The Door

Regarding the Magic Crystal vein, Karl chose to balance fullness with emptiness.

Such a massive vein could not be kept full forever, so two months later, Karl announced the discovery of a medium-sized Magic Crystal vein five hundred miles away from the actual site. In reality, this location was nothing more than a place where Karl had dumped the Magic Crystals he had spent two months excavating.

The number of people mining this public-facing Magic Crystal vein was much smaller, totaling only three thousand. After all, the underground was actually filled with already-mined Magic Crystals; anyone who entered could easily spot the discrepancies. Therefore, these three thousand men were still carefully selected from the original force of over twenty thousand.

With three thousand men guarding this single vein, no one else was allowed within a ten-kilometer radius, let alone permitted to enter the underground tunnels.

Karl slowed the progress of the public-facing vein, taking a full six months to extract everything. A portion of these Magic Crystals was exchanged for gold coins, which were used not only to purchase large quantities of grain, weapons, and armor, but also to acquire several Magic Cannons.

As for the seller, it was naturally the Radiant Church's faction within the Chaotic Territory. Since Karl was part of the Holy Alliance, he had a natural affinity with them, making it much easier to purchase such items.

Furthermore, keeping a portion of the Magic Crystals for himself provided Karl with a sufficient excuse for purchasing the Magic Cannons.

Exchanging some Magic Crystals for gold and using others to arm himself was a very reasonable pretext.

Otherwise, if he kept hiding it, the sudden appearance of Magic Cannons and Magic Crystals in the Sky Wind Kingdom would inevitably lead anyone with intent to investigate the cause. Once they discovered that the Sky Wind Kingdom rarely purchased Magic Crystals from the outside world and even showed signs of selling them, the news of the kingdom possessing a Magic Crystal mine would be impossible to conceal.

It might even attract the attention of many.

After all, whether it was a small or medium-sized mine, offending a Saint Realm powerhouse for the sake of such a small amount of Magic Crystals was hardly worth it.

Unless there was already a feud between the two parties, this level of profit was not enough to make a Saint Realm powerhouse take action.

Two years later.

As Karl was conducting his routine inspection, Kelt, a middle-aged captain whose strength had reached that of a Level 5 Warrior, ran over, panting.

"Your Majesty."

"What is it, Kelt?" Karl asked with a smile. Having learned the ins and outs of the initial Magic Crystal situation, he naturally held Kelt in higher regard.

"Your Majesty, just yesterday someone told me that a strange incident occurred deep within the mine. I went to check and confirmed it was true. I was just about to report to you when you arrived." A trace of shock flickered in Kelt's eyes.

"Let's go, take a look." Karl reacted instantly; the item had been found.

Following Kelt's directions, Karl carried him as they flew rapidly through the mine. Passing through the winding tunnels, they soon discovered a sealed-off path, which was clearly Kelt's handiwork.

On both sides of the sealed path stood ten elite soldiers with profound auras. Seeing them arrive, they quickly and respectfully stepped aside.

"Your Majesty, it's right here." Kelt pointed to the sealed tunnel.

Entering the dim underground along the mine shaft, which was illuminated by torches, Kelt explained: "Someone told me that when they were digging from above toward the core of this vein, they discovered that the Magic Crystals there were of terrifying quality. They surpassed what is traditionally called 'top-grade Magic Crystals,' but they were also terrifyingly hard. So, I came here."

"Strange incident" was naturally Kelt's way of putting it. Although the soldiers here were trustworthy, their status differed, and Kelt's methods were different accordingly; there were some things that lower-ranking officers did not need to know.

Karl walked into the sealed tunnel and, before long, found that it had become a dead end, yet the surroundings radiated a strong elemental aura.

Touching the tunnel wall, Karl discovered that some of the crystals embedded within contained power exceeding that of a Level 7 Magic Beast core.

"Your Majesty, when the Pioneer Army dug to this point, they found that the difficulty of excavation had increased significantly. Ordinary soldiers couldn't move it at all; at least a Level 3 Warrior was needed to barely make any progress. The anomaly here quickly caught my attention. I discovered that these excavated Magic Crystals already exceeded Level 7 and even had the potential to reach Level 8, so I directly sealed this area off," Kelt explained.

Level 7 Magic Beasts were mostly tigers, bears, lions, and leopards, while most Level 8 Magic Beasts were dragon-type creatures like Tyrannosaurus or Dilophosaurus. Their strength was not only superior to Level 7 beasts, but their bloodlines were also superior. Even at the same level, tigers and bears could not defeat dragon-type beasts.

This made hunting Level 8 and Level 9 Magic Beasts extremely difficult, and their Magic Beast cores were naturally exceptionally precious. Yet, the quality of the Magic Crystals before him could rival Level 8 Magic Beast cores. If they dug further in, would Level 9 ones appear?

Magic Crystals comparable to Level 9 Magic Beast cores—if such energy were loaded into a Magic Cannon, its attack would be enough to threaten a Level 9 powerhouse, or even turn the tide of a war with a single shot.

For something of this level, even as the leader of the Pioneer Army, Kelt did not dare to make the decision and could only seal it off.

"Have the troops come down and dig here. Extract all these Magic Crystals."

This was already the core of the Magic Crystal vein. Karl knew that he couldn't detect anything using Mental Power, so the only way was the old-fashioned method: dig directly.

Under Karl's command, the troops quickly entered. Every one of them was at least a Level 3 Warrior, which meant not many could come down.

A Level 3 Warrior was not weak in the outside world, but here, they were still too weak. After digging at full strength for a dozen minutes, their hands would go numb and sore; after half an hour, they could only grit their teeth and retreat to rest, feeling unwilling.

It took two full days for the entire core area to be excavated.

At the heart of this Magic Crystal vein, many translucent Magic Crystals surrounded the edge of an illusory space, and from the outside, it looked like a door.

This door possessed strange and peculiar spatial fluctuations; at the very least, Karl could not detect this door using his Mental Power.

The door seemed to exist between reality and illusion.

At this moment, Karl's expression was calm. He wasn't thinking about anything in his mind; he simply stared quietly at the door.

"Have them all go down. Give them a reward of one for every hundred; everyone who came here to dig will receive a share," Karl said with a wave of his hand, his voice flat.

"Yes!"

Once everyone had left, Karl continued to stare at the non-existent door in front of him.

After waiting for a long time and seeing no movement in the surroundings, Karl took a deep breath and stepped toward it.

"Chi-chi—"

A sensation like a blade came from within the door. The moment Karl stepped inside, it felt as if reality and illusion had truly made contact, and that attacking force even sparked against Karl's body.