Chapter 1731: Starry Sky Ink, Nightmare Blood

Feisu Chinese.

There were seven paintings in total, of which only two were relatively complete; the rest looked like the scribbles of a psychiatric patient, with distorted brushstrokes and diffused pigments, making it difficult to discern whether they were people, objects, or some kind of scene.

As for the two relatively complete ones, they were only "relatively complete"; compared to normal paintings in the Main Plane, the 【Old Day Illusion】 condensed through transformation in the Ether Plane still appeared very distorted.

One of these two depicted a scene of farmers tilling the land, with a bright image containing many yellow and blue blocks; the other depicted a dark forest where the trees seemed to have grown tentacles and were entangled with one another, and deep within the forest, a crooked high tower could be vaguely seen.

The two paintings offered a sharp contrast. Xia Duo's original intention leaned more toward the first one, but thinking of what the stall owner had just said about someone finding real hidden treasures of the Main Plane through these 【Old Day Illusion】s, he moved both in front of him and asked:

"For these two, how many Gold Coins in total?"

"My lord, you can just give 500 for these two," Bali replied fawningly.

"Fine."

Xia Duo couldn't be bothered to haggle and directly took out an Arcane Union Exchange Voucher with a face value of 500 Gold Coins. As a veteran who often mixed in the market, Bali could tell the authenticity of the voucher at a glance.

But he still took it and carefully inspected it before putting it away. "My lord, the 500 Gold Coins have been received; these two paintings are yours."

Xia Duo looked at the two paintings but did not put them away immediately. At the moment, the plane environment was in a state of overlap between the Main Plane and the Ether Plane, so these two 【Old Day Illusion】s could still be maintained normally.

But if he were to put them away, the 500 Gold Coins he had just given out would likely go straight down the drain.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo turned his head and looked at the stall owner from the neighboring stall who had just interjected. "I need two scrolls for solidifying 【Old Day Illusion】s. Go and buy them for me, and I'll settle up with you when you return!"

That person probably hadn't expected Xia Duo to pull this, and was instantly stunned on the spot. Only then did he react, his face bitter and at a loss. "My lord, this, this—"

"What? Are you afraid I'll run away?"

Xia Duo did have the mind to tease him, but on second thought, having the leisure to mess with people here was not as good as going back early to finish building the 【Mythra】.

"Hurry up, don't make me say it a second time."

After saying this, Xia Duo tossed over a 500 Gold Coin Exchange Voucher. In fact, he could roughly guess what the Principles of that solidification spell were, but if he had an actual example for reference, he would be better informed.

Having taken the money, the stall owner immediately changed his attitude. "My lord, please wait, I will be back immediately."

"Mm."

Come to think of it, Xia Duo had passed by the shop opened by the Arcane Union when he arrived, but that shop was more for acquiring Ether specialties rather than selling them.

And at the time, he had only asked if there was any news regarding Spirit Quality; he hadn't thought that place would also be related to the solidification of 【Old Day Illusion】s.

After the stall owner who had taken the money left, Xia Duo continued to ask Bali: "Introduce these pieces of flesh, bone, and fur!"

He had just spent 500 Gold Coins, which for a plain, unremarkable little stall, already counted as a big customer. At this moment, Bali's attitude was definitely more than twice as enthusiastic as before!

"My lord, these are the blood of Yaoyue beasts. Those with abundant Magic Aura can be used to make Starry Sky Ink, which has a high degree of compatibility with Spell Elements related to designing Force Fields and Planes. They are generally used to make Teleportation Scrolls."

Bali pointed to the blue-black liquid sealed in glass bottles with starlike specks on the stall and introduced it to Xia Duo, who nodded repeatedly as he listened.

In the past, his leveling speed had been too fast. Although he knew that different Magic Scrolls required different inks, in reality, he rarely used specific inks, and the number of times he had even made scrolls was extremely rare.

When making them, he often used general-purpose ink mixed with Five-Colored Gem powder. Of course, that was only relatively general-purpose; in reality, one still needed to choose the type of Gemstone powder to mix in based on the elements involved in the Spell.

At the same time, there was an even more serious problem—it was expensive!

For example, making a Fireball Scroll required 【Sand Crystal Ink】. Besides containing the "Sand Crystal" in its name, this ink also contained a not-insignificant proportion of Ruby Powder.

A small bottle sold outside for 200 Gold Coins, and one bottle could only draw about two Fireball Scrolls. If one failed halfway through, the cost would directly double.

Generally speaking, most Mage Tower organizations would make various inks themselves. Of course, if buying them outside was cheaper, they wouldn't mind purchasing them from outside.

Because of certain undisclosed special materials or formulas, ink bought outside was not necessarily more expensive than buying materials to make it oneself, provided that there were other competing products on the market.

If there were no competing products, then one would naturally have to be at the mercy of others.

"Then this bottle of Yaoyue beast blood, how much are you selling it for? About how much Starry Sky Ink can it produce?"

"If you want this bottle, my lord, you can just give a hundred or so Gold Coins and take it away. This can be brought back to the Main Plane; it doesn't need extra solidification spells. As for how much Starry Sky Ink it can produce—"

Bali shook his head with a somewhat dejected expression. "That is not something a small fry like me would know. However, I have heard people say that even if you use Yaoyue beast blood with thin Magic Aura to make Starry Sky Ink, you won't lose money."

The Magic Aura of the Yaoyue beast blood on Bali's stall was not abundant, but it wasn't thin either. Xia Duo could tell that this guy's goods were relatively honest.

Unlike other stalls where some people bought blood that had already completely lost its Magic Aura, no different from dead matter, and still dared to bring it out to sell—they truly weren't afraid of running into an other-worldly version of Liu Huaqiang.

"Currently, only Yaoyue beasts can be stably hunted at Base No. 3, but occasionally Mage lords will bring back some other beast materials from outside. It's just that the only thing allocated to me is this small bottle of blood said to come from a 'Nightmare'."

At this moment, Bali was pointing to a small transparent bottle near his feet at the edge of the stall, but inside was not the common liquid form of blood; instead, it was a wisp of black-red, smoke-like existence, drifting up and down and gathering and dispersing in the bottle.

Xia Duo had noticed that bottle a long time ago. At first, he thought it was something like 【Ether Mist】, but he hadn't expected Bali to call it 【Nightmare Blood】.

However, the thing in that bottle did not manifest any special Magic Aura. Although a Spellcaster's Perception in the Ether Plane would be weakened, one could still easily distinguish whether some was present or not.

Either the thing in this bottle was just a gimmick, or it was indeed somewhat miraculous.

"Nightmare Blood, how many Gold Coins?"

"It only costs 500 Gold Coins." After saying this, Bali added an extra sentence, "The price that Mage lord sold it to me for was 500 Gold Coins. I haven't earned a single Copper from you."

"500 Gold Coins? Can this thing be brought back to the Main Plane?"

"This—to be honest with you, my lord, this bottle of 【Nightmare Blood】 cannot be brought to the Main Plane, and there is currently no means of solidification. Someone once tried to use a Magic Scroll to solidify an 【Old Day Illusion】, but it failed."

Upon hearing this, Xia Duo instantly lost interest. Clearly, this 【Nightmare Blood】 and 【Old Day Illusion】 were not the same type of thing; if they were, at least he could solidify a portion and take it away.