[NR] The Essence - Chapter 753

Jason laughs, “Why is the merchants guild allowed to exist in NeoRealm? Why hasn’t the System disbanded what would be an illegal cartel irl? Simple enough. While I don’t have any sources, I’d be surprised if my guesses are far off.

“One! Convenience for the players. The System can regulate the prices as a literal invisible hand and so doesn’t have to worry about some place starving because all their food production is being sold. As happened numerous times irl. Which means a worldwide organization to handle commerce is all upside for the players in the same way the universal bank is. Except the System can offload the merchants to the locals because it doesn’t directly connect outside of the game. Unlike the bank.

“And Two! It causes conflict for the players to stick their noses into and profit from. Not only does this give players something to fight that isn’t quite as bad. There would be quite a bit of backlash if a worldwide slavery guild was allowed. Their presence also makes the gaps in the market wide enough the black markets and smuggling operations are very developed. So yeah, if a player wants to play at that sort of thing, it is an option.”

Courtney nods, “There is more to it than what he said, but that is the top-level view of the situation.”

Jason, “Hmm, nice to know I wasn’t off base. Still leaves finding out what we’re moving.”

Courtney, “Ah, right. We’ll be transporting liquid essence. Which before you ask, isn’t a new power or some such. Rather, certain monsters in the Deep Wilds can manifest Mana or Qi as a physical material. Not as in water saturated with Mana, but actual Mana being physically present. I guess there might also be Energy essence? Though if it exists, it’s super rare.

“Anyway, there aren’t actually that many uses for the stuff and none of the monsters are ever packing more than a tiny bit of essence to begin with. However, one of the few uses is to power certain unique magical devices. They aren’t critical to anything and don’t use much essence, thus the low price for the stuff. 

“Honestly, the kingdom likely wouldn’t bother at all, except the devices are a quality of life thing. In particular, one of the magitech devices acts as a scent neutralizer.”

Rosha nods, “Yeah, I could see some noble wanting that.”

Courtney shakes her head, “No, these don’t work on a personal scale. This is the sort of thing where a single device covers an entire city’s sewer system. For personal stuff, you just use spells and techniques. In particular, butlers and maids are known for their skill with such things. Though mostly the spells because when using Qi, it is either personal only or requires quite a bit of skinship to work, given Qi’s range limitations.”

Rosha’s eyes are wide, “It does that? Why isn’t magic essence worth a ton? Nobles would pay through the nose to neutralize scent in their homes!”

Jason shakes his head, “It can’t be that simple. I’m guessing limitations break it?”

Courtney nods, “For one, it only works on that scale. You can’t make it work on a single mansion, no matter how palatial. Of course, that would normally just mean the nobles would have their own centralized area where they have the device covering all of their homes. Except for one final detail. It doesn’t discriminate. The device neutralizes ALL scents, good and bad.

“Perfumes and flowers? Fresh linen? Your family? And of course the worst of all, a well-cooked meal? All those scents are gone as well. So yeah, they set the devices up to cover the sewers because no one is supposed to live there and so a complete and utter lack of any scents is perfectly fine.”

Jason, “Yeah, that would do it.”

Rosha sighs, “That sucks as a limitation. Why don’t they use some other method? I’m sure you could enchant or do a ritual with such an effect that only covers the unpleasant smells.”

Jason laughs, “And what is a ‘bad’ smell? Oh sure, there is a reason to cover the sewers, but other scents aren’t automatically bad.”

Courtney shakes her head, “It isn’t that, because if you could target the device like that, then whoever is in control of it can simply put in their preferences. No, the problem is that scents are oddly hard to manage with magic. You can set up filters and such, but that will require regular Mana to run and won’t be cheap.

“These devices are only worthwhile because the Mana essence somehow can target scents in a way regular magic can’t. Though regular spells can do a decent job of removing a smell from someone. It is simply that once the smell is in the air, magic fails.”

Rosha, “Huh, that’s an interesting limit. You would think wind magic would have a solution.”

Jason, “I’m more surprised that a physical manifestation of Mana has so few uses.”

Courtney snorts, “Do you put a giant single crystal of sugar on a dessert or do you sprinkle powdered sugar? Like, sure, you can go through the effort to re-‘powder’ the essence, but why bother? The air around you already has enough Mana and if you need more? Well, you store the Mana as is, so you can just grab what you want and use it right away.

“Now, we’re going to be carrying two packs of Mana essence and one half-pack of Qi essence. I’m thinking me and Rosha carry the Mana essence packs and Jason, you can take the Qi since you’re out front-line fighter.”

Jason, “How heavy is it?”

Courtney shrugs, “Unnaturally light. The problem comes more from space taken up, than weight. It’s like trying to transport a pillow, except you can’t just vacuum seal it. Essence is very inconvenient in that it doesn’t compress well. Similar to water in that way.”

Rosha nods, “In that case, that sounds fine. When are we leaving?”

Courtney snorts, “They want us gone sooner than later, so now if possible. Did either of you leave something you need back at the clearing?”

The other two shake their heads.

Courtney shrugs, “Then I guess we’re good to go. Oh, and I see that look, Jason. Don’t worry, they will send a patrol down the road at least once a week to check up on the clearing. Make sure nothing tries to claim it or anything.”