“If this mountain goat meat could be developed as a resource, it would indeed have a huge commercial value.”
He raised his index finger: “First, this ordinary goat meat contains magic power far beyond any ordinary bronze level magic beast. We raise a bunch of these ordinary goats and raise the same number of bronze level magic beasts, the difference in costs between raising these two species is enormous.”
After that, he raised his middle finger: “Second, although the composition of the goat meat’s magic power is dangerous and strange, however when cold, the magic power is subdued and stable. This natural trait is advantageous for storing.”
“Under normal circumstances, once a magic beast is killed, the magic beast’s accumulated magic power will dissipate as time passes. Usually a magician or an alchemist is needed to process the magic beast’s body on site to seal in the magic power to stabilize it for as long as possible.”
“Take the largest magic beast hunting group in the Sheng Ming Empire——the Giant Mouth Hunting Group. When they killed a magic beast, they would always have staff at the scene to seal it up, and after they returned to camp, they would use magic formations to enhance the seals.”
“Even if there were layers upon layers of heavy seals, the materials of magic beasts will nonetheless still constantly dissipate magic power. Their value will also constantly fall as time passes. Therefore, in the case of extremely precious magic materials, the Giant Mouth Hunting Group would not hesitate to use a teleportation formation to transport their goods.”
“The cost of processing and transportation is enormous, and the more powerful a magic beast was, the more costly it would be.”
“Therefore as long as the conditions were fine, the Giant Mouth Hunting Group would try to capture magic beasts alive. They would transport the magic beasts alive back to the city and kill them there to sell the magic materials fresh.”
“But this has its own problems. Magic beasts are very expensive to feed and it takes powerful practitioners to monitor and suppress them, and a large amount of manpower would also be needed.”
After saying this, Cang Xu turned back to the subject before them, the goat meat: “However our mutton is different, as long as we construct a low temperature container, the ice elemental magic power in the goat meat would be quite stable, with few leaks. This truly is a huge advantage that can save us lots of storage and transportation costs.”
Cang Xu had profound scholarly knowledge and was very familiar about the magic beast hunting and selling industry.
Zhen JIn felt a rush of excitement
1
as he listened.
Natural resources were very important.
Zhen Jin originally had a plan for these goats.
He wanted to turn these goats into mounts and develop a cavalry unit.
In the future, if he became the lord of White Sands City, having an elite cavalry would be of great aid in controlling the state of affairs.
Therefore, Zhen Jin wasn't worried about inconveniences, he personally subdued the four bronze bellwethers and also captured many of the small kids, to attempt to tame and raise them.
However in the end, the kids died of poison, while the four bronze bellwethers survived. The team members were also poisoned from eating the mutton.
It could be said that Zhen Jin’s goat calvary plan was a complete and utter failure.
But now, he found another possibility, selling the goat flesh directly!
Such is life.
Plans could never keep up with changes.
Ice-cold reality brings disasters, smashing dreams and plans, while often bringing gifts at the same time, allowing people to hold on to hope.
There was always hope, the key was whether a person could see it or not.
Many people could not see hope and would sink into despair. It was because seeing hope did not just simply require a pair of bright eyes, but rather a good mentality or deep wisdom.
Zi Di’s purple eyes glowed and she agreed with what Cang Xu said: “If we can find extraordinary practitioners that can smoothly digest this goat meat, it would indeed be a huge business. Because ordinary goats are very easy to capture, we could even conduct large-scale rearing. The feeding and transportation costs are also far lower compared to bronze or iron level magic beasts. This business would have quite the ample profits, besides there is an exquisite benefit——as long as we sell in bulk at low prices, this business could allow us to build relations with the top nobles of the empire.”
Lan Zao had a difficult time hiding his excitement: “Looking at this from this point of view, these goats are walking, bleating piles of gold coins.”
The girl’s purple eyes shined as she looked at Zhen Jin: “Lord Zhen Jin, if we develop and control this business, it would no doubt be of great help to you. Regardless of the White Sands City Lord competition, if you become White Sands City’s lord you will need a great amount of capital. This business is like giving yourself wings! It could also bring us the support of top nobles!”
Zhen Jin nodded, he knew the future prospects and benefits, however he still preserved a calm expression: “This matter needs to be considered for a long time, the important point is still solving the chaotic magic power within our bodies!”
The atmosphere within the tent calmed down a bit.
It was absolutely impossible to allow these ice elemental magic powers to hide within their bodies. Although the magic activity was low, it would still continue to secretly erode away people’s health.
In the short term it seemed harmless, but in fact, the magic power was damaging their vitality. Moreover, if their body temperature ever rose, this magic power would become a fatal ambush lurking in their bodies!
Zhen Jin didn’t want this.
He needed to resolve his own problems while saving everyone else’s lives.
He wanted to lead these people out to go to the beastmen continent and compete in the White Sands City Lord competition.
So how could he resolve this conundrum?
The eyes of everyone inside the tent fell on Zi Di. It all depended on this pharmacist’s performance now, especially since low-level magic and battle qi could not be used.
Zi Di was solemn as she sensed the heavy burden on her shoulders. She muttered to herself: “I need to experiment first, for the time being I cannot give you all an answer.”
Zhen Jin nodded: “Do you need anything? We will use all of our strength to help you!”
Zhen Jin directly gave his tent over to Zi Di.
Lan Zao once more led a group out to begin hunting many goats, Cang Xu personally presided over the dissections, and Zhen Jin even killed a bronze level bellwether.
The magic imbued goat flesh, bones, and fur were all transported to the tent in batches.
Lights in the tent were lit from dusk, to late at night, and till early dawn. Zi Di had dark circles under her eyes when she lifted the tent flap.
“I need grass.”
“Grass?” Zhen Jin was waiting outside the tent.
“The food of the goats, the more grass the better. Remember, you must pull it out by the roots.” Zi Di instructed.
Zhen Jin nodded, he immediately issued the command.
Fortunately he had these subordinates and ample manpower, on his own he would not have been able to meet Zi Di’s urgent need.
As Zhen Jin stood outside the tent, he saw the horizon beginning to shine with light and knew that the night had passed.
He didn’t know how much progress Zi Di had made, his heart was worried but his face revealed none of it.
He stood outside the tent, his hand on the crude wooden sword hilt and his body as straight as a spear. Every time exploration team members passed the tent, they would see Zhen Jin’s figure and their restless hearts would calm down with a little bit more hope.
Everyone dug up the grass by the roots and took out the soil and dirt, the grass was then sent to the pile in the tent.
The tent resembled a bear waking up from hibernation which constantly devoured and showed an outstanding appetite.
Zhen Jin could smell all kinds of strange scents wafting out from the tent.
When the sunlight lit up the east and filled the whole sky, a voice came from inside the tent: “Lord Zhen Jin, are you still there?”
“Yes.” Replied Zhen Jin immediately.
“Please come in.”
Zhen Jin’s spirit was roused, he immediately turned around, opened the tent flap, and entered the tent.
The odors were even more pungent inside the tent and even lingered about as a faint mist.
Zi Di’s face was haggard, however her eyes like pure crystals revealed her excitement.
“Luckily, I didn't fail.” Zi Di raised the glass bottle in her hand which was filled with an azure liquid similar to common seawater.
“As it turns out, the goats are also victims just like us.”
“What actually contained the accumulated ice elemental magic power was actually this grass.”
“The aura of this grass is very ordinary. However it contains very rich ice elemental magic power within them. When the goats eat this grass the magic power would also move and settle within their bodies. Then, we ate the goats and also became contaminated with this unusual magic power.”
The truth revealed by Zi Di surprised Zhen Jin.
“Based on what you said, does that mean that these grasses are comparable to magic plants and have astonishing value?” Zhen Jin inquired.
Zi Di nodded: “The extract of this grass is extremely rich, especially the roots, they are comparable to the fruits. However I still suggest we sell the goat meat. This kind of grass is very easy to copy, whether it be a druid master or the Sacred Temple of Life of the empire, as long as they acquire a certain amount, they could cultivate this in large quantities. Not to mention beings like the imperial Archduke Sen Xu.”
The potion was made, but its effects still needed to be tested.
Of course Zhen Jin would not be the first to drink the potion, so he first gathered a small group of personnel.
Huang Zao heard this news and immediately volunteered to be first.
This drew the berating of Lan Zao and Huang Zao had to give up. As the younger brother, he dared not resist against his older brother.
Thus under everyone’s eyes, Lan Zao swallowed the first potion in one gulp.
“Blargh…“
After Lan Zao drank the potion, his entire face turned blue, his hands grabbed at his throat, opened his mouth, and gagged with wide open eyes.
But what made him suffer was that he couldn’t vomit anything out.
“Older brother!” Huang Zao shouted with alarm.
The others were also bewildered.
“It's not serious, this is a normal reaction.” Zi Di said as she consoled everyone.
Just as her voice fell, Lan Zao suddenly bent over and vomited a mouthful of blood onto the ground.
The red blood had a blue color mixed into it, in particular there were a few thumb sized ice cubes. These ice cubes emitted a dense cold air and had a strange blue-purple color.
After vomiting out these things, Lan Zao immediately felt lighter and relaxed, the blue on his face quickly receded, and his flesh returned to normal.
Zi Di went over to check and then she said with a smile: “Good, you should have thrown up all the ice elemental magic power inside your body. The purpose of the potion I made was to absorb the ice elemental magic power and then push it out via vomiting. As long as you don’t eat any more of the goat meat, the poison will not appear again.”
In order to validate this statement a bit, everyone accompanied Lan Zao to a certain distance from the camp.
Not only did they walk to where they were poisoned prior, but went even further away than that.
Lan Zao was still energetic
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and did not have any unusual conditions.
Everyone was exalted, two more potions were soon made immediately.
Zhen Jin drank the sixth potion.
This was Zi Di’s special arrangement.
With the previous tests, there was sufficient proof of the medicine's efficacy. Therefore she was at ease when Zhen Jin took the medicine.
After taking the potion, Zhen Jin had the exact same result as Lan Zao.
He vomited out blood and ice cubes, expelling out all of the ice elemental magic power from within his body.
“This is?!”
In a split second, Zhen Jin’s complexion suddenly changed.
“Is there something wrong?” Zi Di walked over with deep concern.
“It's nothing.” Zhen Jin shook his head, however his heart was still in shock.
When he vomited blood, he felt an indescribable sense of emptiness.
This sense of emptiness left a deep impression on him, so much so that he had reflected over it many times previously.
He was extremely familiar with it!
Not long ago, when he had killed the blade legged spider, back then his hands had transformed into sharp claws and then disappeared, back then he had felt this exact same feeling of emptiness.
“What is going on?” Doubts grew in Zhen Jin’s heart.
Notes
I wonder if the sensation the poor chaps are feeling is similar to the bends. It would be pretty funny if they used the ice cubes to cool their drinks, but that would only poison them once more, though a sealed ice chest could work...
Translation Notes