Chapter 162 - "Research Purposes..."

"B-boss… what the fuck is that. That, is not fuckin' salt." Fumio points at Infinite Spiritual Energy Crystals that are slowly turning blue, and feeling the spiritual energy condensed inside of it.

"It's not." Red exhales deeply, seeing the seal formation stabilizing itself just as he expected.

"Man…" He shakes his head, still in awe.

He still cannot believe that Terra has billions of tons more of these crystals in its reserve, and that reserve is located in just one country. He hopes that there are more undiscovered reserves of it.

"One piece this size..." He picks out a watermelon-sized piece from the pile of the crystals.

"…when filled to its limit, it's going to be an even better spiritual energy source than demon cores." He explains to Fumio.

"Well… Demon cores have a lot of classes." Fumio wants a more specific comparison.

"Even better than a core from high-tier Knight-ranked demon. Six cores' worth in fact." Red reveals.

"What?!" Fumio almost jumps in shock and excitement.

The piece of the crystal in Red's hand is very small compared to the entire pile in the middle of the seal formation. He can only imagine how much spiritual energy the entire pile of the Crystals will contain once they are all filled.

His excitement however is short-lived.

"Boss… Is it wrong for me to feel that these crystals seem to be more valuable than souls of living things?" He sighs.

"Heh. I don't think so." Red shakes his head.

"Buddy. These are treasures that have existed since this world came into existence. They've been here for billions of years even before the first single-celled organism was born.

"If they stay untouched, they will still be here until this world itself, the entirety of it, will come to its timely end. They are more permanent than life in this world itself."

"… Humans, demons, angels… We're so small." Fumio is overwhelmed, feeling as if the world has become even larger.

"And God himself…" Red utters quietly.

"What?" Fumio is not sure if he misheard it.

"Nothing. Anyway. With these around, your cultivation will speed up even more." Red puts back the crystal in his hand back into the pile.

"How about you, boss? You must need a building's worth of these." Fumio asks with a chuckle.

"Mm Hmh..." Red just smiles to himself.

With his perfect foundations, his cultivation knowledge, and his current spirit root he himself as the former Red Sovereign of the Infinite Realms finds adequate enough, he can cultivate at his level without the assistance of treasures.

"Wait a minute, boss. If these can be used like demon cores… what about… Dominic? You've put this thing in his territory." Fumio asks in worry.

"I trust the guy. Don't worry about it buddy." Red assures.

"Hm…" Fumio does not dare to question Red's judgement.

"What now? Do we wait for this to be filled up?" Fumio asks.

"Nah. It'll take hours." Red shrugs.

"Now. I brought you along so we could talk." He changes subject.

"When will you decide to take care of another treasure fragment?" He asks.

"Because, you know, you won't get these crystals from me for free. Unless you know how to store spiritual energy in them. You also have nothing that I'll accept as an alternate payment." He points at the seal formation.

"Haaah…." Fumio scrunches his nose.

"How much of these crystals for one treasure fragment?" He asks.

"Hmmm… I don't know. Everything right here? How large is it? A truckload?... One treasure fragment for a truckload." Red says in a goading tone.

Fumio ponders for a moment before, "Fuck it…", deciding.

"Huh. That's easier than I thought." Red is pleased.

"Well… I've already been thinking about it since you took back the treasure fragment from me. Each day I spend studying jade slips and training outside the treasure fragment, I feel like I'm wasting valuable real-world time. And…" Fumio rubs his left brow.

"What?" Red gets interested at the reaction.

"These are just fuckin' tempting. What can I say?" Fumio chuckles in embarrassment as he steals a glance at the Crystals.

"You don't feel queasy anymore about eliminating folks?" Red chuckles.

"Bad folks to be exact, boss. But yes, ordering someone's death still bothers me. As for the guilt… Ahdem and Havvah were a great help in getting me over it during these past few days. Thanks for having them stay at my hill." Fumio reports.

"Good." Red nods.

"That's very good. But why am I sensing great worry still?" He asks.

"I'm just worried that at some point, good people will eventually come to my hill. And I don't know how I'll deal with them." He sighs.

"Well, if I'm not wrong, there is something you can use in one of the jade slips you earned. I mean, just reading the title of that subject would have given you an idea." Red gives a hint.

"Huh… You're telling me now after I've decided." Fumio shakes his head.

"Anyways. You can have all of this later when they're filled." Red says as he leads the way out of the cavern.

"What?" Fumio's eyes widen as he dazedly follows Red.

"Happy holidays, buddy. Treat it both as a year-end bonus and as a gift." Red explains.

"W-well… T-thank you." Fumio does not know what else to say.

"You're welcome." Red nods.

"Now…" He opens the portal to the treasure dimension once again and gestures Fumio.

"Go back. Choose one of treasure fragments in my cave, and piss off."

"How do I get those back to Japan?" Fumio points at the crystals.

"Don't be too excited." Red scoffs.

"I'll deal with the transport. You'll find it in your hill after you come back from your break."

"What break?" Fumio asks in confusion.

"Winter break?  December 24 to January 2." Red reminds Fumio.

"Oh…" Fumio is stunned.

"But I don't need it." Ten days of real world time is eight months in the treasure fragment dimension after all.

"How about spending time with your sister? I heard Tezguniuth giving her a break." Red suggests.

"Oh. That's a good idea." Fumio realizes that while he meets Sayuri a few times every week, they have not hung out with each other aside from their month end lunch in the end of November.

Fumio is about to step into the portal when he is reminded of his fellow disciples.

"How about the rest, boss?" He does not find it fair that only him gets to receive the crystals.

"What? You think you're my favorite?" Red scoffs as he throws Fumio to the portal.

"AHHH-!" As soon as Fumio's figure disappears to veil of light, Red closes the portal.

A few moments later, Red arrives at the entrance of the abandoned mine. He does not have to wait long as Dominic returns shortly after. 

"Huh. Done already?" Dominic asks.

"Yes. And thank you for lending me the mine." Red says.

"Just don't fuck with the structure of it, and you can have it until the demons come." Dominic waves off the thanks.

"Anyways." He then pulls out a palm-sized string bag out of his pocket and tosses it to Red.

"Must have spent a lot on this, huh?" Red says as he takes a peek inside the bag.

"Not really. I thought you were looking for some rare gems, but most of them aren't. That… Alexandrite is the most expensive one, but it's just 30 thousand dollars." Dominic says in dismissal.

"I thought they were rare too." Red says as he pulls out a black colored gem.

"What's this?" He asks.

"Black Spinel… Wait no. Black Sapphire." Dominic says.

"Not sure?" Red asks.

"I'm sure. Had my jeweler cut the stones in different shapes for me to differentiate them. It doesn't help that you asked for all sorts of black gems that look similar to each other." Dominic scoffs.

"Understandable. How expensive is black sapphire?" Red asks.

"It's cheap. Argus has large mines of it in his territory." Dominic says.

"Damn…" Red utters in pleasant surprise.

"How about this?" He then pulls out another gemstone, an oval shaped one.

"That is Black Star Sapphire. That I'm sure of. Unlike the ordinary black sapphire, this one's a couple hundred dollars per carat. It's mined in my territory." Dominic says in confidence.

He also notices the look on Red's face.

"It's not that valuable. Why are you looking at it like that?" He asks in amusement.

"I don't know why, but the color is mesmerizing." Red stops his appreciation of the gemstone.

"Anyways. Thanks again." He then picks out the rest of black sapphires and black star sapphires from the bag, stores them in his storage ring, and returns the rest of the gemstones to Dominic.

"That's it? There are plenty of rarer and more valuable ones in here." Dominic is stunned.

"I got all I need, buddy." Red assures.

"You know what? Just keep them all." Dominic feels that his efforts are wasted if Red does not take all the gemstones.

"Well, thank you." Red can only accept with Dominic's insistence.

"Remuneration?" He asks.

"Nah. Just prepare to read the proposal I'm planning on writing up about that coffee thing. I think making something even larger than Starbos Coffee is really doable if the ingredients come from your farms." Dominic smirks.

"Alright." Red nods.

He is already planning on partnering up with Dominic anyway.

The more disciples he raises, the more resources he will need. If he has a multi-billion dollar company, he can afford to do just that.

The more his group expands, the more people who mysteriously acquired powers he will have to hide. If he has a company that can provide employment, at least on-paper, for the cultivators, then he can help the cultivators blend in society.

"Do you have any more abandoned mines out there?" Red asks.

"What for?" Dominic gets suspicious.

"Do you have a use for them?" Red returns.

"Well… Now that you stopped me from farming demon cores, I don't." Dominic scoffs.

"But come on, it's still my territory." He argues.

"Research purposes. One mine or cave for one wood chip. We don't exactly want people finding out in case something in my experiment goes 'BOOM!', do we?" Red can only say.

Even if Dominic is a cultivator, and he can tell them man that he needs abandoned mines to refill Spiritual Energy Crystals, the details are complicated and he is too lazy to explain. He simply wants to proceed experimenting with the gemstones he just acquired.

"That happened before?" Dominic asks in surprise.

"Yes. Almost lost my arm once." Red shrugs.

"Damn…" Dominic shakes his head.

"Research purposes…" He buys the excuse.

He wants to see more what the treasure fragments can offer aside from the pocket dimension inside them and the pseudo teleportation that comes along with it.

"How soon do you need them?" He asks.

"As soon as possible, if that's okay." Red politely demands.

"When I find a way to stop activated wood chips from pulling other chips, I'll return you your chip." He adds a promise.

"Alright. I'll contact you when the next mine is ready.." Dominic leaves, his mood cheerful for the first time in a long time.