Chapter 872: Incubation room
It was no wonder Hoffman and the rest were so surprised. Although all of them were the leaders of the top forces in the Breezy Plains, especially the Glittergold Trade Union that was recognized to be extravagant, the existence of incubation rooms was only hearsay.
One would first require great financial ability and resources to build a real incubation room. This was not what any organization could afford, not to mention that it would still require talents among many other things necessary to build and maintain that. Actually, to the common men, the incubation room did not have much use; the incubation room would not be directly of help in raising their power. Hence, none of the forces were willing to put in so much effort into building a real incubation room.
However, not everyone felt the same way. For the Tower of Dusk, Lin Li had an incubation room. Although the scale was not as large as this, it was fully furnished and functional. Hence, Lin Li had to be the most well-versed in the knowledge on incubation rooms.
The incubation room was not a place that could help to generate much wealth. Since the costs would usually outweigh the benefits, it was actually a money-losing business. The real advantage of the incubation room was that it was a place for mages to breed different types of living beings for research purposes. Of course, if it was for normal research, it wouldn’t be that hard to construct a common incubation room. However, how would mages settle for normal research? How would a dissection of a rabbit or a rat be a subject of research? If a real top mage were to be serious about conducting any research, they would all sound terrifying.
One would be able to grow any creature in an incubation room. This would include plants, magical beasts, demons, and dragons. Nobody would be able to imagine the craze mages had. Their thirst for knowledge and pursuit of every essence of the world as well as their desire to dissect divines made their second name “atheists”. As for whether their research would reap any rewards… It would be unknown to the mages too.
It had been said that the God of Mages Geresco was once disheartened by the vanishing of the titans and dragons as he wasn’t able to catch any one of them for his research. According to the Supreme Council’s public denial, Geresco only wanted to find out if the titans and dragons were able to populate.
Regardless of whether it was for pure sadism or for the desire to explore into the essence of life, the research of mages would usually take not only one or two days, but decades and centuries. Hence, a real incubation room had to relate to the laws of time. A man-made Time Domain was a key factor in the building of the foundation of an incubation room. Through the Time Domain, mages would be able to control the time within the incubation room, and hasten the time needed for living beings that originally required decades and hundreds of years to mature.
Of course, man-made Time Domain was only one challenging part of an incubation room. Apart from that, there were still many problems from every aspect. This included having a source of mana that was enough to support the rapid growth of the creatures and potions that could provide them with enough nutrients. Hence, a real incubation room would be really important in the assessment of powerful High Elves mages even if it was in the Dark Ages.
It was not unusual for Brahere to have an incubation room with his status among the High Elves. What was weird was the reason why an incubation room would appear in a mausoleum. To say that the Prince Brahere’s mausoleum would still want to do research after his death would be totally absurd.
But, after seeing the items in the incubation room, no one ever pondered this question anymore. Everybody’s breath was taken away, including the wealthy Hoffman, Joseph, and Claus whose organizations had over 1,000 years of heritage.
They had no experience in the building of an incubation room, and had not seen a real incubation room, but this did not mean that they had no knowledge of it. Although this incubation room seemed to have been abandoned a really long time ago, most of the facilities had lost their functionality, and many key parts had been lost or damaged, they could feel that the most important Time Domain within the incubation room was still functioning.
Apart from the Time Domain, the other facilities within the incubation room were the most sophisticated technology in all sorts of domains. Even if they had lost their original use, if they could transport them back as artifacts, they would really gain huge fortune.
Why did these people take on such a great risk in the exploration of this relic? Seeking the historical truth would merely be a superficial reason. The fundamental goal was still benefits. They wanted to tremendously enhance the ability of themselves and their organizations. And now, this advantage was placed right before their eyes. As long as they could bring some of these back, this trip wouldn’t be wasted. No one could remain calm at this thought.
Of course, there was an exception. Lin Li already had an incubation room in the Tower of Dusk. Although it was not a large-scale incubation room, the facilities within it were extremely complete. He naturally had no interest in the equipment in this deserted incubation room that had stopped functioning.
Because of that, Lin Li could naturally put his attention on places that the others missed. Apart from the reason why the incubation room was constructed in a mausoleum, Lin Li had also noticed another unusual thing in the incubation room. It was the eerie air.
Normally, ruins that had not been ventured into would have a pungent smell of decay, yet Lin Li only felt fresh air when he stepped through the door of the incubation room. He could even smell a faint pleasant scent of flowers and grasses. This made the situation extremely dubious. Lin Li was extremely clear that they were a dozen meters underground in a mausoleum left deserted for over 1,000 years. He could even see the skeletons of a dozen High Elves not far away.
Although the High Elves were born from the Tree of Eternity, they were made of flesh and bones just like humans and any other races with intelligence. Lin Li had not heard that the decaying bodies of the High Elves would have a pleasant smell.
Where did that smell of flowers and grasses come from!? Lin Li really could not comprehend it.
Just when Lin Li was deep in thought, Hoffman came to him.
“Felic, what are you thinking about?” he asked while patting on his shoulders.
“Oh, Master Hoffman, what is it?” Lin Li asked patronizingly. Hoffman’s voice brought him back to the present.
“Have you seen anything? Claus suggested that we split these treasures and bring them out of the mausoleum. What do you think about that?” Hoffman asked, not knowing what was on Lin Li’s mind. He just thought that Lin Li had something that caught his eye.
“Is that so. How should we split that?” Lin Li turned to ask the rest.
“The Caesar Family hopes to acquire the Time Domain Mageweath array. I know some of you may have similar thoughts as well, but I believe that you will be interested in my offerings,” spoke Claus. As the first speaker, he mentioned the most valuable thing in the incubation room. Although he spoke with much confidence, his eyes continued to glance towards Lin Li subconsciously.
When they were previously discussing the partnership, Lin Li was the one who demanded a one-time priority to be the first person to choose whatever he wanted. If Lin Li mentioned that he also wanted the Time Domain Mageweath array at this time, Claus would not have a reason to deny his request, unless he was willing to offend Lin Li.
Claus’ motive in wanting the Time Domain Mageweath array was not to build an incubation room when he returned. After all, the Time Domain was not the only thing they needed to build an incubation room. However, there was more than one function to the Time Domain. Its ability to control the passage of time could similarly be of great use in other aspects.
It was just like how a mage would spend a day meditating by himself, but if he were to meditate in the Time Domain for a year, it might only take a day outside the domain. This meant that a day of meditation would help one to boost his accumulation of mana by a year. It would be especially helpful if one were to be below the Legendary-level as they would not need to enhance their powers through enlightenment. A mage who wanted to proceed to level-16 from level-15 would require a year’s time to accumulate his mana, but with the Time Domain, he would only need a day.
Apart from mages, the Time Domain was beneficial to other occupations too. This would include Warriors and Assassins who needed to boost their combat energy and practice their skills.
Lin Li naturally knew how to read Claus’ expression, but he did not see the same value in the Time Domain. Lin Li’s incubation room naturally had a Time Domain. As a Guru of Inscription, Lin Li would be able to form a Time Domain Mageweath array as long as he had the resources. Why else could the team have such a good sense of camaraderie?
Furthermore, the Time Domain would not be a free lunch, for one had to pay other costs. The passage of time would entail aging. If one were to stay in the domain for 100 years, he might lose his life. While Lin Li could create high-level potions that would reduce the side effects for mages, it would not be the same for the Caesar Family.