What Do You Mean I Have To Comprehend Dao As A Mortal God?

After the fall of the Commander Class Anomaly, there weren’t really any more threats to us.

More because... Well... They are using rock armour... And I just got the ability to control rocks... So... Yeah...

Just a wave and the armour they were wearing crushed them into pieces, making them walking coffins to me.

Even the crystal Anomalies basically fell apart since the ability seemed to allow me to control minerals to some degree as well. Which was most likely how the Commander Class Anomaly managed to create these variants of Anomalies to begin with.

After that, we were left with a field of dead Anomalies that we could sift through for the materials, since the crystal Anomalies would definitely be worth some money.

On that note, Olivia had reported that the crystals were similar to the ones that can be found on earth so there were quartz, amethyst, malachite and even painite.

For this expedition, everyone who participated is allowed to get a share of the materials so this would actually be pretty profitable for everyone involved if we were to sell these crystals.

We would most likely need some professionals here to properly extract the crystals but for now, we could just move the Anomalies in a pile to prepare them for extraction.

As for myself and my Guardians, we proceeded into the tunnel where the blue glow was coming from and we were greeted with the sight of an enormous cavern that was the same size as the chasm from earlier.

Within the cavern, every single inch of space was filled with Mana Crystals that were jutting out from the walls, floor and ceiling.

The only space that wasn’t filled with Mana Crystals was a small trail leading towards the centre of the cavern where a single Gatekeeper could be seen.

Olivia took one look at the cavern and she was stunlocked at the sight.

Hard to blame her because there’s enough Mana Crystals in here that could power an entire city for a few years or more, assuming that they’re only used for generating electricity of course.

And... Because we basically did this ourselves, this entire stash of Mana Crystals belonged to us and we didn’t need to share them with another country.

Even Ava looked impressed, ”I suppose this is expected of a rift at this danger class to have this big of a reward upon clearing it.”

I turned to Olivia, ”What’s the plan here then? Do we get the usual mining company to come here and mine the crystals?”

I was expecting her to just answer in the affirmative but she paused for a moment to look around before turning back to me, ”Let’s do a quick inspection of the place first, my Lord.”

She got Lena, Kris and Sergei to watch the entrance of the cavern while the rest of us followed the trail to the centre of the cavern where the Gatekeeper was.

The Gatekeeper itself couldn’t even move much because there’s barely any space for it to even move with its size.

Thus, none of us paid it any attention as it just wiggled around in its space while we took a look around.

”Hmm? It looks like this isn’t the end, my Divine,” Ava commented, pointing at two paths that led to two more tunnels.

We gathered ourselves and headed down the path on the right first, careful to watch out for any more Anomalies that might be hiding around here.

Sure enough, when we got to the entrance of the tunnel, there were three human shaped Anomalies standing there as if they were guarding the tunnel.

A quick flick of my wrist sent them flying towards the wall to be crushed and we proceeded deeper into the tunnel.

”Is that... A new ability you awakened, Mortal God?” Jia Lian asked.

I nodded, ”Got it from that Commander Class Anomaly. Seems like it gave me the power of geomancy I suppose?”

”Could you manipulate the Mana Crystals then?”

”Good question...”

I reached out my hand towards them but I did not feel a reaction from the Mana Crystals so I shook my head.

Well, no big deal.

As we went through the tunnels, it eventually led us to a small cavern and in it was another vein of Mana Crystals, this one seeming guarded by a few more orc type Anomalies.

I put them to the ground as well and while the number of Mana Crystals in this cavern was less than a tenth of the previous cavern, this was still a sizable vein.

We then spotted another tunnel which we started moving through and that also led to another smaller cavern with another vein of Mana Crystals too.

There was one more tunnel and I thought it would lead us to another cavern of crystals but it ended up leading us back to the cavern with the Gatekeeper, meaning these three caverns were connected in a triangle.

Olivia seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before she turned to Ava and Jia Lian, ”Could you go make sure the Gatekeeper is secure?”

Obviously that was just an excuse to send the two of them away but neither of them protested and did as she asked.

The red Oni then turned to me, ”If I may be allowed to suggest, my Lord... We can call in the mining company to harvest the crystals in this cavern... But the crystals in those two smaller caverns... We would reserve them for ourselves.”

I raised an eyebrow, ”Are you suggesting we mine it ourselves?”

”Yes, my Lord. That way we won’t have to share it with anyone else and we can keep all of it.”

”Isn’t that... I don’t know? Fraud or something?” I pointed out.

Since we enlisted the help of the Vanguards and even the military, we would have to split the rewards that we receive from clearing the rift amongst everyone that participated in the expedition.

And if we were to hire a mining company here to mine the Mana Crystals, they would also be paid to mine the Mana Crystals too.

So what Olivia was suggesting is that we hide the existence of the other two veins of Mana Crystals so we don’t need to share them and we’ll only split the Mana Crystals mined in the main cavern instead.

Olivia placed a finger on her lips, ”Technically... If we say that we only found those two caverns after they had finished mining the Mana Crystals here... We would be able to lay claim on the veins completely.”

”Damn... I didn’t know you were into doing those kinds of things, Olivia.”

”Did you think I did not do this while I was working for the government, my Lord? I had to do everything I could just to scrape up a little bit more benefits for the country.”

”I dunno, some might say you’re betraying the country?”

”My loyalty lies first with you my Lord. You are above everyone else in terms of priority for me.”

Damn, that feels heavy...

”Still... Even if we lay claim to them, we would still need to get someone to mine them, right? We would still need to split them.”

”Not if we are mining them ourselves.”

”What? You want me to grab a pickaxe and start swinging?”

”No, we can simply let the Bunarfs take over instead, my Lord.”

Oh right... They already have the tech to mine Mana Crystals to begin with.

”Actually... Why don’t we just get them to mine the Mana Crystals in this cavern too?” I suggested.

Olivia shook her head, ”Right now, their existence is still a secret to our World, my Lord. You’ve seen their technology, haven’t you? They have the potential to make even more advanced technology if they have access to the materials to make them. If others were to know about them...”

”They might try to kidnap them or demand to have them taken away...”

She nodded, ”That’s right... Not hiring a mining company to mine Mana Crystals would be too suspicious... So my suggestion is that we close up those two caverns and just let the miners mine this area. Then we come up with an excuse to keep this rift open and let the Bunarfs bring in their mining equipment to mine the Mana Crystals in the other two caverns to be used for our own purposes.”

I couldn’t help but smile underneath my mask, ”You really are sneaky, Olivia.”

”As long as it brings benefits to you, my Lord. But... Ah... I suppose we would need to find a way to fill up these caverns first.”

I didn’t say anything and simply turned towards the tunnel and stretched out my hands towards it, concentrating for a moment before I pulled my hands together in a clap.

The walls of the tunnel shifted and closed itself, the earth knitting together to form a wall and leaving no trace that a tunnel was even there to begin with.

I then pointed my palms to the other tunnel and did the same as well, effectively sealing both of them in.

I turned back to Olivia to see her grinning evilly at the sight of the solid wall.

Did I mention that she looks hot when she’s plotting like that? Because she does.

Anyway... I guess we can officially say this rift is cleared now.