?”That wasn’t here before…right?” Rebecca asked in disbelief, her eyes glued to a particular spot in Paradise Valley’s center.
A massive hole had been etched into the landscape of Paradise Valley. It spanned several meters in all directions and led…several kilometers downward.
“Nope,” The Starheaven Pharaoh chuckled, “But I think we know where to build the excavation site for the Energy Stone mine.”
Rebecca and the Starheaven Pharaoh weren’t the only ones who followed Michael to the ruins of the Primedival Pyramid, but the others didn’t utter a word. Their attention was split between the massive hole and the young man standing calmly next to it.
Michael didn’t notice the glances locked onto him. He was busy using the power stored within Swallow Domain by utilizing Permute. A pile of Imperial Coins spread out before Michael, but some coins looked different. It wasn’t obvious before, but some Imperial Coins were dyed black as Michael filled them.
He stored curse power within a bunch of Imperial Coins. Michael compressed the curse power within the Imperial Coins tightly to store as much as possible within each Imperial Coin. Since the Wolf Curse and World Serpent were stubborn and tried to teach him lessons whenever he forced them to help, Michael chose to make all necessary preparations to fight independently from them.
He used everything Swallow Domain had devoured to create highly compressed curse power Imperial Coins. A single Imperial Coin was enough to replenish the curse power within 100 Seals. Both Major Seals could be replenished and used at full power by consuming the curse power in one of the Imperial Coins. Of course, the curse power he could produce using Permute wasn’t comparable to the Curses’ Essences, but Michael didn’t manage to create Essences.
He’d felt Essences quite often at this point, but the Origin Sap’s Essence was the only Essence he could produce using Permute. At least, that’s what Michael felt. Michael had yet to comprehend more about the Wolf Curse and the World Serpent to recreate their Essence using Permute. But that was fine. He was just getting started.
‘To think that the entire Primedival Pyramid, well…the ruins of it, wasn’t enough to create a trace of Origin Sap Essence.’ Michael murmured in his head, only to shrug lightly. If Essences were that easy to understand and produce, Michael wouldn’t have had an issue with the Essence traces of the World Serpent and the Wolf Curse.
But that was fine. He was still alive and well. The pain Michael felt earlier was a distant memory, a lesson taught well.
“How about we get started?” Hiraku asked. He stopped next to Michael and peeked over the edge of the massive hole.
“I…think I can see the first Energy Stone deposit already. Though, I am unsure if you can call that a ‘deposit’ at this point.”
Michael didn’t notice Hiraku following him to Paradise Valley, but he was glad he was there. Hiraku’s Creation was exactly what they needed to crush all problems that could arise in the excavation site’s construction.
“Are you still opposed to my offer?” Michael asked, ignoring what Hiraku said. He stepped closer to the edge and activated Spirit Eyes as well. However, Michael knew what he was going to see at the bottom of the massive hole. Spirit Eyes showed him what he was bound to see through the ground.
The entire bottom of the hole and several meters of the walls were covered in glistening blue stone. There wasn’t a single flawed spot. Not even a speck of gray or brown could be seen at the bottom of the hole. It was…one big Energy Stone.
“Why… are you thinking about that right now? Isn’t that down there far more important?” Hiraku asked, never lifting his gaze from the Energy Stone walls and bottom.
“Why not? You haven’t used your Jungle Points yet, and you have been rejecting my offers without hesitation. Everyone else, except you, has been benefiting from putting their lives on the line to protect the Untamed Jungle. It’s hard to understand. You’re not gaining anything from rejecting my offers or not using the Jungle Points. If anything, it slows your progress.”
Hiraku didn’t respond to Michael’s comment.
Lilica, the other Forest Elven Adventurers, and others walked up to the edge of the hole as well. The Forest Elves were sweating buckets, but they wondered what Michael would do. Seeing the hole and hearing what Hiraku said was enough to push through the unbearable heat and stare into the darkness.
Some spots of the hole were shrouded in darkness, yet the bottom surroundings were lit up, glistening brightly.
“How many Energy Stones will we get by mining the first layer of ‘that’?” Mika asked, swallowing hard.
Inferior Energy Stones were usually smaller than an adult’s fist. That being said, the bottom of the massive hole was as extensive as the entrance, which was a straight line down to the ground.
“Since the Primedival Pyramid was swallowed whole, the hole must be more than 500 meters long. Inferior Energy Stones are between five and eight centimeters in every direction,” Rebecca calculated, her eyes flashing as she used her Soultrait, “We don’t know how deep this is going to be. Still, the several-meter-tall energy stone walls indicate it’s going deeper. There is more than one layer of Energy Stones.”
Frederik shuddered, “There are more than a million Energy Stones…and that’s only what we can see.”
“We don’t understand how wide and deep this is going either,” Michael nodded.
Not wanting to wait any longer to find out the Energy Stones’ grading, Michael used Cosmic Stride. He appeared at the bottom of the hole and transformed Aethyr into a pickaxe, which he coated in Qi before striking down with tremendous force. The energy stone he’d struck exploded outward. Smaller chunks and larger pieces of Energy Stone shot in all directions, but Michael caught them all with an eruption of energy.
His energy coated the Power Gems instantaneously. They were stored in his War Rune right after.
Michael returned to the surface where he retrieved the Energy Stones to give them to Rebecca.
“Can you determine their grade precisely?” Michael queried while stretching his senses to determine the Energy Stone’s grade.
‘There is definitely too much Energy inside them to be graded Inferior. The quality is also fairly decent, but it’s not quite yet at the same level as Superior Energy Stones,’ Michael mused.
Rebecca confirmed his suspicion, “The Energy Stone’s vitality level is on par with a…Superior Energy Stone, but the quality isn’t on par. It’s a Common Energy Stone with three times the usual energy.”
“Every Energy Stone harvested from down there is as valuable as three Common Energy Stones,” She smiled, her hands trembling in excitement.
“There are tens, no…more than tens of millions of Power Gems down there, and you’re telling us that each is three times more valuable than Common – or Ordinary – Energy Stones?” Hiraku asked, one of his eyebrows raised.
“Exactly.” Rebecca acknowledged.
“Crazy,” Frederik blurted out, and Lilica nodded with a vibrant smile.
“Crazy, indeed.”
Michael clasped loud enough to attract everyone’s attention. He looked at his subordinates, smiling brightly.
“How about we get commenced then? We have a lot to prepare,” He said, “Our path to ridiculous wealth and power are waiting down there!”
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