Alex didn't believe that. The Crown Prince knew he didn't believe that as well.
He had already been told that this wasn't true, and this was in fact something that was a lie that was told since they didn't want the truth to come out.
As for what the truth was, Alex was looking forward to knowing it. He wanted to know if the players really did have anything to do with it, or if it in fact had everything to do with the Azure Dragon that died around the same time.
Alex was almost certain that was the reason more so than anything. The timing fit, although the reasoning did not.
Why would the beasts close their border?
Realizing that he was wasting his time trying to come up with an answer, he stopped wondering. He looked toward the prince who flew next to him.
"How many times have you been here, prince?" he asked.
"A few times, but not the long way," he said.
"The long way?" Alex gave a confused look. "Do you mean there was a shorter way than this?"
"A teleportation formation," the Crown Prince said. "There was one that linked this place directly to a location behind the capital that was only accessible to our family."
"However, when humans were no longer allowed, the formation was stopped effectively, cutting off our method of short travel to their lands," the prince explained.
"Ah, that would've been the perfect way to come here," Alex said. "I suppose this isn't bad either. I do get to see much of the Beast Paradise, which was my intention in coming here for anyway."
Alex started asking other questions, mostly about how far the jurisdiction of each colony went on for, if the beasts had absolute authority over their own colony, how the outside trade worked, etc.
Alex was given the answers directly.
The colonies were overall ruled by the laws made by the 7 Leaders. The 7 Leaders always came from 7 important families of beasts and were changed only when a leader no longer wanted to work, or when they were unable to.
It was not so different from the 10 council elders back in the Southern Continent.
The 7 Leaders maintained the same law in their own colony, but they were the only Leader when it came to it. If another leader came to that colony, except for certain scenarios, they would have to accept the other one's authority.
The trading system between the Beast Paradise and the humans was a weird one.
It wasn't a normal trade situation as every trade happened in bulk.
Before going to trade, each colony would provide the same amount of materials to the pile that would be traded. They did so every month for 5 months in a row.
The items they gave away included anything from a piece of shiny rock to their own fur and feathers. Anything a human would buy, they would give up for the trade.
Once everything was gathered, and all 7 colonies had provided equal worth of materials, they were taken to trade.
Over the course of the next few weeks, they would trade the items they had with the merchants. They would sell what they could, and what they couldn't, they threw away as waste as it wouldn't be sold.
The things that they would usually buy were talismans, cultivation and technique books for beasts, formation flags and plates, pills and pastes, and various other items that they liked.
Once the trade was done, the newly traded items were taken back to distribute amongst the crowd.
This happened once every six months, so the residents of the colony got excited every time the trade was done. After all, that meant that they finally got to see the things that they had gotten from the trade.
The things that were traded for were always a surprise to everyone but the ones that were involved, so it was a fun time for many.
The 7 Leaders sat down and distributed what they had gotten amongst everyone as they all reaped the benefits of the trade together.
"That's an interesting system," Alex said. "Did it start before the border was closed or after?"
"It's always been like that," the swan answered. "We are always in need of resources that aren't natural, so we've traded for it all the time."
"Hmm, do you not have beasts that came to do those things as well?" Alex asked.
"We do," the swan answered. "But they could never hope to be as good as the humans who started learning so much earlier than most of us could hope to. You can't teach something to most of the beasts as they wouldn't even be wise until they entered the Saint realm."
"Ah, yes. That is true," Alex said. He turned around toward the crown prince. "Speaking of trade, what exactly is it that you're looking for here, prince? Is it something that is not traded normally?"
"I'm afraid not," the prince said. "Your majesty might know this. It's a blood marrow from the limb of a 6-Eyed Deer."
"6 Eyed Deer's bone marrow you say?" Alex thought for a bit. He went through his mind to see what that was.
Unlike plants, the beast half of the information in his mind wasn't so easily accessible. He had to give himself a bit of time to think through before he found what he was looking for.
The bone marrow of the 6-Eyed Deer had a heavy Wood aura, on top of having a blood aura in it. If used properly, it was capable of producing a lot of energy that was useful for the growth of something.
"Are you trying to grow something? Or maybe heal it?" Alex asked.
The Crown Prince stared at Alex with an absolutely shocked look. "How… how did you know?" he asked.
"There is no other need for the blood marrow but in something that could aid another thing to grow. I guessed what it was based on that," Alex said.
"Wow, you truly are incredible at this, your majesty," the Crown Prince said. "Yes, I am indeed trying to find it for a similar reason. Well, it's my fiancee that needs it. I simply came to find it."
"Ah, lady Luoyang. But why?" Alex asked. "There are hundreds of pills that heal people already."
"It's not really to make a pill that heals people, but rather to create a new pill from scratch," he said. "This is her way of trying to take a step closer to the 10th Level which requires one to make their own pill."
"Ah! That makes sense," Alex said. "Lady Luoyang decided to go with a healing pill huh? Is it accepted even if the pill make isn't very useful?"
"It's only the success in making a new pill that matters, not the pill itself. She's made many Common and True pills, and now she's trying her hands at a Saint pill."
"If she succeeds, she would be half of the way through to the final Level as an alchemist," the Crown Prince said. "After that, all she will require to reach Level 10 is to learn how to make 90% pills."
"Then, the Eastern Continent will have 2 Level 10 Alchemists."
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