Evolving by devouring from a young dragon

No sooner had Norlin left than Durrom arrived. The Goldfinger family's chief appraiser was wearing a more ornate dark green robe today, and the number of rings on his fingers had increased from three to five.

He sat down next to Grimm, sized up the Fire Spirit, and then said with a smile, "Lord Grimm, the Goldfinger family doesn't want to buy the mine or explore it; we want to be friends."

The Goldfinger family is willing to share three eastern trade routes with the orcish tribes, including exclusive security escorts and priority passage rights. Here is a map of the trade routes.

He pushed over a finely printed map, with trade routes marked in gold and nodes inlaid with tiny gemstones the size of grains of rice.

Grimm took the map and looked at it for a few seconds.

The Gold Finger family isn't here to mine; they're here to recruit allies.

They lacked the financial resources of the Anvil Department and the exploration technology of the Deep Pulse Merchant Guild, but they possessed a trade route network that spanned the entire empire.

They are using their greatest strengths to establish relations with the tribe under the protection of the "legendary shaman".

"We also need to go back and discuss the trade routes," Grimm said.

Durom smiled and nodded: "No rush, no rush. When you arrive in Golden Pickaxe City, please come and visit our branch."

He patted Grimm on the shoulder, then slowly walked away with his wine glass in hand.

Grimm glanced down at Fire Spirit and said in a low voice, "All three are here. The Anvil wants ore, the Deepvein wants dragon crystals, and the Goldfinger wants allies. They're all more anxious than the last."

Fire Spirit chirped, tilted its head, and darted its eyes around.

Unbeknownst to Grimm, on a solitary peak thousands of miles away, Alduin was watching all of this through the eyes of the Fire Spirit.

He saw everything: the contract pushed over by the Anvil Department, the trade route map laid out by the Goldfinger family, and the glance Vickers gave from the other end of the corridor.

Let them be suspicious of each other.

Alduin snorted, his tail brushing lightly across the rock, before giving the fire spirit a brief command.

The fire spirit suddenly flapped its wings twice on Grimm's shoulder, gently pecked at his ear tip, and let out a long chirp.

Grimm was startled, and then a voice rang in his ear.

He carefully looked around, and after making sure no one was paying attention to him, he pricked up his ears and listened attentively.

Then, he got up with his cane and walked toward the group of merchants who were gathered together in the middle of the corridor, talking in hushed tones.

Besides the three goblins who came directly to discuss cooperation, there were many other goblins.

However, due to the identities of those three people, they did not make any move.

However, the most important aspect of the Golden Wine Party is that representatives from various major tribes gather together to exchange ideas and cooperate with each other.

So Grimm walked straight over.

"Gentlemen," Grim spoke calmly, a fire spirit perched on his shoulder, "the Orcish Horde is not opposed to cooperation. But sincerity is required."

The goblin merchants surrounding him nodded in agreement. Some asked him where he lived, some invited him to visit the Chamber of Commerce the next day, and some handed him their calling cards on the spot.

Grimm neither agreed nor refused any of them, but simply returned their toasts with his wine glass.

The fire spirit flew up and circled halfway around Grimm's head before landing back on his shoulder, its wings half-spread, revealing the dark red downy feathers beneath.

The surrounding guests all stared at it, but no one dared to approach and touch it.

Grimm stood in the crowd, holding a wine glass, his right hand pressed against a hidden pocket on his chest through his clothes.

Invitations, business cards, tokens, cocktail party brooches, parchment scrolls of contracts from the anvil department… the things in his arms had increased a few more.

He had a feeling that there would be more before he got back to his lodgings that night.

By the third day of the party, Grimm had gotten used to the rhythm of the middle corridor.

After three rounds of appetizers, he stopped staring blankly at the glistening caviar.

The guests around him came and went, but the few chamber of commerce representatives who had their eyes on him never went far, always appearing on the edge of his sight.

Fire Spirit has been living a more carefree life than him these past few days, flying around in the corridor, occasionally landing on the table to peck at it, but not eating it.

Fire spirits are purely elemental beings; they do not need to eat, and even if they do eat, they can only absorb fire magic.

Just after lunchtime, Vickers arrived again.

This time he didn't hold a wine glass, but only a dark gray folder with the Deep Pulse Chamber of Commerce's tunnel emblem printed on the cover and a circle of anti-peeping runes around the edge.

He stopped before Grimm's table and bowed slightly: "Lord Grimm, today is the last day. The Deep Pulse Merchant Guild wishes to finalize the terms with you."

This guy is quite persistent.

Grimm looked up at him, then put down his glass.

The fire spirit flew down from his shoulder and landed on the table, its golden eyes fixed on Vickers.

"Speak."

These past few days, the way people have treated him has been noticeably different, which has made him a little smug, but he quickly got used to it.

However, he also knew that the reason he was valued was entirely because of the dragon crystal mine in the Dustfall Basin... but it was also because of his master, that great dragon.

Vickers sat down opposite him, opened the folder, and saw that the terms on the parchment were written in extremely fine magical ink, with a blank space for a signature after each one.

"Final conditions, five in total."

He pointed downwards with his stubby fingers as he spoke:

"First, the entire set of exploration equipment was provided by the Deep Pulse Chamber of Commerce, including three deep-drilling magic energy surveying instruments, a set of earth vein resonance scanning array, and a matching magic crystal power supply module."

Second, there are five technicians responsible for operating the equipment and recording data.

Third, the exploration period is one year, during which the normal mining operations will not be interfered with.

fourth--"

"The first two won't work," Grimm interrupted him.

In the past few days, he also learned that the fire spirit was the great dragon, because it could speak in his ear and its voice was exactly the same as the great dragon's.

Therefore, these negotiation terms were all the result of Auduin's instructions behind the scenes.

Vickers' finger hovered in mid-air.

Grimm repeated Alduin's words, transmitted through the fire spirit, in a calm and unhurried tone:

"Exploration is possible, but once the equipment reaches the sinking basin, it must be operated by orcs."

Your technicians can stay outside the mine to provide guidance and record information, but they cannot enter the depths of the mine.

He paused, then added, "If you send people to stand by and watch my people work, it means you don't trust us. If our people do the work themselves, both sides will feel at ease."

Vickers paused for three seconds, then slowly nodded: "This is negotiable. The technicians will stay on the perimeter and not venture deep into the mine."

Grimm continued, "The shaman also said that if the dragon crystal cannot be found, the compensation will be 20,000."

Vickers tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

He lowered his head and stroked the privacy rune on the folder cover, the rune's luster flickering under his fingertips.

He looked up again at the fire spirit with its head tilted, its golden eyes staring straight at him without blinking.