Chapter 773 - Touch To Pass (1/2)

Most of the Tower of Dusk’s main commercial networks were in the Felan Kingdom, and their foreign transactions were few. The greatest one thus far was still the purchase of Magical Crystal Cannons from the Dwarf Kingdom. Although the most famous potions of the Tower of Dusk were available for sale in the Ledin Kingdom, most of the transactions were done through partner channels, and there were only a few of such channels for the Tower of Dusk. Hence, the Ledin Kingdom was basically considered an undeveloped virgin land for the Tower of Dusk.

However, Lin Li was interested not in the sales of potions, but in the rich mineral deposits in the Ledin Kingdom. In terms of herbs, Lin Li already had the Elven Kingdom to provide a continuous supply of the best herbs in Anril from the Emerald Forest. However, the Tower of Dusk had always been greatly restricted in terms of forging. Otherwise, they would have long replaced the Marathon Family, and become the largest army equipment manufacturer in the Felan Kingdom.

Apart from the Brilliance Shrine, the Ledin Kingdom was most famous for its high-quality ores. The Ledin Kingdom had rich supplies of numerous rare magical metals. Even the Dwarf Kingdom which was famous for forging had to get their magical metals from the Ledin Kingdom.

Although the Tower of Dusk could also get their ores and minerals imported from the Ledin Kingdom, the quant.i.ty they could get was far from what they needed, and the prices were sky-high too. After all, there were two or more middlemen involved in transactions. During each handover, the inversion would increase the value of the ore by a large amount, and it would be hard to suppress it for the Tower of Dusk. If the Tower of Dusk could do without the middlemen and directly import the goods from the Ledin Kingdom, the price would probably decrease by more than half.

If the Tower of Dusk’s forging business was no longer restricted by the availability of ores, the Tower of Dusk would probably be able to take over the Marathon Family’s share of the business in no time, especially with Lin Li’s instructions for the blacksmiths. Although Lin Li wasn’t a petty person, he did bear grudges. Besides, he would be able to generate a large amount of income while taking revenge.

Of course, although Lin Li was very interested in negotiating with King Sinelli, he didn’t show much of his interest when he was in front of him. He didn’t think that Sinelli would give him valueless things like mining rights.

Perhaps business interests and rights were the same. When they were specifically discussing the details of the trade, Sinelli, the king of the Ledin Kingdom, showed his incredible talent in managing business. Hence, he wasn’t calculative about the negotiation, and achieving a win-win solution was the main purpose of the business negotiation. That would ensure that both parties got what they wanted while making their due profits. Allowing just one party to gain meant the failure of the negotiation, and Sinelli managed to achieve a win-win solution rather well. He ensured his own benefits while making sure that Lin Li didn’t feel like it was unacceptable.

Lin Li had to admit that he couldn’t quite resist Sinelli’s shrewd attacks in business negotiations, because he had no experience in doing business at all. If it weren’t for the fact that he had already seen through Sinelli’s hidden intentions, Lin Li wouldn’t have gone ahead with the negotiation. He would have left it to the professionals.

In fact, when Lin Li heard Sinelli mention the business cooperation, Lin Li could already tell that Sinelli’s true agenda was to establish a friends.h.i.+p with himself. Otherwise, the Minister of Commerce would have been there with them.

Lin Li was also impressed with the method that Sinelli chose. He was not as impatient as others, and did not make promises confidently right at the start of the conversation in a bid to forge closer ties with Lin Li. Such people usually ended up scaring away competent individuals, leaving behind only the unreliable ones. Sinelli showed that he was patient enough when handling this matter, and placed appropriate emphasis on his own interests while being generous with the benefits that Lin Li deserved. He knew how to manage the relations.h.i.+p between the two parties well.

Of course, Lin Li also knew that once the cooperative relations.h.i.+p between the two sides was stabilized, it would probably be time for Sinelli to put forward some conditions. However, Lin Li did not feel irked by that, because business was business, and mutual benefits were important. The future cooperations would have to depend on how much Sinelli could offer. In Anril, the price to pay for a level-23 Legendary-mage was very high.

Even though Lin Li didn’t know much about what Sinelli thought, he could roughly guess what was going on, and he felt some sympathy for him. If he were to be in Sinelli’s position, he probably wouldn’t be willing to continue staying silent and be a puppet-like king for the rest of his life. Although it was thrilling to hold ma.s.sive power, it was actually more horrendous than having nothing to one’s name.

In fact, although the current Ledin Kingdom was almost entirely controlled by the Brilliance Shrine, it had allegedly been established without relying on the Brilliance Shrine. There was a well-known legend about the establishment of the Ledin Kingdom.

The legend had it that the founder of the Ledin Kingdom, Solan Quelsala, one of the most powerful Sword Sages of Anril, was the closest human friend of the Dragon of Time Nozdomo, one of the Dragon Aspects. The Dragon of Time Nozdomo was the one who supported Solan Quelsala in building the powerful Ledin Kingdom at the end of the Dark Age.