508.Chapter 506 – 505 Burning Gold Monopoly and Profit Otherworldly Great Capitals
Chapter 506 505.Burning Gold Monopoly and Profit – The Road to Rise of the Otherworldly Great Capitalist
Not to mention Murphy and Trish’s quick action, in the Scarlet Castle’s Stonemasonry Brotherhood office, the old Dwarf Ilych who accidentally leaked the “secret of the sky” is now sitting on a chair with a face full of remorse.
In the face of other people’s various inquiries, this Dwarf Priest who maintains the classic appearance of a stern face did not say a word, but from his wrinkled eyebrows and the remorse in his eyes, it is clear that he just shouted a voice that made him realize that he had caused trouble.
However, the more the old dwarf did so, the more it proved that he was by no means mistaken just now.
Although Professor Chen did not participate much in the daily battles and gaming career of the players, he had been in Transylvania for almost three months, and he had seen the unique “Burning Gold” in this world as well as its almost “omnipotent” utility.
As a scholar, if not for the fact that the gold burning business of the entire continent had been monopolized by the Brass Dwarves hundreds of years earlier, he would definitely have wanted to find a way to get some to study.
Now this unexpected joy caught people off guard, but old Chentou is still very organized.
His gaze swept over everyone around him.
The implication in those eyes made Little Vikrama and Lumina cover their mouths immediately, realizing that Old Chentou would not allow them to tell where they found the ore, while the grey hitters who were accompanying them would not care about anything else, pulling the Parian sisters and rushing out of the house.
As Old Chen Tou’s disciple, he knew what his mentor’s eyes meant, and he now had to confirm as quickly as possible whether there was really gold-burning ore that could be excavated in Scarlet Fort.
It was no exaggeration to say that this was a true “strategic resource”!
“Master Ilyich, can you confirm that this is the gold burning ore?”
When only Old Chen Tou, his guards, and the Silver Dwarf Priest were left in the room, the Otherworldly Scholar pushed the unique ore in his hand towards the Dwarves again, and he asked softly:
“I know that this is an absolute secret of your dwarves, but you see, we have no way to smelt the ore even if we found it, and even those apprentice psionic masters know that the only ones on this continent who have the ability to secondary process the raw ore are your dwarven mining enterprises.
From this point of view, you shouldn’t feel sorry for the fact that we discovered the gold-burning ore.
On the contrary, doesn’t this mean that your dwarven enterprises can earn more profits from Transylvania?
This is a good thing.”
“But no amount of good you can say will change the fact that I leaked something I shouldn’t have, dammit! Mother Earth will punish me for talking too much.”
Ilych spat with an extremely remorseful scowl:
“I thought Little Loren was joking when he told me earlier that all sorts of things were bad in Transylvania, but it turns out that they are, and I’ve only been here for less than three days and I’ve gotten into this kind of trouble.
Ah, if this gets out to Lord Hadran, my lofty reputation among my people will be completely over.
The gold-burning industry is the lifeblood of the Brass Dwarves.
You can’t understand how much they have sacrificed and how much terrible blood they have shed in the past in order to hide every link in the chain of this industry, it’s a piece of fat meat, and the Brass Dwarves have paid too much in order to keep this piece of meat.
Alas, I am truly old.”
This dwarf architect rubbed his broad forehead and sighed:
“Perhaps after helping you repair your defenses, I should go back to Silver Castle and honestly lead an apprenticeship as an idle servant, instead of walking around the continent and causing trouble again. You don’t have to ask, Mr. Chen, I can’t reveal too much more about this aspect.
Although the gold-burning business has little to do with us Silver Dwarves, I have enough duties to keep this lucrative business for my compatriots.
This is a matter of morality and loyalty, so please do not test my bottom line.”
The statement left Old Man Chen somewhat bemused, but he quickly blinked and whispered something to the guard beside him, and the witch hunter left the room in stride returning a few minutes later with a few bottles of wine.
Old Man Chan uncorked the bottles and poured a glass for Ilych himself.
But how could the old dwarf be in the mood to drink at this time?
He was worried about whether or not he would be sent out by the Brass Dwarves to be hunted down by the Iron Heart Hunters, but even so, when Old Chen Tou placed the cup of unusually pure liquid in front of his eyes, his dwarven signature big nose still seemed to move instinctively, and even his extremely well-maintained beard shook as a result.
“What is this?”
The dwarf standing on the chair asked in surprise:
“I’ve never seen this kind of liquor before, and as far as I can remember the Transylvanians are not good at brewing either, except for the mountain people who occasionally make some uniquely flavored fruit wines, it’s rare to see you guys doing anything in this area.”
“Oh, it’s a flavor from the Ceres tribe.”
Old Chentou piled on a smile and introduced:
“One of my little old folks recreated this craft with some grain that the Nords supported but was about to expire and distillation techniques, and he named it ‘Flying Sky’, but of course, it’s not even close to the flavor I remember.
But it barely has a hint of flavor already.
I’ve heard that all dwarves are heavy drinkers, so don’t look so sad, my distinguished counterpart, have a drink as a token of my apology, as I recall, you have a similar custom amongst the dwarves.
When someone recognizes a mistake, he must bring the best wine he can find to show his sincerity.”
“Hmph.”
Ilych knew that this was the cunning old man in front of him trying to ease the atmosphere, but he didn’t care, he was very confident in his ability to keep secrets and felt that this kind of small trick would not work on him at all!
Isn’t it just sugar-coating?
Ch, let’s see this priest eat the sugar coating and throw your vicious shells back!
Thinking so, Master Ilych reached out and picked up the wine but didn’t drink it immediately, instead, he put it under his nostrils and sniffed it, like the best sommelier to judge the quality of the drink from the smell first.
The aroma from the grain made him crave for it, and he tilted his head back and drank a glass.
The mouth was soft and cool with no off flavors, and the first second was nothing special, but then the hot taste of the liquid as it slid down his throat made the dwarf take a deep breath, and then the sweetness of the drink in his mouth made him squint again.
“Ha!”
The Dwarf placed his glass heavily on the table and said to Old Chentou with a thumbs up:
“Not bad, it has a different flavor, although it is still far inferior to our Earth Aged Wine and Frost Castle’s Winter Fire Wine, but it is already unique, and if we continue to develop it we might be able to become a new line of fine wine.
Hey, my mood has also improved because of this rare wine.”
“Then let’s have another glass.”
Professor Chen laughed and poured a cup for the dwarf again, there were also witch hunter guards serving a few plates of appetizers, the two old men just had a cup for you and a cup for me, and the atmosphere soon grew into a better place.
Old Chen Tou did not rush to ask.
He is at least a professor, the rules of the drinking field he knows very well, has been patiently accompanying this dwarf to drink to the fifth bottle, see the other side of the words began to become more, and has begun to brag about their own past triumphs, Prof. Chen will know that the fire is almost ready.
He repeated the same speech he had just given, emphasizing that it was only from the curiosity of a scholar, and swore an oath in the name of knowledge that he would never divulge it all, before Ilych finally opened his mouth.
“Alright, alright, I can tell you a little bit, just for the fact that you bought me such a nice drink.”
The dwarf would have started blowing into the bottle by now.
He took a huge gulp of it with tons and tons of booze, and while puffing out his breath, he bashfully tapped the table and said:
“But you’ll have to accept the invitation to the Temple of Gaia!
I know that you have to face the Black Plague head on, so there’s no rush for you to go to Silver Castle, but after the war is over you have to come back with me, if you can pass the temple’s architect’s test, and if you can become a priest of the Mother Earth Goddess, then this information won’t be considered a leak lah, and anyway, we are also tasked with the responsibility of prospecting for the Brass Dwarves within the continent’s boundaries.
If you are one of us, then there is no knowledge you cannot share.
You must promise me, Old Chen, that this is the basis for all our next conversations.”
“If the Temple of Gaia is the first-class and only large architects’ guild on the continent, then there is no need for you to invite me, my dear Ilyich, and I will certainly visit there to exchange ideas and experiences with the best architects on this continent.
It is not advisable to work behind closed doors.
Knowledge is something that can only be circulated to allow both sides to explode with more inspiration, and this inspiration is the driving force behind the advancement of all knowledge to greater depths.
Truth!
That is the direction to which all wisdom ultimately travels.”
Old Chentou was also a little bit drunk, but the alcohol capacity hidden under his elegant appearance was not covered under the refinement of time, and after making a promise in a very organized manner, the old dwarf opened up his words:
“What you have dug out is indeed the original gold-burning ore, the original ore that has not undergone any treatment.
This is actually not a big deal, because the raw ore and the real gold-burning products in the middle to go through six processing, of which there are two processes even we silver dwarves do not quite understand, that is the secret method of the brass dwarves bottom of the box.
Alas, in the past few hundred years, the brass dwarves mining companies of all sizes have joined together and accumulated enough wealth by monopolizing the flow of gold burning to make us and the frost dwarves feel jealous from the bottom of our hearts, you know, we dwarves are not really as greedy for money as other people sarcastically say, but we do have a natural fondness for the treasures of the earth below, and gold is one of them.
Those guys are pretty good at what they do, though.
The Brass Fortress distributes its wealth to the other two Dwarf territories every year as an invitation for us to help them prospect for more combustible gold mines on a continental scale.
However, so far, the largest reserves of veins are still in the vast area of the dark mountain range, the rest of the continent can not be said to have no, but its reserves are so small that the brass dwarves do not have the need to run a trip.
They only need to send a prospecting team in the local digging for a few months will be enough to dig out the original gold-burning ore there, they stored in the past few hundred years in the original ore is a real astronomical figures, enough for the whole continent with a long time.
I don’t know how big the gold-burning vein is on your side, but I guess even if you do reveal the news, the brass dwarves won’t pay much attention to it, as they are busy repairing their fortresses to fight against the jackals right now.
Alas, earned so much money naturally have to bear a heavy enough price, the brass dwarves want to keep their own mines will have to stand in the front line of the fight against the jackals. Destiny!
Mother Earth teaches us that fate is fair!
You get it, you pay for it.”
As he spoke, the old dwarf took out a special magnifying glass from his pocket, and smoothly took the pieces of ore that Old Chen Tou had placed on the table and placed them in his hands to scrutinize the veins of those crystals.
While checking it out, he said:
“Look, the crystals are pure, indicating that the quality is okay, but the clusters of crystals are very small and dispersed, which means that the percentage of roughness that can be extracted from each piece of raw ore won’t be too much, and according to the grading on the side of the Brass Dwarf, the ore on your side can at most receive an upper-middle rating.
Not particularly good.
But it’s a bit better than raw ore from other parts of the continent.
But this doesn’t really affect gold-burning preparation, after centuries of iterative development, the Brass Dwarf’s Mineral Company has been able to ensure that all of the high-energy material in a piece of ore can be extracted, and, well, these cuties can be sold for a good price.
Would you like me to contact the Brass Dwarf company for you?
They’ll send someone over to inspect and negotiate a contract with you, we used to be in charge of this sort of thing, but I think it’s better for me to stay out of Transylvania’s business.
There’s something wrong with your part of the earth! It’s really evil here!”
“Oh, you really do still hold prejudices about Transylvania.”
Old Chen Tou laughed and said:
“However, we, the Stonemason Brotherhood, can’t make the call on this kind of matter, and we need the Administrative Office to step in and coordinate it, and personally, I’m more interested in the principle of the effectiveness of this special substance, the Burning Gold. I can’t understand how a substance can manifest a strengthening effect in multiple fields that doesn’t conform to physical characteristics at all.
Not only can it be used as an accelerant, it can even be used as a catalyst and propellant, and I also know that in certain psychic spells, gold can be used as the core casting material.
Don’t you think there is a problem with this?
It’s almost like a ‘universal material’!
I don’t think this is a normal substance that nature can give birth to.”
“It really isn’t.”
Shaking his head and enjoying the wonderful sensation of being slightly drunk, the Dwarf Eirich tossed a handful of crunchy peanuts into his mouth, biting them with a clicking sound, and added:
“In the eyes of the Earth Priests, the Burning Gold Mine is a miracle bestowed upon this world by the Mother Goddess of the Earth, and as such it was initially discovered by the Dwarves, and it was the Dwarves who extracted and used it and invented the sparkling business based on Burning Gold!
However, this is a belief level statement, in the very early days, the Temple of Gaia has dedicated priests to conduct various experiments on the burning gold.
We still have no insight into where the almighty potency of gold comes from, but we can be sure that the birth of this mineral under the earth had nothing to do with the mother goddess Gaia.
Mother Earth does not even like our offerings of Burning Gold as a sacrifice; He is much happier with the offerings of other ores and gems.
This means that the birth of Burning Gold was born from the action of other forces.
However, after it was proven not to be a creation of Mother Earth, the Earth Priests lost interest in it, and that research did not continue, mainly because Burning Gold was not produced near Fort Silver, and we could not get enough raw material for more psychic level analysis.
As for the Brass Dwarves
Alas, although they are all of the same race, I also have to make a harsh judgment on this matter!
They have been mesmerized by the huge profits brought by gold burning, knowing that it is not Gaia’s creation but still treating it as a holy thing, they are no longer loved by Mother Earth Goddess because of this, and in the past few hundred years, fewer and fewer earth priests have been born in the Brass Dwarf race, while the number of their people who gave up their normal lives to become Ironheart Warriors has been increasing.
This proves that the minds of the Brass Dwarves are no longer as pure as the jewels of the mountains and rivers bestowed upon them by Mother Goddess Earth.
They were polluted by the greed of the world, becoming more and more indulgent, more extravagant, more and more violent, and drifting farther and farther away from the teachings of the Way of the Earth, and most of those stories circulating on the continent about the dwarves’ carefulness, greed for money, and violent obstinacy stemmed from the changes in the Brass Dwarves over the years.
Even the number of Sin Dwarves they banished to the Sin Castle has increased year by year, more than five times the number of our Silver Dwarves combined with the Frost Dwarves of the Great Wilderness.
It’s really worrying.”
Irici tilted his head back tons and tons for a few more gulps and rubbed his beard:
“We, the priests of Gaia, have always wanted to free the souls of our compatriots, yet the burning gold and the value it produces is like invisible chains around them and pulls them ever deeper into the abyss.
Alas, let’s return to the previous topic about the ‘universal properties’ of Burning Gold.
Although we don’t have a definitive conclusion, the Halfling side’s research on Burning Gold has never stopped.
I’ve heard that His Excellency Minx Steam Valve, the most outstanding mechanic among the halflings, has published so many papers to verify his theory.
I haven’t read many of those complicated and obscure papers, but I have heard several of my disciples tell me that Mr. Minx believes that the universal properties of Burning Gold don’t come from the Burning Gold itself, but rather from the wonderful coordination it will have with psychic energy after it has been made into a finished product and used.
Minx calls it some sort of ‘energy field’.
In its fully burned state, the gold will work with other substances to form a strange force field that facilitates and accelerates the process of all the energy transformations that take place in it.
This is why it can be used as both a combustion aid and a catalyst.
It’s still essentially a special kind of psychic energy effect!”
The old dwarf shrugged and said to Old Chentou, who was already confused by what he heard:
“Neither you nor I are psychic energy masters, so it’s hard for us to understand Lord Minx’s theory, and I think Minx’s theory is also problematic because he’s equally not a psychic energy master!
All of his conclusions are based on theories that aren’t recognized by professionals, and Minx hasn’t been able to come up with a reasonable conclusion to tell us where the Burning Gold comes from.
He only judged very vaguely that the Burning Gold was ‘something out of the sky’, that is to say, he thought that the Burning Gold came from the action of energy between the other dimension and the material world.
Monked yet?”
“Well, I couldn’t understand it when you were talking about energy fields.”
“It’s good if you’re baffled, don’t think about all this nonsense, it’s not very friendly to us old men’s brains, come on, come on, have a few more drinks! Oops, this traditional fine wine of yours from Ceres really gets better the more you drink it.
This feeling of being seemingly drunk is so wonderful, I bet your drink will become the new favorite of the dwarven society.
Hahaha, I’m the first Dwarf to enjoy it.
It seems there are good things in Transylvania after all, and I’m beginning to like it here.”
—
“So, what do you think about what Lord Illich said about the legend of the Burning Gold?”
At the very bottom of the city rift in the Scarlet Fortress, Murphy held the Core Treasure Bead to play out the conversation between the old dwarf and Professor Chen, and in front of him was a group of Blood Servants playfully wielding mining picks to dig up raw ore.
At his side, Tris narrowed her eyes and listened to the dwarf’s statement, she shook her head and said:
“I’ve never even seen the raw ore before, so how can I analyze where it came from? But I feel that that ‘Minx Steam Valve’ Excellency’s argument has so much truth in it, the material world doesn’t have that condition to form an ore with such marvelous properties.
The theory that the energy that shaped it originated from the outside world has strong explorability.”
“So, it’s astral energy?”
Murphy said with a frown:
“This land has never had traces of Burning Gold’s existence before, but after the disaster in Cadman City, the Astral Realm Energy poured down and entrenched itself here for several more months, and under its influence even the stones turned into energy bodies, and it’s not hard to understand that such a strange substance as Burning Gold Ore was spawned.”
“No, astral energy cannot create such a thing! The attributes of Astral Realm Spiritual Energy are defilement and frenzy, it doesn’t have the attribute of ‘shaping’.”
Tris vetoed:
“Maybe it was something else, at the time of the disaster, besides the impact of the Astral Plane, there was also the fact that this gully was so close to the Scarlet Cloister that it was right above it, so…”
Murphy blinked, he looked at Tris and said:
“You mean, subspace?”
Tris didn’t answer.
She just frowned tightly to maintain the thoughtful expression that a Psychic Master should have, and after a few moments, when the Blood Servants dug up a huge piece of ore mixed with crystalline coarseness, Tris finally relented.
She pulled Murphy to return to the corridor with her wings open and flew all the way until the place where the Holy Blood Hall collapsed.
The place was too broken yet to be excavated and repaired.
Tris smoothly picked up the mining pick left by the workers next to her and said to Murphy:
“Dig this place out! The impact of subspace started from here, if the birth of the gold-burning ore is really related to subspace, then there must be a much larger and pure vein of ore under the ruins of the hall.”
“Hmm, good idea!”
Murphy nodded, but he then bristled:
“But is this kind of hard labor work so much to ask me to come personally? Can’t you just send out a quest? Plenty of idle little players will come running to volunteer their strength, make the best use of what you have, Tris.”
“Well you have a good point, I’ll send out a quest.”
(End of chapter)