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Chapter 243
Chapter 221: A Dark Undercurrent—Adventurers and Mercenaries in Shock
E-Rantel's Adventurer's Guild.
*Bang!*
With a dull thud, the guild's main doors were slammed open, and a blast of cold wind rushed into the Adventurer's Guild.
The originally noisy and lively atmosphere came to a halt.
A large number of adventurers looked over in surprise. Once they saw who the reckless person was, they turned their gazes away again.
“Fipark, did you drink watered-down wine or something? Trying to learn how to ram the door with your head, hahaha.”
A jeer came from the crowd.
Fipark, panting, completely ignored the mocking voice. Instead, he pulled a deep blue potion from his coat, his face flushed with excitement and fervor: “Regeneration Potion!”
“The Regeneration Potion crafted by the Black-Haired Genius Alchemist! I’m selling it for 50 gold coins! Which one of you damned bastards wants it?”
Not everyone could just pull out ten gold coins on the spot.
He had been purely lucky today.
Most people didn't carry that much money on them, allowing him to snatch this Regeneration Potion worth ten gold coins.
The atmosphere in the Adventurer's Guild fell silent.
The previously joking and boisterous crowd turned to look in unison.
The Regeneration Potion had been a potion that only existed in rumors for the past few months. It possessed the ability to heal disabilities, even curing those who were born disabled.
It was said that its healing effect…
…was comparable to the third-tier healing magic, Major Wound Healing, and it even possessed a stronger continuous recovery ability than healing magic.
The reason it was only "said" and "rumored"...
...was because this special alchemical potion could only be made by that Black-Haired Genius Alchemist. Aside from a brief appearance in the Imperial Capital of the Baharuth Empire, it had not been sold on any market.
The reason everyone knew about it was, of course, because of the bounty issued by the Blood Emperor, which caused information about the Black-Haired Genius Alchemist to spread into the Kingdom's territory.
This information was never meant to be hidden, so with a simple investigation, one could confirm that this potion did indeed exist.
“You’re kidding, right, Fipark!”
“I remember the information from the Empire said this potion should only cost one gold coin!”
“…”
After a brief silence, voices filled with doubt began to rise.
However, even as they said this...
...no one thought the potion in Fipark's hand was fake. He wouldn't have the guts to dare trick them here.
“One gold coin? You believe a rumor like that!”
“This isn't an ordinary Regeneration Potion. Those only sell for five copper coins. This is the top-tier kind. The price on the black market has already been driven up to 100 gold coins.”
Fipark straightened up and spoke loudly. Perhaps feeling that others didn't believe him, he recounted the events that had just taken place in the Central Plaza.
The price on the black market was indeed high. After all, it could treat conditions like congenital disabilities that even magic couldn't cure.
For certain influential figures and nobles, it held a massive appeal.
Fipark didn't take it to the black market to sell because the risk was too great. It was safer to earn a little less and sell it at the Adventurer's Guild.
As he finished telling what happened in the Central Plaza...
...the looks in many adventurers' eyes within the Adventurer's Guild began to change. Some immediately went forward to discuss the sale of the Regeneration Potion with Fipark.
Meanwhile, more Adventurer teams simply got up and left. Even a receptionist at the guild counter turned and headed upstairs.
In just a moment.
The number of people in the entire Adventurer's Guild had been cut in half. In a corner of the guild, four figures sat at a rest table.
“Captain, we should…” a somewhat anxious voice began.
“No rush.”
“But!”
“The target entered the city yesterday. We’ve already found the inn they're staying at. There are two people with him, an ordinary country girl and a magic caster. What’s the next step?”
“He was gone for so long, I thought he was dead. To think he’d show up now. What an unexpected surprise.”
“You… you guys knew?”
“Idiot. What do you think the two of us were investigating yesterday?”
“Currently, in all of E-Rantel, anyone with any sense has been watching them since they entered the city yesterday. Only this bunch of losers is finding out about it today.”
“Are you calling me a loser?!”
“Alright, stop arguing over such trivial matters. No rush. Someone will take the initiative to scout for information for us. That thing is worth…”
***
Lizzy's Workshop.
The air was filled with the faint scent of herbs. Various bottles and jars were placed haphazardly on the counter, looking somewhat messy.
“Fifty thousand gold coins?”
“His Majesty really thinks highly of me. A bounty of this value would even mobilize an Adamantite-rank Adventurer team, wouldn't it?”
Tang Zheng spoke with surprise, then shrugged his shoulders with a helpless look.
Grandma Lijie, wearing a brown apron, stood before the counter with her hands behind her back. Her sagging eyelids half-covered her eyes as she quietly watched Tang Zheng.
After a few seconds of brief silence.
“This old one really can't figure you out, but you don’t need to worry about the situation you described,” Grandma Lijie said with a light sigh.
Although she had long known he was somewhat unusual, she never expected him to stir up such a huge commotion, to the point of being wanted by the Blood Emperor.
It was truly unbelievable!
“The Adventurer's Guild has always remained neutral, especially when it comes to matters between the two nations. It certainly won't let adventurers get involved arbitrarily.”
“Since that old fellow Vischi retired, the Kingdom currently only has one Adamantite-rank team, Crimson Drop.”
Grandma Lijie revealed a smile, showing teeth that were missing the top two incisors, and said in a mild tone:
“Given their status and position as nobles, no matter what price the Empire offers, they won't make a move against you.”
*Tinkle!*
The curtain in the back was pulled aside.
Nfirea Bale walked over, carrying steaming black tea.
“Tang, does the Regeneration Potion you made really have such a powerful healing effect?”
Nfirea Bale placed the black tea in front of Grandma Lijie and Tang Zheng, then asked, his voice full of curiosity and a desire for knowledge.
“The healing effect isn't as good as the rumors say, but it is indeed quite effective at healing physical disabilities. Additionally, it can continuously restore injuries during combat.”
Tang Zheng smiled at Nfirea Bale and explained patiently.
“That’s amazing!”
Nfirea Bale's eyes, hidden behind his golden bangs, lit up. He then said, a little dejectedly, “I’ve only just learned how to make simple healing potions.”
Tang Zheng lightly shook his head.
“Potion crafting and alchemy are still quite different. You need to master the knowledge of all kinds of herbs, the combinations between them, their proportions, and so on. That's already very impressive.”
“My alchemical potions just draw out the abilities contained within the blood of a demi-human to achieve a simple effect. They follow completely different routes.”
Tang Zheng reached for the black tea and brought it to his lips.
Seeing his action, Grandma Lijie narrowed her eyes, a strange smile appearing on her wrinkled face.
“The amount of your current bounty is enough to tempt even this old one. Aren't you afraid I'll poison your black tea?”
Hearing this.
Tang Zheng’s motion of holding the black tea didn't pause. After taking a sip, he smiled at Grandma Lijie. “The black tea is good.”
“Besides, ordinary poisons have no effect on me.”
He now possessed the passive skill Poison Resistance I, and any poison below level twenty had no effect on him.
“Grandma,” Nfirea Bale looked at Grandma Lijie, then turned to Tang Zheng, his face flushing with apology. “Tang, there’s absolutely no poison in the black tea.”
“I know. Madam Barerare is just joking,” Tang Zheng said.
“Speak. You probably didn't come just to catch up. The healing potions I have here can't compare to your alchemical potions.”
Grandma Lijie’s narrowed eyes opened again, her pale blue eyes looking at Tang Zheng.
*Clink!*
“There is indeed something I’d like to trouble Madam Barerare and Nfirea Bale with.” Tang Zheng placed the teacup on the counter, his expression turning more serious.
Before Grandma Lijie could speak.
“Tang, just say it,” Nfirea Bale had already spoken up first.
Grandma Lijie looked at her grandson with a bit of a headache, highly suspecting that Nfirea Bale hadn't listened to their previous conversation at all.
This was a dangerous person!
Tang Zheng didn't waste any more words. He took out two potion bottles from his coat and placed them on the counter.
*Woom—*
Grandma Lijie’s pupils contracted.
Nfirea Bale, even more so, instinctively took two steps back, his face turning somewhat pale.
“What is this?” Grandma Lijie stared intently at the potion bottles on the counter.
Inside each potion bottle was a single, thumb-sized drop of blood.
The moment these two drops of blood appeared, both Grandma Lijie and Nfirea Bale felt their hearts pound violently.
The feeling came and went quickly, as if it were an illusion, but Grandma Lijie was certain it was no illusion at all.
“I’d like to trouble you two to help me research this blood,” Tang Zheng said seriously.
The blood in the potion bottles was that of a Sun Anglerfish. Tang Zheng had been studying it in private for some time, but with limited results.
Whether he drank it directly or bathed in the Sun Anglerfish's blood, it had no effect on Tang Zheng, which was why he thought of Nfirea Bale and his grandmother.
“Item Appraisal!”
Grandma Lijie subconsciously cast a spell, but it yielded no results.
Item Appraisal couldn't directly appraise pure materials like blood.
“Tang, what kind of monster's blood is this? It feels so special.” Nfirea Bale swallowed and stepped forward, looking at the crimson blood in the bottle with a mixture of curiosity and fear in his eyes.
“I’m not sure either. You could say I obtained it by accident,” Tang Zheng shook his head and replied softly.
***
After providing some simple information, Tang Zheng left the workshop and returned to his inn.
Enri and the Green Leaf Witch had already returned ahead of him. The 100 bottles of alchemical potions they were selling had been snatched up in a short amount of time.
In total, they sold for 100 gold coins and 450 copper coins.
(end of chapter)
E-Rantel's Adventurer's Guild.
*Bang!*
With a dull thud, the guild's main doors were slammed open, and a blast of cold wind rushed into the Adventurer's Guild.
The originally noisy and lively atmosphere came to a halt.
A large number of adventurers looked over in surprise. Once they saw who the reckless person was, they turned their gazes away again.
“Fipark, did you drink watered-down wine or something? Trying to learn how to ram the door with your head, hahaha.”
A jeer came from the crowd.
Fipark, panting, completely ignored the mocking voice. Instead, he pulled a deep blue potion from his coat, his face flushed with excitement and fervor: “Regeneration Potion!”
“The Regeneration Potion crafted by the Black-Haired Genius Alchemist! I’m selling it for 50 gold coins! Which one of you damned bastards wants it?”
Not everyone could just pull out ten gold coins on the spot.
He had been purely lucky today.
Most people didn't carry that much money on them, allowing him to snatch this Regeneration Potion worth ten gold coins.
The atmosphere in the Adventurer's Guild fell silent.
The previously joking and boisterous crowd turned to look in unison.
The Regeneration Potion had been a potion that only existed in rumors for the past few months. It possessed the ability to heal disabilities, even curing those who were born disabled.
It was said that its healing effect…
…was comparable to the third-tier healing magic, Major Wound Healing, and it even possessed a stronger continuous recovery ability than healing magic.
The reason it was only "said" and "rumored"...
...was because this special alchemical potion could only be made by that Black-Haired Genius Alchemist. Aside from a brief appearance in the Imperial Capital of the Baharuth Empire, it had not been sold on any market.
The reason everyone knew about it was, of course, because of the bounty issued by the Blood Emperor, which caused information about the Black-Haired Genius Alchemist to spread into the Kingdom's territory.
This information was never meant to be hidden, so with a simple investigation, one could confirm that this potion did indeed exist.
“You’re kidding, right, Fipark!”
“I remember the information from the Empire said this potion should only cost one gold coin!”
“…”
After a brief silence, voices filled with doubt began to rise.
However, even as they said this...
...no one thought the potion in Fipark's hand was fake. He wouldn't have the guts to dare trick them here.
“One gold coin? You believe a rumor like that!”
“This isn't an ordinary Regeneration Potion. Those only sell for five copper coins. This is the top-tier kind. The price on the black market has already been driven up to 100 gold coins.”
Fipark straightened up and spoke loudly. Perhaps feeling that others didn't believe him, he recounted the events that had just taken place in the Central Plaza.
The price on the black market was indeed high. After all, it could treat conditions like congenital disabilities that even magic couldn't cure.
For certain influential figures and nobles, it held a massive appeal.
Fipark didn't take it to the black market to sell because the risk was too great. It was safer to earn a little less and sell it at the Adventurer's Guild.
As he finished telling what happened in the Central Plaza...
...the looks in many adventurers' eyes within the Adventurer's Guild began to change. Some immediately went forward to discuss the sale of the Regeneration Potion with Fipark.
Meanwhile, more Adventurer teams simply got up and left. Even a receptionist at the guild counter turned and headed upstairs.
In just a moment.
The number of people in the entire Adventurer's Guild had been cut in half. In a corner of the guild, four figures sat at a rest table.
“Captain, we should…” a somewhat anxious voice began.
“No rush.”
“But!”
“The target entered the city yesterday. We’ve already found the inn they're staying at. There are two people with him, an ordinary country girl and a magic caster. What’s the next step?”
“He was gone for so long, I thought he was dead. To think he’d show up now. What an unexpected surprise.”
“You… you guys knew?”
“Idiot. What do you think the two of us were investigating yesterday?”
“Currently, in all of E-Rantel, anyone with any sense has been watching them since they entered the city yesterday. Only this bunch of losers is finding out about it today.”
“Are you calling me a loser?!”
“Alright, stop arguing over such trivial matters. No rush. Someone will take the initiative to scout for information for us. That thing is worth…”
***
Lizzy's Workshop.
The air was filled with the faint scent of herbs. Various bottles and jars were placed haphazardly on the counter, looking somewhat messy.
“Fifty thousand gold coins?”
“His Majesty really thinks highly of me. A bounty of this value would even mobilize an Adamantite-rank Adventurer team, wouldn't it?”
Tang Zheng spoke with surprise, then shrugged his shoulders with a helpless look.
Grandma Lijie, wearing a brown apron, stood before the counter with her hands behind her back. Her sagging eyelids half-covered her eyes as she quietly watched Tang Zheng.
After a few seconds of brief silence.
“This old one really can't figure you out, but you don’t need to worry about the situation you described,” Grandma Lijie said with a light sigh.
Although she had long known he was somewhat unusual, she never expected him to stir up such a huge commotion, to the point of being wanted by the Blood Emperor.
It was truly unbelievable!
“The Adventurer's Guild has always remained neutral, especially when it comes to matters between the two nations. It certainly won't let adventurers get involved arbitrarily.”
“Since that old fellow Vischi retired, the Kingdom currently only has one Adamantite-rank team, Crimson Drop.”
Grandma Lijie revealed a smile, showing teeth that were missing the top two incisors, and said in a mild tone:
“Given their status and position as nobles, no matter what price the Empire offers, they won't make a move against you.”
*Tinkle!*
The curtain in the back was pulled aside.
Nfirea Bale walked over, carrying steaming black tea.
“Tang, does the Regeneration Potion you made really have such a powerful healing effect?”
Nfirea Bale placed the black tea in front of Grandma Lijie and Tang Zheng, then asked, his voice full of curiosity and a desire for knowledge.
“The healing effect isn't as good as the rumors say, but it is indeed quite effective at healing physical disabilities. Additionally, it can continuously restore injuries during combat.”
Tang Zheng smiled at Nfirea Bale and explained patiently.
“That’s amazing!”
Nfirea Bale's eyes, hidden behind his golden bangs, lit up. He then said, a little dejectedly, “I’ve only just learned how to make simple healing potions.”
Tang Zheng lightly shook his head.
“Potion crafting and alchemy are still quite different. You need to master the knowledge of all kinds of herbs, the combinations between them, their proportions, and so on. That's already very impressive.”
“My alchemical potions just draw out the abilities contained within the blood of a demi-human to achieve a simple effect. They follow completely different routes.”
Tang Zheng reached for the black tea and brought it to his lips.
Seeing his action, Grandma Lijie narrowed her eyes, a strange smile appearing on her wrinkled face.
“The amount of your current bounty is enough to tempt even this old one. Aren't you afraid I'll poison your black tea?”
Hearing this.
Tang Zheng’s motion of holding the black tea didn't pause. After taking a sip, he smiled at Grandma Lijie. “The black tea is good.”
“Besides, ordinary poisons have no effect on me.”
He now possessed the passive skill Poison Resistance I, and any poison below level twenty had no effect on him.
“Grandma,” Nfirea Bale looked at Grandma Lijie, then turned to Tang Zheng, his face flushing with apology. “Tang, there’s absolutely no poison in the black tea.”
“I know. Madam Barerare is just joking,” Tang Zheng said.
“Speak. You probably didn't come just to catch up. The healing potions I have here can't compare to your alchemical potions.”
Grandma Lijie’s narrowed eyes opened again, her pale blue eyes looking at Tang Zheng.
*Clink!*
“There is indeed something I’d like to trouble Madam Barerare and Nfirea Bale with.” Tang Zheng placed the teacup on the counter, his expression turning more serious.
Before Grandma Lijie could speak.
“Tang, just say it,” Nfirea Bale had already spoken up first.
Grandma Lijie looked at her grandson with a bit of a headache, highly suspecting that Nfirea Bale hadn't listened to their previous conversation at all.
This was a dangerous person!
Tang Zheng didn't waste any more words. He took out two potion bottles from his coat and placed them on the counter.
*Woom—*
Grandma Lijie’s pupils contracted.
Nfirea Bale, even more so, instinctively took two steps back, his face turning somewhat pale.
“What is this?” Grandma Lijie stared intently at the potion bottles on the counter.
Inside each potion bottle was a single, thumb-sized drop of blood.
The moment these two drops of blood appeared, both Grandma Lijie and Nfirea Bale felt their hearts pound violently.
The feeling came and went quickly, as if it were an illusion, but Grandma Lijie was certain it was no illusion at all.
“I’d like to trouble you two to help me research this blood,” Tang Zheng said seriously.
The blood in the potion bottles was that of a Sun Anglerfish. Tang Zheng had been studying it in private for some time, but with limited results.
Whether he drank it directly or bathed in the Sun Anglerfish's blood, it had no effect on Tang Zheng, which was why he thought of Nfirea Bale and his grandmother.
“Item Appraisal!”
Grandma Lijie subconsciously cast a spell, but it yielded no results.
Item Appraisal couldn't directly appraise pure materials like blood.
“Tang, what kind of monster's blood is this? It feels so special.” Nfirea Bale swallowed and stepped forward, looking at the crimson blood in the bottle with a mixture of curiosity and fear in his eyes.
“I’m not sure either. You could say I obtained it by accident,” Tang Zheng shook his head and replied softly.
***
After providing some simple information, Tang Zheng left the workshop and returned to his inn.
Enri and the Green Leaf Witch had already returned ahead of him. The 100 bottles of alchemical potions they were selling had been snatched up in a short amount of time.
In total, they sold for 100 gold coins and 450 copper coins.
(end of chapter)
