As the atmosphere of the exchange meeting reached a climax, the fruits, cold salads, etc. on the table were removed.
All kinds of hot dishes and delicious delicacies were brought up one by one by the young and beautiful maids.
Many of the dishes were so delicious in appearance that Richard had never seen them before.
For example, a meat main dish called suckling pig and chicken is served on a huge plate with a diameter of nearly one meter. The upper half is most of a suckling pig, and the back half is the lower half of a chicken.
When this dish was first served, Richard was puzzled. Could it be that there really was such a creature in the Underdark? This shape was too inconsistent with the body structure of biological evolution.
Obviously, the chicken's two thin legs are completely unable to bear the weight of the upper body of the pig.
Seeing Richard's puzzled expression, the dwarf witch Fana seemed to understand something. She chuckled and introduced in a delicate voice: "Master Levi, this dish is made of two different ingredients. Compared with the preciousness of the ingredients, I think the creativity is more worthy of praise."
"The upper body of this dish comes from a low-level monster, a cliff boar cub that has just given birth within half a month. The lower body comes from a domesticated low-level monster, the moorhen. However, this moorhen must be a castrated rooster, and then it is carefully cooked for several hours."
"Master Levi can try this dish, which combines the delicious flavor of chicken soup with the tenderness of suckling pig." Fana signaled to the maid beside her to cut a large piece for Richard.
Richard picked up a piece with his fork and tasted it. It was indeed very delicious.
Even though it is not as fresh as my own golden horned frog eggs, it is meat.
To be able to achieve this level of achievement is enough to show how precious the raw materials are and how good the chef’s skills are.
As the glasses of refined strong wine flowed down their throats, the wizards became noticeably more talkative and the atmosphere became more heated.
After having a good meal and a good drink, the second part of the exchange meeting, the free trading phase, started in the afternoon.
Each wizard will first introduce the various items he is going to trade one by one in order and can also state his needs, such as what he wants to exchange, etc. However, the transaction cannot start at this time.
After everyone has been introduced, free trading can begin.
Richard had just bought a villa, so he was short of money. Moreover, this was his first time to attend a gathering and exchange among wizards, so he had not thought about buying anything.
But when he saw all kinds of rare materials, he couldn't help but be shocked.
Except for him, all those present were wizards of high level one. Most of them had been formal wizards for decades and had accumulated a lot of experience.
The items taken out are generally rare materials, magical weapons, etc., and each one is of great value.
Moreover, generally the other party is also looking for a barter. Otherwise, if they simply want to exchange for magic stones, most of the items can be sent to the auction house to obtain higher magic stone returns.
"Mimetic metal, 5359 grams, I want to exchange it for ten mana thistles." Angeles, who is also a gray dwarf wizard, introduced.
Mimic metal? This immediately made Richard's eyes light up. Hey, he had originally wanted to wait until he was done with this busy period to see if he could upgrade some of the advanced and top-level witchcraft props he had on hand.
After all, many low-level magical weapons can be transformed and upgraded by top-level witchcraft props.
Richard had this idea in mind before. This way the cost is the lowest but the improvement is the greatest.
It's just a bit troublesome, as you need to be proficient in related fields. For example, if you want to upgrade weapons, shields, armor and other magical tools, you need to be proficient in rune forging. If you want to upgrade leather armor and other magical tools, you need to be proficient in elemental leathermaking.
Elemental leatherworking, using various elemental energies to make leather armor.
This is also the reason why Richard was quite interested in the blacksmiths in Greyfern Town who could perform basic rune forging techniques to create weapons.
Perhaps, for an ordinary wizard, it would be great if he could master one or two fields in his lifetime, but Richard was different. With the inspiration panel in his hand, as long as he had enough energy points, time and energy were not a problem.
Bringing his thoughts back to the scene, Richard guessed that Angeles wanted to exchange for Mana Thistle most likely to make a powerful fire protection potion.
A powerful flame protection potion. After drinking it, a spherical shield can be formed on the body's surface, which can absorb a considerable amount of flame energy, which is almost the same as the defense of two to three fireball spells by a formal wizard specializing in fire.
Strictly speaking, it can absorb 110 degrees of fire energy.
Generally, the power of a first-level wizard's fireball is about 30 to 40 degrees, so to put it vaguely, it is not wrong to say that it can absorb the damage of two to three fireballs.
It was a pity that he didn't have Mana Thistle, nor did he have the formula for the powerful fire protection potion . It seemed that he would not be able to get this piece of mimic metal that was several times heavier than the mimic wristband.
"Oh, Angeles, are you going to make a powerful fire protection potion? How about, are you planning to enter the Scorched Earth Secret Realm in the near future?" said a gray dwarf wizard with a maroon beard.
After the transaction was over, it was around three or four in the afternoon, and Disol was still chatting on the side.
Richard had just purchased a villa. Although it was once the residence of a wealthy gray dwarf businessman and was luxurious in every way and had nothing missing, everyone would generally make some slight modifications to suit their own style.
Although Fana is a dwarf woman, her vision of beauty is similar to Richard's in many ways. For example, the layout of the entire hall is exactly what Richard likes.
In addition to the decorations on the walls, various flowers are also planted in the corners. Since the hall is illuminated by flame stones of various sizes all year round, many of the flowers are varieties that are not common in the Underdark. Many of them are the kind that need strong light to grow lushly, so the colors are naturally much brighter.
Hey! Richard casually passed by a few hydrangeas with small green flowers dotted with white spots.
How come this looks so much like hops from the past? Hops, also known as hops, are an important raw material for brewing beer.
Out of curiosity, Richard walked forward, smelled the scent, and his face immediately froze. He picked one, rubbed it open, and looked at it carefully.
After a while, although Richard's face was calm, he was already beaming with joy in his heart.
What he picked was the fruit cluster of the female plant, which was shaped like a green pine cone and of similar size. The most important thing was the yellow powdery substance attached to the axils of the bracts inside.
The smell, color and appearance are very similar to hops in the previous life.
"Master Levi, why are you here? Why, do you like flowers too?" At this time, the petite Fana came over.
Following Richard's line of sight, Fana introduced: "This is an unknown hemp grass, rarely seen in the Underdark. I found it near Tug City. It looks rare and beautiful, so I transplanted it here."
Richard was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized that hops love light, and logically speaking, most areas in the Underdark would not meet this growth condition.
It's rare! "Yes, Ms. Fana, I am very interested in the various flowers you grow here. I wonder if you can sell me some." Richard said with a smile on his face. Of course, he couldn't just take one kind, otherwise it would be too conspicuous.
"Of course no problem. It's my honor that you like it, Master Levi." Fana chuckled.
"Also, these are ordinary flowers, except that they are prettier. You can take any you like."
"Thank you, Ms. Fana." Fana's generosity made Richard seem a little petty.
But Richard changed his mind and had a plan in mind, but now was not the right time.
"This one, this one, and that one. Pack them all for me." Richard turned to the gray dwarf lady who had been accompanying him.
"Yes, Lord Levi." With the master's consent, the butler naturally obeyed and carefully began to transplant the plants one by one into independent pots.
After the party was over, Richard returned to his villa. He immediately walked into the alchemy room that had just been built with hops in hand, with great interest.
Although many of the utensils and equipment have not been purchased yet, they are obviously enough to identify whether this alien version of hops can produce the effects of hops.
Half an hour later, Richard was smiling.
It is true that after searching for a long time, you can finally find it without any effort.
I didn't expect that when I attended a wizard gathering, I would have such an unexpected surprise.
Although he was unable to buy the mimicry metal due to his financial constraints, he did get an unexpected gain in the form of hops.
It can be said that we lose something in one place but gain something in another.
Ever since he met Disol, Richard discovered the huge alcohol consumption capacity of the gray dwarves, but the beer they drank most often did not have the light fragrance and aftertaste of bitterness that he had in his previous life.
If he could add this alien version of hops, the taste of the gray dwarf's beer would be greatly improved.
The ingredients for making beer are very simple, and the same is true for the gray dwarves. They use malt and water as the main raw materials, and are fermented by yeast to produce a low-concentration fermented wine containing carbon dioxide.
However, due to the lack of flavoring substances such as hops, the taste is sweet and a bit greasy, and after a long time, it will have a slight sour taste.
This is why Fana took out high-concentration wine during wizard gatherings.
Because even the most high-end beer in Tug City doesn't taste as good as high-concentration wine.
Now that he had hops, Richard believed that he would bring about earth-shaking changes to the gray dwarfs' beer industry. At the same time, for him, it would also mean that he could make a fortune.
The gray dwarves have a wide variety of beer, including beer suitable for civilian consumption, which is only worth a few copper coins, beer suitable for middle-class people, which costs one to two silver coins, and high-end beer supplied to wealthy businessmen, nobles and even wizards like Disor, which is worth several gold coins.
Richard was planning to start with premium beer. He had done a preliminary calculation before. If he could take one-third of the premium beer market share in Tug City, he would be able to earn thousands of gold coins every day. Converted into magic stones, he would earn two to three hundred magic stones every day. After deducting various costs, labor and other expenses, since it was premium beer, the profit margin was quite large. Richard estimated that at least 80% of the net profit should be retained.
At first glance, only two hundred magic stones a day may not seem like a lot, but firstly, it is safe, and secondly, it can be accumulated over time. Even if it is only two hundred magic stones a day, it is not a small number in a year.
The last thing is market share. If this beer sells well enough, the market share can obviously be expanded. At the same time, this is just the city of Tug.
If it can be expanded to other cities? It would not be an exaggeration to describe it as making a fortune every day! Even in the later stage, he might not be able to control this business just by relying on his reputation as an alchemist. He must rely on the big tree of the Gray Dwarf Brotherhood.
However, let’s not think about this problem for now. What I need to solve now is to brew a small amount of beer for tasting and attract a group of heavyweight customers.
As for the large-scale cultivation of hops, it should naturally be handed over to professional natural wizards, but this can be put aside for now.
As for brewing beer, although Richard knew the general principles, such as crushing the malt, saccharifying, boiling, adding hops, and then fermenting, etc., he was not very clear about the specific beer production process of the current gray dwarves.
Fortunately, Richard was not alone now. He immediately summoned Stephana, Fingart and Gorkan.
"Among the three of you, are any of you familiar with brewing beer?" Richard asked, his eyes focused on Fingart and Gorkan.
After all, these two people had served as prophets of an entire tribe of murlocs. If the tribe had brewed some wine, they should be more familiar with the process.
Fingart and Gorkan looked at each other. Although they didn't understand why their master suddenly thought of brewing beer, they shook their heads and said, "Master, murlocs rarely drink beer. I'm afraid the gray dwarves know this best."
Stephanie was also confused, but after a little thought, she said, "I'm not very clear about the beer brewing process, but, Master, why don't you ask that old pervert, Desol?"
"He is an alcoholic, so he must know how to brew beer, and he may even have many different beer recipes and techniques."
Richard closed his eyes and slowly tapped his fingers on the wooden armrests of the large chair.
Stephanna and the other two knew that this was their master Richard's habit when he was thinking, so they immediately stood with their hands hanging down, not daring to make a sound for fear of disturbing their master's thoughts.
Richard's original idea was to first make a small amount of beer using hops, and then invite Desol over. Then, he could use his big mouth to spread the word.
But now it seems that I still have to go find him first.
It’s not that the beer brewing process is difficult, but Richard doesn’t want to waste too much time, energy and most importantly energy points on this matter.
He would rather share more profits in various links. After all, if the market is really as big as expected, he, a human being in the gray dwarf area, will definitely not be able to take over such a huge market.
In this case, why not find some existing friends to cooperate with early, and Desol, the wizard who loves alcohol, is one of the best choices.
"Fingart, go and ask if Lord Disol is here. If he is, invite Lord Disol to come over."
Richard wanted to use the communication mark to contact Disol directly, but after thinking about it, he decided to let Fingart go alone.
(End of this chapter)