Abyss Sequence-Chapter 386 - 43: Integrity

The city most deeply involved in spell research?

Hearing Yevgenia’s words, Sasa was a bit surprised, "I thought the city most deeply involved in spell research was the Academy."

Yevgenia shook her head and said, "The Academy does indeed gather many scholars, but their research covers many different fields. Their focus on spell research is not as dedicated as Frein City. They live underground with almost nothing else to do. Ever since they discovered they could not acclimate to the surface environment, Frein City has been dedicated to this research. Over time, it became the city with the deepest achievements in spell research."

Indeed, the underground is not suitable for planting or breeding. The residents of Frein City have almost nothing to do except research spells or delve into arts, mathematics, and similar fields.

Thinking of this, Sasa gazed towards Frein City and murmured softly, "Such a large city, yet the underground is unsuitable for planting or breeding. How do they sustain such a large population?"

Hearing this, Yevgenia replied, "To adapt to the underground environment, the cave elves have evolved a more efficient digestive system. They only need to consume half the food amount of surface elves to live well. Moreover, it’s not impossible to rear creatures here. There are plenty of aquatic demons in the underground waterways, and with regular feeding, their numbers can increase."

This knowledge is recorded in the Great Library’s collections. Yevgenia read these books when she served as a librarian there, which is why she knows about these things.

Spell knowledge...

Yan Luo recalled the casting methods of the Mage sequence, realizing that the spell knowledge from Frein City might indeed be useful for Blue Star.

"Alright, you can exchange for spell knowledge," Yan Luo told the Lord.

Since this is the city where spell research is most advanced in all of Alfheim, trading with them certainly would not be a loss.

After all, Frein City is in great need of construction materials. On Blue Star, the manufacturing cost of most construction materials is already almost as low as electricity prices. The larger the production scale, the more costs can be amortized.

Now that Blue Star no longer needs to construct so many buildings, many construction materials are piled up in warehouses and cannot be processed. If they can be brought to Alfheim and sold to Frein City, the manufacturers might even have to pay them.

After all, renting warehouses also costs money, and getting rid of those construction materials would be purely a loss. The manufacturers have no alternative, so if Yan Luo could purchase those construction materials, it would be a great blessing for everyone. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

With the urgent goods business settled, it was time to discuss other commodities.

Yan Luo did not plan to personally negotiate with the Lord of Frein City because he knew nothing about commercial matters. If he negotiated personally, there might be losses.

However, when Yan Luo delegated this task to others, they claimed they couldn’t hear what the Lord of Frein City was saying.

To Yan Luo, although the Lord of Frein City’s voice was not loud, it was at least clear and understandable.

"You can’t hear?" Yan Luo frowned slightly, looking towards the elves of Frein City.

At this moment, the Lord of Frein City smiled and said: [My voice disappeared during a spell experiment, and ordinary elves cannot hear what I am saying.]

Is that so?

Yan Luo had not noticed before that no one else besides himself could hear what the Lord of Frein City was saying.

After some thought, Yan Luo ordered someone to bring out a large tent.

The tent was easy to unfold and retract, requiring just a press of a button to fully expand within five seconds.

Once unfolded, the tent’s double layers of fabric provided protection from wind and rain, creating a relatively warm environment inside. It also had a ground mat to keep out bugs and dust from the ground.

Afterward, Yan Luo brought out a set of folding tables and chairs, inviting the Lord of Frein City to converse inside the tent.

The interior of the tent was spacious, able to house a large table and some alarm devices, allowing room for two people to rest, making it a comfortable camping setup.

The Lord of Frein City showed little interest in the folding tent but seemed intrigued by the folding tables and chairs that Yan Luo brought out.

Especially the chair Yan Luo prepared, which could recline and turn into a lounge chair.

The physically frail Lord of Frein City lay back on the lounge chair, feeling fully relaxed.

[This is quite nice.] The Lord of Frein City patted the armrest of the lounge chair, [Do you sell them?]

"We sold out of lounge chairs in the previous city. If you need them, we can bring some the next time we visit," Yan Luo said.

The Lord of Frein City nodded, [Please make sure to remember.]

Yan Luo continued, "This lounge chair is just for emergencies. We have more comfortable lounge chairs back home, with a comfort level more than ten times better than this one."

The Lord chuckled: [Now I’m even more interested.]

Then the Lord collected himself and said: [Let’s get back to business—regarding the everyday items you’re selling, we are interested, but we’re more interested in the ’services’ you can provide.]

At the end of the goods list, there was a ’services’ section where the human caravan would accept customer requests to create items according to specific requirements.

Yan Luo asked, "What do you want us to help manufacture?"

[Tools needed for spell experiments.] The Lord of Frein City coughed twice as he spoke.

The elf attending to him changed expressions and wanted to lean in to inquire about the Lord’s condition, but the Lord stopped him with a raised hand.

The Lord of Frein City slowly said: [We can make the tools for spell experiments ourselves, but their precision is lacking. Even if they are barely usable, they may not produce accurate results. After seeing your vehicles, I realized your manufacturing capabilities should be strong.]

Yan Luo nodded, "Yes, our manufacturing capabilities are strong, but we cannot manufacture objects that carry magic power."

[I can provide the relevant technology to you, as long as you can manufacture the tools we need.] The Lord of Frein City spoke softly.

Hearing this, Yan Luo was somewhat moved.

Humans currently do not have their own enchantment technology, but he didn’t expect to acquire the elves’ enchantment technology!

Humans also have a Mage sequence, and can channel magic power, so using the elves’ enchantment technique should not be a problem.

"If that’s the case, we can accept."

On the contrary, this means humans stand to gain.

Yan Luo turned to his people and instructed them to bring over an unbound personal terminal.

The personal terminal was equipped with a design plugin, allowing designers to mark various conditions, create models of the items they need, and the caravan would take the model back for production.

As the Lord of Frein City’s attendants began operating the design plugin on the personal terminal, Yan Luo thought for a moment and said, "The enchantment technology you provide is also a part of your trade offer. Our people will evaluate it. After deducting the value of the items you want us to create, if there is any surplus, you can use that surplus to exchange for more goods with us."

Hearing Yan Luo’s words, Sasa and the others looked over.

If Yan Luo had not brought up this matter, they might have gotten the enchantment technology for free.

Noticing their gaze, Yan Luo said, "You can’t demand integrity only when you suffer losses; that’s not integrity, it’s just a double standard."

Yan Luo had always been a man of principle, and taking the enchantment technology for free would be a significant compromise to his personal integrity.

Therefore, Yan Luo would rather not do such things and uphold his own principles.

This might cost them some benefits, but in losing these meager profits, they could gain much more.

In trade and interactions with the elves, trust was paramount, and Yan Luo’s attitude earned him considerable goodwill from the Lord of Frein City.

From the attitudes of other humans, it was clear that Yan Luo’s words were seen as unconventional and not mainstream among their tribe.

To remain steadfast in a turbulent flow and not be swayed by outsiders.

This human named ’Yan Luo’ was sure to achieve great things!