I didn't plan on taking that warning seriously though since it was better to ask forgiveness than permission. If I could either act or tattle naturally I would act instead. After lunch Terry went off to go find Mike while I myself headed back to the library. I found my spot unoccupied and sat back down but didn't grab a new book but opened my contacts and spent the fifty coins to open a channel to Rockwell. The world greyed out around me as all the subtle sounds of the library were quieted and a white screen appeared in front of me that soon shimmered to show me Rockwell.-
He was sweating and seemed to be surrounded by dark rock and what looked like large sticks gathered together in a rough bowl shape.
"This isn't a great time!" he hissed looking around warily.
I felt my eyebrow twitch "Yes I can see that. I might be wrong but you appear to be in the Wyvern trench, in a nest no less." I said almost in awe at the sheer suicidal urge that surely must have overcome his mind to even dare come near here.
"Yes! Now go away before you get me caught!" he said nervously.
"You do realize time is stopped while the contact window is open right?" I asked with a slight chuckle as he froze.
"How on earth? Forget it. What do you want?" he asked relaxing slightly now that he understood he was fairly safe.
"A few things actually. The first is to apologize for vanishing for so long. As you can see I got injured fairly severely due to my own carelessness and was laid up for most of this time. The second is because I happened to have obtained a few items that I believe you'd find useful." I said honestly.
"Hmm, I was wondering about the bandages and eye covering. As you can see however this isn't the best place to talk business. Give me a few minutes to escape the beasts of this trench and I would be more receptive to such things." he said helplessly.
"Very well then, here are some coins. You merely need to hold them and think of my full name to open a contact with me from your end. Take your time, I need you alive and well to trade after all." I said sending him fifty coins before ending the contact and getting up to grab another book.
This time it was a book on potions that I immediately realized was of a higher year. I stubbornly chose to it read anyways since even if it was a rather high leap of logic in some parts I could still learn from referencing this with what I already knew. For example this book had a recipe for a potion of flesh mending that shared many ingredients and brewing requirements with the weaker but more common Wiggenweld potion.-
Despite this however the description of the potions effects made it obvious it was a far superior choice between the two. The problem was that to brew it successfully you needed much more refined heat control and understanding of timing. A couple of it's ingredients were also on the slightly more valuable side of things such as mandrake juice and dragons blood. The blood was easy enough to get as the dragons in reserves were regularly bled a small amount for sale but mandrake juice was much pricier. The strange screaming plants were hard to grow to maturity as they literally got up out of pots if they were dissatisfied with their environment and ran away to who knows where.-
This as a result meant unless carefully watched or tended by a master ones product literally left you with nothing to show for your effort. The seeds were quite expensive for this reason and the juice from mature mandrakes sold for twenty galleons an ounce. As I was carefully making comparisons between this recipe and the one for wiggenweld the world greyed out and a screen appeared with Rockwell on it.-
"Apologies for the delay. One of the beasts turned out to be a bit trickier than expected to lose." He said as he dabbed his forehead with a cloth to get rid of his cooling sweat.
"Not a problem, was only doing some light studying while I waited anyways." I said waving it off.
"Now then I believe you mentioned having some items you believed might interest me?" he said curiously.
I smiled "Indeed! First is a moke skin bag with an expanded space of about ten feet in diameter. All items put in this bag weigh nothing and take up no more space than the bag itself on your person." I said as I took out the brown leather satchel bag to show him.
"Incredible! With something like that I could collect more specimens and even perhaps bring my equipment with me instead of having to start anew or take many days to move everything to the new site!" he said with a an excited expression.
"My thoughts precisely. The next item I have is a hat of ignorance. Despite that less than stellar sounding name this hat allows whoever is wearing it slip past the perception of others. Not invisibility mind you but unless someone is specifically looking for you with it on their perception will just slip right over you like they fail to register your presence. Once more an incredible tool for you that must regularly sneak around beasts for your research." I said grandly describing the items I had found in the ROR.