Chapter 1198: Octopus Clan
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“50,000 gold coins a gram. You should still be able to make quite a large profit from it. If you’re not agreeable to the price, forget it, this thing isn’t of much use to me anyway.” Lin Li didn’t bother to waste time bargaining with Calicoli, since the Blood of the Sea God wasn’t of much use to Lin Li, even though it had magical effects. The reason he wanted to buy some was not for drawing mageweaths, but because he wanted to try feeding it to Gordon the Demon.
When Lin Li first went to the Sky Castle, he subdued Demon Gordon who fed on metal, converting the metal it devoured into its own power. He could also transfer the metal’s magical properties to himself.
Demon Gordon was supposed to reach a bottleneck at the Legendary-level and remain there forever because he had already devoured the vast majority of the metals present in Anril, so there was no longer any way for him to enhance his power. However, Lin Li had a few Divinity Metals that he had brought over from the Endless World, and they contained the ability to grow infinitely.
After Lin Li fed a piece of Divinity Metal to Gordon, his ability continued to increase slowly even though he stopped devouring other metals. However, the rate of increase was a bit slower. Now, although Gordon’s strength was still increasing, he obviously couldn’t keep up with Lin Li’s pace. For example, during the few battles on Cursed Island, Gordon couldn’t give Lin Li any help at all during the battle against the Ice Phoenix, the incarnation of the Serpent of Light, or High Priest Poer.
Gordon could initially also be used as a trump card, but not anymore. Lin Li naturally did not want to let Gordon go to waste. Hence, after seeing the Blood of the Sea God, Lin Li got the idea to try and let Gordon devour some Blood of the Sea God, thinking that there might be some surprises.
Of course, Lin Li also wanted to experiment a little, and there was no reason that he would let himself be shortchanged and taken advantage of for such a reason. Hence, he offered the price of 50,000 gold coins a gram. If Calicoli agreed to it, he would buy some to carry out his experiment. If not, he would just leave.
Hearing the price Lin Li quoted, Calicoli knew that it was impossible for him to take advantage and rip Lin Li off. Although the price was staggering, he knew very well that 50,000 gold coins a gram was not far off from the price he had originally intended to offer. In other words, Lin Li managed to accurately guess the real value of the Blood of the Sea God even though he had never seen it before.
Although the Blood of the Sea God had a good reputation, it actually wasn’t very rare in the sea territory of the Octopus Clan. Unlike ordinary minerals which were non-renewable, the Blood of the Sea God was considered a renewable resource because of its ultra-high activity. Besides, as Lin Li mentioned, the addition of an automatic repair ability came with hidden side effects that were not negligible. Hence, the price couldn’t rise to an outrageous amount.
However, 50,000 gold coins a gram was still quite a high price compared to other magic materials. No matter what, the Blood of the Sea God was also considered unique to the Octopus Clan, and would indeed come in handy when drawing mageweaths. In particular, one of the main sources of wealth for the Octopus Clan was the high-level magic scrolls. The addition of the Blood of the Sea God allowed the magic scrolls created by the Octopus Clan to have a longer lifespan than ordinary magic scrolls.
After all, the mana source of the power of the magic scrolls did not come from magical crystals, as no one would add a large magical crystal to a magic scroll. The combination of the magic materials and the mana that would be added during the creation of the magic scrolls acted as a guide to mobilize the magical elements in space, turning them into the mana source together with the various laws used in the mageweaths. In fact, it was just like turning the process of spell casting by a mage into a mageweath. Majority of the mana used by a mage came from the magical elements in space.
Hence, the main thing that determined the lifespan of a magic scroll was the mageweath drawn on the magic scroll. As long as the mageweath could exist for a long time, the magic scroll would not malfunction, and could even play its proper role at critical junctures. No one would want the magic scrolls that they had spent a ton of money on to end up malfunctioning in a few years’ time. In particular, it would be a huge ripoff if someone tried to use the magic scroll during critical moments, only to find out that it had long expired.
This advantage of long lifespan alone could be considered a signature advantage of the Octopus Clan’s magic scrolls. Besides, the Octopus Clan’s attainments in inscription were quite elite, and the magic scrolls they produced were almost all fine and exquisite. Hence, no one could resist the magic scrolls of the Octopus Clan. The revenue from the magic scrolls alone could account for half of their total annual revenue. Hence, it could be seen why the Blood of the Sea God was not rare among the Octopus Clan.
Of course, the lifespan of the magic scrolls was long, but it didn’t mean that they could be preserved for hundreds and thousands of years or passed down as heirlooms. The mana in the magic materials would also dissipate. If it could be preserved for thousands of years without any reduction of mana, they would probably be at about the same level as the semi-divine artifacts. It was not something that an ordinary inscription master could produce, nor was it achievable with the Blood of the Sea God. Even if it could be preserved for hundreds of years, however, that was attractive enough for the people who would spend twice or thrice the price of ordinary magic scrolls.
Hence, Calicoli felt that the price of 50,000 gold coins a gram was still quite acceptable even though it was only a 10th of the previous asking price. However, when Calicoli was about to agree and ask Lin Li how much of the Blood of the Sea God he intended to buy, someone interjected.
“How much does that Blood of the Sea God cost? I want it all!”
Two people then walked over. They were none other than Lin Li’s old acquaintance, Cantory, and another Octopus Clan member who looked similar to Calicoli.
The one who said he wanted to buy all the Blood of the Sea God was Cantory, who walked towards Lin Li with a smile on his face, and said with some embarrassment, “What a coincidence, President Felic, I didn’t expect you to be here too. I’m really sorry, I also came here because I heard that the Blood of the Sea God can be bought here.”
Was it really that coincidental? In fact, Lin Li was well aware that it was just one of Cantory’s tricks to embarrass him and get in his way. However, Lin Li didn’t bother to say anything. After taking a glance at Cantory, he turned to look at Calicoli, and said, “There should be about 40 grams of Blood of the Sea God in this box, so that’s exactly 2,000,000 gold coins. This is the amethyst card of the Glittergold Trade Union. Ring this up together with those magical materials.”
Although the Glittergold Trade Union did not monopolize the entire financial sector in the Gilded Kingdom like they did in Anril, it still had a highly authoritative position in the financial sector here with the massive financial power they amassed in Anril, even with all the restrictions in the Gilded Kingdom. Hence, the amethyst card of the Glittergold Trade Union could be used here like cash. They just had to perform a few more transactions and transfers during the payment.
Just as Calicoli was about to take the card from Lin Li, Cantory spoke again. “50,000 gold coins for a gram of Blood of the Sea God is such a low price. How about I pay you 100,000 gold coins a gram for this? I’ll take all 40 grams.”
Cantory dropped his pretense, and his agenda was revealed when he offered twice the price that Lin Li offered.
Hearing Cantory’s words, Calicoli retracted his hand again. For merchants, profit was the ultimate pursuit, and everything else was secondary. Besides, he hadn’t accepted Lin Li’s money yet, so the first come, first serve issue did not exist at this juncture. It was only normal for the good to be sold to the highest bidder. The original offer of 2,000,000 gold coins had now become 4,000,000. Only a fool wouldn’t agree to such a good deal.
Of course, Lin Li knew already what Cantory was getting up to right from the beginning, so he wasn’t surprised by Cantory’s behavior. After Cantory offered the price of 100,000 gold coins a gram, Lin Li didn’t even bother to look at him as he simply said to Calicoli, “200,000 gold coins a gram.”
200,000 gold coins a gram could already be considered the upper limit of the true value of the Blood of the Sea God, and it would be a foolish act to raise it any higher. Although Lin Li was not short of gold coins, he wouldn’t make any stupid decisions for the sake of spiting someone. If Cantory continued to raise the price, Lin Li wouldn’t mind giving up the Blood of the Sea God.
Hearing Lin Li’s new offer, Cantory’s expression changed immediately. 8,000,000 gold coins was not a small amount. Although Cantory could afford that sum of money, he would be the one to be embarrassed if he paid such a high price for something that he couldn’t use just to embarrass his enemy.
If Cantory wanted to win the bid against Lin Li, he obviously couldn’t offer the same price. He would at least have to offer a sum of more than 8,000,000 gold coins. He could offer a couple of million gold coins more than Lin Li, but he would at most make Lin Li a little irked. He would also seem like a miser, and in the end, he would be making a fool of himself instead.
Besides, even if the price was only 8,000,000 gold coins, it still didn’t seem like a good deal for Cantory. 8,000,000 gold coins could allow him to buy a load of useful things, and there was no point in spending money on something of no value. He was not an inscription master, so the Blood of the Sea God was of no use for him. If he let someone else have it, he could probably recover some losses, but he could only sell it to others at the normal price, and not such a staggering price. In the end, he would be at a loss.
Calicoli was waiting for Cantory to offer a higher price, but after waiting for a long time, Cantory remained frozen in shock. Calicoli finally grabbed Lin Li’s amethyst card again and was ready to complete the deal. However, he had already gotten the better end of the deal since the original sale price was 50,000 gold coins a gram, and the price had been quadrupled now.
However, just as Calicoli was about to complete the transaction with Lin Li, the Octopus Clan member who had been standing next to Cantory suddenly spoke up, and directly said to Calicoli, “I want that thing. Send it to the Tide Palace for me later.”
Calicoli did not care much about his fellow clan member at first, because the Octopus Clan was rather large, and it was impossible for everyone to be familiar with each other. However, when he heard him mention the Tide Palace, Calicoli was shocked, and couldn’t help but look at his fellow clansman.
As soon as he did, Calicoli turned pale, and he hurriedly walked out from behind the counter to bow to him respectfully. He said in a shaky voice, “It’s you, Lord. Please pardon my ignorance, I’ll send it over now.”
Lin Li also knew quite a bit about the Sea Clan, which was said to be one of the seven strongest races in the Sea Clan. The king of the Sea Clan was called the great monarch, just like the king among humans. The other monarchs were also equivalent to the princes of human kingdoms.
The Octopus Clan member Cantory brought over this time obviously had a high status in the Octopus Clan. In this case, Calicoli definitely couldn’t offend him for the sake of earning money. Besides, the Octopus Clan member was obviously there to boost Cantory’s ego and give him support. He obviously didn’t need the Blood of the Sea God!
It was not something that Lin Li could handle with gold coins alone. After all, there were very few people who would choose money over their lives. However, the Blood of the Sea God didn’t matter much to Lin Li in the first place, so he wouldn’t mind not buying it.
Hence, Lin Li did not say anything. He simply put away the amethyst card, turned around, and prepared to leave as he chose not to purchase the magic materials that he intended to buy, either. He could buy them in another inscription material store anyway, so he felt that there was no point in making things difficult for Calicoli here.
However, just as Lin Li turned around to leave, the big shot of the Octopus Clan spoke again in an arrogant tone, “These things are of no use to me, but you must have high attainments in inscriptions since you intended to buy these things. Unfortunately, the Octopus Clan also has some attainments in inscriptions. If you can come up with a piece of work to impress me, I don’t mind giving you these things for free.”
The big shot of the Octopus Clan was quite polite, but everyone could tell that it was not just a plain exchange of inscription insights. Instead, he was simply insulting Lin Li. Everyone knew that the Octopus Clan was the best in inscriptions in Anril, just like how the Rotterdam Kingdom was the best at alchemy. He was definitely a monarch of the Octopus Clan; hence, his talent in inscription had to be the best in the whole Octopus Clan.