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The mining encampment itself was nothing remarkable, just a shoddy town with roughshod buildings set up here and there. After all, as already stated, the minerals on Ludo - while plentiful - were not exactly do or die resources needed by the other continents. 

Faust itself was a resource-rich planet with rare resources at every corner. To set up shop all the way in Ludo just for some metals was not worth the cost. 

After all, think about it. When it came to harvesting resources, what was the most important and costliest part of the entire endeavor? Transportation! 

How the heck were the other continents supposed to transport these metals? Using ships? By the time a single ferry would make it, already assuming there were no dangers on the way, an entire generation would have grown to replace the last. 

By portal? Not everyone could be like Darius\' Safemoon. It would be practically burning money faster than anyone could think, throwing away whatever chance you had at having a sustainable business to make yourself a pauper, so it was out of the question. 

As such, the minerals were mostly shipped out in small quantities that were not too expensive and were tolerable by various merchants. Most were traded within the continent, but sales in that regard were not very impressive. 

The way the business worked was quite simple. The mining companies were set up under the jurisdiction of the nearby Ludoian Kingdom, Farfraha. 

Of course, such permits were easy to get as long as you were willing to grace the hands of the issuing officer with some extra cash. However, that was for private merchants groups here on their own. 

As for those affiliated with bigger forces, the Farfraha Kingdom naturally knew what to do. 

The various mining companies set up headquarters in this mining town, and were the ones who even led to its establishment anyway. They then hired local Ludoians from Farfraha or even bought Ludoian slaves from all over the continent to work for them. 

If you were a free citizen working here, you could even be considered lucky. The slaves were forced to work without wages and minimal food, so many of them died from overwork. However, Ludo was a place with a slavery complex even worse than Fallon. 

You might not even come here with such a mind, but the locals captured their own people zealously to sell them off for the slightest profit. Not even for money, but for foodstuffs to survive on this continent with its harsh climate. 

Once the workers were settled and began work, the metals would be collected by the mining companies and stored in their warehouses. Then, they would either open up shops in the town to sell their metals wholesale, or contract with other merchant groups who would buy from them then resell it over the continent and beyond. 

Most of the time, they did both and more. It depended on the scale of the business. For example, the smaller business would just hire a few miners then sell it in small shops within the town. 

The medium-scale ones usually also had bigger shops and were affiliated with a select merchant group that either sold within the continent or beyond. The conglomerates were those who did everything at once themselves. 

They were the mining company, the trade group and some even processed the resources into finished goods before selling them locally or abroad. The scale of the business here was quite interesting to Darius given his past. 

Once someone created a way to cross continents in the shortest possible time at the lowest possible cost, they could create a business empire so vast and powerful that even the True Lords would be trapped in its web of interests. 

Of course, ever since Miranda had been informed about the way to attain infinite, clean and sufficient energy, this was already 70% done. Now, she just needed to create checkpoints where resources could be transferred to and the was some work left to increase the speed of this process. 

The rail carriages were certainly fast, but they took a lot of time to make and a lot of resources, especially with how large Faust was compared to Earth. 

The optimal solution would be to develop a way for portal technology to no longer use Space Stones or Spatial Energy as the crux, but rather Source Energy. 

Alas, the Polito Race had never reached that stage. Even the way Miranda was using Source Energy now was years ahead of them, as she had combined all the knowledge of Faust, the techniques of the Politos, and the knowledge from Earth to achieve this effect. 

Space Stones were required since you needed Spatial Energy. It was a simple thing. However, to make Source Energy the crux, it wasn\'t just about \'powering the portal\'. 

One would need to come up with a way to convert Source Energy into pure Spatial Energy at no energy loss to achieve a perfect form of this technology. This was something beyond both Miranda and Darius\' capabilities, as well as many species of Faust, right now. 

Darius gazed at his gloved hands and caressed the back of one. With his Transmutation, he might be able to do something about that in the future. 

However, he would first need to upgrade it further to see what kind of new effects and rules it would have before he could search for any kind of loophole. 

And to do that, he would need to complete the Insect Extermination Quest which he was currently on, which also led to why he was here in the first place. 

The reason Darius had left Pokterr was not because he had been bored nor because whatever side quest he had come to do here was so vitally important that it couldn\'t wait. 

The moment he had reached the end of the Master band and had been about to challenge the Grandmasters, his Spiritual Senses had raged. 

Darius was not clear about where exactly that danger originated from. Whether he had played around for too long allowing Beelzebub to somehow recuperate, or whether there was some sort of trap waiting for them at their homeground, he just got the feeling that if he stayed on the continent with his current strength he would have to be revived in the Divine Glade. 

Ludo had always been the next destination after the Quest ended, so one could say that this way his visit had just been pushed forward. 

Xela and Gunner had perceived this same warning, albeit not at the same level due to their different levels of Luck, but the message had been clear. 

Even now, that feeling of danger presided, warning them that returning to Pokterr was not safe at the moment. 

Darius was naturally curious as to why this was the case, but he was not willing to risk it. As such, he had moved here and spent some time in the Divine Oasis, and was now going to acquire some useful metals to kickstart Miranda\'s operation in select locations. 

From there, he would take a look at this Test of Mettle and see what it was about. If the sense of danger still hadn\'t passed, he would continue trying to suss out the new element he had discovered until it was finally a-okay to resume his Journeyman Quest. 

As for why he would even bother to come to this place and pay for minerals when he could just transmute them to save time… well, the answer should be obvious. 

Which was more efficient? 

To use his abundance of money to buy up a huge amount of metal at the cheapest cost possible, since he was practically buying right at the source without the need to pay for the necessary transportation or to use his limited CP, with its daily limit that wasn\'t even enough to transmute all the things he and Safemoon needed? 

Making the smartest choice given the circumstances, Darius appeared at the entrance of the mining town with his two Branded Servants. 

As one could expect, there was not much traffic as most of those who had business here had already settled, and most of those who left did so on specific intervals. 

The trio managed to walk in unimpeded and without gathering much attention at first. Darius walked through the various shops that were situated near the entrance until he ended up in one that looked like it belonged to a big company. 

Given the size of the bulk order he was about to make, the smaller shops would not be able to satisfy his requirements. Darius could naturally alternate from shop to shop, but if he was worried about such a thing as notability or traceability at this point, doing so would gather more attention than just buying from one place. 

After all, illogical actions attracted suspicion far faster than logical ones. Why would anyone want to buy from hundreds of small shops instead of one big one if they had nothing to hide? 

Upon entry, Darius entered a reception area with quite a bit of seating available, while a few clerks were situated behind desks. Once they noticed that an unfamiliar person had entered, one of them quickly rose up and walked over to Darius. 

It was a handsome young man with short-cropped white hair and strange violet eyes with serpentine slits.. When he spoke, one couldn\'t help but fall into a slight lull from how pleasant his voice sounded.