Chapter 75

Luo En nodded slightly and began to look around.

The interior of the exchange was much more spacious than it looked from the outside, and the space was divided into dozens of cages of different sizes by iron railings, each containing different types of alien creatures.

"Are you interested in ordinary servants, or combat slaves? Or experimental subjects?"

The short, fat merchant asked tentatively, his eyes rolling around: "We have everything here."

"I need a slave to serve as a potion assistant." Luo En stated his intention directly: "I also want to understand the situation of other types of slaves."

"I probably understand your needs, my lord." The merchant became a little excited and trotted a few steps to lead the way for Luo En:

"However, let me show you our new goods recently first."

He led Luo En through rows of cages, constantly introducing the characteristics and uses of various aliens along the way, seemingly having a boastful desire to show off his goods.

The first thing that caught Luo En's attention was a strange creature with four arms.

It had a face close to a human, but its skin was light blue, and there were two pairs of small translucent wings on its back, curling up in the corner of the cage listlessly.

"What is that?" Luo En asked.

"Oh, good eye, my lord!" The short, fat man rubbed his hands:

"That is an elemental fairy bloodline from the depths of the mountains, probably a mixed-blood descendant of some wind fairy and human. This creature is unparalleled in fine work, especially suitable for work that requires handling fragile items."

Luo En continued to walk forward, his eyes sweeping over one cage after another.

A dwarf with thick skin like a rhinoceros curled up in the corner, his muscular body covered with gray-brown stone scales, and a crystal embedded in the center of his forehead.

The merchant explained that this is a mixed-blood of a dwarf and a deep mountain rock spirit, and the crystal on the forehead is a control mark. Once he tries to resist the master, the crystal will stimulate his spirit violently, causing intense pain.

This mixed-blood dwarf has thick skin that is almost invulnerable, and because of his innate magic resistance, ordinary apprentice-level spells are difficult to penetrate.

"It is worth mentioning." The merchant pointed to the nameplate on the dwarf's iron fence: "This guy was once the leader of a mountain tribe and resisted fiercely when captured, killing two slave-catching team members. Now..."

He knocked on the fence casually, and the former leader curled up like a frightened little beast, extreme fear flashing in his eyes:

"This guy has been completely tamed, and his memory has been reshaped, retaining only necessary skills and instincts. This is our standard process for dealing with adult slaves—erasing self, retaining value."

Luo En nodded expressionlessly, but kept this point in mind.

Erasing memory and reshaping spirit requires quite profound spiritual spells. It seems that the power behind this exchange is not simple. Perhaps this merchant who looks unremarkable is a wizard's family member.

Moving forward a few steps, the merchant pointed proudly to a huge iron cage: "Look at this rare item!"

In the cage was a quadruped giant beast with huge bat wings, twice as large as a horse, with skin showing an unhealthy gray-purple color, but its eyes were exceptionally bright.

There was a special saddle on its back, obviously designed for riding.

"This is a mixed-blood Night Nightmare Beast, from the southwestern swamp area, capable of carrying passengers to fly for dozens of miles in the worst weather without rest."

The merchant lowered his voice: "However, there is a small disadvantage—they can only be active at night, and will become in this semi-dormant state during the day. But for wizards who need to travel at night, this is an advantage."

The giant beast lifted its eyelids sleepily, and a low purring sound came from its throat.

The merchant then explained that this creature is born with the ability to perceive magic fluctuations and can navigate accurately in the dark, finding the path with the most concentrated magic power.

"Initially, they were predators in groups, attacking travelers passing through the swamp. Now after domestication, aggression has been greatly weakened, but flight and perception capabilities are perfectly preserved. Price... well, 300 magic stone fragments, including basic training and the engraving of control marks."

Moving forward again, a huge glass tank full of water caught Luo En's attention, in which a pair of water snake-human sisters were swimming, their upper bodies resembling human girls, but their lower bodies were snake tails shimmering with blue-green scales.

Their skin was light blue, with small gills on both sides of their necks, circling gracefully in the water.

"This pair of sisters comes from offshore coral reefs and are pure-blood water snake-humans, very rare."

The merchant seemed to cherish these two "commodities" exceptionally: "They can stay underwater for hours without breathing, their intelligence is almost equal to humans, and they are especially suitable for collecting rare aquatic plants in deep water areas."

"And..." The merchant blinked, his tone carrying some obscure hint:

"They can also sing a special siren song, which is said to be able to soothe violent aquatic magic beasts. Of course, some male buyers will find that they have other... entertainment value."

Luo En noticed the fear and disgust flashing in the eyes of the water snake-human sisters, obviously they could understand the merchant's subtext.

"Where were these caught?" He was a bit curious.

The merchant chuckled: "My lord, you don't know, most of these goods come from the school's 'slave-catching teams'. Every year, the school sends several teams deep into remote areas to search for rare materials and alien specimens. If they encounter suitable ones, they will bring them back and hand them over to us licensed slave merchants for agency sales."

As he spoke, he led Luo En to a separate compartment in the backyard:

"Just now you said you hoped to find a slave to serve as a potion assistant, it just so happens that I have a special 'commodity' here, perhaps it will suit your heart."

The creature in the compartment was significantly different from other slaves. It had a body shape very close to a human, but its skin was light green, covered with small scales, and its hair was like soft vines, swaying gently in the breeze.

It was naked, but did not show any gender characteristics, which was obviously an extraordinary species of asexual reproduction.

"This is a tree spirit from a certain ancient forest." The merchant introduced in a low voice:

"It is said that their clan has a natural connection with plants, can understand the 'language' of plants, and perceive the activity of herbs."

Luo En stepped forward to look closely and found that although this creature was bound by chains, its eyes still maintained a kind of transcendent calmness, completely different from the despair and numbness of other slaves.

"Not bad." He evaluated the value of this potential assistant in his heart:

"An assistant with special perception of plants will indeed greatly improve the efficiency of potion refining."

(End of chapter)