An hour before daybreak, Cadell and his group started their climb up the mountain. Jerkins went with them because it was what William and he had agreed upon beforehand. As the Ambassador of the Hellan Kingdom, it would be best for him to travel with Cadell to prevent any mishaps along the way.
William, on the other hand, was not in a hurry to follow them. They were now at the middle of the mountain, and would take at least one more day to reach the peak. The system did an in-depth scan of the mountain and found something interesting.
It was none other than an undiscovered crystal mine. However, it was not any ordinary crystal mine, but a mine where one could excavate Magic Crystals!
Magicians used these crystals to increase their magic powers, which allowed them to break through to the upper circles. For example, First Circle Magicians would easily be able to advance to the Second Circle if they got their hands on a High-Grade Magic Crystal.
It was similar to the Beast Cores that William used to upgrade his "Disciple of Thunder" Job Class. It was quite unfortunate that William wouldn't be able to use his magic powers at this point in time. However, that didn't mean that he couldn't upgrade all of his Mage Classes to their Max Levels!
William couldn't wipe away the smile on his face when the system informed him that there were enough High-Grade Magic Crystals to upgrade his Prince of Thunder, Ice Wizard, Fire Mage, Water Mage, Wind Mage to their max levels!
The system even proposed to take the entire mine and put it inside his domain. William readily agreed to this plan because having a Magic Crystal Mine inside his domain would increase the magic density in the air and would give benefits to the residents inside the Thousand Beast Domain.
Half an hour later, William woke Wendy up and the two of them huddled together on an elevated spot in the mountain to look at the East. it was still dark, and cold, but their intertwined hands under the blanket, kept both of them warm.
The others also started to stir, and joined the two as they waited for their first ever sunrise in the Kyrintor Mountains. While they were waiting, Kenneth sat beside William and spoke his thoughts out loud.
"I have a feeling that Cadell will make things difficult for us later on," Kenneth said. "There should be various checkpoints up the mountain, and I'm sure that he has already alerted all of them. I'm afraid that we will be barred entry when we arrive at their outposts."
William nodded in agreement. "Don't worry. I have already anticipated that this would happen. Just leave it to me."
Kenneth smiled because William's voice was filled with confidence. Because of this, all the worries in his mind disappeared completely.
When the sun finally poked its head up in the East, the world was slowly filled with light.
Wendy sighed as she rested her head on William's shoulder. This was not the first time she had seen the sunrise, however, this time was special. She was together with the person she liked and this made the experience extra special.
After admiring the sunrise for a few minutes, the group had breakfast and resumed their climb.
An hour later, William asked them to stop and led them on a detour around the mountain. After another hour of riding, they arrived at the entrance of a small cave.
William ordered everyone to dismount, and he led the way inside the cave using a lamp that was powered by Low-Grade Magic Crystals.
"Commander, where are we?" Amelia asked as they headed deeper to the caves. "Aren't we supposed to climb the Third Peak?"
"I also don't know where we are," William replied. "However, one of the locals told me that there was a cave located in this area, and he said that there were Ice Lotuses that could be found here from time to time."
"Really?!" Amelia's eyes widened in shock.
"Mmm." William hummed as he continued to guide them deeper within the cave.
Ice Lotuses were very rare herbs that most Alchemists would buy for exuberant prices. They said that when you used it to make a special cream, your skin would remain youthful and would not wrinkle for twenty years.
It was also used to craft special medicines that gave a strong immunity to cold poison, frostbite, and any diseases that were caused by the cold. It was also a very potent herb that could be digested raw by those who specialize in Ice Magic in order to drastically boost the effectiveness of their Ice Magic for a short period of time.
It was another unexpected discovery by the system and a perfect excuse for the group to take a detour from their intended destination.
-----
"Wow! So many Ice Lotuses!" Amelia exclaimed. "Commander! Are all of these real?"
"Of course they're real," William smirked. "Why would we waste our time coming here if they were not?"
Over a hundred Ice Lotuses floated on what seemed to be an icy lake within the cavern. According to Amelia's estimate, all of them combined would easily gain them around thirty million gold coins if they were to sell them in an auction house.
That was more than enough money to arm the members of the Angorian War Sovereign to the teeth.
"All of you are to stay here to gather the Ice Lotuses," William ordered. "Remember, do it carefully or the Lotuses will wilt and lose their value. I will scout around this area and will be back in an hour."
William then patted Kenneth's shoulder as he whispered something in his ears, "I'll leave them in your care. Watch over them for me and make sure they don't get into trouble. I'll be back in a few hours."
Kenneth reluctantly nodded his head. To be honest, he wanted to go with William, but since the latter had given him an order, he had no choice but to obey. He didn't want to break William's trust in him, so he could only endure and help the others gather the Ice Lotuses in the lake.
William left the group and told them to wait for him until his return. He also asked Ella to guard the path leading to the Magic Crystal Mine and to prevent anyone from secretly following him.
----
An hour after William left his comrades at the Ice Lotus Lake, he arrived at a dead end.
< We're here, Host. The Magic Crystal Mine is right behind this thick wall of Ice. >
'Understood,' William replied as he took out Stormcaller from his storage ring.
He took a fighting stance as he focused his aura into his weapon to strengthen it. According to the system, the wall of ice was over ten meters thick. This was why the natives of the Kyrintor Mountains were not able to discover that there was a treasure trove within the mountain.
The Ice was able to keep the power of the Magic Crystals from leaking which allowed William to take it all for himself.
"Lightning God War Art, Seventh Form," William muttered as Stormcaller's lightning bolts congregated on its tip. He was planning to pierce through the Wall of Ice that had been protecting the Magic Crystal Mine for thousands of years.
"Pierce through the void, Longinus!"