The Witch's Anatomical Notes

Chapter 94

Transaction and Atlas

Lucy had an ample stockpile of resistance potions on hand, but she carefully controlled the volume she released and did not dare to sell too many at once.

Even after paying the steep transaction tax, the fifty-some low-grade magic stones she received for the five potions were still enough to purchase every variety of low-grade ingredients in the apothecary.

As for those expensive high-grade ingredients, she neither had the money to buy them nor any use for them at present.

When the apprentice alchemist handed over the large bundle of ingredients to Lucy, she pretended to speak casually.

"I still have some resistance potions, but I’d like to trade them for a few tomes. I wonder—"

A flicker of understanding passed through the apprentice’s eyes.

He immediately lowered his voice and said, "Please come with me, madam."

After giving a few simple instructions to the other clerks, he led Lucy toward a partitioned room.

Although most towers permitted free trade, academic tomes alone were strictly forbidden from circulating.

This was because every academic text encapsulated the very foundation of the witchcraft system, serving as the cornerstone of the tower’s authority and the source of its cohesion under the existing structure of witchcraft.

If this were not the case, how could the cruel tower system have enticed countless apprentices to follow in droves?

And how else could it have caused free witches to be held in such disdain by those of the towers?

But just as Lucy had once told Nure: "Supply and demand dictate the market."

As long as the profits were sufficient, there would always be someone willing to risk their life to duplicate forbidden books and deliver them to the free market, even at the cost of incurring the wrath of the great witches.

In this respect, even the Tower of the Four Sages was no exception.

Once the door to the partitioned room closed, the apprentice alchemist retrieved a sheet of parchment from a hidden compartment and handed it to her.

Dense rows of over a hundred titles were listed upon it.

"If you take a liking to anything, just let me know. I will fetch it for you," he said respectfully.

Lucy’s gaze swept quickly over the catalog, and a trace of disappointment flashed in her eyes.

These books were all far too basic.

They might be useful to a genuine independent scholar, but for Lucy, who had received systematic instruction, they were as good as worthless.

"Is this all?" She folded the parchment, her voice turning cold. "If this is the extent of the quality, then I will have no choice but to try my luck at other shops."

She finished speaking and rose without hesitation to leave.

In her heart, however, she silently counted her steps.

The instant her fingertips brushed the doorknob—

"Madam, please wait!"

She turned, her brow furrowing. "What is it now?"

The apprentice’s Adam’s apple bobbed as if he were struggling inwardly. "We do have more tomes than these, but if the tower guards discovered them, it would cost all of us our lives."

"I swear upon my Sea of Mind, I am no spy of the Thousand-Eyed Tower," Lucy said firmly, her tone leaving no room for doubt.

The apprentice looked as though he had finally come to a decision.

"Very well, I will trust that you speak the truth."

At last, the apprentice retrieved another sheet of parchment from a different hidden compartment. This one contained only a dozen or so titles.

Lucy pretended to scan the titles calmly, but in truth she was greatly shaken.

Among them were not only ready-made Tier-1 witchcraft models from the School of Summoning, but even a meditation technique from the Thousand-Eyed Tower.

However, just like the Tower of the Four Sages, the meditation method was divided into two volumes, and only the first half was recorded on the parchment.

"This ‘Eye of Truth Meditation’—what is the price?"

"Madam, for the books listed here, we only accept barter," the apprentice said, rubbing his hands together. "If you want it, you can trade eight bottles of anti-contamination potion."

Though potions could be measured in magic stones, having magic stones did not necessarily mean one could buy the potions one wanted.

"Absurd." Lucy closed the parchment without hesitation and gave a cold laugh. "Do you really take me for someone ignorant? That price is enough to purchase a fine witchcraft instrument, let alone just half a meditation method!"

"Alright, alright, we can negotiate!"

Knowing full well that he had asked far too high a price, the apprentice alchemist quickly spoke up. "How about you name your price instead?"

Suppressing her irritation, she pretended to ponder, her fingertips tapping lightly on the parchment.

"Very well. I still have exactly five bottles of anti-contamination potion left. I will give you all of them. But..."

The apprentice looked slightly excited. "But what?"

"Throw in that old atlas. I happen to need something to read before bed."

She pointed to the final title on the parchment—"Atlas of Rare Enchanted Beasts."

When Lucy left the shop carrying that atlas branded with High Elvish script, both she and the apprentice alchemist were smiling sincerely.

Though the trade in duplicate copies carried great risk, it was practically a zero-cost business.

In his view, a picture book that did not record any real witchcraft knowledge had nearly doubled the price of the Eye of Truth Meditation. Without question, this was a sale worth recording in his personal ledger of triumphs.

And as for why Lucy was pleased, there was no need to elaborate.

Because the High Elvish on the frontispiece of that "Atlas of Rare Enchanted Beasts," when translated into the common witch’s script, meant The Pale Scalpel.

She quickened her pace to blend into the crowd, and only when she was sure there were no pursuers did she swiftly leave the range of the Thousand-Eyed Tower.

Lucy’s original plan had been to leave the troubled land of the Sofit Kingdom altogether and enter the route among the Traveling with Migratory Birds—namely, the Rusted Plains.

She had wanted to see the vast migrations of hundreds of thousands of Iron-Feathered flocks described in the books.

But the worsening blizzard forced her to remain on the outskirts of the Thousand-Eyed Tower.

She rented a reasonably clean inn room, and as she waited for the snow to end, she could hardly contain her impatience to begin reading the second major work by The Pale Scalpel.

The "Atlas of Rare Enchanted Beasts" was different from "Traveling with Migratory Birds." The latter was a travelogue, recording all the enchanted beasts encountered along the journey.

The former, as its name implied, focused solely on cataloguing over a hundred rare enchanted beasts.

Its scope nearly spanned from Level One to Level Five lifeforms.

She opened the first page, and a hand-drawn illustration came into view.

Because it was a duplicate, the image on the parchment was somewhat blurry, but she could still make out a creature resembling a pangolin.

After translating the High Elvish notes beside it, Lucy learned that this enchanted beast was called the "Gold-Eater Beast."

It possessed a trace of ancient metallic dragon blood in its body and could strengthen itself by absorbing precious metals.

Its outer armor was nearly indestructible, and it was swift and agile an extremely troublesome creature.

"Evolution by absorbing metals!"

Lucy murmured to herself.

She had never heard of any lifeform able to directly absorb mineral specimens into its magical veins.

This sparked a keen interest in the Gold-Eater Beast.

So she continued deciphering the remaining High Elvish text.

"After chewing, the Gold-Eater Beast initially breaks down precious metals, then uses its ‘Metal Conversion Gland’ to separate and integrate the magical veins within the metals, improving its own magical veins..." Lucy traced the page with her fingers. "Doesn’t this mean the Gold-Eater Beast is a living, endlessly upgrading hybrid witchcraft model?"

"As long as it has enough precious metals, it can evolve without limit?!"

"Let me see its habitat... Boulder Highlands, Stone City, Kingdom of Cartherel... Sofit Kingdom!"

Lucy paused in surprise.

She had never expected that this very land beneath her feet had once recorded sightings of the Gold-Eater Beast.

She quickly reanalyzed the High Elvish characters indicating the Sofit Kingdom.

At once, she derived an even more precise location.

"Donau Under-city!"