While Rowan fought the evolving beast, something else was occurring inside the mountain.
From the moment Fredrick affirmed that the two parties had begun fighting, he also began acting as he pulled out a ring that had rusted all over.
He was currently within a cavernous part of the mountain that had blue crystals embedded within every part of the walls, and rocks that acted as stalactites all over the place.
Fredrick took a step back as he wondered…
'How did he know this was here?'
The crystals were resources that would have most eyes shine with greed.
They were mana crystals! A finite resource that comes into existence when dense mana coagulate.
But this wasn't their prize! That was something far better.
Fredrick couldn't help but think back to Ezra's words.
"That's impossible. And even if it were true, how is it that you know about it when nobody else does?!"
Cabrera went on rampage as he couldn't believe what he was hearing, but Ezra repeated himself.
"Why would I need to lie? As I said before, a mountain amongst those that guard Avilla is a treasure trove yet to be discovered. As for how I know it to be so…let's just say I have a special ability that helps in such regards"
After all, he couldn't tell them he was a reincarnator and knew about it from his past life, now could he?
"A special ability that lets you find treasure?" Cabrera asked with an incredulous expression.
"Sigh, what happened to fairness under the heavens?" he lamented, before regaining composure, though one could make out a look of envy from his current expression as he spoke.
"So…now what?"
Ezra: "I'll need to buy a lot of pickaxes for the trip. You'll be using it to mine out the crystals and stones"
Cabrera: "I have just the guy"
"Good. Fredrick, once you arrive there, you'll have to scout the place"
Ezra said so because he only knew the stones were in the mountain. He didn't know in which part of it they were located.
"But how do we find the mountain? We could spend weeks if we're not careful" Cabrera inquired.
"That's why you'll need to buy a slaved beast tamer. Within that mountain exists an A-rank beast"
"It's a snake that has been cultivating within that mountain for a long time. By now, it would certainly have reached A-rank"
Fredrick and Cabrera's eyes turned utterly serious at such words.
"Then, how do we get past it?"
"Easy, kill it while it's down"
"You're saying that as if it's easy. And what do you mean by 'while it's down'?"
"The snake is lodged in the mountain. While it's there, it shouldn't be able to move much. With Fredrick's strength, killing it shouldn't be that hard. So, while everyone is busy dealing with the snake outburst, you'll be taking the crystals right under their noses"
"En" Fredrick nodded.
Unfortunately, his reminiscing was cut short when the screech of the snake resounded in his ears.
'Right, I don't know how long they can hold each other down, so we'll have to be as fast as possible. I'm sure such a commotion would've been noticed by now'
Fredrick turned his eyes back to the ring in his hand.
It was the space ring Ezra had gotten from a chance store and had given to him for the success of the plan.
At the time Ezra was searching for it, his expectations had been that it was a damaged artifact of the spatial attribute with a unique feature that others did not have.
But when he put his mana into it, he found out that he had been greatly mistaken. Well, not completely, but his speculations had been off the mark by a large margin. And it was one of the reasons why this whole plan was actually feasible.
It was an item that Ezra had to deliberate on multiple times before giving it to Fredrick after binding him with a contract.
Ezra also learned that he couldn't completely trust all the rumors from his past life.
The rumors about the ring were seriously downplayed! And he knew why. If the truth about the relic ever came out, the noble family in his past life would have been targeted by all.
Honestly, he seriously suspected that it was the noble family that had killed the man who sold it to them to make sure it was kept a secret.
It was an item that Ezra estimated to be at the peak of Diamond-rank!
Peak of Diamond-rank! Ezra didn't believe he would ever chance upon such a thing.
Additionally, the ring had actually sustained no damage at all, only its exterior made it look shabby. Then again, considering its value, it might be that it was purposely made to look like that to ward off greedy eyes.
Space rings.
They were rings that had a separate space bound to them, which eased transportation of large goods to a large extent.
But they all had one flaw in common.
Space rings cannot contain living creatures, only inanimate objects.
Ezra didn't think a ring that could store living things existed as he had never heard of such a thing.
But like you can probably guess…that was exactly what this ring did!
It could house living objects! And it contained enough space to house four royal castle's side by side.
You might not understand the impact of such a development, so let me put you through.
It meant Ezra could transport an entire herd of cows across the continent without any stress.
It meant that Ezra could transport beasts alive and in tip top shape before releasing them within a city to cause havoc.
This meant that he could have troops in his ring and deploy them right in the middle of the battlefield on unsuspecting enemies.
The uses are extremely versatile no matter the situation, and Ezra knew so too.
And he planned to use it to the fullest when he gave Fredrick the ring.
Tell me, why exactly did Cabrera bring his guild members and Fredrick bring his slaves along? After all, they hadn't really been very useful up to now, had they?
The answer to that question was the current scene.
Fredrick brought the ring out from his clothing and, from it, people began to appear out of thin air.
The slaves appeared first, then the Cabrera's guild members followed.
Only now, all of them held pickaxes as they looked at the cave they found themselves in with shining eyes.
Greedy thoughts were already filling their minds when Fredrick's voice brought them out of their reverie.
"Follow me, we are going deeper" he said, before adding one more statement.
"And don't touch anything, else we might all die here"
The last part was a lie, but he knew a warning was needed to stop them from acting out foolishly.
Fredrick moved towards the inner parts, which wasn't hard to navigate at all since the snake had already blown a hole through the mountain when it came out.
As they advanced inwards, both the boys and the slaves let of exclamations of awe. It was certainly warranted when they discovered the absurd amounts of mana crystals along the walls' inner parts, and that the mana density only increased as they tread forward.
Their bodies were basically soaking in mana at one point, a refreshing feeling that felt almost euphoric.
Even Fredrick, who hadn't said a word, was inwardly flabbergasted as he thought…
'Cultivating in such an environment would increase my cultivation speed by two, no, maybe three times? More if the central part is even denser than this'
Fredrick couldn't help but rejoice at the fact that his ability to detect encounters of fortune had really outdid itself this time.
A little later, they reached a part with so much mana, some of the boys almost fell unconscious.
Fredrick's eyes shone with glee.
'This is it'
The object in front of him was just that good.
And most importantly, they had found their prize!
