Mercenary Wars

Chapter 247 Adventurer's Code

The market price of a level 8 monster core is usually around 1,000 gold coins. As a special and rare species, the price of a multi-headed serpent core is only higher.

“Last year, a level nine hydra crystal core was auctioned for over ten thousand gold coins. Ours should be able to fetch two thousand gold coins without much trouble,” Adrian said.

The four continued processing the multi-headed serpent's carcass. A high-level multi-headed serpent is considered a treasure from head to toe; its organs, bones, eyeballs, flesh, scales, and venom glands can all fetch a good price.

Needless to say, the heart, as a rare alchemical and spellcasting material, is second only to the crystal core in value. An eighth-level hydra's heart, if intact, could probably fetch around a thousand gold coins. That's why, when Gaugano threw the Blood-Summoning Sword to kill the hydra, he deliberately avoided the heart, only cutting along the blood vessels to obtain a complete hydra heart.

Although the multi-headed serpent was a treasure trove, its corpse was unfortunately too enormous, measuring over ten meters in length. Even though the four of them had prepared a large storage space beforehand, they could only take a portion of it with them.

Besides the hydra's corpse, the four also took the time to loot the fallen mage's belongings, finding many spell scrolls, potions, casting materials, and of course some gold coins in his storage ring.

Two hours later, the four of them finally finished processing the matter.

Dismembering and dissecting a multi-headed snake is no easy task, especially with time being tight. As a result, they were all drenched in sweat and their clothes were stained with dark green blood after they finished.

They took all the valuable parts of the multi-headed snake's carcass, leaving only a large pool of broken flesh and blood—estimated to weigh over 10,000 pounds.

Ten thousand pounds of multi-headed snake meat could probably fetch at least a hundred gold coins, but the four people's storage rings were simply full, so they had to leave it here. The remaining flesh emitted a strong, bloody stench under the sunlight, attracting more and more flying insects to swarm around. Various wild beasts gradually emerged from the water plants and bushes, their gazes fixed on the body of the former swamp overlord revealing a restless energy born of fear and covetousness.

Looking at the large pool of snake meat in front of him, and noticing the restless beasts nearby, Adrian used a water-washing spell to cleanse himself of the filth, and said, "I've heard that beasts that eat multi-headed snake meat are more likely to transform into magical beasts... With so much multi-headed snake meat, I wonder how many magical beasts will be spawned when the Valley of Judgment opens again."

Moreno: "I guess we won't be able to see it. The Valley of Deceived Nations last opened nearly a hundred years ago, and it may be just as long before it opens again."

Adrian: "We probably won't see it. Even if I'm not dead by then, I'll definitely have retired by now. But dwarves live much longer than humans, so you should still have a chance, right?"

Moreno waved his hand with a wry smile: "I'm not young anymore, and I might be meeting my ancestors by then."

Charlie then said, "Shall we leave now?"

Moreno thought for a moment and said, "Maybe we can go underwater and take a look. We might find a few hydra heads, or even hydra eggs or something."

Adrian looked at the waters where the multi-headed snake lived and hesitated, saying, "This water is highly poisonous."

Putting aside everything else, during the battle alone, countless amounts of the hydra's venom were spilled into the water, turning the once clear pool into a terrifying green.

Although there are antidotes and Stone Skin scrolls, swimming back and forth in the poisonous water is still quite a challenge.

“Gaugano, don’t you have the blessing of Stone Skin?” Moreno thought, his eyes flashing with anticipation and encouragement. “Why don’t you give it a try?”

Both are Stone Skin techniques, but the Blessed Stone Skin technique is much more effective than the Scroll Stone Skin technique.

Gaucano not only possesses the Skin of the Earth, but also the ability to regenerate blood, allowing it to barely withstand even the fresh venom sprayed by the Hydra. There is indeed no need to worry about the corrosive effects of the venom.

But of course he wouldn't agree immediately. Instead, he hesitated and said, "But this pool of water is bottomless, and the Blessed Stone Skin Technique might not guarantee our safety. Besides... if I find something inside, how should we divide it?"

If only he dares to go into the water to search, and what he finds is still divided equally among the team, or even doubled by the captain, it would be somewhat unfair.

Adrian: "This is also recorded in the Adventurer's Code."

"Oh, what does the rule say?" Gaucano wasn't very familiar with it.

Adrian: "Only you can go into the water to search, but you won't get this opportunity without the cooperation of a team. According to the Adventurer's Code, in this case, you can pay the team a reasonable fee, and then everything you find in there belongs to you. This protects the interests of the risk-taker while ensuring that the team's contribution is recognized."

This is indeed a reasonable allocation plan.

It may even be the only feasible allocation scheme.

Gaucano: "How much money am I paying you?"

"Six hundred gold coins, that's two hundred gold coins per person," Adrian said. "There are several snake heads that were cut off earlier, as well as the corpses of the warriors and hunters from that group. These are worth at least five hundred gold coins. If you find the hydra's eggs—even dead ones—you'll make a fortune."

Gao Jiano shook his head: "As we all know, the stronger a creature's vitality, the weaker its reproductive ability usually is. Since multi-headed snakes are so rare, their eggs probably won't be easy to find."

"Besides, my storage ring is already full. No matter what I find, I'll have to discard some items before I can take it with me." He paused briefly before continuing, "I'll give you four hundred and fifty gold coins. Everyone makes a profit, how about it?"

The excuse that the storage ring is full is pure nonsense.

Although his own storage ring was full, there were still the corpses of the group of people in the water, and he could probably find another storage ring on the corpses so that he could continue to store things.

Gaugano didn't lie on purpose; he only realized the problem after he finished speaking.

The other three, however, remained completely unaware of this.

"Alright, then four hundred and fifty gold coins it is."

Gaucano then paid Adrian, Charlie, and Moreno 150 gold coins each in exchange for exclusive access to the pool. The gold coins glittered in the sunlight, bringing satisfied smiles to everyone's faces.

He then took off his clothes, drank the Dark Vision Potion, the Antidote, and the Underwater Breathing Potion, activated the Earth Skin, and jumped into the pool.

The earth's skin made him heavy, causing him to sink rapidly in the water, reaching the bottom in no time.

As expected, there were indeed several heads of multi-headed serpents at the bottom of the water. Even though they were dead, these heads still looked ferocious and terrifying in the water, their huge fangs gleaming coldly in the dim light. In addition to the serpent heads, there were also the corpses of adventurers.

Gaucano first looted the adventurers' corpses.

Due to the corrosive effects of the poisonous water, these corpses had all turned into skeletons, and some were not even skeletons at all, just bone fragments.

During the looting, Gaucano quickly discovered a problem.

There were more human corpses underwater than he had imagined.

There were at least three bodies, not just the two corpses of the warrior and the hunter as previously thought.

If it were someone else, they might not be able to make that judgment.

But Gaucano, who possessed the panel, quickly concluded, through the differences in the information about the corpses, that there were at least three corpses here, after only a brief search among the bones with his hands.

The extra corpse was probably an adventurer from the past.

Gaucano quickly found the warrior's and hunter's storage rings.

After determining that there were at least three bodies, he naturally began to search more carefully, reaching his hands into the thick silt at the bottom of the water and patiently turning over the debris.

About ten minutes later.

[Item: Storage Ring] [Level: 5]

……

Gao Jiano successfully found a level 5 storage ring.

This surprised and delighted him.

However, there's no time to examine the situation carefully in this toxic water; it's best to return to the surface quickly. Staying in the water for too long, even with the protection of the Earth Skin and the medicine, could lead to unexpected problems.

With the addition of three storage rings, Gaogano's already full storage space became abundant again, and he immediately put away all the spoils from the underwater world.

Then he created twelve swift breezes that lifted him up.

The earth's skin made him feel as heavy as lead, and the viscous texture of the poisonous water, combined with the downward resistance, made the ascent extremely slow. He felt like a stone being lifted by the wind, and every meter of ascent required tremendous effort, making it quite difficult.

But he dared not remove the skin of the earth.

Otherwise, this pool of poison would at least have caused him to lose a layer of skin.

After a long wait, he finally swam to the surface and immediately climbed ashore, gasping for breath. Although he had underwater breathing aids, he still felt noticeably exhausted from operating in that environment.

Adrian reacted quickly, casting a water cleansing spell to thoroughly wash away the remaining poison on his body, and then casting a drying spell to make him dry quickly.

"Thank you," Gao Jiano said, putting his clothes back on and stretching his stiff limbs.

Moreno couldn't help but ask expectantly, "Did you find the snake egg? Even a dead one would be helpful."

"No," Gao Jiano spread his hands. "We didn't find the dead egg either."

“Alright.” A hint of disappointment flashed in Moreno’s eyes.

Adrian: "What, do you want to raise a multi-headed snake? That's a pretty dangerous idea."

Moreno: "Of course! What hunter wouldn't want to raise a multi-headed serpent? Such a powerful and ancient creature, if successfully tamed, would be the ultimate dream for any hunter!"

Adrian chuckled: "The Hunter's Guild and the Church won't allow you to keep one of these things. Besides, when I was researching at the academy, I found that all the recorded cases of taming hydras ended in failure."

Moreno remained silent for a moment.

He only noticed that Gaucano had walked over to the multi-headed serpent's remains and collected a lot more flesh and blood.

"Isn't your storage ring already full?" he couldn't help but ask.

“I found a storage ring with a lot of space at the bottom of the water,” Gao Jiano said.

The three of them felt a little envious upon hearing this, but they didn't say much, since Gao Jiano had already bought out the right to explore the pool for 450 gold coins.

Forget about storage rings, even if Gaucano finds a live multi-headed snake egg at the bottom of the water, it has nothing to do with them.

Gaugano collected several hundred pounds of snake meat.

Afterwards, the four of them embarked on their return journey together. After traveling for more than ten hours, they crossed the Serpent-Slaying Line and returned to the Valley of the Deceiver Kingdom.

There were some close calls along the way.

Adrian wasn't running fast, and because of his slowing down, the four of them almost didn't make it out of the Valley of Judgment in time.

In the end, it was Charlie who carried Adrian on his back, and with the help of Gaucano's swift breeze, they managed to hurry and finally leave before the Valley of Deceived Kingdoms closed.

Afterwards, they went to Gadgetzan, had a big meal at an inn, and prepared to get some rest—they hadn't had a good night's sleep in the Valley of Judgment during their four days there.

Before we rested, a small incident occurred at the hotel.

A ragged, unkempt man came to the inn, begging in a Memphis accent: "Brothers from Gadgetzan, have mercy, we're compatriots!"

However, his words did not evoke any sympathy; instead, they drew some unfriendly responses: "Pah, who's your compatriot?"

“Gadgetzan is Gadgetzan, and Membranah is Membranah… ‘The Canyon State’ is the will of Mosa. The County of Gadgetzan and the Duchy of Membranah have long been two separate countries, and even the Pope has acknowledged this!”

"You stinking country bumpkins from Membran, coming to Gadgetzan to beg for food? Go back to your hometown!"

"I just want a pound of bread. I haven't eaten for two days..." the beggar said pitifully, holding his hands.

Inside the inn, the Gadgetzanians were still gossiping unfriendly: "These Monbara people have always been beggars!"

"Fortunately, the previous Pope was insightful and allowed Gadgetzan to break free from the Menbala, otherwise who knows how many more years they planned to leech off us!"

"Exactly! Why should we Gadgetzans support these lazybones!"

Seeing that not a single Gadgetzanian was willing to help the beggar, Charlie couldn't bear it any longer and immediately handed him a piece of food, saying, "May Mosa bless you."

"Thank you, may the light be with you!" The beggar accepted the food with profuse thanks and began to wolf it down.

The four of them had almost finished eating.

Adrian then said, "The rest of the food is yours."

"May Mosa bless kind people; you will surely go to heaven in the future!" The beggar naturally expressed his gratitude again.

The four of them then went to their respective hotel rooms to rest.

Of course, before resting, Gaucano needed to take stock of the spoils he had found underwater.

He opened the level-five storage ring.

Based on previous speculation, this storage ring most likely came from an adventurer who visited the Valley of Deceived Kingdoms last time it opened.

It is estimated that its owner, like the five-man squad of warriors and hunters, risked hunting the multi-headed snake but failed and was eventually killed by the snake, his body sinking to the bottom of the water.

The storage ring opened, and a multitude of items spilled out, scattering across the room's floor. There were weapons, armor, potions, books, some daily necessities, and gold coins—it certainly looked like the entire possessions of an experienced adventurer.

A box quickly caught Gaugano's attention.

(End of this chapter)