The Asshai's Bloodmage

 I had been trapped inside the Mage's Throat dungeon for 3 days. After these 3 days, we confirmed that the corrosive rain really only happened once every 24 hours and lasted exactly 15 minutes. Apart from this great danger, and the parasites that were similar to a form of defense for the tower's digestive system, we finally began our exploration, with me on the lower floor and Asimov on the upper floors.

Apart from the repulsive flesh on the walls, floor and ceiling and a swarm of parasites, there was nothing on the top floor. No plants, no animals and no treasure, and even if there was something, with so much acid rain, they had already been completely digested. Without any reward, the acid, the flesh and the parasites would be the only treasures in this place, but they would have to be studied before they would be of any benefit.

Of course, I had already noticed one effect of the parasites in these 3 days, and that was the rapid increased growth of my fire worm. They had a beneficial effect of accelerating growth when ingested, but I decided to stop its feeding frenzy before I could confirm that there would be no side effects from consuming them.

While leaving and about to climb the stairs leading to the seventh floor, I finally saw something strange. In the middle of all the darkness was a small lake with a phosphorescent blue light. Its size was no more than 6-7 meters in circumference and it was not difficult to call it a small pool rather than a lake. As I approached, I saw a few round items floating in the water.

"SPLASH"

Startling me to death, my fireworm quickly jumped into the water and swallowed one of the items before closing its eyes and floating in the water. I approached and first tested whether the water was poisonous or acidic and confirmed that it was both. But at a low level, after confirming that my body could handle it, I reached in and grabbed the other two remaining items that were floating. There should have been 3, but since a certain glutton devoured 1 without even asking my opinion, I quickly took the remaining two, preventing him from having the chance to eat more.

The shapes of the items were rounded but not uniform, they were dark red in color with blue veins flowing through them as if they were alive and pulsating. They were smaller than my fist in size and both exuded a familiar type of energy that I couldn't remember. I put the two away for the purpose of studying them later and turned my attention to the lake with a smile...

When I inserted my hands to grab the "hearts" a familiar message appeared on the system, I then took off all my clothes and dove in alongside my fireworm. Soon I felt the sensation of my entire body starting to burn, sting and go numb, while everything repeated itself again in a cycle of a few minutes and the familiar messages appeared again:

[Body strengthened by 0.01%]

[Body strengthened by 0.04%]

[Body strengthened by 0.02%]

I smiled with satisfaction. This small lake was a natural treasure of the tower. That alone made this raid one of the most profitable. The rewards would be enormous, and our group would be entitled to keep 20 to 30% of those benefits. The fact that my body could accept this refinement already proved that the value of this liquid was at least mid-level.

My body was already saturated with 20% of the basic body refinement we had obtained in the Beast Garden. That meant that I could refine another 20% again with this lake. The fact that I survived the lizardman's powerful blow wearing only leather armor and then fell over 14 stories high proved that this 20% and my changes had made me much tougher.

With an extra 20% of strengthening, I could even start wearing more heavy armor and it wouldn't even affect my maximum speed and agility much. The most important thing was that if there were 8 lakes inside the tower, we could even claim 2 entire floors for our own use.

After almost 6 hours of refinement, it seemed that the effect was quite beneficial to the fireworm as well. We went to the seventh underground floor and found another lake, but there were no items that I called hearts. We entered the lake again and received the benefit of the refinement. After another 6 hours, we went to the sixth floor and found another lake.

At the end of the third 6-hour refinement, I decided to go back into the well, since there were only 6 hours left until the next acid rain. I also wanted to see if the lakes could be used again after the rain. And after returning to the elevator shaft and sleeping, I was woken up by the rain that lasted another 15 minutes. I got up and went to the lake on the eighth floor, before I could confirm it, I saw my fireworm jump in, so I trusted its instincts and went back in.

[Body Strengthened by 0.02%]

[Body Strengthened by 0.01%]

[Body Strengthened by 0.03%]

"AMAZING!"

These lakes had the potential to cause a war between the factions and groups within Asshai. If there were eight lakes, that meant that every day 16 people could strengthen themselves here. Of course, I was counting my fire worm as one person, not only did it bathe in the lake with me, but it also drank the liquid as if it were crystal clear water.

And not only that, after the entire Adventurer's Alliance underwent this refinement, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the physical power of the entire group should increase by 20-40%. But I soon put that aside, knowing the Alliance they will charge a high price for members to use these pools and will keep the place a secret as much as possible. I must seize this opportunity and get a deal for my Order.

Still thinking ahead, this time I did something different, using several empty barrels from my inventory and storing the water from the pool on the seventh floor. After that, we went to the lakes on the sixth and fifth floors before finally returning to the well on the eighth floor. The next day I confirmed that the lake on the seventh floor had only been filled to 1/3.

This meant that emptying the lake would only shorten the time and effectiveness of the benefits, but it was a way for the Alliance to sell the benefits without revealing their origins. Since I didn't have infinite space, I decided to keep only what I had collected the day before in my inventory for the purpose of studying the liquid and figuring out how to recreate it. Mid-level refinement cost a lot of beast points in the Beast Garden and was private knowledge.

If the deal for the Order members to use the lakes fails, I can then create my own version of mid-level body refinement, it would be a significant savings for everyone's points and a good plan B, plus there are the other items I plan to replicate that are inside the other Alliance towers… As my thoughts flowed, a rogue trader's smile unconsciously formed on my face…

***

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