Chapter 4.16 - Perma-Ice

"So what is this item?"

"It's a chilled carafe."

"What's it for?"

"Chilling drinks."

"And what level do you think someone would have to be to procure this material?"

"At least a group of 10, leveled above 40."

Serin, Olma, Jasmin, and Jericho sat at a private table of the bar. In between them all was a metal canister that had about two liters of mead in it. Condensation had formed outside of the vessel. Inside, mead was kept cold.

Jericho started. "And you said you created a room that is cold?"

Serin smiled, "It keeps things at just about freezing temperature. Similar to a few days before spring."

It was common knowledge that food kept longer if put into a colder environment. And although the city had an overabundance of fresh food, delicacies like meat were hard to store for long periods of time. So other than special occasions and celebrations when meat was cooked for the entire town, most of the time if a family cooked meat it was cooked for a single meal, and the remaining meat was smoked for future use.

Other than Jericho's inn, there were several restaurants that had popped up in the city, but still meat was expensive. Right now there was usually fish from the fish farms available, but the tamers said it would be at least another two cycles before meat began to be steadily available. Part of what kept Jericho's tavern packed was the 'half off for half off' promotion made meat more economically available.

But a vessel that kept food and liquids cold would change everything.

Jericho too a sip of the chilled mead. "As an expert I have made the determination that this material is worthy of being a state secret." Jericho took another sip.

Whether it was or not, Serin didn't question. Serin just nodded in agreement. Although Serin was sure part of it was Jericho wanting to immediately monopolize the ability to chill his products.

***

The representatives were surprised when Serin added the perma-ice to a list of state secrets. He then invited them over to his house to review the perma-ice room he created while enjoying a glass of cold mead. The decision was agreed upon. Allister was also surprised.

Allister then explained what he knew about magical meat storage in the past. When Allister was a small boy he once asked his teacher why they didn't use magic to ensure meat didn't spoil. Allister's teacher had shown him what would happen. Using [regenerate] Allister's teacher kept a dead rabbit from rotting for several days. Afterwards Allister skinned and cooked it. When he bit into it, the meat made him instantly sick. Allister's teacher explained that the magical residue in the meat from the spell would make anyone sick who tried to eat it. That was why they did not use magic to store meat.

The very rich could afford to have small boxes enchanted with cold magic and that would work, but the price was steep. And the mana requirement to make a box permanently cold was so high that Allister had never heard of it being made, only theorized. Mages capable of casting such high magic were engaged in more lucrative facets of life.

So as Allister explained it, low magic ability people being able to produce such wondrous items would definitely upset the world, reaffirming Jericho's state secret assessment.

***

While meeting with the other representatives, Serin brought up the authority of the Dungeon Guides. Serin explained that each time he took groups down his biome, he would send them back up when he felt that they had reached their limit. He would then head down farther, as per the requirements.

"The only issue is that when i head down, there is too much material for me to collect myself. So as a solution, I propose that a Dungeon Guide be given the right to train others as far down as he can travel solo. Those training gain experience faster, and the dungeon guide gets assistance with collecting materials and supplies on the lower levels."

The representatives nodded at this. Serin smiled. He knew there would be the entire changeling population asking him to take them down farther. The idea to do this was not his. Naturally, Olma had come up with the plan for individual training sessions. Mostly so she could take on individuals on different biomes and lower levels.

Serin then continued. "It's been about two weeks since the Dungeon Guides went down. Next time I plan on doing things a bit differently, and we will crosstrain our guides." The representatives looked confused but Serin explained. "For instance, in her biome, Olma is approved to level 10. She does not need to show she can fight levels 1-10, so we will have another guide do those levels, then when we get to level 11, Olma gets recertified as far down as she can go. Then if anyone in the group feels they can venture deeper and the group agrees, they can get certified for farther down in that biome. This way dungeon guides don't get bogged down for requests because their biome is popular."

Serin and Olma had been getting the majority of the requests since they were certified through the first floor boss. It was known that Serin's reward was the chest that contained a rune stone for homunculus creation. Olma's level 10 reward contained a similar chest with quartz and amethyst and carried a reactionary power called [Blink]. It let the user teleport to a spot no more than 10 meters away when they took damage. It could not be used more than once every few minutes, but it consumed no mana.

Olma had already swapped stones with Serin. And although neither had the time to create a homunculus, it was good to know that they each had the power.

Overall the meeting went well. The following day, Serin called all of the other dungeon guides over for dinner.

"I am aware that most of you are solo delving lower into the dungeon. Who among you is interested in going deeper?"

Serin saw nods and smiles. "Alright. Then we will set up time for two days from now."

***