Chapter 2497 Growing Pains <TOC> Chapter 2499 Information and Token
Translator: SumTLMan
“The bell is a dream, the dust is home, where does the traveler’s heart lie?”
A delicate voice arose from the midst of the camel caravan. Even amidst the swirling dust, it reached Angel’s ears, clearly intended for him.
Upon hearing this, Angel was filled with confusion. What did it mean? Was it some sort of passphrase?
He had not heard that a passphrase was needed to visit the Laxum Duchy’s wizard market.
The camel caravan halted not far away, and seeing that Angel did not respond, the speaking woman prepared to turn her camel and leave the place.
However, just then, the leader of the caravan stopped her, whispering, “Look at that man’s shoulder.”
Not just the woman, but the entire camel caravan focused their gaze on Angel’s shoulder, where the figure of Dangros severed arm moved about.
Seeing Dangros, the group seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
The leader of the caravan, guiding the camel bells, approached slowly.
“Lord, are you heading to the Sandworm Market?”
Angel nodded.
“We are the guides to the Sandworm Market. Please, Lord, mount the camel.” While speaking, an unoccupied camel slowly made its way to Angel.
Angel thought about using the Gondola but decided instead to ride the camel. He had never ridden a camel before and took it as a rare experience.
Once Angel was on the camel, everyone relaxed.
Seeing Angel’s puzzled look, the leader explained, “Many extraordinary beings have their own vehicles, so they often refuse to ride camels. We have to explain in various ways, but some, who are quick-tempered, even conflict with us… We would prefer they use their own vehicles, but to enter our Sandworm Market, the camel is the only way.”
“You mean, if I use a vehicle, I can’t enter the Sandworm Market?” Angel asked, puzzled.
The leader smiled mysteriously, “You’ll find out soon enough.”
The camel caravan set off again. The camels seemed to walk slowly, but Angel was astonished to discover that each time a gust of wind-blown sand passed and the camel bells rang, the caravan seemed to leap through space to another unfamiliar location.
After several such spatial jumps, Angel began to understand why riding a camel was necessary.
With each gust of sand, the camels traversed an unknowable distance in space. Using one’s own vehicle in the vast, boundless desert would nearly be impossible to keep pace with the camels.
Knowing this, Angel became curious about how the camels managed to traverse space.
He could ascertain that while the camel he sat upon possessed a hint of extraordinary nature, these qualities were not enough to enable them to leap through space.
Angel shifted his gaze from the camel and finally settled on the camel bells tied around each camel’s neck.
Though externally disguised, Angel could faintly sense that these bells were not ordinary.
Noticing Angel’s scrutiny, the leader smiled and said, “You have a good eye, Lord.”
This leader had been by Angel’s side, his face completely covered, revealing only that he was a man.
“Those bells, they are the truth behind the spatial jumps, aren’t they?” Angel asked.
Generously, the leader admitted, “Yes, each camel in our caravan is equipped with such a bell, crafted by a space wizard to perform precise teleportations. Whenever a sandstorm arises, they harness the external energy to teleport to a predetermined location.”
After a pause, he continued, “Each bell contains a blood pact, only usable by the designated camel, which are all sourced from the Lawrence family at the Sandworm Market.”
It seemed like an explanation for Angel, but it was also a warning not to tamper with the bells.
The leader’s words were quite timely… because Angel had indeed considered dismantling a bell to study it.
The camel caravan moved on for several more minutes, performing two or three spatial jumps, and arrived at the second platform.
There, two figures dressed similarly to the camel caravan, their heads and faces fully covered, stood firm.
Clearly, they were also headed to the Sandworm Market.
“The bell is a dream, the dust is home, where does the traveler’s heart lie?” a delicate voice once again emanated from the bell caravan.
The man in front of the platform nervously looked around, unsure of what to do.
The person behind stepped forward, knelt on the ground, and devoutly said, “My heart is in the expanse, where the glory of Somiya remains undimmed.”
“You may come over; the other may leave on their own,” the gentle female voice decided.
The one who had responded to the passphrase hurriedly said, “She, she is my attendant. May she accompany me?”
There was a moment of silence among everyone in the bell caravan. The leader thought it over and then nodded. Although the passphrase responder seemed weak, who knew if he had connections within the Sandworm Market? It was best not to offend if possible.
After mounting their camels, these two individuals nervously followed behind, their bodies tensely coiled with anxiety.
The strongest member of the bell caravan, the leader, a second level apprentice, couldn’t assess their strength; however, Angel could tell at a glance that they were merely ordinary people, likely coated with the blood of some magical beast that temporarily produced extraordinary fluctuations.
Angel wondered what ordinary people were doing at the Sandworm Market, probably naïve youngsters looking for an opportunity to step into the extraordinary world.
Without revealing their identities, Angel instead turned to the leader and asked, “Was that a passphrase you all responded to just now?”
The leader nodded: “Yes, to prevent ordinary people from accidentally entering the Sandworm Market, the Lawrence family has issued an order that requires a passphrase to mount the camels. This kind of passphrase is actually quite prevalent throughout the Laxum Duchy’s wizard markets, and each wizard market has a different passphrase.”
“How can you be sure that outsiders will know the passphrase?” Angel questioned, unaware of any such passphrase.
The leader gave Angel a meaningful look: “I presume, Lord, that before coming to the Laxum Duchy, you had not paid attention to this place.”
Angel nodded.
“Just a bit of attention to the extraordinary world of Laxum Duchy would definitely lead you to the —Good People of Somiya Report—. This is an official monthly publication by Somiya, containing the passphrases for each wizard market in the Laxum Duchy.”
“Due to various reasons, the —Good People of Somiya Report— might end up in the hands of ordinary people, hence many wizard markets frequently change their passphrases. Therefore, to navigate the Laxum Duchy, it is best to subscribe to this monthly.”
While the leader explained this, the two individuals who had mounted the camels visibly shuddered.
After hearing his explanation, Angel understood.
Somiya is an extraordinary city, around which almost all the wizard markets of the Laxum Duchy operate. Thus, even the wizard markets’ passphrases are distributed through the Somiya monthly.
“Then the time I didn’t match the passphrase…” Angel recalled an initial moment when he didn’t match the passphrase and wondered why he was allowed on the camel.
The leader pointed at Dangros on Angel’s shoulder: “That is a fire elemental creature, right?”
“Those who can control elemental creatures are powerful wizards.”
Although they couldn’t be sure if Angel was indeed a wizard, seeing an elemental creature, they naturally did not dare to neglect him.
The existence of the passphrase is to filter out ordinary people, not to embarrass the extraordinary.
Thus, the leader welcomed Angel aboard.
In fact, if Angel had used his own original appearance at that time, the leader would not just have welcomed him, but would have treated him with the utmost respect. After all, the name of Super Dimensional Wizard is very renowned in the wizard community of the Southern Region, perhaps even more than some true knowledge wizards.
The camel bell caravan continued forward, picking up people for the Sandworm Market at every designated stop.
After visiting four stops and picking up more than ten people, the camel bell caravan finally began to return to the Sandworm Market.
The efficiency of the return to the Sandworm Market was faster than Angel imagined.
A dark wave of sand dust approached, and the bells on all the camels’ necks emitted a faint red glow, a pattern resembling a teleportation formation faintly formed underfoot.
About ten seconds later, everyone disappeared from their original location.
When Angel appeared again, he had arrived at a vast oasis bathed in gentle sunlight, filled with the songs of birds and the fragrance of flowers.
This was the Sandworm Market.
After parting ways with the caravan, Angel entered this garden-like city that was the Sandworm Market.
Various exotic flowers and plants bloomed along the streets, with specially bred bees and fluttering butterflies filling the sky, making this place hardly seem like part of the Laxum Duchy; it more closely resembled Genoa, the city of fairies.
In fact, this place was indeed not in the Laxum Duchy; it was an alternate dimension.
Except for Somiya, the extraordinary city that existed in the world, all other wizard markets within the Laxum Duchy were situated in alternate dimensions, as the external environment was too harsh, even for wizards, who preferred not to live in disarray.
The architectural style of the Sandworm Market was distinctly that of a desert city, predominantly constructed from yellow sandstone.
The overall style was unified, offering a unique flavor.
However, the uniform color also had its disadvantages; it was tiring to the eyes over time. No wonder every building was surrounded by bright flowers, presumably to offer visual relief.
The main thoroughfare was lined with extraordinary shops, but Angel mostly glanced at them without interest.
The items in these shops were generally intended for low-level apprentices and were of no use to Angel. However, Dangros, perched on Angel’s shoulder, was curious about everything, looking around naively, which embarrassed Angel so much that he hardly wanted to engage in conversation and preferred to stride forward quickly to find the disciple of Aesop and complete his task.
After about half an hour, Angel checked the street name next to him——Thornskin Road.
He then looked at the address on the envelope: “Sandworm Market, Sandworm Long Street, Alley 818, Number 818.”
He had assumed that Sandworm Long Street, named as such, would be a main thoroughfare. He had followed the main road for so long, from Greenhide Road to Yellowhide Road, and then to Thornskin Road, without any sign of Sandworm Long Street.
Left with no choice, Angel entered a nearby shop to ask the clerk.
Perhaps sensing Dangros’ fire aura, the clerk was very accommodating. After being directed by the clerk, Angel learned that Sandworm Long Street was the core trading area of the Sandworm Market, crucially important and not part of the external world.
To enter Sandworm Long Street, one had to find a sandworm statue at the entrance of the Sandworm Market. Only by passing the test of the sandworm statue could one gain entry.
Angel sighed, retraced his steps from Thornskin Road, and made his way back to the entrance of the Sandworm Market.
Just as the clerk had mentioned, there was a huge sandworm statue there. Its shape was prone, and Angel had initially mistaken it for a long rock when he first passed by.
Angel approached the sandworm statue.
Seemingly sensing the presence of a living being, the ugly sandworm’s eyes began to turn red. A buzzing sound emerged from its nostrils.
“Stranger, since it’s your first time entering the Sandworm Long Street, you must state your purpose here, and answer my three questions,” the entity addressed the newcomer.
The shopkeeper had mentioned that the sandworm sculpture was a sentient being. All first-timers at the Sandworm Market were required to pass its test. Generally, the tests were not difficult; as long as one followed the rules, the sandworm sculpture would allow passage.
Angel, facing the sandworm, did not speak but slowly released a hint of an aura befitting a wizard of higher realm.
After a brief silence, the sandworm sculpture spoke: “Mysterious strong one, Sandworm Long Street welcomes your arrival.”
With that, the sandworm sculpture opened its massive mouth, revealing densely packed circular teeth that were rather intimidating. However, Angel was unfazed and walked straight into it.
A few steps forward, the sandworm closed its mouth, and naturally, candles along the path ahead lit up.
A winding staircase downward appeared before Angel.
Descending the stairs, it wasn’t long before he reached the bottom and pushed open a stone door; immediately, the cacophony of hawking filled his ears.
Behind the stone door lay a vast underground space, not smaller than the subterranean market beneath the Apprentice Towns of the Savage Grottoes.
This underground space was bustling, a stark contrast to the deserted surface above. The architecture here was diverse, not confined to desert styles, reminiscent of the time Angel built Initial Heart City. Although the architectural styles were mixed, they were harmonious and distinctly different from Initial Heart City.
Angel entered the underground market with interest.
As he familiarized himself with the market, he understood its layout; the entire market could be referred to as Sandworm Long Street. The main commodities were sandworm-derived products, though other items were available but rare.
Sandworm Long Street consisted of twelve lanes, with the quality of sandworm products increasing towards the last three lanes.
Lanes ten, eleven, and twelve required a qualification check for entry, whereas the earlier lanes were accessible to all.
Aesop’s disciple was temporarily residing in the eighth lane, hence exempt from the qualification checks.
Chapter 2497 Growing Pains <TOC> Chapter 2499 Information and Token