Shadow Seer (Rogue Merchant Book #3): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (english reading book TXT) 📗

You’ll be running deliveries to the Bazaar, doing the same as now, but not as an employee but a full-fledged partner. Half of the profits will be yours. As for how much it will be, that’s your job.”

“I don’t understand why you’d give up such a money-maker,” the Octopus said, staring me in the eye. “This is good money...”

It was, yes. The daily profit margin was fifteen to twenty hundred gold per boat if you worked your ass off. You could easily make fifty grand a month, and way more if you added at least one high-capacity cargo ship. But I was already thinking on a bigger scale, my head full of grandiose schemes—and I was willing to share a part of my profits. Let the Octopus take on the routine work, and I would keep getting my rate by simply exploiting the scheme, my connections, and my options as the clan trader. On top of that, an outsider doing this job meant less risk of losing everything if, say, the Pandas decided to attack us—and I was sure that they aimed at the most vulnerable spots. It would be better if I weren’t officially connected to the alliance’s logistics.

That’s what I told Borland, and he considered my words. It was a tempting offer, joining an already established scheme as a partner. He and his team had two more months in their contract, but this was a golden opportunity. I knew that he couldn’t resist it.

* * *

My next destination was the Bazaar. I sent Borland and his team to pick out new transport ships and rigging for them, which once again set me back three hundred fifty thousand gold. The lost barques hadn’t even made back their cost, and one day, Tao would answer for that. Debts had to be paid, in good or ill, in gold or steel.

After dealing with Keith, I went to the Mercenary Guild.

“So you need miners? More than 800 SP in Mining with Ellurite Mining unlocked?” the NPC manager asked after checking his folio, putting a large inkwell on top of the perfunctory gold coin. “We have a lot of them. Here, take a list.”

They really did have a lot of them, but lone pawns weren’t quite what I needed. I spent more than an hour on futile negotiations before stumbling into a grumpy dwarf with a braided black beard. A large banner depicting a mountain and a dwarf hitting it with a pickaxe was unfolded above his head. It had a motto written on it in large letters: “Level a mountain? No sweat! Jordi.” It seemed to fit the bill. I grinned and sat down at the table.

The dwarf’s name was Djarvi, and he was the representative of the Kel Jordas NPC faction, or rather a newly created branch of outcasts who were languishing without a job in the underground halls of the dwarven kingdom. They called themselves Jordi and were clearly in need of a large order. However, Djarvi was a tough cookie. We came to an agreement only after gulping down a succession of pint mugs full of strong porter.

An hour later, groups of brooding dwarves started embarking on the brand new cargo ships, each of them with duffel bags larger than their owners, handles of various tools sticking out of them. Hiring almost thirty high-level diggers and several alchemists capable of purifying and transmuting ellurite and purchasing the expensive mining equipment and supplies for the entire gang cost me almost two hundred thousand. Still, I hoped that the game was worth the candle.

So what was my plan? Simple—the cave with the Temple of Shadows in Helt Akor had a rich vein of ellurite. I suspected that it was somehow connected to the Ziggurate; there was a reason it was located there. Most likely, the Ancients had used the inexhaustible deposit of that material as a power source to create the Crystal of Negation.

Ellurite was a resource used in many aspects of crafting. It was processed into colloids and powders and transformed into crystals, and was required by almost all crafting professions. Enchantment, alchemy, making magic items, rituals... Most importantly, players bought a lot of ellurite. It was an energy source for elementals that powered flying ships and the protective domes of castles and outposts.

Deposits of ellurite were rare in Sphere. Its veins were usually encountered in the wilderness, and mining it was hard and dangerous. Not everyone was up to the task. Anomalous sites with ellurite were a prize find for high-level miners. All ellurite trade in Sphere was controlled by several alliances, the largest of which was the infamous NAVY.

I was uniquely positioned to mine infinite amounts of ellurite, which allowed me to join the fight for this market. Its daily sales turnover exceeded several million gold: a serious article, a serious demand, and serious money. I wasn’t afraid; actually, it felt nice, having a challenge for my head and my nerves.

* * *

The unidentified items from the Ziggurate were kept in my storage chest. Naturally, curiosity kept eating at me, and I kept wondering about the dead Ancient’s gear: an oddly-shaped wand with a blood-red gem, a well-worn mantle, a belt, and a curved dagger made of the red-green alloy used by the Ancients. After identifying the items with Green’s ring and Scrolls of Identification, I spent a while studying their stats.

Fancy names, unusual abilities... Two of them were epic and two blue. A rich haul, for sure, but they seemed to be mages-only. The wand was a weapon for a high-level wizard. It required 700 SP in Magic Wands skill and granted a weird boost to the level of spells cast. It was inlaid with a perfectly cut blood-red gem that allowed the user to summon and control an Ancient Spider. The mantle stored and regenerated mana; it doubled the wearer’s inborn talents and significantly increased Intelligence. The belt had