Investing? Carl was somewhat tempted. He now relied entirely on consuming elixirs for his cultivation. The Magic Stones left by Adolf were simply insufficient for his expenses, and he urgently needed a way to make money.
「Another world, Freedom Port.」
Like the Dragon King Chamber of Commerce, the Scythe Brotherhood also had a depot specifically for storing maritime goods.
"Mr. Karl, this way, please!" A tall, burly woman with scars on her face, Jacqueline, led the way.
Although Carl had initially failed to join the Scythe Brotherhood, their contact hadn't been severed. They still maintained a good relationship.
"No matter the kind, Legendary Creatures are very difficult to kill. Even large merchant caravans wouldn't deliberately provoke them."
"This was a rare opportunity; we encountered a Basilisk." Jacqueline pushed open a wooden door. "Please have a look," she said, gesturing inside.
It was a spacious courtyard, containing nothing but a large, coiled serpent. The serpent's body was as thick as two people embracing, around thirty to forty meters long. Even coiled, it dominated the entire courtyard.
It resembled a small mountain!
Even devoid of life, it still exuded an oppressive aura that made breathing difficult.
Carl's eyes flickered as he stepped closer. "A Basilisk?" he asked. "Is it the massive sea serpent that can petrify people?"
"Yes," Jacqueline confirmed. "Young Basilisks are five to ten meters long. This one is clearly mature. Legend says their bodies carry the Bloodline of ancient dragons. Upon reaching a certain evolutionary stage, they can grow wings and escape the confines of the Endless Sea."
The Basilisk's body was as hard as stone, its skin yellowish-brown. Closer inspection revealed it was covered in large, fish-like scales.
"This thing is terrifying!" Jacqueline said, a lingering fear in her voice. "Its eyes could emit rays that petrified metal; a single sweep of its gaze could kill an entire ship's crew."
"Furthermore, a mist permeated the air around its body; any living creature that drew near would slowly be petrified."
"Its hide was so tough it feared no blade. Even a Great Knight couldn't withstand more than a few blows from it, and in a direct confrontation, not even a Legendary Knight was its match."
"Oh!" Carl exclaimed in surprise. "That powerful? How did you manage to take it down?"
"Heh heh..." Jacqueline scratched her head and chuckled. "This creature had one fatal weakness: it feared mirrors. Mirrors could reflect the light from its eyes. If the opportunity was seized, even a crew of ordinary people could defeat it."
Was that even possible? Carl raised an eyebrow and reached out to gently touch the serpent's body.
Instantly, intricate muscle patterns and skeletal structures flooded his perception, causing his breath to catch.
A Legendary Creature! A truly Transcendent being!
Unlike other Magic Creatures, every part of this Basilisk's body, down to the smallest detail, held profound secrets. Its entire being formed a unique and perfect cycle.
If he could analyze this corpse and subsequently modify his own body, Carl could become a First Ring Bloodline Wizard.
In the Gando Kingdom, even Official Wizards might go their entire lives without ever seeing a Legendary Creature, let alone possessing one.
But here! Legendary Creatures were captured every year. By analyzing just one, an individual could become an Official Wizard.
With such uniquely blessed conditions, failing to walk the path of a Bloodline Wizard would be a cosmic injustice! It was important to understand that the sole true difficulty for a Bloodline Wizard lay in analyzing a Legendary Creature. If the conditions were met, the probability of a breakthrough was immense.
Carl took a deep breath. "How much are you selling it for?" he asked slowly.
"It's not cheap," Jacqueline smiled. "The eyes are 50,000 Divine Grace Coins each. The body is 2,000 Divine Grace Coins per meter, each section of bone is 1,000, each scale is 300, and the blood is 200 Divine Grace Coins per liter."
"If you buy the whole thing, I can offer a discount: 250,000 Divine Grace Coins!"
Two hundred and fifty thousand?! Carl's voice was incredulous. "How much?"
"250,000 Divine Grace Coins!"
Carl sighed, slowly withdrawing his hand. Forget 250,000 Divine Grace Coins; even 25,000 would completely drain his savings.
Fortunately, he wasn't in a rush. He was currently far from the point of attempting to become an Official Wizard, so he had no need to purchase an entire Legendary Creature yet.
"Excluding the eyes, give me one of each of the other parts."
"Okay!" Jacqueline nodded.
「Divine Domain Fragment.」
A massive Jade Bi stood in the center, surrounded by portions of snake meat, bones, scales, and blood.
Carl, holding dissection tools and aided by his witchcraft, began analyzing the Basilisk's remains.
Snake: a reptilian creature. Its body is divided into a head, trunk, and tail. Its mouth is capable of wide distension; its tongue is forked and highly flexible. It achieves rapid movement through abdominal muscle contraction and bodily contortion. It possesses various specific cranial bones, including the squamosal, pterygoid, palatine, and transverse bones...
Skin, skeleton, muscles, respiratory, digestive, circulatory, and nervous systems... not vastly different from ordinary snakes. But in terms of sheer strength, it's almost an entirely different class of being.
Carl set down his dissection tools, turned, and began to scribble and sketch on the Jade Bi, meticulously recording his analytical findings.
The Basilisk possesses the ability to petrify anything. This function is analogous to that of venomous snakes. Venomous snakes have glands that secrete venom; the Basilisk also has a specialized sac, but it secretes a petrifying mist that can persist for extended periods.
The body's strength is linked to its Transcendent traits...
Similar to the petrification witchcraft model of the Stone Statue Ghost. This makes deduction and analysis considerably more straightforward.
To become a competent Bloodline Wizard, one must have an intimate, memorized understanding of the anatomy of countless creatures.
The processes of analysis and experimentation are absolutely indispensable.
Roberta's initial success in cultivating her Stone Statue Ghost abilities was largely due to her extensive experience breeding Arachne.
Of course, that also meant she had taken far more lives!