Chapter 662: Common Interests, Four Treasures

"Yes!"

Xia Duo stated his affirmation quite straightforwardly, and at the same time asked a follow-up question, "Are there really no Elf Mages engaged in the field of cultivation?"

"None!"

Aoruipusi immediately expressed his denial, "Since they possess Magic talent, how could it be wasted in the field of cultivation? Such things can just be left to those Druids to do!"

"..."

Hearing this, how could Xia Duo not feel that the other party was showing off a sense of superiority! The Magic talent of Elf Mages is indeed different from that of humans; there are differences in both choices and requirements.

In the Elf World, a Mage is a very noble profession, a true profession, similar to a researcher who is free from production; those Elves who might be considered Mages in the eyes of humans are actually not Mages at all—it depends on what their essential work is.

Whereas in the human world, being a Mage is more like a basic ability; people who possess this ability can engage in other professions, such as Lord, Researcher, Warrior, guard, craftsman, and so on.

This counts as a semantic discrepancy between the two sides, and Xia Duo did not delve deeper into this issue; otherwise, involving two races with different concepts and languages, they could argue for days and nights without end.

He only said: "Some Apprentices in the Tower of Time are willing to engage in the field of cultivation. I plan to plant the Bonu Tea Tree in the Arcane Garden; it will be more convenient to have human Mages take care of it."

In fact, his real plan was to use the New Druids who were budding in the Territory; even if the Apprentices of the Tower of Time were willing to engage in cultivation, Xia Duo would not be willing.

At the current stage, whether letting them engage in education, research, or just acting as Magic Technicians, it is more appropriate than letting them go farm!

This is just like Xia Duo's hometown; in the era Xia Duo lived in, there were plenty of PhDs and Master's degree holders who farmed, but if you go back a few decades, even High School students were not very willing to go farm.

The current Tower of Time is indeed not luxurious enough to use Mages to farm.

Although he rejected Aoruipusi's idea of providing Druids, thinking that the condition for him to provide Druids was to obtain seeds, Xia Duo proposed, "When the Bonu Tea Tree grows, I am willing to provide a batch of seeds to the Silver Leaf Family, and it is even negotiable to carve out an area in the Tower of Time's Arcane Garden for the Silver Leaf Family to plant tea trees."

"This—" Aoruipusi was instantly tempted, but the habits of an Elf still made him somewhat unaccustomed to accepting gifts from humans.

"It's settled then!"

Xia Duo saw that Aoruipusi was tempted; that expression of wanting something but feeling embarrassed was indeed a bit funny, so he immediately made the final decision to avoid putting Aoruipusi in a difficult position.

Actually, even if Aoruipusi hadn't mentioned it, Xia Duo was prepared to provide seeds to Aoruipusi once the tea trees grew, to establish a closer cooperative relationship.

Currently, the basis for cooperation between the two sides was merely that Aoruipusi wanted to stay in the human world to develop, and the Savile Territory could provide certain conveniences and protection; there was no very close common interest.

If they fell out one day, Xia Duo would not be surprised at all.

But planting Bonu Tea together would be different; Comanthyr strictly forbids "Bonu Original Leaf" from flowing into the human world, and tea seeds are very difficult for even Elves to obtain, let alone providing them to humans.

This is practically a crime!

First, they would forge a friendship by "committing a crime" together; although it would not be stable yet, once the scale of the tea trees expanded, smuggling tea leaves would become a common interest that would stabilize their friendship.

Xia Duo gave Aoruipusi a small hint about the future smuggling plan between the two countries, and Aoruipusi immediately understood; his attitude and tone instantly became much closer.

The two talked for a while longer before they began to distribute the "ship ticket revenue" from this time. Besides the "Bonu Tea Seeds" already in Xia Duo's pocket, there were four other gains.

All of them were "bought" by the Silver Leaf Family spending real resources; even if Xia Duo wanted to obtain them, he would have to pay an equivalent price, though of course, he could also use other gains to offset it.

"Besides the Gold Wind Family, four other families chose to use treasures to obtain boarding spots, covering all members of those families. However, in order to win over other families, I also set aside some scattered spots, which can allow them to send a small number of important family members to the north."

"That's very good! These scattered spots aren't cheap, right?"

"Of course, now that the Drow have chased them to Savile Town, only by heading north can they obtain true safety; they have no choice but to be willing to pay a high price."

Aoruipusi had long received notice from Xia Duo and knew that the Drow Assassin who had previously murdered Ruien had been caught, but he had not disclosed this to the outside world; instead, he used the news of the Drow arriving in Savile Town to continuously pressure other Elf families.

Four treasures that would normally be impossible to buy were now being delivered to his doorstep. Although a certain price still had to be paid, this price was extremely low compared to the treasures themselves.

Not to mention, there were also the gains from selling the scattered spots, which could almost be used to pay for these four treasures.

Aoruipusi listed all the gains from operating the "business" of ship tickets, and finally said: "Lord Xia Duo, you can choose two from these four treasures!"

Xia Duo looked at Aoruipusi with a hint of deep meaning, but Aoruipusi met his gaze calmly. Xia Duo couldn't help but laugh at himself; since Aoruipusi had this sincerity, he naturally wouldn't be afraid to accept it.

So he replied, "Good!"

In fact, according to their initial agreement, the "ship ticket revenue" was to be split equally between the two sides, but with Xia Duo having already obtained the Bonu Tea Seeds first, Aoruipusi was still willing to split the rest equally—this was something Xia Duo hadn't expected.

However, with the tacit understanding from before, the Bonu Tea Seeds could also be considered as jointly owned by both sides, so splitting the rest now was not excessive.

As for whether the income from those scattered spots could actually offset these four treasures, Xia Duo believed it couldn't; these four treasures were enough to make even Elves so covetous that they clearly could no longer be measured by money.

"Patriarch Aoruipusi, introduce them to me!"

"That is a matter of course!"

Aoruipusi first pointed to the only black gemstone-like treasure among the four, and introduced: "This is a 【Wisdom Gem】 from the 【Stardust】 Family, also called a 【Heritage Gem】. It contains the Wisdom and Knowledge of past members of the Stardust Family. However, since they were able to take it out for trade, the valuable content should not be too much, but even so, the gemstone itself is a very precious treasure!"

As if to confirm his own words, Aoruipusi added, "The Silver Leaf Family has no Wisdom Gem heritage!"

Next, he introduced the other three treasures, which were—

A Magic sword that only requires chanting a spell to fly out and kill enemies on its own; its attack range is limited to the visual range, and once the attack time ends or the target is killed, the Magic sword will teleport back on its own;

A Guardian Puppet also activated by a spell, said to come from the Puppet Kingdom in the East, which can at least protect against any attack issued by an Elite Mage;

The last one, a Magic Scroll made using dragon skin, not only serves as an information carrier recording detailed, learnable Spell details, but can also be activated for use.

Once activated, it will immediately seal teleportation, restrict flight, and simultaneously summon a large-scale Chain Lightning, conducting indiscriminate attacks on all living things within the range except for the user.

After finishing the introduction, Aoruipusi took a sip of tea and fell silent, quietly waiting for Xia Duo to make his choice.