Chapter 773: Touch To Pass
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 quantity 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 friendship 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 relationship between the two parties well.
Of course, Lin Li also knew that once the cooperative relationship 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 massive 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.
It was said that Dragon of Time Nozdomo had the power to travel through time and space, control the passage of time, and shuttle between the past, the present, and the future at will. It used those powers and abilities to guard the time of Anril and allow the world to develop in the right direction. With the support of the Dragon of Time, it was probably not difficult to build a powerful kingdom.
Of course, there was no evidence to determine if Solan Quelsala had established the Ledin Kingdom with the help of the Dragon of Time or not. However, as the founding leader of the Ledin Kingdom, Solan Quelsala had indeed made his name known in history, and that was an indisputable fact. If he didn’t have the help and support of the Dragon of Time, it could only show that he was extremely outstanding.
Unfortunately, after the fall of a generation of heroes, the Ledin Kingdom experienced a chaotic civil war, and was then attacked and subdued by the neighboring nations. Initially, there were hopes for it to unify the powerful kingdoms of Anril, but it only managed to gain a foothold by relying on the Brilliance Shrine at last. Although the establishment of the Brilliance Shrine had little to do with the Ledin Kingdom, the Ledin Kingdom would still be an unknown force if not for the mediation and deterrence provided by the Brilliance Shrine.
After some negotiating, Lin Li reached a consensus on some commercial agreements with King Sinelli for the trading of potions and ores on behalf of the Tower of Dusk.
Actually, the Tower of Dusk’s potions had long been available for sale in the Ledin Kingdom, but because of various reasons, it was not very famous. After reading the information and asking Lin Li about it in detail, Sinelli was definitely tempted. In fact, gaining such a rich source of supply of advanced potions from Lin Li was a huge benefit to Sinelli even if he only managed to talk to Lin Li about business.
However, there was definitely a price to pay for advanced potions. Although Sinelli was the head of a nation, it still wasn’t an easy task for him to touch the treasury. Moreover, he did not dare to reveal anything about the plot that he had hatched. Otherwise, he would definitely be dethroned.
Fortunately, Sinelli could tell that Lin Li was very interested in the ores, and thus put forward a proposal to exchange ores for potions with the Tower of Dusk. Not only would that benefit them both, it would also avoid arousing suspicion.
That suggestion did not cause any damage or loss to Lin Li, and the only difference was the lack of gold coins. After all, barter was the most primal form of trade. As for the exchange ratio between the potions and ores, gold coins were just a standard for reference. If the potion was worth 1000 gold coins, Lin Li would be receiving 1000 gold coins’ worth of ores.
After discussing the content of the business deal, Sinelli did not get the details written down on a contract, because some things were inappropriate to be written in black and white. Sinelli simply handed a token to Lin Li. The specific contract for the trading of ores and potions would be signed by the Tower of Dusk and the nobles.
Lin Li left the palace and boarded the luxurious carriage, going back to Delano City. Recalling the negotiation process along the way, Lin Li sighed and thought to himself that if Sinelli were in a place where there was no suppression by the Brilliance Shrine, he could perhaps become a promising king. Unfortunately, the power of the Brilliance Shrine… had compelled Sinelli to choose an extremely difficult path.
Lin Li returned to the Holy Mountain of the Brilliance Shrine to see that the Pope Rosario’s body had basically recovered. Hence, he finally had the opportunity to ask questions about theurgy.
Although Lin Li had read the Light Bible before, he was just trying to figure out and grasp the concepts on his own, and he only managed to learn something because of the research that he had done on the debris of the stars Holy Light and Power of Light. However, he still had some doubts about the difficult questions and problems he encountered.
Pope Rosario was a powerhouse of the Sanctuary-realm, and his attainment in Holy Light Magic alone was probably unsurpassed in the entire Anril. To Lin Li, being able to receive some guidance and tips from such a formidable Sanctuary-realm powerhouse was just as good as the gains he had obtained in Osric’s mausoleum.
Due to his mastery of the debris of the stars, Holy Light, Lin Li had a great advantage when he studied Holy Light Magic, and it was more than just rapid progress. The studying of Holy Light Magic, coupled with Rosario’s tips, gave Lin Li a deeper understanding of the Laws of Holy Light and a better mastery of it.