Primordial Blood Throne: Book 1 Chapter 14 - Antiques

Edited by Owner – 3/50 chapters.

A blind man wants to be an appraiser.

No matter how one looked at it, it was ridiculous.

However, Su Chen's expression was serious and his tone was firm.

Seeing Su Chen's look, Tang Zhen could only suck in a deep breath before he used an extremely slow speed to explain, "Young Master wishes to learn appraisal, hoping to progress and improve. That is surely a good thing. However, being an appraiser requires you to learn a wide variety of things, and not only obtaining the knowledge, but the complex skills involved. Even a veteran like me who has been in this line of work for many years, would have an oversight once in awhile…"

His tone placed emphasis on the word 'oversight' as he spoke.

Su Chen listened and said, "Head Shopkeeper is trying to say that even people who can see will make an error in judgement, let alone a blind person like me, who does not even possess the qualifications to have an oversight? It is just that you are taking into account my feelings, therefore you did not wish to say it bluntly, am I right?"

Tang Zhen smiled in embarra.s.sment but still replied: "I hope Young Master will not blame this old man for being frank…but you are correct."

Su Chen smiled, "It is a good thing that Head Shopkeeper is willing to be frank. I also know that my eyes are not good and learning how to appraise items would be extremely difficult for me. However, I believe that eventually, there will come a day when my eyes will fully recover. Therefore, I want to learn now and build a foundation when the time comes. Even if I am unable to recover and unable to learn the skill properly, it is also fine. I will just make a point to avoid being the decision maker in all business dealings within the shop. My purpose here is to learn and definitely not here to disrupt the Head Shopkeeper from doing his duty."

Hearing his words, Tang Zhen sighed in relief. "If that's the case, then I naturally have no problems."

"Since we have an understanding, I will leave everything to Head Shopkeeper. Now, where do we start?"

Tang Zhen did not expect Su Chen to be so eager to learn and wanted to start immediately. After some thinking, he said, "Let's start with Jade Truth Pavilion. Since you are in your own shop, it is always good to understand more about how the shop does things."

"Okay!"

"Jade Truth Pavilion is currently handling some antiques from the Bright Light Divine Dynasty. Occasionally we will also deal with antiques from even further eras, however, these types of antiques will require a very keen eye, so unless there's a definite a.s.surance, we will not easily deal with these type of goods. Please follow me, Young Master. Let's go take a look at our shop's most prized treasure. Although Young Master will be unable to see it, but you can smell, you can listen, and you can feel. I will focus on teaching Young Master this area of knowledge…"

Tang Zhen placed a piece of antique jade in Su Chen's hands as he spoke.

The ancient jade was mildly warm. When held in hand, Su Chen felt a radiant royal aura spreading from it.

"This is an Idle Patterned Tri-Color Jade. It possesses the colors, green, red, and yellow. This was a product from the Bright Light Divine Dynasty era and the personal accessory of the Nine Province Magistrate, Wand s.h.i.+, of that time. On the other side of the jade, you can find his name carved onto it. Young Master can go ahead and feel it. w.a.n.g s.h.i.+ was the supervisor of the nine provinces and was highly regarded by the emperor; he was considered as one of the few officials who was just and clean during those dark times, having exonerated many victims of unjust cases. This tri-color jade had followed him for countless years and absorbed his aura of righteousness, therefore, when adorn on a person, it has the ability to ward off evil."

The antiques found in the continent possesses may mysterious functions.

To be able to be able to become the shop's prized treasure, naturally meant that the Idle Patterned Tri-Color Jade would possess some special effects.

Although the jade's ability to ward off evil was average, only able suppress ordinary negative auras, but to most people, it was considered a pretty good item.

After introducing the ancient jade, Tang Zhen brought Su Chen to the shop's counter front.

"There is a book belonging to the Arcane Race placed here. The Arcane Race was a big and powerful race that existed fifty thousand years ago; they possess the unfathomable ability to invent. Many great inventions in existence came from that time, but were also destroyed during that period. Our Jade Truth Pavilion expended a lot of effort to obtain this book called <>. Although the book does not possess any special effects but it is the most ancient item within the shop. Due to the pa.s.sage of time, preservation wasn't easy, therefore I cannot let you feel it."

Su Chen curiously asked, "Head Shopkeeper, how did you know the t.i.tle of the book? The words used by the Arcane Race should be different from humans, right?"

Tang Zhen gently strokes his beard and smiled: "It is naturally because this old man knows how to read the Arcane language. You must know that appraising is not an easy thing; an excellent appraiser must be conversant about things of the past and the present. Being proficient in history, and knowing old languages are the basics of appraising antiques.

"So that's the reason." Su Chen's eyes brightened. He gave Tang Zhen a bow, "I would like to trouble Head Shopkeeper to teach me."

"Ai, please, please don't do this. Young Master's gesture is too polite and heavy." Tang Zhen quickly went to support him: "If Young Master wishes to learn, I will definitely teach you. Since you are unable to see, let's just start with the knowledge portion first. In regards to the history of the Origin Desolate Continent, it's geography, the rise and development of the dozens intelligent races, their cultures and languages, as long as Young Master is willing to learn, this old man will teach you everything he knows!"

This was an era where strength was wors.h.i.+pped over knowledge, the threat of the Beast Race creates a harsh environment for every intelligent race, causing them to focus their efforts on developing martial strength to repel the endless waves of beasts. The focus on culture has thus been reduced to the lowest bottom line possible, replacing it was the promotion of martial societal status as well as a complete but tightly controlled teaching and imparting of cultivation methods.

In comparison, the status of those with knowledge has been lowered. Those that are masters of knowledge are no longer the top of human society, instead they have become part of the middle section of the social pyramid. These people are grouped with people who possess special trades such as craftsmen, healers etc., establis.h.i.+ng the core of the mid-tier society and pa.s.sed down from one generation to another.

Individuals who did not possess either abilities would form the bottom of the society.

In these environment, knowing that Su Chen wished to learn, Tang Zhen was actually very glad and supportive about it. His old bones did not have anything of value, and knowing that the knowledge he had learnt over the years could be imparted made him very happy. If Su Chen manage to establish achievements in the future, as a person who once taught him, Tang Zhen would raise up in society along with his success. Of course, antic.i.p.ating Su Chen's current condition, Tang Zhen did not hold much hope for that. He was simply fond of Su Chen, and liked the intelligence that he portrayed, that studious and strive for excellence att.i.tude. At the same time, he was also being loyal, performing a task that his superior was requesting.

The days to come, Su Chen began to study under Tang Zhen's tutelage, learning the history of the continent and the language of various races.

Tang Zhen was very surprised that Su Chen's comprehension ability was shockingly high. The young man managed to remember and understand many things after learning it once, sometimes even being able to deduce many things from one approach.

Although losing his sight brought about many inconveniences, but it allowed his mind to be clear and drove him to be more focused, leading to having a stronger memory.

For contents that required him to mechanically memorize, Su Chen mostly was able to memorize them with one try.

In only three months, Su Chen had already completely memorized the history of Origin Desolate Continent, including the humans and understanding of the dozens of other intelligent races, he also mastered the fundamental structure of the language of the Arcane Race and Violent Race, causing Tang Zhen to praise him constantly for his rapid progress. He said that Su Chen's hundred days of effort was equivalent to three years of bitter study by another person.

As he learnt from Tang Zhen, Su Chen was also finally beginning to understand the unrecorded history of the human race within the annals of the Origin Desolate Continent.