Cross-domain trade was no simple matter. Just using the portals of the Tower of Truth was fraught with complications.
The multi-world giant portals of the Tower of Truth were the only viable means of cross-domain trade for most Wizard Chambers of Commerce. The cost of maintaining a portal was a significant expense for the vast majority of these chambers, and the technology to change the destination of a portal was unique to the Tower of Truth.
If a Wizard Chamber of Commerce built its own portal, it would need to dismantle and reassemble it whenever it wanted to change the target world. This was no small expense.
After nearly two months of waiting, the Nine Stars Commerce finally had its turn to use the portal. One by one, whale-like cargo airships entered the portal. Richard stood at the rear of the caravan, quietly watching the "whale pod" disappear into the dark, bottomless maw of the portal.
"Gah, a multi-coordinate portal. Even in our world, this would be a rare sight," Ulysses perched on Richard's shoulder, gazing at the portal at the end of the passage, couldn't help but remark.
"Oh? How do you conduct cross-world trade in your world?" Richard asked, puzzled.
"Gah, the same way you launch expeditions. We build an outer-world port for interstellar trade. Under the blessings of the King of Gods and the many deities who govern wealth and commerce, the fleet gradually accelerates to light speed in the Astral World. It's a spectacular sight. Interworld caravans are called meteor caravans because when they reach a port, they send out many small boats to trade and resupply. These boats emit dazzling light as they pass through the World Barrier, resembling a meteor shower from afar. Hence, many worlds along the trade routes celebrate meteor showers, and even a god of meteors and commerce has emerged..." Ulysses spoke endlessly about the civilization of the gods, his eyes shining with pride. Though he was in the Wizard World, he never forgot his homeland.
Richard didn't interrupt, quietly listening to Ulysses' ceaseless talk. The exotic scenery of the divine civilization was vividly described by Ulysses. It was hard to imagine that someone, after centuries in a foreign land, could still so vividly depict the landscapes of his homeland. Richard believed that besides Ulysses being a World Master, it was also the result of countless recollections.
Soon, the caravan finished entering, and Richard boarded the airship, quietly watching as the dark portal swallowed the vessel. The experience of passing through such a giant portal was quite peculiar. After entering the portal, the airship seemed to travel through a long corridor. After nearly a week of flight, the corridor ended, and the airship passed through a dark hole, smoothly entering the target world.
The first stop on the trade route was a wind-element imbalanced world called the Wind Dragon World, which was rich in a special mineral known as wind metal. This mineral was crucial for making airships, both commercial and military. After leaving the portal, the caravan immediately headed for the mining area.
In a wind-element imbalanced world, land was scarce. Thus, the continents common in ordinary worlds were replaced by floating islands here. Oceans and magma flowed at different altitudes, creating a unique landscape characteristic of wind-element imbalanced worlds. The gravity in such a world was lower, the opposite of earth-element imbalanced worlds. This feature was undoubtedly beneficial for airships—lower gravity meant faster flight and lower energy consumption.
Due to the floating island terrain, the wind metal mining areas were scattered. To be more efficient, the caravan's manager ordered the fleet to disperse, with each airship independently trading for the mineral. In wind-element imbalanced worlds, food was always a major issue. The floating island terrain made it difficult to grow large quantities of food. Mining required many slaves, who in turn needed a lot of food. Thus, food was a highly sought-after commodity in all wind-element imbalanced worlds. The Nine Stars Commerce's airships were loaded with food, making their trade incredibly smooth. Soon, airship after airship of food was exchanged for crates of wind metal ore.
The caravan stayed in the Wind Dragon World for over a month, finally trading all its food and purchasing a vast amount of wind metal ore. Naturally, the cheap food alone wasn't enough to satisfy the Nine Stars Commerce's appetite for ore, so they had to use Magic Essence in the end. Richard bought a lot of ore and some biological specimens in this world. These items, if bought in the Wizard World, would cost at least twice as much.
With the ore acquisition complete, the caravan returned to the portal. This time, they didn't have to wait long—only three days before it was their turn. After adjusting the world coordinates, the caravan entered the portal again.
This time, they arrived at a fire-element imbalanced world. All the ore they had obtained in the Wind Dragon World was sold here. This fire-element imbalanced world was a major airship manufacturing base, where tons of ore were transported daily, melted into alloy, and turned into airships. After selling the ore, the caravan immediately purchased a considerable amount of low-quality Fire Elemental Gems and some high-temperature resistant materials unique to fire-element worlds. These items would be sold out in the next world the caravan reached, repeating the process.
Over a year, the caravan passed through five worlds, bringing the commerce a net profit of three thousand Magic Essence and a fleet of resources. When the caravan reached the first ring of the Tower of Truth, these resources would be sold to local alchemy workshops. This trip would yield a net profit of about four thousand Magic Essence.
...
As the airship's bow emerged from the portal, Richard's journey came to an end. After greeting the caravan's manager, Richard led dozens of Magic Dwarves into the Tower of Truth. The structure of the first ring of the Tower of Truth was not much different from the fourth ring—residential layers, commercial layers, almost identical to the fourth ring. Legend had it that the first ring of the Tower of Truth was the first ever built, where the five major schools negotiated a ceasefire.
Richard didn't linger in the first ring of the Tower of Truth, immediately leading the Magic Dwarves away. In the Wizard city outside the Tower of Truth, Richard chartered an airship and began following a map to the ancestral land of the Magic Dwarves.
The ancestral land of the Magic Dwarves was located in a mountain range northeast of the first ring of the Tower of Truth's territory. During the Enlightenment era, this mountain range was an important mining area for the Evocation School, where Magic Dwarves, as slaves of Wizards, tirelessly mined day and night. After the Wizard Wars, this mining area was first abandoned due to the depletion of the mines, then designated as a protected area by the Council of Truth. Over the years, the mountain range had become a tourist destination for many mortals.
After a month-long flight, the airship finally arrived at the mountain range known as the Dwarf Mountains. Nearby was a large mortal kingdom, which was a recruitment ground for a Wizard academy called the Red Stone Wizard Academy. After the airship entered their territory, Richard reported to the academy to avoid being mistaken for a hostile Wizard and having the airship shot down.
The pilot maneuvered the airship to a gentle landing at the nearest airfield to the Dwarf Mountains. Richard settled the final payment and led the Magic Dwarves off the airship. Looking at the distant mountains, these Magic Dwarves, who had lived in the Mirror World since birth, felt a sense of familiarity. Tears unconsciously fell from their eyes.
The wanderers had returned home.
Richard called the Magic Dwarves to advance into the depths of the mountains. Soon, the group arrived before a massive peak. Bruto pulled away the vines on the mountain wall, revealing a moss-covered mine shaft below. Without a doubt, this was the mine shaft left by the Magic Dwarves of old.
"Well, it seems I've found the right place," Richard said, his tone relaxed as he saw the mine shaft. "The rest is up to you. I'll be on my way."
"Master!" Bruto suddenly called out to Richard.
"What is it?" Richard asked, puzzled. "Didn't I already buy you the tools along the way?"
"No, it's not that. I want to ask you to come down with us," Bruto explained hurriedly. "The High Priest told me that our ancestral land holds a secret, one that even the Wizards haven't discovered. He said this secret might be of help to you and insisted that I invite you to see it when we reached our ancestral land."
"Oh?" Richard was slightly surprised. "There's such a thing? Then I must take a look."
Bruto gave a slight bow, then pulled out an ancient map from his person. The leather of the map was dry and stiff; if not for a layer of mysterious enchantment, it would have crumbled to pieces by now. Following the map's guidance, Bruto found a marked mine shaft on the mountain. They descended into the mine shaft, Bruto moving swiftly through the moss-covered tunnels as if something was calling to him.
Richard followed Bruto for two days, the spiderweb-like tunnels leaving him somewhat lost. It was hard to imagine how much effort it would have taken to find the right path without the map's guidance.
Bang! Bruto smashed open a boulder blocking the way, revealing a long-sealed underground hall.
Richard waved his hand, a breeze dispersing the stale air in the hall. Despite the unknown number of years that had passed, the hall was remarkably intact, only covered in a layer of dust.
The two entered the hall. It seemed to be a place of worship. At the far end stood a stone statue of a dwarf with draconic features, and in front of it was a golden altar studded with gems. Richard sensed a faint Power of Faith emanating from the statue. Without years of worship, the Power of Faith on this idol had nearly dissipated.
"Is this your secret?" Richard asked casually.
Bruto didn't answer, instead walking to the altar, clasping his hands together, and silently praying to the dwarf statue.
Soon, cracks began to appear on the draconic dwarf statue, growing larger as Bruto continued his prayers. Finally, the old statue shattered, revealing a much smaller but very spirited statue of the King of Magic Dwarves.
Then, Bruto placed both hands on the altar and pushed with all his might to move it aside. As the altar shifted, Richard sensed a faint Life Radiation.
"Is this... a dragon egg?"
(End of Chapter)