Kyle fought through one room after another.
There was seemingly no end to them, and almost every single room had some kind of enemy.
After fighting through almost 15 rooms, Kyle found himself in a room he had visited before.
He looked around for a bit and found a tunnel he hadn't traveled into yet.
"How big is this cave network?" Kyle asked.
"I don't know," Theodor said. "It's kilometers upon kilometers long. If you travel deeper, you will also find Earth Elementals. I've even seen two Metal Elementals."
Metal Elementals were extremely rare.
Earth Elementals were only created when a lot of dense Earth Ether was in one place without a lot of other Ether.
This generally only happened deep below the ground.
Metal Elementals were created the same way, but that was exactly why they were so much rarer.
They needed dense Metal Ether without a lot of Earth Ether.
The existence of Metal Elementals meant that there were extremely valuable, big, and dense clusters of metals in the ground somewhere.
Only huge mines like the primary mine of the Forthings had Metal Elementals.
Sadly, compared to Earth Elementals, Metal Elementals did not increase the likelihood of valuable ore appearing.
After all, Metal Elementals were consuming the metal.
However, the heart of a Metal Elemental was unimaginably valuable.
The heart of a Metal Elemental contained all the Metal Ether of a gigantic cluster of ore.
The heart of a Metal Elemental was one of the very few sources of genuine Rank A Materials.
Kyle had only seen one Rank A Material in his life.
Adamantium.
The castle of the Forthings had been made of it.
Adamantium was one of the Rank A Materials that Metal Elementals could create by gathering all the Metal Ether.
Rank A Materials were used to create the equipment of Dukes and Advisors.
This was not something a new Grandmaster or Royal Knight had access to.
This was something for the true elite of the kingdom.
These kinds of materials were of national importance.
However, Kyle knew one thing for certain.
'If I accidentally come across a Metal Elemental, I will die,' he thought. 'I wouldn't even be able to defend myself.'
Just the fact that a Metal Elemental was created meant that it had enough high-quality food to very quickly reach the later stages of the Third Realm.
Theoretically, Metal Elementals in the Initial and Early Third Realm existed, but they had never been seen. Even Metal Elementals in the Mid Third Realm were rare.
Almost every single Metal Elemental was in the Late or even Peak Third Realm.
Killing something like that needed the Ace Team of the Skysand Guild, a Duke, or an Advisor.
These were one of the strongest foes the Skysand Kingdom fought, beside the Winterfire Kingdom.
"Have you killed a Metal Elemental before?" Kyle asked as he kept traveling through the tunnel.
"I killed five," Theodor said. "Two of them have been here. The other three were in the Dividing Ridge."
"I made Hieronymus out of the ore of the first Metal Elemental," Theodor said, referring to his weird dog dragon thing that shared the same name as King Skysand.
"I spent almost an entire Ether Crystal to kill it."
"I made Sulfur out of the second."
"I used the third to create Granite."
"The last two were used to create my Inheritance Crystal. Those were also the two I killed here."
"Killing the last two was not as difficult as killing the first three. Sulfur keeps them at bay. Hieronymus attacks them from the back, and Granite simply kills them."
Kyle furrowed his brows. "Isn't Sulfur two or three levels lower than a Metal Elemental? How can he keep them at bay?"
"Sulfur's complexity and Ether density are two or three levels lower, depending on the Metal Elemental. However, his body was forged of the same material as the Metal Elementals. They can push Sulfur back, but destroying it will be very difficult."
"When it comes to golems, you shouldn't think about level. Sulfur is only in the Early Third Realm, but his physical power and defense are just as strong as the physical power of a Late Royal Knight."
"While Granite runs out of Ether quicker than a Peak Grand Sorcerer, his Spells are just as devastating."
"Hieronymus is not as hard and powerful as Sulfur, but his speed equals the speed of a Late Grandmaster with a small True Body."
"On their own, they couldn't kill a Metal Elemental, but they never fight alone."
Kyle nodded.
It was quite interesting to hear more about Theodor's former power.
"Why is Granite only in the Mid Third Realm? Can't you make a stronger one?" Kyle asked as he looked into a new room with a bunch of Mid Ferocious Beast snakes.
"I could," Theodor said, "but I didn't receive the necessary funds."
"I have to refine pure Ether Crystals to create their cores. Creating Granite alone cost me almost 70 Ether Crystals. If I wanted to make a better version, I would need over 200. "
"Ether Crystals are not common. They are viewed as currency and are used by many people to reach the Third Realm. The Forthings most likely have several hundred Ether Crystals stored as ore, but they would find it impossible to convert all of that into Ether Crystals."
"There are simply not that many Ether Crystals in circulation."
"I had enough wealth to upgrade Granite, but I just couldn't get the Ether Crystals I needed."
Kyle crushed the skull of one of the snakes before jumping to the side.
"Can't you convert Ether Gems into Ether Crystals?" Kyle asked as he rammed the pick of his hammer into another snake.
"Yes, we have a way to do that," Theodor said. "The problem is that it's very inefficient. Its efficiency is barely 5%. Creating one Ether Crystal needs almost 2,000 Ether Gems."
"I was quite wealthy, but I wasn't that wealthy."
Kyle grew interested as he killed the last snake.
"Could we also theoretically create Ether Essences?" he asked.
"Yes, but how are you going to get 2,000 Ether Crystals? At most, inside the entire kingdom, there are maybe 200 to 300 Ether Crystals in circulation. You would need to confiscate all the Ether Crystals for literally centuries before getting enough."
"However, by collecting and storing them like this, nobody will reach the Third Realm during this time."
"The core of the Skysand Army will die out, and the Winterfire Kingdom will overrun us."
"So, yes, it is theoretically possible."
"But it's practically impossible."
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