Free Web NovelChapter 253: Chapter 247: Freedom Gundam is the Calling Card, Crystal Bomb is Sincerity
Half a month later, three hundred meters beneath the lava lake.
Twelve massive "Volcano Miners" were at work. They had abandoned conventional caterpillar tracks, instead using multi-legged anchoring structures to clamp themselves tightly onto the dark red reefs.
Their drills and mechanical arms ignored the 3,400-degree heat, precisely stripping away high-purity Fire Elemental Crystal Stones before sending them into the spatial compression storage bays in their abdomens.
"Commander, Mining Area No. 20 is now fully operational."
Jarvis’s steady, electronic voice echoed in the main workshop’s control room. On the holographic sand table, data representing Mining Area No. 20 cascaded past like a waterfall.
"This month’s Fire Elemental Crystal Stone excavation has met projections. After deducting energy consumption and mechanical maintenance, Mining Area No. 20’s projected net profit for the month is 120,000 Low-Level Magic Stones."
Allen sat in the spacious commander’s chair, his long fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop. He tilted his head slightly, his deep blue eyes reflecting the data on the screen.
"Good efficiency," Allen commented. "Keep the two Earth-Diggers running. Have them continue exploring along the volcanic cluster and the lava lake to see if there are any other deposits."
"Command confirmed. The Earth-Diggers’ exploration route has been replotted."
After dealing with the mining affairs, Allen stood up and walked toward his private Meditation Room behind the control room.
The heavy door closed behind him, shutting out the roar of the machinery in the workshop.
The Meditation Room was lit only by a few faint, blue cold-light lamps.
Allen sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. His Spiritual Power sank into his Sea of Consciousness.
The tedious process of Rune inscription began once more. Every wisp of Spiritual Power he guided demanded extreme focus and precise control, allowing for no margin of error.
「Five hours later.」
Allen opened his eyes and called up his personal status panel.
[Cultivation Progress:]
[1. Fourth Core Matrix (Wizard Stage): 28/36]
[2. Fourth Cognitive Sub-thread (Wizard Stage): 14/15]
A month of high-intensity Meditation. Aside from handling necessary affairs, he had poured almost all his time into this.
The result was that he had only advanced the Fourth Core Matrix by one Will Rune—and this was already considered fast compared to other Wizards.
Allen quickly formulated a time-projection model in his mind.
According to his current Spiritual Power growth curve, completing the Fourth Core Matrix would take nine months, and constructing the Fifth Core Matrix after that would take a full three years.
Typically, it takes a First-level Wizard twenty to fifty years to advance to a Second-level Wizard. The Myriad-Machine Resonance Meditation Method, with its unique thread-differentiation ability, was top-tier, requiring only a little over twenty years. With the help of Dseek and some cultivation resources, he could be even faster.
’No, that’s not good enough. With my talent, I should be able to advance within ten years.’ Allen was a bit greedy.
Future cultivation would only become harder and slower. Completing all the matrices and sub-threads to reach the threshold of a Second-level Wizard would take at least another four to five years. And that was in an ideal scenario, with no bottlenecks or unexpected interruptions.
He had already been in this plane for over seven years. Of the twenty-year advanced study period his mentor had set, less than thirteen years remained. frёewebηovel.cѳm
The efficiency of conventional Meditation and refinement had already peaked. His current quantity and quality of Spiritual Power were insufficient to support faster Rune construction. At this rate, his ten-year advancement plan would be impossible to complete.
’I can use external aid. It would be best if I could buy some more potent cultivation supplies.’
Once the construction for the Fifth Legion was complete and the production lines were paused, his funds would increase by a total of nearly two hundred Magic Stones per month.
Cultivation aids for Official Wizards—such as high-grade Spiritual Potions that needed to be custom-ordered, wondrous items that could nourish the soul, or rare minerals and plants that could directly enhance the very source of one’s Magic Power—were rare and hard to come by. Their production channels were tightly controlled by the major Wizard Clans and organizations.
They were difficult to purchase on the open market.
In other, more developed planes, one could still buy some of these things, provided they had enough Magic Stones. But in a plane like the Molten Iron Mountain Range, which was not yet fully conquered, all materials were under strict control.
He’d heard the fortress had another trading channel, some sort of trade fair.
Allen thought of the seven pieces of Geocentric Fire Marrow.
"Jarvis, pull up the fortress’s event schedule and see when the next trade fair is."
"Searching fortress internal network..." freēwēbηovel.c૦m
"Search complete. The Molten Iron Mountain Range Pioneer Trade Fair will be held in the fortress in sixteen months."
A sharp glint flashed in Allen’s eyes.
He knew of this trade fair. His mentor, Mercer, personally guaranteed its credibility, and it was open to all the pioneer Wizards in the Molten Iron Mountain Range plane.
It was a Wizard’s version of a grand market, where trade was conducted mainly through barter or settled using Mid-Level Magic Stones.
When it was last held five years ago, he had been miserably digging for Black-Pattern Iron Ore on the outskirts of Zone 18. He’d only had a few dilapidated first-generation Golems and barely any liquid capital, so he hadn’t attended.
But things were different now. He commanded twenty mining sites with a monthly income of over 1.8 million Low-Level Magic Stones.
’I’ll go attend that grand Wizard market when the time comes.’
With a wave of his hand, Allen commanded, "Jarvis, update my personal product list. I need to stock up for this trade fair."
"My primary targets are wondrous items that can directly increase Spiritual Power and cultivation speed, followed by high-level Rune techniques and knowledge that can’t be bought on the market," Allen spoke rapidly, his thoughts clear. "Therefore, the goods we offer must have plenty of room for a high premium and be irreplaceable."
He looked at the existing products projected by Jarvis.
"Demon Eye Mk. II, Storm Falcon, Jumping Spider, Spider Slayer Mk. II, Mark I. These are conventional armaments, just to fill out the numbers."
Allen knew very well that most of the attendees at this plane’s trade fair would be Official Wizards from the alchemy school. The things they lacked least were ore and Golems, so standard armaments wouldn’t sell for a high price.
Whose workshop didn’t have a few assembly lines? Unless they had a severe production shortage like Victor, no one would buy another’s goods.
Among all of his Golems, only the ’Inferno’, a mid-range fire support platform, had a good cost-to-performance ratio. Victor had bought it before, proving it might have a market in the pioneering wars. The rest were basically unsellable.
"Then let’s get straight to the main event."
Allen’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Add the Freedom Gundam to the list for me."
"Commander. The Freedom Gundam is one of our core combat assets. It contains Rune Arrays and advanced technologies that you developed independently. Selling this model may lead to technology leaks."
"List it. Who doesn’t have an ace up their sleeve these days?"
Allen sneered. "I see Victor has a Golem with that kind of power now, too. It’s nothing special. Set the price at... one million Low-Level Magic Stones."
It didn’t matter whether anyone actually bought the Freedom Gundam. He just needed to put the Golem on display; it would be the best possible business card.
In this circle where strength reigned supreme, displaying the ability to manufacture a Golem on par with a Second-level Wizard’s combat power was the only way to gain a voice and respect among his peers.
This was the proper conduct for an arms dealer.
"Continue. Add all seven pieces of Geocentric Fire Marrow to the list. Reference price: 120,000 Magic Stones each, with priority for trades involving cultivation materials."
"Added. As a rare fire-type material, Geocentric Fire Marrow has extremely high trade value."
These seven stones were his real bargaining chips for this shopping spree.
"The final showstoppers." Allen’s fingers tapped on the desk, the rhythm slowing slightly.
"List a limited quantity of two ’Fat Boy’ Crystal Bombs. List fifty Crystal Armor-Piercing Bullets. And list five Crystal Micro-Dust Bombs."
In a plane filled with tough-as-nails Magical Beasts, he figured no one would refuse such good things.
"Crystal Bombs, three hundred thousand each. Crystal Armor-Piercing Bullets, sold in packs of ten for 50,000 Magic Stones. Crystal Micro-Dust Bombs, ten thousand each. Priority to trades."
"Commander, should I add the high-purity Crystallization Seed raw ore?"
"Absolutely not for sale," Allen refused flatly. "Not a single piece of raw ore is to be let out. We only sell the finished weapons. Let them know how powerful this stuff is, but never let them figure out our reserves."
As for the dozen or so other conventional ores, Allen didn’t even bother looking at them. Everyone would surely have plenty of those low-end, bulk products.
A new personal product list was generated.
Allen looked at the list and nodded in satisfaction.
"How much capital is left?"
"Current available capital: 1,476,000 Low-Level Magic Stones."
The workshop had been running nonstop during this period, so he hadn’t saved much money. But in four months, his wallet would soon be bulging.
With the list organized, Allen stood up, preparing to return to the Meditation Room.
’The trade fair is still some time away. First, I need to finish constructing the Fourth Core Matrix.’
