Chapter 367 - 356: Another’s Poison, My Honey
Chapter 367: Chapter 356: Another’s Poison, My Honey
A mission codenamed [BR-0512] was singled out and magnified in the center of his vision.
[Mission ID: BR-0512, Type: Elimination/Salvage]
[Difficulty: B-Rank, Target Location: Plane 1143]
[Mission Briefing: Clean up the ruins of a large-scale planar war from forty-seven years ago. The core of the battlefield covers an area of approximately forty square kilometers, strewn with tens of thousands of decommissioned Golems, wreckage of Mechanical Bodies, three crashed Floating Battleships, and one half-destroyed small Floating City.]
[Specific Requirements: Completely clear the battlefield, remove all wreckage, eliminate residual Magic Power contamination, eradicate lingering curses, and destroy unstable Energy Sources.]
[Reward: 20 Credit Points, no Magic Stone reward. Bonus: First claim on the wreckage.]
Allen leaned back in his chair, looking at the tag in the upper-right corner: [Posted: 94 days ago].
It had been over three months, and no one had touched it.
He clicked open the risk assessment report under the mission details, and the reason became immediately clear.
First, the environment was hostile. The atmosphere of Plane 1143 was filled with a high concentration of magical radiation dust. While not lethal, long-term exposure to such high concentrations of radiation would chronically erode one’s Sea of Spirit, causing permanent damage to a Wizard.
Second, the risk was extremely high. The war forty-seven years ago had been incredibly intense, and the battlefield ruins were littered with unexploded high-energy magic traps and hidden curse anchors. Going there to clean up trash was equivalent to dancing in a minefield.
Third, and most importantly—it wasn’t profitable.
The survey footage attached to the report showed that any valuable, structurally intact wreckage on the battlefield had been picked clean by various "scavengers" in the immediate aftermath of the war.
What remained was either lumps of alloy—several types of metal fused together under high temperature and pressure, making them difficult to separate—or hazardous materials so heavily contaminated by powerful curses that even touching them was considered bad luck.
To extract useful Magic Metal from this fused scrap, one would need to expend a massive amount of Magic Power to perform high-temperature smelting, then painstakingly strip away the impurities.
The Magic Power and time costs to refine one ton of Black Patterned Magic Steel were even higher than buying a brand-new ton directly from the market.
The risk-to-reward ratio was completely skewed. Even the most destitute investigators would curse and scroll past this mission after a single glance.
But in Allen’s eyes, this mountain of scrap metal that everyone else disdained was a completely different story.
’High-grade metals to break apart and a sea of scrap to collect—it’s perfect!’
"Jarvis, based on the known wreckage distribution data from the mission briefing, estimate the total amount of recoverable metal."
[Based on volume and density calculations from the Association’s survey report, the total amount of recoverable Magic Metal wreckage within the forty-square-kilometer battlefield is estimated to be between 800,000 and 1,000,000 tons.]
[Estimated Material Composition: Low-grade metal materials such as Black Patterned Magic Steel make up approximately 65%; Titan Magic Steel, approximately 20%; Adamantite and trace amounts of high-grade metals, approximately 8%. The remainder consists of severely denatured mixed alloys and unidentifiable materials.]
Allen’s eyelid twitched.
"Input the actual parameters of the first-generation ’Material Reclamation Furnace’ and calculate based on a 70% comprehensive recovery rate. Only count the lowest-grade Black Patterned Magic Steel."
[Calculating...]
[Calculating based on the lower-end estimate of 800,000 tons. The wreckage of Black Patterned Magic Steel is approximately 420,000 tons.]
[At a 70% recovery rate, the stable output of high-purity Black Patterned Magic Steel would be: 294,000 tons.]
[The current average purchase price for Black Patterned Magic Steel on the Hub City bulk trade market is: 400 Low-Level Magic Stones per ton.]
[Total converted value: 117,600,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
[Factoring in unrecoverable portions, the estimated net profit is: 50 million to 80 million Low-Level Magic Stones.]
...
Even as someone who had lived two lives, and despite having long since become numb to the concept of wealth, Allen was still stunned by the estimated profit.
’This is just the value of the lowest-grade Black Patterned Magic Steel. It’s a shame I can’t separate the higher-grade metals yet, or this number would be several times larger.’
In the eyes of a conventional Wizard, it was worthless scrap. But with the ’Magic Key Resonance Equation’ and the ’Material Reclamation Furnace’, it was an undefended, high-purity, open-pit gold mine.
There was no need for high-temperature smelting. He just had to throw the scrap iron into the furnace, and the resonance field would automatically spit out money.
It was a veritable money-printing machine.
"Pull up the current financial report for Cybertron Workshop." Allen suppressed the excitement in his heart, his voice returning to a steady calm.
The light screen shifted, and a stream of glaring red data poured down.
[Cybertron Workshop Financial Status: Precarious.]
[Expenses: Ten High-tier production lines are operating at full capacity to produce the first batch for the Tieyan Clan’s tentative order of 3,000 units, as well as various small orders from within the Association. Due to raw material procurement, high-energy crystal consumption, and equipment depreciation, the combined daily operating costs have skyrocketed to 262,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
[Investments: Initial equipment procurement and a site deposit for the new factory in Hub City, totaling an expenditure of 5,700,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
[Current Available Liquid Capital: 8,420,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
[Warning: If the final payment for the first batch from the Tieyan Clan is delayed, Cybertron Workshop’s capital chain will break, and the production lines will be forced to halt.]
’Heavy industry really is a money-devouring beast. The pittance I earned before didn’t even make a splash when thrown into the military-industrial complex.’
The initial accumulation of capital is always a gamble, and he had now pushed most of his chips onto the table.
’Scrap collecting is the way to go, after all.’
Allen tapped his finger on the light screen, eager to earn this sum of money first.
[Confirm acceptance of Mission BR-0512?]
[Warning: This is a large-scale battlefield cleanup mission. It is recommended to form a professional team of five or more, including a defense specialist, a purification specialist, and an Alchemy School Wizard. Continue?]
Without hesitation, Allen tapped "Continue," and the contract was formed.
[Mission ID BR-0512 has been bound. Time Limit: Six months. Good luck, Investigator EX-2071.]
Just then, his personal terminal vibrated. It was an encrypted communication from Colin.
"Boss," Colin’s voice carried a hint of both exhaustion and excitement. "We’ve scouted two potential factory sites in the Hub City industrial district, both over 2,500 square meters. Vera is negotiating the lease terms with the local powers, and we should have a decision by tomorrow at the latest."
"Also, we just heard back from the Tieyan Clan. They’re extremely satisfied with the field tests of the first batch of three hundred war Golems. They’re going through their internal procedures now, and the letter of intent for follow-up orders should be sent over in the next few days. We’ve got the deal!"
"Understood." Allen’s tone was flat, betraying no emotion. "Once the factory site is finalized, pay the deposit, but hold off on moving in the equipment. Tell Vera to keep one million Magic Stones in reserve as an emergency fund."
"Is there a problem?" Colin asked, keenly sensing that something was off.
"I have to go on a field assignment. It might take about half a month. The location has no cross-planar communication coverage, but production at my workshop won’t stop. I’ll handle the delivery when I get back."
With that, Allen cut the communication.
He stood up, collected the few analyzed autonomous metal cores from his desk into his Space Ring, and then draped a dark gray, High-tier, magic-resistant cloak over his shoulders.
Badge authenticated. Teleportation request submitted.
...
「Plane 1143.」
As the faint light of the Star Gate faded, Allen’s feet touched solid ground.
There was no wind, no sound.
Before him lay a desolate, dead land that seemed to have been abandoned by the gods. The sky was a sickly, dark yellow, with heavy clouds pressing down low overhead.
Fine particles of dust, visible to the naked eye, floated in the air.
This was the debris from tens of thousands of Golems and Floating Battleships, pulverized in explosions forty-seven years ago—wreckage that would never settle. It had combined with the wild, free-roaming Magic Power in the air to form a lethal magical radiation dust.
Allen took a single breath, and a stinging pain shot through his nasal passages.
He activated his cloak’s shield, and a faint shimmer of light sealed the dust out.
As far as the eye could see, the land was a tapestry of devastation.
Massive craters, hundreds of meters in diameter and tens of meters deep, overlapped one another, covering every inch of visible land like ugly smallpox scars. The dark red soil was saturated with a mixture of Magic Power and the remains of modified Magical Beasts.
In the far distance, the wreckage of a several-hundred-meter-long Floating Battleship was embedded in the earth at a near-vertical angle.
Its front section was completely destroyed, leaving only its massive tail section to jut high into the air like a crooked, rust-covered gravestone.
This was his gold mine.