Mystery: From the Shadow World

Chapter 7: Dragon Bar
"Forget it, let's talk about it tonight."

After tossing and turning in bed for a few minutes, Philip still couldn't recall the feeling and didn't feel like sleeping. So he went out with his empty bag and the hotel key.

He had hidden several shirts containing twenty-one gold coins under the bed in the room. Even though he was not very reassured, it would be troublesome to carry those things with him for the future, after all, the storage space was limited.

Philip, recalling his experience attending a Beyonder gathering in Backlund with his parents, swiped his fingers across the map of Tingen, eventually stopping somewhere in the dock area.

Dragon Bar.

In the afternoon, a young man in a coat and carrying a shoulder bag stepped off a public carriage. His sapphire eyes swept across this shabby area that was obviously prone to conflict, and stopped at a bar in the distance.

Even through the heavy door, Philip could still hear the shouts coming from inside, which were as noisy and enthusiastic as the audience seats at various sporting events.

Even more than that.

"Well, this should be the most likely place for Beyonders to gather. If not, you can also look for someone like a gossipmonger."

He didn't believe that the number of extraordinary people or mysticism enthusiasts in Tingen couldn't even support a trading platform. So, let alone a city, it would be better to call it a town.

When he reached the door of the bar, a burly man who was guarding the bar seemed to notice the unfamiliar face of Philip, but he did not say anything and let the other party push the door open and walk in.

"Merrill, that's it, maintain the advantage!"

"Luke! Can you even fight? Your legs are as weak as if you've been having sex with a streetwalker all night. Fight back! Make that guy bleed from the nose!"

The stuffy heat like a sauna, the strong and pungent smell of alcohol, the duel between two shirtless men in the boxing ring, and the shouts of dozens of drinkers around them all give people a strong sense of impact.

However, for Philip, who had experienced traveling across time, lying in a shelter, being bound to an unknown space, being dragged to a party by the evil god, and so on in less than 24 hours, this was just a matter of raising his eyebrows slightly and calmly exclaiming "Oh~".

After sighing, he came to the bar, knocked lightly on the table, placed a silver soli on it, and said to the bartender in front of him:
"Well, I've always been interested in things related to the occult, and a friend told me that I can satisfy my curiosity here."

The bartender didn't say anything, but looked at Philip with scrutiny for several seconds, then slowly withdrew his gaze, silently picked up the silver soule and held it in his palm.

"Sir, this lie is full of holes. You didn't express any restraint or doubt. Your calmness contradicts your words. But your sincerity has touched me. Just say that 'Pawat' let you into Billiard Room Two."

Philip nodded, then politely declined the other party's idea of making a drink for him. He followed the instructions, walked around the boxing ring, and walked into the billiard room at the back alone.

There were two people inside holding golf clubs, laughing and talking about various things. When they saw him push the door open, they suddenly became quiet.

"Pavat let me in."

Philip closed the door and then asked, "Then, if I want to sell some small occult items here in the future, are there any requirements that are made public or tacitly understood?"

After hearing this, they retracted their gaze, took two steps to the side, and pointed to the secret door behind them:
"If you're selling mystical things here, then one twentieth of the profits must go to the boss, Swain. Believe me, you don't want to know what it would be like to let him suffer losses." "Thanks for your answer."

Philip waved his hand, said goodbye to the two of them, walked into the secret door, and after passing through several rooms that were used to conceal their identities, he finally entered a relatively large space.

"It's all street vendors. Compared to the Beyonder gathering in Backlund, this place is really worse. It's like a flea market."

He walked among the crowd and saw a lot of extraordinary materials through the bottles and jars. He then breathed a sigh of relief, confirming that the audience here really included extraordinary people and not those leeks who had money but nowhere to spend it.

"I only have a little over three hundred pounds right now. This price can only barely buy all the materials for the prisoner route, and it will also affect my future life, in a double sense. Unfortunately, I guess they don't sell the formula here."

Philip's eyes swept over the rows of merchandise, using his actions to dissipate the reluctance within him, thus solidifying his goal.

Become a Beyonder again, become a "prisoner"!
After being pulled above the gray fog by the Fool at the inn and hearing the news that a party would be held soon, he had already made up his mind.

This is an opportunity.

Even though the "Prisoner" path is prone to madness and cursed characteristics, once discovered by official Beyonders, they will be excluded and arrested. Even if they sincerely surrender and join, they will lose their freedom.

But Philip had to make this choice.

The unclear reasons behind the inexplicable formation of the Tarot Club, the foggy shadow world, the original "Philip" hidden in his heart, the lingering hatred for the Indulgence Department of the Rose School, and the selfish pursuit of extraordinary power.

None of these allowed him to live a quiet and peaceful life as an ordinary person.

Suddenly, Philip's gaze stopped at one point. He walked forward and squatted down. Without any tricks, he asked directly, "How much do you need for this Heart Binding Grass and the Bitter Fruit?"

While asking, he glanced at the other items on the stall and couldn't help but be surprised. This was completely different from other places. There were three items that he was sure were the main ingredients for Sequence 9 potions.

There were also the tail feathers of the red firebird. Philip's sapphire eyes lingered on the slightly dull red-yellow feather. It was a pity that he didn't have the money to buy it now. Otherwise, when he arrived in Backlund, the main ingredients and the formula would be easier to sell together.

The stall owner was completely hidden under a dark occult cloak. He didn't look up, but his cloak moved slightly twice. He responded in a hoarse voice, "One kuko fruit is 4 soli."

"But the Heart Binding Grass can only be exchanged, not sold."

"What?" Philip frowned, hesitated for two seconds, and then asked, "Okay, tell me, what do you need to exchange this for?"

"hehe."

A cold laugh emanated from beneath the cloak, making one's hair stand on end. "Since you know about the Heart-Binding Grass, you should know its value. Unless you exchange it for crystallized Crown Jellyfish venom or dried Black-spotted Frog."

(End of this chapter)