Chapter 982: Living Freely and Differences in Lifespan

"My lord, you are making things difficult for me. I also acquired this item from someone else; how could I possibly know its origin!"

The stall owner gave a bitter, innocent smile, but his darting eyes flashed with cunning and greed from time to time. Seeing this, Xia Duo took out another Exchange Voucher, waved it in the air, and said with a tone of deep regret:

"Since you don't know, I'll have to give these 100 Gold Coins to someone who does!"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze toward the stalls on either side. The owners of the neighboring stalls had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Seeing that the Mage intended to ask them, one of them immediately began to undermine the first:

"My lord, I know!"

"Good, you tell me. As long as you don't lie to me, these 100 Gold Coins are yours!"

100 Gold Coins was not a huge amount, but it was certainly not small. These Adventurers could set up stalls here for a long time without necessarily selling a so-called treasure for 1000 Gold Coins. Having 100 Gold Coins would at least allow them to live comfortably in Seventon for several days.

The stall owner who had spoken first stood up, gave the stall owner in front of Xia Duo a triumphant look, then bowed respectfully to Xia Duo and replied:

"My lord, I accidentally saw that kid handing over goods to someone the day before yesterday. Hehe, that batch of goods included the Crystal Frame in your hand. I clearly heard him talking about Mage Tower Ruins, treasures, and things like that when he was making the exchange."

"Very good, you did not lie!"

Xia Duo nodded, tossed the 100 Gold Coin Exchange Voucher in his hand over, and then took out another one.

Immediately after, another person stood up and said: "I also saw the person he met. I know them. It is said they just returned from Zhenisi not long ago. I guess if there are any ruins, they should be near Zhenisi."

Xia Duo confirmed that this person was not lying and tossed an Exchange Voucher over as usual. Afterward, he looked at the stall owner in front of him, who was wearing a sheepish smile. He did not say anything mocking, but simply took out another Exchange Voucher and said calmly:

"Help me contact those people. Tell them someone wants to talk to them about the process of exploring the ruins."

Making direct contact with the Adventurers on the true front line was far more effective for obtaining useful information than asking these Adventurers who had already become middlemen.

Then, Xia Duo left a Magic Mark on the back of the stall owner's hand, tossed the Exchange Voucher to him as well, and said: "If the other party is willing, trigger this mark and have them wait for me at the Arcane Union!"

At this moment, Niya quietly sent a Sending to ask: "Why are you looking for those people? Do you know the purpose of this Crystal Frame?"

"I don't know. I'm just curious and want to find those Adventurers to ask about the specific discovery process," Xia Duo replied.

In fact, he did not necessarily need to know what the transparent material was for; he was truly just curious. It was just that he was now fully able to afford the cost of such curiosity!

In the past, he was too busy just trying to survive; where would he have the leisure to investigate such things!

Wasn't his original purpose for learning Magic to allow himself to live more freely and do whatever he wanted!

Of course, he now had higher pursuits, but satisfying some curiosity without hindering himself was just a basic operation.

Xia Duo gently squeezed Niya's little hand and led her to the next stall. This stall was much the same as the previous two. Niya picked another item, and Xia Duo helped her collect it and pay.

Then they continued to the next stall, and by the time he had finished browsing all five or six small stalls on this side, he had already spent nearly ten thousand Gold Coins.

And as for the things bought with these nearly ten thousand Gold Coins, to be honest, apart from that transparent frame, perhaps only the Amulet of Youth that Niya had picked out at the very beginning and later discarded—

and which was finally collected by Xia Duo in a heap when the stall owner was scared away—might have some value.

The transparent frame was an unknown material. Although he did not yet know its specific properties or potential uses, the unknown itself was a form of value.

And that burial Amulet of Youth, although fake, was crafted with extreme excellence, almost perfectly restoring the structure of the original. This meant that Xia Duo was very likely to discover an Elf Magic related to youth from it.

As for the other items, some were real and some were fake, but for Arcanists like Xia Duo and Niya, their value was negligible.

There was one Rune Statue, however. It was not a Magic Item, just a manually carved rune. If it could be decrypted into a new Spell or a new element, that would also be quite good.

But this thing was too much of a gamble; Xia Duo hoped even more that nothing would be discovered.

However, he also thought of a new way to make money because of this: specifically manufacturing similar rune items to sell to those Spellcasters who had pursuits and achievements on the Magic Path but were not yet mature.

Of course, doing this once or twice for fun and to experience it might be fine, but if he were to treat it as a career, Xia Duo felt he could not afford to lose face like that.

……

Returning to his residence in Giles Tower, under Niya's expectant gaze, Xia Duo released the pile of "leaks" he had just picked up at Pu Lan Jie Jiao from his Personal Space.

He picked one item from the pile, put it away, and said: "I'll study this Amulet of Youth; you keep the rest!"

"Ah! Isn't that—" A flash of surprise appeared in Niya's eyes, and she did not finish her sentence.

But Xia Duo understood what she meant. "Yes, it's the Amulet of Youth you picked out at the beginning. Although it is a burial object, this is not the original version, but a carefully crafted imitation by later generations. Perhaps I can find a Spell related to youth."

"Youth Spell?" Niya asked in confusion.

"Yes, you didn't think that Elves are always in a state of youth, did you?"

"Isn't that so?" Niya asked in return.

"Of course not! Elves inevitably face aging once they exceed 500 years, so the existence of Youth Spells came to be. Of course, they are most commonly used on those Elves who pass away from old age; this is probably the final dignity of an Elf!"

It was not that every Elf could not accept looking old; on the contrary, many Elves would disguise themselves as old to manifest maturity, steadiness, power, confidence, and so on.

Among humans, there were similar phenomena. For example, after Aiboke experienced the Secret Flame Baptism and returned to his youth, he still maintained his previous middle-aged-to-elderly form.

It was just that the practice of returning to youth after death might be unique to Elves.

After hearing Xia Duo's explanation, the focus of Niya's attention was not on any Youth Spell, but rather—

"You said Elves only start aging at 500 years old?!"

"Yes!"

There was no doubt about this. Xia Duo had seen countless Elves in the Projection Plane and had even personally incarnated as an Elf. In this regard, he knew much more clearly than Niya.

If he hadn't been born human and had long been accustomed to being human, and if his lifespan hadn't actually been extended due to Bloodline Awakening, he really would have had to find a way to become an Elf!

Humans struggled to the death, trying every possible way to extend their lives, yet they might not even extend them by a fraction of an Elf's normal lifespan. How sad that was!

The founding time of Cormanthor in the Main Plane was not far from Netheril, only about a hundred years or so, but—

The Crown King who founded Cormanthor was still on the throne, while the bones of the first Nether King had likely turned to dust by now.

Thinking about it really made one feel unwilling!

……

The topics of lifespan, life, and death were too heavy, so Xia Duo and Niya did not go into them further. Both were still very young; from a human perspective, it was far from the time to consider these things.

After the two of them roughly categorized and put away the harvest from this outing, the invitation to the exchange meeting that Xia Duo had been looking forward to finally arrived!