Wizard: My career panel has no upper limit

Chapter 74 (First Order!) Nightmare Beast, Water Snake, Man, and Tree Spirit
Ron nodded slightly and began to look around.

The interior of the exchange is much more spacious than it appears from the outside. The space is divided into dozens of cages of different sizes by iron bars, and each cage contains a different kind of alien creature.

"Are you interested in ordinary servants, or combat slaves? Or experimental subjects?"

The short, fat businessman asked tentatively, his eyes rolling, "We have everything here."

"I need a slave to assist me in potions," Ron stated directly. "I also want to learn about other types of slaves."

"I think I understand what you need, sir." The businessman became a little excited and trotted a few steps to lead the way for Ron.
"But first, let me show you our latest new arrivals."

He led Ron through rows of cages, introducing the characteristics and uses of various alien species along the way, as if he had a desire to show off his wares.

The first thing that caught Ron's attention was a strange creature with four arms.

It has a face that is almost human, but its skin is light blue, and it has two pairs of translucent small wings on its back. It is curled up listlessly in the corner of the cage.

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"Oh, your Excellency has good taste!" The short and fat man rubbed his hands:
"They are descended from elemental elves deep within the mountains, likely the hybrid offspring of a wind elf and a human. These creatures are exceptional at delicate tasks, especially those that require handling fragile objects."

Ron continued walking forward, his eyes scanning the cages.

A dwarf with skin as thick as a rhinoceros was curled up in the corner. His muscular body was covered with gray-brown stone scales, and a crystal was embedded in the center of his forehead.

The merchant explained that this was a hybrid of a dwarf and a mountain rock spirit. The crystal on its forehead was a mark of control. Once it tried to rebel against its master, the crystal would severely stimulate its spirit and cause intense pain.

This half-dwarf has thick skin that is almost invulnerable to swords and guns, and because of its innate resistance to magic, ordinary apprentice spells have difficulty penetrating it.

"It's worth mentioning," the merchant pointed to the plaque on the dwarven iron fence. "This guy was once the chieftain of a mountain tribe. When he was captured, he fought hard and killed two members of the slave-hunting team. Now..."

He knocked casually on the fence, and the former patriarch huddled down like a frightened animal, with extreme fear flashing in his eyes:
"This guy has been completely tamed, and his memory has been reshaped, retaining only the necessary skills and instincts. This is our standard procedure for treating adult slaves - erase the self, retain the value."

Ron nodded expressionlessly, but made a mental note of this.

Erasing memories and reshaping the spirit requires quite advanced mental spells. It seems that the power behind this exchange is not simple. Perhaps this unremarkable businessman in front of him is the relative of a certain wizard.

A few steps forward, the merchant proudly pointed to a huge iron cage and said, "Look at this rare treasure!"

In the cage was a giant four-legged beast with huge bat wings. It was twice the size of a horse. Its skin was an unhealthy gray-purple color, but its eyes were unusually bright.

It has a special saddle on its back, obviously designed for riding.

"This is a mixed-blood Nightmare Beast, from the southwestern swamps. It can carry passengers for dozens of miles without stopping in the worst weather." The merchant lowered his voice. "But it has a small drawback—it can only move at night, and it will enter this semi-dormant state during the day. But for wizards who need to travel at night, this is actually an advantage."

The giant beast raised its eyelids sleepily and let out a low snoring sound from its throat.

The merchant went on to explain that this creature was born with the ability to sense fluctuations in magical power, and could navigate accurately in the dark, finding the path with the richest magical power.

"Originally, they were predators that swarmed in packs and would attack travelers through the swamp. Now, after being domesticated, their aggressiveness has been greatly weakened, but their flight and perception abilities are still intact. The price... well, three hundred magic stone fragments, including basic training and the engraving of the control mark."

Further ahead, a huge glass tank filled with water caught Ron's attention. In the tank were swimming a pair of water snake sisters. Their upper bodies resembled human girls, but their lower bodies were snake tails with shimmering blue-green scales.

Their skin is light blue, and they have tiny gills on both sides of their necks, and they are hovering gracefully in the water.

"These sisters are from offshore coral reefs. They are pure-blooded water snake people, which is very rare."

The merchants seemed to particularly value these two "commodities": "They can stay underwater for hours without breathing, their intelligence is almost equal to that of humans, and they are particularly suitable for collecting rare aquatic plants in deep waters."

"And..." The businessman blinked, with a hint of cryptic meaning in his tone:
"They also sing a special siren song that is said to soothe violent aquatic beasts. Of course, some male buyers find they have other...entertainment value."

Ron noticed the fear and disgust that flashed in the eyes of the water snake sisters. It was obvious that they understood the merchant's implication.

"Where did you catch all these?" he asked curiously.

The merchant chuckled. "Your Excellency, you may not know that most of these goods come from the school's 'slave-hunting teams.' Every year, the school sends several teams deep into remote areas to search for rare materials and exotic specimens. If they find something suitable, they bring it back and hand it over to us, the licensed slave traders, to sell on our behalf."

As he spoke, he took Ron to a separate compartment in the backyard:

"You just said that you were looking for a slave to assist you in potions making. I happen to have a special 'product' that might suit your needs."

The creature in the compartment was obviously different from the other slaves. It had a body that was very close to that of a human, but its skin was light green and covered with tiny scales, and its hair was like soft vines, swaying gently in the breeze.

It is naked, yet shows no sexual characteristics. It is clearly an extraordinary species that reproduces asexually.

"This is a tree spirit from an ancient forest." The merchant introduced in a low voice:

"It is said that this tribe has a natural connection with plants, and can understand their 'language' and sense the activity of medicinal herbs."

Ron stepped forward to take a closer look and found that although this creature was bound by chains, there was still a transcendent calm in his eyes, which was completely different from the despair and numbness of the other slaves.

"Not bad." He mentally assessed the value of this potential assistant:
"An assistant with special perception of plants will indeed greatly improve the efficiency of potion refining."

(End of this chapter)