Chapter 61 - 60: Pierre’s Speculation

Chapter 61: Chapter 60: Pierre’s Speculation

Flame Flower Moon, 15th.

A bright flash of Magic Spirit Light flickered through the liquid potion.

Gaode sullenly portioned the highly successful Basic Endurance Potion into small vials, showing not the slightest hint of joy.

After storing the potions away, Gaode felt a surge of irritability, unable to calm his mind no matter how hard he tried. Ever since Oliver’s visit that day, Phil’s Magic Pharmacy had stopped purchasing the Basic Spider Venom Potions produced by their medicinal garden.

Their official excuse was:

"Recently, due to the rising sales of the Basic Spider Venom Potion, the alchemists in the city who have mastered this magic potion have all started prioritizing its preparation.

"Coupled with the magic pharmacy’s continuous mass acquisitions, our current stockpile of Basic Spider Venom Potions has reached saturation. Therefore, we are temporarily halting purchases."

Although Gaode was half-skeptical, the explanation was plausible enough, so he let it go. Since he had just mastered the preparation of the Basic Endurance Potion, he decided to abandon the Basic Spider Venom Potion altogether. He bought twenty portions of Wild Wolf Gland Fluid and switched to brewing the Basic Endurance Potion instead.

To his surprise, when he brought the newly prepared Basic Endurance Potions to their door, Phil’s Magic Pharmacy still refused to purchase them.

This time, their reason was: "Starting today, our store will only sell magic potions crafted by our in-house alchemists. We are no longer cooperating with alchemists outside our establishment."

At this point, it was blatantly obvious to Gaode that the so-called "stockpile saturation" was utter bullshit. Their true goal was to force him to hand over the medicinal garden and coerce him into joining Phil’s Magic Pharmacy to brew magic potions for them.

And that wasn’t all.

Following this unpleasant fallout, Gaode noticed several idle loiterers wandering outside the medicinal garden.

The Seda Medicinal Garden was located in the suburbs of Hogan City, an isolated compound with its own courtyard. There were absolutely no residential facilities or shops nearby. Even to buy food, the mage apprentices in the medicinal garden had to travel for more than half an hour to reach the markets and commercial districts in the city center.

Under normal circumstances, why would there be idle people wandering around such a desolate place?

Clearly, these "loiterers" were thugs sent by Phil’s Magic Pharmacy. Their intention was obvious: to monitor and intimidate him.

They were using both the carrot and the stick.

The problem was that Oliver’s tactics were actually working. Although Gaode still had some savings, without the income from magic potions, eating into his remaining funds would sooner or later drive the medicinal garden into bankruptcy.

When that time came, what other choice would he have but to join Phil’s Magic Pharmacy?

As for fighting back? What could a mere first-class mage apprentice possibly do to resist?

Gaode secretly rejoiced that he had the foresight to demonstrate his value in time back then. Otherwise, he wouldn’t just be facing threats and bribes right now.

But what should he do now?

The more Gaode thought about it, the more frustrated he became.

Should he swallow his pride and surrender the medicinal garden to them? That seemed like the best decision at the moment. After all, they had offered a purchase price of 200 gold coins and clearly valued his potential.

If he really joined Phil’s Magic Pharmacy, they would very likely focus on grooming him. Although they would undoubtedly impose many restrictions, with the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow system, he would only need to lay low for a few years before gaining the power to break free from them.

Looking at it this way, it was indeed a good option.

However, Gaode had never once truly entertained this option. For no other reason than this: he refused to swallow such an insult!

If his mind and will were stifled, no amount of logic or reason would matter.

As Gaode pondered, he took out his coin pouch and carefully counted his remaining cash: 12 gold, 2 silver, and 5 copper.

"I need to make a decision soon..." he murmured.

The next day.

Gaode left the medicinal garden carrying a bundle.

"Should we follow him?"

"No need. The higher-ups just ordered us to keep an eye on the medicinal garden."

Watching Gaode head toward the city, the two men monitoring the medicinal garden simply glanced at him before looking away, taking no further action. Although their surveillance was borderline blatant, they hadn’t crossed the line into outright stalking, preserving their last shred of decorum.

In the Commercial District, at the Pierre Grocery Store.

Carrying the magic potions he had stockpiled for days, Gaode noticed a change on the crude wooden sign by the door before he even stepped inside.

"This store will be closing down soon. All items are on sale at a discount."

He hadn’t been here for just a week, and Pierre was already preparing to close the grocery store?!

Startled, Gaode rushed into the shop, temporarily forgetting his original purpose of selling potions. It was visibly apparent that the store’s shelves had emptied out significantly.

"Are you leaving?" Gaode asked point-blank as soon as he entered, spotting Pierre leisurely sipping tea behind the counter. "Heading to Bremen City?"

"Yes, I’m already looking for a buyer for the storefront. Once I find one, I’ll be off to Bremen City to enjoy my twilight years," Pierre replied after taking a large gulp of tea and setting his cup down.

"What happened?" Gaode frowned, a bad premonition rising in his heart.

"The strange disappearances in the city haven’t been resolved," Pierre revealed his first piece of news.

"Didn’t you say the culprit was already..." Gaode replied instinctively, before jolting in realization. "That was just a scapegoat?"

"Yes, just a scapegoat. The bizarre disappearances were covered up, not solved." Pierre nodded, confirming his suspicion.

"People are still disappearing in the city," he continued. "Three days ago, a family living on my street vanished inexplicably. It’s the exact same situation as before. They went to sleep in their own home, and by the next morning, they had vanished.

"The neighbors discovered it first, and everyone crowded around to watch the spectacle. Before the city guards arrived, I managed to get a look at the scene.

"Aside from some strange slime, absolutely nothing was left behind in the room.

"Furthermore, everything inside was perfectly organized. This definitely wasn’t a murder for wealth.

"I suspect this isn’t the work of humans, but rather an earth vein creature—a species that has never appeared in the Bremen region before. That would explain why even a second-ring mage couldn’t resolve the matter.

"The thought of an earth vein creature lurking in the shadows of the city center, continuously committing these acts... it’s just too terrifying."

After a moment of silence, Gaode finally spoke again. "Is that the only reason?"

"Not entirely. The main reason..." Pierre sighed, shifting the topic. "Remember how I went to Bremen City last month to secure a fallback plan? In addition to that, I had a good friend in the Jade Alliance look up some information for me.

"Under normal circumstances, the number of earth vein creatures congregating in a given area has a natural cap, based on the local magic concentration.

"Recently, however, the number of earth vein creatures appearing outside the city has far exceeded the total capacity that this area should logically support.

"Do you know what that means?"

Before Gaode could answer, Pierre answered his own question. "It means the frequent appearances of earth vein creatures outside the city aren’t simply the result of them migrating and gathering. It means there is a new source spawning them.

"And earth vein creatures only come from earth veins."

Pierre’s last sentence seemed cryptic at first glance, but Gaode immediately grasped the implication, his expression changing drastically. "You mean... the anomalies outside the city are being caused by the formation of a new earth vein?!"

He clearly remembered a passage from the *Bremen Gazetteer* he had bought:

"After the planes intersected, earth veins spawned frequently, their numbers increasing by the day as earth vein creatures surged forth. However, the Bremen region has not seen a new earth vein form in two hundred years. King Jelos XII once praised Bremen as a land of blessing..."

Was the land of blessing about to lose its blessing?

"I’m not certain, but I think it’s highly likely," Pierre said. "At the very least, there is a high probability that a new species of earth vein creature has already invaded Hogan City. Doesn’t that perfectly align with my theory?"

"The formation of a new earth vein has brought forth new earth vein creatures..." Gaode murmured, fully understanding Pierre’s reasoning.