Chapter 1035: Pseudo-Sanctuary-realm
“Who are you people? Why did you barge into the conference hall without permission?” Cantory flew into a rage as soon as he saw the attitude of Lin Li and his companions. He’s just the president of a small local force, and yet he has the audacity to make me wait. Not only was he late, he didn’t bother apologizing, either. How rude.
Hence, despite having guessed Lin Li’s identity, Cantory nonetheless tried to take Lin Li a notch down in front of the representatives of the forces.
Lin Li was not bothered by Cantory’s words at all. Without uttering a single word, he simply looked up and glanced at Cantory with disdain. Even though Cantory could be considered an elite of the younger generation because he managed to reach level-24 at such a young age, Lin Li only regarded him as an insignificant nobody.
However, Cantory did not think so. Being the son of the chancellor of the Gilded Kingdom and the favorite disciple of the priest of the Illuminati, he could be considered the best of the younger generation of the Gilded Kingdom, and had never been treated with such contempt. The wisp of disdain in Lin Li’s eyes immediately made him feel as if he had been humiliated, and an uncontrollable anger overwhelmed him in an instant.
Bang! Cantory slammed his hand hard against the table and suddenly sprung up, intending to chase the members of the Tower of Dusk out of the conference hall.
However, before Cantory even said anything, Elder Jorre who was beside him stood up as well. He urged, “Enough, since they’re here, let’s get to the main topic.”
At the same time, he was also hinting implicitly to Cantory that the young president of the Tower of Dusk was not simple.
After getting Elder Jorre’s hint, Cantory finally noticed the unusual mana fluctuations coming from the body of the young president of the Tower of Dusk. The fluctuations were not dense and ferocious. On the contrary, they were somewhat subtle and almost hard to detect. Cantory was not entirely clueless, and he didn’t think that the president of the Tower of Dusk was an ordinary person without any power. In this case, the only possibility would be that he was in the Sanctuary-realm.
But he seems to be only in his early twenties. How can he have already stepped into the Sanctuary-realm!? Cantory turned to look at Elder Jorre doubtfully, only to see a look of certainty and affirmation in the latter’s eyes.
Cantory could not bring himself to go on. Although he was not intimidated, he did have some scruples. After all, the pride of a Sanctuary powerhouse was not to be trampled on. Although he might not be afraid of Lin Li, since he had a powerful team, he might suffer heavy losses if he failed to get a satisfactory outcome from the negotiation.
At the thought of this, Cantory glared at Lin Li with hatred, sat back down indignantly, and said, “Okay, since everyone is here, let’s get to the main topic. This time, I’m here on behalf of the Gilded Kingdom, and I gathered you all here with the intention of discussing with you the acquisition of mineral resources. These are the mineral resources that we have selected after the survey, and the prices we offer respectively. Please take a look. If there is no problem, hurry up and sign the transfer contract.”
Upon hearing Cantory’s words, the administrative staff of the Gilded Kingdom handed a copy of the document to the representatives of each of the forces. There were dozens of representatives of the forces attending the conference, including the Tower of Dusk. Each force was given a copy, thus showing the enormous appetite of the Gilded Kingdom.
The representatives of the various forces did not feel much at first, and they thought that since the Gilded Kingdom had surveyed the mines, they ought to be aware of their value, and would not offer any ridiculous prices. However, when they opened the documents, they were dumbfounded to see the prices offered for their mines.
“What!? 50,000 gold coins? The value of our daily production output is higher than this!”
“What a joke. You want to purchase our mine with 20,000 gold coins? This is daylight robbery!”
“The numbers here must have been written wrongly. The reserves in these two mines are enough to last for hundreds of years, and we’re only being offered 100,000 gold coins? Since when has rhodita become cheaper than soil?”
The conference hall, which was initially relatively quiet, immediately became noisier than a fish market, and the representatives of various forces could hardly believe their eyes. Not to mention that their forces did not intend to sell their mines, the prices offered by the Gilded Kingdom were simply outrageous. It was plain robbery!
On the Tower of Dusk’s side, Alan looked at the information they had received, and couldn’t help but smirk a little, revealing a mocking smile. In the information given by the Gilded Kingdom, it was stated that the Tower of Dusk owned five mines, two of which were Tera Mines, while the other three were mines that produced precious magical metals. However, the prices offered were pathetically low. They wondered if it was because the Gilded Kingdom was so poor that they could only afford such a low sum of money, or if the people of the Gilded Kingdom thought that the people of the Breezy Plains were so poor that they had never seen gold coins before.
“President, look at the way the people of the Gilded Kingdom are behaving. Can we…” After reading the documents, Alan did not become enraged like the representatives of the other forces. Instead, there was a look of excitement in his eyes.
Previously, the messengers that the Gilded Kingdom had sent had fortunately encountered Gavin who had a good temper, and thus could escape unscathed. However, almost all the mages who were led by Alan were battle fanatics who had long wanted to look for a chance to deal with the people of the Gilded Kingdom.
Hence, after seeing that the Gilded Kingdom had raised such unacceptable conditions, Alan immediately thought of getting into a battle with them. It was not only because of the arrogance of the people of the Gilded Kingdom, but also because of the fact that they had sieged the Tower of Dusk and destroyed their mine. Even though the ones who sieged the Tower of Dusk and destroyed their mine had been killed by Lin Li, Alan and the other battle fanatics felt that there were still scores to settle.
At this moment, everyone in the conference hall was filled with excitement. The representatives of the various forces had almost forgotten the identity of the envoys of the Gilded Kingdom as they were incredibly agitated, and had begun cursing their hearts out. They continuously berated the Gilded Kingdom for being shameless robbers and trying to rip them off.
However, in the face of the accusations of the crowd, Cantory’s expression did not change at all. He simply glanced at them and raised his chin while condescendingly saying, “I’m telling you, it’s your honor that the Gilded Kingdom wants the resources that you have. We’re already showing you due respect by offering to pay you. That’s all we’re going to offer, hurry up and sign the transfer contract. If you’re too greedy, you might not get a single gold coin at all.”
How is this a damned negotiation? This is daylight robbery! The faces of every representative of the forces turned sullen. However, other than cursing in exasperation, they dared not behave too outrageously. After all, they were facing the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati. No matter how displeased they might be, they dared not stand up to them at all. Standing up for someone else now did not guarantee that others would stand up for them too when they were in trouble.
However, at the thought of this, they couldn’t help but turn to look at the Tower of Dusk. Gradually, silence was restored in the conference hall again. The representatives of various forces were almost all behaving in the same way. They were looking at Lin Li and thinking, Didn’t you want us to submit to the Tower of Dusk back then? Now that the people from the Gilded Kingdom are here to rob us, shouldn’t you be standing up for us, the forces that have submitted to you?
Besides, they all knew that the Tower of Dusk had to stand out even if they didn’t want to. After all, although the forces were all rich in mineral resources, there was a huge difference in value compared to the Tower of Dusk’s Tera Mine. The Tower of Dusk would definitely not be willing to sell the precious Tera Mine to the Gilded Kingdom like it was garbage.
Sure enough, under the expectant gazes of the crowd, the trio of the Tower of Dusk led by Lin Li suddenly stood up from their seats. However, to their surprise, Lin Li and the others did not curse at the envoys of the Gilded Kingdom. In fact, they didn’t seem angry at all. Instead, they were smiling vaguely.
“Why? Do you have an opinion!?” Cantory questioned, his heart tensing up when he saw Lin Li stand up. However, he gradually relaxed again. He didn’t think that Lin Li would have the guts to go harm him, an envoy of the Gilded Kingdom. If he were to do that, it would be akin to declaring war on the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati.
In Cantory’s opinion, even the mysterious Ashen Warlock would not dare to really go against the Gilded Kingdom. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have pushed the responsibility to a small force like the Tower of Dusk. Hence, the shock and intimidation in Cantory’s eyes only lasted for a fleeting moment before quickly turning into an arrogant and condescending gaze.
However, what everyone including Cantory did not expect was that Lin Li left with Basel and Alan after standing up, without saying anything at all.
When the three of them three disappeared in the entrance of the conference hall, all the people in the conference hall looked at each other in puzzlement. None of them could understand what the Tower of Dusk’s representatives were trying to express. Did they find the prices unacceptable? You should at least say something. Otherwise, how would I know if you’re willing or not? Since it’s a negotiation, there has to be communication. What’s the point of a silent protest!?
However, Lin Li’s intention was to give the crowd a wake-up call. Since the Gilded Kingdom had offered such harsh conditions that were unacceptable by their standards, he decided to give them a scare. Since the representatives of the Tower of Dusk were the first to leave, the people of the Gilded Kingdom would not hold it against them even if they developed some resentment.
Hence, the representatives of the various powers in the conference hall tacitly chose not to say anything to the members of the Gilded Kingdom as they retreated and fell silent like a tide. In the blink of an eye, the conference hall became empty, leaving only the members of the Gilded Kingdom who were led by Cantory.
“T-this bunch of fools who don’t know any better. What are they trying to do!?” Looking at the empty conference hall, Cantory was so infuriated that he was almost going to flip the tables. In his opinion, the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati definitely had what it took to dominate the entire Breezy Plains, and they were being kind enough to offer some monetary compensation in exchange for their mines.
In the Gilded Kingdom, the trade unions and forces were all willing to pay a huge sum of money to the senior executives of the Gilded Kingdom for the sake of cozying up to them. However, the people of the Breezy Plains were not only ungrateful for the terms they offered, they even created such a scene. It was truly absurd to him.
“It seems that the Ashen Warlock had his reasons for asking us to talk to the president of the Tower of Dusk.” Elder Jorre frowned a little and stroked his beard, feeling a little helpless about the situation in front of him. In fact, deep down, he also felt that the conditions that had been presumptuously set by Cantory were indeed somewhat inappropriate. However, it was a negotiation, after all, and it was meant for them to reach a consensus. It was too rude of the president of the Tower of Dusk to leave without partaking in the negotiation.
“Elder Jorre, I think we should skip the negotiation altogether. We’ll decide after letting them see our power. Let’s assert our dominance using the Tower of Dusk. By then, everyone will sign the contract obediently,” Cantory said while gritting his teeth, wishing that he could destroy the Tower of Dusk and trample all over the ignorant president of the Tower of Dusk.
However, Elder Jorre did not quite approve of Cantory’s words, and thus shook his head, and said, “If I’m not wrong, the young president of the Tower of Dusk should be a powerhouse who has already stepped into the Sanctuary-realm. However, with our current power, it won’t be easy to deal with the Tower of Dusk.”
“Hmph, he’s just a pseudo-Sanctuary powerhouse. If it wasn’t for my teacher’s request, I could have stepped into the Sanctuary-realm by now too.” Of course, Cantory wouldn’t believe that there would be anyone who was more talented than him in this world. He naturally thought that there was an 80% chance that Lin Li could’ve stepped into the Sanctuary-realm only because of the power of the magic tides. Pseudo-Sanctuary powerhouses would only have an increase in lifespan, and their power was essentially no different from that of those who were at the peak of the Legendary-realm. In fact, they could be easily killed in a siege by a few powerhouses who were at the peak of the Legendary-realm.
“The Gilded Kingdom must enter the Breezy Plains. Nobody and no force can stop us. I believe they’ll come to us and initiate another negotiation once they’ve figured this out. Let’s keep them in suspense for a few days. They’ll definitely panic. Resorting to violence is not the best option. After all, you have to bear heavy consequences for dealing with a Sanctuary powerhouse. We might as well wait for them to bow down voluntarily when they’re compelled by the circumstances.” Nasry did not want to lose any more manpower, and pseudo-Sanctuary powerhouses were far inferior to actual Sanctuary powerhouses.