It took a lot of thinking and some stressing to decide on how to handle the Frost Dungeon that contained the rather valuable Glacial Heart [Check Name]. The fact of the matter is, we technically didn’t have the level of strength it would take to truly guard something of that value from any would be aggressors.
But that was only true when you considered the situation on the scale of a multiverse and that were a weak power surrounded by other factions of greater strength.
But for us that simply wasn’t the case. Although in general we were actually pitifully weak, because we carried the weight of Infernals behind us, that was more then enough protection.
Especially since it seems all the relevant factions on the Planet seemed to already be aware of our presence here, and from what I’ve seen, none of them wanted to start a war of any kind.
Of course, I brought the matter to Elder Zal, and she had a somewhat different view on it all.
Greed.
Greed was the root of a lot of things.
If the greed within someone was enough, entire wars could be fought all because of the selfish wants one or many individuals.
She reminded me there was a reason that while Infernals were feared, they had still ended up fighting in many wars over the years.
Even though some of the forces who fought in these wars, knew that millions of their number would die, emotions like anger or grief and even desires centered around greed tended to cloud the vision of even the most logical and sensible.
It was not wise to think that just the Infernal name would be enough to deter any and all forces from moving for the Glacial Heart Fruits. That is how valuable they are.
Of course, not every individual wanted to make use of Ice Qi, but for some, it was a million times better than using regular Qi for all their lives, while there were of course others whose entire goal was to use Ice Qi.
Either way it would be valuable. Elder Zal confirmed to me that it was useless above Nascent Soul, but that didn’t mean those above wouldn’t them for their own descendants or lower members of whatever force they were a part of.
Long story short, we still very much had to guard the area, and take it seriously as well.
The problem was that there was no infrastructure there, and it wasn’t just a day or two of travel away from the City, so we have to station someone I could trust of sufficient strength, and there would also need to be regular checks, shipments and personnel changes the entire time.
So, after all the logistics and everything surrounding the situation was planned out, it was decided that Brandon would head the small contingent that would be stationed there. It would be Brandon, around 25 members of the City Guard, and 5 members of the Olirag Clan. Of course, a contingent of builders would head there as well to build a small outpost there. They would be coming back though.
A lot went into this decision.
Brandon wasn’t necessarily a member of the City Guard, but he was willing to help out regarding most things and he surprisingly liked the idea of living in the North. Lance and Trent would’ve been decent options as well, but both of them didn’t like the North.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The City Guard kind of had no choice in the matter based on contractual obligations, but they would receive more pay as a result.
The members from the Olirag Clan was where things got a bit tricky.
Both Greja and Jrino negotiated for this. It was for resources like this, that their clan had chosen to invest in the Tutorial in the first place.
All the Gold Coins Greja’s shop earned wasn’t even a drop in the ocean when you considered Greja and the Clan’s financial power as well. It was really just for u. They weren’t truly making money here.
The Glacial Heart Fruit was another matter altogether.
So, it was no surprise they wanted a piece of the pie, but it was my pie to share.
There was about 20 or so fruit producing trees in the Dungeon, and each tree produced roughly 4-7 fruits per tree, so we had plenty. Especially since someone would only have to eat just one to get the benefits.
Even with all the information given about how valuable these fruits were, I still didn’t understand the scope of the value being described.
I almost gasped when Greja mentioned the Olirag Clan would be willing to pay 1000 Rank 1 High Grade Spirit Stones per fruit.
I almost gasped because I had no idea what that really meant. It just sounded crazy.
Until she put it into perspective.
One might be able to exchange and exuberated amount of Gold just 1 Rank One Low grade spirit stone, but a High Grade one? Practically no amount of Gold would be worth it.
Gold doesn’t help you cultivate, it serves no other significant purpose other than its capacity as a currency.
A spirt stone on the other, quite literally contained Qi. Very pure and untainted Qi. They also made it possible to absorb Qi far easier, since it would be concentrated in the stone and literally held at your fingertips.
There would be no need to pull from the atmosphere in an effort to gather it.
And that was the just the most obvious use. Spirit Stones could be used in a plethora of other ways.
From creating bombs, to creating formations, to powering devices and various machinery.
Essentially the value of a spirit stone simply outclassed Gold and other metal currencies in every way.
And Greja, Jrino and the Olirag Clan wanted to give me 1000 of them per fruit.
They would be buying 10 fruits in total.
10,000 High Grade Rank One Spirit Stones.
It was only after receiving acceptance from Elder Zal that I accepted the deal.
Apparently I could get more, but I barely had use for the ones I’m getting in the deal.
Yeah I could absorb the Qi from it, but as a currency its use was somewhat limited since most of the inhabitants of the Planet are likely operating with only Copper, Bronze, Silver and Gold. And it was mainly the first three in circulation. Most human communities probably didn’t even have Gold yet.
The value of the stones would grow more when there is more of it in circulation, it would never depreciate in value.
Anyway, 5 of the fruits Greja bought were to be given to the five Qi Refinement Realm Cultivators from the Olirag Clan accompanying the group.
Greja would receive the other 5.
Brandon would also be given a fruit. Since he’s likely going to be there semi permanently. It’s only right he gets one.
It took roughly a week to wrap all of that up from organizing logistics, to getting the group together, and everything else that was relevant before the group was sent on their way. Jrino himself had gone with them for protection, so there wasn’t any need to worry about their safety.
Though I really do wish that this entire thing was the most stressful thing to take place over the week.
It happened towards the end of the week. Right after Jrino and the others left.
The mermaid looking women had asked for a meeting.
Of course, there wasn’t any problem at all with this, and I met with them quickly.
“Thank you for meeting with us once more City Lord. The ambience of the nearby harbor has been quite serene as we deliberated over our way forward.
“With that in mind, the Empire and my Family have both agreed to propose a marriage between our people and yourself. I am the first of potentially many high standing women of powerful families who would be among the options for you to purview.
“It is the hope of the Empire that you find this proposal agreeable. This partnership will usher in a new age of prosperity for both our people. Two prominent Planets within the control of the Empire have been set aside for you and the family you create to rule as part of the deal.”
I almost spit my tea out twice by the time she was done talking.
