BXBX NOVEL Chapter 171 170: Exiting The Caverns
Of the three monsters we harvested materials from, the most expensive would be the Coal Serpents Fangs and Bones, but the sheer quantity of the Ash Ghoul Cores and Crystals was going to make us the most in the end.
How much, none of us knew for sure; the market for these materials was ever shifting, and we would need to find either individual merchants to sell small amounts of these materials too, or sell in bulk to an organization, be it the Guild, a chain of stores, or some kind of group for Alchemists and Smiths.
I would need to count out each material and create a list of them before setting out to sell everything, and I\'d have to dust off my bargaining skills...
I hadn\'t really done much bargaining since my previous life, and even then it was very minor...
Securing the pouches and placing them inside our packs, we all double checked our gear before setting off for the entrance of the Caverns; we had done more than we set out to do, and with us having the Academy tomorrow, we needed to be rested.
As we started moving back over the Plains of Yama in silence, I was reviewing the spells I had used, the advancement in my healing magic, and slowly theorizing more spells I could create.
The first spell, the one that I used against the Goblins, was my attempt at creating a \'Domain\'; my skills benefited from a certain environment, and if I could create a stable, blizzard like area around myself, I could not only get mana regeneration from the low temperatures, but also from how windy the area was.
Besides that, it would allow me to utilize the frost on the ground as weapons; I could alter the structure of the spell since the area around me was the spell; it was my \'Domain Spell\'.
As for the spell I had used against the Serpent, that was a variation on the Domain, creating a more focused, stronger storm around myself.
The Domain was just my Ice and Wind magics mixing to create a cold, windy area around myself, whereas the spell I had used against the Serpent was a storm, which required all three of my mana types.
The Water mana was used to create rain first, which would then freeze over due to the freezing temperatures created by my Ice mana. That would allow an easier, and less draining, creation of the chunks of hail, which I could eventually shape into spears, arrows, or even merge together to create giant boulders of ice.
Now, my time with Mister Goblin was fruitful, both as a release and as a learning experience; may he rest in pieces...
Anyways, I had learned that I was, currently, capable of only regrowing flesh, cartilage, and keratin, or what our nails are made from.
However, I was incapable of regrowing limbs, nor was I able to do much with bones beside reattach them and heal fractures.
Thinking of that, I almost facepalmed as I realized I had forgotten to try something incredibly basic...
Could I cut off a limb and reattach it?
If I took the Goblins finger and held it back against the wound, could my healing magic prompt the bone to reattach and flesh to grow back?
Sighing, I decided I needed to check that if we encountered another monster before leaving for today.
Even without that, knowing what I could do with my healing magic was important, and I could start improving my Water Cloak to be more of a healing support spell than it already was; if I learned that I could reattach limbs, I would be able to keep my wives whole if they were in that cloak.
Now, for new spells...
Besides improving the control on my current repertoire of spells, I had a few ideas, but would need to delve heavily into more complex combinations of runes and sequences.
Could I, theoretically, create an environment so cold that it freezes everything around me?
What about sharpening snowflakes, creating the deadliest blizzard in the entire world?
Turning away from ice\'s conventional uses, what about creating thin mirrors to amplify Jahi\'s Light magic? Would I be able to \'control\' her light and its effectiveness?
On that same note, could I use ice as a way to create invisibility for myself?
Or how about shaping orbs of ice to carry Leone\'s Fire magic, or Anput\'s Metal magic?
Using them as projectiles that, unless the enemy had already seen it beforehand, or witnessed the forming of those projectiles, would completely surprise and decimate the enemy?
Could I create constructs from my ice? Large, towering golems that moved and acted on my commands?
There were so many possible spells that I could create with Ice magic alone, not even including the near limitless combinations of Water magic, Wind magic, and Ice magic...
Humming softly to myself as we walked, I kept my guard up as we passed by various groups of monsters, some adventuring groups, and a few suspiciously clear and empty parts of the plains.
We managed to exit the Plains of Yama with little incident, but...
Staring up at the gentle slope of the Obsidian Valley, we all sighed as we saw the various hordes of Ash Ghouls stumbling about, knowing that we weren\'t going to let such a good opportunity to make money slip through our fingers.
Jahi and Anput went towards the top of the horde while Leone and I made our way around it, slowly meeting in the middle.
Wading through the various ash scented, weak muscled Ghouls that made up the horde, I found myself curious as to if my healing magic works on them as well.
After all, I didn\'t know if my magic only worked on only living things or not.
Would that be useful to know?
Who knows, but it\'s better to find out now than when I might actually need it.
Grabbing one of the last remaining Ash Ghouls, I shackled it similar to the Goblin from earlier, before freezing its jaw to stop it from groaning at me constantly.
Slicing off a piece of its arm, I then attempted to heal it, my palm flaring a deep blue.
I watched on in fascination as the flesh grew back, making me wonder if this Ghoul was actually \'alive\' or not.
Confirming that my magic worked on Ghouls, I then wanted to solve another question of mine; could I reattach limbs at my current stage?
Chopping off the arm, I then attempted to reattach the limb, tracing my fingers over the line that separated the arm from the shoulder.
Seeing that the flesh was attempting to rejoin together, I poured a little more mana into the spell, a relieved grin on my face as that too proved to be successful.
The others were standing over me, watching in morbid fascination as I performed my experiments, Jahi letting out a low mutter.
"This is incredibly creepy..."
Glancing up at her, I replied "I don\'t care; now I know the capabilities of my healing magic. Unless you were willing to donate an arm for this?"
As I spoke I lanced my dagger through the Ghouls throat and twisted the blade, severing its head from its body.
Maintaining the same grin from earlier, I watched as Jahi shivered, while Anput and Leone were giving me complicated looks.
"No... I\'m fine... Are you uh... done?"
Getting up, I dusted off my clothes before nodding, gesturing for her to lead the way.
The large Demoness gave me a nod before turning around, leading us up the Obsidian Valley and into the first cavern.
Our pouches were bursting to the seams with materials, and I could tell that Anput was getting giddy at the thought of selling everything; she was staring at her pouches with a grin, her ears and tail twitching as she walked beside us.
As for Leone, she was excited as well, but beside the small smile on her lips as she secured everything again, it was more of a subdued excitement.
Standing beside her, I asked "Are you keeping some of the Cores for yourself? Either to start creating a stock of them or to start practicing on your own?"
Glancing over at me, Leone pursed her lips before nodding.
"Yes... I think that would be best. Just like I kept the Ghoul King\'s Talon... However, it\'s going to be awhile until I start brewing potions; an alchemy set costs quite a bit."
Narrowing my eyes at her, I asked "How much is \'a bit\'?"
Leone glanced away before muttering "For a good one that would last me a decade or so? A Platinum..."
Blinking a few times, I stared at her in silence, making the Vampire gulp, still facing away from me.
"One whole Platinum... just for a \'good\' set? What does an excellent one cost?"
She pursed her lips again, her voice meek as she muttered "Around 15 Platinum..."
Feeling my mind slowly slipping from the numbers she was telling me, I just pinched the bridge of my nose before saying "Y\'know what, it\'s not my money... make that much on your own, spend it as you wish! One whole Platinum..."
Shaking my head, I continued walking behind Jahi, hoping that Leone had a knack for Alchemy.
The amount of money to get a \'good\' set must mean that the prices of \'good\' potions is insanely high...
Right?