Magic Crystal

"Th-this is..." The middle-aged man identified it for a moment before exclaiming, "It's a Magic Crystal, it's a Magic Crystal! Yasuo, this is a Magic Crystal!"

"Holy crap, Captain, we're rich! We're rich!" The skinny, monkey-like young man immediately revealed a look of joyful surprise.

Magic Crystals are different from gold, silver, copper, or iron; they are extremely precious resources whose importance is comparable to the core of a Magic Beast. Even a single low-grade Magic Crystal is worth as much as the core of a Level 3 Magic Beast.

As for mid-grade Magic Crystals, the middle-aged man serving as captain knew very well that his own net worth was barely comparable to just one mid-grade Magic Crystal.

"There might be a Magic Crystal mine underneath. Captain, what do we do?" Yasuo's face was flushed with excitement, his eyes flashing with greed. A single low-grade Magic Crystal could support his family for several years, and since they had only dug less than a few hundred meters deep to find one, digging another dozen meters down might reveal vast, continuous stretches of Magic Crystals.

"Don't be impatient. This is very likely a Magic Crystal vein. What we need to do now is first see how large the vein is," the middle-aged captain said with a frown.

Greed—who isn't greedy? A single pocketful could be worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins, a fortune that couldn't be spent in several lifetimes. The middle-aged captain had thought about covering it up, but a second thought told him this method wouldn't work.

Since its establishment, the Geological Survey Team had enjoyed high-status treatment, and every time they went out to survey, they had to report to their superiors where they had surveyed each day and where there were suspected mineral veins. These procedures had been gradually perfected over the past few years.

Therefore, the middle-aged captain knew very well that his superiors knew he and Yasuo had come in this direction today. If they didn't return on time, the superiors would send people to check, and at that point, the secret of the Magic Crystal would be impossible to hide.

As for taking a portion of the Magic Crystals and running away, he was merely a Level 3 Warrior; even if he packed a few sacks of Magic Crystals, he wouldn't dare to sell them easily.

"Yasuo, continue the survey," the middle-aged captain said to Yasuo, suppressing his greed.

"Yes, Captain." The young man forcibly suppressed his excitement, held his temper, and continued to survey the surrounding area with the captain.

"There's one here too!" The middle-aged captain's eyes lit up.

"Captain, I found one here too." A hundred meters away, Yasuo was incredibly excited. The captain looked around, then immediately ran over to his subordinate, panting with excitement: "Yasuo, it's obvious—this is a Magic Crystal vein. Just the area we've discovered spans hundreds of meters. A Magic Crystal vein of this size is extremely rare in the entire Yulan Continent."

Yasuo nodded repeatedly. He looked at his captain, then looked around to ensure no one else was there, and whispered, "Captain, we've hit the jackpot. Just the hundreds of meters of Magic Crystal vein we've detected is definitely worth hundreds of millions of gold coins, if not more."

"Yasuo, what are you trying to say?" The middle-aged captain could already see the barely concealed greed in Yasuo's eyes.

Yasuo suppressed his inner excitement and quickly said, "Captain, think about it. Although our Geological Survey Team has good benefits, in reality, we can't save much money in a year. As long as we secretly dig up a bag and then quietly sell it, we could rely on this Magic Crystal vein to become incredibly wealthy on the Yulan Continent. Think of the god-like life we could lead."

As he spoke, Yasuo's heart grew even more agitated, as if gold coins that could bury mountains were shimmering right before his eyes.

"Yasuo, calm down. The prerequisite for spending money is having the life to enjoy it," the middle-aged captain interrupted bluntly while Yasuo was still hot-headed.

The captain's words were like a bucket of cold water in winter, making Yasuo shiver.

The captain said sternly, "You should know that our geological survey department has strict management. Those lords are worried that we might find precious veins and embezzle them privately. The kingdom is very strict when it comes to monitoring us."

Yasuo smiled disdainfully: "Captain, what are you afraid of? Sure, there is monitoring, but we can just pull off one big score and leave, never to return."

"You are still too young," the middle-aged captain lectured. "You should know that the department has records of which area we survey every day. As soon as we suddenly go missing, they will definitely inspect this area. They will certainly discover this Magic Crystal vein then."

"Secondly," the middle-aged captain looked at Yasuo solemnly, "the kingdom has no shortage of experts. Once the kingdom discovers what we've done, they will definitely hunt us down, and our families will likely be implicated as well."

Yasuo came to his senses. His captain was a cycle older than him and had long since established a good family in the Sky Wind Kingdom, with elderly parents still alive and a wife and daughter by his side. The middle-aged captain had no reason to risk everything for the sake of greed.

After all, the middle-aged captain fully believed that the kingdom would provide a generous reward for discovering a Magic Crystal vein.

However, Yasuo was a bit different. His parents had died in the chaos of war many years ago, and he had been lonely and destitute. It was only a few years ago that he drifted into the Sky Wind Kingdom, and it was only after living in the kingdom for a few years that he had enough wealth to start cultivating. Now, barely over twenty, he was already a Level 2 Warrior.

"Yasuo, if we report this to the department, they will give us a reward."

"But how much can the department give us? Ten thousand or twenty thousand gold coins?" Yasuo snorted coldly.

"Heh, you kid don't understand. The reward depends on the size of the vein we discover. If it's just this much, we could get tens of thousands of gold coins without having to leave our homeland. Besides, with our strength, we'd be dead if we encountered bandits." The middle-aged captain paused here, then continued: "But if this vein is even larger, we can report it to higher levels. Not only will we get a huge reward, but we might even become leaders in the survey department. Compared to a stable future, there's no need to gamble our lives."

The middle-aged captain knew Yasuo's thoughts very well. Even he had thought about running away the moment he saw the Magic Crystal, but when he thought about his own strength—could a Level 3 Warrior survive in the Chaotic Territory?

"If I were twenty years younger, if I had the strength of a Level 5 or even Level 6 Warrior, I would leave the kingdom with you without hesitation, taking enough Magic Crystals to live a wealthy second half of my life. But clearly, neither you nor I possess those conditions."

The middle-aged captain didn't say anything more, but the Battle Qi inside his body began to circulate rapidly, clearly giving Yasuo a chance.

If Yasuo chose not to listen and insisted on leaving, the middle-aged captain would have no choice but to strike him down.