Chapter 50: Contradictions
’This?!..’
Even though he recognized the materials in front of him, he couldn’t believe it.
Archie and Chadwick both had strange expressions. They also looked at the roots, but unlike their lord, all they saw was a fresh tree root secreting some liquid—which was normal, since roots stored water.
’I thought I’d find some low-quality items, but this exceeds everything I imagined.’ Arthur smiled with satisfaction, resisting the urge to laugh. The Diluted Mana Liquid was an extremely valuable substance that could be used to craft high-quality potions—and fortunately, he knew how to make a few of them.
Although mana was a semi-spiritual substance invisible to the naked eye, like many other elements, it could manifest in three visible forms: gaseous—when mana was dense enough, it appeared as a light mist; solid—when a large amount of mana was trapped underground and exposed to natural elements like heat and pressure, it would form structures like gems, Concentrated Mana Core Arthur found in Tarian’s chamber was an example.
And finally, liquid—a rare and difficult state to find.
Most often, liquid mana could only be found in living beings, such as powerful magical trees that had lived for a very long time, or in rare magic beasts. For instance, it was said that the Dragon King’s Tears contained such dense mana that a mere human who drank them could become a powerful mage. Naturally, there were other rare cases where magical liquids formed in specific locations—such as the Hearts of Mountains or the depths of enchanted forests. That’s why many legends spoke of magical springs that restored youth, or lakes that cured all illnesses—myths which often held a grain of truth.
’Thinking about it... Even though the tree caught my eye, I forgot to appraise it using Plot Savant. That’s Unforgivable.’
The first time he’d seen the tree, he’d been too thrilled about obtaining the magical artifact to give it much attention—especially since the protagonist Novarian in Rise of the Sword Sovereign hadn’t touched the tree, only taking the artifact.
The reason he’d forgotten this time was because his mind had been occupied with many things. He had planned to rest today, but even so, he couldn’t relax and kept turning over plans in his head.
Realizing this, he raised his head and looked at the tree.