Digging Deep

A team of Level 7 Warriors meant little to a kingdom, but to a remote city, it was like a thorn in its side. The powers behind it would naturally look into the matter.

An invisible wave of Mental Power spread out from Carl, rapidly sinking underground and easily passing through solid matter. Probing through physical objects consumed far more energy than sensing through air, but Carl's Mental Power was still strong enough to cover a depth of more than three hundred meters.

"Looks like I'll have to take this more seriously."

When Carl sensed that the Magic Crystal vein continued beyond three hundred meters underground, his heart burned with excitement.

An even stronger wave of Mental Power radiated from Carl. Before, he had been using it at a normal level, consuming it more slowly than it recovered. This time, he was unleashing it with all his might. The range was wider, but it also drained his Mental Power at an alarming rate. Even Saint Realm powerhouses rarely used this state.

"An astonishing quantity." Carl clearly sensed that the Magic Crystal vein here was shaped like a sphere—though that was only a figure of speech. Since he understood how Magic Crystals formed, he naturally knew that the very center of the vein was the place he wanted to find.

"Kevin," Carl called.

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

"Kevin, starting today, you'll be stationed here. The kingdom will send another twenty thousand troops. Have them march here day and night, and dig up this entire vein for me. The people who discovered it will be heavily rewarded. For the veins dug up by the Pioneer Army, I'll allow one percent of the yield to be used as a reward for the troops."

Carl's voice was deep and composed. To the Saint Realm powerhouses at the pinnacle of the Yulan Continent, wealth had lost 99 percent of its effect. The little use it retained was something only Saint Realm powerhouses from major forces might still consider.

"Oh, and spread the word: after the Sky Wind Kingdom finishes mining this deposit, no more taxes will be added. Depending on how the excavation goes, the kingdom will be exempt from taxes for at least ten years."

Carl calculated that if the entire Magic Crystal vein could be mined, it would be worth at least a trillion gold coins. That was more than even the Sky Wind Kingdom could spend, let alone an imperial-level power.

Even so, Carl had imposed only a very small tax on the people. After all, collecting no taxes at all would offend too many people.

That was true not only of other principalities and kingdoms, but even the Radiant Church's tax-exemption policy required people to pray every day.

Under Kevin's command, the troops were soon transformed from warriors into miners—and not just any miners, but Magic Crystal miners. Ordinary warriors didn't even qualify to dig. Only Level 2 Warriors and above could withstand the grueling work.

The troops' deployment naturally didn't escape notice, especially since the Sky Wind Kingdom had been founded only recently. Many of its people were fence-sitters, and the kingdom was riddled with spies from other forces.

The kingdom's upper ranks consisted either of Level 8 and Level 9 experts or people who were weak in combat but excelled in other areas. As for the Magic Crystal vein, only three people among the kingdom's leaders knew about it.

Everyone else involved was placed under unified supervision during the excavation and forbidden to leave until it was complete. After all, no wall was truly soundproof, and as long as someone who knew the truth was outside, the news could never be kept secret.

In Carl's eyes, the value of Magic Crystals was negligible. Their high price came not from how difficult they were to produce, but from their usefulness.

Although the Yulan Continent was a world of magic, Mages were still extremely rare, especially high-level ones. Only the great empires, the Holy Alliance, and the Dark Alliance had enough Mages to form Mage teams. Not even some powerful kingdoms could meet that requirement.

The Mage teams of the Holy Alliance and the Dark Alliance were core forces of their respective churches. With Saint Realm powerhouses unable to intervene easily, mundane forces remained one of the measures by which a power's development was judged.

It was the scarcity of Mages that made Magic Crystals so expensive. As long as they had enough gold, many forces could produce them themselves if they were willing to pay. Failing that, they could buy some from the great empires.

Magic Cannons were considered prohibited weapons, but even kingdoms could purchase a small number of them.

A large number of Magic Cannons, combined with a large stock of Magic Crystals, formed a force capable of easily destroying cities. A few shots could wipe out tens of thousands of troops. Carl might not care about the wealth Magic Crystals brought, but he still had to care about their practical value.

After Carl ordered everyone to keep the matter secret, all those who had been involved with the Magic Crystals were brought to the vein. They were confined there, but their hearts burned with excitement.

The two most overwhelmed by their emotions were the middle-aged captain who had first discovered the vein and Yasuo.

At first, the two had entertained some greedy thoughts. But when they discovered that even after moving more than five hundred meters away, they could still dig underground and find Magic Crystals, they realized this was probably one of the largest Magic Crystal deposits in the history of the Yulan Continent.

The largest Magic Crystal vein previously known on the Yulan Continent had stretched nearly two kilometers—though two kilometers in this case meant a depth of one thousand meters.

The vein lay only three or four meters below the surface at its nearest point, and Yasuo had dug down no more than seven or eight meters. Based on these few facts, the middle-aged captain chose to report the discovery to his superiors, bypassing the usual chain of command.

Going over your superiors' heads about a small vein showed a lack of respect for the rules. Even if you were promoted later, you might still be targeted. But when the matter was so important that ordinary people weren't qualified to handle it, reporting it directly to the top could instead earn you the leadership's favor.

The second after they told Luo, the chief steward, they were knocked unconscious and locked up. In a dark cell, they spent their days in fear, convinced they would be murdered to keep them quiet. But in the end, they were granted an audience with the kingdom's greatest legend: the ruler of the Sky Wind Kingdom.

Now the two had undergone a complete change in status. They were among the leaders of the force of more than twenty thousand Pioneer Army troops gathered here.

Apart from Carl, who showed up from time to time to check on their progress, the middle-aged captain and Yasuo held positions equal to that of Kevin, a Level 9 Warrior, despite being only a Level 2 Warrior and a Level 3 Warrior, respectively.

Kevin was somewhat displeased, but he understood that His Majesty was making an example of them to attract talent—and that people who rendered genuine service truly were rewarded.

That was only what they could see. In truth, Carl had been delighted when he learned who had found the vein. The two could have pocketed some of the crystals, but they hadn't. That alone was enough to help Carl mine the Magic Crystals more quickly, so he gave them generous rewards.

Their reward wasn't limited to status. Seeing how weak they were, Carl simply bestowed a Level 9 Aptitude Card on each of them. In Carl's eyes, they deserved it.