Chapter 734: Rich?

’Mira and the others are going to love this.’

Elion drank another mouthful, then another, watching the notifications appear with growing excitement.

[XP Gained: 50,000]

[XP Gained: 48,000]

[XP Gained: 45,000]

[XP Gained: 40,000]

His smile gradually faded.

By the time he had swallowed a dozen more mouthfuls, the gains had dropped to twenty thousand each. He drank once more to make sure, then frowned at the notification.

[XP Gained: 18,000]

"Tch. I knew it was too good to be true."

Every time he thought he had found a way to farm points, or experience in this case, diminishing returns came along to ruin it. He had almost begun imagining himself sitting beside the pool and drinking his way to becoming an Archmage.

"What is it?" Althea asked.

"The effects are getting weaker."

She nodded. "That happens with most treasures and potions that help with advancement. Otherwise, anyone wealthy enough could simply buy their way to the highest ranks."

Elion sighed. He supposed she was right, but that didn’t make it any less disappointing.

"Well, this is still extremely valuable."

His girls could each have as much as they needed until the benefits became negligible. After that, he could sell the remainder at an auction for an enormous sum.

Even with diminishing returns, something that could help a mage advance so easily would be worth a fortune.

The only problem was how to extract and store it.

"Do you have anything we could put this in?" he asked Althea.

She shook her head. Kali did the same when he looked toward her, leaving him to turn to the one place that rarely failed him when it came to useful items.

’System, find me something suitable.’

A quick search turned up a magical waterskin capable of holding 250 gallons of liquid. It cost ten thousand points, which seemed rather reasonable considering what he intended to fill it with.

’Buy it.’

[10,000 System Points Deducted.]

The waterskin appeared in his hand. It looked quite ordinary, made from dark leather with a narrow opening and a strap attached to its side, but Elion had long since learned that appearances meant very little when it came to magical items.

He uncorked it and directed the liquid upward with his water magic. A shimmering blue stream rose from the opening in the floor and poured into the waterskin, its flow thickening as he grew more comfortable controlling it.

Althea watched in silence until he finally stopped and replaced the cork.

"Full," he said.

Then he looked into the pool.

There was still plenty left.

Elion grinned and bought another waterskin, filling that one as well. When even that failed to empty the pool, he bought a third.

Only after filling it did the last of the shimmering liquid disappear, leaving the stone basin beneath them exposed.

[Total System Points Spent: 30,000]

[Remaining System Points: 870,000]

Althea stared at the three waterskins.

There had been so much of it, and somehow, Elion had come prepared with enough storage to take every drop.

’How can someone be this well prepared?’

She had expected them to leave most of it behind, perhaps returning with suitable containers if they could find any. Instead, he had produced one magical waterskin after another as though he had known exactly what they were going to discover.

"Elion," she said before he could put them away, "the church would be willing to negotiate a purchase if you’re prepared to part with one of those."

He looked up.

"One whole waterskin?"

"Yes. We would pay you handsomely."

She would normally have consulted the Holy Daughter before making such an offer, but this was too valuable to risk letting the opportunity pass.

Although they had discovered it while exploring together, Elion had located the pool himself, and he was the only one with the means to extract its contents.

There was little ground for her to demand a share. Offering to buy some, however, was another matter.

Its greatest value lay in how many people it could benefit. A single person might eventually stop gaining much from drinking it, but spread among a large group, that same supply could help produce an entire unit of powerful mages.

Elion considered it briefly, then nodded.

"I don’t mind selling you one. We can discuss the price with Solara when we get back."

Althea looked relieved. "Thank you."

Honestly, even half a waterskin was probably more than enough for all his girls. He would keep some aside after everyone had benefited as much as possible, just in case they needed it in an emergency, but that still left him with an enormous amount to sell.

The remaining waterskin could be divided into smaller bottles. He could establish a supply, sell it to nobles and organizations, or put batches up for auction. There was no reason to sell the entire quantity at once when he could make far more by distributing it carefully.

Hundreds of thousands of gold coins.

Perhaps even more.

’What a massive gain!’

Just thinking about it made him feel feverish. He stored all three waterskins away before he could become too distracted, then rose to help the others search the rest of the chamber.

They returned to the murals, examining the images more closely. The workmanship was just as fantastical as before, but even after witnessing that vision, Elion struggled to connect much of what he was looking at to what he had seen.

Perhaps the images were symbolic, or perhaps the two were not as closely connected as he had assumed. A painting could hardly capture everything that had happened, especially when the events involved beings whose battles had nearly destroyed an entire world.

Whatever the case, staring at them yielded little else.

After scouring the chamber and finding nothing more, the trio finally left. They stepped onto the terrace before taking to the air again, drifting past the floating stones and out into the crimson underworld.

Elion slowed as the enormous chains came into view.

They had been impressive before, but now that he understood what they were and how they had been created, the sight held an entirely different meaning to him.

Those links were holding together the remnants of a world, formed from the remains of a being whose strength he could hardly comprehend.

He took his time looking at them, following their lengths from the burning depths to the suspended land overhead. It was difficult to reconcile such a grand creation with the wounded figure he had watched die.

Then his focus wandered toward the mana.

Wispy streams continued rising around the spire, gathering beneath the stony ceiling before drifting toward the rift above. Even after they had drained the pool, there was still so much of it.

Elion frowned.

’Wait a minute.’

There was no way that singular pool could have been responsible for all the mana filling this enormous space.

Could there be more?

His heart began hammering.

If he was right, what they had just collected might be only a small portion of what lay hidden down here. He had already been pleased with their gains, but now, another possibility was opening before him.

’I’m going to be filthy rich.’

A wicked grin spread across his face as he flapped his wings and activated his World’s Eyes, using Infinite Perspective and Perception to survey the terrain beyond the spire.

His sight expanded.

It passed over broken terraces, descended between dark ridges, and followed the rising streams toward places hidden beneath the crimson haze.

Elion went still. A booming laugh echoed through the gargantuan underground world.

Kali looked toward Althea, and the paladin looked back at her. After a moment, both shrugged.