Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Arismede thought for a moment, and then said, “Sir Yang, the businesses of the Aragon Merchant Team spread across the Tailun Continent, and we have great demand for wood. We can buy a large amount of wood from you every year. Would you give us priority consideration for the forest of Anacardia? Or course, we can discuss the price further.”

Yang Ling smiled faintly. Arismede had compromised easily, which meant that there was still some room for the price to go up. But he was still unsure of how much the forest was worth exactly. He knew he should not easily relent.

“Mister Arismede, this is a little troublesome. Why not do it this way: I will organize a small scale auction in the castle three days from now and let you merchant associations compete freely. Highest bidder wins. How about that?”

Arismede was a little surprised, but quickly adjusted to the idea. The forest of Anacardia was important, but they would survive if they did not secure it. There was no need to increase the price to a large extent. Furthermore, with the abilities of his merchant association, he believed that there was a good chance that they would obtain the rights to harvest the forest of Anacardia.

“That’s right, Mister Arismede, we are preparing to do a large scale development of our land next year. I have heard that your merchant association’s business in rations is quite good. Perhaps we can cooperate with each other in terms of seeds and rations!”

Yang Ling had had a thought when he saw the rations piled in the plaza. With enough manpower, he would be able to farm large pieces of land the following year, and he required high quality seeds. Since the other party had immense influence and a great business in the area of rations, he elected to reveal some of his plans to Arismede.

Even though Harribell had also supplied him with seeds, he did not want to put all his eggs in one basket and rely on her strength alone.

The most important thing he had to do was to attract merchant teams to do business in Wissen Town. With the seeds of rations as an example, he might have to spend a few more crystal coins working with the Aragon Merchant Team compared to Harribell, but it would be a valuable transaction in the long term. The more merchant teams that entered Wissen Town, the more they would spend there, and he would soon profit from them in other areas.

Yang Ling then spread out the map of his territory and described his plans to Arismede. From the construction of the harbor to the building of Black Water City, from the development of land to the excavation of the various mineral ores…

Arismede saw countless business opportunities as he listened to Yang Ling’s plans, nodding. He promised to send a large batch of seeds to Wissen Town, then once again invited Yang Ling to visit the Aragon Merchant Team when he visited Montson.

After a few formalities, Arismede left with his guards, prepared to send the news back to Montson using a magical delivery method. He believed that the person helming the merchant team would be more interested in Wissen Town after understanding the circumstances.

Arismede had just left when Yang Ling instructed Orlando to find Goode for him. He was going to have him prepare for the auction three days later, and they would find out just how much the forest of Anacardia was truly worth. If Harribell was interested in the forest of Anacardia, Yang Ling could give her priority consideration. If she was not, he planned to arrange for a few people to impersonate the Boulade Merchant Association and attend the auction instead.

“Sir, our scouts reported that they have found a mercury mine in a valley fifty miles away from Wissen Town. Do you want to sell it off in the same auction?” Goode asked.

“No, the motive of this auction is not to earn money, but to create a buzz between the merchants and attract their attention. Let’s not hurry to sell the mercury mine for now. We can form a Wissen Merchant Team and excavate the mercury and then sell it off for a higher price!”

Goode knew that Yang Ling was not wrong. It was time for them to set up their own merchant team. Even though attracting merchant teams was important, they had to think of many other ways if they truly wanted to make money.

“Oh yes, Sir, The Waize family has sent over a merchant team in secret and wish to bring Steve away with doing business as a cover!”

Yang Ling recalled the leader who had descended into town, and that had been locked in jail. Originally, he had wanted to release him after he received good news from the Banto Empire, but the other party had not given him a reply for a long time. With being so busy, he had almost forgotten about that poor man.

“The Waize family’s envoy said that they would ask around for favors and fight for peace between us and the empire.” Yang Ling remained deep in thought, and Goode continued, “The other party stated that they were willing to trade Steve for two hundred thousand Purple Crystal Coins…”

“Two hundred thousand Purple Crystal Coins? Isn’t that too cheap?”

Yang Ling remembered how arrogant Steve was, and how he’d been extorted in the castle. Yang Ling’s expression was cold. He wanted to use Steve as a hostage, and force his family to beg the Banto Empire to recognize the Magical Beast Territory’s dominion. He had not expected for the situation to stay so bleak for so long.

There were only two explanations for it. Either the Banto Empire had decided to occupy Wissen Town, and the Waize family were powerless to stop it, or Steve’s status in the family was not high enough, and the Waize family was not really trying to meet his demands.

“Goode, tell the Waize family envoy that Steve is living well in Wissen Town and is unwilling to leave for the time being!”

After giving those instructions, Yang Ling left. Before the situation turned optimistic, he could not easily let Steve return no matter how many crystal coins the other party was giving him.

Goode watched Yang Ling make his way, fading into the distance. He shook his head and chuckled. Yang Ling was full of surprises!

After giving the order that no one is to disturb him except in emergency, Yang Ling sat cross legged in his villa and flipped open the Magical Beast Knowledge Guide. Wizard Techniques were his trump card in this world, while the Magical Beasts were what he relied on on the battlefield. He had to find a way to tame high level Magical Beasts as soon as possible.

After witnessing Klive’s abilities as a sage level fighter, he knew that there was no reason to tame more low level Magical Beasts. If he wanted to deal with the true powerhouses in this world, other than taking the time to hone his Wizard Techniques, he had to tame high level Magical Beasts.

In front of ten thousand Horned Bee Beasts, a sage level fighter might not even crease his brows. But he did not believe that his opponent could disregard him if he were faced with ten thousand high level Magical Beasts like the Unicorn.

There were no absolute offenses or defenses in the world!

Similarly, Yang Ling did not believe that there was an undefeatable opponent. No matter how massive a Mammoth was, it was still possible that a mountain of ants would be able to devour it alive. He believed that anyone would die if they sustained enough damage, and a sage level fighter was no exception.

Cultivating his Wizard Techniques and improving his abilities were the smartest thing he could do. But as his abilities got better, the speed of his cultivation would also decrease. According to the explanation on the stele, it was possible for one to be stuck at a bottleneck for dozens of years, even centuries. Under such a circumstance, taming high level Magical Beasts would be the fastest way to boost his abilities.

The Magical Beast Knowledge Guide was a thick book of thousands of pages, but it was extremely light, its paper unique. A cursory glance seemed to suggest it was vellum, but if felt too smooth to the touch, different from common vellum. Yang Ling did not know what material it was.

The latter few hundred pages of the knowledge guide were blank, with nothing to be seen, but it released faint energetic ripples. It felt a little like Wizard Power, and a little like Magical Energy. Yang Ling could not determine more, despite observing it for some time.

The knowledge guide split Magical Beasts into eight large groups, namely metal, wood, water, fire, earth, space, dark and light. The low level Magical Beasts were recorded at the front, and the levels of the Magical Beasts got higher the deeper into the book he went.

According to the knowledge guide, the Evil Eyes and Gargoyles were low level dark element Magical Beasts. The Evil Eyes’ beginner form was level one, and could increase one level at a time if they consumed Essence Crystals or Dark Fire Crystals, but it was very difficult for them to evolve past level four. The highest record for the Evil Eyes was level seven, which had only appeared once on the whole continent.

The Gargoyles were a mid level Magical Beast, and their natural beginning level was four. Other than consuming Essence Crystals, they could also evolve by consuming Dark Fire Crystals. But their evolution speed was even slower than that of the Evil Eyes. A Gargoyle evolving to level six was extremely rare, much less level seven.

The Red-haired Tarantulas were earth element Magical Beasts. Other than Essence Crystals, they could also evolve by consuming specific soil known as Red Mud. The description on this was unclear, and Yang Ling did not know what the so-called Red Mud was even after looking through the book for more information.

The highest level of a Red-haired Tarantula recorded in the guide was six, one level lower than that of the Tarantula King. It looked like not all of the records on the guide were perfectly accurate. Also, he could not find any records on the Flying Spiders at all.

The guide also had a simple introduction on the Horned Bee Beasts and Vampire Bats. Yang Ling flipped past their pages after a cursory glance.

Even though the Withered Tree Warriors had rather slow movements, they had the advantage of their boundless strength, as well as their exceptional offensive and defensive capabilities. Yang Ling had wanted to find ways to improve their levels after understanding their path of evolution. Unfortunately, he could not find any records of the Withered Tree Warriors in the Magical Beast Knowledge Guide.

Even though it was unfortunate, he soon shifted his attention after he found the section on space element Magical Beasts.

According to the Knowledge Guide, space element Magical Beasts were the most mysterious Magical Beasts on the continent, and could teleport instantly. The more powerful their abilities, the further the distance they could teleport, and the more times they could teleport in a day. Their abilities were extremely strong. Even the Steelback Eagle, the creature that had the lowest initial level, was a level eight Magical Beast. There was no way that an average person would be able to get close to it.

Basically, all space element Magical Beasts were high level Magical Beasts, some were even Level Surpassing Magical Beasts, and each were extremely rare on the continent. Furthermore, some Magical Beasts possessed the ability to teleport instantly even though they were not classified in the space element. Of course, they were all ridiculously powerful.