Chapter 3186: Energy Gem Export Alliance

Laruian took a long detour, but what he finally said was—"We hope to obtain a larger export quota of Arcane Crystals from Netheril."

Xia Duo guessed that Laruian might have a favor to ask, but he did not expect it to be this; after all, in his view, nearly half of Netheril's Arcane Crystals were already exported to Evereska. With such preferential treatment, did they still want more?

But these Arcane Crystals were not something he could just export as he pleased; the specific amount to export and how much each country received were largely decided by the Seven Cities Council.

Xia Duo could perhaps privately gift Laruian some Arcane Crystals, but these would absolutely never satisfy Evereska's needs, so they would still have to be squeezed from Netheril's annual export quota, or even by increasing the total export volume.

But this was truly not something Xia Duo could decide alone; although he did have a great deal of say in this matter, he also agreed that he needed to consider the opinions of others, and most importantly—

He did not want to break his word!

The person who originally proposed limiting the export of Arcane Crystals was Xia Duo; after all, Arcane Crystals could already be considered strategic materials, so how could they be exported at will, even if they could be mass-produced at a low cost?

Moreover, the more of this stuff that was sold, the more the price would drop; it was better to sell less and maintain a relatively high price, which would save everyone trouble.

But refusing Laruian directly did not seem very good either; after all, the man had just revealed Geryan's abnormality to him and even personally arranged for him to meet with Geryan, so he still had to acknowledge this favor.

After thinking for a moment, Xia Shao told Laruian, "Currently, all councilors in Netheril who possess a Mythallar hand over their Arcane Crystal output to the Yeluan Council to handle exclusively. If Evereska wants to obtain a stable source of Arcane Crystals, they still have to find a way through the Yeluan Council."

Therefore, when Evereska needed more Energy Gems for development, Laruian would try to find a way to buy more from Netheril rather than building Elemental Towers.

At the very least, before a generational advantage appeared on Netheril's side, it was impossible to transfer Mythallar technology externally. Castrated finished equipment might be possible, but not now.

In the end, Laruian accepted Xia Shao's suggestion: while not giving up on importing from Netheril, he would attempt to establish contact with the Ruiershan side.

It was somewhat similar to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Earth; the annual oil production was not just that much, but in order to maintain an expected price, production would be artificially controlled—of course, the actual manifestation was restricting exports.

As for ordinary Elemental Gems, they were actually produced sporadically in every mine, and the total sum was not a small number, it was just that the quality of those gems was hard to guarantee.

Therefore, for Evereska, although Arcane Crystals were more useful for Magic research, in the long run, purchasing the relatively cheaper and more abundant Ruiershan Elemental Gems was more appropriate.

If it were in the past, with the various Elf nations letting things slide and having little desire for development, the gems produced by the mines would have been enough.

By using such a method to link all councilors into a collective of interests, since the benefits were shared by everyone, they had to abide by the obligation of consistently limiting sales to the outside world.

……

As for Ruiershan transferring Elemental Tower technology to Seventon, that was a trade-off between long-term and short-term interests. Seventon's offer must have exceeded the value of the Elemental Tower technology itself, otherwise only a fool would sell the goose that laid golden eggs.

On the issue of Arcane Crystal exports, Laruian did not dwell too much, but Xia Shao still thoughtfully suggested, "I truly cannot control the Yeluan Council side. If the final result is not ideal, I can still introduce a path for Ruiershan Elemental Gems; I guarantee that can succeed."

Although Elemental Gems and Arcane Crystals were both Energy Gems, the former were more versatile and had higher value; accordingly, there were more export restrictions on them.

As for the Mythallar, that was even more impossible. There was still room to talk about Elemental Tower technology with the Ruiershan side, and there was even a precedent like Seventon, but the Mythallar was simply not up for discussion.

In the future, when Seventon's stable production of Elemental Gems reached a certain level, even Netheril, which had competition, contradictions, and even conflicts with Seventon in other areas, would be very happy to invite Seventon to join this Energy Gem export alliance.

Of course, Xia Shao was not introducing them for free; no matter who on the Ruiershan side ultimately took on this large order, his commission would not be missing.

Even for those who did not have a Mythallar for the time being, it would be recorded first, to be made up by existing councilors; the money would still be paid, and the Arcane Crystals would be returned later.

"Of course, if you only have a temporary shortage of Arcane Crystals, I can privately trade a portion to you, just like we did at the very beginning."

……

But if one wants to develop, Energy Gems are an important resource that absolutely cannot be bypassed.

Occasionally some top-quality ones were dug up, but the vast majority were of low quality. Conversely, Ruiershan's man-made Elemental Gems had more stable quality; of course, the price was also more expensive than those produced by mines.

As for why Evereska did not introduce Elemental Towers, being unable to afford the price might only be one aspect; a more important reason was that Evereska's territory was narrow, and there were density limits for Elemental Tower construction.

"As far as I know, the current Ruiershan Observer in the Northland has a family that deals in this business. If Elder Laruian trusts me, I can introduce you."

Netheril even had exchanges with Ruiershan, agreeing not to engage in price wars; any change in the export price of Energy Gems by either side required notifying the other in advance.

This could also be considered a multi-party win-win situation—Netheril reduced its export pressure, Ruiershan obtained Energy Gem orders, Evereska obtained gems, and Xia Shao also received a commission for introducing the business.

Using them long-term was also no small burden.

The number of Elemental Towers that could be built in the same area was limited. With Evereska's small patch of land, they couldn't build many Elemental Towers at all; this way, the costs could not be spread out, and the significance of building the towers became minimal.

Both sides had a tacit understanding to control the Energy Gem market of the entire Xilu (including the Southern Seven Kingdoms and the Northland Alliance).

After all, the great Arcanists within Netheril did not yet have a Mythallar for everyone, so those outside the country would have to wait a bit.

This was only for Laruian; if it were someone else with an ordinary relationship, even if they offered Xia Shao a commission, he might not be willing to make the introduction. This was enough to show that he treated Laruian as a friend.

Actually, it was not that all councilors handed Arcane Crystals to the Council, but that the Council would discuss and decide how much to export each year, and then divide the orders equally among every councilor who possessed a Mythallar.

They even gave extra subsidies to new councilors who joined later; for every year later one became a councilor, the subsidy would increase by one portion.