As the arid and rocky panorama slowly receded under the darkness of nighttide, a question bothered Lishi’s mind. “Say, Kame, why haven’t we seen any mining facilities around these parts? Shouldn’t they bloom like crazy and seeded the caves with bots, miners, and all?” she asked. “I mean, the Ihuako stones do hold value, right?”
She heard the merman chuckle. “They do, to some extent, but as we say, there’s always a better and rarer piece of ore somewhere else, Your Royal Highness, but to answer the first part of your question, it basically boils down to quality and scarcity.’
’The big mining corporations wouldn’t bother to extract a large quantity of low ranked ores, opting to focus their energy and resources on the rarer ores—typically those harder to extract— especially on the Frontier planets where they’ll be abundant. Even the smaller institutions would prefer to try their luck—and their lives—around unexplored planets in order to become a hegemon as well.” he answered.
That reply raised the young woman’s slender eyebrows. “But if I follow your thinking, their eventual customer base would be small, made only by the rich and famous, so why wouldn’t they seek higher profits by widening their install base?” she said.
“Well, to that, the answer is not really, for a couple reasons. First, why would they abase themselves to compete with a bevy of micro-teams and independent contractors? Second, higher profits? You’d be surprised that even if they went all-in in that market, their profits wouldn’t even reach twenty-five percent above what they’re already making. And that’s if they monopolize that market on their own, which they’ll legally be unable to do.’
’So understand that they won’t dare to swim in that particular ocean where profit margins are much smaller than the big fishes out there called Frontier and Unexplored planets. Did you know that should a company discovers and successfully excavates a new ore, they get to exclusively profit from it for twelve years? Think about the revenue they’ll make and you’ll understand why that’s more lucrative to pursue this avenue…” he said, his voice trailing off in the end.
But Dibano’s Queen was pretty much dubitative. “I don’t see why that would be lucrative since the odds of finding a new ore are practically nil, unless they try their luck on unexplored planets. But if they don’t have strong tech and cultivators to establish and protect themselves, how could that be a viable plan for them?”
Kame sighed. “It is, because they have incentive, and you’ve said one of them,” he replied.
Lishi frowned.
They already have strong tech, so that left … “Cultivators? But how could they—Ah, the major sects, palaces, academies, fisheries, and their affiliated pavilions are supporting their endeavors, but still—”
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But he interrupted her, saying, “Your Royal Highness, you underestimate the wealth the richest in our solar system possesses. Believe me, they don’t need those weaker ores, and actually, even if they intended to go back in it, they couldn’t, since even the Solar Trade Association wouldn’t allow them anyway, in order to maximize competitiveness. In fact, it’s even healthier that way, but I thought due to your Royal Status, you’ll know this…”
She shrugged, her mien tinged with a bit of helplessness. “You know, first I’ve been a queen for only five years, second, our country exports far more than it imports, so while individuals might want these ores, they’re not big enough to be noticed within the economy. So, they’re not one of our Empire’s main imports since our Academies don’t buy much of these ultra-rare ores since our pavilions aren’t the best or largest, and I would focus on the major trade deals for anything our Empire—well in my case Queendom, needs a discount on,” she said.
“Then why aren’t you increasing the might of your Academies Pavilions? You’ll have much better mana-based weapons…” Kame asked.
“Simply because our roots are focused on tech than mana tech, and our results showed. Plus, our Academies tend to research how to artificially recreate these ores, so we could have a ready-made supply when we need it the most to further our technologies.” she replied.
“And that’s why your tech is more advanced than any of us in the solar system, despite the fact that your artificial ore lost much, if all of their natural potency. Your results indeed showed.”
Lyshisha giggled. “Well, sometimes, you’re better off with strong tech using just pure thermal energy instead of using you guys’ tech-demanding raw—and sometimes unstable—mana, in a protracted fight, right?”
Kamealoha sighed. “I would surrender that unbeatable argument to you, Your Royal Highness, but if you want these lower ranked ores, you can contact some excellent micro-teams or independent contractors as I’ve said before to fill your needs…”
She slowly nodded as they reached the plateau’s corners…
*
They reached the valley a little later than they’d hoped, having taken a detour to avoid the dreadful hidden lab.
When they landed on a relatively clean spot, the merman asked, “So where are we going tomorrow then, Your Royal Highness?”
“The Fului Volcano Chains. My next ore is over there. All right, guys, let’s sleep here under the moonlight and we’ll bounce tomorrow morning, OK?” she said.
Kame visibly paled, knowing that going manual this time would only be a tenth of what she’s gone through inside the Plateau. “Understood, Your Royal Highness,” he said.
His reaction didn’t surprise her.
After all, he understood that whatever she’ll get there would be hellish to get.
And like last time, she’ll openly embrace the challenge. “All right, then prepare your stuff, and you two babies find a sweet spot for you to sleep, cause tomorrow will be a-”
She never finished her sentence when an intruder suddenly boomed into existence, landing ten feet away from the quartet.
The two disciples immediately recognized him as an elder of their sect!
He wasted no time as his authoritative aura descended upon them, stifling them a bit before he declared, his eyes a mere slit suffused with smoldering ire, “I don’t know how you two managed to retrieve the Long Artifact but I don’t care. Hand it over immediately or don’t blame me for being impolite!”