Chapter 1566: Salary
The approximately eight-meter-long Taixia Ancient Mining's cruiser appeared tiny at first glance. It resembled a toy model, but this was to reduce the dangers it would encounter to a minimum while traveling through the multiverse.
But upon stepping inside, it was equivalent to entering a pocket world. The hull had various buildings and palaces. At a glance, it was like a miniature city.
In the middle of the city was a striking nine-floored pavilion. Clearly, it was where the Taixia Ancient Mining's upper echelons lived.
And surrounding the pavilion were twelve towers. The white-haired middle-aged man led Yi Yun to the highest level of one of the towers.
"Steward Zhou."
At the top floor of the tower, a voluptuous woman walked over.
Her chest was ample and her waist thin. She was clothed in muslin and her excellent figure teased through the thin fabric. She bowed smilingly towards the middle-aged man. The coquettish look in between her eyebrows and her every move were filled with amorous charm.
"He will be a member of your Purple Light Hall. Purple Succubus, help treat his injuries."
The middle-aged man was succinct in his words. After he handed the contract to Purple Succubus, he turned and left.
"Take care, Steward Zhou."
The voluptuous woman stood up after saying that. The coquettish look on her face vanished instantly and replacing it was a picky glare as she sized up Yi Yun.
This left Yi Yun sighing inwardly. The speed at which this woman changed her attitude was truly amazing.
"A contract that lasts a century…" Purple Succubus looked at the contract as a teasing smile suffused her charming face. "Let's hope you can live that long."
Purple Succubus took out a wooden box from her interspatial artifact that resembled a bangle. She handed it to Yi Yun and said, "This is for you. Let me tell you ahead of time that my Purple Light Hall has no need for incompetency. If you can't bring me the things I require, you'll find I can be quite heartless. At the very least, your salary would be forfeit. In the Taixia Ancient Mining, death is a high possibility without a salary."
Yi Yun did not say a word. He scanned the wooden box with his psyche and discovered that there were a few rocks in the box. There were speckles of light amid the gray texture.
This is…
Yi Yun pricked up his brows. He could sense an extremely pure Heaven Earth Yuan Qi from these rocks. They were many times purer than Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli, but they were just too few in number.
"Are these Chaos Crystals?" Yi Yun asked Bai Yueyin via voice transmission.
She replied, "This is obviously not a Chaos Crystal. They're Chaos Ore. Chaos Crystals are extracted from such ores. In the Chaos Heavens, Chaos Crystals are extremely precious. The average warrior will not bear to use Chaos Crystals or afford to use them. In their place, they use such Chaos Ores. Ores also have their grades. The one you have is coarse ore."
"Understood…"
Yi Yun shook his head. It was no wonder there was so little Yuan Qi between all of the rocks. He had a robust foundation and his dantian was as deep as the sea. Now that he was completely depleted of Yuan Qi, he needed copious amounts of energy to replenish his reserves. The tiny bits of Chaos Ore were completely inadequate.
Besides, Yi Yun still had a sleeping Nine Transformations Celestial Silkworm inside his God Advent Tower. Although the little guy was small in size, he was quite a glutton. The bits of Chaos Ore were not enough to even stuff the gaps of its teeth.
"What? You find it too little?" Purple Succubus seemed to read Yi Yun's mind.
Yi Yun hesitated for a moment and said, "I haven't recovered from my injuries, so is it possible to get an advance payment?"
"Oh? You wish for an advance payment before doing anything? Although your dantian is injured, the Chaos Ores I provided you are enough to replenish about eighty percent of your stamina. Can't you be content with your lot?" Purple Succubus pricked up her brow as she scoffed.
Yi Yun frowned when he heard that. It was true that these ores were sufficient for the average junior, but to him, it was insignificant.
"Even if I get an advanced payment, it's not like I can escape with the contract in place."
"Hmph, this is the void of the multiverse. Where can you escape to? I'm completely unafraid of you escaping. However, entering a Chaos Crystal mineral vein carries dangers you can hardly imagine. If you're unlucky and die the moment you enter, wouldn't me giving you a salary make me come up empty-handed!?"
As Purple Succubus spoke, she waved her hand in impatience to signal him to leave.
Yi Yun shook his head. The Taixia Ancient Mining was unlike the ancient sects of the Sinkhole. Instead, they resembled the companies on Earth. They were enterprises that focused on mining and put profit before all else. People followed the example of their superiors, and Purple Succubus was as such.
"Yi Yun, wealth is extremely important in the Chaos Heavens. It's not odd, the way this Purple Succubus is acting. In the Sinkhole, although Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli can be used as currency, truly precious natural treasures can only be gotten through exchange. No one would exchange them with Godly Monarch Immortal Annuli. However, the Chaos Heavens is different. The purchasing power of Chaos Crystals is extremely strong. They can be used to buy really precious treasures. Many a time, a faction's combat strength in the Chaos Heavens is in direct proportion to their wealth. For this Taixia Ancient Mining to take their share of the Chaos Crystal mines means that they have quite an extraordinary background."
"Got it…" Yi Yun nodded. From the looks of it, even the coarse Chaos Ores he had were worth something substantial. Amid the barriers of the multiverse, Chaos Crystals practically determined survivability.
Yi Yun opened the box, and apart from the few gray ores, there was a manual named the Taixia Manual. It introduced Chaos Crystal mineral veins as well as a general introduction to Taixia Ancient Mining.
Taixia Ancient Mining had a history of tens of millions of years. It had jurisdiction over three carrier groups. They were the combat carrier group, the mining carrier group, and the logistics carrier group.
Yi Yun was a member of the Purple Light Hall, a gear amid the mining carrier group. As for Purple Succubus, she was the deputy hall lord of the Purple Light Hall.
Yi Yun's identity token was in there too. He was only a low-class miner.
For miners, mining for Chaos Crystals was not only a mission that needed to be completed, but it was also insurance for their survival.
If one did not receive energy replenishments from Chaos Crystals, their Yuan Qi would forever be insufficient. In the Chaos Crystal mineral veins, they would be powerless against dangers. It was also possible for them to be killed by other miners who wished to snatch the fruits of their labor.
The poorer one was, the lesser one dared to enter the Chaos Crystal mineral veins. That ended up making them poorer and weaker. With such a vicious cycle in place, many miners would die.
Placed in such rough environments, a hundred-year-long contract was not considered long, but a vast majority of miners basically failed to even live a hundred years.
This Chaos Heavens was truly cruel!
With this thought in mind, Yi Yun followed the instructions of the manual and came to the corresponding residence in Purple Light Hall. Purple Light Hall had many rooms, but most of them were empty.
Yi Yun knew from the manual that it was not because the cruiser was understaffed. On the contrary, when the mining spirit cruiser first set off, the cruiser would typically be at eighty percent capacity or more. But as the mining spirit cruiser began work in the universe, the number of people would begin to dwindle. And this mining spirit cruiser had been working in the void for more than ten years.
In about ten years, more than seventy percent of its members had perished!
Such a situation was very dismal for the present Yi Yun. He was just too weak and was in need of Chaos Crystals to replenish his Yuan Qi. Placing hopes on his meager salary was impractical. He had to think of other means to replenish his strength. Then, any problem would no longer be a problem.
"Oh? Are you new here?"
At that moment, a voice interrupted Yi Yun's thoughts. He looked over and saw a dirty fellow walking towards him.