Chapter 909: The Tera Mine
Actually, Lin Li was shocked as well. Although he had already entered the Sanctuary-realm, he clearly still could not compare to the three arbitrators. Did he really qualify to use the word ‘discuss’? Upon hearing that Andoine was about to leave, Lin Li didn’t think too much of it, and simply stood up to walk Andoine out.
As for Aldwin and Macklin, Andoine had long left by the time they reacted and followed him out.
After Andoine left Lin Li’s room, and was about to return to the Eternal Tower, he saw Leddings who was standing stiffly beside the room. Hence, he asked, “Leddings, is the person you’re waiting for not here yet?”
“Ah, no, it’s not that. I think he must be held up by something. I’m not waiting anymore, I’m going back now,” said Leddings, who got a great shock after hearing Andoine’s question. He suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, and spluttered while trying to give an explanation. Without waiting for Andoine to say anything, he simply lowered his head and left.
“Strange, am I that frightening?” Andoine asked, stroking his chin in bafflement while watching Leddings who seemed to be fleeing in panic.
After Lin Li sent Andoine away, Aldwin and Macklin were no longer in the mood to continue their conversation, so they both took their leave as well. Lin Li sent the two of them away as well, and continued to look up at the night sky. He could not help but be puzzled as he wondered, Didn’t that person say that someone is going to find me and create trouble? It’s already so late, but he hasn’t showed up yet. If he still doesn’t appear, I’m going to go to sleep…
At this time, however, the person who Lin Li was waiting for did not dare to look back at all. It was as if there were numerous evil demons chasing him. Of course, along the way, Leddings had cursed his incompetent student who was a letdown. He thought, d.a.m.n it, aren’t you harming me? Of all people, why do you have to mess with such a powerful person? Fortunately, I’m cautious enough, or else the efforts of my life would have gone in vain because of that incompetent student.
“Teacher, you’re back! You’ve taught that kid a lesson, right!?” Seeing that his teacher had returned, Gerosso was extremely excited, and didn’t even notice the expression on his teacher’s face as he simply rushed forward to ask about the outcome.
“PAT!”
Leddings was infuriated. Seeing that Gerosso still dared to ask him about it, Leddings immediately slapped him before cursing, “Are you trying to harm me!? Of all people, why did you provoke him? Is he someone you can provoke!?”
“Teacher, you…” Gerosso was dumbfounded after getting slapped. Looking at his teacher who was infuriated, he pursed his lips and did not dare to ask for the reason.
“Don’t call me teacher, being your teacher will cause me to die sooner or later! Do you know who he is? Even Aldwin can’t put on any airs around him, and Councilor Andoine doesn’t treat him like an outsider. Do you think I’m an arbitrator? Don’t f***ing create trouble before you find out his background!” The more Leddings thought about it, the more enraged he got. Even though he usually barely used foul language, he was cursing his heart out at Gerosso now.
Finally, his teacher stopped scolding him, but Gerosso dared not utter a single word. He covered his face with one hand and walked out of his teacher’s room. He only dared to reveal a resentful expression after walking far, far away. He rubbed his face and thought to himself in anger, How would I know that that kid would have such a high status? Forget it if it’s just Aldwin. Why did Councilor Andoine get involved with him too!?
What should I do? Am I supposed not to take revenge!? Gerosso was feeling indignant, but there was nothing he could do as Lin Li had the backing of the chairman. He couldn’t get an arbitrator to support him, could he?
All of a sudden, Gerosso’s eyes lit up, and he thought about the fact that his younger brother’s teacher was the deputy chairman, Rosen. He heard that Rosen and Andoine had always been at odds, and the two of them often fought at the meetings. That at least meant that Rosen was not afraid of Andoine. If Rosen were to find out that the person who crippled his student was in the Sky Garden, he would probably step in to deal with Felic!
The more Gerosso thought about it, the more hope he had, and his frustration was suddenly swept away. He rubbed his face, recalling his experience of visiting the deputy chairman Rosen in the past. He then walked towards the deputy chairman’s residence according to his memory without hesitation.
I didn’t expect that rascal to have become a councilor so quickly, we must speed up the plan, otherwise I’m afraid things will get out of control sooner or later. Rosen was seated with a sullen expression as he continuously tapped his fingers against the table, obviously quite irritated at this point.
At this moment, a middle-aged magician in his forties who had curly brown hair entered. He was tall and burly, and was emitting a powerful Legendary-level magical wave. Upon sight of Rosen, he appeared extremely respectful, and he bowed slightly. “Sir, you asked to see me in the middle of the night. What can I help you with?”
Upon sight of Hubert, Rosen’s face eased up a little, and he pointed to a chair beside him. He said, “Come, take a seat. I asked you to come over because I am preparing to propose a motion to the Supreme Council tomorrow.”
Hubert had been following Rosen for many years, and he managed to become a High Councilor all thanks to Rosen’s support and nurturing. Hubert was naturally very familiar with Rosen’s habits; hence, after hearing his words, he immediately understood that the proposal was probably not simple.
If it was an ordinary proposal, Rosen wouldn’t have to appear in person at all, as it would be usually handed over to the reliable councilors under him. It was because Rosen was confident enough that he would still be able to get those proposals accepted smoothly even if he didn’t use his position as deputy chairman.
Since he was using his ident.i.ty as deputy chairman to raise the proposal, it meant that the motion probably involved one of two kinds of issues. One was that the proposal might not be in the interest of the majority of the councilors, so he had to push for it using his ident.i.ty. Another could be that the proposal involved the chairman, Andoine, and was highly likely to be opposed by him.
“If there is anything I can do to help, please feel free to let me know.” Hubert did not ask any questions, and instead directly showed his support for Rosen.
Hubert’s reply made the expression on Rosen’s face ease up, and he nodded secretly before saying, “You should be familiar with the situation in Tower of Dusk, which is also the Breezy Plains Guild of Magic.”
“Yes,” Hubert answered. It seemed that the proposal really had something to do with Chairman Andoine.
As Rosen’s close confidant, Hubert naturally already knew that the young President of the Breezy Plains Guild of Magic was a student of Chairman Andoine. He also knew that the young President Felic managed to rise to his position because he had defeated Rosen’s student Gryffindor during the magic trial.
“The Breezy Plains Guild of Magic has a mine that is currently the largest reserve found in the world of Anril. The Supreme Council’s requirements in this aspect are almost supplied by them. However, what they’ve provided is actually only a quarter of what they produce,” Rosen said monotonously without revealing any emotion.
However, Hubert knew that Rosen must have been full of resentment. If it weren’t for the appearance of Felic, Rosen’s student, Gryffindor, would have probably been the current President of the Breezy Plains Guild of Magic, which also meant that Rosen would own it.
However, the matter concerned the chairman Andoine, and Hubert also knew that it definitely wouldn’t be easy to handle the matter. Hence, he cautiously asked, “Do you mean that you want to ask them to increase their supply?”
Rosen shook his head smilingly, and said, “No, not at all. In my proposal, I’m going to ask them to hand over the ownership of the Tera Mine to the Supreme Council. If the motion pa.s.ses, I’ll make you the administrator.”
Upon hearing that, Hubert couldn’t help but gasp. Rosen’s got a huge appet.i.te this time, so much that it was beyond his imagination.
The Tera Mithril had always been known as a magical treasure and the lifeline that supported the development of magical civilization. Its value was definitely not something that could be measured by money. After smelting its ore, one would be able to obtain precious Tera Mithril, which was one of the most important and indispensable materials in high-grade magical equipment. It wasn’t that the Tera Mithril could provide any extra power for the high-grade magical equipment, but rather that there would be no high-grade magical equipment without Tera Mithril.
Besides, Tera Mithril could also greatly increase the stability of mana. Hence, it was in great demand in all kinds of magic experiments.
For mages, studying magic was not as simple as reading books about magic, reciting a few magic spells, and then meditating with their eyes closed. In order to understand the power of the magical elements, mages would usually have to conduct some magic experiments and gain experience, which would be far more intuitive and profound than what they would get from reading books about magic.
One of the more important uses of magic experiments was to allow mages to study and understand unknown Magical Domains, and it could be said that almost all the results of the experiments had an incomparable role in promoting the development of magic civilization in Anril. Without the existence of the Tera Mithril, the world’s magical civilization might’ve come to a complete halt by the time humans took over.
After all, humans didn’t have a bloodline as powerful as the High Elves, and if they wanted to master magic, they would have to continuously try to grasp the concepts through conducting experiments. As long as the Tera Mithril was present, humans would be able to create new power and thrive in the field of magic. Only then could the magic civilization of humans develop beyond the High Elves.
Originally, the production of Tera Mithril in Anril was very low, and it was basically found as rare complementary minerals in precious ores and mines. Even then, the reserves were extremely low, and it didn’t take long for them to be mined.
Actually, Lin Li discovered the Tera Mine in the Tower of Dusk’s land after some exploration two years ago. Not to forget, he also had Master-level attainments in finding ores. After the Tera Mine was discovered, Lin Li did not announce it to the world. Otherwise, given the strength of the Tower of Dusk back then, the other forces of the Breezy Plains would have long wiped them out.
In order to get a backer in case the news leaked out and caused big trouble for the Tower of Dusk, Lin Li had reported the mine’s existence to the Supreme Council. In fact, the scale of the Tower of Dusk’s mining of the Tera Mine had never been large, and the share that he supplied to the Supreme Council was actually already half of the production at that time. After all, the Tower of Dusk did not have the ability to digest more Tera Mines at that time.
It was only after Lin Li returned from the s.p.a.cetime rift and gained some insight into the Sanctuary-realm power that he began to expand the scale of mining of the Tera Mine. Hence, as the production increased, the share supplied to the Supreme Council became a quarter of the Tower of Dusk’s production.
In fact, given the value of the Tera Mine, the amount that the Tower of Dusk was currently supplying to the Supreme Council was already considered a huge loss. Hence, Hubert had only asked Rosen if he wanted to propose an increase in supply, but he did not expect Rosen to have such a great appet.i.te. He actually wanted to strip the Tower of Dusk of the rights to the mine.
However, on second thought, Hubert also understood that it was not unreasonable for Rosen to come to that decision. Even if he only asked the Tower of Dusk to increase the supply, the young President of the Tower of Dusk might not agree to it happily. Chairman Andoine definitely wouldn’t sit back and let the proposal pa.s.s, either.
Besides, simply expanding the supply wouldn’t benefit Rosen that much. Since he was bent on fighting Andoine, he would have to maximize his interests. If he lost, there would be nothing he could say, but if he won, the gains would be ma.s.sive.
Besides, Hubert just heard very clearly that Rosen was planning to let him manage the Tera Mine after the proposal was pa.s.sed, which was definitely going to benefit him. Putting aside the profit that he could gain by keeping some Tera Mithril, even if he were to give all the Tera Mithril obtained from mining and smelting to the Supreme Council, he would be paid handsomely for it.
The Tera Mine did not produce only Tera Mithril, but also more precious and rare gems. An example would be the unique Tera Crystal that contained the purest mana and could be used by any mage. There was no need for conversion at all, because there would be no waste during the extraction process. It was simply comparable to the effect of a mage meditating for several or 10-odd years. Besides, due to the Tera Mithril’s property of enhancing magical stability, the quality of the other accompanying gems was also greatly superior to that of gems in other ores.
The Supreme Council mainly needed Tera Mithril, and as long as he could guarantee its supply, there was nothing anyone could say about it. It wasn’t that the Supreme Council despised the high-grade complementary gems, but rather that they could not be calculated easily like Tera Mithril, and the Supreme Council didn’t need them anyway. Hence, it would be up to the person-in-charge to do whatever he wanted with them.