didn't care what he was eating, he came here to ask Sumano about the situation of Alchemy City. He glanced at Rex and asked, "What do you want to eat?" ”

"Feel free to let them recommend it. "Rex has a delicate appetite for food, but she doesn't necessarily have to endure hardship when she's far away from Bitterwater. She can still fight the Black Butler even if she has a few broken bones on her body, and she will not be untimely and picky about her diet.

"Then you recommend it, we want a share of eight people. Salin said to the waiter. Neris didn't eat much, and she would often collect some things that Salin couldn't swallow, and Salin ordered two more servings, which were for Sika.

The waiter patiently asked everyone if there was any taboo food, and then chose a set of set meals for eight people for Salin and the others.

There was already dessert, cider, and soup in the package, so there was no need to choose anything else, and Salin just asked Sumano for an extra glass of ale.

The ale was served first, but Sumano did not drink it, and he respectfully said to Salin: "Lord Salin, you can ask me a question first. ”

Salin saw that the cup of Sumano's ale was not small, and he was afraid that he would not be able to ask anything if he drank too much, so he asked, "Sumano, what is the difference between buying a house and renting a ready-made house?"

"You start with a lot of investment in buying a house, but you can sell it when you leave, and after deducting the tax on the transaction, the money you lose is much cheaper to rent a house. You should have noticed that the houses in Alchemy City are very large, but there are less than a million people in this city. According to the area of Alchemy City, it is not a problem for so many tall buildings to live three or five times the population. In Alchemy City, you can rent a house that can accommodate thirty or fifty people. ”

"Oh, isn't that a waste?"

"My lord, those nobles came to Alchemy City to waste it. There are not a few who spend thousands of gold coins every day. At this point, Sumano sighed. He didn't come to play, he came to Alchemy City after becoming a high-level magic apprentice at the age of 20, and more than thirty years have passed in a flash, and when his temples are gray, he still hasn't made an inch.

But he didn't want to go, he loved the city. He can't be a magician himself, and he is very satisfied when he looks at those magical buildings, those puppets, and the surprised expressions of those players every day.

Leaving Alchemy City, he didn't know what to do. It's just that life here is difficult, and he has to travel every day, and he has given up studying magic.

"How much does it cost me to buy a house?"

"You can customize it, it can be built in a day, if you pay a deposit, you don't have to spend money to wait for the day, and the person who sells the house will arrange it for you. If you don't ask for a location, two million gold coins is about the same, but if you want to build a nice house and want to have a good location, you need to pay some special materials in addition to nine million gold coins. ”

"So expensive!"

Saleen was prepared, but he was still a little confused by this number. Is it just to buy a house, but to spend so much money?

"It's not expensive, the five of you, if you rent a house, the annual rent will be at least hundreds of thousands of gold coins. When you buy a house, when you sell it, you will only deduct less than 20% of the tax. A house with two million gold coins will probably only deduct 300,000 gold coins, and a house with nine million gold coins will deduct 1.8 million gold coins from you. The longer you stay, the more cost-effective it becomes. ”

Salin didn't believe this nonsense, the longer he lived, the more it would cost. There is less expenditure on the house, but more expenses for other expenses. Eating every day is a problem, plus the consumption of magic cores also has to be purchased in Alchemy City, even if the price here is not tricky, it will definitely not provide you with ordinary magic cores.

It's not a matter of magic, it's a matter of pure business, and Saleen is a Scochenian with a keen instinct for this kind of thing.

(To be continued)