Chapter 280 - Stingy
After every single beast had been taken care of, Shane and the others didn't have a problem finding the cavern hall that was connected to the ocean with a small opening in the center of the hall.
It looked ordinary and if Shane's mana perception hadn't been high, he wouldn't have noticed that there was a faint membrane of mana tightly pulled over the ocean water.
From the looks of it, this membrane was naturally generated and had small holes in it.
Those holes were probably the main reason that allowed the ocean's water flow to carry the Syldalyr sand into the cave.
It was not difficult to perceive that the cave had existed for a long time, yet it was more interesting to know that nobody seemed to have stepped in the cave since it was created.
Shane was not sure how vast the entire cave was, but it was definitely large enough to house the entire tranquil forest that was located within the Shirai academy.
This felt weird to Shane because he hadn't expected to find such a large cave, while the others didn't mind that at all.
Rather, they were overjoyed because the entire cave was filled with huge piles of Syldalyr sand, and everyone began to calculate how much they might earn from the entire amount of sand that had been carried inside the cave by the ocean water!
Even Shane was astonished about the quantity of Syldalyr sand, while Milan only gaped at the sand as if he had just struck gold!
This told Shane that Milan had never been within this cave, which was also why everyone had to be even more careful than before!
There could be an even stronger beast lurking here after all!
As such, he gathered everyone around him, and the situation turned from being carefree and relieved to a more serious yet still overjoyed atmosphere.
Just as Shane was about to divide the tasks, a member of the Starlight guild asked.
"How much is a gram of Syldalyr sand worth? I heard that even Saldar sand, which is a mortal stage ingredient, is worth 5 bronze coins a gram!"
Shane had a rough price in mind because he knew that most potions that required the Syldalyr sand were worth a small fortune.
However, he had yet to figure out its real worth, which was the reason why he couldn't answer with certainty.
"I guess it should be around 2 or 3 silver coins per gram! You need only one gram to make one potion after all!"
This shocked everyone greatly, but after he explained what kinds of potions one could concoct only with the use of Syldalyr sand, everyone turned quiet.
Only Kylia asked something quietly.
"And why is there no Alchemist in your entire Astral Artisan hall, if you can earn such huge profits by concocting rare potions??"
Shane wanted to know this too, and if it was possible, he would hire a few Alchemists too!
Nurturing Alchemists might be expensive, but the gains one could obtain from them once perfectly nurtured were extremely high.
Furthermore, it would be possible to provide potions to the Starlight guild. If one side provided materials and the other side goods, the profits would be extremely high.
However, Shane was fully aware of the difficulties of creating such a perfect cycle.
It would take a long time before his Astral Starlight faction would be able to create something like this, and it was just not worth the effort right now!
He was currently trying to create a perfect foundation and the Syldalyr sand was only a means to generate funds similar to the elemental crystals!
Shane would set aside a few dozen kilograms for later, but the rest would be sold!
There were roughly several tonnes of Syldalyr sand within the whole cave, and everyone started to carefully collect it, once Shane had distributed the tasks among everyone.
Because it was unclear whether there were other beasts inside the last cavern hall, they had to be careful, otherwise, they may come across an unwanted surprise!
As such, it took them several days to collect the majority of Syldalyr sand that could be found inside the cavern hall!
They had been too busy collecting the sand to notice several eggs laid in the corner of the cavern hall, and the sight shocked everyone. Shane decided that the Syldalyr sand surrounding the eggs was not important enough as they might accidentally damage the eggs that were carefully laid into the Syldalyr sand.
Nobody knew what kind of beast had laid these eggs, but Shane was sure that it was something stronger than the 7 advanced ocean hounds they had defeated!
As such, it had to be a Superior peak-Awakened beast with a mana purity at or above a combat prowess of 90%!
After everyone figured this out, they wanted to leave the underwater cave as soon as possible, and Shane had a plan ready to ensure their quick exit.
Once he received the Syldalyr sand that everyone had gathered, he sent one member after another into the Hidden Paradise, right in front of the Spatial door that was already opened.
Shane even employed someone to push the newcomers through the opened Spatial door in order to prevent them from being able to figure out where they were being teleported to!
This was not necessary, but it was definitely better to do so in order to not expose the real secret behind the soul bound world to everyone!
In the end, Shane was the only human left behind, while Cosmo laid on his shoulder.
Umbra had opened a small portal from within the Hidden Paradise too, and Shane caressed him before they started to walk through the cavern halls once again.
There were only 20 days left before the mana awakening event would be held.
Yet, Shane was of the opinion that he would have enough funds as long as the Syldalyr sand would be purchased by someone!
He didn't waste any time and messaged Talia that she should research the Syldalyr sand's real price and what races required the most of it.
At the same time, Shane messaged the Elus-race's and Corvi race's merchants, inquiring whether they required a large amount of Syldalyr sand.
Unfortunately, both races didn't need any Syldalyr sand, while Talia messaged him that he could calculate the selling price for the acquired sand at the rate of 3 silver per gram!
This meant that one kilogram of Syldalyr sand was worth around 30 gold coins!
Shane was neither excessively happy because of that nor was he sad about the price.
He had already estimated a similar price, however, he had calculated his profit considering several hundred tons of Syldalyr sand!
This sounded ridiculous even for Shane, but after he had estimated the whole cavern's size, in addition to the fact that nobody had ever entered it because of the number of dangerous beasts in front of it, he could only agree to that calculation.
Furthermore, there was no way out of the underwater cave!!
Normally one would be scared of this fact the most, but Shane was completely calm because he had already created several plans in order to leave the underwater cave!
He had Cosmo and Umbra after all!
If nothing seemed to work out, he would have to purchase one [Safe-return-teleportation] parchment for a few million gold coins, which was the last thing he wanted to do!
This was only one possibility, they could use as everyone else but Shane could leave the underwater cave through the space door of his Hidden Paradise!
However, before he did anything like that, Shane had to test all the other theories in his mind!
This was because he was way too stingy to pay several million of their hard-earned gold coins, only to escape the underwater cave!!
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