The instant Gates's fist struck down.
"Boom!"
A thunderous crash rang in Linley and the others' ears. Then they saw something unusual in the crater Gates had punched into the ground.
"Gates, what's this?"
Linley looked at the crater glowing with light and couldn't help asking Gates.
Gates didn't answer. Instead, he walked over, picked up a crystal-clear, semi-transparent crystal, and handed it to Linley and the others.
The moment they took a closer look, Yale was the first to react.
Seeing the crystal, Yale exclaimed excitedly, "Lord Gates, th-this is a Magic Crystal!
Good heavens, it's a Magic Crystal!"
At Yale's cry, Linley and the others all turned to look at him.
Feeling their gazes, Yale's eyes shone with delight as he explained, "This is a Magic Crystal, and Magic Crystals aren't found alone in a crater.
Do you understand what I mean?"
The original story had explained that Magic Crystals were extremely valuable.
Even Linley, who had inherited the wealth the Fenlai Empire had accumulated over countless years, had been overjoyed when he learned about a Magic Crystal vein. Hogg and the others were even more excited.
Although Hogg and the others were powerful and controlled a large territory, they were actually quite worried. They lacked supplies—in other words, they were poor.
Even though they occasionally raided Radiant Church temples to redistribute the wealth, it was still only a drop in the bucket.
Their power had been established too recently, and it had little foundation. They also collected no agricultural taxes, only commercial taxes.
The disorder in the Chaotic Territory meant they didn't collect much in commercial taxes.
For them, this Magic Crystal vein had come at exactly the right time.
A low-grade Magic Crystal was worth ten gold coins, the same as a third-level Magical Beast's core.