Ultragenic Warlord

Chapter 628: The Alcohol's History

Amu tugged Zhang Lie away and into his house. "Come on, we'll have a feast as thanks for what you've done. I have alcohol of excellent quality."

As they walked inside, Amu headed down into the cellar and brought out a vat of ten-year-old alcohol. Zhang Lie swallowed a proffered cup, at which point he heard the will of the world's voice once again.

[For consuming ten-year-old alcohol, you received one mutated gene fragment. Current total: 31]

He took out some of the carcasses he had hunted on the way to the village and handed it to Mu. As he wined and dined some more, his gene fragments increased once again.

Zhang Lie: a disaster-grade lifeform

Framework: Foundation, Lv. MAX; Ninecarp Transformation, Sixth Form: River Dragon Techniques: Rippling Walk (pinnacle), Three-Wave Crescendo (pinnacle), Calm Waters (advanced), Fists of the Silent Sea (pinnacle), The Boundless Blade (pinnacle), Eclipse (pinnacle), Syzygy (pinnacle), ?Ninesoul Dragonblade (advanced), …

Genes: Basic, 45; Mutated, 45; Superior, 10

Soulshards: White Grub (superior), Blood Ant (superior), Potbellied Toad (mutated), Eternalspring Cocoon (superior), Dragonwolf (superior), Moonlight Wyrm (peak), Golden Roc (peak), Mistmeld Clam?(disaster)

As they conversed, Zhang Lie changed the topic of conversation to his second reason for visiting the village. "I heard that the village was once able to brew even stronger alcohol, but that it hasn't been able to acquire the necessary ingredients recently."

Amu frowned. "Exactly right—and it's a real shame. A flock of genetic lifeforms from who-knows-where blocked access to a wormhole we used for trade, and even our chieftain himself was unable to do anything against them."

"To be honest, I came across what I believe to be your missing ingredient recently." Zhang Lie retrieved a sack of jade-green fruits from his potbellied-toad pouch."

Upon seeing those fruits, Amu's eyes widened. "Could it be...?"

Mu asked, "Amu, do you recognize these fruits?"

Amu shook his head. "I've never seen the fruits for myself, either. We'd need the elder to confirm it."

As a result, Mu ended up hefting the sack of fruits toward the elder's house.

When the elder saw those fruits, his hands trembled. He dug one out of the sack and sniffed it carefully, causing his eyes to widen. "I hadn't expected to see these luojia fruits in my lifetime again... just where did you acquire them?"

Zhang Lie replied, "A group of aliens from another small world stuffed them in my hands."

The elder's eyes grew even brighter. "In that case, has the wormhole between our world and the other reopened?"

"It has," Zhang Lie confirmed.

"Very good, very good!" the elder laughed in joy. "Now, I can finally restore my ancestors' recipe to its full glory!"

Zhang Lie shrugged. "I've already scoured the world for these fruits, however, and it might be a few years before any more grow. Furthermore, it's a long distance away. With the current strength of your village, do you really think you can survive the journey?"

The elder narrowed his eyes. "Lad, I know what you want. State your price."

"I heard you had some vats of hundred-year-old alcohol."

"I'll trade you one vat for these fruits."

"Ten vats."

"We don't have such a large supply available. At the most, I can give you five such vats, along with ten ten-year-old vats."

.

Amu's eyes widened. "Elder, I didn't know we still had so much good alcohol remaining!"

The elder rolled his eyes. "If you had known, it would have vanished in a few days, I'm sure."

"Five hundred-year-old vats and thirty ten-year-old vats."

The elder snorted. "Our village doesn't have a large supply of the ten-year-old vats either. Fifteen and no more."

"Fifteen, then, as well as a hundred vats of whatever new alcohol you brew."

The elder was so incensed that he almost jumped up. "Do you think this is plain water? We're brewing alcohol here! Thirty vats at most!"

"Deal!"

Zhang Lie pulled out nine more sacks of the fruits, which he dumped in the elder's house. The fruits rolled out of the sacks and spilled over the floor. A faint fragrance drifted up toward the elder and Zhang Lie.

"That'll be fifty hundred-year-old vats, three hundred ten-year-old vats, and three hundred vats of your new alcohol, then!"

The elder's eyes rolled back, and he slumped to the ground.

Zhang Lie scratched his head. "When the village learned that I was leaving, they gave me all the fruits they had stockpiled."

The fruits were indeed very filling. The aliens of the other world had stockpiled these fruits in their cellars to avoid bat attacks, but now that Zhang Lie had killed them all, the fruits were no longer necessary.

The elder stared openmouthed at the fruits on the floor. "Did you really scrounge up all the fruits in that world?"

"Nothing so exaggerated."

The elder's face turned serious. "To be honest, we don't have so much alcohol available for trade."

"That's to be expected. I'll take whatever you do have." Zhang Lie's goal was to claim everything that the village currently possessed.

The elder shook his head. "At this point, we don't have a single vat of hundred-year-old alcohol in our village."

Zhang Lie frowned. "In that case, do you mean to renege on your deal?"

The elder coughed. "No, no, not quite! We don't have it now, but we used to have quite a stockpile."

"What do you mean?"

"Where our original village was located, we had a secret cellar with vats of hundred-year-old alcohol—and even a legendary grade of alcohol beyond that!"

Amu interjected in shock, "The legendary thousand-year-old alcohol?!"

The elder shook his head. "No, just five hundred years old."

To be honest, Zhang Lie was very impressed by the alcohol that this alien race could brew.

With enough time, the alcohol would continue maturing and developing new potential. Who knew if they could produce a disaster-grade brew if they left it to settle for a thousand years?

Zhang Lie understood what the elder was getting at. "I assume the route to your old settlement isn't safe."

The elder smiled. "As long as you bring the alcohol back, the five-hundred-year-old vats will be yours, too."

"Oh? Aren't you afraid I'll claim them all for myself?"

The elder laughed. "Lad, what's in those vats is concentrated pre-processed alcohol. If you drink it directly, you'll die."

Amu nodded. "No lifeform can bear the force of its kick. When I was young, I snuck a taste of a vat, and it left me bedridden for three months."

The elder smirked. "Lad, with your strength, perhaps you might survive the ten-year-old brew, but surely not the hundred- or five-hundred-year-old ones."

It was only then that Zhang Lie realized that the wily old elder had been intending to bait him from the beginning. When he came to that realization, Zhang Lie was tempted to use the mistmeld clam soulshard against him once more.

The elder was clearly trying to rip Zhang Lie off...