Chapter 180: Chapter 118: Purchasing Slaves, Conjecture about Crow-type Magical Creatures (Part 2)

After making his selections, Pei Ze waved his hand. "That’s everything."

"The total comes to 3265.5 Magic Stone Coins. I’ll drop the fraction and just charge you 3260 Magic Stone Coins."

After Pei Ze paid, Luo Song added, "We offer a free delivery service and can send the slaves to your residence. Would you be interested, sir?"

Pei Ze nodded and wrote down his mansion’s address.

"Just deliver them here."

Once Luo Song agreed, Pei Ze led Tong Ming out of the tent.

Having gone to the trouble of coming to the Slave Market, Pei Ze was in no hurry to head back and began to wander around.

The Slave Market offered a wide variety of slaves, including some at the Legendary Knight level, whose prices weren’t much higher than those of the Water Sprites.

A Tier One Legendary Barbarian in the prime of his life cost only 600 Magic Stone Coins.

Pei Ze had actually considered buying a few members of other races to serve as his followers, but after some careful thought, he abandoned the idea.

Slaves sold at the Slave Market generally had poor aptitude and potential.

Besides, other races couldn’t practice the All-Knowing Breathing Technique, so it was more promising to cultivate his own followers.

Lost in thought, Pei Ze wandered into an incredibly noisy area, surrounded by the sharp, piercing roars of beasts.

It was a place where Magical Creatures were sold.

"The Slave Market even sells Magical Creatures?" Pei Ze was somewhat surprised.

Tong Ming smiled and explained, "Sir, this business is unique to the Ten Thousand Realms Slave Market. Of the three slave markets, only this one sells Magical Creatures."

Pei Ze immediately slowed his pace, examining the stalls one by one.

To his surprise, the variety of Magical Creatures here was quite large.

Parrot Beasts, Earthworms, Arrow Eagles, Petrifying Lizards, Feathered Serpents...

Among them were powerful Magical Creatures that even Official Wizards coveted.

For instance, the Cyan-Footed Dragon Serpent.

This Magical Creature was said to possess a faint trace of the Dragon Race’s bloodline. Many Wizards enjoyed extracting its blood for research, attempting to refine the bloodline from it.

Moreover, the Cyan-Footed Dragon Serpent’s own combat strength was not to be underestimated.

It would take at least three ordinary Tier One Legendary Knights working together to subdue a single Cyan-Footed Dragon Serpent, making it quite difficult to capture.

Thus, a single Cyan-Footed Dragon Serpent was priced as high as 1200 Magic Stone Coins.

As he browsed, Pei Ze cross-referenced the Magical Creatures he saw with the information in his memory, treating it as an opportunity to broaden his horizons.

However, after rounding a corner, something suddenly caught his eye. He quickened his pace for a few steps and stopped in front of a stall.

Tong Ming paused for a moment, then quickly followed after him.

He assumed Pei Ze had seen a Magical Creature he was interested in, but when he focused his gaze, he was somewhat perplexed.

’It’s just a flock of Red-eyed Crows. What’s so special about them?’

Red-eyed Crows had the ability to see through Illusion Techniques, allowing them to easily spot invisibility and phantoms, but their combat power was extremely low—only a little better than ordinary crows.

Among the vast array of Magical Creatures, Red-eyed Crows were considered one of the lowest-tiered species.

Only a few Wizard Apprentices would buy Red-eyed Crows to guard their homes.

As for Wizards, they preferred to rely on Protective Arrays and alarm traps.

Confused as he was, Tong Ming didn’t dare disturb Pei Ze, so he just stood quietly to the side and waited.

Pei Ze stared intently at the Red-eyed Crows in the cage.

The moment he saw the Red-eyed Crows, he was suddenly reminded of Wuyu.

’After I became a Wizard, Wuyu’s strength improved, but the increase was far below my expectations.’

’Wuyu, having fused with all the Fog Crows, could probably just barely contend with an ordinary, newly-promoted Wizard.’

’But against a Wizard approaching the Level 1 Vaporization Limit, it would probably get annihilated.’

’Of course, it’s already astounding for a familiar to have this level of combat power under normal circumstances.’

’After all, familiars are meant to be a transitional aid during the Wizard Apprentice stage.’

’They are transformed from ordinary creatures, which dooms them to a weak innate foundation. It’s simple to raise them to the level of a Knight or Grand Knight, but beyond that, the difficulty increases exponentially.’

’It’s considered impressive if an Official Wizard’s familiar has the combat power of a Tier One Legendary.’

’Wuyu would absolutely dominate ninety-nine percent of other familiars.’

Historically, Wizards had attempted to transform Magical Creatures into familiars, but all had failed without exception.

Although both Magical Creatures and familiars were creatures that had awakened spell-like abilities, there was a fundamental difference between them.

The former’s spell-like abilities are awakened innately.

The latter, however, were originally ordinary creatures that awakened their spell-like abilities through a magical transformation, borrowing the Wizard’s Soul Power.

A familiar’s very existence is completely dependent on its Wizard.

Once the Wizard stops supplying it with Spiritual Power, the familiar will gradually waste away and die.

It is precisely because of this that familiars can awaken unique abilities like an emotional link and shared vision.

And while Magical Creatures could also form contracts with Wizards and become their pets, they remained separate individuals.

Naturally, they could not borrow a Wizard’s Soul Power to awaken new spell-like or unique abilities.

Of course, Pei Ze wasn’t thinking of turning the Red-eyed Crows into a familiar. He simply had a flash of inspiration: ’Could Wuyu transform crow-type Magical Creatures into Fog Crows?’

’A large part of Wuyu’s strength comes from its Fog Crows.’

’Whether by increasing the number of Fog Crows or by strengthening their combat abilities, either would in turn boost Wuyu’s overall power.’

’If this method works, Wuyu’s potential for growth would undoubtedly soar to an unimaginable level.’

Pei Ze’s eyes gradually brightened, and he immediately asked the stall owner, "Do you have any other crow-type Magical Creatures?"

The owner had noticed the young Wizard earlier and didn’t dare offend him. He replied with an accommodating smile, "I’m sorry, sir, I only have Red-eyed Crows."

Pei Ze was slightly disappointed but said nothing more. Pointing to the cage of Red-eyed Crows, he said, "I’ll take all of them."

The owner was overjoyed and quickly said, "Thank you, thank you, sir! There are forty-five Red-eyed Crows here. At Three Hundred Gold Coins each, that’s a total of 27 Magic Stone Coins."

"Can you deliver them?"

"No problem."

Pei Ze nodded, paid the 27 Magic Stone Coins, and left his address before turning to leave.

He wasn’t worried about the owner trying to pull a fast one.

Anyone who dared to take advantage of a Wizard would have to have a death wish.

After leaving the stall, Pei Ze continued to stroll through the square.

This time he had a specific goal: crow-type Magical Creatures.

He planned to buy as many crow-type Magical Creatures as possible to experiment on them one by one back home.

After more than two hours of searching, Pei Ze finally found two more types of crow-like Magical Creatures.

One was the Funeral Crow.

This was a species of gregarious crow capable of sonic attacks.

They always moved in flocks of hundreds or thousands, and when faced with a powerful enemy, they would shriek in unison, unleashing a piercing sonic wave.

When their numbers exceeded a thousand, the sonic wave produced by the Funeral Crows could blast a Tier Two Legendary Knight into a bloody mist.

The other type was the Netherworld Crow.

Even among the many crow-type Magical Creatures, this crow ranked in the upper echelons.

Netherworld Crows were born in places thick with the aura of death, such as graveyards, battlefields, or plague-ridden towns.

They fed on the deathly miasma of corpses, and the long-term absorption of this energy allowed them to develop a trace of the Power of Death. Their attacks could inflict a deathly corrosion on any living being other than Undead Creatures.

Under normal circumstances, a single Netherworld Crow could easily kill a Tier One Legendary Knight.

Even a Tier Two Legendary Knight would have a terrible time dealing with a Netherworld Crow.

Only Wizards who possessed Defense Magic and could temporarily resist the Power of Death were capable of handling Netherworld Crows.

Because they were so difficult to capture, the price of Netherworld Crows remained consistently high.

A single Netherworld Crow cost 800 Magic Stone Coins.

That was a full 80 times the price of a Funeral Crow.

In the end, Pei Ze purchased a total of 53 Funeral Crows and 2 Netherworld Crows.

In addition, he found Red-eyed Crows at two other stalls, buying all of them to bring his total to 102.

By the time he left the Ten Thousand Realms Slave Market, Pei Ze had less than thirty Magic Stone Coins remaining in his Space Ring.

’Looks like I need to find a way to make money again.’

Pei Ze shook his head to himself, then took out a bottle of Soul Guard Potion and tossed it to Tong Ming.

"Thanks for your hard work today. Consider this potion a token of my gratitude."

Tong Ming caught it instinctively, stammering in astonishment, "It’s my duty, sir. You don’t have to..."

Pei Ze cut him off with a wave of his hand.

Seeing this, Tong Ming hesitated for a moment before finally accepting it and thanking Pei Ze profusely.

A bottle of Soul Guard Potion had a market price of twelve Magic Stone Coins, which was a considerable sum for a Third-level Wizard Apprentice like him.

Now, his gratitude toward Pei Ze was undoubtedly far more sincere.

Pei Ze then hailed a carriage and, under Tong Ming’s respectful gaze, boarded the vehicle and left the commercial district.