Chapter 813

【 AN ENORMOUS SUM OF OFFERINGS】

The players discussed their plan through the chat window and after hearing Demacia’s suggestion, everyone’s eyes lit up.

If ordinary methods could not purify the corruption, then offering the entire mineral vein to the Goddess was indeed an excellent solution. It was bold, perhaps even a little outrageous, but given the situation, it seemed to be the most practical option available.

By now, after having played the game for years, the players had already figured out the rules governing the offering mechanics. If the offering consisted only of ordinary items tainted by Abyssal power, the offering array would reject them outright.

A mineral vein, however, was an entirely different matter.

In Elven Kingdom, mineral veins were classified as strategic resources rather than ordinary items, and the offering array had always accepted every type of resource without exception. Whether it was timber, rare ores, crystals, or even entire deposits, the array treated them all as valid offerings.

Plus, the corruption they had discovered was already deeply embedded within the vein itself. According to the golden dragon, it had already fused with the mana crystal ore, and even the gold ore had become contaminated. Thus, offering the entire vein would ‘technically’ be equivalent to purifying all of its corruption.

Moreover, by using this method, they would also earn themselves some hefty Contribution Points as an added bonus.

After all, this was no ordinary iron or silver mine. It was a gold mine and a mana crystal mine. Even under normal circumstances, offering gold coins or mana crystals to the Goddess yielded far more Contribution Points than most other offerings. Although the vein had been corrupted, that likely would not pose any problem for their powerful patron deity.

For a moment, even Little Salty Cat could not help wondering how many Contribution Points the system would award them if they really did managed to offer the entire mineral vein.

The surrounding players’ imaginations ran wild, while only Evé, disguised as Féng, wore an odd expression.

Watching these little leeks she had personally summoned rack their brains trying to squeeze more Contribution Points out of her was, honestly, rather amusing.

Of course, she also knew that Demacia’s idea still had one major obstacle to overcome…

“Yeah, the idea is really great, but how are we supposed to make an array that’s capable of accommodating an entire mineral vein in the first place?”

All-Star Achan asked with a frown.

Demacia, however, already seemed to have a solution.

Turning toward the golden dragon Romanus, the red-haired tank let out a mischievous chuckle before saying, “Lord Romanus, to solve the problem of this mineral vein, we may need your assistance.”

“Mr. Demacia, simply tell me what you require.”

The golden dragon agreed without the slightest hesitation, even before Demacia had explained what he wanted.

That was simply the nature of gold dragons. They upheld justice as their creed, and amongst the chromatic dragons, perhaps only silver dragons could rival them in that regard.

At the same time, however, they were famously straightforward and intolerant of evil. In fact, if they weren’t facing elves, who were gradually gaining fame in the world of Seigues, but rather beings of evil alignment, then Romanus wouldn’t just offer his help but probably even outright be attacking them instantly.

Receiving the dragon’s promise, Demacia rubbed his hands together excitedly, his grin growing wider like a fox about to sneak away with a chicken.

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“I’ve heard that adult golden dragons can use a Dragon Language spell that amplifies the effects of magic by greatly expanding its area. Have you mastered that spell?”

Hearing this, the other players understood what this rascal was planning.

To be fair, although Demacia had a habit of courting disaster, he was also undeniably quick-witted. His ideas were essentially like Doraemon’s pocket, always seemed capable of producing something completely unexpected.

The golden dragon looked at him in surprise before nodding honestly.

“Do you mean [Spell Resonance]? Yes, I have indeed mastered it.”

“Then… could you extend its effect over this entire mining area?” Demacia asked.

“The mining area…”

The golden dragon raised its head and looked toward the mine below the hillside. Closing its dark golden eyes, it carefully sensed the surrounding area before replying,

“The area is rather large. However, if I have sufficient magical power to replenish myself, I believe I can give it a try…”

“Magical power? Would mana crystals work?” Little Salty Cat suddenly asked.

Golden dragons fed on precious metals and gemstones. They also consumed mana stones and crystals to replenish their magical power.

“Mana crystals… indeed, those would work. Do you have any?”

Romanus looked at Little Salty Cat in surprise.

A flash of light appeared in her hand, and with a loud clatter she poured out an enormous pile of mana crystals from her storage equipment. The translucent crystals quickly formed a small mountain before her, leaving the other players utterly dumbfounded as though their entire worldview had been shattered.

Even though these group of players were already among the strongest elites on the entire server.

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“Holy crap…”

Demacia could not help blurting out a curse as he suddenly realized just how poor he really was.

That pile of mana crystals could probably buy a luxury villa outright in the core district of Chosen City!

Property prices in Chosen City had become absurdly expensive. Although he himself was one of the most wealthy players, most of his Contribution Points had already been exchanged for gold coins and invested into the Amway Group, making it impossible for him to produce such a fortune on short notice.

No… if he had not kept throwing money into the Lucky Lottery, he might actually have been able to accumulate this much!

Spending money on gacha was truly financial ruin, especially for someone with terrible luck.

As though recalling a painful memory, Demacia let out a mournful sigh.

Of course, measuring the value of mana crystals in terms of money or Contribution Points was practically sacrilege. There were countless players, but mana crystals remained exceedingly scarce as they were the very definition of something priceless and nearly impossible to obtain.

Little Salty Cat, on the other hand, showed no sign of distress after casually dumping out such a massive pile.

“Will these be enough?” she asked.

Golden Dragon Romanus stared at the pile with wide eyes.

He looked at the crystals overflowing with magical power, and only after considerable effort managed to tear his gaze away.

“Y… yes, they’re enough.”

More than enough.

Having this many mana crystals would allow him to cast Spell Resonance over and over again more than a dozen times.

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Were all the elves of the Elven Forest this wealthy?

Romanus couldn’t help but think so while eyeing the petite female elf with interest.

Seeing the dragon nod, Demacia recovered from his melancholy and became excited once more.

“Great! Then there won’t be any problems. Lord Romanus, we intend to use this entire mineral vein as an offering to our Goddess. However, we’ll need your help spreading the effects of the array across the entire mining area.”

“An offering?”

Romanus’s eyes lit up.

At last, he understood what these elves intended to do.

So they were actually planning to offer the entire mineral vein to the Goddess of Life!

Wait…

The Goddess of Life would actually accept such an offering?

Especially one that had been corrupted by the Abyss?

Romanus wore a rather strange expression.

Naturally, he had no idea that these players had successfully sent corrupted demonic equipment in the past, so none of them had the slightest concern about whether the corrupted offering would be accepted.

Instead, the golden dragon found himself admiring the Goddess of Life even more.

To permit Her followers to offer sacrifices tainted by the Abyss, She truly deserved Her reputation as the savior of this world.

After all, even for gods, purifying Abyssal corruption was an extraordinarily troublesome task.

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In Romanus’s eyes, if the Goddess of Life truly accepted this sacrifice, it could only be because Her main goal was to purify the corruption of the Abyss.

After all, the gods of faith could already create practically anything within their Divine Kingdoms. Possessing divine power, they were virtually omnipotent. Why would they care about an ordinary gold ore and magic crystal deposits?

The more Romanus thought about it, the greater his admiration had became.

Meanwhile, after completing all of their preparations, the players finally got to work.

They already carried plenty of materials for constructing arrays. Having finalized their plan, they first cast various spells to resist Abyssal corruption before entering the mine.

This was hardly unfamiliar territory for them. After all, they had fought through the recent demon invasion. Aside from the disguised Evé, every one of them had experienced being corrupted in the Abyss and dying from it, giving them extensive practical experience in resisting the corruption of the Abyss.

Of course, during the war, dying simply meant respawning.

Now, however, they were still carrying out their mission to visit Dragon Island, and this was merely an unexpected detour. As a result, everyone valued their lives far more and took every possible precaution.

By the time they selected an appropriate location within the mine and finished drawing the offering array, another fifteen minutes had passed.

Everything was ready.

All that remained was the needed incantation prayer.

“Brother Mu, you should do the incantation. Out of everyone here, your Favorability with the Goddess is the highest after all.”

Demacia said with a grin.

Li Mu raised an eyebrow but did not refuse.

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The results of a ritual truly differed depending on who performed it. Players with higher Favorability toward the Goddess generally received greater rewards, so he frequently served as the one chanting the prayers during group rituals.

“Lord Romanus, once Brother Mu begins the offering ritual, we’ll need you to cast [Spell Resonance] right away!” Demacia shouted.

The golden dragon nodded before lowering his head and swallowing a quarter of the mana crystals provided by Little Salty Cat in a single gulp.

Actually, he did not have the heart to consume them all.

Since in his opinion, taking this much was already a considerable advantage. Although he dearly coveted these piles of mana crystals, Romanus being a righteous dragon believed that even wealth should be acquired through proper means.

As for the remaining three quarters, however, he had no intention of giving them up.

Once everything was over, he planned to exchange some of his naturally shed dragon scales for them.

Although there were dragons accompanying these elves, they were merely juvenile dragons at the upper Silver-rank. Romanus himself, on the other hand, was a genuine intermediate Gold-rank dragon. Surely these elves would be interested in his scales.

If that still proved insufficient, he could always offer them to become a temporary laborer. After all, there was no urgent need for him to return to Dragon Island immediately.

After all, it was for mana crystals.

There was nothing embarrassing about that.

Once the golden dragon was ready, Li Mu knelt before the array and began to pray.

“Praise be to the Mother of Nature, Praise be to the Goddess of Life, and Praise be to the Great Sovereign of the Elvenkind, Evé Yggdrasill!”

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“Oh beautiful and noble Goddess, we have discovered abundant deposits of gold ore and mana crystal deposits, and we wish to send them to Your Grace as an offerings!”

The moment his words fell, the circular array radiated with a gentle glow.

“Lord Romanus!” Demacia called.

The golden dragon nodded and began chanting an obscure Dragon Language spell.

A faint radiance enveloped his body as an invisible wave of magical power spread outward from him, converging upon the array at the center of the mine.

In the next instant, the array’s brilliance suddenly intensified. Its light rapidly expanded until it engulfed the entire mining area.

Under Old John’s astonished gaze, the entire mine became shrouded in dazzling golden light, as though immersed in an endless sea of radiance.

The spectacle resembled nothing less than a miracle.

The earth began to tremble.

The hillside shook violently, and Old John suddenly realized that the ground beneath his feet was slowly sinking.

At that very moment, a beast-like roar erupted from deep within the mine, followed by wisps of black mist rising into the air.

Before the dark mist could fully gather, however, it too was enveloped by the radiant light.

Countless motes of light danced like falling snow as an enormous pillar of light shot into the heavens, piercing straight through the clouds above.

A fierce wind howled across the landscape, forcing Old John to squeeze his eyes shut.

When everything finally returned to silence, the mine below had been completely transformed.

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It had collapsed into an enormous basin.

The black mist had vanished without a trace.

Only the praying druid elf remained, still kneeling before a slowly fading array, seemingly lost in a daze.

“Did… Did it worked?”

“Uh… did something appear during the ritual just now?”

“I couldn’t see clearly… but I think something really did showed up, and we accidentally sent it along with everything else…”

“T-That won’t cause any problems, …right?”

The players on the hillside exchanged uneasy glances.

“It should have succeeded. I can sense that the Abyssal aura has completely disappeared.”

Looking toward the collapsed mine, Romanus said solemnly.

Hearing those words, the surrounding players gradually became excited.

“Great! It worked!”

“Exactly! Who cares what that thing got sent afterwards?”

“Quick! Hurry and ask Brother Mu how many Contribution Points we got!”

Naturally, these messages were still being sent through the party chat.

When Li Mu finally returned, drifting along absentmindedly with a vacant expression, everyone except Féng and Little Salty Cat rushed toward him.

“Brother Mu! Quick! Tell me, how much did we get?”

“Was it a lot?”

Looking at his teammates’ eager faces, Li Mu swallowed hard before slowly raising one hand and holding up five fingers.

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“No way… only five million?”

The players froze.

Li Mu shook his head.

“Fifty million?!”

Their eyes lit up.

Li Mu shook his head again.

Everyone’s breathing became noticeably heavier.

“F… five hundred million?”

They stared at him with wide eyes as they asked.

This time, Li Mu slowly nodded.

“H-Holy crap!”

Even Dongdong, who almost never swore, could not help blurting out a curse.

Little Salty Cat merely frowned slightly.

“….Only five hundred million?”

The other players fell completely silent.

“Come on, Boss Cat, be satisfied! Maybe the fully mined vein would have been worth far more than five hundred million Contribution Points, but we just offered the whole thing without doing any work. It was practically free money!”

Dongdong complained.

Then she began grinning foolishly.

“Five hundred million… after deducting the cost of the mana crystals, each of us still gets over forty million… Hahaha… I can finally buy a huge estate in Chosen City… Hahahaha…”

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As she laughed, however, her smile gradually faded.

“Ah… wait… my Divine Artifact still isn’t repaired… I’ll have to spend tens of millions fixing it first… siiigh…”

As for Demacia, the one who had first proposed the idea, his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He suddenly felt…

…as though the door to an entirely new world had just opened before him.

Watching the excited elves gathered together in celebration, Romanus found himself deeply puzzled.

Were they truly this overjoyed simply because they had eliminated the corruption here?

At that moment, the respect in his eyes grew even greater.

As expected of the Chosen Ones personally selected by the Goddess of Life!

They truly were every bit as selfless and righteous as the rumors claimed.

Such upright and noble beings were still slandered by malicious rumors.

Those who spread such lies truly deserved punishment.

The golden dragon silently thought to himself.

After glancing at the celebrating elves, then at the remaining mana crystals beside him, Romanus hesitated briefly before flying over to the players.

He decided to raise his proposal while the elves were still in high spirits.

“Beautiful Lady Little Salty Cat,”

Romanus asked respectfully,

“May… may I make a trade with you?”

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