Chapter 962

Anton had watched two more episodes of the television show before Xegos arrived to summon him back to the main meeting hall to discuss his magic items.

Once Anton was seated, Zorexin began by stating that they were impressed with his magic items.

Anton had expected nothing less. The merfolk had spent hours examining his creations. If they hadn’t considered them valuable, they wouldn’t have devoted so much time to studying them.

They began discussing which items they wanted to acquire.

Anton wasn’t surprised when the merfolk expressed interest in all the magic tablets he had created. He was simply glad that he had already established a limit on how many he was willing to offer. He didn’t want to spend his time crafting magic items specifically for the merfolk.

To his surprise, they also wanted to purchase a large number of his other magic items. At first, Anton had assumed they wouldn’t be interested in some of them, but apparently, he had been mistaken.

He checked his inventory and counted the magic items he had available.

“I can provide fifty-six Fire Bolt lanterns, forty-eight Ice Bolt cups, thirty-three Ice Bolt water faucets, twenty-eight Fire Wall stoves, twenty-one Frozen Orb air conditioners, and ten of each type of magic tablet I’ve created: the Tablet of Defensive Spells and the Tablet of Support Spells.”

The Ice Bolt water faucets were designed to convert Ice Bolt into water that flowed out of a faucet.

He didn’t include the magic items that he thought the merfolk wouldn’t be able to use.

The merfolk expressed their willingness to purchase all the items Anton had offered, and he readily agreed.

The next matter to discuss was how much the items would reduce the total price of the purple coral.

This time, Anton girded his loins for the upcoming battle.

He knew that, as an inexperienced trader, he probably wouldn’t be able to obtain the full value of his items. However, he wanted to secure at least a reasonable price for them.

After an hour of mind-numbing haggling, the merfolk agreed to reduce the total price of the purple coral by forty percent.

Thanks to his initial, rather pitiful attempt at haggling, Anton had managed to secure a fifty percent discount.

Even with the fifty percent discount he had painstakingly negotiated, Anton still thought the price of the corals was astonishingly high. Paying for it with the mana stones he had managed to save would consume a substantial portion of his savings.

Anton then thought about his movies.

The Northern Forest Elves and the Meronoma Elves had paid a high price for them.

Initially, he had assumed that the merfolk wouldn’t be interested in his movies because they depicted the lives of people living on land. He thought they might not find them as interesting as those who lived above the water.

However, it wouldn’t hurt to try.

He knew that he would probably need his mana stones for the other missions he would have to complete for Traveler’s Haven.

Anton could simply pay for the coral and then return to Izmorta to delve into dungeons and collect more mana stones. However, dungeon delving would consume a considerable amount of his time, and the amount of mana stones he could earn that way wouldn’t compare to what he could obtain through trading.

He could also create more magic items and sell them for mana stones. However, the market was already saturated with magic items.

Anton knew that creating the items was the easy part. Once he had made them, he would still need to sell them, which meant dealing with customers or shops. That would also consume a significant amount of his time.

Having decided to try trading his movies, Anton began telling the merfolk about them. He explained that both the Northern Forest Elves and the Meronoma Elves had paid substantial amounts for his films.

“Just for watching plays?” Zorexin asked skeptically.

“If you want, you can watch them yourselves and judge their value.”

The merfolk exchanged glances for a few seconds before turning their attention back to Anton.

They agreed to watch the movies.

Anton knew they weren’t particularly interested in the concept of movies itself. However, the fact that the proud Northern Forest Elves and the Meronoma Elves had become interested in them seemed to have caught their attention.

He decided that the first movie he would show the merfolk would be The Lord of the Rings.

The trilogy was still his favorite, and in Anton’s opinion, it was the greatest series of movies ever made.

Anton asked whether they wanted to invite more people to watch the film.

The merfolk briefly discussed the matter among themselves before saying that they would like to invite a few more people.

Since Anton intended to use the films as trade goods, he asked them to limit the number of additional viewers.

Thankfully, they agreed to invite only around four more merfolk to watch the first film in the trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring.

Anton informed them that the movie was three hours long and that it would be better to watch it without interruptions. He suggested that everyone prepare beforehand by making sure they were well-fed and wouldn’t need to take bathroom breaks.

Since that was the case, the merfolk asked Anton to give them an hour to prepare.

Anton had initially considered reminding them to prepare for breathing outside the water, but he stopped himself. He was sure the merfolk knew what they were doing, and he had already informed them of the movie’s runtime.

Anton also explained one of his requirements for watching the film: they needed to provide a white wall or a wall covered with a large white blanket.

Afterward, Anton returned to the room where he had rested while the merfolk examined his magic items.

He followed his own advice and prepared accordingly. He ate and then used the bathroom.

Although he had watched the trilogy countless times, he planned to stay and observe the merfolk’s reactions to the film. Besides, he had nowhere else to go.

Their reactions would help him determine how much he could charge for his movies.

After waiting for about an hour, Xegos returned and led him to another room the merfolk had prepared for the screening.

Anton was pleased to see that they had included Xynor among the viewers.

Xynor was the young merfolk Anton had met earlier, and Anton liked his boundless curiosity. He remembered how Xynor had focused on learning about his summoned wolf instead of asking who Anton was or what he was doing in their territory.

Zorexin informed him that everyone was ready and that he could begin whenever he wanted.

Anton prepared his Globe of Browser Sharing and played a short video clip to adjust the video and audio quality. He then asked the merfolk to dim the lights as much as possible.

Once the room was dark, Anton started the film.

He did his best to ensure that the merfolk wouldn’t notice that, instead of focusing on the movie, he was watching them.

As the film progressed, Anton noticed that the merfolk were on the edges of their seats during the exciting scenes. Some of them even stood up in their excitement and had to be reminded to sit down.

Anton realized that he could obtain a very high price for his films.

That thought brought a smile to his face.

There was a chance that, instead of paying for the purple corals, he might actually earn more from the merfolk than he would spend.