Chapter 48: Looking for Mixed Bloodlines Slaves Part 2
After being momentarily surprised, Kael's group soon followed behind Edward to a specific location inside the so-called Pit.
Along the way, they witnessed different races of slaves, varying from humans, members of the beastman race, barbarians, dwarves, and individuals of mixed races. Some looked strong, others looked useful, while a few seemed to possess strong capabilities. But with the majority of the slaves, they couldn't tell exactly whether they were good or bad, since they looked so flimsy, probably because of the lack of proper nutrients from all the meals they had been ingesting after being imprisoned as slaves.
More importantly, the state of the inside of the cages lacked proper maintenance. Feces, traces of yellow liquid, and a dirty stack of glass bottles and plates with leftovers could be seen around them, attracting flies to surround their cages and land on their bodies. In addition to that, there was also no proper means for sleeping, with some only sleeping on the cold and hard dirt ground.
"I could finally understand why you both don't like the existence of slavery," Lawrence muttered silently. As much as he hates to admit it, he was honestly underestimating the idea of what slavery would look like previously. His way of thinking was so simple that he quite literally thought slaves were just unfortunate people who got sold for whatever reason. Seeing it up close now, he couldn't believe he was insisting so much on supporting this type of industry. He could even imagine now just how ridiculous he looked at that time, and he couldn't help but question why people even pick this path as a merchant. He could only comfort himself with the idea that at least they're planning to give the slaves freedom someday. Speaking about that…
"I think we forgot to tell the Nyvarr and the others that we are going to free them in the future." Lawrence suddenly brought up.
"I've already told them," Jayem took the liberty of informing Nyvarr last time, and the latter passed the information to the others.
Unlike Lawrence, Kael was quite literally smiling mischievously as he surveyed his eyes around the slaves.
During his quick sweep, he had found more than a dozen slaves who possessed good bloodlines. They were honestly all worse than Grol, though. So, he quietly abandoned the idea of picking them.
There were also others he didn't consider even the slightest, since their good bloodline contradicts their main bloodline.
One he witnessed just earlier was a mouse race that had a bull race bloodline. Some might think that it would benefit the mouse race by giving the beastman the bull strength, which is technically correct, but with a body as small and weak as a mouse, that would simply mean they'll end up breaking their bodies the moment they use that overwhelming power.
Even though with the correct body strengthening technique, the mouse race would eventually learn to negate that negative effect, it would never completely disappear.
As they continued following behind Edward, Kael took mental note of every noteworthy slave to consider picking.
Finally, after close to five minutes of walking, they reached one of the four corners of the magic tent.
Unlike the scene along the way, this particular corner was a lot more organized and cleaner. The cages were evidently being maintained well, as there were almost no traces of any unhygienic behaviour. In addition to that, they were provided with clean clothes, blankets, pillows, and even a table and chair, allowing them to live a slightly comfortable life despite being slaves.
It wasn't too difficult to guess the reason why.
Every single imprisoned slave in this corner was of greater value than the other.
Barbarians.
Dwarves.
Beastman race.
And all of them were in good condition and were clearly fed well with enough nutrients to keep their bodies healthy and sustain their good physique.
This was exactly the type of slaves that Kael and the others had been searching for ever since coming to this black market. But they know fully well that with their current funds, there's no way for them to afford it.
However, at this moment, Edward owed them a huge favor, so it's now possible to get such high-value slaves. In fact, if Edward has a top-quality slave, they might even be able to negotiate their way to having it.
"You're free to pick whatever you want from this group of slaves. But you could also choose from those slaves we saw along the way here," Edward muttered before walking towards a carpeted floor with a sofa at the very center and sitting on it.
A man who seemed to be a butler suddenly appeared from the outside of the magic tent and gave Edward a cup and poured coffee inside before handing a book for him to read to pass the time while waiting for the decision of Kael and his group.
Kael, Lawrence, and Jayem didn't mind Edward as they agreed with each other to pick three slaves each. Their chosen three slaves would later become their personal assistants to help them with whatever task they intended to achieve in the future.
In order to get a good look at the slaves, Kael approached their cages starting from the entrance.
Observing them thoroughly, he couldn't help but appreciate Edward since the latter clearly didn't intend to cheat them because all of these slaves were truly of great quality. As much as he hates to admit it, he was slightly doubting earlier whether these were indeed all good slaves and not just a mix of good and bad.
Nevertheless, he still intends to follow his original goal of coming to this place, which was to find slaves with a mix of good bloodlines.
With such good-quality slaves, it wasn't that difficult to spot the slight uniqueness of another race from their species. They were simply a lot better compared to those bad-quality slaves from before, where he had to basically observe closely, like searching for gold on a sandy beach.
As he observed another particular lizard closely, which was similar to Grol, he quickly noticed a surprising trait.
"This one is a member of the lizard race that possesses the komodo dragon bloodline," Kael murmured under his breath.
The reason behind his claim was that, unlike Grol, who, despite possessing a bit of the drake bloodline, still only possesses a small physique. This member of the lizard race in front of him was bulky, huge, slightly taller than normal, and seemed to have developed huge muscle mass.
Although members of the lizard race could still become bulky and could develop a significant muscle mass, their figures are mostly balanced. Supposedly, if they're tall, their muscles would fit their tall figure. If they're fat, then their figure would adapt as well. That's just how their trait is.
However, this particular member of the lizard race possesses an out-of-proportion body. His forearms and shoulders were huge, and his entire legs were bulging with muscles, but his torso was slightly smaller in frame. He is more like a member of the crocodile race than the lizard race.
Seeing this beastman, he inwardly took note before proceeding to the other slaves.
About two minutes later, he found another unique slave.
This time, it was a Half Human, half Beastman, but the majority were human.
"A hybrid?" Kael tilted his head to look at the forearm and lower leg of the person.
Hybrids are the type of individual that is born from two completely different races. Unlike the mixed race, which is simply a mix of different beastmen members, hybrids are a mix of, say, a human and a beastman, or another race that shouldn't normally be partnered together, as they don't belong to the same species.
The beastman in front of him had talon-like claws that he could freely hide and show, and feathers protruded from his forearms and the lower part of his legs, with a bit around his neck clearly for protection. There were also three out-of-place feathers on his forehead that formed into a triangle shape. The pupils of his eyes were also different; it was rounder than usual, and instead of having a white sclera, they were yellow.
"An owl human hybrid?"
"This beastman is quite unique…"
Kael could already imagine the potential of a hybrid human that possesses only the good trait of a member of the owl race, particularly the claws, eyes, and a slight bit of armor made from feathers.
Normally, hybrids would end up becoming defective individuals, with only the worst traits of their particular bloodlines appearing on their bodies.
But whenever a hybrid with good traits appeared, its potential would always be considered at the top.
The reason is that they could tap into their bloodlines hidden potential and transform into a beast, unlike beastmen, which are only half man and half beast.
"Let's continue searching for more!" Kael decided to set that option aside for now and continue to search for other options, since there were still a considerable number of slaves to search.
After more than thirty minutes of searching, Kael finally finished his search. Other than the two earlier, his last pick was a gorilla dwarf hybrid.
It was another hybrid individual who possessed only the good traits of their gorilla race bloodline.
He was quite particular about this person since beastmen, who are members of the gorilla race, and dwarves are two famous races known for their strength and power.
If there's an individual who could coincidentally possess only the good traits of these two races, there's no doubt in his mind that they'll be even better craftsmen than ordinary dwarves.