Youth Retaining Magic

There was dead silence in the room. He seemed to realize he wasn't wearing any clothing, then noticed Lila, and he quickly covered himself.

"I'll be going now."

He spun around and took off back in the direction of his apartment.

I finished my paper and gave it to Herbert when Jhon returned, thankfully wearing clothes this time.

Herbert looked at Jhon raising an eyebrow, "So? How is it?"

Jhon grinned, "I feel so good, even though I know I can't do as much as I feel like I can, the effect is still amazing!"

It's normal for a mortal with no cultivation to feel like superman from a sudden increase, even if it's only a minuscule increase. Especially an old guy as an increase in cultivation is and increase in vitality also.

I nodded, "That's from a sudden increase; the vast majority will wear off after some time, but there is still a permanent increase."

Herbert wanted to know more, "Is there a decrease in effectiveness?"

"No, but it's an even exchange, so if you're getting tired and put in less, it will feel like you got less out."

They seemed to understand what I meant, and Jhon spoke up, "How much are you selling the magic for?"

I could tell he was already sold and wanted to buy, "I'll apply the magic for a fee, but I won't sell it. I was thinking 10 high-grade stones or the equivalent in lower grades. For you, though, I'll apply it once for free if you promise to advertise."

He choked at the price but slowly started nodding, "You have a deal, and I think that if you have a sample for people, they will find a way to scrape together the cost. Hehe, old wizard, I'm in luck you invited me here today."

Then he looked slightly suspicious, "What exactly does applying the magic entail?"

I shook my head knowing he was worried about being cuckolded if he had it applied to someone important to him, "Nothing like that, it's just some memorization and a specific circulation of mana. However, that does bring up a point; I should have Elaria teach it rather than me to dispel any concerns."

He nodded, "Alright, then I'll have someone come over for it to be applied to. It'll take a day or 2 though."

He pulled out a communication artifact and told someone to send someone to the magic tower in Ironguard.

I nudged Lila, "Would you please go fetch Karen?"

When she returned with Karen in tow, I had a question for Herbert.

"Is there a place to put her in the tower where prospective buyers can go for sampling?"

He thought for a moment and nodded, "There is. You should assign someone to take care of her and make sure she's prepared on time every day. You should also ensure whoever comes is serious about buying, make sure they have the crystals; the person assigned can take care of that also."

"What do you want the magic tower to receive for it's part?"

He waved dismissively, "You're the next tower master, consider it part of training. Just cover the salary of whoever deals with her; I'm sure you can pick your person selectively and work something out so the cost isn't very much."

I understood what he meant; pick someone who would like to get free vitality as part of their salary.

"Do you have anyone good in mind?"

"Check with the first floor manager; the main receptionist needs a promotion anyway and has the skills to fill his place."

I was about to go check out the room he said I could put Karen when my ring activated, a voice sounded in my mind, "Master, I'm back. I hope you have more gold though; I got the sellers at the slave market and the property I found to hold them for 24 hours."

"Come up and bring the first floor manager with you."

"Yes, Master."

Soon they arrived and came through the doors of the office.

"Master, I've brought him."

He bowed, "Hello, Tower Master, future Tower Master, and Earl Jhon."

He straightened up and scanned the room; when his eyes landed on Karen, he quickly looked away but didn't ask questions about why there was a partly naked woman in the room.

I grabbed the paper I drew before explaining vitality and gave it to him, "Would you like a new position where you can increase your vitality as part of the salary?"

He looked at the paper, "Yes? Probably, what does it entail?"

I pointed my thumb over my shoulder at Karen, "She'll take you somewhere and show you part of it."

Looking over my shoulder at her, I gave instructions, "Take him to another apartment and explain what he needs to do to increase his vitality."

She left, and he followed behind.

Next, I had to deal with the money issue. I still had 31 high-grade monster corpses I could sell.

"Herbert, I have some high-grade monster corpses; does the magic tower buy them?"

He nodded, "Yes, if you sell them directly to us, we'll buy them for more than the guild will and less than we have to buy them for, this gives a good deal to both parties. Let's go to the materials processing room and see what you've got."

We descended to the artifact refining floor and entered a large room where there were many monster corpses and people working on cutting them up.

Herbert waved for a man that looked like the supervisor to come over and follow us.

We went to an empty place in the room, and I started pulling them out of the inventory.

I wasn't worried about it being unusual, as there were storage artifacts in this world.

After a few minutes, I laid them out in a row for the guy to see.

"How much can I sell all these to you for?"

He took out a notebook and started examining the condition of each monster, noting things down.

After about 15 minutes of waiting, he came over, "I can give you 6,500 for all of them. Some of them aren't in the best condition, while most are in good condition. When hunting next time, try to make as few marks as possible."

I glanced at a few of them that were nearly shredded, "I'll do that next time."

He gave me the gold, which I handed to Elaria as we went back up, "Is this enough?"

"Yes, Master, it's plenty."

We reached the top floor again, and I saw the manager seated inside the office with Karen off to the side.

He jumped up and nearly ran towards us, "I want the job!"

"Well okay, then how much do you need in pay besides some vitality?"

He looked happy, "How does 6 gold a month sound?"

I thought he would ask for more; apparently, he really wanted the job.

"Sounds good to me. Elaria, take them to the room they will be staying in and prepare the necessary things. Then finish what you started earlier."

"Yes, Master."

"Karen, follow my instructions first and theirs second."

They left, and I thought about what to do next.

I looked at Herbert, "I'm not 100% sure what to do next. Should I wait for Elaria to finish getting the brothel ready, or should I start posting flyers? Or do you want to test her first?"

He smiled, "I'm glad you still think of this old man; why don't you get flyers ready to be posted, and I'll go for a test. I have to see this miracle magic for myself, although I believe Jhon."

I took a paper from the desk while he took the elevator down.

I had to start off with a title that people in this world would understand at a glance.

I looked at Jhon, "Do you have any suggestions for a good understandable title?"

"Look younger, feel younger, no... magic of youth retaining, or Youth Retaining Magic."

That sounds good; I wrote it in big print at the top and gave a small overview underneath. I also provided a smaller version of the picture I made before, as well as information that they could sample it as long as they provided proof they had the funds upfront and other conditions that they could contact the magic tower about.

There was also a section about the brothel that was expected to open soon and where it would be located.

I passed it to Jhon as he was more familiar with what the nobles were like.

He added a few words to the section about proof of funds that would require them to bring physical funds and not rely on reputation as a noble. Yet he did it in a way that didn't sound offensive.

After the flyer was finished, I used magic to duplicate it many times over.

My ring activated for Elaria, "Master, good news, I have acquired everything you asked for except someone who would make a good maid."

"I'll meet you at the property."

"Yes, Master."

I patted Lila's stomach, who was laying with her head in my lap, "Let's go meet Elaria."

She sat up, and we left the magic tower; Jhon apparently decided to tag along and I had no problem with that.

When we arrived at the building, I saw Elaria had once again found a great place; it had a large open first floor with many individual rooms on the floors above around the edges, all the doors of which could be seen from the first floor.

I saw about 2 dozen beautiful women of different races, but no dwarves, standing over to the side waiting for instructions.

I gave Elaria the book containing the technique, "Take them into a room, make sure they learn it and make the necessary oaths."

I toured the floors; I think this place must have been a large inn, the first floor was open in the middle with rooms on one side and a dining room on the opposite, a kitchen and staff quarters in the back.

Elaria was having a bar built near the restaurant area and the tables switched for something more appropriate. They also started removing all the doors to the rooms and replacing them with curtains.

The 2nd and 3rd floors were open in the middle, and you could see the first floor over the railings, rooms ran all the way around the outside.

I went back into the staff quarters and made a clothes rack, filling it with all types of appropriate women's clothing for the job.

Then I wasn't sure what else to do and sat down on a chair that used to be behind the now removed front desk. The workers she hired were really fast.

After about an hour, Elaria led the girls back out of the room, apparently finished.

"Master, they're done."

"There are clothing in the staff quarters; get them changed then find someone to make sure they actually learned it, use the workers you hired if nothing else. Also find a manager for this place, if there's a good candidate among the girls you bought, use them if you want. I'll go find someone to make a signboard."

"I already did, Master; I just wasn't sure what to have him make it say."

"Vitality Oasis: Youth Retaining Magic."