"I smell blood on you, young man!"
The old witch cried out dramatically.
"You're a dark wizard, aren't you?"
"Since when does Nevernight City refuse to sell to dark wizards?" Leilin frowned slightly.
"Hehe… don't be nervous. I'm a dark wizard too, though that was over two hundred years ago. Thinking back on those times, I really do feel a bit nostalgic…"
The old witch let out a laugh like a night owl.
"Young man looking for a shortcut — the price of energy particle crystals is astronomical, far beyond what a newly advanced wizard can afford. You surely don't have many Magic Stones. But as your senior, I can offer you a different suggestion…"
Leilin's frown deepened. "What suggestion?"
"An exchange! You know, at our level, mortal-world resources no longer hold much appeal. Only in the hands of other wizards of our caliber can we find the materials we urgently need…"
"What do you need?" Leilin suddenly had a bad feeling.
"One thousand! One thousand strong souls brimming with spiritual power! Give me those, and every Dark energy particle crystal I have is yours!"
Excitement gleamed in the old witch's eyes.
"Are you insane? Collecting a thousand souls in territory controlled by White Wizards? You might as well ask me to kill myself right now!"
Leilin said indignantly.
Extracting souls was delicate work. To get the quantity the old witch wanted, at least ten thousand living people would need to be sacrificed.
If Leilin dared commit such an atrocity, the White Wizards would hunt him to the ends of the earth.
"I'm not asking you to do it here. You could go to territory controlled by dark wizards!" The old witch wore a completely unconcerned expression.
"Too far, too much time — and besides, I don't want to provoke other dark wizard factions!" Leilin shook his head and flatly refused the old witch's demand. "Since you posted information at the trading center, you must still have some need for Magic Stones. Souls aren't exactly unheard of in Nevernight City. At worst, it just takes more time to accumulate them…"
"Fine. But let me warn you, young man — the price of Dark energy particle crystals is no small sum!"
The old witch's face twisted with conflict for a moment, then, realizing her demand was somewhat unrealistic, she reluctantly retreated behind the counter.
Crash! Bang!
After rummaging through her belongings for quite a while, the old witch finally set a cone-shaped glass bottle on the counter. At the bottom of the bottle was a puddle of black, semi-solid crystalline liquid, emitting a mysterious luster, as if it could suck a person's soul right inside.
"Three hundred grams of Dark energy particle crystals — one hundred Magic Stones per gram!"
"Kid, let me reiterate my earlier proposal. Bring me a thousand souls and all of this is yours!" The old witch continued trying to entice Leilin.
"No thanks!" Leilin shook his head. The price really was beyond his means.
Most of his Magic Stones had come from brewing and selling potions in the past. Later, he'd made a fortune in the academy's blood fights, acquiring a large number of Magic Stones and rare materials. After yesterday's spending, these resources were nearly all gone.
But risking his neck to collect souls for this? Leilin had no intention of doing something so foolish. Even among dark wizards, slaughtering masses of mortals to harvest souls would brand him as an abomination. Leilin had no desire to become a pariah hunted by everyone on the South Coast.
"Can I pay with other materials instead?" Leilin asked.
"Yes!" The old witch nodded. "But I only accept materials related to souls. Everything else, I'll buy at ten percent below market price."
"Souls?" Leilin understood. This old witch was likely a wizard who specialized in spirit research. Her experiments had reached a critical stage, and she needed a large quantity of material for conjecture and verification.
Leilin actually had quite a few rare materials on him, but many were useful to him, and he had no intention of parting with them. Thinking that this witch also specialized in soul-related research, a gleam flashed in Leilin's eyes as an idea struck him.
"Then… do you buy advanced knowledge related to souls?"
"Advanced knowledge? Let me see!" The old witch's eyes lit up.
Leilin smiled and produced a fingertip-sized pearl from inside his robe, handing it over. This type of pearl was a tool specifically designed for storing information. Leilin had loaded it with some spirit research data and records from his apprentice days.
Though he had only been an apprentice at the time, with the Chip's assistance, his research into spirits had been remarkably thorough — even surpassing some academy instructors. Moreover, Leilin was only planning to sell the earlier portions. His later experiments improving the Blood Vengeance Potion, as well as some content he'd obtained from the Book of the Giant Serpent, were not for sale.
The old witch took the pearl and glanced at it. "It seems to be only apprentice-level experimental data. I don't accept—"
But as time passed, her expression grew increasingly serious, even showing a hint of obsession. "What exquisite experimental methods! And such interesting ideas! What comes next? Give me the rest right now!" The old witch roared, showing a faint edge of madness.
Upon seeing this, however, Leilin's face broke into a confident smile.
"Then I believe we can discuss the price of this material…"
A little over ten minutes later, Leilin left the old witch's shop with a broad smile. The glass bottle containing the Dark energy particle crystals was nestled safely inside his robe.
He had somewhat underestimated how obsessed the old witch was with spirit experiments. She had offered a staggering price of twenty thousand Magic Stones for his material. After Leilin produced an additional one hundred high-grade Magic Stones, the old witch's entire stock of Dark crystals was snapped up by him.
Furthermore, after seeing Leilin's experimental data, the old witch seemed like a completely different person, becoming incredibly enthusiastic — even inviting Leilin to participate in her experiments. But for something this sensitive, Leilin thought it over and politely declined, though he left her his arcane imprint. While the old witch's madness made him somewhat reluctant to get close, there was no denying she had quite a few valuable things. Moreover, Leilin harbored a vague idea that would require exactly this kind of partner to carry out.
"
As the streetlamps lit up one by one, Leilin returned to his villa. On the way, he happened to run into that red-haired old man Cleo again.
The old man was lounging comfortably on a recliner, and beside him several scantily-clad maidservants kept feeding delicacies into his mouth.
"Does this old man have a thing for being watched?"
Leilin was somewhat speechless at how Cleo so brazenly enjoyed himself in the open garden. Outwardly, however, he put on a smile and said to Cleo through the fence: "Not bad. I finally managed to pick up a few materials I'd been dreaming about…"
"Haha… once you've been here a while, you'll find that Nevernight City has absolutely everything!"
The old man drained the wine in his glass in one gulp, then grabbed one of the nearby maidservants and began kissing her without the slightest care. The other maidservants giggled around them, seemingly quite accustomed to this sort of scene.
Though he knew that some full wizards, upon losing hope of further advancement, would become hedonistic and debauched, this was the first time Leilin had actually witnessed it. He felt like his horizons had been broadened. After exchanging a few more words with Cleo, he headed back to his villa.
Back in his bedroom, Leilin lay on his bed, reviewing the day's events.
After obtaining the crystals from the old witch, Leilin saw it was still early, and — driven by a bit of wishful thinking — he contacted the wizard who wanted to trade for a Fire Swallower egg, hoping to buy that wizard's Dark energy particle crystals by other means.
But his attempt failed. The other party only wanted a Fire Swallower egg. Even when Leilin offered fifty percent above market price, he couldn't sway the other party.
In the end, a reluctant Leilin could only spend a few hundred extra Magic Stones, posting a long-term request to purchase Dark energy particle crystals on the trading plaza before returning to his villa.
"Chip! Record my current physical data and simulate the optimal plan for absorbing Dark crystals!"
Leilin said silently in his mind.
"Task established. Collecting host data. Commencing hypothesis model construction!"
Receiving the host's command, the Chip began calculating at blistering speed. Row after row of data scrolled past Leilin's eyes.
The next day, Leilin first wandered around aimlessly, enjoyed a lavish meal at a restaurant, then returned to his residence.
The villa's basement had been modified by Leilin, with an enormous magical array inscribed on the floor. At the center of the array sat the Dark particle crystals he had just acquired the day before.
"According to the Chip's calculations, this configuration would yield the best absorption results, with a utilization rate of 94.7%."
Leilin murmured, walking to the center of the array.
"Activate!" He spoke the activation command in Ancient Byron.
Hum! Hum! Hum!
The entire magical array trembled, beginning to emit an ethereal glow. At the center of the array, the Dark energy particle crystals began to melt, first transitioning from semi-solid to liquid, filling a strange symbol. Then a flash of red light blazed, and the substance within the symbol was vaporized into wisps of black smoke that drifted throughout the basement.
The black smoke gathered thread by thread, finally condensing into seven hazy, red-eyed serpents that coiled around Leilin's body. Cold, slippery, and made of smoke, the small serpents felt remarkably like real snakes, giving Leilin a strange sensation.
Leilin drew a deep breath.
Hiss!
Two of the serpents were drawn straight into his nostrils. Leilin felt his body swell as if he'd gotten drunk, with a dizzy, lightheaded sensation.