Chapter 218: This Will Cost Extra
Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, reception room.
After hesitating for a moment, Igor still chose to bring Dona inside. He wanted to see what kind of person the hall master of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall really was.
As the two entered, they saw that in the more than one-hundred-square-meter reception room, a young man, less than one meter ninety tall and dressed in a pitch-black casual martial robe, was sitting quietly on the main sofa, giving off an indescribably ordinary feeling.
This made both Igor and Dona unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.
They had originally thought that the hall master who could develop the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to this level would be some kind of monster or freak, but now it seemed they had overthought it.
However, just as the two came within less than five meters of Lin Qi, they almost stopped at the same time and looked at him in disbelief.
Although no terrifying qi and blood emanated from Lin Qi, their sixth sense strongly warned them of danger, as if the person before them was not human at all, but a lord-level monster.
This feeling was absolutely something Igor and Dona had encountered for the first time in their lives.
In the past, when they faced experts, especially top bone forging realm experts whose strength far surpassed theirs, at most they felt the oppression of qi and blood, but they had never before felt that simply facing a person was like facing a powerful lord-level monster.
“Please, both of you, have a seat.” Lin Qi looked at the two who had suddenly stopped, pointed at the sofa to the side, and said with a smile, “I do not know what business you have with me?”
Igor and Dona were both bone forging realm experts, especially Igor, who had clearly reached the bone forging realm intermediate level. The strength of a casual strike from him exceeded nine thousand kilograms, and his basic physical fitness was much stronger than Lin Qi’s before Lin Qi perfected the second level of his body strengthening secret technique.
“Hall Master Lin, my sister and I are here on behalf of Wanxing City.” Igor did not sit down, maintaining a distance of five meters from Lin Qi as he introduced himself with a smile. “Hall Master Lin may call me Igor.”
“Here on behalf of Wanxing City? I wonder what Wanxing City’s intention is?” Lin Qi said unhurriedly. “If it is to persuade me to give up establishing Chiyue Town, then please go back.”
The number of martial arts hall disciples that a city could take in was too limited, while mining energy veins required a large number of people. He could not give up the excellent opportunity to establish Chiyue Town and quickly absorb vagrants.
And a bone forging realm martial artist like him establishing a town would not really cause a city to tear all decorum apart and directly send an army to wipe him out. After all, towns established by major cities in the past were done in the same way, and since he belonged to the City of Light Chasing, it was impossible for them to go to war with a city over a mere town.
At most, the establishment of Chiyue Town had affected the profits of some factions in Wanxing City, so what they could do was send some experts to secretly cause trouble. He truly was not afraid of that now.
If Wanxing City went too far, he could simply expose the mithril ore vein. At that point, the City of Light Chasing would definitely not sit back and do nothing.
“Hall Master Lin, you misunderstand.” Igor, seeing that Lin Qi seemed to be telling them to leave, explained, “My sister and I did not come to persuade you to give up establishing Chiyue Town. With the strength of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, having its own town is only natural.”
Dona, at the side, also nodded.
Just as Igor said, whether a town could be established depended on strength. If a newly advanced bone forging realm martial artist dared to establish a town this close to Wanxing City, they would definitely have to deal with them, as it would infringe upon the profits of many factions in Wanxing City.
But if it was a bone forging realm expert like Lin Qi, whose strength was clearly even greater than Igor’s, that was another matter entirely.
“In that case, what is it that you wish to discuss with me?” After hearing this, Lin Qi looked at the two with some interest.
Igor and Dona both looked young, yet they were already bone forging realm experts. Within the half-beast race, they likely held quite a high status.
If the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could trade with the half-beast race of Wanxing City, it would undoubtedly allow Chiyue Town to be quickly enriched.
Given his insufficient status in the City of Light Chasing, many good things there would not be sold to him, such as flying transport vehicles, B-grade battle armor, and life detectors, all of which were urgently needed for the establishment of Chiyue Town.
Although he could also apply through the human race, the human race’s position in the City of Light Chasing was very awkward and could not compare with the powerful half-beast race of Wanxing City at all.
“I believe Hall Master Lin is aware of the mithril ore vein in Death Valley.” Seeing that there was room for discussion, Igor took the initiative to say, “My sister and I came this time to make a trade with Hall Master Lin.”
“Leaving the mithril ore vein in Death Valley unused is a waste. Rather than letting the City of Light Chasing profit, why not sell the raw mithril ore to our Wanxing City? Wanxing City can provide the materials that Chiyue Town needs.”
“How much for flying transport vehicles and B4-grade battle armor, and a life detector capable of scanning a ten-kilometer radius?” Lin Qi asked Igor.
He had always coveted flying transport vehicles. They were excellent tools for quickly and safely transporting various resources. If he had a large number of flying transport vehicles and was careful of flying monsters, he could travel much farther to mine various minerals on damaged maps.
As for B4-grade battle armor, that would be the basic equipment for the future garrison. Relying solely on the B4-grade battle armor repaired by Luo Qi was far from enough.
The life detector went without saying; it could be called a divine weapon for detecting monsters in the wilderness.
With a smile, Igor said, “One B2-type flying transport vehicle for twenty tons of mithril ore, one set of B4-grade battle armor for ten tons of mithril ore, and one large life detector with a ten-kilometer range for fifty tons of mithril ore.”
“You really are not being polite, selling to me directly at market price. The cost of producing these things for you is probably not even thirty percent of the price.” Lin Qi looked at Igor and realized how ruthless he was.
Although mithril ore had a listed price on the market, it was never actually for sale, as original ore of B3-grade and above was extremely rare. Mithril ore, as a B3-grade primordial ore, could be used to make B5-grade alloy, whose price was several times higher than that of B4-grade.
And flying transport vehicles, B4-grade battle armor, and life detectors were all things that major cities could produce themselves. They simply did not sell them publicly, but there was no shortage of transactions between cities, and the private prices were definitely much lower than the market price.
“What price does Hall Master Lin propose then?” Igor asked.
Lin Qi held up four fingers and said directly, “Forty percent of the listed price. This is mithril ore we are talking about; it is not sold on the open market.”
“Forty percent?” Igor looked at Lin Qi in surprise, then said, “Good. We will go with Hall Master Lin’s price.”
As he spoke, Igor took out a contract, ready for Lin Qi to sign.
“Did I still sell too cheaply at forty percent?” Looking at how straightforward Igor was, Lin Qi felt that the City of Light Chasing’s market prices were absurdly inflated.
But since he had already named the price, he could not simply go back on his word; otherwise future business with others would become difficult.
Looking at the signed contract, Lin Qi had already made up his mind that, in the future, for any B3-grade or higher ore mined elsewhere, he would raise the price by another fold.
“Hall Master Lin, for the five B2-grade flying transport vehicles, one hundred sets of B4-grade battle armor, and one large life detector you requested, when can the four hundred sixty-five tons of mithril ore be delivered? We can deliver our side at any time,” Igor said. “If it is inconvenient for Hall Master Lin to carry out the mining, we can also provide manpower, but that would be priced separately.”
The mithril ore involved in their transaction must absolutely be kept secret from the City of Light Chasing. Failing to keep this secret would be bad for both sides.
However, mining mithril ore in the wilderness was not easy. Wanxing City had previously deployed the garrison and had bone forging realm expert Lucis overseeing the operation.
Mining several hundred tons of mithril ore was also no simple matter. Rapid large-scale extraction in a short period required a great deal of manpower.
Lin Qi glanced at the system panel at the bottom of his field of view.
The completion of the advanced martial arts hall construction was currently at 6%. Finishing the advanced martial arts hall would be a matter of today or tomorrow.
Over these past days, a large amount of energy ore mined from Crimson Moon Mountain had already been transported back, allowing the hall to refurbish another fifty rooms. Once his administrator permissions reached level two, he could add five hundred players in one go.
“Let us set the delivery for five days later.” After thinking for a moment, Lin Qi settled on a time.
If he added five hundred new players, plus the existing ones, mining one hundred tons a day, then although there would be danger and the difficulty of mining was high, it should not be a problem for the players.
If time was not enough, he could simply launch a limited-time event and have the players mine non-stop for twenty-four hours.
“Only five days?” Igor looked at Lin Qi in some surprise.
Even with the previous two-thousand-person mining team, they could not guarantee nearly five hundred tons of mithril ore in five days. After all, mithril ore was a B3-grade primordial ore; the geological layers where it formed were extraordinarily hard, and the ore veins were scattered. Even with apprentices using B2-grade tools, they might not be able to dig out fifty kilograms in a day.
“Mm. You can deliver to Chiyue Town in five days,” Lin Qi nodded.
Seeing how certain Lin Qi was, Igor could not help but raise his evaluation of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. He then asked, “Hall Master Lin, when I was coming to the meeting room, I saw your hall’s disciples soaring in midair using a martial skill. Does your hall teach that martial skill to outsiders?”
At the side, Dona’s snowy-white beast ears perked up as she looked straight at Lin Qi.
This kind of martial skill, levitation, had never been heard of in Wanxing City. If they could learn it, then whether for survival in the wilderness or for increasing their own combat power, it would bring an enormous improvement.
It could even diversify their combat style so they were no longer limited to ground attacks. They could launch attacks from multiple angles in midair, raising their combat power to a higher level. That was not impossible at all.
“Are you referring to Startling Swan?” Lin Qi shook his head. “Startling Swan is our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s hall protecting martial skill. It will not be taught to outsiders. Even ordinary hall disciples are not qualified to learn it; only members of the hall’s garrison can learn it.”
Whether it was Lightning Palm or Startling Swan, these two martial skills were guarantees of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall’s future strength. Handing them to outsiders was out of the question.
“I see, I was being presumptuous.” Igor was not surprised. If such a powerful martial skill were casually taught to others, he would instead suspect there was something wrong with it.
Lin Qi then personally escorted Igor and Dona downstairs.
Although this trade was somewhat of a loss this time, it would not be a one-off deal. Once he had flying transport vehicles, he could quietly mine the mithril ore vein in the Thorn Forest near Wanxing City. The reserves there were much higher than Death Valley’s and could be considered a medium-sized vein.
As Igor and Dona followed Lin Qi downstairs, they saw in the first floor lobby a large group of players crowding around three fully sealed rooms, each person scrambling to get in. They were quite puzzled.
“Hall Master Lin, what are those three sealed rooms that so many people are competing to enter?” Igor asked curiously.
“Those are our hall’s primary gravity rooms,” Lin Qi said casually.
Gravity rooms were nothing special in major cities; even the Martial Artist Association had them to help martial artists cultivate, though they were not open to ordinary people.
“Gravity rooms? Your hall also has its own gravity rooms?” Igor looked at Lin Qi in surprise. “To what multiple of gravity can your hall’s gravity rooms be adjusted?”
Even the half-beast race did not have such things; only the Martial Artist Association had a few dozen, with a maximum of ten times gravity, all monopolized by bone forging realm experts of various races.
Even as a future young clan leader of the half-beast race, he could only enter a few times a month, yet each cultivation session in a gravity room improved him greatly. It was one of the few existing methods to significantly speed up cultivation at the bone forging realm.
Before a viscera refining realm martial artist advanced to the bone forging realm, simply absorbing the energy from energy ore or Type 2 energy potions provided excellent stimulation to their cells.
But after becoming a bone forging realm martial artist, ordinary energy stimulation had limited effect. Only Type Three Energy Potions were more effective, but those required the blood of lord-level monsters to make.
Lord-level monsters were extremely difficult to kill. Even advanced level bone forging realm martial artists could not afford to extravagantly use Type Three Energy Potions for cultivation.
Thus, to speed up progress in the bone forging realm, the only option was to use gravity to compress every cell of the body, enhancing the stimulating effect of energy.
For this, the cities’ Martial Artist Associations and the skyscrapers of the garrisons had spent enormous sums to build just a few dozen gravity rooms, and ordinary bone forging realm martial artists were not even qualified to use them.
Yet the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall actually had its own gravity rooms, which was simply unbelievable.
At this moment, Dona could not help but look a few more times at the primary gravity rooms. She had not expected the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to have such foundation.
However, when she saw that those scrambling to enter the gravity rooms were all apprentices, she roughly understood. The gravity rooms of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall were probably built for disciples who had not yet become martial artists. The gravity multiple was likely not high and could not compare to the Martial Artist Association’s ten times gravity rooms built specifically for bone forging realm martial artists.
“At present, the maximum gravity in the primary gravity rooms can only be adjusted to twenty times,” Lin Qi said casually.
For him now, twenty times gravity was already commonplace. Once he became a bone forging realm martial artist, twenty times gravity would probably be meaningless.
“Twenty times gravity?” Upon hearing this, Dona fixed her beautiful eyes on Lin Qi. “Hall Master Lin, is that true?”
The Martial Artist Association had paid a huge cost to barely create a ten times gravity environment for bone forging realm martial artists to use, and competition for it was fierce.
But the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was using a twenty times gravity room for apprentices?
“Of course. I use it regularly myself.” Lin Qi looked at the eager light in Dona’s eyes with some confusion.
Was a twenty times gravity room really so rare?
At the side, Qin Mu, who was acting as their guide, was already so shocked that he could not put it into words.
He had heard of gravity rooms but had never used one. As a mere martial artist, his status in the Martial Artist Association was very low. Yet from Lin Qi’s words, it sounded as if even twenty times gravity rooms were nothing special anymore, and even hall apprentices could use them freely.
“Hall Master Lin, can these gravity rooms be rented?” Igor tried his best to steady his slightly rapid breathing and asked Lin Qi softly.
Looking at the two’s strange reactions, Lin Qi seemed to understand something and said slowly, “These gravity rooms were built at great cost by our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall specifically for the cultivation of hall disciples. Renting them out would greatly slow down our disciples’ cultivation. You both saw that even they are struggling to secure time slots. However, the two of you are distinguished guests and partners of our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, which puts me in a difficult position.”
“Is there no way?” Dona’s pair of snowy white beast ears drooped. She understood how precious a twenty times gravity room was; it was not even enough for their own people, so of course they would not rent it out to outsiders.
“It is not that there is no way.” Lin Qi looked at the disappointed pair, then gritted his teeth and said, “Considering that both of you are distinguished guests cooperating with our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, if you are willing to pay extra, we can allocate part of the gravity room usage time for you.”
“Pay extra?” Igor nodded after hearing this, finding it very reasonable. After all, they also had to pay extra when they wanted earlier access to the Association’s gravity rooms. “That is no problem. How much does it cost to rent a gravity room?”
After thinking for a moment, Lin Qi decided to name a high price. “One energy crystal for twelve hours.”
