Chapter 94: Undercurrents 3

The First Elder turned around and gave Sona a brief glance.

Then he looked back out of the window and spoke in a low voice.

“The more I see of that boy Kent, the less I understand him.”

“He isn’t just a fire-element mage.”

“He can use light magic and wind magic as well...”

“And now it seems he even has an affinity for the wood element.”

The First Elder sighed softly.

“That kind of talent is truly rare.”

“The wood element?”

Sona looked puzzled.

“First Elder, Ancestor Keta personally confirmed his light affinity, so there shouldn’t be any mistake about that.”

“And we already discovered his wind magic the first time he helped little Daphne hunt wild beasts.”

“But what makes you think he has a wood-element affinity?”

The First Elder frowned.

“Sona, you’ve followed me for several hundred years.”

“How can you still be so lacking in knowledge?”

“If that boy didn’t possess the wood element, how could he possibly have brought a Breadfruit Tree to life?”

He continued with obvious impatience.

“Growing a Breadfruit Tree requires more than just a seed and Water of Life.”

“It also needs the life force of the wood element to stimulate the seed and force it to germinate.”

“Our dark elf homeland has been searching constantly for people with wood-element talent.”

“And even then, it has been extremely difficult.”

Sona nodded slowly.

“The wood element is also known as the nature element.”

“In the Dark Region, finding someone with that kind of magical affinity is difficult enough.”

“And even if such a person is found, with wood-element mana so scarce underground, there’s no guarantee they would ever accomplish much.”

“Exactly.”

The First Elder smiled.

“That is why we must make sure that boy remains safe.”

“If there really is no other choice...”

“Then I suppose we’ll have to trouble him a little.”

The smile on the First Elder’s face made Sona inwardly feel sorry for Kent.

There were more than three hundred dark elf cities throughout the underground world.

If Kent really had to visit every one of them, the journey alone would take several years.

At the same time, several hundred li away from Muan City, more than a thousand kobolds were gathering.

These kobolds were completely different from the ones that had been wiped out near Muan City.

Every one of them wore armor.

They carried crossbows and bows, and among their ranks stood dozens of mages.

Most of those mages were around the third rank.

Even the kobolds themselves were noticeably larger and stronger than the group Kent had destroyed before.

Their leader was especially imposing.

He stood more than two meters tall and had already reached the fifth rank.

In his hands was an enormous spiked mace weighing several hundred jin.

A faint magical radiance flowed across its surface.

One glance was enough to tell that it was no ordinary weapon.

It was a magical weapon.

“Huh?”

Kent suddenly stopped in front of a large market stall.

“They even sell magical beast eggs here?”

He and Darkya had been strolling through the market while snacking on various treats.

Women, it seemed, really did have a natural weakness for snacks.

Under Darkya’s irresistibly expectant gaze, Kent had finally taken out two diamond coins and bought her whatever she wanted to eat.

Darkya’s opinion of him immediately improved by leaps and bounds.

Of course, she seemed to have completely forgotten that Kent had already tricked quite a bit of money out of her before.

Kent’s attention, however, was now fixed on the stall in front of him.

Rows upon rows of magical beast eggs were displayed there.

This vendor clearly dealt in far more eggs than the surrounding stalls.

Several magic-crystal lamps hung above the stand, filling the entire area with bright, steady light.

Darkya took another bite of the grilled fish in her hand.

It was actually the first time Kent had ever seen her eating meat.

“What’s so strange about that?”

She glanced casually at the eggs.

“There’s nothing particularly valuable here.”

“They’re all ordinary magical beast eggs.”

“If there were any high-rank ones, they would have been sent straight to an auction house.”

“Why would something truly valuable be left sitting on a market stall?”

Kent smiled.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.”

The sight of those magical beast eggs reminded him of his experiences back in Alliance City.

Sometimes, the things everyone dismissed as worthless...

were precisely the things most likely to hide a real treasure.

Kent crouched in front of the stall and slowly looked over the rows of eggs.

Then he raised his head and smiled at the vendor.

“Boss.”

“How much are these magical beast eggs?”

After hearing Kent’s words, Darkya could not help growing curious as well.

She took another careful look over the magical beast eggs displayed at the stall.

But no matter how she examined them, they really did seem to be nothing more than low-rank eggs.

There were only a handful that could even be considered mid-rank, and the prices marked on those were far higher than their actual value.

Then she glanced at Kent again.

The way he was choosing eggs was almost laughable.

One look was enough to tell that he had absolutely no idea what he was doing.

At least, that was how it appeared.

Kent, however, had his own method.

If he wanted to know whether any of these magical beast eggs contained a mutation, an unusual bloodline, or something else out of the ordinary, he had to touch them directly.

Only through physical contact could he sense that faint, almost imperceptible trace of spiritual presence within.

From that vague response, he could roughly judge the true value of the egg.

So Kent simply moved down the rows, placing his hand on one egg after another.

Not far away, a man dressed as a swordsman was also selecting magical beast eggs.

Compared with Kent, the swordsman looked far more professional.

He focused entirely on the eggs that radiated the strongest magical fluctuations.

Generally speaking, the denser the magical aura surrounding an egg, the greater the chance that the creature inside would hatch as a higher-rank magical beast.

Of course, this method was never completely reliable.

There was always an element of chance involved.

Kent’s method, on the other hand, was different.

He was sensing the presence of the soul itself.

In that respect, his judgment was actually far more accurate.

“Hmph.”

The swordsman finally could not bear watching Kent any longer.

“You judge a magical beast egg by its magical fluctuations.”

“You don’t stand there fondling every single one.”

“What a complete amateur.”

The egg Kent had just touched did not even look like a magical beast egg.

There was not the slightest trace of magical fluctuation coming from it.

Worse still, its shell was dull and pitch-black, without even a hint of luster.

Normally, the higher the rank of a magical beast egg, the richer and more vivid its coloration would be.

Wind-element magical beast eggs were a good example.

Low-rank ones were usually pale cyan.

Mid-rank ones were a deeper greenish-blue.

High-rank eggs could gleam like polished jade.

Kent, meanwhile, was obviously very low-rank himself.

The swordsman naturally assumed he was an ignorant novice and spoke with open contempt.

Kent immediately glared at him.

“I like big ones.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“I’m buying it to take home and eat. Happy?”

The stall owner’s ears practically perked up.

He immediately hurried over with a broad smile.

“Young brother, you want to take it home and eat it?”

“Good! Very good!”

He pointed eagerly at the huge black egg.

“I’ll give you this big fellow for ten diamond coins.”

“Just look at the size of it!”

“It must weigh at least fifty jin.”

The owner could barely contain his excitement.

That enormous egg had been sitting in his possession for several years without a single buyer.

He himself had originally purchased it precisely because it was so large.

At the time, he had still been able to sense a faint magical fluctuation from it.

But after several years, even that tiny trace had vanished completely.

He had considered simply cracking it open and eating it himself, but he could never quite bring himself to do so.

After all, he had paid eight diamond coins for the thing.

To put that price into perspective, even a high-quality weapon forged by dwarven craftsmen cost only around ten diamond coins.

So the moment Kent mentioned eating it, the merchant eagerly hauled the enormous black egg over and placed it directly in front of him.

The swordsman gave Kent one last contemptuous glance.

“If you’ve got the guts, buy it and take it home to eat, dumbass.”

With that, he turned and walked away without even bothering to see Kent’s reaction.

Kent stood there completely stunned.

Dumbass?

Of all the insults he could have used...

It had to be that one.

The truth was, that particular insult had originally spread through Muan City because of Kent himself.

Once, while joking and trading insults with Kobi, Kent had casually let the phrase slip.

Kobi had immediately picked it up.

And somehow, from there, it had spread.

Before long, whenever people in Muan City got into an argument, someone would inevitably throw out the same insult.

Kent had even been rather proud of himself for introducing such a wonderfully concise piece of profanity into the local vocabulary.

Who would have thought that one day...

someone would use it against him?

Kent stared after the departing swordsman, speechless.

Perhaps this was what people meant by karma.

“What are you staring at?”

Kent shot the stall owner an irritated look.

“I’m not finished choosing yet.”

The merchant’s expression only made Kent even more annoyed.

He had merely said he wanted to take the egg home and eat it.

Did this fellow actually believe him?

Could that huge black thing even be eaten?

Its shell was dull, pitch-black, and looked thoroughly unappetizing.

The stall owner, meanwhile, was a gnome.

And if there was one thing gnomes were naturally good at, it was calculation.

That was hardly surprising.

Gnomes were renowned for their mastery of mechanics, and anyone who spent their life working with gears, measurements, and intricate devices could hardly be poor with numbers.

That talent had also made them some of the most successful merchants in the underground world.

Most of the great traveling merchants—those who moved constantly between different cities, buying and selling goods across long distances—were gnomes.

There were also a small number of human merchants.

Dwarves and dark elves, however, were rarely seen in that profession.

It was not that dwarves refused to do business.

They simply did not need to travel around selling their wares.

Whether they forged weapons or armor, buyers would usually come directly to them.

As for the dark elves...

they simply looked down on merchants altogether.

The gnome merchant did not become angry when Kent glared at him.

A merchant had to understand one simple principle:

Harmony brought profit.

Instead, the gnome smiled even more warmly.

“Of course, of course.”

“Take your time.”

“Keep looking.”

“I’ll give you a twenty-percent discount on anything you choose.”

Then he quickly pointed toward another egg.

“But let me recommend this one to you.”

“This one is truly—”