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C1501

It was a fairly small town, with a few dozen wooden buildings built on the wide expanse of yellow desert sand.

When they arrived at the outskirts of the town, Emery left his wolf ride by the gate. The two of them quickly went inside, making their way to the main street where hundreds of dirty-looking half-bloods eerily stared at them with a blank gaze.

While they were still on their way, Yoro had told him it was a mining town. Hundreds of half-bloods came from all over the sector to make a living working in the mines. Apparently, it was tedious work with little chance of finding really high quality ores or gems.

As the two of them walked through the somewhat sparse street, they saw several stalls standing by the roadside selling samples of what they had mined. At a glance, Emery identified most of the merchandise as Tier 2 to Tier 3 ore as well as unique-looking gems.

Which was quite surprising, because with some craftsmanship and rune enchantments, what these people were selling could make good materials for weapons, armor or some very fine ornaments.

However, as far as his eyes could see, no one seemed interested in buying that stuff.

The arrival of Emery and Yoro seemed to have drawn the attention of the local guards, who quickly approached them.

"Who are you two? What is your purpose in coming here?" The man who spoke seemed to be the leader of the guards.

Emery couldn't help but frown inwardly at the coarse words and tone the man used.

These people didn't even have the strength of the Saint realm, but they dared to question Emery, a bonafide magus, in such a way. All of this because this particular town belonged to none other than the Corvin clan.

Fortunately, Emery had come prepared. Without missing a beat, he calmly replied, "We came here to find some good ore and plan to buy quite a number of them."

The instant they heard Emery and Yoro were potential customers, these guards became much friendlier. They led the two of them to a huge building located at the end of the street, which turned out to be the town's warehouse and trading center.

As they got closer to the place, Emery could see it was heavily guarded with several dozen saint-level figures patrolling the area. Not only that, there were at least 5 magus-level figures guarding the area.

When they entered the place, Emery and Yoro were greeted by a thin, middle-aged man dressed in sophisticated clothing that was a stark contrast to the people outside.

"Thank you for your interest in our establishment, sir. May I know who I am talking to?" The man said with a professional smile.

Deliberately not answering the man's question, Emery said, "I came here on behalf of my faction, which is in need of large quantities of ores."

The man's smile widened when he heard such words. "I understand, sir. Here's–"

Emery cut the man's words short saying, "But of course, we don't want goods that are of subpar quality. Therefore I need to inspect your mine first, to see the quality of its ores with my own eyes."

After telling the other party his intention, Emery introduced himself with another fabricated identity from a different planetary faction.

Emery's request was doubted at first because the man could not confirm the credibility of his identity in a short time. However, his act of displaying the million spirit stones in his possession was enough to earn him a grand tour through the mine.

Aftering walking through the mine entrance, the two of them had to walk several miles to finally reach the main chamber. Along the way, Emery observed more miserable-looking half-bloods toiling away the heavy ore up and down the mine.

As it turned out, there were actually two types of workers. Those who were employed by the Corvin and outsiders who were willing to work in the mine.

In order to be allowed to work, those people had to agree to a 90:10 share of whatever they found in the mines, with most going to the faction. Hence, it was not surprising only desperate-looking half-bloods could be seen inside the mine.

Emery kept his eyes open as they walked through the place, hoping to find a member of the White Fang he recognized. Unfortunately, what awaited him was mostly Earth realm individuals. As for the few Sky realms he saw, they were not the ones he was looking for.

"Is this all?" Emery asked, a dissatisfied look on his face.

Noticing the hesitation on the middle-aged man's face, Emery knew his guess was correct so he pressed on, saying, "This is a much smaller mine than I thought. It's a shame, we're looking for suppliers who can meet our monthly needs."

"Wai- Wait! Wait a minute, sir! Actually, We have three more chambers further inside, but I can't bring you there because they are prohibited to be shown to outsiders."

Emery showed a delighted expression when he heard the man's words, but immediately frowned when he heard the last part. "I have to see them for myself, otherwise there is no agreement between us."

From the situation of the workers to the man's reaction, Emery guessed the town was in urgent need of more trade, so Emery confidently insisted on his request and didn't budge at all.

Eventually, the man yielded. He called on one of his magus to come along with a dozen saints guards, before they made their way into the deeper chambers. What welcomed him was the sight of even more miserable-looking half-bloods.

These people were mostly Sky realm, with several Saint levels, but they still seemed to have trouble breaking rocks in this area. There were also some who cast spells to weaken the rocks and help create structures to keep the rocks from falling on them.

Emery saw at least a hundred people across the three chambers. Unfortunately, he still couldn't find one member of White Fang among them.

"Are you satisfied with what you see, sir?" Said the man with a professional smile.

Emery had no other reason to ask for more, but he was not ready to give up yet. Then, while he was observing the area, he noticed a strange look among the miners.

All of a sudden, to his surprise, the cave he was in started to shake, followed by the screams of the workers.

"Cave in!!"

To be continued