86 Identifier (2/2)
At that moment, Li Wei suddenly heard a voice coming from the side. ”Ah! Since you've finished your daily round! We should quickly head back!”
Li Wei found this voice strangely familiar and when he looked over, he immediately recognized the speaker. It was the same person that spoke to him earlier, Piece of Cloth. Next to him, the old man was as expressionless as ever.
”It is time for me to go home but not for you! I already said I will not take any disciple! Please stop trying, people are giving me weird looks!” said the old man before completely ignoring the chubby man and walking away.
However, Piece of Cloth did not seem to mind the cold shoulder. He simply shouted: ”I will come again tomorrow! I hope you will change your mind!” He looked at the frail figure of the old man silently walk down the alley before sighing.
Li Wei was watching this scene, not understanding the motives of Piece of Cloth. ”Why do you harm yourself like that? What is so interesting about this old man?” asked Li Wei.
Piece of Cloth jumped in fright as he heard the voice behind him, ”Ahh! It's you.” He quickly recovered before explaining, ”this old man is the key to completing my quest! But he is so stubborn! Well, the quest would be too easy if he directly accepted!”
Intrigued, Li Wei asked, ”A quest? What quest is that?”
”I cannot tell you! This is a special quest and if someone else completes it before me then I would have wasted a lot of time for nothing!” answered Piece of Cloth. He was not particularly on guard against Li Wei but it was better to be safe.
”Sure! Good luck with your quest then. There are surely other NPCs you can speak to!” said Li Wei.
”It's not that simple! Identifiers are rare in this town and none of those of the associations would agree because of their contract!” exclaimed Piece of Cloth.
Li Wei already lost interest in holding a conversation with the chubby man but when he heard the word ”identifier”, his mind jolted awake. ”An identifier? You mean that the old man is an identifier?” exclaimed Li Wei.
Piece of Cloth looked at him with a weird expression, ”Why are you reacting like that?”
Without waiting for an answer, Li Wei turned and rushed into the direction the old man took. The old man already disappeared in one of the side alleys and Li Wei could only hope to be lucky enough to stumble upon him again. The old man did not walk very quickly before; there was a high chance he was still in the surroundings.
Li Wei rushed down the street and took a few turns. Effectively, just after taking a turn, Li Wei finally caught sight of the old man who was opening a wooden house's door. But before Li Wei could approach and call him, the old man already disappeared inside.
The wooden house easily stood out of the surroundings; most houses were built with bricks and rocks and were generally grey in color. The wooden house had a mystical air around it, partly due to the material it was made of but also because there was strangely no dust just in front of it. There was like a clear demarcation around that house which repeled dust, dirt, and fallen leaves.
The house was not particularly welcoming but that did not stop Li Wei from quickly approaching and knocking at the door. As Li Wei knocked on the wooden door, he quickly noticed that a faint mark was drawn on the wooden wall; it was not very visible due to the bad lighting but the design looked like a magnifying glass. This boosted Li Wei's confidence.
He waited for a moment in the darkness of the alley. Li Wei was now in the residential district of Verdan Town and although the lively sound of the shops of the nearby streets could be heard, this street was still and quiet.
Before long, the door was opened, revealing the old man who still had his expressionless face. ”Yes?”
”Hello sir, I am looking for an identifier,” politely said Li Wei.
”Oh? It's already 8:05. Isn't it a bit too late to come here, young man?” asked the old man.
Li Wei suddenly realized that the time was really not very appropriate to ask for an identification. Even the shops of the main street would usually close down at 8:00 but now, he was knocking at the door of what looked like the old man's house. He did not know what to say for a moment but the old man quickly said:
”How did you know that I was an identifier? People already forgot about me after all this time.”
”Piece of Cloth told me about this. I saw the scene where you refused to take him as a disciple and then I talked with him for a bit,” honestly answered Li Wei.
”That guy... He is quite annoying but also has some potential. Come in!” said the old man. He quickly moved aside, allowing Li Wei to see the inside of the mystical house.
The inside was not actually grandiose. There were a simple wooden table and a couple of chairs. The room was sparsely decorated with a few strange items hanging on the wall. The room was clearly just an office; stairs were found in the corner of the room, leading to the habitable part of the house.
”Take out the items, I'll do this quickly!” said the old man.
Li Wei nodded and quickly took out the 5 stats increasing potions. ”I got them through special circumstances and would just like to confirm that these potions do not have anything fishy.”
”Special circumstance?” murmured the old man. His eyes flashed for a moment before nodding, ”2 gold per potion!”
”No problem,” said Li Wei. This was indeed a fair price. To examine grade 2 potions, the Warrior Association would probably deduct contribution points equivalent to 3 gold. 1 gold difference did not seem significant but it was to be noted that contribution points were considered more valuable than gold since they could only be obtained by performing tasks and exchanging items at the association while gold could be obtained through various other means.
He quickly took out 10 gold and placed them on the table. Following that, the old man briefly opened and smelled each bottle. For the first time, the man's face actually twitched for a moment before returning to normal. ”They are all perfectly normal! They will each improve one of your attributes by one!” said the old man.
Li Wei let out a sigh of relief. The Messenger was truly not trying to hurt him. He quickly picked the potions and placed them in his inventory; he could not wait to drink them.
”Is there anything else?” asked the old man.
”No. That was it. Thank you very much for your help!” answered Li Wei. He was feeling guilty for troubling the old man at such a late hour.
”In that case, please!” said the old man as he stood up and walked to the door. He quickly opened it and indicated to Li Wei that it was time to leave.
The latter complied without hesitation and went outside. The street was still as deserted as before, after all, he did not even spend 5 minutes in the old man's house.
Behind him, the old man looked at Li Wei's lonely silhouette before slowly closed the door. ”Bear in mind young man. Darkness exists everywhere... Sometimes, it hides in the least expected places!”
A shiver ran down Li Wei's spine as he heard the old man's voice. He quickly turned to look behind but all he saw was the wooden door closing. Suddenly, the alley he was in did not seem as safe as before.