A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 290 Strange Meat

"My head is spinning."

York woke up.

"I just fainted!"

York looked panicked when he heard the howling wind and rain all around him.

This is the sea, fraught with danger. Who knows when a slave-catching team might seize him? It's said that Old John from the next village died that way.

Without a second thought, York plunged into the water; he wanted to return to the seabed.

However, for some inexplicable reason, York brought a spherical object down with him.

Strangely enough, the spherical object that was originally floating with York sank with him, without any buoyancy whatsoever.

York soon returned to his farmland.

"What should we do?"

York was extremely distressed, feeling a sharp pain in his gills and a terrible headache.

The Nest Builder's spherical body opened up and transformed into a strange creature, resembling a pangolin but without skin, consisting only of flesh.

The nest builder began to eat the seaweed, and at the same time, he began to split off the first piece of fleshy moss.

"What is that?"

York showed no reaction to the nesters' voracious consumption of seaweed, instead turning its gaze to the fleshy moss.

"This is...red meat?"

Red meat mostly refers to the meat of land animals, which is rich in fat, while the meat of fish and other marine animals is mostly white meat.

Scarcity makes things valuable. Red meat from the mainland is a delicacy on the Red Grass Beach, since it's far from the mainland and there's only one island there. It's said that this island produces rare mainland goods specifically for noble lords.

York picked up the fleshy moss and ate a piece of it.

"This, this really is red meat!"

York's eyes were filled with ecstasy.

Then, he slapped himself hard across the face.

That tiny piece he just ate could have been sold for five gold bars!

Especially now that there is a shortage of supplies and everything is going up in price, these luxury items are even more expensive. They might even cost ten gold coins to buy.

The nest builders are eating voraciously, while simultaneously producing flesh-and-blood moss.

These fleshy mosses are teeming with scarlet virus; an ordinary person would be infected immediately if they took a bite.

However, now is not the time, so the infected will not immediately turn into monsters, but will slowly lie dormant until the moment Jiang Shuzhou needs them.

Infected individuals in the incubation period possess full self-awareness, but their cognition is distorted to some extent. They are very willing to share food filled with scarlet virus, while selectively ignoring certain abnormalities.

For example, York completely ignored the nesters in his field who were gorging on sea semen and producing flesh and blood moss.

"Haha, I've struck it rich! I've struck it rich!"

York was very excited, and an idea came to him: to share the red meat with his family, friends, and the farmers around him.

Of course, he also plans to sell some of them, after all, he still needs to settle his debts.

Soon, the generous York treated the entire village to red meat, and not only that, he also sold a large quantity to the city.

In the home of Viscount Chimis in Redgrass City.

A strange banquet is underway.

"Gentlemen, let us praise the merciful Viscount Chimis!"

"If it weren't for him, how would you lowly people ever be able to eat red meat?"

The butler talked on and on, and although he was somewhat left-brain dominant, the fishmen below showed no dissatisfaction.

Although they look down on them on one hand, they invite them to eat meat on the other. It would be foolish not to take advantage of such a good deal, especially meat that only nobles can afford.

"What are you doing!"

Viscount Chimis looked at the fishman who had secretly hidden food with disgust.

"Sir, I just wanted to bring some for my mother to eat..."

"Haha, good boy, go ahead, and take lots of things with you."

Viscount Chimis, who had previously looked cold and disgusted, suddenly broke into a bright smile upon hearing this, as if he had triggered some key word.

He was originally a mean-spirited person who liked to exploit the people under his rule, but he became like this after eating some red meat that he didn't know where it came from.

Such scenes can be found in every area of ​​Redgrass City.

The miser ate the flesh moss and became incredibly generous, hosting different people every day so that everyone could eat this red meat.

Subordinates give gifts to their superiors, but only these strange red meats.

After tasting the meat once, the quartermasters, eager to improve the soldiers' well-being, purchased large quantities of it, even paying out of their own pockets to return double the money they had embezzled.

In just one month, flesh moss became the best-selling product in this Red Grass City.

York also became a new millionaire in Redgrass City.

He began purchasing seaweed, seagrass, and other organic matter in large quantities. Countless carts pulled by fish and giant crabs brought in piles and piles of feed, while they left with cart after cart of fleshy moss.

The entire Redgrass City, as well as many nearby merfolk cities, were engulfed in a strange frenzy.

During this time, it wasn't that no one realized anything, but it was of no use, since they had no evidence.

A piece of meat, looking very ordinary, red, what else is suspicious about it besides the fact that it's meat of unknown origin?

Inside the church, sacred hymns echoed.

"You mean there's something wrong with this meat?"

Bishop Mocha looked at the judge before him.

"Yes, sir, my intuition tells me there's something wrong with this meat."

"What's the problem?"

"this……"

The judge couldn't answer.

"This meat was probably planted by those humans just to profit from our gold!"

"Anything else?"

Bishop Mocha continued to ask.

"Isn't this serious?"

"Is this serious?"

Bishop Mocha looked completely unconcerned.

"You're still too inexperienced."

Do you know how rich the ocean's resources are?

"We have vast gold mines, and we can extract huge amounts of gold every day. If we mint this gold into currency, it will be enough for us to buy a lot of land."

"It's a pity they won't sell, after all, those people on land also have a lot of gold reserves."

The judge was speechless for a moment.

"But I suspect there's poison in this meat!"

"No buts, do you have any evidence?"

"I remember you reported to me before that you had tested it yourself, didn't you? You tested it on slaves, didn't you?"

"I condescended to conduct tests on those slaves for your unrealistic fantasies, and the results were all perfectly normal. They had no poison in their bodies, and their health had even improved considerably. Tell me, what am I supposed to do now?"

"Without evidence, you're just making wild guesses. Get out of here! I don't want to see you again!"

Bishop Mocha made a decision he would regret for the rest of his life, a decision that would haunt him with remorse every time he thought about it.

He once had a chance to avert disaster, but he didn't cherish it. Only later, when the nightmare struck, did he realize his mistake.