The Door

As for the magic crystal vein, Carl chose to strike a balance between filling it and leaving it unfilled.

A vein this enormous could be filled for a time, but not forever. So two months later, five hundred miles from the magic crystal vein, Carl announced the discovery of a medium-sized magic crystal deposit. In truth, the place was nothing more than a spot where Carl had dumped the magic crystals he had mined over the past two months.

Far fewer people worked at this publicly known deposit—only three thousand. After all, the tunnels below had already been mined, and anyone who went in could discover the truth. So these three thousand workers had been selected from the original force of more than twenty thousand.

Three thousand men guarded the deposit. No one else was allowed within ten kilometers of it, let alone into the tunnels below.

Carl deliberately slowed the mining at the public deposit. It took a full six months to extract everything. Some of the magic crystals were exchanged for gold coins, which were used not only to buy large quantities of food, weapons, and armor, but also some Magic Cannons.

As for the seller, it was naturally the Radiant Church's faction in the Chaotic Territory. After all, Carl belonged to the Holy Alliance and was naturally on close terms with it, making these purchases much easier.

Keeping some of the magic crystals for herself also gave Carl a good enough reason to buy the Magic Cannons.

Exchanging some of the magic crystals for gold and using the rest to arm herself was a perfectly reasonable pretext.

Otherwise, if she kept the whole matter hidden, but the Sky Wind Kingdom suddenly acquired Magic Cannons and magic crystals, anyone who took an interest would investigate. And if they discovered that the Sky Wind Kingdom had barely bought any magic crystals from outside, while there were signs it had sold some, then the secret of its magic crystal mine would be impossible to keep.

It might even attract plenty of attention.

After all, whether the deposit was small or medium-sized, offending a Saint Realm expert over such a little magic crystal was hardly worth it.

Unless the two sides already had a grudge, this kind of gain wasn't enough to bring a Saint Realm expert into the fray.

Two years later.

During one of Carl's routine inspections, Kelt, a middle-aged captain who had reached the strength of a Level 5 Warrior, came running over, panting.

"Your Majesty."

"What is it, Kelt?" Carl asked with a smile. She had already learned the full story of what had happened when the magic crystal mining first began, so she naturally thought highly of Kelt.

"Your Majesty, yesterday someone told me something strange had happened deep in the mine. I went to check, and it was true. I was about to report it to you when you arrived." A trace of shock flickered in Kelt's eyes.

"Come on. Let's take a look." Carl immediately understood. They had found it.

Following Kelt's directions, Carl carried him and flew swiftly through the mine. They passed through the winding tunnels and soon reached a sealed-off passage. This was clearly Kelt's doing.

Ten elite guards with powerful auras stood on either side of the sealed passage. When they saw the newcomers, they hurriedly stepped aside with respectful bows.

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

As they entered the mine and descended into the dim underground, they saw torches lighting the passage. Kelt explained, "Someone told me that when they dug down from above to the heart of the vein, they found that the magic crystals there were terrifyingly high-quality—beyond what people traditionally call 'top-grade magic crystals.' But they were also terrifyingly hard. So I came to see for myself."

Calling it something strange was just Kelt's way of putting it. The soldiers here were all trustworthy, but Kelt's position had changed, and so had his approach. There was no need for his junior officers to know everything.

Carl entered the sealed passage. It wasn't long before she reached a dead end, but a powerful elemental aura radiated from the surrounding walls.

She touched the tunnel wall and discovered that some of the crystals embedded inside contained power exceeding that of a Seventh-Level Magical Beast's core.

"Your Majesty, when the Pioneer Army dug this far, they found that the work had become much harder. Ordinary soldiers couldn't even make a dent in it. They needed to be at least Level 3 Warriors to dig for a little while. The unusual situation quickly caught my attention. I discovered that the magic crystals we'd excavated were beyond seventh level, and some even had the potential to reach eighth level. So I sealed the place off immediately," Kelt explained.

Most seventh-level magical beasts were tigers, bears, lions, and leopards. Most eighth-level magical beasts were dragon types, such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Dilophosaurus. They were not only stronger than seventh-level beasts, but also had superior bloodlines. Even at the same level, tigers, bears, and the like couldn't beat dragon-type magical beasts.

That made eighth- and ninth-level magical beasts extremely difficult to hunt, and their Magic Beast Cores were naturally exceptionally valuable. The magic crystals before them were as good as the cores of eighth-level beasts. If they dug farther, might they find ninth-level ones?

Magic crystals comparable to the cores of ninth-level magical beasts could power a Magic Cannon with enough force to threaten a ninth-level expert. One shot might even decide the outcome of a war.

Even as the leader of the Pioneer Army, Kelt didn't dare make decisions about something of this caliber. He could only seal it off.

"Bring the army down here and dig. Get every one of these magic crystals out."

This was already the heart of the magic crystal vein. Carl knew that Mental Power wouldn't reveal anything, so there was only one way: dig.

At Carl's command, the army soon came in. Every soldier was at least a Level 3 Warrior, which meant there weren't many who could enter.

A Level 3 Warrior was already fairly strong out in the world, but still too weak for this place. After digging with all their might for ten-odd minutes, their hands grew weak and their arms began to ache. After half an hour, they could only grit their teeth and retreat to rest, unwilling to stop.

It took a full two days to excavate the entire core.

At the heart of the magic crystal vein, many translucent magic crystals surrounded the edge of a hazy space. From its shape, it looked like a door.

The door gave off strange and mysterious spatial fluctuations. At the very least, Carl couldn't detect it with her Mental Power.

It seemed to exist between reality and illusion.

Carl's expression was calm. She didn't even let a thought cross her mind as she quietly watched the door.

"Have them all leave. Everyone who worked on the excavation gets a one-in-a-hundred share of the reward." Carl waved her hand and spoke evenly.

"Yes!"

After everyone had left, Carl continued to gaze at the door that shouldn't have existed.

She waited a long time. Seeing that nothing was happening around her, Carl finally took a deep breath and stepped toward it.

"Chchch—"

A knife-like force came from within the door. The instant Carl stepped through, it was as if reality and illusion had truly touched. The force even sent sparks flying from her body.