Chapter 847 - Surging Dark Tides (2/2)

The Forging Workshop of the Tower of Dusk did have their output affected, but they didn’t have to rely on selling ores to maintain a livelihood. Besides, the ores that they had sold to the trade unions were not from surplus caused by a reduced output. The current ores for the Tower of Dusk were either from their own territory or purchased from the Ledin Kingdom. Not only did they have an abundance of them now, they would have more than enough when the operation of the Forging Workshop was in full swing.

Most of the ores used in the Forging Workshop of the Tower of Dusk were actually high-quality ones from the Ledin Kingdom, while the ones sold to the trade unions were all mined from the Tower of Dusk’s territory. The quality was similar to that in other areas in the Breezy Plains.

The George Family had also thought of lowering prices in a bid to win their customers back. However, the benefits that the trade unions obtained were beyond just low prices. It was said that they also had other business partners.h.i.+ps with the Tower of Dusk. Hence, they definitely wouldn’t give up the Tower of Dusk and return.

When the George Family realized the situation, they had no choice but to look for the Mithril Alliance in a bid to come up with a solution. After all, they were working for the Mithril Alliance. However, the five families of the Mithril Alliance were all ancient families that had existed for over a thousand years, and they didn’t lack those ores. Although they were wealthy enough to purchase the ores from the George Family, it wouldn’t be sustainable in the long run. It would just be like them providing for the George Family.

The Mithril Alliance thought of another solution, and that was to purchase the Dark Crescent Tungsten ore directly from the George Family. However, after giving it some thought, the George Family realized that selling the ore to them didn’t seem to be able to solve the current issue that they were facing. Besides, they would only be valuable to the Mithril Alliance if they had the Dark Crescent Tungsten. Even if they might not stay strong until the end, they would still be fit to negotiate with the Tower of Dusk.

“If you can’t help us, we’ll have to talk to the Tower of Dusk!” After several failed negotiations, the George Family finally couldn’t stand it any longer. It was mainly because they didn’t know when the matter would end, and the mining of ores was the mainstay for the George Family. Without this source of income, there would almost be no way to keep the family alive.

“Don’t worry, we have spent a ton of money to poach some senior smithing masters from the Tower of Dusk. I believe that we will soon be able to experiment and find out the formula for the usage of the Dark Crescent Tungsten. By then, we will be able to share the formula with you,” the person from the Mithril Alliance said confidently.

However, could things really go so smoothly? Since the emergence of traitors, the Tower of Dusk had been strengthening their security measures, and Lin Li had also come up with various means to ensure the confidentiality of their information. The Dark Crescent Tungsten that the blacksmiths in the Forging Workshop had come into contact with was actually a mixture of several rare magical metals of fixed proportions, some of which would change in high temperature, and some would become impurities during forging. Even a Smithing Guru might not be able to find out the real formula through experiments on reversal.

That was all. In the face of repeated questions from the George Family, the members of the Mithril Alliance became more and more indifferent. After looking at them a few times, they decided to stop responding.

Having understood that they had been abandoned, the George Family was filled with regret. Initially, they had been cooperating well with the Tower of Dusk, and yet they had stirred up such a huge conflict because they had blindly trusted the Mithril Alliance. In the end, they were the ones to suffer. An elder of the George Family stood outside the Tower of Dusk for three days and three nights, and even signed a series of agreements that were similar to deeds of sales. Finally, the conflict was resolved.

The George Family was not the only force that the Mithril Alliance had made use of, but all the forces faced similar outcomes. Back when they were facing the boycott by almost all the forces in the Breezy Plains, the Tower of Dusk stood strong and did not fall. How could they be defeated by a few clowns that were out to make trouble?

Lin Li didn’t waste too much time and energy on dealing with the despicable and lowly tricks of theirs. Instead, those seemed to be amusing matters that balanced out his busy life. At the same time, Lin Li’s own strength also improved significantly every day. Although he was already at the peak of the Legendary-realm, he could still clearly feel that he was slowly advancing towards the Sanctuary-realm.

However, an invitation letter from the Glittergold Trade Union caused Lin Li to temporarily pause. At the beginning of the invitation letter, Hoffman first apologized again for leaving Gran Town early, and then for being unable to visit the Tower of Dusk in person. He also mentioned the purpose of his invitation, and that was for Lin Li to take a look at the potion formulas that they had purchased at high prices. The other reason was to introduce Lin Li to the major shareholders of the Glittergold Trade Union, and forge closer partners.h.i.+p ties at the same time.

The Tower of Dusk had many business partners, but the Glittergold Trade Union was undoubtedly one of the most important ones. Hence, Lin Li had to give Hoffman some face. Although Lin Li was eager to reach the Sanctuary-realm, getting to know a few more major shareholders of the Glittergold Trade Union and forging closer partners.h.i.+p ties wouldn’t take up too much of his time.

Besides, Hoffman was a Master of pharmaceutics who had the strong financial support of the Glittergold Trade Union. The formulas that he had were probably not inferior to the Pharmacist Guild’s. He even said that the potion formulas were interesting, and many pharmaceutics Masters were at a loss for what to do about them. Hence, Lin Li was indeed very curious.

Lafalia City was the largest commercial center of the Breezy Plains and the place where the Glittergold Trade Union was located, and was also known as the granary of the Breezy Plains. Apart from the headquarters of the Glittergold Trade Union, almost half of the trade unions in the Breezy Plains had chosen to station their headquarters here. One reason was that it was convenient for commercial exchanges, and another reason was its safety.

The Felan Kingdom did not appoint a castellan for the Lafalia City. In the beginning, Lafalia City was just an open-air black market in the Breezy Plains, which gradually developed. Afterwards, the Glittergold Trade Union invested plenty of money to build the famous commercial capital. Perhaps the President of the Glittergold Trade Union could be considered the castellan of Lafalia City.

The Glittergold Trade Union was extremely wealthy, and could be considered a tyc.o.o.n. Hence, it definitely wouldn’t hesitate to invest in tightening the security of its own place.

[1] It’s probably a mental shortcut of the author, and we need to add “in the Breezy Plains”.