It was a black hallway filled with lights made of clear blue crystals. Different from the fire used by Midnight Inn which gave off a strange, inexplicable pressure and restricted all magical senses, this crystal gave the feeling as if a source of magic energy was being forced into the body.
Just by Mana Breathing, Leon could feel that his body was filled with abundant and dense Mana. Just by breathing once, the influence brought to his body had surpassed the hundred cycles he needed to do in 5 hours.
After becoming a Tier 1 magus, the speed brought about by this technique slowed down greatly. The creator of this technique said that the basis of perfection lies in perseverance and patience in practicing it. Even with the 2 supporting techniques he had, it didn't help much in his speed.
“Master, this place is… dangerous.” Zaratul sent a warning to Leon via telepathy. If something untoward happened, he was prepared to buy time so Leon could leave. Even if it's just one second.
“Watch your attitude and don't do anything rash. Whoever is in this place, they are not that weak.” Leon reminded Zaratul when he heard the sound of applause from the end of the hall in front of him.
"Thank you for the compliment. It's not often I get a compliment like that.”
A young woman who looked like a child smiled sweetly behind a large table that didn't match her size. The small child didn't even reach Leon's waist and was around 150 cm tall.
This… This woman is the Real Deal. Her aura had already surpassed the ring formation stage of this world. Leon was shocked and took a step back when he saw the woman in front of him. Even though it was faint, there was the terrifying aura of billions of souls in distorted forms and screaming in pain. They seemed to be asking whoever was here to free them from this endless torture.
“Brother, is it possible that… you can see it?” The girl asked while looking at Leon with her golden eyes. She disappeared and appeared in front of Leon with her hand outstretched to grab his eyeballs.
“Caihong, Stop it. You are not allowed to poke out the eyes of customers who come in here." A man's gentle voice echoed in this passage. The girl named Caihong immediately stopped her hand right in front of Leon's eyes.
She floated in the air while withdrawing her hand in displeasure. “Dad, you are interrupting my fun. You always disturb my fun, I hate you father!"
Caihong flew away and left through another door that appeared out of nowhere. Caihong's father immediately came to Leon while apologizing to Leon. “I apologize for the child's behavior. She is really hard to control and always does whatever she wants. Once again, I'm truly sorry.”
Leon saw a man who looked like an old grandfather bowing to him. Even though he looked old, his body was quite sturdy and looked very healthy. His white hair and pale skin gave the impression that he was a weak grandfather who was on the edge of death.
‘Appearances can really deceive you.’ Leon laughed when he thought about this and shook Caihong's father with his hand. Strangely, it felt light as if he was lifting a feather. Leon looked at the man in front of him but only saw an ordinary old grandfather.
There's nothing special about it. Instead, he looked like an ordinary human.
"If you would like, may I know your customer's name?"
"You can call me Leon."
“Mr. Leon, please, follow me.” Caihong's father guided Leon to a room, leaving this place and arriving at a large field covered by grass and various kinds of trees that seemed to exude a mystical aura.
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Far away in the middle of this vast field, a large mansion that looked very majestic stood with five floating islands chained towards the mansion. On each island, a double-winged dragon flew around the island and let out a loud roar.
“Welcome to Austin Farmland. This is a place that was built to grow products and is home to a wide variety of the best products that we have.”
“If there is anything you want, whether in this vast field or in the building we own, please, let me know. We will take care of it as long as you can pay our premium membership fees."
Leon was fascinated when he saw it and showed extreme interest. But he restrained himself and looked at the old man beside him. “I heard the price of membership is very expensive.”
“Hahaha… Mr. Leon, you are exaggerating about that and I won't blame you for that. Indeed, for some people, it will seem so expensive that they cannot afford the membership fees that we have. Even if they offered all the treasures and riches in the Pendragon kingdom in the world you live in, believe me, it would not be able to satisfy the price we offered." Caihong's father laughed when he said that.
He took Leon to walk near one of the trees that stood alone in this vast field. The stem has many crusts and from the crusts, silvery white light emits from the cracks in the crusts. The leaves that look as white as snow fall and are blown by the wind which adds beauty and aesthetics to the surroundings of the tree.
Caihong's father invited Leon to sit at a table that looked like it was made of white marble. Even though it looked like it was carved from stone, a sense of calm and comfort could be felt right after Leon sat down. It even tastes like sitting on a soft marshmallow pillow.
Caihong's father said with a faint smile on his face. “As I said, you seem to be exaggerating the price a bit. We don't look at the price you can offer, but we look at how valuable the person or organization behind you is making the offer."
“An example would be someone offering the essence of 100 poison-swallowing frogs. The person you showed the goods to offered us half of the poison and we gave him what he needed.” He took out a bottle containing the exact same liquid as what Leon saw at the Midnight Inn. It's just that half the liquid has been used.
“It's a really fun light drink.” He immediately took out some and drank it.
“Rich people are really different.” Leon could only remain silent and laugh at himself. He still remembered how the soldier explained at length how troublesome it was to catch one type of swallowing frog. Even finding an alchemist who could concoct 100 types of poison from swallowing frogs was even more troublesome.
And this person uses it as a simple drink. If The Soldier saw it, he would definitely faint on the spot when he saw such a valuable item being wasted like that.
“I'm confident I can provide the price you're offering.” Leon smiled while displaying another Sub-Quest given by the system.
[A new Sub Quest has been added.
Sub-Quest: The best cooperation is a trade that provides mutual benefits.
The system has detected you entering the Domain of one of the lords roaming the universe. Since this was a special case and there was a great opportunity that the magic tower of Babel could gain from this trade, this sub-Quest would be given.
Reach a partnership with Austin Farmland and form a mutually beneficial relationship with this organization.
Reward:
1. Your value will increase rapidly. (This value will be used in the assessment and evidence you can provide as the leader of the Magic Tower of Babel)
2. Select one of the three subordinates who will be sent to you. Please note, the subordinates sent will be limited to the level of Tier 3 Magus. (Elemental Magus, investigation magus, Linguist.)
3. The best quality potions that can further support your magic techniques.
Note: due to the special case and the potential that a trade between the two might bring a knowledge trade Contract has been opened. You can sell the knowledge of the Magic Tower of Babel as a form of payment to Austin Farmland. This contract is limited to intermediate level knowledge. For every piece of knowledge that is sold, Babel will keep another copy and will not reduce the knowledge that the magic tower of Babel has.
This was a huge contract that even the previous candidates who went through the Nightmare difficulty didn't get it.
Don't waste this opportunity. You might be able to complete the main quest through this trade easily.]
[Knowledge trading contract.
As the pioneers of all magic science and the magic tower of Babel which does not prohibit the spread of the knowledge they have, trade between knowledge is something that is widely practiced. This contract is used to ensure that trade between two parties is legal. Once the contract is agreed, the magic tower of Babel will not prevent or interfere with how the other party uses that knowledge.
As the saying goes, we trade on the basis of trust between both parties.]