With the sounds of screams and squishy flesh filling the air, Cashew is not paying attention to what is happening at all. More Focused on the Crystalized Mont Carcass and how to extract the crystals, poking the crystals with the Dadger.
Cashew: Stone Golem! If they start to flee, don't bother chasing them, maybe they will leave us alone after realizing that they are walking into death each time they come here.
Cashew said that loud enough for the remaining guards to hear, there were only 13 remaining, the rest were lying on the ground, motionless, the heads and faces beaten beyond recognition, as well as a few joints bending in ways they aren't supposed to.
Realizing that they can't do anything with the Stone Golem around, the young looking guard with blonde hair ordered a retreat, not wanting to lose anymore men.
Guard: Don't think you've won, little man!
He launched one last insult at Cashew before he fled with all of his remaining guards, thankful that the Stone troll isn't following.
Cashew stepped away from the Crystalized Mont carcass and took a few steps towards where the guards were fleeing, raising his voice to shout something to them.
Cashew: I remember Rognil saying that if the Military loses the border, all of you would be the last stand keeping the Nation of Drembord out of the country. Are you sure you all wanna throw your lives away trying to catch me when the Villages other side could have a literal army knocking on its door any day now?
Guard: THATS ALL THE MORE REASON FOR YOU TO SURRENDER YOURSELF, LITTLE MAN!
The guard shouted over his shoulder as he ran down the thin and old dirt road. But in the back of his mind, he knew that Cashew was right, they don't know what the Front lines look like, we could be losing badly and have to defend against a literal army soon. Should we really be throwing away lives trying to arrest a brat?
Cashew heard what the guard said and sighed.
Cashew: I hope your superiors are smarter than you and realize the stupidity in continuing to come after me when you got a bigger threat on the other side. Feel free to come collect these bodies, I don't want them.
Cashew turned his attention back to the Crystalized Mont carcass, unsure on how to get the crystals out.
Cashew: I could just break them, but what if that lowers the value? Dammit... I need to go visit the old man. I got 11 Silver coins, if I sell all the Crystals I got from the fight, assuming the price is the same and applying lower value based on size... I could get 800 copper coins to 1 Silver coin for all of the small crystals. That should give me at least 20 Silver coins. With 20 Silver coins, I can turn the big Crystal into an Orb. Apparently it's possible to have a Pocket dimension within an Orb, and with that Pocket dimension, I can transfer the carcass to the old man and let him deal with getting the crystals out... It's cruel to make him travel up here.
Cashew went inside the cabin and pulled a key out, opening his chest, pulling the Wolf pelt shoulder bag and taking his big Crystal out, he then emptied the dragon scales into that bag and put it back in the chest. Cashew also shoved all of his books except for the blank notebook into the chest as well, closing it and locking it, Cashew also took out the dragon meat slices and put it with the regular animal carcasses in the corner of the room, shoving his giant crystal into the shoulder bag and rushing outside, grabbing his New Cloak as well.
Cashew: Stone Golem, protect the Carcass. Do not let anyone take it. It the guards come back see what they do before attacking. Let them collect their dead if that's what they are here for, but don't let anyone in the house or near the carcass.
Cashew threw his cloak over and covered himself with it, he's right. It is too long and drags on the ground as he walks, he put the hood over his head and tried to neatly fold the top of the cloak in a way to make it shorter, holding it in that position with his hands as he walked down the road towards the village.
Reaching the village gate, Cashew noticed that it's rather crowded at the moment, all of the guards his Stone Golem were beating are stuck at the gate, villagers and other guards surrounding them, asking Questions.
Villager #1: Where is the kid? Did you kill him instead of arresting him?
Villager #2: Where is my Son? He left with you, right? Please tell me he didn't sleep in like he always does...
Villager #3: My husband, where is my Husband? Our son is desperate to hear tales of his father's bravery!
Villager #4: Why are some of you bloody with depressed looks on your faces?
"Seriously? I'm a kid and they are acting like I'm the reincarnation of Satan himself. Does this world even have a Satan?" Cashew thought to himself as he rolled his eyes, sneaking past the crowd and heading towards the Merchant Shop with a Pink Door.
Even though Cashew had a Cloak covering his entire body, he was still getting cautious glances from any people he passed by, but he couldn't tell if they recognized him or just had a feeling on who he was.
Finally reaching the Merchant with the Pink Door, he swiftly entered and shut the door behind him, lowering his hood and showing his face to the Store Owner.
Store Owner: Oh no, not the little shit again. If people knew you were in here, I'd be forced to shut down!
Cashew: I'm here for the Old Man.
Store Owner: Oh fuck you! You're never here for me and my goods!
Cashew: Depending on how much money I make and have left over, I will buy some stuff from you as there are things I forgot last time.
Store Owner: Please, take your time! Be sure to buy as much as you can afford!
Cashew: I'm visiting the Old Man first.
Store Owner: Fuck you!
Cashew went to the basement door and entered, announcing his presence for the Old Man to hear.
Old Man: The trouble maker is here. What is it this time?
Cashew approached the Old Man, who was still sitting in his chair with a blanket on his lap and pulled out all 12 Crystals he got from his fight against the Crystalized Mont.
The Old Man took each Crystal and examined them closely.
Old Man: 3 Silver Coins for the big one and 300 Copper Coins per small one.
Cashew: huh? Only 300?
Old Man: They are too small to be used in Mana Crystals or as Catalysts. The best they could be used for is enchanting.
Cashew: Enchanting? What?
Old Man: *Sigh* You know nothing, huh?... Enchanting is the process of applying spells to items. You enchant a spell into a Crystal, usually a small one like what you gave me, you then apply that enchanted crystal to a weapon or armor or summon and then that spell you enchanted into the Crystal can be used whenever you want, without the need to spend your own Mana on it.
Cashew: Oh. Sounds simple, but why small crystals?
Old Man: Imagine trying to apply a large Crystal to a sword for example. Small crystals retain the ability to hold spells and Mana to use those spells while also not throwing off the weight of a weapon or taking up too much space. Plus, small crystals have the ability to regenerate their own Mana.
Cashew: Big Crystals don't?
Old Man: they do, but the regeneration is negligible. When a Crystalized Mont is growing Crystals on its back, it will dedicate less Mana towards the big ones and more Mana towards the small ones. The crystals sole purpose in the eyes of a Crystalized Mont is to assist it in a fight, then be fertilized to turn into babies. Once it discards a Crystal, it's not taking it back, so it will spend more Mana trying to make the smaller ones bigger. In the case of discarding small ones, chances are the creature in question was a juvenile and unable to control which ones are discarded. Although to be fair, most Crystalized Mont's don't live past the juvenile stage, thanks to humans, Elves, and other large monsters that benefit from their crystals. The crystals will retain the Mana regeneration after being discarded if they are left alone, absorbing Mana from whatever source it can at the same pace the Crystalized Mont was pumping Mana into it.
Cashew Sighed, not taking in all of the information the Old Man threw at him, but deciding to read about it later in the Encyclopedia he bought. Instead, Cashew pulled out the big Crystal he had and put it on the table next to the Old Man.
Cashew: Old Man. I killed a Crystalized Mont recently and kept it's carcass. I wanna harvest the crystals it has on its back, but I don't know how. You said the Orb can have a Pocket dimension inside it, so I want you to make this crystal into an Orb so I can bring the Crystalized Mont carcass to you for harvesting. You said 300 copper coins for each small crystal? 11 of them, 3 Silver Coins and 300 Copper coins, including the big one, it's 6 Silver Coins of profit. Throw in the 11 Silver coins from yesterday and I have... 17 silver coins... And still not enough... I should have done the math in my head first.
The Old Man laughed.
Old Man: Kid, Old Wizards like to gatekeep Orbs. Not let young people have them, there is a reason. It takes decades, centuries, even to get all the benefits of an Orb. Even if you had enough Coin, you wouldn't be able to grow a Pocket dimension into the Orb within a day. And even if by some miracle, you could. That carcass is useless. The crystals? The Crystalized Mont stopped supplying Mana to the crystals when you killed it, so the crystals won't regenerate any Mana, instantly taking away 40% of its value. The bigger ones might still have some value, since the Mana Regeneration is so bad on those, but good luck getting the crystals out. They will break if you try, taking away all the value they had. The only value that carcass has is the meat, but the meat is terrible, even the slums would think twice before eating the meat of a Crystalized Mont. Plus, the creature is humanoid. Not very humanoid, but humanoid enough to make people not wanna eat it. The hide might be worth something, though, depending on how damaged it is.
Cashew had a complicated look on his face, he was upset that the carcass is worth next to nothing and he wasted the effort of bringing the carcass back, he's also upset that the Orb has no immediate value to him.
Cashew: How much could I sell the big Crystal for, then?
Old Man: I can't afford it. You'd easily make 250 Silver coins minimum off that big one, I don't have 250 Silver Coins. If you wanna sell it, then you're better off heading to Ravill and trying to sell it there.
Cashew: Maybe it would be good to get into an Orb at a young age, then?... Practice it now instead of waiting until I'm 500 years old and have nothing better to do with my time... I'll keep the Crystal and have you turn it into an Orb when I can afford it.