The final tallies stunned everyone involved.
By the time the Crystal Cave sealed itself and the last shadow laborers withdrew, it was calculated that Jax's team had extracted nearly five years' worth of crystal yield in just under three days.
Not theoretical yield.
Not projected value.
Actual, refined, sorted crystal.
The efficiency was unprecedented.
Veteran miners stood in silence as ledgers were updated. Guild officials double-checked numbers. Warehouse clerks recalculated inventories again and again, convinced a decimal point had been misplaced.
It hadn't.
What normally took rotating teams, safety crews, and months of slow, dangerous excavation had been reduced to an operation that looked almost… effortless.
Not everyone was pleased.
There were those—quiet voices on the edges of the city—who were disappointed they'd missed their usual opportunities. In the past, when a raid group conquered the cave, chaos followed. Crystals went missing. Workers skimmed. Opportunists preyed on exhausted adventurers who lacked the means to protect their haul.
That hadn't happened this time.
Shadow beasts worked tirelessly, silently, and without temptation.
No bribes.
No theft.
No exhaustion.
For some, that meant lost income.
For many more, it meant something better.
Stability.
The town buzzed with new work. New contracts. New hires. Shops stayed open later. Taverns filled earlier. Families spoke openly about upgrading homes, investing in tools, sending children to better schools.
Opportunity had replaced desperation.
Jax noticed.
He always did.
But he wasn't finished yet.
The guild mission still mattered.
They had come to Crystalshire under contract, and while the crystal haul had far exceeded expectations, Jax hadn't forgotten the original task: Mana Bulb Herbs.
Once the cave sealed and crystal extraction became impossible, he redirected his shadow workforce immediately.
Not randomly.
Not greedily.
He gathered the shadows and demonstrated exactly what he wanted.
Which bulbs.
Which maturity stages.
Which terrain.
He instructed them to harvest everything—but to sort it carefully. Size. Mana density. Growth pattern. Variants that differed slightly in color or pulse.
The shadows dispersed across the surrounding territory in disciplined waves.
What they found exceeded even Jax's expectations.
Fields of bulbs.
Clusters hidden along plateaus.
Variants rarely cataloged because reaching them required time and risk most guilds avoided.
Within hours, piles formed.
Within a day, they had more than any single guild request had ever demanded.
By orders of magnitude.
Jax stared at the final numbers, brows lifting slightly.
"…Huh."
The value was absurd.
Not just in volume, but quality.
High-density bulbs. Rare strains. Ones typically reserved for specialized alchemy or advanced mana systems.
Returning to the guild would be… interesting.
He already knew the payout would scale wildly beyond their expectations.
Not because he demanded it.
Because the system would force it.
With work wrapping up, Jax turned his attention to the road home.
He approached Nyxian as she watched Grim and Steed stand calmly near the caravan, their massive forms radiating quiet power.
"Are you okay with me using them to pull the caravan?" he asked.
Nyxian blinked—then smiled brightly.
"Of course," she said. "They want to."
That much was obvious.
But as preparations began, Jax's system chimed.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN THE ENGINEERING SKILL: STRUCTURAL REINFORCEMENT?
Enhance durability of vehicles and structures for long-distance travel through unstable terrain.
Jax didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
The knowledge flowed into him instantly.
He went to work.
The caravan was reinforced from the frame up. Stress points were strengthened. Load distribution optimized. Mana channels embedded subtly into the structure itself.
He added shock absorption—not strictly necessary with Grim and Steed pulling—but useful.
Then he paused.
Considered.
And smiled.
With a few additional adjustments, the caravan was modified to hover just above the ground—not true flight, but enough to negate rough terrain entirely.
No ruts.
No jolts.
No fatigue.
The smoothest ride imaginable.
The original draft beasts were secured comfortably in the rear, resting without strain.
Grim and Steed took their place at the front.
Power.
Stability.
Purpose.
What had once been a week-long journey back to Solmere would now take two days at most.
Maybe less.
Jax stood back and inspected his work, satisfaction settling in his chest.
They hadn't just completed a raid.
They had rewritten expectations.
Of efficiency.
Of ethics.
Of what was possible when strength was paired with intention.
As the final preparations were completed and the shadows withdrew one by one, Jax felt it clearly:
This wasn't the end of an arc.
It was the quiet breath before something much larger began.
And the road home awaited.