Imperial Crown.

Chapter 34: The Magic Core is in Hand, and the Second Car is Hit by Mistakenly

Like all noble castles, Eagle Castle certainly has its own dungeon, but because the public security in Eagle Town has been good in recent years, it has been vacant for a long time.

And this place has become Raven’s most ideal experimental site at present.

Volav and Mosingam were already waiting here, and the things had been delivered. When they saw Raven coming, they saluted and said, "Baron!"

"Well, thank you for your hard work." Raven nodded in return: "Everyone, go out. Unless I give the order, no one is allowed to come in, no matter what sound is made, and no one is allowed to come in."

"Yes, sir!" The two men walked out of the door and the room soon became quiet.

As a dungeon, the area here is not small. There are six independent small cells with straw on the floor, each of which can accommodate four prisoners.

There was a large cell at the innermost part, which was big enough to hold more than a dozen people. If they really wanted to squeeze in, dozens of people could be crammed in. The only living pig was thrown in there with its limbs tied with ropes.

“This Mosingam, does he think I want to chase a live pig?” Raven shook his head and chuckled, setting his eyes on the table, where there was a black lacquered wooden box.

When the lid of the box was opened, the magic core as crystal clear as a gem was revealed, radiating colorful light.

Raven opened the Eye of Truth, and the essence of the power contained in each magic core was revealed at this moment.

Dark red represents the power of blood, silver-white represents the power of steel, azure represents the power of ice, bright red represents the power of fire, sky blue represents the power of storm, dark yellow represents the power of the earth, bright yellow represents the power of yellow sand, and emerald green represents the power of nature.

There are two to three of each type.

What surprised Raven the most was that there was a magic core with light attributes in it - this attribute was not common among Warcraft.

He stroked his fingers across the surface of the magic core and could clearly see through the Eye of Truth that the energy contained in it was like a hungry young bird, sticking close to his fingers.

After pausing briefly in front of the silver-white magic core representing the power of steel, Raven still tightly grasped the dark red magic core representing the power of blood.

The main goal today is of course to test the effect of the magic core on living things other than Raven himself, but before that, Raven wants to know if there is a limit to his absorption of the magic core power, and what the limit is.

The bloody magic core of the same nature is of course safer.

"Huh..." After taking a deep breath, Raven clenched the magic core and threw it hard to the ground.

After being strengthened by two magic cores, Raven's physical strength was far beyond that of ordinary people. This time, his strength was also extremely great. The magic core fell to the ground and exploded into pieces. Dark red energy flowed away like smoke.

"Come!"

Raven used the power of the Eye of Truth and tried to draw the energy within it.

But unlike the previous two times, this time, only about one-third of the mist floated to Raven and flowed into his brow.

The feeling of pain, numbness and itching came again. At this moment, Raven felt that his whole body was swollen, and his skin was burning and itchy. He raised his hand and looked carefully, and even the blood vessels in the palm of his hand were clearly visible.

In a trance, Raven saw something flash through his mind, but it had no specific shape.

He stood there, not daring to move, until more than ten minutes passed, the scarlet smoke in the air dissipated, the floating blood vessels on Raven's body gradually disappeared, and a feeling of extreme fullness filled his whole body.

"Two first-level magic cores, is that the limit of what I can absorb at the moment?" Raven spread out his palms and gently applied force, and he could clearly see the tense muscles on each finger: "Or is it limited to the magic cores of blood power?"

His fingers jumped over the magic crystals, and Raven selected a magic core containing the power of storm and smashed it on the ground.

A breeze suddenly blew in the sealed dungeon, and azure smoke filled the air. However, no matter how Raven mobilized the power of the Eye of Truth, he could not let it enter his body. Even if the mist was close to his eyebrows, it still could not get in.

Raven was not discouraged. He threw one magic core each with fire, earth, ice, steel, yellow sand, and natural attributes in succession, and finally stopped at the magic core with light attribute.

"It seems that it has nothing to do with the properties of the magic core. Two first-level magic cores are the limit of what I can bear at the moment." Raven's fingers stroked his chin. "Then what exactly limits me? Is it because the first-level magic core itself can only do this, or is it because I am not extraordinary yet and cannot absorb more?"

Raven kept this doubt in mind. If he wanted to verify it, he could only wait until he became a mage or obtain a magic core of level two or above.

"Mage." Raven's eyes shone with anticipation: "I don't know if a potion can be successful..."

Not to mention the second-level divine potion, even the third-level one cannot guarantee that a person can awaken successfully. It all depends on probability.

That’s two thousand gold coins!

"Forget it, there's no point in thinking too much. I might as well think about how to make more money." Raven clenched his fists. "If a potion doesn't work, I'll just spend money on it. I'll turn myself into a mage!"

"Ow—"

Perhaps because the voices were too loud, the pig in the cell kicked its legs and let out a howl.

Raven laughed dumbly: "Even if you praise me, I can't let you go today."

As he spoke, he took out another magic core with bloody attributes and walked to the door of the cage where the live chicken was "imprisoned".

Two chickens, one male and one female, were tied up by their feet and thrown on the ground, their four eyes staring blankly.

"It is time for you to sacrifice yourself for my cause."

With a bang, the magic core shattered on the ground, scarlet smoke spread out, and two pairs of chickens and ducks began to cluck anxiously.

Raven pressed his hand between his eyebrows and felt an invisible force leaving his body and gathering the mist together. He mobilized the mist and poured it into the bodies of the two poultry in front of him bit by bit.

As the mist seeped into their bodies bit by bit, the appearance of the two poultry changed at a strange speed.

The feathers became thicker and longer, and the color gradually turned black. The originally pitch-black eyes were gradually filled with blood, and even revealed a kind of - ferocious!
Suddenly, the rooster raised its head and pecked the hen next to it fiercely. Feathers flew and blood spurted out.

The fleshy comb on the hen's head, whose outline could only be barely seen, suddenly filled with blood, became larger than an ordinary person's palm, and pecked back mercilessly!

At this moment, the mist that has been poured into their bodies is less than one eighth of the total amount!

Raven withdrew the power of the Eye of Truth and tried to stop the infusion, but the mist in the air seemed to have its own life and continued to flow into the bodies of the two poultry.

At this moment, Raven could clearly see that the violent energy began to move wildly as soon as it poured into their bodies, constantly merging into their internal organs, muscles and bones.

The rooster suddenly opened its mouth, and its beak, which should have been extremely smooth, was covered with barbed flesh. Just when it was about to attack the hen again, there was a click, and a thick blood vessel broke through the bones, tore the skin, and brought out a pounding heart.

A chicken's heart is usually only the size of a thumb, but at this moment it had swelled to the size of a walnut and then burst with a "pop", with blood gushing out from all over its body.

A dozen seconds later, the hen followed the same path.

What's even more bizarre is that although they were clearly dead, their bodies continued to grow wildly under the erosion of the scarlet mist, and soon turned into two pools of rotten meat.

"That's good. I don't have to chop the stuffing when making dumplings." Raven laughed at himself and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Fortunately, I used it on animals first. If I used it directly on people, I'm afraid I would have to be burned at the stake."

"Is it a problem with the bloody energy itself?" Raven's gaze fell on the two rabbits tied together.

The two little guys seemed to sense their impending fate and tried desperately to shrink towards the corner, but unfortunately, one was going east and the other was going west, and they used the wrong strength.

Raven walked to the box, picked out a magic core with natural properties that was least likely to go wrong, and walked into the cage.

The shadow instantly covered the two helpless little rabbits.

Ten minutes later, looking at the shattered fur and flesh on the ground, Raven sighed helplessly: "It still doesn't work."

This time, after pulling it, he tried to stop the fog from continuing to pour in, but unfortunately, after only stopping it for a while, he felt exhausted.

"Perhaps this is what the mages call the consumption of 'mental energy'."

Then, what had happened to the two poultry was repeated in the rabbit.

But it was not completely without gain. At least he knew that the properties of the magic cores did not affect their effects on living creatures, at least not on the surface.

"Then finally... it's you!" Holding a magic core with storm attributes, Raven came to the live pig.

This pig was specially selected by Mosingen. Although it couldn't be compared with the big guys in his previous life that weighed hundreds of pounds or even kilograms, it could also be considered fat and strong, with black and white patterns on its pink and white skin.

The physique of a pig is similar to that of a human. If it can withstand it, then ordinary soldiers can also withstand it!
Throwing the magic core to the ground and breaking it into pieces, Raven directed the azure energy into the body of this second senior brother.

Compared to chickens and rabbits which weigh no more than a few pounds, this animal absorbed energy extremely quickly. In just a dozen seconds, all the energy in the air was absorbed into it.

If Raven hadn't seen the energy filling its body, he would have thought he was seeing things.

After more than ten seconds, the energy in its body suddenly began to dissipate, and the spotted pig in front of it also underwent amazing changes!

It was clearly a sow, but it had four fangs sticking out from its lips. Its originally black and white skin had turned into a horrible blue-gray color, and its originally transparent bristles had turned black and had longer edges, as if it were covered with a thick layer of armor.

Its eyes were filled with bloodshot and a crazy murderous intent burst out. Its muscles and bones suddenly became thicker at this moment, and the whole spotted pig grew two circles larger in an instant!

collapse--

The ropes that bound its limbs swung away and the straw broke. The animal stood up from the ground and let out a howl: "Ah--"

As early as when the change happened, Raven was prepared and retreated ten meters away. At this moment, he immediately raised his crossbow and pulled the trigger at its eye socket.

The crossbow string mixed with star iron suddenly tightened, and the crossbow arrow flashing with light green light cut through the air, suddenly clenched its wide-open right eye, and sank deeply into it.

This was a blow enough to injure the brain, but it failed to stop the spotted pig. Instead, it aroused its ferocity even more. It arched its body, broke open the cell door, and charged towards Raven.

Four iron hooves stepped on the ground, causing the hard granite floor to fly! Raven was not flustered. He touched his belt and a loaded crossbow appeared in his hand.

He knelt down, held the crossbow in both hands, aimed at the mad beast's forehead, and pulled the trigger!

whoosh-

The power of a crossbow is much greater than that of a crossbow. The slender enchanted crossbow arrow pierced into the beast's forehead almost as soon as it shot out of the orbit!

This fatal blow instantly destroyed its nerve center, and its four hooves stiffened and it fell to the ground with a thud, but its body continued to slide on the ground due to inertia.

Raven put away his crossbow and stepped aside. With a bang, the animal's body hit the wall and finally stopped.

"What a great strength!" Raven looked at the broken rope on the ground and the fat body, and he let out a long breath, then smiled bitterly: "Is this a success or a failure?"

He couldn't tell now whether it was the stimulation of the energy in the magic core that made the beast go crazy, or whether it was because it had the power that it wanted to break free from its restraints.

Still need to try more.

Walking up to the spotted pig, Raven stepped on the pig's shoulder and tried to pull out the crossbow arrow, but he failed to do so.

"Huh?" After a slight pause, Raven stopped using all his strength and turned the pig over. He picked up a torch and moved closer to it, with a look of surprise gradually appearing in his eyes.

He put the torch on the ground, took out the enchanted rapier, cut a cross in the pig skin around the crossbow, and peeled it open. A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "It is true!"

In the light of the fire, Raven could clearly see the hard and thick pig skin around the wound, which was nearly two centimeters thick and had a tough and tight texture. It was this skin that had stuck the arrow shaft.

Not only that, its bones are also much thicker than those of an ordinary living pig.

If it were an ordinary animal, this enchanted crossbow arrow would be enough to penetrate the skull, but this time, the crossbow arrow only barely penetrated the skull, and only a small piece less than an inch entered the brain and was stuck firmly there.

However, the crossbow arrow that shot into its eye socket was stuck in the bones around its eye socket and failed to penetrate the brain at all.

"This is almost a complete monster." Raven pursed his lips, dragged the corpse onto the table, and began to dissect it. As expected, no magic core was found.

"In other words, the power of the magic core was completely absorbed by this beast, allowing it to acquire a physique that is not inferior to that of an ordinary first-level magic beast. This can perhaps be called 'semi-magic beastification'."

As his fingers stroked the skin of the half-demonized monster, Raven smiled. "Although I can't use my magic core to strengthen others for the time being, this leather is a good thing. I can be considered to have hit the wrong target."

The leather of Warcraft is very tough. Even the fur of a first-level Warcraft, after tanning, can be a very good material for armor. Although it is not as good as ordinary chain mail, its advantage lies in its weight.

A full set of chain mail weighs at least 20 kilograms, but a set of Warcraft leather armor weighs only about 5 kilograms, but has two-thirds of the protective ability of the former.

Even considering the physical fitness of Raven's private soldiers, it is okay for them to stand guard every day while wearing chain mail all the time, but it is unrealistic to travel long distances. Most armored forces in this world use horse-drawn carriages to pull their armor, which they will only put on when they are about to go into battle to ensure the physical strength of the soldiers.

But if you change it to Warcraft leather armor, you can take into account both marching and combat issues, which greatly increases the marching speed and does not reduce the combat effectiveness too much.

On the market, a set of first-level Warcraft leather armor costs about 22 to 30 gold coins, while chain mail costs 36 to 55 gold coins.

But the average price of a first-level magic crystal is less than 4 gold coins.

The fur of a half-demon pig is enough to make a set of monster leather armor. Moreover, pig skin is originally a kitchen scrap, and the remaining meat on it is still edible, so it is not a cost at all!

"This means... I can get monster leather armor at one-fifth or even one-sixth of the market price, and I can sell it for a profit!" Raven smiled excitedly: "Even at the lowest price, there is still a four-fold profit margin."

Four times!

With his hands on the table, Raven quickly calmed down. "But the sudden large-scale import of magic cores is a bit..."

Looking at the fat pig on the table, Raven suddenly had an idea: "Oh, and you, my Uncle Donald!"

"My uncle was addicted to 'magic' and squandered all the family fortune. It shouldn't be surprising if I, as his nephew, did the same."

Raven smiled and looked at the box containing the magic cores, where there were still ten magic cores left.

"Come in!"

Raven shouted, and a few seconds later, Volav and Mosingam walked in.

Their eyes fell on the live pig on the table, full of confusion - is this really the one we carried in?

Raven did not want to explain to them: "Move this pig out, collect the leather and nitrate it, and make sure it is properly preserved. Then bring me five... no, ten live pigs!"

The two guards looked at each other, confused, but faced with the Baron's order, of course they had no choice but to obey: "Yes! Sir!"

Raven walked out of the dungeon and came to Old Gordon's room. Philip hadn't left yet. When he saw Raven, he stood up immediately and said, "Sir, are you satisfied with the magic core?"

"Very good, you put in a lot of effort." Raven patted him on the shoulder: "I will give you a new task next."

Philip felt relieved and nodded: "Sir, if I can do it, I will definitely do it for you!"

Raven said, "First-level magic cores, from now on, you are my agent and you can buy as many as I want. As long as the premium does not exceed 20%, I will take as many as you can get!"

"Baron, are you sure you want to do this?" Philip asked cautiously.

"My Lord Baron, you absolutely cannot do that!" Old Gordon stood up and said hastily, "Baron Donald was obsessed with magic before, so he spent all his family fortune. What you are doing is really..."

"No need to say more, I've made up my mind!" Raven waved his hand to interrupt Old Gordon and turned to look at Philip: "Also, I need five second-level magic cores. They don't need to be too expensive, just common ones."

He was stunned by Raven's words. Even if it was a normal transaction, he could get a profit of at least thirty silver coins for one magic core. With no limit on the quantity, it would be a huge source of wealth!

"Didn't you hear it?" Raven's slightly dissatisfied voice sounded.

"I heard you. I'll do it right away!" Philip bowed and hurried away under old Gordon's murderous gaze.

"Mr. Gordon, from now on, every time Fili brings a magic core, you will pay him a sum from the emergency fund." Raven said, "When the payment for the second batch of Angel's Tears comes in, you can make up for it."

"Yes, Baron..." Old Gordon responded weakly and let out a deep sigh from the bottom of his heart.

I thought Baron Raven would be different from Baron Donald, but I didn't expect that his true nature would emerge in just three months.

Not wanting to discourage Gordon too much, but unable to tell him the secret of the Eye of Truth, Raven could only comfort him, "Don't worry, Mr. Gordon. I promise, you will see my results later."

"Yes..." Gordon's answer was still weak.

After all, that’s what Donald said before.

Time passed quickly as old Gordon lamented day after day.

In the blink of an eye, it was September 1193, 9 in the Guangming calendar, and 2 days had passed since Raven returned to Eagle Town.

The construction of Linhe Workshop has reached completion, and most of the buildings are just waiting to be topped off.

And Raven's research progress on the magic core is also increasing day by day.

He discovered that if a first-level magic core was used on two live pigs at the same time, although they would both go berserk, their degree of semi-monsterization would be lower and their combat power would be weaker, but the quality of their fur would not be affected.

Once the number reaches more than three, the quality of the fur will drop rapidly, which will not be worth the cost.

If a magic crystal is used on more than five live pigs at the same time, the degree of strengthening will be greatly reduced, and the degree of frenzy will be greatly reduced, but the aggressiveness is still much stronger than that of ordinary domestic pigs.

If the number is relaxed to eight, the degree of enhancement becomes negligible, and it is only slightly stronger than its ordinary counterparts, but its aggressiveness is still very strong.

No matter how many there are, the domestic pigs affected by the magic core will more or less change their temperaments, which is why Raven has never dared to try the same experiment on his own people.

That morning, in the meeting room, Old Gordon advised, "Sir, shouldn't we stop purchasing magic cores? Over the past month, we have spent 113.57 gold coins on magic cores."

"Hasn't the second batch of payments from Angel's Tears arrived?" Raven asked.

Old Gordon began to complain: "But since last month, we have to repay the monthly loan of 179.6 gold coins, and this time the return from Angel's Tears is only 257.4 gold coins, plus you ordered two more alchemy equipment..."

Eric, who was standing by, was watching his nose, mouth, and heart, and had no intention of getting involved in this matter.

Anyway, Raven did not treat the army unfairly. Recently, live pigs have been delivered to the military camp almost every day.

"Okay, stop complaining." Raven stood up and walked to the window. "Then we'll wait for the next payment from Angel's Tears. Besides, the tax revenue from Glittering Gold will also be due this year. We won't go bankrupt."

"That is true, but my Lord, as a baron, you must..."

Old Gordon was still chattering, but Raven could no longer listen. Through the window he saw a long line of carriages passing through Eagle Town and heading towards Eagle Castle.

And those carriages were all painted with the Griffith family crest.

Raven's heart was slightly excited, and a smile with a hint of surprise appeared on the corner of his mouth.

The leading carriage stopped and a graceful woman got off the carriage with the help of her maid.

Denise, back.

……

(End of this chapter)