Chapter 30: The Value of Imps

Next, everyone sat back down again, eating and drinking to their heart’s content, making noise until almost dawn before dispersing. After arranging them in the buildings around the square, Old Xie and the Old Mage returned to the Mage Tower with the smell of alcohol all over their bodies.

After returning. The Old Mage pulled Old Xie to a room, let him sit down, and then said with a smile: “This time we made a huge profit! I~”

“Wait!” Old Xie didn’t wait for the Old Mage to finish, and directly interrupted: “It’s not us, it’s me who made a huge profit!”

“Hey!” The Old Mage was unhappy when he heard this, and immediately said: “Kid, do you want to eat alone?”

“Nonsense, the people were recruited by me, why should I share with you?” Old Xie said disdainfully.

“Don’t forget, I also made a move to save them!” The Old Mage said angrily.

“You were just picking up a bargain!” Old Xie curled his lips and said: “With or without you, it’s the same, the strongest ones were instantly killed by me, couldn’t I still slaughter those small fry?”

“But if they ran away, it would be trouble, right?” The Old Mage said unwillingly.

“Trouble my ass!” Old Xie said disdainfully: “You also know that it is surrounded by a thousand-mile-wide Death Gobi on all sides, without luggage and food and water, they can’t get out at all, even if they temporarily hid in the woods, when my Demon Explosive Spider and Wyvern King arrive, won’t they still be dead?”

“You~” The Old Mage was immediately speechless with anger, finally he found an excuse and said: “Then your people need to eat and drink, right? A Cyclops can eat a hundred jin of things a day, 36 Cyclops need thousands of food a day, where are you going to get it?”

“This, of course, you handle!” Old Xie said somewhat weakly.

“Hmph, you still know I’m the one handling it? If you don’t give me some benefits, you can just wait for them to starve to death, right?” the Old Mage said angrily.

“Alright, alright!” Old Xie also knew he couldn’t go too far, and besides, he wasn’t the kind of person who liked to take advantage of others for free, so he immediately seized the opportunity to say: “Isn’t it just benefits? I’ll give you 50 Imps, how about that?”

“What?” When the Old Mage heard this, he almost fainted. He jumped up in anger on the spot, pointed at Old Xie’s nose, and cursed: “What do I want those damn Imps for? If I just say a word casually, can’t I grab a handful of them? What I want are Cyclops!”

“Che!” Old Xie said disdainfully: “Can your Imps compare to my Imps?”

“Damn it, Imps are Imps. Can your Imps crap out gold?” the Old Mage roared in fury.

“Hehe, that’s actually pretty close!” Old Xie suddenly smiled mysteriously: “My Imps really can crap out gold!”

“Are you playing with me, kid?” the Old Mage immediately shouted in anger.

“Hehe!” Old Xie smiled slightly, waved his hand to signal the Old Mage to sit down, and then said unhurriedly: “Tell me, what advantages do Imps have?”

“They don’t have any damn advantages!” The Old Mage sat down angrily and said disdainfully: “They have no Mental Power, no strength. Apart from being test subjects for me, they are completely useless.”

“Ha, then you are wrong!” Old Xie immediately retorted: “They are very smart. They can not only speak but also manufacture and use various tools. Their intelligence is no worse than that of the normal Human Race!”

“So what if they are? At most, they can make some simple wooden tables and chairs. Can you get rich relying on that stuff?” the Old Mage sneered: “You aren’t thinking about money so much that you’ve gone crazy, are you?”

“Truly a brainless idiot!” Old Xie shook his head and sneered.

“What do you mean?” the Old Mage immediately said angrily, “Speak clearly!”

“Alright, then I’ll tell you their true value!” Old Xie then said solemnly, “They actually have many, many advantages. First is their eyesight. Their eyes are very big, almost the size of a child’s fist. They can not only see far away but also clearly discover very tiny food, such as ants. In fact, ants are part of the main diet of Imps. However, since the ants on this Continent are more or less poisonous, before eating the ants, the Imps must pull out the ants’ poisonous fangs with their hands before they can safely eat them. Although the stature of Imps is very short compared to the Human Race, it is not easy to fill their stomachs with ants alone. Therefore, they sometimes have to squat in front of ant nests for several hours. During this period, they have to pay attention to the movements around them while quickly grabbing ants with their hands, pulling out the poisonous fangs, and throwing them into their mouths. Over a long period, this has trained them to be agile, precise, and fast, as well as patient.”

“So what?” the Old Mage said indifferently: “Their innate strength is too small. Even if they have agile skills, they are still trash. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been easily caught and made slaves!”

“Why are you so stupid?” Old Xie cursed angrily: “Their skills are not for fighting, but for manufacturing. Think about it, when you refine Potions, what kind of assistant do you need?”

“Refining Potions?” The Old Mage’s eyes lit up, and he immediately said: “I need apprentices who are smart, patient, have good eyesight, and have stable and fast fingers! Ah, could it be that you want to use them for this?”

“Of course!” Old Xie said proudly.

“Theoretically, this is feasible, but in reality, no one has experimented, and I don’t have time to teach them.” The Old Mage said in a dilemma: “So your proposal doesn’t interest me! If possible, I still want Cyclops.”

“What if I told you that the fifty Imps I’m providing you are all systematically trained, can distinguish at least a thousand kinds of medicinal herbs, and are high-quality goods that can even do experiments?” Old Xie suddenly smiled.

“Are you kidding me?” the Old Mage asked in surprise.

“Of course not!” Old Xie smiled: “I now have 245 Imps in my hand, of which 204 were there when I arrived. Over the years, I have passed on the knowledge you taught me to them bit by bit. Every time you wanted test subjects, I let those newly replenished guys take the place. Unless they were particularly smart Imps, they wouldn’t be kept. Now, after more than ten years of my training, most of them can identify and process medicinal herbs and make some simple Potions. Among them, about a hundred smart ones can even make slightly more complex medicines, and the smartest 32 have even learned to draw Magic Arrays!”

“Ah!” The Old Mage suddenly realized: “No wonder you used up so many materials these years. I thought you, kid, were causing trouble on purpose. I didn’t expect you were making teaching materials for them?”

“Hehe, that’s right, exactly!” Old Xie said with a smile.

“No, I have to see for myself!” The Old Mage immediately said excitedly, “If they are really as good as you say, I agree to exchange food for those guys with these 50 Imps!”

“Hehe, follow me, everything is ready!” Old Xie stood up with a smile.

Saying that, he walked out, and the Old Mage hurriedly followed. Soon, the two arrived at a laboratory on the third floor, where 50 Imps were already waiting. They were specially left by Old Xie for the Old Mage. In fact, Old Xie did this not to repay the Old Mage, but planned to use the Old Mage to cultivate these Imps for himself. After all, that Alchemy knowledge was boring and uninteresting. Old Xie really didn’t care for it, but he might need it in the future, so he simply let these Imps learn it on his behalf.