Natasha began her report by telling everyone about the recent discovery of White Shadow's murder. Then, she revealed an image of the mysterious key and its possible pairs. Rafael added that this was a new mission for the founding members, and its level was as high as Kalindor's murder.
Natasha also revealed that on the 12º underground floor of the Yin Yang Tower, there was a place that provided human souls, no one knew where they came from or how it worked, even her master had not been able to find out. But, if the Order could do it, it could help obtain more resources safely.
After her, Yuri and Laura began their report. The two would now remain in Asshai for a long time and their disciples would take over the business in Pentos, they also offered half of their disciples to join the Order, in case more manpower was needed. Soon after, they told how the two disciples of the Order died during the mission; They joined forces in a group of 4 and tried to collect souls in one of the Dothraki battlefields, but were surprised by a local patrol. During the fight, two of them died and the other two took refuge in a forest further north of Essos. It was there that they found the special "slave".
The slave was a child of the forest. That's why Rafael kept it so secret when transporting her. But he didn't plan on selling or enslaving the dying race. He just wanted to establish a good relationship with his tribe and hopefully gain more knowledge about the past of this world and its magic. He also gave a huge reward to the two apprentices for capturing her.
With everyone finishing their reports, it was time for Rafael to begin:
As everyone knows, we lost contact with Stygai over a year ago, but we know that Zhang is fine because of his life signal. He also never sent any request for help, so I believe he is fine. Let's prioritize the two main missions we have at hand first. After that, if we still don't have contact with him, I will personally go to Corpse City."
"Now, continuing... The Masters' Auction this time is special and only happens once every 100 years. The reason is the return of Iahssa the Immortal Dragon. Many Masters plan to attack the Soul Devourer to collect rare materials, and we will do so. Jhon will take care of the defense arrangements and arrays of our towers, and everyone in this room must remain on the roof of the Yin Yang Tower during the attack."
I let everyone digest the first part and continued:
"I will participate in the auction, as some of you already know only Masters are invited to the main auction, I hope to receive this title after the fight with Iahssa. I can only bring one companion, so Yuri or Laura, who also wants to participate in the auction can go with me. We must keep the strength of these two as Masters a secret as much as possible. Furthermore, we must remain on high alert, recent news confirmed the death of one of the 3 Masters of the Adventurers' Alliance, and this is something very important, the second Master is still missing and the last living Master should appear during the auction, someone probably will try to kill him, but we will let it happen..."
After Rafael's final speech, everyone became serious, then he continued:
"The biggest reason for this is that we did not earn enough to protect this Master's life. We must only prioritize the safety of the Mage's Throat and the Immortal Soul. If the last Master appears, we will maintain our alliance by helping them and collecting many more benefits. If he does not appear, then we must take full control of the Alliance with the support of the vice-leaders for a peaceful takeover."
"Does this mean that the Alliance's vice-leaders are already on our side?" Yuri asked.
"Yes, during this period, we must also be vigilant against attacks from third parties. We have grown a lot in recent years, and very quickly. This alone has already caught the attention of those who are more observant. Add to that our flourishing business and unique products, and we will certainly catch the attention of Masters who think we have no way of defending ourselves. I have made two preparations for such a scenario. Stay alert until the day of the auction and do not let your guard down."
"The other matter I would like to inform you is that I have obtained the right to finish exploring the Distorted Shadow dungeon. This is the Tower in the center of Asshai. The Adventurers' Alliance failed to conquer it due to the lack of Masters. The ones responsible for conquering this dungeon will be the two new members of our group; Laura and Yuri. I will give all the details about this dungeon later. The exploration begins 2 days after the end of the auction."
"Last but not least, we will begin our exploration of natural resources in the Shadowlands. I also plan to create a new base in a certain location. Omar is already aware of all the details of the plan, but for those who are not yet aware, we will establish a safe route that will run from the location of our new base to the outskirts of Asshai. This route will be built entirely underground, and will be used to transport living creatures, magical materials, and minerals at a speed that surpasses any carriage."
"Minerals? But don't all the mines in the outskirts of Asshai and Stygai already have owners?" Liza asked.
"We are going to explore a place with many resources that has not yet been explored due to its distance from the cities, hence the need for a tunnel to transport our resources more safely. This is also the purpose of having our mines, we need a lot of metals for this project and we want to diversify the business that involves earning gold for the Order. We cannot depend exclusively on the Sage Store for all our expenses. I will let our blacksmith show you the item that will be used underground to transport people, creatures, and materials at high speed."
Shortly after finishing, Rafael made a beep from inside the room and several apprentices entered through the door carrying what was said to be a miniature model of the shadow territory. In this model, a huge metal item with wheels on top of a metal rail stood out. Everyone stood up to observe the item in the model, which after the blacksmith's adjustments began to spit out steam smoke and move along the predetermined route that went back and forth between two locations in the small model. Everyone was impressed and asked many questions, Rafael answered them all, while also observing the splendor of the steam train and its first appearance in the world of Ice and Fire.
It was a pity, that such splendor would have to remain hidden in the depths of the Shadowlands for many centuries, before finally making its first appearance in the world...
****
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