Chapter 96: Potentialy devastating news

"Is there… Is there anything else of potential value that came out of those dungeons?"

Holding the stone in my fingers, I moved it around. My hopes of introducing a revolutionary product that only I would have access too seemed to break further and further apart with each second that I continued to observe the shining gem. Because no matter how I looked at it, it seemed to be just the same kind of magical stone like the one that I charged a short distance away from the conference room, in my basement.

"So far, no other regular items made their appearance. While there are rumours that some of the lucky adventurers that managed to obtain some other stuff along with great opportunities for their breakthrough… In terms of something that appeared consistently, those stones are the only thing."

Listening to the report of one of the white-collar workers that made the background of the conference, I raised my eyes to look at the man speaking. Barely in his forties, his bald head decorated with thick glasses somehow made him look ridiculous. As if he was trying so hard to look smart and capable, that he ended up appearing as the ultimate idiot.

"Does anyone know how to make use of those stones?"

Putting the magically filled gem on the table, I looked at the small crowd of people sitting around it. This was the most important question for now. As long as no one had any clue just how did those stones worked, I could still gain a huge advantage. Even if someone could find a craftsman skilled enough to repeat the patterns that would be carved on the finished artefacts, the scale of such procedure would never become problematic, especially when the harder designs would come to play. 

After all, I could learn it for myself just by reading the simple book of the basics of carving that Ayda lent me. Outside of the graphs of the runes that one had to carve on the stones, there was a complicated set of rules that governed the way those runes would interact. Just like replicating the outer look of a computer circuit could work for some early designs, even if one could perfectly replicate the exterior of the modern-day chips, there would be simply no way for it to work properly.

"Some already started theorising that those who reached the fourth stage of cultivation can use them to nourish their growth, but that's only a hearsay."

This time, Pavlo spoke once again, proving that in this little time that we were away from each other, he wasn't slacking at all. Rather than that, this young man continued to prove how incredibly hard-working or just lucky with the information he was. 

"Good. Now, everyone, get off. I need to speak to Pavlo and senior Baskar."

Even today I still have yet to learn the name of the head of Baskar's family. As such, I could only refer to him in this round-about way, keeping the basic respect towards his position while avoiding the trap of calling out his name that I didn't know.

"As you wish, your excellency."

Maybe it was the tone of my voice, or maybe it was the face that I made while speaking those words, but no one dared to argue with my sudden and relatively rude request. But I didn't bother with worrying about it. Those who were privy to participate in the meeting when such a crucial matter was brought up, definitely weren't childish enough to feel insulted by the fact that I had some secrets I was willing to share only with the top ranks of the entire organisation. 

"Mister Bishop, did something happen?"

Only now did I realise that up to this point, I have yet to reveal the alias that I would be going with under this persona of mine. While it was quite off-putting for me to need the old Baskar to use my own tactics of avoiding to use someone's name in order to notice that, it was still better than never.

"There is no need for formalities. You may just call me Marius."

Coming up with the first name that came to my head, I looked at the stone still resting on the table. Its delicate shine was quite alluring as if it was some kind of hypnotic tool. But outside of carving specific runes on it, I had no clue what its other uses could be.

Being on just the third level of the earthy cultivation myself, I was still below the level that the rumours claimed to be necessary to be able to assimilate the energy from the stones… But at this point, I could hardly think of anything better for me to do than desperately attempting to reach that stage. After all, with a near-infinite supply of magic stones that my basement could procure in a short time, just by using those stones I could make my basic cultivation skyrocket!

This was one of the things that were on my mind ever since I learned about the situation in Ayda's world. The moment when I lost my ability to use those overpowered tools from the apocalypse only made this point even more important.

So far, I was getting by only thanks to using a variety of types of magic, never limiting myself to just a single discipline. But being a jack-of-all-trades like that could only work for a short time. Sooner or later, I would have no choice but to focus on at least a few of my abilities, doing my absolute best to max out their potential to not stay behind the constantly growing society around me.

"And yes. I asked everyone to leave because what I'm about to say is too important and potentially devastating for others to know."

Picking up where I left after a moment of thought, I sat down behind the table before cupping my hands together as I rested my elbows on the wooden surface.

"I might be able to obtain those magic stones at an industrial rate. What's more, there is a chance that I know how to put them to great use. Actually, Pavlo already helped me to test this idea of mine a bit."