Epic Of The Demonic Sage

With the pleasant discovery about Rune Beast meat, Lucius had another idea appeared in his mind.

'I can't leave the Rune Beast industry alone… it is far too valuable to not be dabbled in.' Lucius thought to himself as an idea formed in his mind.

"Kiana," Lucius suddenly spoke.

"Yes?" Kiana asked.

"Where do we get the Rune Beast meat from?" Lucius questioned. 

"Umm… the Joy Milk Cows are reared by a few merchants as for the Iron Scale Carp they are found in the rivers of our territory. They are occasionally fished by the local fishermen." Kiana answered.

"These Joy Milk Cows… are they easy to rear?" Lucius questioned.

"Hmm… not really. They eat a lot and are hard to control due to their size. Most wild Joy Milk cows end up dying under the hands of the mercenaries when they try to capture them.

Only a few of them are successfully tamed as they have a much greater value alive. Their milk is a prized delicacy in our kingdom and is worth more than their meat. " Kiana answered.

"I see… and what about these Iron Scaled Carps, are they easy to fish?" Lucius asked.

"It depends… The problem with them is their weight. Their scales are hard like iron, and contribute a lot to their weight, not to mention that they also bite through nets and fishing lines. 

Only a handful of them are caught every month though it is never intentional. The ones that are caught by the fishermen are usually the ones which have already been injured and weakened." Kiana answered.

Lucius nodded his head upon hearing this. Though he was also surprised that Kiana knew this much about rune beasts, as she usually didn't know much about them.

'Must be because they are used as food that she knows… after all, she was trained as a maid, so this is the most basic that she should know I suppose.' Lucius thought to himself.

"Why the sudden interest in them?" Kiana asked.

"I found them to be quite delicious and wonder if it would be viable for us to start rearing them ourselves," Lucius replied.

"Really? Usually, business with Rune beasts doesn't go well. Only the artificers guild has been able to stably maintain them. Most other merchants only do it in the passing and don't do it as a full-time business.

Even the beast meat that we get is mostly supplied by mercenaries that hunt them down. This is in fact one of the main sources of their income." Kiana explained.

"I see… this will need a lot more preparation than I thought." Lucius muttered to himself, putting the idea at the back of his mind.

It was currently not viable for him to do this, as he neither had the expertise nor the capital needed to do it. Lucius added it to his list of future ventures that he may be able to take upon once the problems of the Inanis territory were taken care of.

Lucius had finished the meal and found it to be really pleasant for his body. The Aether that was being generated by his body felt like warm water to him as it gently spread around his body. 

"So this is why they said it will make me feel sleepy once I finished eating it all. Of course, anyone would feel sleepy with this kind of an effect." Lucius said to himself with a chuckle.

Lucius took a deep breath and dissipated the sleep that was settling down in his eyes. He stimulated the Hell Imprint and started to replenish the Hell Energy that he had used up today. 

I could hear light humming sound as the illusionary pattern of the Hell Imprint appeared over Lucius's chest. It was mostly hidden by his shirt, but a faint outline could still be seen due to the glow.

Lucius spent a few hours like this before deciding to sleep. Even if he had slept for over twelve hours earlier, that was not normal sleep and was rather due to the exhaustion suffered by his body. The sleep that he was going to take now was the proper sleep that was needed to restore his body to the normal state.

He thus laid down and slipped into a dreamless sleep.

***

By the time morning came, Lucius's body had reached its optimum condition. When he woke up, he could feel the propers change in it. 

'My Aether capacity has certainly increased… though is this a natural increase or is it due to the influence of the Hell Energy?' Lucius wondered to himself.

Thinking that he may find it out eventually with time, he got ready for the day. He had a lot of things to do today, the first of which was to check up on his Humble Blaze's production. Lucius had come up with a few ideas that may help improve the production of the wine and wanted to test them out.

It was still early and thus Kiana had not come to wake him up. He reckoned it was the perfect time to do some extra work before breakfast. 

The door of his laboratory opened, and Lucius saw the slightly messy look of the room. There were open barrels of Carom fruits and large pots that have been set up on makeshift stoves. There was also a large pile of Carom fruit peels lying in one corner.

"Hmm…" Lucius took one hard look at the peels as this was the factor he wanted to focus on.

In the production of the wine, the first step was to wash the Carom fruits and then peel them before they would be mashed into a pulp. After this, they would be heated so that their bitterness was reduced.

It was these two steps that Lucius wanted to modify.

"Let's see if this works…" Lucius muttered to himself.

He picked up one of the fruit from the barrel before dropping it in one of the smaller pots. He then ignited the stove and started heating the pot with the fruit.