Chapter 76: The Stall Plaza
The Hunter Market was located in a small plaza to the left of the Hunter Guild, and the security here was also maintained by the Guild itself, so no one dared to cause trouble in this place.
Although it was Zhou Ming’s first time here, he already understood the rules of trade in the Stall Plaza. Other than the prohibition against coercion or forceful transactions, all dealings here were settled in cash on the spot—profits and losses were one’s own responsibility.
If Zhou Ming happened to buy something worth a million Alliance Coins for just one hundred, the stall owner could only swallow the loss silently.
If anyone dared to use force to reclaim their item, Zhou Ming wouldn’t even need to take action himself—the Hunter Guild would intervene on his behalf.
Even after leaving the Stall Plaza, the Guild would still protect the buyer’s interests.
Of course, this rule worked both ways. Even if one were scammed out of everything they owned, the Hunter Guild would still side with the stall owner.
It could be said that the Stall Plaza was a place where dragons and snakes mingled—a chaotic mix of all kinds. Scams and deception were common occurrences here, but so were overnight fortunes.
“Little brother, want a Low-grade Meditation Technique?”
The moment Zhou Ming stepped into the plaza, before he could even adapt to the dense crowd and the noisy environment, a nearby stall owner called out to him.
The man’s looks were fairly decent, and his bearing was somewhat unusual for a commoner. The stall owner estimated that Zhou Ming was definitely not from an ordinary family—a perfect fat sheep.
Young, wealthy, yearning to become a Beast Tamer, and likely not very experienced.
Before Zhou Ming could respond, another stall owner immediately interrupted.
“Little brother, don’t listen to him. His Low-grade Meditation Technique is incomplete. Look at mine—it’s an optimized Basic Meditation Technique, twice as efficient as a normal one!”
Hearing someone snatching his business, the first stall owner selling the Low-grade Meditation Technique instantly grew displeased.
“Li Laosi, my Meditation Technique may be incomplete, but it’s still usable. I picked it up from the remains of a hunter in the Wilderness!”
“And where did your so-called optimized Basic Meditation Technique come from? Don’t tell me you’re trying to trick this young brother just because he’s new and easy to fool.”
After finishing, he ignored the other man and continued persuading Zhou Ming.
“Little brother, though this Meditation Technique is incomplete, it’s absolutely usable. It might not compare to a full Low-grade Meditation Technique, but it’s far superior to the Basic one.”
“Besides, if I really had a complete Low-grade Meditation Technique, would I even be selling it here? You look talented—if you could complete this technique, you might carve out a great future for yourself.”
“Ah, if it weren’t for the few brothers who’ve been with me all these years, unable to even save up for a wife, I wouldn’t be selling this incomplete Low-grade Meditation Technique at all.”
As he mentioned his brothers, the stall owner’s face grew sorrowful, his eyes carrying a touch of melancholy. It was hard to tell whether he regretted becoming a hunter or simply felt guilty toward his comrades.
Zhou Ming, who hadn’t even managed to get a word in, could only shake his head with a sigh at the sight of the man’s story-filled expression.
“Big brother, you were just born in the wrong era. If this were before the Doomsday Era, you’d definitely have won a golden statuette.”
With that said, Zhou Ming didn’t bother listening to more of his boasting and continued to stroll around the plaza.
“Hahaha…”
Across from the first stall, a short and chubby middle-aged stall owner couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
“Zhao Fatty, what the hell are you laughing at?”
Failing to make a sale already had the first stall owner in a foul mood; being laughed at only made him curse in anger.
“How could I not laugh? That young brother just praised your acting skills! My laugh is me giving you applause.”
Zhao Fatty then briefly explained what a “golden statuette” meant—it seemed he knew a bit about things before the Doomsday Era.
After his explanation, the nearby stall owners all joined in laughter, teasing the man selling the Low-grade Meditation Technique, saying he should go be an actor instead.
Although the entertainment industry of the Blue Star Alliance was now in decline, the top-tier celebrities were still quite wealthy.
After realizing the meaning behind Zhou Ming’s words, the stall owner didn’t curse him out again. Instead, he fell into thought, wondering if he truly had chosen the wrong career.
Zhou Ming, having left that scene behind, didn’t dwell on it. Encounters like that were a dime a dozen in the Stall Plaza. Some stalls put on double acts, while others simply stayed silent and mysterious to lure in customers.
There were even highly skilled fraudsters who forged items so well that, had Zhou Ming not spent time studying and learning, he would likely have been fooled multiple times—paying “tuition” in another sense.
At one point, Zhou Ming even saw someone place a basketball-sized stone with a smooth surface on a stall.
A note stuck on it read: “Fossil of a Lord-level Ferocious Beast Egg – 80,000 Alliance Coins.”
Seeing that, Zhou Ming was completely speechless.
Dimensional Rifts had only appeared on Blue Star around a thousand years ago, and Ferocious Beasts had emerged during that same period. A thousand years was hardly enough time for fossils to form—this was purely a scam designed to filter out the intellectually challenged.
As the most popular trading spot for hunters, the Stall Plaza wasn’t entirely filled with con artists; there were still legitimate and valuable goods for sale. Otherwise, Zhou Ming wouldn’t have bothered coming to browse.
Relaxing the mind and wandering idly were two completely different states of being.
Ferocious Beast materials, rare medicinal herbs, second-hand equipment, peculiar materials with unknown uses—even Ferocious Beast meat was being sold by some.
Judging from the setup, it was likely that a large Hunting Corps had opened a butcher stall here. Every time they returned from the Wilderness, they made sure not to waste a single part of their prey—special personnel were responsible for transporting the corpses of Ferocious Beasts.
It could be said that they extracted every bit of value from a Ferocious Beast’s body. Even the excrement could be used as fertilizer.
Though the process was troublesome, the profits gained from a single Ferocious Beast far exceeded what an ordinary hunter could earn.
Ferocious Beast meat sold quickly. Once a carcass was laid out on the chopping board, it was usually gone within moments.
Zhou Ming had originally planned to buy a few pounds before leaving, but it seemed that idea had already died before birth.
Long-term consumption of Ferocious Beast meat was known to strengthen the body. The effects were mild but enough to make it highly sought after by the wealthy.
Moreover, only large hunting corps were capable of transporting entire Ferocious Beast corpses back to the base, so the meat was extraordinarily expensive—over a thousand Alliance Coins per pound.
And that was only for Low-grade Ferocious Beasts. For high-grade ones, even having money didn’t guarantee the right to buy.
After glancing around a bit more, Zhou Ming stopped paying attention to it. The Stall Plaza stretched well over a hundred meters in both length and width, and he had only explored a small portion so far—many stalls still awaited him.
Although Zhou Ming didn’t fancy himself a child of destiny destined for miraculous encounters, he still hoped to find a few practical and affordable items today.
While he had more money than the average person, when it came to the resources needed by a Beast Tamer, he could barely afford the most basic ones. Hence, Zhou Ming was always frugal where he could be.
This alone showed just how difficult it was for an independent Beast Tamer to cultivate on their own.
And this was even after Zhou Ming had gained a few windfalls along the way.
Given his situation, joining a faction wasn’t an option—he could only struggle and forge ahead on his own.