Cthulhu Gonfalon

Money was not everything, but nothing could be done without money.

It did not only mean wealth, but also social status. More importantly, making money, or even making a lot of money, was one of the best ways for people to prove their ability.

So when it was confirmed that this silver mine was worth a fortune, even Dudu Hill, who was awash with money, could not help cheering out loud.

“Good job, young man!” he said. He patted Hopes on the back with such strength that it made Hopes cough. Hopes hurriedly dodged to avoid his Iron Sand Palm.

As a member of the royal family of dwarfs, this guy, Dudu, was a direct descendant who inherited the divine blood. His strength was staggering. Though Hopes was quite strong himself, he could not endure such strong pounding.

At the moment, he could feel a dull ache on his back and knew that he had been slightly hurt. He could not help feeling relieved that he had dodged fast enough. If he allowed this Dudu guy to give him a few more pats, he might have to look for a priest to help him heal from an injury.

“Your strength is simply overwhelming!” he could not help complaining. “I’ll really give way under your palm!”

“Is it? We usually pat each other on the backs like that…”

“You all from the royal family of dwarfs have congenital injury mitigation, but I don’t!”

Dudu took a closer look and found that Hopes was indeed a little pale. He ascertained that he had indeed been a little too forceful and hurriedly apologized. However, after apologizing, he took out a large bottle of wine and said that he wanted to express his apology with his much-treasured wine.

Hopes could not hold his liquor well, so usually at gatherings, he would only drink a glass or two—absolutely not the glass Dudu used to drink wine. Given that glass that Dudu used, Hopes would not be able to finish one glass even if it was filled with water, not to mention filled with wine—but it was difficult to refuse Dudu’s generous intention. He barely drank much before he was flushed red and walked like he was floating as he staggered his way back to his tent. Then he plopped down on his bed and instantly fell asleep.

“This young fellow is quite the lucky one,” said Sui Xiong. After Hopes fell asleep, a green light flashed by his side, and Sui Xiong’s figure appeared. “Within the entire mining area, there are only a few mining holes where a rich amount of Mithril can be found. And he actually found one so soon.”

“Frankly speaking, I’m a little worried,” said Clito, whose figure also emerged. “It’s not a good thing to find Mithril appearing at such a height!”

Mithril was a rare kind of mineral. Generally speaking, it was a mineral formed from the mutation of ordinary silver ores that had been immersed in a high concentration of magic for a long period of time. There were also some that were formed naturally. These two kinds of Mithril were broadly similar with only a few subtle differences—probably like the difference between natural crystals and quartz glass. Of course, there were differences. But not major ones.

Their degree of hardness did not lose to that of steel, and their weight was almost the same as that of common lightweight wood. Only when they were wiredrawn and used in the weaving of soft armor would there be a clear difference—it was easier to draw wires of acquired Mithril that was formed from a sudden mutation of ordinary silver ore. But the protective strength of soft armor that was woven from wires drawn from the acquired Mithril was slightly weaker than armor that was woven with naturally-occurring Mithril. However, it was just a slight difference.

Because of their origins, most Mithril deposits were found deep within the earth or even at the bottom of the sea. Or they could be found on the high mountains. The three places that produced the most Mithril in the world were the Kingdom of Mermaids at the bottom of the sea, the Kingdom of Dwarfs underground, and the Mifata Federation on the Southern Plateau.

If Mithril deposits were found in places that were neither on high mountains, underground or in deep seas, the greatest possibility was that these places were inhabited by powerful magic beasts. The silver ores would be immersed in the magic that was released by these beasts for a long time, causing these silver ores to become Mithril.

A magic beast that could generate Mithril from silver ores immersed in its magic was an extraordinary creature unlike any other. It would at least be a beast at the legendary peak or even a demigod monster. Even with Sui Xiong around, Clito could not help feeling worried.

Seeing how worried he looked, Sui Xiong could not help laughing.

“Don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong with that Mithril mine,” Sui Xiong said.

“But why… would there be Mithril appearing at this height?” Clito asked.

Sui Xiong laughed and said, “Of course this is the naturally-occurring kind. Though naturally-occurring Mithril doesn’t appear in great quantity, it can still be found.”

After gaining an understanding of the situation, Clito breathed a sigh of relief. Then he froze again and hurriedly said, “Then we must remind them! The value of naturally-occurring Mithril is much higher than that of the acquired Mithril! We must never sell the gold we find at the price of brass!”

Indeed. While the functions of naturally-occurring Mithril and acquired Mithril were similar, the prices of both were worlds apart. This was just like natural gemstones and artificial gemstones, where the price of the latter was only a tiny fraction of the price of the former.

Such a situation was largely the result of the powerful and wealthy families flaunting their riches in fanciful ways. The slight difference between the soft armors made from these two kinds of Mithril was hardly something worth mentioning to professionals like Clito. However, to these guys with so much money to spare, it did not matter whether the function of soft armor made of naturally-occurring Mithril was the same as those that were made of the other Mithril. The degree of rarity of this material alone made it worthy for them to show off, and moreover, its functions were slightly more superior.

This was why when Clito thought of this, he could not help rushing out quickly to look for a few management personnel of the joint exploration team to tell them about this matter.

“What?! naturally-occurring Mithril?!” exclaimed a fat, management staff member from the Commonwealth of Gold Coins. His eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Clito, and then he said, “Lord Clito… please pardon my rudeness, but I’m seriously unaware that you even knew about mining…”

Clito choked, and then he thought about it before saying, “Indeed, I know nothing about mining. But I know someone who is knowledgeable in it. There’s also no need for you all to ask who it is. In short, this person… no, this… is absolutely reliable! Yes, at least the vision is absolutely reliable.”

That fat man thought for a moment. After a discussion with the other few management personnel, he said that he would immediately send a message to ask the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce to send a few masters of identification who were capable of differentiating naturally-occurring Mithril from acquired Mithril.

After he had passed the message via a magic crystal ball, the fat man suddenly thought of something and asked, “Lord Clito, have you ever… been to that cave where the mine is?”

“More or less,” Clito replied vaguely.

“So… are there any powerful magic beasts in the vicinity of the cave?”

Clito understood his concerns right away—there was nothing much to worry about if it was naturally-occurring Mithril. But if the Mithril was generated by the mutation of ordinary silver, then often there would be powerful magic beasts lurking around. Or the existence of this Mithril might simply be by virtue of the presence of these powerful magic beasts.

This was similar to the matter that Clito himself had just pondered, so he could not help laughing as he said, “Don’t worry! The most powerful ones over there are nothing more than a few wolves. Without needing me to lift a finger to help, the exploration team drove them all away.”

The fat man nodded and hesitated a while before explaining, “My lord, I don’t mean to be meddlesome, it’s just… those masters of identification are the treasures of our Chamber of Commerce. If anything should happen to them, taking all the lives in my family would not be enough to compensate…”

“Don’t worry! In time, I’ll personally accompany them,” Clito said as he patted the fat man’s shoulder. “You just set your mind to work. No matter what, I’ll be around to hold out against whatever danger awaits us. Even if I’m not powerful enough to keep danger at bay, there is always someone else who will be more reliable than I am. The sky won’t fall!”

The fat man could finally set his mind at rest as he let out a long sigh of relief.

With this Legendary Master, the “Blast Swordsman,” in charge of command, even if something did happen, it would have nothing to do with him.