Chapter 1356
"Master Merlin, which path should we take next? The one on the left, or the one on the right? The fork ahead seems to slope downward, and there's a breeze—maybe that's the way back to the surface."
Leon didn't answer. Instead, he walked to the intersection of the three paths, and a rune of earth appeared in his palm. Instantly, his hand took on the color and texture of soil, as if it had become a mound of earth. Leon slowly pressed his palm to the ground, sending ripples across the surface, and his hand gradually merged into it.
A few seconds later, Leon pulled his hand from the ground and moved ten meters away. He stomped lightly, and the earth trembled—a large hole appeared. Peering down, they saw another underground cavern below. Here, the rock layer was thinnest, barely three meters thick. If they broke through, the opening beneath would be exposed directly.
"Let's go. We'll head underground from here."
Maxwell looked at Leon, a mix of doubt and surprise in his eyes.
Archmage Leon Merlin seemed intimately familiar with this place. He was able to discover another vast cavern below and pinpoint exactly where to open a passage. When he broke through, he didn't disturb the surrounding structure at all—he must have studied this area before.
But on the way here, he'd acted as if he'd never visited these caves before, and his followers seemed unfamiliar with them too. So how did he know all this?
Could his research on this plane really be that thorough? What a terrifying individual...
Maxwell's doubts lingered, but his face betrayed nothing. Leon led his group, jumping down through the narrow three-meter opening, and Maxwell followed with his own people.
Their goal in exploring this cave was to survey the mineral resources of this plane, and nothing suited that purpose better than descending into these underground passages.
The group ventured deeper. Even here, the air wasn't stifling—the magical energy still flowed freely.
As they entered the deeper cavern, everyone was stunned. Crystals of various sizes were embedded in the stone walls, casting a faint, gentle glow. Dense magical energy swirled around these crystals, and even on the ground and ceiling, clusters of crystals jutted out from the rock. The moment they stepped inside, the aura of magic grew noticeably stronger.
Maxwell moved first. As a mage with Crystal Fiend bloodline, he was especially sensitive to crystals. The instant he landed, he appeared beside a half-exposed blue Mana Shard.
"My gods... Mana Shards, and their purity is terrifying. How can there be Mana Shards this pure? It's impossible—naturally occurring Mana Shards shouldn't reach this level of purity. And there are so many..."
Maxwell was visibly shaken. The cave stretched over two thousand meters in length and width, and more than three hundred meters high. Just the Mana Shards visible to the naked eye numbered in the thousands, with the smallest the size of a fist and the largest nearly half a meter tall. And these were only the exposed portions—their true size was likely double that, with even more hidden within the stone walls.
Mana Shards are incredibly versatile: large alchemical machines, mana reactors, Mana Shard cannons, magic items that don't require mana input, even staves—all can use Mana Shards.
The purer the Mana Shard, the greater its value—far surpassing the mana crystals found in magical beasts, which tend to be elementally biased and rarely pure. Only the rarest beasts produce crystals of single, pure magic, and those are highly prized.
But Mana Shards are almost always pure mana, making them far more broadly useful than beast crystals. Mages can even directly absorb pure Mana Shards to restore mana or aid meditation—the effect is enormous.
The Mana Shards here are frighteningly pure. If mined, they'd be far more valuable than purple gold coins in the Northend World. With Mana Shards this pure, you could trade for anything you wanted.
Leon watched coldly from the side, saying nothing.
According to records, that entrance was only discovered decades after this plane's formal development. From there, the underground caverns branch out in all directions, like a natural labyrinth of mining tunnels that reach nearly every corner beneath the surface.
Moreover, those aren't Mana Shards—they're high-purity Mana Crystals, almost identical to the Mana Crystals found in semi-planes. The only difference is a slight drop in quality, somewhere between Mana Crystal and Mana Crystal Ore.
Mana Crystals are pure, compressed mana, stabilized into crystal form—the essence of magical energy. Mana Crystal Ore is a bit less refined: it's still very pure, but the mana is condensed within the crystal, and over time, Mana Crystals gradually expel the crystal substrate, becoming even purer.
Mana Shards...
Heh, those are just the lowest grade. The Northend World only produces Mana Shards, and Mana Crystal Ore is rare. Even in a major Mana Shard vein, you might find only a few pieces of Mana Crystal Ore, and they're usually mistaken for high-purity Mana Shards.
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The difference between the three—how could Maxwell and his people possibly know...
Leon didn't explain. At first, these were Mana Crystal Ore, but as more mana crystallized inside, the crystal substrate was gradually expelled, leaving only pure Mana Crystals. They look similar, but their uses differ greatly.
The main fuel for an Arcane Battleship's mana reactor is Mana Crystal Ore, but the best is pure Mana Crystal. Every vein here meets the requirements for powering Arcane Battleships.
Coming to this plane, the most important thing—besides securing a source of materials under one's own control—was that there were almost no other mineral veins here. Everything mined underground was Mana Crystal Ore, Mana Crystal, or something in between.
All of these are fuel for Arcane Battleships. As research and development progress, and as fleets of Arcane Battleships are assembled, the demand for Mana Crystal Ore will skyrocket. The pure Mana Crystals from a natural demi-plane are far too precious—and far too scarce—to be used as fuel.
Seeing these Mana Crystal Ore deposits, Leon remained indifferent. He'd known about them already, and besides, the quantity here was disappointing—the largest piece was only half a meter tall, most were just fist-sized. For such a vast cavern, this was hardly impressive...
"What a bountiful plane! Mana Shards this pure, and some are so large—the smallest is fist-sized, and look at this one, nearly half a meter tall... no, wait, it's almost a meter!"
Maxwell personally dug out the half-meter Mana Crystal Ore, gazing at its pale blue glow as if he'd found a priceless treasure.
He ran several detection spells over it before smiling and stashing away the largest Mana Crystal Ore. Only then did he remember something, glancing awkwardly at Leon.
"Master Merlin, this Mana Shard is extremely important to me—the mana within is incredibly pure, perfectly suited for me. I'll take it, if you don't mind. There are plenty more Mana Shards here, so please, take whichever you like..."
Having pocketed the largest Mana Crystal Ore, Maxwell seemed much more generous.
Leon remained indifferent, not bothering to argue with Maxwell. Getting so worked up over a half-meter Mana Crystal Ore... If he saw a pure Mana Crystal dozens of meters tall, he'd probably die from excitement.
"Fine, Maxwell. If you want it, take it. Anyone who likes these Mana Crystal Ores, help yourselves—just don't damage the structure of the cavern."
Hubert, Reina, if you want some, dig out a few for yourselves.
At Leon's words, Maxwell's subordinates couldn't hold back any longer. Even Sunny and Shelton—who usually couldn't stand Leon's group—joined in, digging for Mana Crystal Ore.
Hubert grinned, utterly unimpressed.
Bunch of idiots. Hubert has seen much better. In Master Merlin's demi-plane, the best stuff is tossed into the lake like it's nothing. Would he bother to dig for this junk himself? What country bumpkins—look at them, using mages to mine!
Reina didn't even glance at the Mana Crystal Ore. She's seen plenty—back in Leon's demi-plane, Mana Crystals are used as pebbles at the bottom of the Mana Lake.
In Northend World, even a fingernail-sized piece of Eternal Dark Gold could drive two Sky Rank powerhouses to fight. In the demi-plane, it's treated as trash, buried everywhere. Those who've seen the world wouldn't care about Mana Crystal Ore...
Lord Shaun, on the other hand, seemed very interested. He grinned at the Mana Crystal Ore—he'd once devoured Mana Shards when his magic was nearly depleted, then moved on to Mana Crystal Ore, and even Mana Crystals from Leon's demi-plane. Now, he just craved the taste; eating them wouldn't bring the same benefits, but devouring Mana Crystal Ore could still slowly raise his rank.
In the demi-plane, Lord Shaun could never gorge himself on Mana Crystals—his monthly ration was fixed, and it all depended on Leon's mood.
Damn, these Mana Crystal Ore aren't as good as Mana Crystals, but they're way better than beast Mana Shards. Those stinky beast Mana Shards are just disgusting...
Still, I can't dig them up myself. Merlin didn't ask me to help, so he's probably keeping an eye on those fools with transplanted mutant bloodlines...