Chapter 495 - 465: Implementing Mercury Mining
Flying, a man-high Magic Charging Crystal stood erect on the deck, and the Charging Array it emanated covered almost half of the ship. Dozens of Flower Demons entered the array and then, with a flash of blue light, dozens of faint blue wisps of smoke were absorbed into the crystal. Then a new batch of Flower Demons continued to enter.
At this moment, the crystal had already stored up to 2000 points of Mana, and it had turned from its initial white to a light blue color.
It must be said, this crystal is too well-suited for use by the Elf Clan or the Hell Race. Because the level 0 and 1 soldiers of both races are magic troops, they can charge the crystal whenever they have nothing else to do. But with other races, magic troops are at least level 4, and their numbers are limited, how could they continuously charge like this?
Duke Makar couldn’t help but feel that this purchase was worth it! Speaking of which, during the Pool of Radiance campaign, all kinds of Magic Energy Materials were prepared by the Mayor and others. He didn’t even know how much Mana it would cost to teleport Flying each time, nor how many Charging Crystals would need to be installed to be sufficient. However, surely the Mana for a round trip to the Blood Sea should be enough. If not, just install a few more!
Ah, the more he thought about it, the more he felt this crystal was a bargain! It saved so much money on teleportation materials! Haha, wahahahaha!
And at this moment, a flash of light from the city’s Teleportation Array was followed by Mr. Sain’s excited voice: "Lord, I’ve been promoted! I’ve been promoted to a level 5 salesman, just one step away from apprentice manager! I’ve brought you the goods you wanted!"
That was fast! Duke Makar laughed heartily! After laughing for three seconds, he couldn’t help but shake his head with a wry smile. Brother, it cost 30 million Gold Coins to promote you to just one level of salesman. To get to manager, even as an apprentice, how much money do I have to spend on what kind of junk? Anyway, just let nature take its course and talk about it later. Right now, everything is for the sake of city defense!
Duke Makar quickly stepped off the ship and approached with a smile, "Congratulations! Mr. Sain’s actions are still so swift, even your promotion is rapid!"
Sain’s eyes shined like light bulbs: "Speed and efficiency are the traditions of Mage City!" After saying that, he pulled out a small bill: "Here are the Alchemy Materials Mr. Lord requested, totaling 2 million Gold Coins, still underwritten and paid for by me. I now completely believe in Mr. Lord’s abilities! Please sign for it!"
Duke Makar laughed heartily: "I’m really sorry that you had to advance a mere 2 million Gold Coins for me, but honestly, thank you, I really don’t have 2 million Gold Coins right now!"
Oh my Deirdre darling! The shells you play with are worth 2 million Gold Coins, are you using missiles to kill mice? If it weren’t for my good feelings about being in debt, I’d really feel the pinch!
Then Sain laughed again: "However, Lord, these Alchemy Materials are quite advanced. Without a specialized Alchemy Laboratory or experimental apparatus, it would lead to a tremendous waste of materials and greatly pollute the environment. We can offer to sell you a functional construct, the Alchemy Laboratory, for only 3 million Gold Coins. Would Mr. Lord be interested?"
——Alchemy Laboratory: Functional building. Can research and develop potions, materials, equipment, and Special Soldier Species. Increases city cultural score by 10 points, decreases city sanitation score by 10 points, can upgrade building. Special Skill: Stabilization Synthesis. (Special product of the Holy Crown City Alchemy Guild)
——Stabilization Synthesis: The failure rate of potion production by the Alchemy Laboratory, a special product of the Holy Crown City Alchemy Guild, is reduced by 5%. The effect of this special skill increases with the level of the Alchemy Laboratory.
Duke Makar burst into surprised laughter! Darn it! This guy must have some special sales technique! I’m buying rice, and he’s thought of the pot for me, maybe even decided on the chef!
I’m building a Death Bell Tower, a Netherworld Treasury, and that’s just tens of thousands of Gold Coins! You guys from the Mage Academy, everything costs 2, 3 million for just a turret or a building, which ordinary player can handle that? However, I built the Death Bell Tower using rich mines, and if you count the material costs and construction fees, it probably won’t be less than tens or hundreds of millions. Not to mention, they are also providing materials and workmanship. Okay then!
Functional buildings add city attributes, the more the better! Besides, being in debt for development is the way to go, just look at the United States, the country with the most debt, yet it’s the strongest and richest country in the world! If I weren’t in debt, where would the prosperity of this bustling construction site come from?
But as everyone knows, laboratories are smokey and murky, just like the castle of Gargamel from the Blue Elves! Would it really be okay to build it in my picturesque Radiant City? Moreover, laboratories have the highest accident rate—if one Nobel-prize-relevant experiment goes boom, not only is the laboratory wasted, but if kids on the street get hurt, that’s not good either!
Duke Makar sighed with a smile: "Don’t you have the blueprint for the Alchemy Laboratory?" If there is a blueprint, even if it’s destroyed, I can rebuild it.
Sain shook his head solemnly: "The intellectual property of the Seven Cities Alliance is not for sale, and furthermore, our Alchemy Laboratory possesses a unique special skill, Stabilization Synthesis. You might not feel its effect with ordinary potion development, but once you start synthesizing Divine Artifacts, it’s critical!"
Duke Makar shook his head with a wry smile, this is just great! How many years before I can develop and synthesize Divine Artifacts? In how many years will I still value your laboratory? I only believe in one thing, if you’re willing to sell it, there must be a catch!
It’s not about the money; the problem is, I don’t know where to build this thing once I buy it!
Wait a second, Da Fei’s eyebrows twitched as he asked, "Mr. Sain, I’ve heard some rumors that some alchemists like to build their laboratories in the sewers to avoid affecting the surrounding residents. I’d like to build mine in the sewers too, is that possible?"
If I could build it in the sewers, I could take the chance to develop those Slime Monsters! No no no, to fully research and develop all so-called sewer creatures, and maximize the potential of the sewers! Plus, researching special soldiers isn’t like researching potions or Divine Artifacts, so there’s no need to worry about the lab exploding! It’s safer too.
Sain’s eyebrows twitched, "To build it in the sewer? Not impossible, but that would be an addon construction, like the Magic Watchtower, which can be directly built upon other structures. The price surely won’t just be 2 million anymore, and once you choose the addon type lab, the difficulty of upgrading will be double, or even more, than that of an ordinary lab! Of course, none of these is a problem, the problem is—"
Speaking to this point, Sain let out a long sigh, "The issue is that at my current Level 5 salesperson rank, I don’t have the authority to sell such high-level items, and it’s also uncertain if the Guild would sell such a thing to Lord—you know, with Lord’s connection to Duke Makar, the Guild has already sold Lord the higher clearance Magic Charging Crystals, so a laboratory shouldn’t be a big issue. The key point is my lack of authority, and you might have to find the Great Duke again. Ah..."
Find the Great Duke for every little thing? Impossible! If the Guild’s lackeys came to me for every little thing, I’d be annoyed too! Isn’t it just an authority issue?
Alright! When already deep in debt, what’s a little more? I’ll lend you another hand! The Mercury Mine in my Black Forest hasn’t been sorted out yet, and it’s making me uncomfortable!
Da Fei then said, "How about this? I also want a factory and workers for extracting High Concentration Mercury Mines, can you handle this? Of course, if you can’t sort out the workers, just the factory is fine!" Even if there are no Steel Puppets mining the mercury, I still have my Elite Tree Spirits, they’re even stronger.
Sain was shocked, "Lord has a High Concentration Mercury Mine?"
Da Fei immediately clammed up! Damn it, though we’re on good terms now, there are some things those major forces don’t need to know, and I’m not going to let them.
Perhaps realizing he had misspoken, Sain shook his head and frowned, "High Concentration Mercury is different from ordinary mercury, it has mercury vapor, which can infiltrate the puppet workers causing their Magic Power Circuit to short and fail. So the worker’s requirements are very high, I absolutely can’t provide them, and the Guild definitely won’t sell them. As for the factory equipment, no problem! But what you mean is, you must buy two sets of buildings at once?"
Da Fei laughed, "That’s the idea, a bundled sale, you know it! But I don’t need the factory for now, no rush on the delivery."
Sain shook his head with a smile, "What a bundled sale, but to persuade the Guild, the purchase has got to be high-value. The ordinary extraction workshop and shabby factories that any Kingdom can offer won’t cut it. I suggest Lord buy our Guild’s High Energy Magic Pump extraction factory, which can extract lava and High Concentration Mercury, and adapts to various extreme and harsh environments. The complete set is priced at 50 million Gold Coins, how about it? As long as I can take this order, I could be promoted to apprentice manager, and then it might be possible to sort out the sewer laboratory!"
Holy sh*t! A mining factory for 50 million! Are you addicted to sales?
How long would it take to mine enough to recover that cost? How many trips would I have to make trading across the sea? And hold on, are you deliberately pushing all sorts of implausible goods onto me just to get promoted? Do I look like a sucker to you? Yes! Always on the brink of losing my territory, yet constantly buying up big, it’s just like a sucker!
Now how much debt do I owe to NPCs, and players for that matter? Da Fei started to feel unsteady and said with a bitter smile, "You mean to say, a tiny sewer laboratory is even harder to deal with than such an expensive factory?"
Sain nodded solemnly, "Different tech content! Although the factory is expensive because of its many equipments, its tech content may not be high. The laboratory may be small, but this type of addon building is indeed the concentrated essence of the Seven Cities Alliance’s technology!"
Alright! The key is to sort out matters one step at a time! High-tech stuff, that’s what I love the most! Da Fei laughed heartily, "Good! I’ll buy it!"
Sain was overjoyed, "As expected of Lord!" After finishing, he pulled out an application form, "Please Lord fill out this application to buy the factory!"
Then he took out a sparkling magical card, "This is my business card, in the future Lord can freely visit me at the Holy Crown City Alchemy Guild with this card!"
Da Fei took the card, sighing with emotion. I’ve spent so much money, and finally nurtured a connection at the Mage Academy!
Anyway, the Mercury Mine project has started being implemented. Now the only things not sorted out are the Demon Race outside the city, the Eight-Headed Snake, that Demigod Crow, and so on! I even think to myself how unreliable I am! Can’t help it, I don’t have a council of wise advisers.
But what does it matter! After all, I have a wealth of 20 million, no worries about food or drink for a lifetime, so what if I mess it all up? Later on, I won’t be any Lord, just casually sail my ships, taking all the Female Heroes in bikinis to trade and pay off debts for fun, no concerns whatsoever! Just like before, wahahaha! (To be continued. If you like this book, welcome to qiidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, you support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)