Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3185: Chapter 3186: First Look at the Showcase Catalog

After leaving the parrot, Angel looked at Luigi beside him.

”Now that we have the sheet music, are you planning to continue browsing the stall area or head straight to the gathering at the main station?”

Luigi thought for a moment and said, ”Let’s take a look around. I think these two pieces of sheet music are decent, but they don’t feel much different from the ’Black Sheep Confession Song.’ If ’Black Sheep Confession Song’ wasn’t successful, ’Tainted Blood Purification Melody’ and ’Dark Alley Canon’ might not move Uriel either.”

To successfully pass the Uriel Dungeon, Luigi was determined to be well-prepared.

Even though he had already bought two pieces of sheet music, he still wanted to see if there were more options.

So, Luigi left the group again to search for more possibilities.

Angel and Laplace, just like before, strolled casually through the stall area, stopping now and then to see if there were any suitable items.

During this ’shopping’ process, Angel noticed that Laplace seemed somewhat distracted.

Occasionally, she would appear absent-minded.

After another moment of idleness from Laplace, Angel couldn’t help but ask: ”You seem preoccupied. Did Glaipnir send a message?”

”Glaipnir hasn’t responded yet. However...” Laplace paused, seemingly pondering her words or hesitating over whether to continue.

After some time, Laplace slowly said, ”I was wondering if the Blood Attractant Powder could be used for... fishing.”

Angel: ”???”

It took Angel a while to understand what Laplace meant.

Apparently, when she was browsing the ’tools’ list at the parrot’s place, she saw numerous alchemy items, not just in Metallography but also in Potionology, including a potion named ”Blood Attractant Powder.”

This is a potion of the Vanderval school, which, by blending certain special-effect magical creature blood, is extracted, transmuted, refined, and dried to form a powder that can attract magical creatures.

Yes, the purpose of the Blood Attractant Powder is to attract magical creatures.

Which specific magical creature it attracts depends on the particular blood used when configuring the powder.

The Blood Attractant Powder Laplace saw on the list was meant to attract ”marine slug types.”

When she saw the word ”marine,” a chord inside Laplace was struck, and she instinctively thought of the sea fishing times at Silver Coral Island.

If the Blood Attractant Powder can attract specific marine creatures, wouldn’t using some during sea fishing allow her to easily catch a big one?

That’s Laplace’s entire thought process.

After listening, Angel was inwardly filled with a line of question marks.

The Blood Attractant Powder has a significant market among Wizards, especially those hunting for magical creature bloodlines. Although it might attract powerful magical creatures, leading to potential escape, serious injury, or death, it remains in high demand among Wizards, more specifically among Bloodline Wizards.

Therefore, when Blood Attractant Powder hits the market, it often sells out instantly.

Additionally, there aren’t many Alchemists who can refine Blood Attractant Powder, making it even more sought after—a true market gem.

Yet Laplace is contemplating the Blood Attractant Powder not for hunting bloodlines but simply for fishing? How would the bloodline-hunting Wizards view this?

Moreover, have you forgotten, during fishing in the Wilderness of Dreams, the fishing boat was surrounded by fish, yet they wouldn’t bite your bait?

Even if you attract marine magical creatures, are you sure they’ll bite your bait?

Angel had numerous internal complaints, but of course, he couldn’t directly voice them to Laplace, so he decided to slightly repurpose his speech.

”Your idea is great.” First, he needed to affirm Laplace’s notion.

”However, there are some things to keep in mind.” He then softly phrased it so Laplace wouldn’t feel her intention was being negated.

”The Blood Attractant Powder has a trait: although it attracts specific types of magical creatures, this isn’t guaranteed, and occasionally, other creatures might take the bait; what if other magical creatures appear?”

”I’m not saying those creatures are terrifying, but many magical creatures are enormous in size—your fishing rod might not withstand them.” He concluded with his thoughts, albeit tactfully.

After Angel finished speaking, Laplace fell into thought again.

Moments later, she nodded: ”You’re right; the fishing rod indeed needs an upgrade.”

Angel: ”...” Is it really the fishing rod’s problem? It’s your fishing skills that need improving! Don’t you understand the logic that failing students have abundant stationery?

After a moment of silence, Angel quietly said, ”Yes, indeed the fishing rod needs replacing; why don’t I craft one for you?”

Laplace thought for a moment: ”No need to rush; there might be fishing rods capable of catching large magical creatures at the gathering.”

Watching Laplace seriously consider buying a fishing rod, Angel hesitated and then couldn’t help but say, ”Actually, even if the fishing rod holds up, relying solely on the external force of Blood Attractant Powder isn’t ideal.”

Laplace mused for a while and said, ”True, if I rely solely on external forces, I might as well jump into the sea and catch them myself. But I guess a fishing rod doesn’t count as external force?”

Angel: ”...It doesn’t.”

Following that, Angel’s shopping finally gained some direction: fishing rods.

Though Laplace was quite stubborn at the time, claiming she just couldn’t let go and would quit fishing once she caught a fish, was she really going to buy a fishing rod solely to catch one fish? Angel doubted it.

Unfortunately, after browsing for half an hour, they still hadn’t stumbled upon any fishing rods for sale.

This was understandable; at multi-clan routine gatherings, the focus tends to be on distinctive products from various clans, and fishing rods as tools don’t really qualify as specialty items. Furthermore, there are few places for fishing within the Mirror Domain; although the Sea of Void Mirror is called a ”sea,” it doesn’t have any fish.

Laplace wasn’t too disappointed though. After all, the gathering is vast, and she hadn’t checked the display booklet yet—there might be relevant products or perhaps fishing rods at the main station?

Though they hadn’t found any fishing rods, they did encounter ”fish.”

Not real fish, but rather a mirror shop run by people from Charles Palace: a bakery.

What they referred to as fish, was a fish-shaped bread.

Laplace naturally wasn’t interested in fish-shaped bread; they stood in front of the bakery merely waiting for Luigi.

Luigi had also scoured half of the stall area, confirmed there were no other sheet music options, and sent a message over, indicating he would first check today’s displays at the main station, and later explore other stall areas to search for sheet music.

As Luigi sent the message, they happened to be near the bakery, so they stopped there to wait for him.

Not long after, Luigi arrived.

Luigi first expressed his regret and then caught a glimpse of the bakery from the corner of his eye.

While Laplace had no interest in the bakery, Luigi did; he was very intrigued. However, his interest lay not in the bakery itself, but in Angel.

Seeing the bakery reminded him of the ”Granny Kekoruo’s Secret Ceremony Box” Angel bought earlier.

Angel’s purchase of the Secret Ceremony Box likely meant he had the skill.

Luigi wasn’t eager to try the snacks from the bakery, but he was keen to test Angel’s culinary creations, so he began to offer a warm invitation.

Upon hearing Luigi’s invitation, Angel decisively declined.

For everyone’s safety, he decided not to reveal his hand.

However, Angel felt a bit embarrassed to admit his lack of skill, so he quietly said, ”The Secret Ceremony Box requires four elements to open, but we currently don’t have enough. Let’s discuss it later...”

Luigi wanted to say that Laplace alone could handle four elements.

But Angel insisted that at least four people were needed to proceed, as it was his first time using it and he had to be cautious.

Eventually, Luigi couldn’t argue against Angel.

The matter of using the Secret Ceremony Box to create ”delicacies” was reluctantly put aside.

...

After leaving the stall area, Angel and his companions walked into the spacious crystal pathway, heading towards the main site of the gathering.

On the way to the main site, Angel remembered the display catalog. Ever since they got it, they hadn’t actually opened it to take a look.

Since they had some free time now, why not check out the various products offered by different clans in the display catalog?

With that thought in mind, Angel opened the display catalog.

The first page featured the host ”Crystal Eye Clan”’s featured product —

”Mimetic Crystal Shell: Can freely change its form.”

”Currently available and purchasable crystal shells, see below.”

”Vermilion Puff: Pink crystal shell with good flame resistance, priced at eighty Crystalline per unit.”

”Green Phantom: Deep green crystal shell with natural warding effects against all spirit and ghost types, priced at one hundred and thirty Crystalline per unit.”

”Sapphire: ...,” priced at one hundred and eighty Crystalline per unit.

”...”

”Jellyfish: Light blue crystal shell with strong extensibility and high precision plasticity, priced at one thousand eight hundred Crystalline per unit.”

”Windborne Crystal: Light green crystal shell that can float and quickly move with a breeze; can mimic a flying vehicle, priced at two thousand nine hundred Crystalline per unit.”

”Rock Crystal Cluster: Flax-colored crystal shell with a certain defensive power, priced at five thousand Crystalline per unit.”

”What does one unit mean?” Looking at the pictures of various colored and effect-filled crystal shells, Angel curiously asked.

Luigi: ”The Crystal Eye Clan’s unit of measurement for crystal shells varies in size and needs to be weighed, but visually, one unit is about the size of a fist...”

”Is it really that expensive for a fist-sized piece?” Angel frowned slightly. If one were to buy based on fist-size, buying something like a Windborne Crystal that can mimic a Gondola would require at least a thousand fists, costing nearly three million Crystalline!

Angel shared his thoughts, but upon hearing this, Luigi shook his head: ”It’s not calculated like that, different crystal shells have different extensibility. For example, the Windborne Crystal you mentioned, a fist-sized shell can extend to a one-meter diameter disc.”

”Just now in the Illusion live stream, we saw the Elder Kasata of the Crystal Eye Clan in the Ring Fort, seated on a floating crystal shell seat, didn’t we? That seat’s material isn’t likely Windborne Crystal, but if you used Windborne Crystal to build a similar seat, at most seven or eight units would suffice.”

In simple terms, buying crystal shells isn’t just about their size, but more about their extensibility and plasticity.

For instance, ”Jellyfish” crystal shells that are high in both extensibility and plasticity only need one or two units to create a large waterbed. With more than five units, a pond can be built.

According to this ratio, if you use Windborne Crystal to construct a Gondola, let alone a thousand units, you might not even need fifty units.

Moreover, once constructed, the speed might not be slower than an actual Gondola.

Basically, the crystal shells from the Crystal Eye Clan are highly finished semi-products; once shaped, they can be used immediately.

”However, I didn’t expect that the Crystal Eye Clan actually put up their defensive crystal shells for sale this time; these are their staple products.” Luigi pointed to the Rock Crystal Cluster image in the display catalog, unable to help but marvel.

Despite the variety of crystal shells in the display catalog, the ones truly coveted by major clans are the defensive crystal shells. The Crystal Eye Clan’s defensive shells enable them to resist various attacks, and some elite shells can withstand the impact of the Immortal Mirror Sea. They might not last long, but even holding out for a minute is incredibly strong.

In the past, the Crystal Eye Clan would sell some crystal shells externally, but they were just decorative; their plasticity was high but defensively weak.

This time, even though the Crystal Eye Clan only released a ”low-defense” Rock Crystal Cluster, it’s still a significant breakthrough.

”Although the Rock Crystal Cluster might not be useful for us, for those tribes with weaker defenses, the Rock Crystal Cluster is an excellent choice.” Luigi said as he reached out and tapped the Rock Crystal Cluster image.

As Luigi’s finger touched the image, it slowly turned into ripples, followed by a row of new text appearing in the display catalog.

”Queue inquiring, current queue number is 369, the average inquiry time per number is ten minutes.”

”Approximate waiting time: ??? (does not display over 24 hours)”

Angel looked at the newly appearing text with a peculiar expression: ”This is...”

Luigi: ”The queue for inquiring about purchasing crystal shells, we’re in position 369.”

”I can understand the text.” Angel: ”I meant, is this the so-called exchange system in the display catalog?”

Luigi nodded: ”Yes, if you want to buy something, you can just tap the image and wait to communicate with the vendor. Or you can directly tap at the top of this page where it says ’Crystal Eye Clan,’ which also connects you, but it’s direct communication with the Crystal Eye Clan’s manager and requires certain permissions, which this catalog currently doesn’t have.”

So, if you want to buy something, you can only tap the image and queue with others.

Angel: ”...”

”I knew many would inquire about the Rock Crystal Cluster, at this rate, we might have to wait two days,” Luigi lamented and tapped the image again.

Then a few lines of new text emerged in the display catalog.

”Whether to cancel the queue.”

”If confirmed, tap the image again; if not, it will default to not cancel in ten seconds.”

”Vendor’s note: In the near future, more inquiry lines will be available to optimize the current number of queues, please be patient.”

Reading the newly appeared text, Angel understood what a supply shortage truly meant.

At the same time, he got a more profound understanding of the exchange system Pirush had modified. Pirush indeed has a very forward-thinking concept regarding ”online transactions.” Despite having some flaws, it is much more advanced than the trading methods Angel saw in Sky Mechanical City.

It’s worth learning from, worth learning from.

As Angel’s thoughts were swirling, Luigi decisively chose to exit the queue, flipped through several pages, and reached the next clan’s display page.

The second display page, unsurprisingly, featured Pirush’s products.

After all, Pirush was the real supporter of this gathering; being second is already a little unfair. Traditionally, Pirush’s exhibits would be first; unfortunately, his reputation isn’t the best.

”Didn’t Parrot say they sell Invention Mice? I want to see how much one truly costs.” Luigi muttered as he swiftly skimmed through the display page.

Angel snapped back to attention at this point and looked at the display page, but he wasn’t searching for the so-called Invention Mice; instead, he turned his gaze to the first item, Pirush’s featured product this time —

Thunderous Eye.