A Familiar Feeling

"If this mountain goat meat can be developed, it indeed has high commercial value," Cang Xu thought of more.

He held up an index finger: "First, the magic power contained in ordinary mountain goat meat itself far exceeds that of Bronze-level magic beast meat under normal circumstances. The cost of raising ordinary mountain goats versus raising the same number of Bronze-level magic beasts is completely different concepts, with a huge disparity."

Next, he held up his middle finger: "Second, although the magic power structure of mountain goat meat is strange and dangerous, when it is in a low-temperature state, the magic power is very restrained and stable. This is a natural storage advantage."

"Under normal circumstances, once a magic beast is slaughtered, the magic power contained in its body will continuously dissipate. At this time, it usually requires mages or alchemists to process the magic beast's body parts, lock in the magic power, and extend the stability period of the magic power structure as much as possible."

"Take the largest magic beast hunter group on the entire Saint Brilliance Continent, the Great Maw Hunter Group, for example. After they kill a magic beast, there will be specialized personnel on the spot who first cut off the various parts of the magic beast, then seal them one by one, and then transport them to the camp, using magic arrays to deepen the seal."

"Even with multiple seals, these magic power materials derived from magic beasts will continuously dissipate magic power, and their value will continue to fall over time. Therefore, for extremely valuable magic power materials, the Great Maw Hunter Group will not hesitate to use teleportation arrays for transportation."

"The processing costs and transportation costs involved are significant, and the more powerful the magic beast, the more so."

"Therefore, under suitable conditions, the Great Maw Hunter Group will try their best to capture magic beasts alive instead of killing them on the spot. They will first transport the living magic beasts to large cities, then kill them locally, and directly sell fresh magic power materials."

"But this also contains a problem. The cost of feeding magic beasts is also high, and guarding and suppressing magic beasts requires powerful extraordinary individuals. The human resources required for maintenance and consumption are also significant."

Speaking of this, Cang Xu turned the topic back to the mountain goat meat in front of them: "But our mountain goat meat is different. As long as we create a low temperature, the ice magic power in the mountain goat meat will be quite stable, with very little dissipation. This advantage is truly significant and will save us huge storage and transportation costs."

Cang Xu was knowledgeable and quite familiar with the magic beast hunting and trading industry.

Zhen Jin's heart pounded with excitement as he listened.

Resources were very important.

Zhen Jin had already set his sights on these mountain goats.

His original idea was to use these mountain goats as mounts and develop cavalry.

In the future, when he became the White Sand City Lord, if he could possess an elite cavalry force, it would be of considerable help in controlling the overall situation.

Therefore, Zhen Jin had not been afraid of trouble before, personally suppressing and subduing four Bronze-level White Bone Head Goats, and also capturing many young lambs, attempting to take them out and raise them.

But the result was that these young lambs all died from poisoning, while the four Bronze Head Goats survived. Everyone also suffered from poisoning after eating the mountain goat meat.

It could be said that Zhen Jin's mountain goat cavalry plan had completely failed.

But now he had discovered another possibility, which was to directly sell the mountain goat flesh and blood!

Life was like this.

Plans could never keep up with changes.

Cold reality brought disaster, shattering people's ideals and plans, but often at the same time, it brought gifts, keeping hope alive.

Hope was eternal, the key was whether people could see it.

Many people couldn't see hope and fell into despair. Because seeing hope didn't simply require a pair of bright eyes, but a good mindset or profound wisdom.

Zi Di's purple eyes emitted a bright light, and she echoed Cang Xu's words: "If we can find extraordinary individuals who can successfully digest this mountain goat meat, then this is indeed a huge business. Because ordinary mountain goats are too easy to catch, we can even participate in large-scale artificial breeding. The breeding and transportation costs involved are much lower than those of Bronze and Black Iron magic beasts. The profit from this business is quite substantial, and there is also a wonderful aspect – as long as we sell large quantities at a low price, this business can also connect us with the top-tier nobles of the empire!"

Lan Zao's expression could not hide his excitement: "From this perspective, these mountain goats are just walking, bleating piles of gold coins."

The purple-eyed girl looked at Zhen Jin with bright eyes: "Lord Zhen Jin, if we develop and master this business, it will undoubtedly be of great help to you. Whether you are competing for the position of White Sand City Lord or have become the White Sand City Lord, you need a large amount of funds. And this business is like giving you wings on your back! It may even bring us the support of top-tier grand dukes!"

Zhen Jin nodded, knowing the prospects and benefits involved, but he still maintained a calm expression: "This matter still needs to be discussed in the long term. The current key is still to resolve the chaotic magic power within our bodies!"

The atmosphere in the tent then calmed down slightly.

Allowing these ice-elemental magic powers to lurk within a person's body is absolutely unacceptable. Because even if these magic powers have very low activity, they will still secretly and continuously erode the body.

While it might seem fine in the short term, these magic powers have actually been constantly damaging everyone's vitality. At the same time, once body temperature rises, these magic powers become deadly killers lurking within the human body!

Zhen Jin didn't want this.

He needed to solve his own problems while also preserving the lives of others.

He also needed to take this limited group of people far away to the Beastman Continent to compete for his position as White Sand City Lord.

So, how to solve this problem?

Everyone's gaze in the tent fell upon Zi Di. It still depended on the performance of this alchemist. Especially now, low-level magic and Battle Qi could not be activated.

Zi Di's face was solemn, and she also felt the heavy burden on her shoulders. She pondered, "I need to conduct experiments first. I cannot give an answer yet."

Zhen Jin nodded, "What do you need? We will fully cooperate with you!"

Zhen Jin directly gave his tent to Zi Di.

Lan Zao led the team to hunt a large number of mountain goats again. Cang Xu personally supervised the dissection, and Zhen Jin even killed a Bronze-level Head Goat.

The mountain goat flesh, bones, and fur containing magic power were transported into the tent in batches.

The lights inside the tent burned from evening until deep into the night. Then, as dawn approached, Zi Di, with a pair of heavy dark circles under her eyes, lifted the tent flap.

"I need grass."

"Grass?" Zhen Jin had been waiting outside the tent.

"The food of the mountain goat herd. The more of this grass, the better. Remember, it needs to be with the roots," Zi Di instructed.

Zhen Jin nodded and immediately issued the corresponding orders.

Fortunately, he had these subordinates and ample manpower. Otherwise, he alone would not have been able to meet Zi Di's urgent needs.

Standing outside the tent, Zhen Jin watched the sky gradually brighten, knowing that the night was almost over.

He didn't know the specific progress Zi Di was making and was worried, but he never showed the slightest bit on his face.

He just stood outside the tent, his hand resting on the rough wooden branch hilt of his knife, his body straight as a spear. Every time the exploration team members passing by the tent saw Zhen Jin's figure, their restless hearts calmed down, and their hope increased a little.

Everyone dug up the grass with the roots, and after removing the soil, piles of this grass were sent into the tent.

The tent was like a bear that had just finished hibernating, constantly devouring, revealing an astonishing capacity.

Zhen Jin could smell various strange odors drifting out from inside the tent.

When the sunlight illuminated the east and the morning glow filled the sky, Zi Di's voice came from inside the tent: "Lord Zhen Jin, are you still there?"

"Yes," Zhen Jin immediately replied.

"Then please come in."

Zhen Jin's spirits lifted. He immediately turned around, lifted the tent flap, and entered the tent.

The smell inside the tent was even more pungent, and there was even a faint mist lingering.

Zi Di's face was full of exhaustion, but in her crystal-clear eyes, there was a hint of excitement.

"I didn't fail you." Zi Di held up the glass bottle in her hand. Inside the bottle was a deep blue liquid, like seawater.

"So it turns out these mountain goats are victims, just like us."

"What truly contains ice-element magic is actually this green grass."

"The life aura of this green grass is very ordinary, but in reality, it contains extremely rich ice-element magic within its body. After the mountain goats consumed this green grass, the magic settled into their bodies. Then, we consumed the mountain goat flesh and blood, and that's how we became contaminated with this special magic!"

The truth revealed by Zi Di surprised Zhen Jin.

"So, does that mean this green grass is comparable to magic plants and is incredibly valuable?" Zhen Jin asked.

Zi Di nodded: "The juice of this green grass is extremely abundant, especially the roots, which are comparable to berries. But I still recommend we sell the goat meat. This kind of grass is easily replicated. Whether it's a master Druid or the Empire's Life Temple, as long as they obtain a certain amount of this green grass, they have the ability to cultivate it in large quantities. Not to mention existences like the Empire's Sen Xu Grand Duke."

The potion had been made, but its actual effect still needed to be tested in practice.

Of course, Zhen Jin wouldn't be the first to take it. He first gathered a small group of people.

When Huang Zao heard the news, he immediately shouted that he wanted to be the first to try.

This drew a reprimand from Lan Zao, and Huang Zao could only give up. As a younger brother, he didn't dare to defy his older brother.

So, under everyone's watchful eyes, Lan Zao swallowed the first bottle of potion in one gulp.

"Ugh, ugh, ugh..."

After Lan Zao swallowed the potion, his entire face immediately turned blue. At the same time, he grabbed his neck with both hands, opened his mouth wide, widened his eyes, and vomited outwards.

But what was uncomfortable was that he couldn't vomit anything out.

"Brother!" Huang Zao cried out in alarm.

The others were also a little surprised and doubtful.

"It's alright, this is a normal reaction," Zi Di comforted everyone.

As soon as she finished speaking, Lan Zao suddenly bent over, opened his mouth towards the ground, and spat out a large mouthful of blood.

The blood was red mixed with blue, and especially among it were several ice chunks the size of an adult thumb. These ice chunks emitted a strong chill and appeared a strange blue-purple color.

After spitting these out, Lan Zao immediately felt his whole body relax. The strange blue color on his face also quickly faded, returning to its original flesh color.

Zi Di went up to examine him and said with a smile: "Very good, the ice-element magic in your body should have been vomited out. The potion I made can absorb and gather the ice-element magic in your bodies and then induce vomiting. As long as you don't continue to eat that mountain goat meat, there will be no more poisoning."

To verify this point, everyone specifically accompanied Lan Zao and went far away from the camp.

They not only walked to the location where they had been poisoned before, but also walked a further distance forward.

Lan Zao was full of energy and showed no abnormalities.

Everyone was overjoyed, and the second and third potions were made one after another.

By the time it was Zhen Jin's turn to drink, it was already the sixth dose.

This was something Zi Di had specifically arranged.

With the attempts of those before him, the effect of this potion had been fully proven, and only then did she feel at ease letting Zhen Jin take it.

After Zhen Jin took the potion, the effect was no different from how Lan Zao had reacted.

He spat out a large mouthful of blood and ice shards, the ice magic within his body having been extracted.

"This is?!"

But at this instant, Zhen Jin's expression changed.

"Is something wrong?" Zi Di quickly stepped forward with concern.

"Nothing." Zhen Jin shook his head, but a tremor still lingered in his heart.

The moment he spat out blood, he felt an inexplicable sense of emptiness.

This feeling of emptiness left too deep an impression on him; he had even deliberately savored it multiple times before.

He was too familiar with it!

Not long ago, when he killed the Blade Spider, after the sharp claws his hands had transformed into disappeared, he had felt this same sense of emptiness.

What is going on? Zhen Jin felt puzzled.