Chương 65: Contract Payment

Arthur followed Dolph closely through the stretching cave. The more they walked, the more darkness shrouded them. He felt that even if he were to reach the inner part of the cave, he would not be able to see anything without light. Just when he thought of walking back, he suddenly saw something far away in that cave. It was like a white dot. With his curiosity piqued, he abandoned his retreat and pushed forward. They soon reached that white dot. The white dot illuminated a light glow, pushing away the darkness.

It was a crystal. It gave off a small glow that could be used to clearly see a feet of distance. For Arthur, this was exactly what he wanted. Looking ahead, he discovered that more than one dot could be seen. Hence, he wondered if this crystal could be the one the ant king must have eaten to evolve into a full crystal ant. Following which, Arthur ordered Dolph to dig out the crystal. Dolph wedged his spear tip beneath the crystal and popped it out.

The crystal was the size of a palm, and now, it gave off more glow that illuminated more space. He handed over the crystal to Dolph as they walked forward. After nearing the end of the tunnel, they no longer needed the crystal's illumination. Those crystals existed on most of the walls of the big, empty space. Arthur couldn't see any worker ants or other signs of life. Now that they had enough illumination, he could see numerous tunnels branching off toward different chambers of the colony.

In their current chamber, however, there was nothing to see. Arthur's goal was to find the Ant King's chamber, where the creature must have hoarded crystals to consume. Until he found it, he couldn't confirm if the glowing crystals on the walls were the exact same ones that transformed ordinary ants into Crystal Ants. With Dolph leading the way, they entered one of the largest tunnels, hoping it would take them straight to the king's lair.

As they ventured deeper, they encountered many smaller tunnels branching away, but Arthur decided to stick to the main path first. If it eventually led nowhere, they could always turn back and explore the others. Fortunately, it seemed the surviving ants hadn't retreated deeper into the cave; they must have escaped to the surface. Arthur observed that the entire cavern was composed of solid stone, peppered with traces of iron.

Along the way, they passed through several large chambers where the ants must have excavated iron ore for consumption. This only heightened his excitement to find the main crystal excavation site. The tunnel network was enormous; the colony must have lived here for decades before being cleared out. It had been fifteen minutes since they chose this path, and they still couldn't see an end to it.

Arthur began to doubt whether this route actually led to the Ant King's chamber, or if it was simply a main transit tunnel.

They finally reached the end of the tunnel, where it forked into three separate paths. Arthur examined them closely to decide which route to take. He noticed that two of the branches showed signs of heavy traffic, with the stone floors polished smooth in specific spots. The center tunnel, however, showed very little activity. Relying on his instincts, he decided to follow the center path. Just as he had hoped, they had only walked a few meters before he spotted a light up ahead—it had to be the King's chamber.

Arthur gave Dolph a quick command to stay cautious and prepare for battle. They moved forward slowly, staying on high alert as they neared the room. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The chamber was medium-sized and brightly lit. Arthur's eyes were immediately drawn to a pile of crystals in the center of the room, though these particular stones weren't the source of the light.

Instead, the illumination came from the walls, which were embedded with the same glowing crystals they had seen all over the cavern. The ones gathered on the ground looked distinctly different. After verifying that nothing was hiding in the chamber, Arthur walked over to the small pile. These crystals shared the exact same texture as the Ant King's carapace, confirming that this was exactly what he had come searching for. But what now? Even though he had found his prize, he lacked any real knowledge about it.

I wish I had an Appraisal ability, he thought; it would help immensely right now. As it stood, he had no idea what the crystals were actually used for. But as he held one up close to his face to examine it, a sudden, impulsive thought crossed his mind: what if he took a bite? Since the ant had eaten the crystal and evolved into a Crystal Ant, wouldn't his own body turn into crystal if he did the same? He had no idea what the side effects of ingesting it might be.

With Coburn not around to confirm if it was even safe to take a bite, Arthur wasn't about to risk it. He decided to wait until they safely exited the cave before attempting any experiments. However, could his skeletons consume this kind of material? Curious, he handed a golf-ball-sized crystal to Dolph.

"Consume this, " he ordered. Dolph took the crystal. Arthur waited eagerly, but his anticipation quickly turned to disappointment when the skeleton simply stood there, motionless, making no attempt to eat it. With a sigh, Arthur discarded his fleeting fantasy of commanding an army of Crystal Skeletons.

"This blind spot needs to be fixed," Arthur muttered. He was completely in the dark regarding the material's properties and potential uses. Hiring an Appraisal Worker Skeleton would solve all of these issues. Opening the marketplace, Arthur filtered the search to only show workers he could afford using his Alpha-standard materials. A scant two results popped up. Were Appraisal Skeletons really that expensive?

He crossed his fingers, hoping that at least one of them would accept a contract payment he could actually offer. [Worker Status] Name: These Designation: Appraiser Specialty: Horticulturist Professional Status: Beginner Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 8, 000 Credits Contract Payment: 120-year-old Alpha Standard Time Root x5, Alpha Standard Time Fruit x5"Time Root and Time Fruit?" Arthur muttered. He had never heard of such things.

At least they were classified as Alpha Standard, which meant he could ask Coburn to keep an eye out for them once they reached the mountain. Even so, this particular Appraiser wouldn't be of much use to him right now, especially since he had no idea what a "Horticulturist" specialty even entailed. He moved on to the next one.

[Worker Status] Name: Zero Designation: Appraiser Specialty: General Professional Status: Beginner Monthly Maintenance Cost (MMC): 20, 000 Credits Contract Payment: Faunite Crystal Arthur was initially thrilled with this worker until his eyes caught the staggering MMC and the unusual contract payment. Why was the maintenance cost so exorbitant for a mere Beginner-level skeleton? Did it have something to do with its "General" specialty?

He assumed that meant the skeleton could appraise absolutely any type of object, which would be incredibly useful. But what on earth was a Faunite Crystal? As he pondered the payment, he noticed a discrepancy. He had specifically filtered his search to only show workers that accepted Alpha Standard materials, yet this listing just vaguely asked for a "Faunite Crystal" without specifying a standard. Disappointed by the confusing results, he was just about to close the interface.

Suddenly, the crystal sitting right in front of him vanished into thin air. Before he could even process what had happened, a new message flashed before his eyes. [Contract Payment Successful]"W-What... what happened?" Arthur stammered.