Digging Deeper

A Level 7 Warrior might not count for much to a kingdom, but to a city on the frontier, it is like a thorn in the back, and the forces behind them would naturally think deeply about it.

An invisible ripple of Mental Power centered on Karl and rapidly spread deep into the ground. It passed through solid matter with ease; although the consumption during physical probing was far greater than sensing through the air, Karl's Mental Power was still sufficient to cover more than three hundred meters underground.

"It seems I need to get serious."

Feeling that the Magic Crystal vein still extended beyond three hundred meters underground, Karl felt a burning heat in his heart.

A stronger wave of Mental Power radiated from Karl. If his previous state was just his standard mode—where his Mental Power consumption didn't even exceed his recovery rate—then this time he was exerting his full strength. The range was much wider, but it was also extremely taxing on his Mental Power; even Saint Realm powerhouses rarely used this state.

"An astonishing quantity." Karl could clearly feel that the Magic Crystal vein here was like a sphere. Of course, this was just a figure of speech, but as someone who understood how Magic Crystals were formed, Karl naturally knew that the very center of the vein was the place he was looking for.

"Kevin." Karl called out.

"Your Majesty." Kevin trotted over from a distance.

"Kevin, from today on, you will be stationed here. Have the kingdom dispatch another twenty thousand troops. Work them day and night, and dig this vein out for me. At the same time, those who discovered this vein are to be heavily rewarded. I permit one percent of the ore mined by the pioneering army to be used as rewards for the troops."

Karl's voice was deep and calm. For those at the pinnacle of the Yulan Continent, the Saint Realm, wealth had lost ninety-nine percent of its utility. The remaining bit of use was only worth considering for Saint Realm powerhouses belonging to major factions.

"Oh, and send out a notice: after the Sky Wind Kingdom finishes mining this site, there will be no more additional taxes. Furthermore, depending on the progress of the excavation, there will be no taxes for at least ten years."

Karl calculated in his heart that if this Magic Crystal vein could be fully excavated, its value would be at least in the level of hundreds of billions of gold coins. Such a vast amount of gold, let alone for the Sky Wind Kingdom, would be impossible to spend even for an Empire-level power.

However, Karl still imposed very few taxes on the populace; after all, not collecting taxes at all would offend too many people.

This was true not only for other duchies and kingdoms, but even the tax-exemption policies of the Radiant Church required daily prayers to qualify.

The army soon transformed from soldiers into miners under Kevin's command, and they had to be miners of Magic Crystals at that. This meant that ordinary soldiers didn't even have the qualifications to mine; one had to be at least a Level 2 Warrior to withstand the high-intensity labor.

The mobilization of the army naturally could not be hidden from others, especially since the Sky Wind Kingdom had been established for a short time and many were fence-sitters. The entire kingdom was practically leaking information to other factions.

However, the kingdom's high-ranking officials were either Level 8 or 9 experts, or individuals with weak strength but other exceptional abilities. As for this matter regarding the Magic Crystals, only three people in the kingdom's leadership knew about it.

As for the other participants, they were under unified management during the excavation and were not allowed to leave until the mining was finished. After all, while walls might have ears, as long as no one with knowledge of the secret was outside, the news would never leak.

Although the value of Magic Crystals was negligible in Karl's eyes, the reason for their high price was not the difficulty of production, but their utility.

Although the Yulan Continent was a world of magic, mages were still extremely rare, let alone high-level mages. Across the entire Yulan Continent, only the major Empires, the Holy Alliance, and the Dark Alliance had the conditions to form teams of mages. Beyond them, even powerful kingdoms did not possess such capabilities.

As for the mage teams of the Holy Alliance and the Dark Alliance, they were the core of the two great churches. In a situation where Saint Realm powerhouses could not easily intervene, secular power remained one of the benchmarks for a faction's development.

The scarcity of mages was what led to the high price of Magic Crystals. After all, as long as they spent gold coins, many factions could produce their own if they were willing, or at the very least, buy some from the major Empires.

Although Magic Cannons were considered contraband, a kingdom could still purchase a small number of them if they went through the proper channels.

A large number of Magic Cannons and a large number of Magic Crystals combined to form a force capable of easily destroying a city—a power that could wipe out tens of thousands of troops with a few blasts. Karl might not care about the wealth brought by Magic Crystals, but he had to care about their practical value.

After Karl issued the gag order, everyone who had participated in the Magic Crystal discovery was brought to the mining site, and their lives were restricted to this area. Yet, all these restricted people felt a burning excitement in their hearts.

The most intense emotional fluctuations were felt by the middle-aged captain and Yasuo, who had discovered the site in the first place.

At the beginning, the two had some greedy thoughts, but when they discovered that even after digging five hundred meters away they were still finding Magic Crystals, they realized this was likely a super-large Magic Crystal vein that could rank among the top in the history of the Yulan Continent.

After all, the largest Magic Crystal vein in the past of the Yulan Continent was only close to two kilometers long, and two kilometers was actually a distance of one thousand meters.

The closest point to the surface was only three or four meters away, and the deepest Yasuo had dug was only seven or eight meters. Based on these figures, the middle-aged captain chose to report it up the chain of command.

Reporting a small vein up the chain of command would be called not understanding the rules, and even if one were promoted later, they might be given a hard time. But when the matter became so significant that ordinary people were not qualified to touch it, reporting it up would instead earn the appreciation of top leadership.

The second after they told the grand steward Luo, they were knocked unconscious and locked up. They spent their days in a dark room in constant fear, terrified of being silenced, but in the end, they were able to meet the greatest legend of the kingdom, the King of the Sky Wind Kingdom.

Now, the two had even changed their status; they were among the leaders of the more than twenty thousand pioneering troops gathered here.

Aside from Karl appearing from time to time to check on the progress, the middle-aged captain and Yasuo, with their Level 2 and Level 3 Warrior strength, held a status equivalent to the Level 9 Warrior Kevin.

Although Kevin was somewhat unhappy about it, he understood that this was the King's way of "paying a thousand gold for a horse's bones"—showing that merit was truly rewarded.

These were just the things they could see. In reality, upon learning of the discoverers, Karl was also overjoyed. Because these two, who could have embezzled the find, did not choose to cover it up—that alone was enough for Karl to mine these Magic Crystals faster, and the rewards were naturally substantial.

It wasn't just status; seeing that the two were weak, Karl simply bestowed upon them Level 9 Aptitude Cards. In Karl's eyes, they were worth it.