Chapter 436: Poisons and Potions

"Due to that fact, monster meat is incredibly valuable for us," Percival continued. "The regular mages don’t eat much of it, but the ones at the top do. Especially those who are in the sixth and seventh circles."

The Elder glanced briefly at Karina. "Your guide over there is in fact a fifth-circle mage, and I am pretty sure that fifth-circle mages are pretty rare on your continent. But even someone like her would have to think twice before splurging on monster meat."

Adrian nodded. "Well, yeah, I guess. I recently fought three sixth-circle mages, and I killed one of them. Two of them managed to escape, though."

He watched silently as the Elder’s expression twisted to that of shock and disbelief.

For a brief moment, Adrian smirked. "Well, the other two did run away, so I don’t really know where they went. But those were actually High Elves, and they were summoned using a method that I don’t know much about."

The mage nodded slowly, recovering his composure. "Well, there have been a few strange rumors going around, and we have gathered some information about certain tall people with long ears running around. But let’s get back to the topic. Those elves aren’t of that much importance to us. Their magic is underdeveloped. It is something you could honestly call disgusting for my standards."

Percival looked back at the table. "So do you agree to the deal? One thousand mana crystals for one full carcass."

"Sure, we can do that," Adrian said easily. "I can provide you one carcass for one thousand mana crystals, but I don’t really want mana crystals right now."

He leaned forward, putting his hands on the table. "What I need instead is resources, unique items, and maybe a few perks. Like permanent access to the libraries and inner area. Treat me like family, and I will treat you like family. I will give you huge, massive discounts. Even a ninety percent discount. Instead of one thousand mana crystals, I will only take one hundred. Or well, the equivalent value of one hundred crystals."

The Elder’s eyes widened. "Now that is something that I do not have the direct power to decide on. I will need to ask the Headmaster."

"Take your time," Adrian smiled. "It’s not like I am going anywhere. I will be on the new continent, and I am pretty sure that I will return alive. So you have a lot of time to think about it. Just make sure that you have an answer ready by the time I come back."

He snapped his fingers.

Instantly, five perfectly skinned, massive cow carcasses appeared out of thin air. They were completely gutted, thoroughly cleaned, and marbled beautifully.

He also brought out multiple huge wooden tables from his dungeon and placed the carcasses on top of them.

He looked at the stunned Elder and smirked.

"Now, tell me. What can you give me for these today? And again... I do not need crystals. I need knowledge or useful items."

Percival nodded slowly, and tapped his spatial ring and took out a set of five thick, leather-bound books. He placed them gently on the table in front of Adrian.

He looked up at Adrian. "These are the highly detailed notes that I made a few decades ago when I was still a lower-ranked mage. The stuff inside these books is the direct fruit of my own research, which brought something new to the field of magic at the time."

He tapped the cover of the top book.

"These books have extensive information on different poisons, and also various potent antidotes and medicines. I have more than a hundred books just like these. And the Elders with me right now..."

He looked back at the two other older mages standing right behind him.

"These two are experts in their own specific fields too, so they can also help a lot. We have a lot of knowledge that we can give you. But of course, there is a limit to what we can give, considering the fact that you can just keep all of this knowledge permanently, while the food that you give us is simply a consumable item."

Adrian shrugged casually. "Well, that is just the inherent value of a premium consumable item, isn’t it?"

He paused as he looked at them.

"Of course, I am not going to sell this knowledge to others, and I’m not going to hand it to the other kingdoms. While I will eventually set up a Magic Academy in my empire, I am not going to put everything out for the general public to access. There will be things that will be restricted even for my own citizens. So you do not have to worry about highly important or dangerous knowledge leaking out to the general public and ruining your monopolies."

Percival nodded in relief. "Okay, that is much better. But we will decide on a long-term contract once you come back from the expedition."

Adrian nodded. He put his hand directly on the stack of books, and a second later, all of the books disappeared into his Dungeon.

He looked at the system screen that popped up right in front of him.

[Scanning complete.]

[Amount of new information in the books = 20%]

Adrian looked at this number and didn’t say anything or visibly react to it.

He just looked at the massive carcasses in front of him.

"You can take all of these," Adrian said to the Elder.

Then he looked at the other mages waiting in line, pointing at the other tables filled with sausages and the fresh meat cuts he had the dungeon prepare for him before he turned to look at Karina. "Are you interested in doing another task for me?"

She immediately nodded and ran over eagerly.

"Well, sell all of these for me," Adrian instructed. "I want you to collect as many useful items as you can. I will leave the judgment of value to you, and if you want, you can hire someone else who is much better at evaluating artifacts to help you."