Chapter 352 — The Second Eternal Slate

To be honest, if this rainbow... if this Miss Metzen hadn't come to him of her own accord, Gao Yang would have nearly forgotten about his dealings with the Mithril Vault.

He hoped the Mithril Vault could find him the second Eternal Slate.

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting long." Metzen always wore a thin veil, whatever the circumstances, but through that hazy gauze one could see she wore a rather proper smile (though for some reason, whenever she turned her head toward Amber, that smile would twist for just an instant). "We must do things by the rules—the original owner of this slate violated his agreement with the Mithril Vault, but we had to wait until his repayment deadline had passed before we could dispose of the slate at our own discretion."

As she spoke, this mysterious agent of the Mithril Vault casually raised her hand—a metal plate giving off a pale golden metallic gleam had appeared in her palm at some unknown moment. "This is the 'goods' you requested. You may examine it."

She seemed not the least bit worried that Gao Yang might snatch the slate away or tear up the agreement on the spot by some other means.

Of course, Gao Yang truly had no intention of tearing up any agreement. He simply took the metal fragment from Metzen's hand with great ceremony, and could not help remarking. "A thing this important, and it doesn't even come with a container to match... you could have at least wrapped it in a sheet of oiled paper."

Metzen smiled faintly. "An ornate container that serves no protective function is nothing but gaudy decoration. No one can snatch anything from a senior agent of the Mithril Vault, so the slate requires no additional wrapping."

What she said seemed quite reasonable. The corner of Gao Yang's mouth quirked up, and then he lowered his head to examine the metal plate in his hand carefully.

Like the Eternal Slate he had obtained before, this metal plate was still only a palm-sized fragment, except that the shape of its edges differed somewhat from the first slate, which made him suspect that perhaps every slate fragment was similar in size but different in outline. On the surface of the metal plate he could see the familiar straight lines and incomprehensible patterns, and on the reverse side was inlaid a faintly glowing pale blue crystal of unknown material. After only the slightest sensing of the fluctuations emanating from that crystal, Gao Yang judged the thing to be genuine.

No one in the world was better than he at telling true Eternal Slates from false—the instant he attempted to resonate with the slate, the ripples in the mental world were the best proof of authenticity.

The last time he resonated with a slate, he had heard a battle report of a Zenith Star fleet crushing the gods. What revelation would this resonance bring him?

Gao Yang could barely restrain his itch to try, but to keep Metzen from noticing anything unusual, he suppressed the urge to "let his spirit wander beyond the heavens" on the spot, and with a calm face set the slate down on the table. "I've examined it. I can't find anything false about it."

"Then according to our original agreement, you should pay 'remuneration' sufficient to exchange for an Eternal Slate." Metzen beamed, and even a veil could not hide her delight. "It may be an 'extraordinary object' of equivalent value to the Eternal Slate, or a great deal of Gondorian knowledge and relics, but ordinary worldly gold, silver, and jewels will not do—no matter how much of those meaningless things there are, they cannot compare with an Eternal Slate."

At the end, Metzen kindly added a reminder. "I am also responsible for assessing whether the 'remuneration' you offer meets the requirements. If it falls short, then I must still take this slate away—but within ten years we will hold it for you until you can afford the price. This is the treatment you receive as a senior client."

"No need to wait ten years. I've already prepared the remuneration." Gao Yang smiled slightly and raised a hand to summon Amber. "Go to the vault, over by the 'Deep Containment,' and bring the 'God Metal.'"

Amber blinked and leaned close to Gao Yang's ear to whisper. "There's a whole pile over there. Which piece should I pick?"

"Emmmm... a bigger one. It'll look like it's worth a lot. Actually, just grab whichever one strikes your fancy—any of them is bigger than this Eternal Slate."

"Got it. I'm off!"

Leaving that one line behind, Amber vanished from the air in the blink of an eye.

"Please wait a moment. My personal guard has gone to fetch the goods from the vault." Gao Yang nodded to Metzen. "I guarantee you'll be satisfied with it."

Metzen was clearly very curious about what kind of exchange Gao Yang had prepared, but as a senior agent of the Mithril Vault she kept her emotions well in check, and only nodded lightly. "I look forward to it."

Before long, Amber returned to the study—probably because it was awkward to climb through the window while carrying something heavy, she had honestly come in through the door. The moment she entered, she dumped the thing in her arms before Metzen with a resounding thud, her face full of pride. "Take a look! Look at the quality, look at the size! Smash it flat and it'll trade for a whole pile of your slates..."

Metzen froze the moment she saw what Amber had carried in, and when the thing clanged down at her feet, this dignified and elegant senior agent actually gave a little jump. Staring open-mouthed at that great lump of twisted, deformed metal—clearly a fragment broken off some large device—she cried out in disbelief. "Wh-what is this thing?! Where did you get it?!"

"We don't know either," Gao Yang said with a smile before the loose-lipped Amber could open her mouth. "We found it when we were blasting the mountains for ore in the Dark Mountains. It's incredibly hard and cannot be smelted, and it has extremely high resistance to magical power. I also noticed that its material is somewhat similar to the Eternal Slate—so I named it 'God Metal.' I believe that, like the Eternal Slate, it may be some kind of extraordinary creation beyond human understanding..."

Gao Yang spoke lightly, with an easy confidence in his words, while Metzen stared uncertainly at the huge twisted metal on the ground, and at last bent down to lift it in her arms.

Of course she could tell that this thing's material was close to that of the Eternal Slate... was in fact almost identical!

It was just that on this huge twisted metal there were no strange, complex patterns to be seen, nor any inlaid crystal, which meant it was certainly not an Eternal Slate—and its value was probably somewhat lower than an Eternal Slate complete with patterns and crystal...

But it was so big!

And the power it contained—that power humans could not perceive—was utterly real!

For a moment Metzen sank into tangled thought, holding that lump of metal in a posture that was neither elegant nor steady, and stood there dazed, until Gao Yang's voice roused her. "Miss Metzen, I believe it's time for your assessment."

Only then did the agent lady give a start and come to her senses. She felt she had probably been overawed by the power radiating from this so-called "God Metal," which was why she had behaved so unbecomingly, and thereupon she began to weigh this transaction in earnest.

The "trade goods" Gao Yang produced were beyond anything she had imagined, but the Mithril Vault must abide by the rules it had set for itself—order was the Mithril Vault's first requirement.

So she assessed swiftly, and soon reached her conclusion. "Its value... meets the requirements, and is in fact a little bit higher."