CHAPTER 384: CHAPTER 241: DRAGON WAGON

「Three days later, several Blue Dragon figures emerged in the Thunderstrike Crystals mine of the Montero sand dunes.」

One of them was none other than David, the crystal mine overseer who’d climbed the ranks by leveraging the troublesome source—Sebriz. Accompanying him were his nominal Blue Dragon ’little wife,’ a Silver Dragon slave, and a newly recruited underling.

Just as David had guessed, this turned out to be a rare open-pit crystal mine, located less than two days’ journey from the Olivalyres clan, truly blessed by heaven.

David indifferently picked up a piece with his tail and tossed it into his mouth.

Crackling crisp, flavorless.

He planned to ingest more in one go using Gluttony before entering eternal sleep, to see if it might increase the power of his Mana Energy particle beam breath while in his Blue Dragon form.

In fact, these things existed on David’s home planet, Blue Star, too.

They were natural glass formed by the extremely high temperatures when lightning struck sand or ore, composed of molten silica stone, but primarily used for scientific research and ’jewelry’ collection.

But just as the powder of Diamond in this world could be used to perform the Regeneration Spell, it seemed anything related to gems possessed some magical utility, and Thunderstone was no exception.

Of course, mining naturally wouldn’t involve the valuable labor of Blue Dragons. A Dragon would never personally go underground to mine in their entire life.

Glancing down, the vast Thunderstrike Crystals mine of Montero had preserved its peak as a ’lightning rod,’ while the surrounding area had already been excavated into a large elliptical pit.

Yet for such an expansive mine, there were only a few hundred slaves of various races inside, listlessly employing primitive methods to extract the minerals: They first chiseled out tunnels just big enough for one person to enter, like a honeycomb, bagged everything carved out into linen sacks, and had them pulled up by the people above. Once gathered, they were taken by camels to the sea for sifting. Those with high magic residue were gems, even if not Thunderstrike Crystals—there were other associated ores as well—but that all represented money.

Meanwhile, the perceptive David also noticed that the ’miners’ chosen by the Blue Dragons, besides the most numerous and robust Barbarians, included other humans who were all strong and fit. There were hardly any frail regular people, huh?

Sensing David’s puzzlement and seizing the opportunity to show off his new love, the former chief of the central courtyard, Patricio, explained proudly with a smile, "You can rest assured, this vein has been in normal operation for many years now. There are no natural harbors or oasis water sources within two hundred leagues. They can only rely on the daily freshwater created by the Blue Dragons in charge using a spell-like ability ’Create Water’ to survive. It’s nearly impossible for them to escape. Of course, those who are valuable enough to be captured would not indulge in such suicidal acts."

"Oh? Is there a particular source for these miners?" David asked with an attitude of ’listening broadens wisdom.’

With Silvia, the dragon he coveted, by his side, Patricio would not miss this chance to flaunt, "Of course, in harsh environments like Kutaro, ordinary people would hardly survive a month in the mines. Their death could potentially lead to an epidemic contaminating the entire mining field. Thus, from early on, my father proposed that when we go out to collect taxes, we only capture knights and nobles. They are the easiest to ransom, have better physical strength, and can mine the most before being ransomed. Of course, there are always exceptions, hehe."

Yo, so they’re even dabbling in the ancient industry of kidnapping. At least there is some moral principle – not preying on the poor. It’s just that... David shook his head and evaluated, "Too primitive, too shortsighted, utterly lacking in vision."

"What?" Patricio was taken aback; creating this sustainable operation model was one of the proudest achievements of his life.

Dragons, after all, do not understand human beings.

David went on to make another incisive remark, smacking his lips in wonder, "TSK TSK TSK, it’s like begging on a mountain of gold."

The most important point was, with such feeble productivity and methods, leaving aside the share that needed to be handed over to Dragon Nest, even after mining for a hundred years, it might still not be enough to build his own Tokamak Fortress.

Feeling struck a second time, Patricio finally couldn’t stand it anymore, "This operation and its rules have been unanimously approved and highly rated by the elders of the upper court."

Even Silvia, following behind David, was puzzled, thinking that her ’husband’ was intentionally suppressing Patricio to establish his authority.

David didn’t even bother to offer further explanation. Using Arrogance, he stamped his foot, causing a dozen Magic Power crystal slates to shoot out from the ground. His Magic Power shaped them one by one, and he turned to hand them all to Silvia, saying, "Take these ’billboards’ to the ’Tax Officers’ on your way back. Have them carry these when they set off and give one to every ship they encounter, ordering the captains not to hide them away before docking."

Silvia looked at the so-called ’billboards,’ which read:

Go east, young man, grow up beyond the sea to the east, and return prosperous.

She was immediately stunned, mouth agape, and asked, "We’re supposed to be evil Blue Dragons, would anyone come?"

For Silvia, the young female dragon yet to mature, David obviously had much more patience.