Chapter 2621: Elemental Essence Trade, Element Lord

After dinner, on the way back, Xia Duo brought up the matter of the Void Warehouse again. "I'll handle the Spirit Automation; you need to pick up the pace on the Void Warehouse as well. This matter is truly very important!"

"Don't worry, I'll start making preparations tomorrow. Do you have any suggestions?" Niya also became serious.

"I only have some concepts, and I've also made some preliminary connection schemes, but the specifics still need to be done by you. However, if the automation side finishes quickly enough, I will also come to help!"

"With you saying that, I feel more confident."

A relaxed smile appeared on Niya's face, yet a spark of competitiveness also ignited in her eyes.

……

The next day, Niya gathered her team to start the new Void Warehouse project, while Xia Duo took stock of the Elemental Essence he currently possessed inside his Laboratory.

There were fewer than one hundred pieces. The vast majority of these came from the inventory of the Kuangfeng Baolei gifted by the Mairide Family of Calimshan, and a small portion came from his gains while clearing out Elemental Creatures during his exploration of the Arctic.

There was no shortage of Elemental Creatures on the Beiji Da Lu, but not every Elemental Creature yielded Elemental Essence after being killed. To use human souls as an analogy, it was roughly equivalent to a human's soul precipitating out in material form after they were killed.

If one wanted to stably obtain the souls of humans or other normal creatures, one would need to use a spell like the 【Soul-Locking Technique】. Xia Duo had also tried using the 【Soul-Locking Technique】 on Elemental Creatures when he was in the Arctic before, but he did not obtain Elemental Essence as a result.

Clearly, Elemental Essence was similar to the souls of normal creatures, yet not exactly the same. There should exist means similar in nature to the 【Soul-Locking Technique】 specifically for Elemental Essence to obtain it stably.

Of course, it was also possible that not all Elemental Creatures possessed Elemental Essence; this point remained in doubt for now. However, Xia Duo guessed that once an Elemental Creature became powerful to a certain degree, it should definitely possess an essence.

It was somewhat similar to the fruit borne after a crop matures. This effect also existed in normal creatures, meaning that a fetus does not possess obvious soul characteristics and needs to grow to a certain degree to possess a soul.

The more intelligent the creature, the earlier it acquires a soul.

Therefore, if one wanted a stable supply of Elemental Essence, one still had to find someone more professional—namely, Calimshan.

Right now, these fewer than one hundred pieces of Elemental Essence might not even be enough for automation experiments, let alone being used purely as consumables to produce 280,000 Node Magic Artifacts.

No matter how confident Xia Duo was, he did not have such delusions, so he contacted Talafu of the Mairide Family to mention purchasing Elemental Essence.

Talafu agreed without any hesitation. "Our family's Element Ranch just had a harvest recently. I wonder what level and what attributes of essence Lord Xia Duo needs?"

"A research project I am currently conducting requires quite a lot of Elemental Essence. If it's convenient, the higher the level the better, and let's have a bit of every attribute!"

Xia Duo was not sure what attributes or levels of Elemental Essence the Spirit Automation would actually require, but he figured that higher levels and more varieties would certainly be more convenient.

Even if some were wasted this time, these were necessary costs.

"No problem. In addition to the normal trade, the Mairide Family is also willing to gift you four Elder-level Elemental Essences free of charge, as a small token of our appreciation."

Talafu's reply was slightly later than Xia Duo had expected; perhaps he had gone to consult with his father and grandfather. The gift of Elder-level Elemental Essences he mentioned also slightly exceeded Xia Duo's expectations.

Xia Duo had indeed helped the Mairide Family quite a bit when he was in Calimshan before, but the other party had already provided a generous reward at the time. To say nothing else, the Kuangfeng Baolei in the Elemental Plane alone could not be measured by ordinary money.

With this happening again, Xia Duo inexplicably felt a sense of being unworthy of the favor. However, as this was a critical moment where he had a need for Elemental Essence, he did not pretend to be generous and refuse, but instead accepted it.

Human relationships are about give and take; one doesn't live in a vacuum, so how could everything be perfectly balanced without any gains or losses?

After receiving the gift, Xia Duo expressed his gratitude to the Mairide Family and spoke of the friendship between the two sides. He sent an invitation to Talafu to visit Daxia Territory.

And Talafu replied—

"The previous turmoil has not yet completely passed. Once the turmoil has completely subsided, I will go to Netheril to disturb Lord Xia Duo."

This counted as an agreement, so Xia Duo pulled the topic back to Elemental Essence. He asked Talafu, "I am very curious, what is the difference between Elder-level Elemental Essence and ordinary Elemental Essence?"

"There is no essential difference, only that Elder-level Elemental Creatures can no longer be obtained through farming, and every Elder-level Elemental Creature possesses extraordinary Wisdom. This level of Elemental Creature can only be obtained through war."

So that was it!

Xia Duo suddenly realized. At the same time, he finally confirmed that Calimshan possessed a mature Elemental Essence industry. At the very least, Elemental Essence below the Elder level should be something that could be mass-produced for Calimshan.

However, he did not mention the topic of introducing an Elemental Creature farming industry to Talafu at this moment; he had to first confirm that Elemental Essence could become a universal automation solution.

Moreover, such a major project was not suitable for discussion via remote Sending; it would be best to find a formal opportunity for both sides to sit down and talk as equals.

……

Following that, Xia Duo chatted with Talafu for a while longer, mainly on the topic of Elemental Essence. For instance, Lord-level essences, which were higher than the Elder level, were even more rare and precious.

The core of the Gale Stronghold was a Lord-level essence, corresponding to a Lord-level Elemental Creature, or in other words, an Element Lord.

Of course, Element Lords have varying strengths; weak ones might not even compare to some powerful Element Elders, while strong ones have almost no upper limit.

Elemental Creatures below the Lord level are essentially no different, but once they reach the Lord level, they possess a natural ability to rule, capable of commanding a large number of similar Elemental Creatures, even those stronger than themselves.

As for non-Lords, they can only rely on brute force to suppress other elements, rather than ruling them.

Although Talafu did not mention how Lord-level Elemental Creatures are produced, it was clear that since even the lower-level Element Elders could not be obtained through farming, the conditions for producing an Element Lord were definitely even more stringent.

If one wanted to obtain a Lord-level Elemental Essence, it was likely impossible to do so just by conducting general warfare. Unless one picked up a bargain, in all likelihood, one would have to engage in total war with a faction composed of a large group of Elemental Creatures.

Previously, Xia Duo thought the value of the Kuangfeng Baolei might lie in that Elemental Plane or the collection in the Library within the fortress. Now it seemed that the Lord-level Elemental Essence maintaining the fortress was not a bit inferior to the other two!

……