If the eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale was sold on the first floor of the market, it would definitely have an exorbitant price tag. However, due to the constraints of the Secret Merchant Alliance, the price of the eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale was controlled to a certain extent, and wasn’t too flabbergasting.
That wasn’t all. The secret merchant even gave a clear and thorough explanation of the uses of the eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale. One was that it would help with taming marine magical beasts because the prehistoric Barbarous Whale could suppress the marine magical beasts of the Endless Ocean with its aura. Another was that the eye could be used as a Sanctuary-level magical crystal that would act as a mana source. However, compared to Sanctuary-level magical crystals, the mana here would not be restored automatically. Hence, although the eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale looked rather overwhelming, very few people asked about it. They would at most take a few glances, and then turn around to go elsewhere after listening to the introduction.
However, Lin Li was a little interested in the eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale, and decided to acquire it after seeing that the price was rather reasonable. The eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale was quite useful to Lin Li as it could be used as a powerful weapon for The Star.
Lin Li had read some information about the prehistoric magical beasts of the Endless Ocean when he was on The Star which was left behind by Geresco. Hence, he also knew some things that others might not be aware of. Although the eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale was not a magical crystal, and did not contain powerful magic laws by nature, it was still a very powerful weapon of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale.
It was said that the largest prehistoric Barbarous Whale had a size that was equivalent to hundreds of wyrms, and it definitely wouldn’t be flexible enough to fight with other enemies using its body. Hence, one of the most powerful weapons that the prehistoric Barbarous Whale had was its gigantic mouth that looked like it was large enough to devour the world, which would allow it to suck ancient wyrms from the sky and swallow the magical beasts of the ocean together with a massive amount of seawater. Another powerful weapon would be its pair of eyes that emitted light that had the ability to turn everything into the power of water. Even an ancient wyrm would not be able to resist it.
Of course, that secret merchant might not be unaware of these traits. However, it was just the eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale, and not a living whale. Thus, it wouldn’t be able to exert that terrifying power.
However, Lin Li was different. With his peak Guru-level attainments in inscription, he was completely confident of stimulating the power of the eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale using mageweaths. Of course, it was only going to be an additional weapon to The Star, and in fact, it wasn’t considered a remarkable item compared to the Nether Pearls and the King Hunter’s Blade.
After putting the eye of the prehistoric Barbarous Whale into the Ring of Endless Storm, Lin Li continued to search for the things he needed in the market. Unfortunately, he no longer found anything suitable for his needs, even though the items he saw later could be considered rare treasures.
For example, there were magical items of the High Elves from the Dark Age, sacrificial objects of the Sea Clan from tens of thousands of years ago, the burial objects of a certain Great Monarch of the Sea Clan, and many others. The power of those items might be great, but they were far inferior compared to the debris of the stars that Lin Li had. Even if he acquired them, there was nothing he could use them for.
On the other hand, the important combat powers like Connoris’ Eternal Frost Blade, Angelano’s Alchemy Colossus, Ujfalusi’s Ice Phoenix corpse, and Norfeller’s broken King Hunter’s Blade did not need any magical weapons. Thus, those items would not give their power and abilities a significant boost, and buying them would be a waste.
As for the mages of the Tower of Dusk, they relied on the Magic Net Array that Geresco had left behind. The individual or combined combat strength of a few people would only affect the operation of the Magic Net Array. The most suitable thing for them would be the magical equipment that Lin Li had designed and created himself, not the items with pompous legendary backgrounds.
Hence, after turning around and casually buying a few more things that were not of great use, Lin Li no longer felt like shopping anymore.
However, just as Lin Li was about to return, he stopped in front of a senior secret merchant’s stall which basically didn’t have any treasures up for sale. There was only some written information which Lin Li took a closer look at, only to realize that this secret merchant was a slaver.
Although Lin Li came from another world where everyone was claimed to be equal, he never thought he had the ability and obligation to make changes to the system in Anril. The system’s existence was justified. Anril was a world of survival of the fittest. Even the Immortal King probably wouldn’t be able to change the system of Anril, let alone Lin Li.
Besides, the development of the Tower of Dusk required manpower in addition to a large amount of wealth and financial power. Although the Tower of Dusk could recruit a large number of people from the Breezy Plains, some people might not be competent enough to make the cut even if they were willing to do it, while some who were competent weren’t willing to. In that case, he would have to rely on slaves. Of course, the slaves had to have strength that was at least level-10, otherwise they would not be of any use at all.
Slaves that could be sold in this upscale Secret Merchant Market were definitely of a better grade than those outside. Otherwise, the Secret Merchants Alliance would never have arranged for the slaver to be there. Having figured that out, Lin Li picked up the information at the stall, and began reading it as he intended to purchase a batch of slaves for the Tower of Dusk. After all, a large amount of manpower was still required for the transformation of the Sky Castle.
Although the slaves for sale at this stall were of a variety of races, they could generally be classified into two categories: one for entertainment purposes, and the other to provide powerful support. The slaves belonging to the first category were basically handsome and beautiful or gifted, while those of the other were extremely competent. There were even some who were at the Legendary-level. Such strong and capable slaves were either used for gladiatorial performances or used as guards and escorts. Some were even used as cannon fodder during explorations. In short, they were meant for practical use.
Lin Li flipped through those introductions, and finally stopped at the introduction of a batch of slaves of the Seahorse Clan after he had gone through several entries.
It was said that the seahorses used to be the hegemons of the sea that resided in the Sea of Abundance, which was the current Nether Sea. At that time, the seahorses were so powerful that even the current seven overlords of the ocean would have to bow down to them.
The most powerful force of the Seahorse Clan was the Seahorse Knights. Although they were not known for their strength, they could perfectly fuse magic and combat together into one. They could also be called the Magic Knights of the sea. Hence, as opposed to the High Elves, the Seahorse Clan used to be called the perfect clan of the sea as their ability to combine magic and combat allowed them to possess power that was greater than the famous Giant Shark Knights’. The battle formations that they got into were invincible in the Endless Ocean.
The High Elves conquered Anril, and even the Endless Sea, but not the Endless Ocean. Legend had it that the Seahorse Clan was a large part of the reason for their failure to do so. Without the powerful Seahorse Knights, the High Elves might have extended their dominance into the Endless Ocean, and put the Sea Clans under their rule as they had done to those on land.
However, even until now, no one knew what had happened to the Seahorse Clan that caused them to lose all their glory despite having been overlords of the ocean. According to the later propaganda of the seven other overlords, the Sea God was angered by the Seahorse Clan, and thus took everything away from them, though no one knew the real reason for that. The fall of the Seahorse Clan was the very reason that the seven other overlords could escape suppression and rise. In order to vie for the wealth of the Seahorse Clan and the status of the ruler, they began a great war at sea.
During that war, each Sea Clan suffered considerable losses, but the ones who ended up in the most tragic state were still the seahorses. Not only had they lost their place in the Sea of Abundance, they even had to face the oppression of various Sea Clans. The rest at least still had some allies, but the Seahorse Clan had become the public enemy of all the Sea Clans. Even after the end of the great war, the Seahorse Clan still couldn’t recover and recuperate like the others. Instead, they had to remain stranded and lead miserable lives.
Without their own sea, the Seahorse Clan had no choice but to split up and wander around in the Endless Ocean. Once others found out about their temporary residence, the other Sea Clans would come to besiege them immediately. The seahorse slaves that Lin Li had developed an interest in had probably ended up in the hands of the secret merchant because they had unfortunately had their temporary residence discovered.
Even till now, there was no clear explanation for the Seahorse Clan’s loss of power, and Lin Li merely knew that the Seahorse Clan had very few powerhouses that could break through the Legendary-realm. If a seahorse couldn’t break through the Legendary-realm, they would not be able to become a Seahorse Knight, and thus their value would be reduced greatly.
Logically speaking, a batch of seahorse slaves with no potential for future development would not be of much use to Lin Li. Be it Lin Li or the Tower of Dusk, they did not lack such a force, and they probably weren’t even qualified to be cannon fodder. They couldn’t stay on land for long, and had to be in the sea most of the time, so he couldn’t quite use them for hard labor. Hence, they were probably worse than ordinary people.
However, when Lin Li thought about the Seahorse Knights that had dominated the four seas according to the legends, he couldn’t help but be tempted. Just because others didn’t have the means to help them break through to the Legendary-realm didn’t mean that Lin Li didn’t. Even though he did not have an exact solution now, he had plenty of resources like the Tree of Eternity and Geresco’s relics. It was possible for him to find a solution.
Lin Li took another close look at that introduction to see that there were more than 60 members of the Seahorse Clan, among which the old, weak, and sick had been eliminated, leaving only the strong and young ones. In terms of strength, they were definitely not far off from what the legends claimed, with the strongest being only level-19, and the weakest being only level-15. However, even if they couldn’t break through the Legendary-realm, they should be able to serve as sailors on The Star. At least he wouldn’t be buying a bunch of garbage.
“Are these seahorse slaves also on the cargo ship outside?” Lin Li asked as he picked up the document containing their information.
“Yes, Sir, you’ve got impeccable judgment. The Seahorse Clan has quite a balanced development among the many Sea Clans as they are good at both combat and magic. It would be perfect to use them as escorts,” the senior secret merchant immediately introduced to Lin Li passionately.
However, Lin Li secretly sneered when he heard that. In this day and age, the so-called balanced practice of martial arts and magic was just a trap because balance meant mediocrity. If the Seahorse Clan couldn’t break through to the Legendary-realm, they wouldn’t be considered jacks-of-all-trades, but rather they would be considered lacking in every aspect. Anyone who used the seahorse slaves as escorts would definitely be putting their lives in danger.
Although the prices of the items here were fixed and stated clearly, there was still some room for bargaining. Lin Li immediately voiced his opinions and harped on that point to reduce the price by 20%.
The Seahorse Clan didn’t fit the aesthetic standards of ordinary humans, because they had long faces and long necks, matched with lanky, bamboo-like bodies. Their skin was dark blue and covered with green spots, causing their strength to be the only trait that they could leverage on. However, everyone knew that the Seahorse Clan would never break through to the Legendary-realm, and while their strength might seem impressive to ordinary people, they weren’t considered much to those who could enter this place.
In fact, the most important reason that this senior secret merchant could bring the seahorse slaves over to the market, and put them on sale was that it was not easy to nab some Seahorse Clan members. It was unknown if it was because they were on the brink of extinction, or because they had all hidden somewhere, but all in all, they were scarce and rare.
Hence, after some bargaining, Lin Li bought those 60-odd seahorse slaves at a 20% discount. After buying those seahorse slaves, Lin Li didn’t bother to continue wasting time shopping around, and instead requested the secret merchant to go out with him for the handover of the slaves.
Soon, under the arrangement of the Secret Merchant Alliance, they arrived at a cargo ship outside The Mermaid, and more than 60 female and male seahorse slaves who were tied together by ropes were urged out of the cabin of the cargo ship by a few masked men.
Lin Li sized them up using his mental strength, and discovered that their physiques were not too bad, which showed that the slave sellers didn’t mistreat them because they were to be sold at the Secret Merchant Market. The three strongest seahorse slaves had just reached level-19, while the ordinary ones were only at level-16 or level-17. The weakest one was only at level-15, perhaps because he was too young.
After Lin Li finished inspecting the slaves, the handover was completed. Next, Lin Li brought the slaves who had already resigned themselves to fate onto another ship provided by the Secret Merchants Alliance, and set off to Helena Port.
Since The Star was docked at Helena Harbor, Lin Li immediately arranged for the seahorse slaves to board The Star. Although the strength of the seahorse slaves was no weaker than that of the sailors on The Star, he wouldn’t have to worry about them escaping, because he had the slave contract with the Soul Brand of the slaves in hand. After instructing the sailors on The Star to show the seahorse slaves around to familiarize themselves with The Star, he left to return to the capital of the Gilded Kingdom together with Connoris and Angelano.
