Chapter 135: I Know

Jaxir learned almost immediately that swallowing up everything Luxy had wasn’t remotely realistic. Even limiting himself to the two Tier 1 herbs used for the mana potion recipe barely seemed to put a dent in her stock, which gave him a new appreciation for what the title Ultra Merchant actually meant.

Luckily, he hadn’t planned on spending anywhere close to all his money in the first place.

The Tier 1 versions of both herbs only cost one silver each, making the raw material cost laughably cheap compared to everything else he had been buying lately. Jaxir still wanted to see how things played out with the Quintet Guild before turning the recipe into a full-scale operation, especially when he had only just agreed to work with the government.

Making an absurdly profitable source of instant mana recovery obvious before they secured their guild sounded like a fantastic way to add even more enemies to a challenge that already guaranteed interference.

For now, he would produce enough for himself and Nick, then wait until the situation settled before expanding beyond that. Once they started grinding seriously with Gavin’s team, Jaxir could move onto the Tier 2 versions of the herbs and begin producing enough potions for everyone.

Being able to replenish mana instantly would be ridiculous inside a Nightmare Dungeon, and it could become even more important during a Legendary guild quest where running out of resources halfway through might end the entire attempt.

Jaxir finally settled on a thousand of each herb and watched two thousand silver disappear from his balance. The amount barely registered compared to what he had just spent on his house, though the purchase immediately created a much larger problem. He now needed blood from a thousand beasts before those herbs became a thousand usable mana potions.

At least storage wouldn’t be an issue. The Enhanced Inventory he had taken from Aidylan had originally been issued to Golden Fleece overseers so they could move and hold large quantities of valuable materials for their branches, and most of the slots had been sitting empty ever since Jaxir killed him. Without that ring, Jaxir probably would’ve discovered his carrying limit several purchases ago.

The more annoying problem, though, was where he intended to find a thousand Tier 1 beasts. Tutorial regions had been packed with them, but the area surrounding this city had already moved firmly into Tier 2 territory, leaving weaker creatures scattered thinly between populations that had already advanced. Using Tier 2 blood for a Tier 1 recipe felt wasteful, but Jaxir wasn’t about to travel back to the tutorial zone just for that.

He doubted these Tier 2 beasts would be much of an extra challenge to him. Most of the ones near the town would only be around Levels 11 or 13 or so, anyway.

He dismissed Luxy after finishing the purchase and left the underground training room with the herbs safely packed away. Nick was still upstairs with several of the government’s screens spread across the dining table, his eyes moving back and forth between maps, ability notes and training routes. Jaxir stopped near the doorway and watched him for a few seconds before speaking.

"I’m going to grind some beasts and practice using the page for a while." Jaxir tapped the inventory ring on his finger and continued, "Once I have enough potions stocked up, I’ll start hand-picking some tougher instances to train in, since I want Grand Archmage pretty quickly."

Nick nodded without looking away from the information in front of him.

"I think I’m going to start tackling this stuff now." Nick dragged another training route closer and studied it for a moment. "Some of these methods are a lot better than what I was planning."

"You’re grinding your Root Abilities?" Jaxir stepped farther into the room and glanced over the route Nick had selected. Nick finally looked up from the screens.

"Yeah, I’m taking a different path than I did before, so I want to make sure the foundation is laid properly this time." Nick tapped one of the Root Ability sections and leaned back in his chair. "I’d rather fix the direction now than figure out fifty Levels later that I built half my Class around something I don’t even want."

"Good luck, then." Jaxir turned toward the door and lifted one hand over his shoulder. He had made it several steps before Nick called after him.

"Wait." Nick looked toward him, though the hesitation that followed made the rest unnecessary.

Jaxir chuckled without turning around.

"Don’t worry, I know." He continued toward the front door and heard Nick laugh behind him. Neither of them needed to say Niri’s name.

Elara had been putting far too much effort into getting close to the little girl for it to be simple affection, especially after Niri casually announced that she was a Level 11 Archmage.

The government had information on things Nick hadn’t even known existed, which made it almost impossible to believe they knew nothing about the strange child traveling around with Jaxir. If they were willing to hand over files on hidden bosses, rare quests and secret instances for free but remained silent about Niri, whatever they knew had to sit well above the value of those things.

Nick had already reached the same conclusion, and the answer he landed on wasn’t comforting. Niri was probably connected to something at least Legendary in value, whether that meant an inheritance, quest, NPC identity or something stranger. Jaxir had clearly noticed the situation too, yet he hadn’t shown the slightest intention of treating her differently.

That was enough for Nick. He hadn’t known Jaxir long, but nothing about the man suggested he enjoyed taking losses, and Nick doubted the government would somehow rob him blind while he smiled through it. The only person Nick had worried Jaxir might willingly lose for was Jahbri, and after watching how he handled the government yesterday, even that concern had started to fade.

...

Jaxir crossed the city gates soon afterward and followed one of the roads toward the freshwater territory surrounding the region. The beasts outside were immediately different from the ones he had grown used to around the tutorial villages, with many of them built to move through both the waterways and the wet ground surrounding them.

Thick hides, webbed limbs and low bodies of all sorts of variations appeared everywhere. At some point, Jaxir stopped bothering to wonder whether the next creature would crawl out of the brush or straight out of the water. It was all the same anyway.

He didn’t care much either way. Every fight gave him another chance to work on the page and another corpse for the pile building inside his Enhanced Inventory, while the higher Tier made the battles useful enough that he didn’t feel like he was wasting the day on ingredients.

By the time the light began to fade, he had developed a rhythm of hunting, storing, moving and searching that carried him steadily farther from the city.

Jaxir finally stopped once the hundredth corpse disappeared into his ring. It wasn’t even close to the thousand he eventually needed, but a hundred was plenty for the first real round of practice, and continuing after that would only turn the exercise into mindless grinding.

He also realized that killing beasts above you tier actually gave additional Experience. Killing Tier 1 beasts had only given Jaxir the equivalent Experience to their Level. But killing Tier 2 beasts gave double their Level in Experience. It seemed that was the short cut to Leveling up quickly.

He turned back toward the city with the page waiting in his inventory and a grin slowly spreading across his face.

It was time to figure out the blood-condensing magic circle.