NOVPUBChapter 946: 295. Unkind, Unrighteous
Noland Lee, Paul Stone, Hadley Grant.
The three men sat on the same boat returning to the Suman Archipelago, a somewhat awkward situation…
After Paul Stone was permitted by Noland Lee to leave, he gathered the body bag from the ground level into his magic pouch and went up to the open deck to open the teleportation gate to “Laron Grand Canyon”.
The Sub-Dimensional Plane owned by “Laron Rockbone” is a gray-white planetsphere covered with rock spikes.
When the teleportation gate was opened, this planetsphere magnified in the night sky, releasing a hazy radiance and casting a gray light column unto Paul Stone.
After Paul Stone had teleported away, the planetsphere returned to its original state.
...
Hadley Grant finally relaxed, almost slumping into the chair in the control room.
He simply couldn’t understand why he had gotten involved in this quagmire involving multiple wizard forces.
Noland Lee did not explain anything to Hadley.
He took out a money bag filled with gold coins and tossed it to him, saying at the same time,
“Here are 100,000 gold coins, Hadley. Take them; it’s the remuneration you deserve. For the next one to two months, just stay in the City of Suman, and don’t even think about going out to sea to hunt for treasures.”
“So many gold coins…” Hadley’s eyes widened. He opened the money bag to peek inside and saw the gleaming shine of gold.
“I never shortchange any collaborator,” Noland Lee said with a chuckle,
“You handled things well this time, Hadley. You crushed the crystal on time, and I got the news of your attack just in time. Most importantly, you successfully lured the Rockbone Magician and the Pangula Family wizard here, saving me the trouble of searching for you at sea.”
Noland Lee was not just being polite.
He truly appreciated Hadley’s ability to improvise on the spot.
Choosing Subsea 723 as the rendezvous point was purely because Sidney Palmida’s miniature ocean, when teleporting to the Blackfold Sea, can only use Subsea 723 as the destination.
The Blackfold Sea is vast.
If Hadley hadn’t been able to lead them here, Noland Lee truly didn’t know how to find them in a short period.
Luckily, the outcome was satisfactory. Hadley had completed his task.
Just for the fact that he risked his life to bring people to Noland Lee, he deserved the reward of 100,000 gold coins.
“I’m leaving first, Hadley. You’ll sail back on your own,” Noland Lee called out to him.
He went to the edge of the open deck and with a splash, he fell into the sea, turning into a shadow underwater, swiftly heading for the distance.
In no time, Noland Lee’s figure had disappeared from Hadley’s sight.
Facing the swift departure of Noland Lee, Hadley was stunned for a few seconds before finally snapping back to reality, contentedly securing the money bag.
He started the magical engine, turned the boat around, and sailed toward the City of Suman.
If the “Silent Maiden” and “Laron Rockbone” were to start a collaboration, the number of non-metallic ore distribution maps needed for mining could potentially double or even triple, quadruple, quintuple, or more.
Noland Lee needed to prepare much more, many more Energy Points to meet the demands for ore distribution maps.Additionally, before mining for non-metallic ore on an isle, the step of purchasing that isle is indispensable.
After all, there’s no way of just mining resources on someone else’s island and then taking them away, right?
Buying islands was a detail Noland Lee didn’t have to worry about.
Before setting off for Subsea 723 in the Blackfold Sea, he had established a cooperative intent with Professor Erica within the Court of Silence.
Noland Lee would provide her with nonmetal mineral distribution maps.
Erica would take charge in speaking with “Laron Rockbone” and negotiably supply the nonmetal mineral distribution maps.
“Laron Rockbone” would take care of buying the isles and the mining.
Those Rockbone Magicians were flush with cash and also possessed mining capabilities comparable to the Pangula Family.
Their mining speed would only be faster than the Pangula Family’s.
After a contract is reached between the “Silent Maiden” and “Laron Rockbone”, Professor Erica would get 20% of the non-metallic ore yield.
Of this 20%, Noland Lee and Professor Erica would each take half.
Logically speaking, since Professor Erica is only involved in negotiations and signing a magic contract, isn’t Noland Lee at a loss for giving her half?
No, not at all.
One must not just look at the numbers.
If they were to divide the yield strictly based on contribution, Noland Lee could receive 15% of the total yield, while Professor Erica would only get 5%.
However, that’s not how Noland Lee calculated it.
The situation now was that, due to their mentor-student relationship, Professor Erica especially trusted him, Noland Lee.
Professor Erica very much wanted to develop Noland Lee into a Lecturer Professor to share some of her teaching burden.
At the same time, apart from complaining about Noland Lee not teaching classes, she did not impose additional restrictions on him.
As long as Noland did not act recklessly and forcefully cause Professor Erica to disassociate, there would never be any rift or conflict between him and the “Silent Maiden”.
Following the principle of “If she prospers, I prosper”, Noland Lee didn’t mind using the non-metallic ore to support Professor Erica.
Defeating opponents with wisdom and strength is exhausting, so it’s much better to use prestige to make those with ill intentions back off.
To achieve this step, “infusing blood” into the “Silent Maiden” is essential.
Only when the “Silent Maiden” is strong enough will no one dare to bully Noland Lee.
