"Ten percent, I can give you ten percent of the final sale price as the processing fee." This time, without waiting for Shanoba to speak, Gaven raised a finger and said, "If you agree, we’ll sign a cooperation treaty. Whether it’s the regeneration gems we have now or those we mine in the future, all will be processed by you. If you don’t agree, then we’ll have to think of something else. Your craftsmanship isn’t completely irreplaceable. It just means we’ll need to invest a portion into research and development and also increase the manufacturing cost. But for a long-term perspective, I think this expense can sometimes be worth it."
"Heart of Regeneration?" Mayor Jin Bao couldn’t even bother to answer Gaven’s question, his eyes involuntarily following Gaven’s fingers as they moved.
Because what was spinning in his hand was not the fine gold coins usually used for practice, but an egg-sized regeneration gem emitting a mysterious dark luster.
This regeneration gem was precisely the one confiscated from the body of the noble two-headed troll kings, Kodi Koli.
As the Gnolls kept offering up more regeneration gems, Gaven became further convinced of the value of this oversized regeneration gem.
One as large as this remained unique to this day.
Between the size of a quail egg and a chicken egg, there were only twenty-three so far.
The gemstone certification provided by the Gnome village chief showed that the larger the natural size of such a gemstone, the stronger the special ability it possessed, and the more powerful the magic items that could be crafted from it. Naturally, the value would skyrocket, doubling directly.
The one in his hand, with just its natural ability, was already worth several hundred thousand. If turned into magic items, wouldn’t that be heading into divine artifact territory? An invaluable treasure without a doubt.
He couldn’t believe that any gemstone artisan could resist the temptation to personally craft a divine artifact.
As for whether Mayor Jin Bao was a gemstone crafting artisan, there was no need to even think about it—it was a certainty, and he was definitely the best artisan in their village.
Because the best craftsmen were never ordinary people but powerful professionals, especially those with spellcasting abilities since only they could push magic to its limits and extract the maximum value from the material.
Mayor Jin Bao’s reaction was even stronger than Gaven had anticipated. Upon seeing the regeneration gem, he couldn’t take his eyes off it, forgetting all about the multimillion deal at hand.
Even the best chef, without good ingredients, would find it hard to create a fine dish.
It was the same for a gemstone artisan, especially one at Mayor Jin Bao’s level. Ordinary materials barely caught his interest, and the location of the regeneration gem mine their village occupied was mediocre at best. Not to mention top-quality regeneration gems, even above-average ones were rare.
The best regeneration gem mines in the Troll Mountains were right here—in the former Dwarf gem mine.
In this respect, one had to trust the Dwarves’ insight and ability. They might not be as skilled as the Gnomes in crafting gemstones, but when it came to mining, they held an absolute advantage.
Such a large regeneration gem, there was only one in the entire Troll Mountains, previously owned by the rulers of the once-great Wailing Dwarf Kingdom, and now a war prize of the young Baron Thacel.
Watching the irregular regeneration gem continuously flipping in the other’s hand, Mayor Jin Bao’s heart flipped too, fearing that Gaven might accidentally drop and shatter this one-of-a-kind gemstone, although the likelihood was zero—the hardness of a regeneration gem was no less than that of a diamond. Let alone smashing it, grinding and cutting were extremely difficult tasks that had to rely on magical means.
"Heart of Regeneration? Does this gemstone actually have a name unique to itself?" Gaven took the opportunity to probe for information.
"Yes," Mayor Jin Bao straightforwardly began to enlighten Gaven, "regeneration gems here in the Troll Mountains do not exist as individual veins but as a secondary mineral to ironstone. They only appear at the very heart of sizable ironstone deposits.
The higher the purity and the larger the ironstone, the greater the chance of finding regeneration gems within, and the larger the gems that are produced.
It’s as though these regeneration gems are the hearts of the ironstone, purifying them, which is why they are also called the Heart of the Ironstone.
The one you’re holding was said to be encased in hundreds of tons of fine steel when it was found, at the center of an entire vein, the proudest creation of the Dwarves of this Dwarf City. It was said to have been set in the Dwarf King’s Crown and was known as the Heart of the Mountains.
These Trolls are downright fools, having knocked it off the crown, with the rest of the crown’s whereabouts unknown."
"I see," Gaven said, his interest piqued. "Since that’s the case, you must have classified these regeneration gems by category, based on their function and grade. How do you sort them?"
"This kind," the one that can only activate rapid healing, "we call it Dust of Regeneration; they are but the dust of regeneration gems.
Those with regenerative abilities, we call them Stars of Regeneration, and those slightly larger than the Heart of Regeneration but smaller, we call them Moons of Resurgence."
From their naming of each grade, one could see how much they valued these gems.
After grasping the information he needed, Gaven directly tossed the Heart of Regeneration to the Gnome Village Chief, asking, "If I were to hand it over to you, how would you craft it?"