Chapter 67: Chapter 67
Lucien spent the night drinking and talking to his new friends. He had found out that they were a group of friends from Peking University. They were all working on their graduate degrees.
All of them were strangers just two years ago, they came together after a dig in Egypt. They had found a tablet they believed to have originated from Atlantis. Yes, they were good at what they did. It was not common knowledge the tales of Atlantis originated from African folklore. Even many witches and sorcerers believed places like Atlantis and Hyperborea to be mythology and greek in origin.
After the dig in Egypt, the group of strangers became friends and spent two years, translating the tablet. They hoped for new information about Atlantis or the secrets of the pyramids. Never in their wildest dreams would they have guessed what was chiseled into the tablet they had found.
Lucien had tried everything to figure out what was on the tablet that drove them to the inner tomb of the first Qin Emperor. Legilimency was out of the question. Without knowing the value of the knowledge, Lucien didn't want to risk damaging young minds, as he had no idea how his mental arts would affect normal humans. It was painful enough for the average wizard to have their mind scanned.
Lucien decided to take it slow, enjoying the night with them, Lucien didn't make it out the bar until well in the morning, 4 am. Before he left the bar, for whichever one of those people was the most ambitious Lucien had Left his card, with a note on the back.
'If you want to get into the inner tomb...'
Lucien had a clue which ones would call. He had his eyes on three people, a couple, Lian Wuhan and her boyfriend Zi Kun, the last one was the overzealous liquor loving, Ye Mei. She was the one that was supposed to sing like a canary. Except, when the liquor started flowing, Lucien seen the spark in their eyes, the three of them were fishing for information as much as Lucien. His theory was proven correct when those three were the last ones standing after a long night of drinking.
Lucien figured they drunk less than what they made it seem. Lucien, on the other hand, used his magic to keep himself buzzed, but not drunk, no matter how many bottles they went through.
When Lucien got back to the manor, he started making calls.
"Mr.Prime Minister, This is Lucien Bennett-Dubois. I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?"
Lucien the made calls to the proper connects to buy himself a company and get all the licenses needed to conduct exploratory digs, handle hazardous materials, Sell and produce pharmaceuticals, Clinical experiments, and so on.
Lucien's aim was to create a company that could be considered the jack of all trades. If he wanted to get into the inner tomb in the most legitimized fashion possible, He needs a private company in a field that China couldn't say no to.
By the afternoon Lucien was the owner of a multi-billion dollar private company backed by a diamond mine. With a list of clients all through the united kingdom. Serpent Paxx was the name of the company. The company specialized in contracts. Soldiers, entertainment, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, crises management, hell even loan repayment. Lucien's company could handle it all, as long as the client was willing to pay the price.
By the end of the night, the Prime minister called Lucien with a date and meeting time with China's Vice President. It was a simple matter really. Especially since the vice president was currently holding the door open for western business.
Two days after and a day away from a meeting with the Vice president, Lucien had received two calls instead of three. One from Ye Mei and another from Zi Kun. Turns out Zi Kun had fallen in love his girlfriend's best friend who happened to be an anthropologist. He was calling on her behalf as well, Lucien didn't mind. It was a dog eat dog world.
Lucien set up a dinner party, where they could meet and talk things out, on the same day he would meet with the Vice President.
The Meeting with the Vice president went smoothly. Lucien invested a considerable amount of money in a few companies that the Vice President presented to him and then they shook hands. Lucien left with a document that gave him free rein to explore the inner tomb of the first Qin Emperor.
Dinner date with the Archaeologists.
Ye Mei was the first to arrive followed by Zi Kun and his new girlfriend Liang Yu. The party had an excellent Dinner and conversation about rubbish until they were all full.
"The meal was marvelous, Mr.Dubois. However, I would love to talk business over a drink. "
Lucien let out a chuckle
"Of course, Miss Ye."
Lucien sent for an elf to return with a bottle of his best.
"Armagnac - De Montal 1969"
The Dinner party entered Lucien's study, sipping their drinks as they got comfortable.
"So, I know you are all here to gain entry to the inner tomb of the first Qin Emperor. What I want to know is, why?"
"Mr. Dubois. Last night we told about our discovery in Egypt two years ago. That discovery led us to the Middle East. There we discovered two things." Zi Kun explained more after taking another swig of brandy.
"The first thing we found were ancient ruins that detailed a story about the creation of immortality. However, it was not what we wanted. We searched the ruins for days and did not find anything worth mentioning. On our last day there, one of our friends fell into a crypt, of a dead scholar."
Lucien leaned back in his chair and emptied his cup. Lucien was about to kill this guy if he didn't get to the point soon.
"The scholar had the craziest tale. He told about an ancient pool, so powerful that it could give eternal life. Turning the land around it into God's land. He said, this pool came from Atlantis and was gifted to the first Sovereign of China. It lasted three sovereigns, then was passed down through the Five Emperors. During the reign of the last emperor, the land was sealed away. But, there was a map to it, split into seven pieces."
Lucien poured another drink and looked at the group, that was staring at him with non blinking eyes, intent on reading his reaction. They had long passed the point where they had lost previous investors.
Lucien felt like he knew where this was going.
"Seven pieces, seven warring states. The full map is with the first Qin Emperor isn't it?" Lucien asked the group.
"We believe so." Ye Mei answered
"Where does this map lead?" Lucien asked
Ye Mei looked over at Zi Kun
"Shangri-La, Mr. Dubois."
Lucien put down his glass and stood up from his chair.
"Okay, I've heard enough. I'll call you tomorrow with my decision."
Lucien then showed them the door and told one of his elves to drive them back to the city.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone