The entrance of the base was bustling with activity.
The sound of horses neighing and people shouting filled the air.
A group of guild personnel unloaded boxes from the wagons, sweating profusely.
The supervisor standing nearby yelled, “Be careful! Be gentle! These are all valuable goods! If you break them, you won’t be able to make up for it even if you lose a month’s sry!”
Among the crowd, over a dozen people with particrly strong and muscr physiques, thick body hair, and distinct animal features, easily carried heavy boxes in their arms.
Muzhuo, standing a distance away, nodded silently.
It seemed like taking in these beastmen was a wise decision. They could act as guards and do manualbor. They were hardworking, diligent, and loyal, and one sry could hire the equivalent of two or three people. It was quite a good deal.
After the Beast Transformation Disaster, beastmen werepletely unwee in the Starfall Dukedom, they were hated and expelled wherever they went.
As a result, beastmen migrated to neighboring countries in droves.The Thornflower Dukedom, in particr, had witnessed an influx of beastmen.
Due to Ota’s plea, Muzhuo had made the decision to take in a group of beastmen. At the time, it had sparked controversy within the guild, but now it seemed he hadn’t made a mistake.
As he was pondering this, a rumbling sound suddenly reached his ears.
The base gate slowly opened, and towering y golems emerged from within.
Each golem carried multiple stacked boxes, seemingly incredibly heavy.
Arriving before the merchant caravan, the y golems gently ced the boxes on the ground, but they still made a muffled thud that caused the guild personnel to gasp in astonishment.
“These big guys are so strong!”
“Those boxes must weigh a ton!”
“I heard they’re called golems.”
“That’s amazing!”
The guild personnel whispered amongst themselves, pointing at the y golems.
The neers, in particr, were wide-eyed with curiosity, having never seen a y golem before.
“Sir Xeman.”
Muzhuo noticed a figure emerging from the base and immediately greeted him, his eyes brightening.
Compared to his youthful appearance from several years ago when they first met, Xeman now exuded a calm andposed aura, making him appear unapproachable. ?á???ě??
“Long time no see, Guild Master Muzhuo.”
After exchanging pleasantries, Xeman pointed at the boxes stacked on the ground nearby and said with a smile, “These are the metals for this trade. They’ve all been smelted into ingots. Have your people check them. If there are no problems, the price will be as we agreed upon.”
After sessfully developing the mines around Lake of Shadow City, the trade between the Fire Fox Guild and Sunan, in addition to potions, now also included metals.
After all, with five mines (including the silver mine in the cave), coupled with the extremely high efficiency of y golems, the monthly output of iron, copper, gold, and silver was astonishingly high. Shining Light Territory alone could not consume it all, and most of it had to be sold externally.
Muzhuo responded, turning to instruct the supervisor to have people count the goods. Then, he turned to Xeman and said thoughtfully, “Sir Xeman, I received a letter from Lord Sunan a while ago. He mentioned wanting to increase the number of potion transactions. This matter…”
“My teacher has already told me.”
Xeman smiled slightly.
“Starting today, the base will be selling twice as many potions as before. I wonder if the Fire Fox Guild can handle that?”
“Of course, no problem!” Muzhuo said decisively.
He was joking. Even if they couldn’t handle it, they would have to force themselves to.
Since opening up the potion trade route, the Fire Fox Guild’s profits had skyrocketed.
The potions sold by the base were extremely popr in the Thornflower Dukedom and were in high demand.
The Fire Fox Guild, having monopolized this trade, naturally earned a fortune.
Under these circumstances, Muzhuo would never allow others toe in and take a piece of the pie.
Not only could the Fire Fox Guild’s scale easily handle double the potions, even if they couldn’t, they could develop distributors and sell part of the potions to them. The guild could then take a cut of the profits, still making a huge fortune.
Anyone with a brain would know what to do.
“That’s great. After all, it would be a bit troublesome to find another trustworthy business partner.” Xeman said with a smile.
“Sir Xeman, rest assured, no matter how much you give us, the Fire Fox Guild can handle it!”
Muzhuo patted his chest in promise, then said cautiously, “I replied to Lord Sunan’s letter a few days ago, mentioning the matter of distributing wizard potions. What did Lord Sunan say?”
The wizard potions Muzhuo was referring to were not the diluted ones they had been selling before, but real wizard potions.
Those diluted potions were a precious treasure for ordinary knights, but for great knights, the effect was rather weak.
Only undiluted, real wizard potions could pique the interest of great knights. Bringing them into the customer base would expand their profits.
Xemanughed, “My teacher said he can agree to your request. From now on, we’ll provide the Fire Fox Guild with a certain amount of zero-ring potions each month, but there are two conditions.”
Muzhuo’s spirits lifted, and he quickly said, “Please tell me!”
“First, the zero-ring potions provided to the Fire Fox Guild cannot be sold to the Starfall Dukedom. If we find our potions in the Starfall Dukedom, no matter the reason, the zero-ring potion distribution will be terminated.”
Muzhuo hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement, “No problem!”
As the president of arge guild with tentacles reaching into numerous countries, he had been closely following the situation in each country.
He also understood the delicate rtionship between Shining Light Territory and the Starfall royal family.
It was only a matter of time before war broke out between them. Shining Light Territory didn’t want to provide aid to their enemy, which was understandable.
Xeman’s request wasn’t difficult to fulfill. All they had to do was strictly control the transaction targets.
After all, the wizard potion transactions were originally intended for high-end customer groups, and there wouldn’t be too many of them. With a little extra effort, they could manage.
“The second condition is that all zero-ring potion transactions will only be epted with gemstone payment of equal value.”
Muzhuo was taken aback, but quickly understood and agreed without hesitation.@@novelbin@@
Although he was a bit puzzled about why they insisted on gemstone payment, this condition was much simpler than the previous one, so he had no reason to refuse.
“Then, happy cooperation, Guild Master Muzhuo.”
“The next time we trade, we’ll deliver the first batch of zero-ring potions.”
“Thank you, Sir Xeman.”
The main purpose of this trip was aplished, and Muzhuo was in high spirits. While shaking hands with Xeman, he discreetly handed him a small bag of gems.
Xeman took a look, didn’t refuse, and smiled.
The base was currently mass-producing all kinds of golem puppets, and the gems needed to make soul cores were in short supply. Otherwise, his teacher wouldn’t have suggested gemstone payment.
This small bag of gems was enough for him to make a dozen soul cores, earning a bit of contribution points.
Two hourster, the two partiespleted the cargo handover.
Watching the merchant caravan leave, Xeman ordered the y golems to carry the goods back to the warehouse. Then, he left the base and headed towards the Magic nt Garden No. 4.
Magic nt Garden No. 4 was newly opened three months ago. Today was the day the first batch of magic nts matured, and he needed to collect them and bring them back to the base.
As more and more students learned to make zero-ring potions, the base’s demand for various basic materials also increased.
In light of this, the teacher had opened two new magic nt gardens.
One was located around Shining Light City, and the other, it was said, was in the Underworld.
It was said that Magic nt Gardens No. 5 and No. 6 were currently selecting locations and preparing to start construction.
From the time he joined the base to now, Xeman had witnessed all the changes that had urred. He could feel the base’s prosperity and flourishing.
Perhaps one day, the base would be what the books called a wizard tower.
He hoped he could live to see that day.
The Underworld, Lake of Shadow City.
Central Pce, Study.
A faint fragrance permeated the quiet study, the aroma of a calming flower tea.
Sunan sat at the desk, diligently writing and drawing. A cup of calming flower tea sat next to him.
Tea infused with calming flowers could calm and focus the mind, improving concentration and benefiting experimental research.
However, its moremon use was to assist in meditation. Only Sunan, with three magic nt gardens in his possession and two more under construction, could afford to use calming flowers to make tea.
After a long while, Sunan put down his quill and picked up the teacup next to him, drinking it in one gulp.
Setting down the teacup, he looked at the brand-new design on the table, a satisfied smile spreading across his lips.
After months of research, he finallybined gem puppet and golem miniaturization technology to design apletely new type of puppet.
The new puppet’s body, muscles, bones, and internal organs were primarily made of diamonds, with silver veins recing blood vessels. The heart was made of a high-grade rune gem, supplemented by various rare metals and basic materials like silver and gold.
The final puppet not only had an indestructible body, but also, with the help of the high-grade rune gem, gained the ability to manipte energy particles.
In addition, it would be engraved with multiple zero-ring, first-ring, and second-ring spells, giving it the ability to cast magic.
ording to Sunan’s vision, while the final puppet wouldn’t reach the level of a full-fledged wizard, it would be at least much stronger than an average third-rank wizard apprentice.
Someone like Herub wouldn’t stand a chance against the new puppet!
“The only problem is still the cost.”
Although he had reduced costs considerably, the preliminary estimate for making such a puppet was sixteen kilograms of mithril, thousands of standard units of diamonds, twenty or so high-grade rune gems, and arge amount of basic materials.
Most importantly, a small soul crystal was needed as the soul core.
In the end, the total cost was estimated to be at least eighty thousand gold coins!
“Diamonds and high-grade rune gems are easy to solve. As long as I’m willing to put in the time, I can gather them. As for the small soul crystal, I can synthesize them using miniature soul crystals. Twenty or thirty should be enough.”
“It’s just the mithril that’s a problem.”
Sunan currently had two silver mines, both of which contained a small amount of mithril.
However, both silver mines were small, and even if he mined thempletely, he would only be able to obtain eleven or twelve kilograms of mithril.
The rest he would have to collect.
Sunan had already announced his intention to buy mithril at the Mysterious Wooden Hut gathering, but he didn’t expect it to be very effective.
After all, mithril was a precious material, and few wizard apprentices would be willing to trade it.
“If I could find another silver mine or two, even if they’re small, I could gather enough mithril.”
Sunan sighed softly, picking up the list next to him.
This was a list of goods in and out of the warehousepiled by Grily, showing the flow of materials for the month.
Thergest outflow was undoubtedly all the diluted potions.
Despite the massive profits from the mines, Sunan still hadn’t abandoned the potion sales transaction, but had instead expanded the scale.
After all, no one would everin about having too many sources of ie.
“Opening five magic nt gardens around Shining Light City is the limit. Any more, and they would affect each other, reducing the harvest.”
“Lake of Shadow City’s environment is special, not suitable for growing magic nts. One magic nt garden is enough.”
“If I want to open new magic nt gardens, I have to find ces in other towns.”
The Golden Rock Province was vast, with plenty of ces suitable for opening magic nt gardens.
The key was that if the new magic nt gardens were too far from the base, he would have to dispatch troops to guard them, requiring arge number of golems.
At this stage, most of the golems Sunan and the base had produced were deployed to the Underworld. Even so, there were still some gaps.
And the war with the Starfall royal family was likely to break out sooner rather thanter, and he needed to produce more golems to expand the golem army. He currently didn’t have any extra golems to invest in building new magic nt gardens far from Shining Light City.
This n would have to be postponed for now.
Fortunately, the current magic nts were enough to supply the base for use and potion transactions.
“Meow!”
A familiar call suddenly rang out in his ear. Sunan felt his shoulders sink, turned his head, and saw that Amy was already perched on his shoulder, a gray, nondescript stone in her mouth.
Although the stone seemed ordinary, Sunan could sense extremely intense energy particles from it.
“This is… a graynd stone!”
Sunan took the stone and examined it for a while before recognizing its origin.
Strictly speaking, a graynd stone was a kind of elemental crystal, formed by the umtion of earth elements over a long period. It was mostly buried deep underground and difficult to find.
“Where did you find this?” Sunan asked Amy in surprise.
“I dug it up underground meow.” Amy raised her head proudly, “I was taking a walk nearby when I sensed intense energy particles underground, so I asked Carolina to help me dig, and then I found this.”
Sunan suddenly understood, remembering Amy’s ability to sense energy particle fluctuations.
“How is it? Is this useful to you?” Amy looked at Sunan expectantly.
“Useful.” Sunan nodded with a smile, stroking Amy’s head.
Graynd stones had many uses. They could be used to make potions, manufacture magical items, refine golems, and set up magic formations. They were simr to magic stones.
“Meow, that’s good.”
Amy rubbed against Sunan’s hand in enjoyment.
“The Underworld is so much more fun than above. If I find something else good, I’ll bring it to you.”
The little guy seemed quite excited, as if he had found his ce.
Sunanughed.
He recalled when he persuaded Amy to return to Shining Light City with him.
He had also been thinking of using Amy’s ability to sense energy particle fluctuations to find wizard inheritances or rare materials. However, he was too busy with other matters afterward and hadn’t had the time to go exploring. He hadn’t expected this to happen by chance.
If Amy could find some rare materials in the Underworld, that would be a good thing.
(End of Chapter)