Chapter 153 Animal Skin

"Warriors from the front lines?"

Byron frowned. "Where are they?"

"At the entrance of the Chamber of Commerce!"

"Why?"

"They were afraid of making the place dirty, so they didn't come inside."

Lehman paused and spoke slowly.

Byron's expression tightened. He remained silent for a moment. "These are respectable people! Fill up the supplies, and load up the entire batch of our newest spell potions."

"What about the military department? The raw materials are already running quite low," Lehman said with a hint of worry.

"It's fine. There's still time."

Byron smiled faintly, raised his hand, and retrieved a scroll from his spatial storage. "Take this scroll to the Arcane Society at Giles College. They will take care of the material shortage. We'll just have to bleed a little this time; after all, draining the pond to catch the fish is not a good idea."

"Draining the pond to catch the fish?"

Lehman looked slightly blank, encountering yet another phrase he couldn't understand.

Seeing Lehman's expression, Byron realized he had slipped into slang from his past life again, so he briefly explained the meaning behind the idiom.

Lehman listened with a look of half-understanding. The elfin old man, however, had his eyes shining as he nodded continuously. At the same time, a sense of regret arose within him—he wished he had met Byron sooner, as this kid was absolute prime druid material.

Not only did he possess super-strong perception, but his understanding of nature was also profoundly deep. It would be a waste for him not to become a druid (since druids' core attribute scaling relies heavily on perception).

The core doctrine of a druid is reverence for nature—note that it is reverence for nature, not just forests.

Nature encompasses life and death, beauty and terror, peace and violence, and all such dualities. A druid's alignment can even be mutually opposed (such as neutral good versus neutral evil), which does not violate druidic tradition.

Outsiders find it difficult to get along with druids. Most druids have personalities as fickle as nature itself; sometimes they appear extremely enthusiastic, while other times they seem cold and aloof. Therefore, druids' alignments are also quite chaotic—whether good, neutral, etc., even if they encounter an evil druid, they can still cast spells just the same.

This was why, later on, even after they "expelled" Ganas, the deity they once worshipped, they could still cast divine magic just as before.

Many people misunderstand druids as a "world environmental protection organization," but that is not entirely correct. What druids pursue is the balance of "elements." Sometimes, if a certain plant species proliferates excessively and disrupts the natural ecology, they will not hesitate to burn it all down with fire.

Generally speaking, they are dedicated to maintaining ecological balance rather than protecting any single entity itself. Whichever link in the chain is broken, they step out to mend it.

And Byron's theory of "draining the pond to catch the fish" instantly struck a chord with the elfin old man.

The elfin old man also realized that Byron was truly a "treasure of a boy." They had not been acquainted for long, yet his strength, which had stagnated for ages, had actually grown by a noticeable margin.

He had already given up any hope of ever becoming a Great Druid (Legendary Druid), but he never expected surprises to arrive so quickly. Suddenly, the way he looked at Byron became even more "affectionate."

Byron's mouth twitched, unsure of what madness this old codger was acting out again. Fortunately, at that moment, a knock sounded at the door, and a staff member wearing the Chamber of Commerce uniform walked in with a panicked expression.

"Boss, it's bad! Someone is injured!"

Hearing this, just as Lehman was about to inquire further, Byron spoke up first.

"Let's go. We'll go take a look together."

With that, he took the lead and walked out.

Lehman looked somewhat surprised; it was rare for the boss to be this proactive today.

Soon, the two of them arrived at the warehouse. Byron glanced over and, noticing that the elfin old man had not followed them, breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Before even entering the warehouse, a thick smell of blood drifted into the air. One person nearby was holding their hand with a painful expression, while another was applying medicine to the injured person.

Lehman walked up quickly and took a look, discovering that the injured person's hand was severely corroded and ulcerated.

"What's going on? Aren't there holy waters available for treatment?" Lehman asked hurriedly.

"We used them, President, but they're useless. The holy water has no effect," Avant said anxiously.

"Useless?"

Lehman looked surprised, then picked up a flask of holy water from the side and poured it onto the injured person's hand, only to discover that the previously infallible universal "healing potion" had zero effect today.

"Huh? Could the holy water have 'expired'?"

The word "expired" was also something he had learned from Byron. With that, Lehman picked up the holy water, intending to pour a little into his own mouth.

"It hasn't expired."

Byron couldn't bear to watch any longer. A dignified spellcaster didn't even know whether "holy water" was effective or not, and was actually about to pour it into his mouth.

Byron stepped forward to examine the injured person's hand, and his expression shifted. "What's your name?"

"Jason Tan! Boss, my name is Jason Tan!"

"Alright, Jason Tan. Bear with it; it might hurt a little!"

"Mm!"

Byron gently unwrapped the bandage. A large area of the palm was corroded, looking as though it had been burned by sulfuric acid.

Hiss...

Jason Tan gritted his teeth, gasping for breath continuously as beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down.

"How can this be? It wasn't this severe just a moment ago!" Avant cried out in astonishment.

Byron's expression stirred as a faint fluorescent glow flickered over his hand.

The hand, which had been trembling continuously from the pain, suddenly calmed down.

"Huh? It doesn't hurt anymore. It feels so comfortable."

As Byron extended his "Qi," a blue light flashed in his eyes, and a massive amount of data refreshed rapidly.

"Alright, bring the holy water over."

Byron let out a slight breath and poured the holy water onto the injured person's hand. It was as if time acceleration had been triggered on the corroded wound—fresh granulation tissue grew rapidly, and the original wounds began to heal.

Seeing the wound starting to heal, Lehman also breathed a sigh of relief. "Boss, what is this?"

"This is genetic erosion," Byron said with a solemn expression.

Ge... gene? What on earth is that?

Lehman was somewhat speechless. No matter what, he was an elite student of Giles College. The talent of commoners who could enter Giles College was beyond question, but no matter how talented a person was, after spending a long time with Byron, any high aspirations they had would be crushed into nothingness.

Can geniuses really be this outrageous, constantly tossing out terms ordinary people couldn't understand?

However, Byron did not explain, instead asking, "How did you get injured like this?"

"I don't know. While I was sorting the materials, my hand suddenly started burning with a fierce, fiery pain."

"Materials?" Byron looked at the pile of bloody materials nearby and motioned toward them. "Is it this pile?"

"Yes."

Byron then walked over to the pile of materials and casually picked up a piece of unidentified beast hide with wet blood still clinging to it.

"These are the materials that squad of soldiers brought over, wanting to trade with us," Lehman explained from the side.

Byron scanned them roughly; they were all beast hides, sharp teeth, and herbs, many of which had just been stripped from their prey. On the unidentified beast hide, several arrow holes and blade marks were faintly visible.

The warfare on the front lines might be even more intense than imagined, and supplies were so severely scarce that they actually had to use newly harvested beast pelts to barter for provisions.

[Arcane Eye] activated.

His pupils shone with an azure magical light, but Byron did not find anything peculiar within this pile of materials.

Byron pondered for a moment, then turned and asked, "Where did you put the sorted materials?"

"Boss, they're over there."

Following Jason Tan, Byron walked over to another storage room.

Then, Byron finally discovered a peculiar piece of fur resting on a shelf.

"Boss, this is the piece I brought over and placed here."

Seeing Byron pick up a piece of beast hide and inspect it with a serious expression, Jason Tan also understood that the "culprit" must be this unidentified beast hide.

"Boss, what is this thing?"

Lehman stood nearby and stared at it for a long time, yet he couldn't tell what kind of aberrant creature's hide it was.

"This is skin shed from a legendary creature."

At that moment, a voice came from nearby.

"Lord Hussein!"

"Lord Hussein!"

Byron glanced at the old scoundrel. This fellow's timing was truly impeccable; just like the elfin old man, he walked without making a sound.

However, the old scoundrel's appearance immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"This should be a small piece of hide knocked off by Lord Cagnoni. It was probably tossed over as an ordinary beast hide during the cleanup of the battlefield," Hussein teased. "Kid, you've struck it rich. Just this tiny piece of beast hide is more than enough to offset all those supplies of yours."

Legendary creatures: the strongest life forms in the world besides deities, the apex species of all known living beings, and the ultimate destination of all professionals.

The hide of a legendary creature?

Byron's eyes lit up.

Hussein was right; to Byron, the value of this piece of beast hide far exceeded those supplies.

"Five full carts of medical supplies, four thousand spell potions—a total value of five to six hundred thousand in supplies. Normally, a piece of legendary creature's hide would indeed be priceless. However, when Principal Cagnoni repelled the legendary creature, he must have dropped plenty of beast flesh and tissue. Even if not everyone gets a piece, Grandfather certainly has one. And even if Grandfather wouldn't give it to me proactively, if I asked him for a piece, he'd definitely cough one up. So this hide isn't as valuable as you make it out to be."

Byron smiled faintly. "I reckon this must be that legion commander's contingency plan against emergencies, only they didn't expect..."

"Alright, alright. You're not very old, but your mind has way too many twists and turns. Can't you think of things in a positive light?"

Hussein's face alternated between red and orange from being talked back to by Byron, and his hair even began to flare up. He hurriedly interrupted, "People should look at the bright side. How can you be so cynical? Fine, I'll have that stubborn old man educate you properly later."

With that, Hussein let out a cold snort and turned on his heel to leave. Though he said that, in his heart he truly felt like he had seen a ghost, wondering why modern kids were so difficult to communicate with. If he weren't eyeing the prospect of pulling Byron into his own military camp, he definitely would have given him a thorough thrashing.

He suddenly thought of his lovely granddaughter Lispel; his own granddaughter was so well-behaved and adorable. If Byron were his grandson, he'd definitely beat him two or three times a day.

Only after Hussein left did Lehman dare to reveal a smile. In this place, only Byron dared to speak to Hussein in such a manner.

"I didn't expect them to have a conscience after all, actually taking the initiative to leave behind a legendary creature's hide," Lehman said with a hint of emotional sigh. At the time, he hadn't even looked at the goods and had prepared himself to take a loss; he hadn't expected things to take such a bright turn.

"Perhaps this is what they mean by good deeds getting rewarded."

Byron glanced at Lehman. This was also one of the things he appreciated about Lehman—his heart was extremely soft, and he frequently took in homeless people while handing out free relief supplies. Sometimes he could be stingy to a fault, making his personality somewhat contradictory, but the most important thing was that his character was sound.

"Alright, let's just pretend we don't know about this. Since the other party left the item behind, we'll act as if we're completely unaware."

"Understood, Boss!"

...

Whether it was the temple's reinforcements or the appearance of the legendary creature, both caused violent ripples throughout Sevenon. Various intelligence reports from the front lines poured into Sevenon like snowflakes, ranging from the outcomes of major battles down to love-hate entanglements and gossip from the war.

The war gave birth to various heroic figures, and their exploits were passed along with vivid details, to the point where even a minor squad leader and a female logistics nurse had supposedly started a romantic relationship.

Don't ask Byron how he knew; these were the things he heard the most about every day—heroes and beauties were tropes that never went out of style.

Listening to it, Byron couldn't help but inwardly praise their proficiency. Regardless of how the combat went, this political propaganda was exceptionally on point. At least in the rear city of Sevenon, confidence was soaring to unprecedented heights. Aside from official reinforcements, countless people volunteered every day to sign up and head to the front lines to support the war effort, particularly among the young scions of noble families.

(PS: I originally wanted to release two chapters together, but I realized it's a bit late. I'll just publish whatever is ready for now. Please support the subscription! If you're reading this, come over to Qidian and show your support. Reaching 3,000 subscriptions will give me the confidence to go full-time. Thank you all for your support!)