Chapter 31: The Magic Crystal Mine
"Yes, team leader." The young man suppressed his excitement and patiently continued surveying the surrounding area.
"There's some here too." The team leader's eyes lit up.
"Team leader, I've found magic crystals here too." The young man named Kaya, a hundred meters away, was incredibly excited. The team leader looked around, then immediately ran over to his subordinate, breathing heavily with excitement: "Kaya, it's obvious—this is a magic crystal mine. Just what we've discovered spans several hundred meters. A magic crystal mine this large is extremely rare in the entire Yulan continent."
Kaya nodded repeatedly.
Magic crystals—a single bag of magic crystals was worth thousands of times more than a bag of gold. It was an absolute windfall of immense proportions.
Kaya looked at his team leader, then glanced around to see no one else, and immediately lowered his voice: "Team leader, we've hit the jackpot. Just the several-hundred-meter stretch of magic crystal mine we've detected is worth hundreds of millions of gold coins, maybe even more."
The team leader, who specialized in geological surveys, could naturally calculate the rough figure.
"Kaya, what are you trying to say?" The team leader had already seen the greed in Kaya's eyes.
Kaya, barely containing his excitement, quickly said: "Team leader, think about it... how much do we make in a year surveying geology? Now, if we keep this quiet and don't tell anyone, we can secretly dig up a bag, sell it, and become filthy rich! With this magic crystal mine, we could become some of the wealthiest people on the Yulan continent!"
As he thought about it, Kaya grew even more excited.
There was no helping it—magic crystals were a hard currency with countless channels for sale. Even the lowest-grade magic crystal was worth ten gold coins apiece. The value of magic crystals was unimaginable.
"Kaya, calm down. You need money, but you also need to live to spend it." Just as Kaya's head was heating up, the team leader's words were like a bucket of cold water dumped on him in the middle of summer. Kaya shuddered and looked at his team leader: "Team leader, what do you mean by that?"
The team leader said seriously: "You should know how strict our geological survey department is. Those higher-ups are worried that we might discover valuable mineral veins and secretly embezzle them. The kingdom is very harsh when it comes to monitoring us in this regard."
Kaya sneered dismissively: "Team leader, what's there to fear? Sure, there's monitoring, but we can just grab our haul and leave, never going back."
"You're still too young," the team leader scolded. "You should know that every day, which area we survey is recorded by the department. If we suddenly disappear, they'll definitely check this area. Then they'll find this magic crystal mine."
"Second..." The team leader looked at Kaya seriously, "The kingdom has no shortage of experts. Once the kingdom discovers what we've done, they'll hunt us down, and our families will likely be implicated as well."
Kaya suddenly remembered. His team leader did have a good family in Baruch City.
But he, Kaya, was different. His parents had died long ago during the war. He was alone, unmarried, with no attachments. Kaya was confident... he could take a fortune and live like a king from then on.
"Kaya." The team leader looked at him. "If we report this to the department, they'll reward us for discovering this mine."
"How much reward could they give?" Kaya snorted. "Ten thousand gold coins would be a lot."
Actually, ten thousand gold coins was no small amount. An average family spent only a few dozen gold coins a year. Ten thousand gold coins could support an ordinary family for a century. But to live a life of luxury... ten thousand gold coins really wasn't much.
"Not necessarily. It depends on the size of the magic crystal mine. If it's large, they might give us tens of thousands, or even a hundred thousand gold coins," the team leader urged. "Kaya, the money the kingdom gives us, we can spend with peace of mind, and we won't have to leave our homeland."
Kaya looked at the magic crystals in the pit below, then at his team leader. After a fierce internal struggle, he nodded.
The team leader finally showed a faint smile.
He thought of his wife and three children. He really didn't want his children to have to flee with him.
Just then, a sharp dagger suddenly stabbed toward the team leader. Kaya's eyes flashed with madness: "Die—" But just as the sharp dagger was about to pierce the team leader, it could go no further.
Because his hand had been caught by the team leader.
Kaya's face changed drastically.
The team leader glared at him, and with a twist of his hand, a "crack!" sounded as Kaya's wrist bone snapped. Kaya screamed in agony and swung his left hand at the team leader. But unfortunately—he was only a level-three warrior, while the team leader was level five.
The gap was too great.
"Bang!"
With a simple punch, the team leader struck Kaya square in the chest. The sound of bones breaking rang out, and Kaya was sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground. His chest was caved in, and blood bubbled from his mouth.
"You..." Life was rapidly draining from Kaya's body. He was filled with unwillingness... he had attacked from so close, yet he was caught. The other party had clearly been on guard.
The team leader sighed as he looked at him: "Kaya, if I were twenty years younger, with no ties, I might have made the same choice as you—take a fortune and flee to a distant land, becoming a wealthy man. So I completely understand what you're thinking right now."
The team leader had guessed Kaya would try to ambush him, so he had been on constant alert, circulating his internal battle qi.
After hearing this, Kaya's eyes dimmed, and all life faded from them.
Looking at Kaya's corpse, the team leader shook his head and sighed softly. But he wasn't bothered. When he was young, the Baruch Kingdom hadn't yet been established. He had seen plenty of killing and had done plenty himself. Too many people had thrown away their lives trying to rise above others.
The team leader quickly covered the pit with dirt, then immediately rushed at top speed toward the nearby city of Mud Seal.
******
The Baruch Kingdom. News of the discovery of a magic crystal mine on the outskirts of the small city of Mud Seal quickly reached the capital. Troops were stationed around the mine, forbidding anyone from approaching, awaiting orders from the capital.
Black Crow Mountain.
Woton dashed swiftly along the mountain path, through dense forests, following the stream until he reached Linley's training spot.
"Big brother." Woton called out from a distance.
Linley, who had been sitting cross-legged in quiet meditation in front of the stone house on the lake's center, opened his eyes. Seeing Woton, he smiled: "Woton, what's the matter? You seem in such a hurry."
"Big brother, come with me," Woton said quickly.
"What's the big deal, little Woton?" Bebe popped out from the forest nearby.
Woton explained in detail: "Big brother, our people discovered a large magic crystal mine about three hundred miles to the east. The mine we've found so far spans at least a thousand meters. That's just the surface layer. How big it really is... we don't know yet. But even if it's just a thousand meters, it's probably worth tens of billions of gold coins."
"Oh?" Linley was startled. "A magic crystal mine that big?"
Unlike iron or copper mines, magic crystal mines usually formed over countless years as elemental energy accumulated and condensed. Some magic crystal mines were only a few dozen meters across.
"Let's go, big brother," Woton urged.
"Alright, let's go together." As soon as Linley spoke, Bebe immediately chimed in, "I'm coming too."
Woton grinned: "Bebe, if you're coming, I won't need to transform to fly." At level nine, Woton couldn't fly without transforming, but transforming would tear his clothes.
"Fine." Bebe was straightforward.
Bebe immediately grew in size, then carried Woton on his back as he and Linley flew east at top speed. At Linley and Bebe's current flying speed, three hundred miles was nothing more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
"It's down there." Woton pointed to a large area below, heavily guarded by troops.
Linley nodded slightly, and the two of them, along with the magical beast, descended. Seeing people flying in, the soldiers didn't dare act rashly. The officer in charge immediately ran over. Unfortunately, this battalion commander had never seen Woton before.
"Are you... Lord Linley?"
Seeing Bebe shrink and hop onto Linley's shoulder, many soldiers gasped. A black, saint-level rodent-type magical beast had practically become Linley's trademark. As the most legendary figure and spiritual pillar of the entire Baruch Kingdom, Linley's influence was immense.
"Yes, I'm Linley. This is Woton, your king," Linley said with a faint smile.
Woton helplessly extended his arm, and green dragon scales emerged from his skin. That was more convincing than any words. Dragonblood warrior transformation... only members of the Baruch family could do it.
"Greetings, Your Majesty! Greetings, Lord Linley!"
A thunderous shout rang out.
Woton said calmly, "Alright, stay on guard here. My brother and I will survey the area."
"Yes." The soldiers stood at attention, chests out and backs straight, each wanting to show their best side before the king and the legendary saint-level powerhouse Linley. Linley had already begun to spread his spiritual energy.
Woton simply watched Linley.
"So big."
As soon as Linley probed, he was shocked. Although spiritual energy could easily penetrate solid matter, moving through it consumed far more energy than moving through air. For example, spreading mental energy through the air could cover ten miles.
But through solid matter, it could barely cover one mile.
"Big brother, what's wrong?" Woton whispered.
Linley grinned at him: "It seems... I need to be a bit more serious."
Woton was stunned.
He immediately understood what Linley meant... this magic crystal mine was so large that Linley's casually dispersed spiritual energy couldn't fully probe it.
"My brother's mental energy range is very wide, even underground. Just how big is this magic crystal mine?" Woton was shocked.
Linley, meanwhile, was fully unleashing his mental energy.
Spreading mental energy was very draining. Unless there was a special reason, experts generally didn't spread their mental energy over a wide area.
Finally...
Linley fully explored this terrifying magic crystal mine.
"Incredible. An astonishing magic crystal mine." Linley clearly sensed... the mine was roughly shaped like an elliptical sphere, with some scattered, irregular veins around it.
The closest part of this sphere to the surface was about three or four meters deep.
The widest diameter was over twenty miles!
Even at Linley's level of cultivation, his heart raced. He took a deep breath and looked at Woton beside him. Woton whispered, "Big brother, what's it like?" Linley motioned for them to step aside. "Let's talk over there."
He led Woton to a quiet spot.
"Big brother, how big is it really?" Woton asked urgently.
Linley said seriously, "Very big... more than ten times larger than the largest magic crystal mine ever discovered on the Yulan continent."
Woton was shocked. More than ten times larger than the largest mine ever? The largest known mine had been nearly a mile or two across.
"This magic crystal mine is over twenty miles at its longest point, and quite deep as well. Based on my rough estimate, this mine is definitely worth hundreds of billions of gold coins." Just thinking about that number made Linley's heart tremble.
Hundreds of billions of gold coins?
"Good heavens." Woton also found it hard to breathe.