Chapter 44: President Zi Di
The Deep Sea Monster Fish.
Negative energy filled the meditation room.
A ghost girl was floating in the strongest concentration of negative energy,
She had exceptional human beauty, and her spectral appearance also gave off a cold captivation.
The ghostly Zi Di’s eyes were shut tight, and her face exposed her suffering.
It was not easy for an ordinary person to cross the crucial step that elevated them into a magician.
This was ascending one’s life level.
Zi Di had experience. She had become a bronze level magician in life.
But that process was quite natural.
She had the aptitude, and her bloodline assisted her. She had also taken magic potions, and within a few months, she naturally broke through.
This was different, she had compressed months of accumulation into a single night.
To accomplish this step, one first needed to be able perceive external energy, then be capable of absorbing it and converting it.
The perception of external elements was the most important talent of magicians.
The more talented a magician was, the stronger, wider, and more precise their perception was.
Compared to the first two, the last one was the most crucial.
Magicians converted external energy using meditation.
Even if a normal person successfully meditated, it was very difficult to attain this standard.
But Zi Di was different.
She had abundant experience in meditating. She had been an iron level magician when she was alive, and her meditation method primarily absorbed the fire element.
The fire element was classified as a neutral energy type.
Compared to fire, negative energy was colder and more inharmonious with life.
Zi Di was now a ghost, and negative energy enveloped her entire being.
As she meditated, the negative energy filled her body and gradually changed.
The chilliness grew deeper, as if Zi Di had fallen into a cave of ice.
In her perception, at first, she saw the abundant negative energy as an ashen mist, now it had accumulated into a shroud of darkness that wrapped around her closely.
This was the right place.
The Deep Sea Monster Fish’s meditation room could break down necromantic materials, collect the negative energy, and construct a meditative environment suitable for necromancers.
Meditation rooms were very important to magicians, it could improve their efficiency greatly.
Zi Di gradually felt like she was sinking into the depths of an ocean, she was constantly sinking, constantly falling as everything around her was deathly still.
She seemed to be dissolving into the piercing icy coldness.
As she endured, Zi Di recalled her past.
As an apprentice magician, she studied at the College of Magic.
It had been a difficult time.
She began to truly become independent, however she also realized the limits of her potential.
Her bloodline was only at the iron level.
However, her boyfriend suddenly awakened his bloodline and transformed into a dragonman, he had exceptional talent as a fire magician!
His progress grew wider, his achievements greater, and more attention was piled onto him.
He grew more dazzling, and the number of female apprentices by his side began to increase.
Those female suitors publicly and privately pressured Zi Di.
“You don’t deserve him!”
“What have you accomplished in your cultivation? Your bloodline has already decided that you’ll only ever be an iron level. However, he, he can become a silver level, a gold level, and even a legend level!”
“Don’t continue to be a burden on him. The sparrow and the goshawk cannot fly together.”
“There is a kind of love called letting go!”
Zi Di persevered, she vowed to never give up, and she believed her boyfriend loved her.
However, sad news arrived.
The boyfriend’s parents forced him to wed another female apprentice that had outstanding talent.
The dragonman boyfriend comforted Zi Di, “I won’t leave you, I don’t have any feelings for her. You must believe me, I love you.”
“I trust you!” Zi Di never doubted her boyfriend’s heart.
But it was because of this belief that she felt even more pained.
“I don’t deserve to be with him, I am a burden on him!”
“What, what can I do to deserve him?”
“No matter what, as long as I can stand side by side with it, it doesn’t matter what I do!”
Zi Di yelled at the sky.
In the shadowy swamp, the image of her father’s corpse came to mind.
“My princess, my love.” Her dead father handed her a piece of parchment.
The parchment unfolded, and its contents alarmed Zi Di.
Soul Devour spell?
Necromancy?!
She hesitated, she struggled.
But in the end, she reached out her deathly pale hands.
The moment those ten trembling fingers touched the parchment, they shrank back, as if touching a red iron.
“Kill them all, kill them all!” Her father urged, then shouted, “Vengeance, retribution!”
Darkness burst from Zi Di’s eyes, and her face warped as she reached out and viciously grabbed the parchment.
She was just about to assimilate the parchment into herself, when suddenly, she paused.
“Hold on.”
“Wait a minute.”
“This, this is…an illusion!”
An instant later, she opened her eyes to see the meditation room.
The dense negative energy was like a layer of green mist so dark that it was black, it enveloped her, and clinging to her with unseen fingers.
Zi Di’s mind quickly sobered up.
She sensed a magic power pool within her.
She was now a magician.
Meditation was not without its risks.
It needed a serene and clear mind.
Often times, this process would make bare and be overflowed by one’s personal thoughts, desires, and feelings that have been unconsciously accumulated during daily life.
Sometimes, this would create hallucinations.
If Zi Di was still deceived and assimilated with the parchment scroll, it would’ve indicated that she decided to indulge in her desires and allowed her emotions to subsume her reason.
Her mind would grow muddled, she would become a bloodthirsty murderer, and she would become an undead monster that relied on her instincts to act.
Luckily, she was experienced, and in that critical moment, she struggled free from it.
She examined her magic power pool.
It had shrank into a dot and was hidden in the depths of her head, as if it was resting in a void.
You could say that both existed and didn’t exist.
This was the foundation of a magician.
From now on, Zi Di could absorb external energy through meditation and convert it into her won necromantic magic power.
“Finally, I’ve become a necromancer.”
Zi Di’s mood was somewhat complex.
She continued to meditate, absorbing and converting the energy within her.
With every part that was converted, she felt lighter.
The negative energy eroded her mind, erased her humanity, and tormented her with the ghostly hunger.
After changing it into magic power, this erosion was greatly lessened.
Zi Di truly grasped this power!
After a unknown amount of time, she once more slowly opened her eyes.
This time, she had converted all of the negative energy into necromancy magic power.
The magic power in her pool would spring forth when needed.
The erosion of negative energy still existed.
“Ghosts themselves are based in negative energy.”
“If I completely absorb this negative energy, my life shape will be destroyed!”
Zi Di understood this principal.
Thus, she pursued resurrection.
She opened the meditation room door and saw the dragonman youngster standing guard.
“I succeeded.” The girl smiled calmly.
The dragonman youngster nodded, “I knew you could do it.”
The girl sensed the young man’s trust in her, and couldn’t help but recall the hallucination she saw earlier.
Love, selfishness, hatred, and vengeance…
It seemed their love had already covered her father’s animosity.
After confirming Zi Di was well, the dragonman youngster said, “I need to leave the Deep Sea Monster Fish first, there’s been a little trouble.”
“Eh? What happened?”
A short while later.
The port, the flagship’s captain’s room.
The dragonman youngster, Zong Ge, Cang Xu, and Tripleblade gathered together.
The young beastman patriarch faced them, and through clenched teeth, swore, “I request that you rescue my people!”
“I will appreciate your benevolence for my entire life.”
“I will command my clansmen to swear loyalty to you, and to never betray you!”
He was called Kuai Tui, he was the young patriarch of the shiba inu beastman. After Zong Ge exposed his intent to recruit him, he quickly decided to implore the survivors’ leaders to save his clansmen.
The dragonman youngster sent him away, then looked at the others.
Zi Di’s figure also appeared.
“Tell me what you think.” The dragonman said as he looked around.
Zong Ge was the first to speak, he pointed out that the sailors were inadequate, it would be very difficult to raise and change their combat power.
“Recruiting these dogmen is necessary.”
“The loyalty of dogmen is well known, the most loyal of all include earth dogmen, shiba inu dogmen, sled dogmen, sheep dogmen, and pine lion dogmen.”
“Slave and servant armies can also become strong forces.”
“If we help Kuai Tui, and save his clansmen, we will have truly reliable subordinates.”
“Correct.” Tripleblade echoed in agreement, “The Deep Sea Monster Fish should not be exposed, and we need surface identities to conceal ourselves.”
“The pirates are rampant right now, and we cannot avoid naval battles.”
“In the worst case scenario, if we cannot obtain the empire’s understanding, we need expand our power and be able to rely on it.”
Cang Xu replied, “Indeed, when we crossed blades with Rou Zang, the sailor’s bombardment fell short, their firepower was incapable of threatening the Bath Tub at all.”
“However.” Cang Xu changed the subject, “I believe now is not the time to replenish our troops.”
“We have many sailors, if we also bring on these beastmen, it will overload the ships.”
“Furthermore, our funds right now are in short supply.
“Our top priority is still the construction of an Anti-investigation and Prophecy formation.”
“In fact, purchasing the materials needed is very difficult. The main challenge is capital, in fact, I was in the middle of worrying about this matter.”
After pausing for a moment, Cang Xu finally said, “The most crucial thing is still Tan Qiu’s attitude.”
“This morning, when Zong Ge and Hei Fei made their case, Tan Qiu’s attitude was quite ambiguous.”
“On the one hand, he wants to h ire us to deal with Rou Zang. On the other hand, he also covets those beastmen slaves.”
“If Hei Fei reaches a compromise with Tan Qiu, he will sell the beastmen slaves for a low price. This benefit will perhaps make Tan Qiu take Hei Fei’s side, and if that happens, I fear we will have to give Kuai Tui back to them.”
For a time, everyone was silent.
Neither Zong Ge nor Tripleblade refuted those points.
Cang Xu’s words also made sense, and the facts were just as stated.
The survivors had already reached a consensus that they wouldn’t deal with Rou Zang.
The survivors had more important matters to do, and dealing with Rou Zang was very risky.
Using force against Tan Qiu and Hei Fei was an even worse strategy.
Tan Qiu had five or six silver levels, while the survivors only had two. Not even Rou Zang would choose to storm this island. If they did that, Hei Fei would probably wake up with a smile every morning.
The final thing they could do was to leave immediately, take Kuai Tui and his people away from Snake Rat Island, preventing anyone from taking the beastmen back.
This was also inappropriate.
Don’t even mention Rou Zang pursuing them, the survivors haven’t even achieved their main goal yet.
They needed to retrieve the Green Jade Gold Coffin!
This divine artifact had incalculable worth, and the survivors would not let it go.
But currently, there haven’t been any clues leading towards it.
Silence enveloped the captain’s room for a time.
The dragonman youngster racked his brains, and felt the perplexity of the current situation.
Kui Tui could increase their strength, of course he wanted him.
However, currently, the beastmen aren’t that important.
They were merely a fuse, nothing more.
Hei Fei wanted them returned, they were his money!
The survivors didn’t want to deal with Rou Zang, they wanted to find the Green Jade Gold Coffin and leave. Kui Tui and his clansmen were dispensable, additional benefits they could do without.
Tan Qiu wanted to gather as many forces as possible together to deal with Rou Zang.
Rou Zang was Snake Rat Island’s greatest threat, and was chocking it.
To Tan Qiu, Hei Fei and Zong Ge’s conflict was not troublesome to deal with, unlike what the city guard commander believed.
Tan Qiu should’ve been very happy, because he had both Hei Fei and the survivors in his hand.
This matter caused these two parties to beseech him.
Hei Fei, the survivors, Tan Qiu, as well as Rou Zang outside had their strengths, weaknesses, and goals. The contests between them formed a maelstrom.
The young captain already sensed that the maelstrom they were in was beginning to grow deeper.
“87”
Zi Di gazed at the price list in her hands and quietly said, “An ordinary adult male oxmen is sold for 8 gold. An ordinary adult dogmen is sold for 7 gold.
“This price is very reasonable, and is even a bit lower than the market price.”
Everyone stared blankly.
Zi Di smiled and explained, “A Slave price has many factors influencing it. For example, their health, their strength, their abilities, and so on.”
“For instances, in some areas, the price of female slaves exceeds that of male slaves. Because owners believe female slaves are more obedient.”
“If a slave has skills like knowing multiple languages, is an architect, is a songstress, a musician, or a dancer, their price will also be higher.”
“Generally, an adult human laborer slave costs about 3 gold. Heavy laborers are priced at 6 gold. Those that can do some management or scholarly tasks will be priced at around 9 gold.”
“If it is a beastman, because beastmen are far stronger than humans, their market value is likewise higher too. An adult male can do three times the labor of a human, however, they are only priced at 8 gold, and thus, obviously cheaper.”
“Ordinary beastmen slaves are normally used as famers, miners, builders, shepherds, and other manual labor jobs. Because male oxmen are stronger than dogmen, their selling price is generally greater than dogmen.”
“This kind of pattern is not applicable to cultivators. Because on the whole, cultivator slaves are not used for basic labor.”
“Bronze level fighters are sold at ten times the amount of normal slaves. Iron levels are sold at ten times the amount of bronze level, and silver levels sold at ten times that.”
“Silver level slaves are already rare. They are sold anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 gold each. A price comparable to gold level weapons or armor.”
“Magicians are more expensive than fighters.”
“Gold level slaves are seldom seen.”
“When slaves are traded, both the seller and the buyer need to pay the empire taxes. The tax varies in every noble’s domain, and had been high. Recently, these last few years, because the empire invaded the Wilderness Continent, the empire reduced the slave transaction tax and a great amount of beastmen slaves flooded the market. During peacetime, an ordinary adult male oxmen cost at least 10 gold.”
Zi Di raised the price list in her hands, “On here, the dogmen young patriarch, Kuai Tui, is being sold for 940 gold. He is only an iron level, yet he is priced at almost 1,000 gold. It is evident that his potential is great, and is likely to become a silver level in the future.”
Zong Ge was silent for a moment, then said, “Miss Zi Di, thank you for your explanation. But it wasn’t what we wanted to hear.”
But Zi Di laughed, “No, I’m not finished yet.”
“If it we only saved Kui Tui’s clansmen, wouldn’t that only have a finite improvement to our military power?”
“Of course, the more dogmen, the better.” Said Zong Ge.
Cang Xu interjected, “Our funds have a large shortfall, we cannot purchase all of the magic materials.”
“Actually, we have money.” Said Zi Di.
Everyone stared at her.
Zi Di then said, “Hei Fei sells slaves, we too have people we can resell.”
“Nowadays, we have too many human sailors, no?”
“You just said that if we add in these dogmen, our ships will be overloaded. That won’t be conductive to a long voyage.”
Everyone had different expressions.
Tripleblade mulled it over, “Strictly speaking, those fishermen were saved by us. The pirates from Da Zhao’s pirate group are our captives. We are entirely within our rights to resell them.”
“No!” The dragonman youngster resolutely refused, his expression was very solemn, “Don’t tell me you want to treat those fisherfolk and pirates as slaves to traffic?”
“Of course not.” Zi Di definitively vetoed.
Tripleblade and others were growing increasingly puzzled, confused at what Zi Di was peddling to them.
“Sometimes, the demands of the market can change, and even be created out of nothing.” Zi Di declared her plan.
After everyone heard it, their faces lit up with marvel.
Zong Ge nodded.
The dragonman youngster helplessly smiled.
Cang Xu exclaimed in admiration, “You are worthy of being a merchant alliance master! Based on what you said, this plan is perhaps the perfect solution to this matter.”