The group passed through the attached town, followed the team entering the city, passed the inspection of the guards, and entered the outer city of the capital.
Jason has been an imperial hunter for several months and is qualified to enter the city. Zhou Jing has long explored the terrain of the royal capital.
With Jason's identity as a guarantee, Zhou Jing successfully entered the outer city. The main street is still wide, extending in all directions, and people come and go quite lively.
However, the houses are too dense. Turning into the fork from both sides of the street is the alleyway separated by each house. Like a spider web, the route is complicated and crowded, like the capillaries of the whole city.
The landmarks of the outer city are several guard castles, and some soldiers are stationed as sheriffs and control the city. The Royal Capital is essentially a fortress city. With the guard castle as the boundary, the outer city is divided into several urban areas. To a certain extent, it is divided by functionality, but it can guarantee the normal life of ordinary people.
Zhou Jing took Jason through the streets, through the dirty shanty towns, across the lively market area, and soon came to the city where a large number of craftsmen lived together... The serious name is the furnace area.
All urban areas have complete infrastructure, such as pharmacies, blacksmith shops, tailor shops, etc., which are convenient for residents to live nearby. However, many of the managers of these shops are ordinary craftsmen in the furnace area. Residential rest.
High-quality products are generally only available in the furnace area, so many residents of Wangdu who live affluently prefer to go through the urban area to buy, and many ordinary residents wish to move to the furnace area to live... Unfortunately, they can't afford a house.
After all, people are divided into groups. These craftsmen are the intellectual class of the alien world. Generally, the people living in the furnace area are high-income groups, and there are many high-level craftsmen who work for the imperial workshop, so the law and order is good.
Like the shanty towns and the market districts, street squatters who wandered in the stove area would be chased away by the sheriff.
Zhou Jing walked in the stove area for a while, when he was noticed by the sheriff patrolling the street and was interrogated.
Apostle Bill No. 3 was an "outsider" who arrived in the capital for the first time. He couldn't come to the furnace area at will, but Jason, a serious imperial hunter, stepped aside, and the sheriff allowed the two of them to stroll. Warning not to approach the interior walls.
"It's better to use Jason's identity now."
Zhou Jing watched the sheriff leave, and couldn't help but glance at the city center.
The high inner walls cut off the line of sight, and only the towering palace castle can be seen vaguely.
Inside is the inner city, the power core of the Terra Empire. The inner walls are heavily guarded. In addition to the garrison, there are many guardians of the royal city sitting on the city walls—all of them are alien blood warriors.
It's quite difficult to sneak in quietly.
"By the way, why did I subconsciously want to sneak in when I saw the heavily guarded place? I'm afraid it's not the aftermath of Baiyuan City..."
Zhou Jing calmed down, searched for a while on the road, found a pharmacy, and immediately walked in.
After a while, he came out again. The pharmacist in this store already had many apprentices, and he had no plans to accept any more.
I tried every shop along the street, and none of them were looking for apprentices. Wang is not like a small place. There are too many hunters. Even if Jason brushes his face, they don't mean to accept apprentices, that is, they don't accept them.
Zhou Jing tried patiently, and only after visiting the thirteenth home did things change.
This is a small pharmacy, the shelves are deserted, only the label and price of the medicine are placed in obvious places, but there is no bottle of potion in sight.
There was only one middle-aged man in the room, a slender man with a long robe and a long beard, who was sitting behind the counter reading a book.
Hearing someone coming in, the middle-aged man raised his eyes slowly, and said unhurriedly, "Just take a look, what do you want to buy?"
"Is there a pharmacist apprentice here?" Zhou Jing said straight to the point.
The middle-aged man looked at Zhou Jing up and down, his eyes lit up: "From out of town? Are you rich?"
Hearing this, Zhou Jing regained his spirits, took out his heavy purse and flipped it, and the silver coins swayed and collided, making a pleasant sound.
The middle-aged man suddenly became enthusiastic, stroked his long beard and said with a smile:
"It's easy to do if you have money. I'm a pharmacist. You can call me Mali. As long as you give me money, you can be my apprentice..."
Zhou Jing blinked.
When a normal craftsman chooses an apprentice, he generally needs to examine his character and ability to see if the other person has talent in this area, and he must be responsible to others. But this pharmacist only looked at money and refused to come. It seemed that he was not very reliable.
But it doesn't matter to him, as long as he can teach him the basics, with his own learning advantages, he can achieve it quickly.
At this time, Jason also walked in, and his strong body seemed to have its own aura.
Seeing Jason's imperial hunter costume, Mari changed his face slightly and asked, "Is this hunter your friend?"
"Yes, I saved him once..."
Zhou Jing repeated the previous remarks and introduced himself by the way.
"Okay, I understand." Mali seemed a little unhappy, and his tone was lighter, and said: "If you want to be my apprentice, every ten days, fifty silver coins."
Zhou Jing was taken aback.
Guys, why don't you go grab the money
Fifty silver coins, a peasant family may not be able to earn a year of farming, even for a high-income hunter, it is a sum that cannot be ignored, more than enough to buy a set of equipment... And this is only the price of being an apprentice for ten days? !
If you were an ordinary person, who would buy it! Knowledge in this world is very expensive, but not to this point, otherwise, where would there be so many pharmacists.
Zhou Jing was quite skeptical that this person made things difficult for Jason because of his existence. This was the first time he had encountered a situation where his identity as a hunter was not easy.
Want to kill someone because you know a high-income friend? No, this is unreasonable, you can go to other pharmacists to learn.
If it's not a personal emotion... Could this person be trying to scare him away with a high price
Thinking of Jason's appearance before and after, Mari's attitude is completely different...
Zhou Jing rolled his eyes and suddenly understood what was going on.
Wonderful, choose here!
"It's a bit expensive, can it be cheaper, how about twenty silver coins?"
"No, fifty is fifty." Mali did not change his words.
Zhou Jing negotiated the price reluctantly, spent a lot of time talking, and finally ground the price to forty silver coins in ten days, and Mali agreed with a stinky face.
"Forty is forty, pay to learn." Mali glanced at Jason, who had a strong aura, and his face twitched slightly.
"Then I paid, will you teach me well? This is a lot of money!" Zhou Jing looked hesitant and rubbed his hands together.
Mali's face became even more stinky, and he said unhappily, "Of course!"
Seeing this, Zhou Jing accepted the ridicule.
Bargaining is just deliberately acting as an apostle who doesn't really care about money.
Of course, the current tuition is still too expensive, but he doesn't want to waste time asking every family again. Since he can learn here, he will be here.
Mali's change in attitude is either squeezing apprentices, or cutting corners in teaching, draining other people's wallets, and bullying helpless outsiders. He is not a good person.
But Jason's existence is a guarantee. If this person doesn't teach well and charges so much money, there will be someone behind him!
There is no consumer protection association in this world. Only those with power or power can protect their own rights and interests.
That's why Mali's attitude is different.
—There are foreigners who have backers, so it’s not easy to pit!
However, Zhou Jing felt that this place was suitable for him. Compared with finding a conscientious teacher, he now prefers money transactions.
I just find a place to learn the basics and complete the start, it won't take too long.
In this way, the money and goods are settled, and the relationship is simple, and there is no need to owe favors as before when facing Baron.
Moreover, people are not good people, and they have no psychological pressure to do anything.
After finalizing the agreement, Zhou Jing paid ten days' money first, then rented a house nearby at a high price, and then immediately returned to the pharmacy, asking to start studying immediately.
Just after receiving the money, and with Jason's intimidation, Mali didn't dare to take a night off to the next day as usual, so he could only take out two rough books with a stinky face, namely the herbal illustrated book and the medicine basics. General theory, start teaching.
[Learning [Herbal Knowledge]]
[Cultivation acceleration fee: 20 astral points]
[Studying [Pharmaceutics]]
[Cultivation acceleration fee: 50 astral points]
"All on."
Without any hesitation, Zhou Jing listened attentively to Mali's explanation of the knowledge of medicine, and once again entered a state of learning that is more efficient than flow.
…
A month passed in a flash.
In front of the medicine counter at the back of the pharmacy, Zhou Jing was busy with his work, and Mali was watching.
Zhou Jing is skilled in handling all kinds of medicinal materials, using various utensils to prepare the medicinal herbs into the required form, boiling and mixing them in order, and finally pouring the formed potion into the bottle.
Huang Chengcheng's potion, like beer, is still bubbling.
"Come and try."
Zhou Jing kicked Xiao Hei No. 1 who was lying beside his feet, squeezed its mouth open, and poured all the potion into it.
"Woooooo-"
Xiao Hei No. 1 struggled violently, but it was useless.
After entering the potion, after a while, Xiao Hei No. 1, who was originally ill, suddenly became full of energy, jumped around, filled the room with joy, and became hilarious.
This month, it was Zhou Jing's main drug test object. He drank an unknown number of potions, and the previous injury had already healed. Now the main problem is endocrine disorders.
Zhou Jing doesn't have high requirements for it, he just needs to live, he has been concentrating on studying pharmacy, and he doesn't care about beast taming for the time being.
It was just a coincidence that he found that the black-spotted hyena that had drank a lot of potion had an even higher level of cultivation.
After successive generations of beast taming, drug-addicting beast taming was developed... Although the painting style is crooked, but there is one thing to say, it is really easy to use.
"It seems that the energy potion this time has a good effect."
Zhou Jing observed the test subjects and showed a satisfied smile.
The corner of Mali's mouth twitched next to him, his expression tangled and complicated.
This man... how did he learn so fast
Under normal circumstances, when he taught apprentices, he would keep a secret and perfunctory teaching, but because of Jason, Mali did not intend to be too tricky this time.
But there is no problem with the foreign workers. Mali deliberately slowed down the teaching progress and planned to make Zhou Jing spend more money.
Even if he can't cheat people, the deliberately raised tuition this time is still very good. Mali didn't expect that people would really like to be taken advantage of, so if he wants to earn more, he will earn more.
However, he did not expect that he had deliberately slowed down the speed, and people were learning so fast, and the progress was almost the same every day!
Mali learned the basics for three months before making the first effective potion... But this foreigner named Bill took only 20 days to learn.
It took another ten days to make a potion of a quality comparable to his.
Looking at the high-efficiency potion remaining in the pot, Mali's stomach filled with pantothenic acid, and he was full of regrets.
If I had known that this person had learned so fast, I should have doubled the price several times, and I would have lost money!
Fortunately... I only taught this person two potion recipes, the most popular healing potion and energy potion, and I didn't teach anything else.
At this time, Zhou Jing turned to look at Mali, and asked with a smile, "How did I make the potion this time, can I learn the new formula?"
Mari regained his senses and coughed: "Yes, the progress is very fast. I taught them well, but you need to practice more. It's too early for you to learn new recipes."
After speaking, Mari was afraid that Zhou Jing would continue to ask questions, so he hurried out of the room with a stinky face.
Zhou Jing looked at his back and pouted playfully.
He has long noticed that this person is a foreign worker, but in front of the acceleration of practice, as long as he enters the door, self-learning is very fast.
And pharmacy is not like those abilities that require physical exercise, most of which are mental work, the proficiency increases quickly, and it has the bonus of its own talent and aptitude, which is a flying learning efficiency.
In just one month, [Herbal Knowledge] and [Pharmaceutics] have both climbed to the level of Lv4 proficiency, no less than Mali.
This person is just an ordinary pharmacist, a person who takes a crooked way and pits people from other places will naturally not be too high.
small book booth
After a month, Mali has only taught two potion recipes, and the other recipes he has mastered are not taught to him like thieves, and it is clear that he wants to make more money from him in this way.
Of course, it is also possible that they are afraid that the apprentices of the church will starve to death. Not all industries have the custom of educating newcomers like alien hunters.
"Think beautifully."
Zhou Jing secretly pouted.
If the teaching is normal, the tuition will be paid, but if it is obvious that it is a scam, then I don't want to continue to be a fool, and I can save some time.
"Mali has nothing else to teach me other than recipes... Looks like some savage primitive accumulation is coming."
Zhou Jing touched his chin, thoughtfully.
Speaking of which, greedy apostles shouldn't be obedient to pay.
Sure enough, it's easy to synchronize... It's really accurate to see people!