Although the expedition team now consisted of the elites of the Glittergold Trade Union and the Tower of Dusk, Lin Li couldn't bear to see them suffer any losses precisely because they were his elites. Now that the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family was leading the way, it was a good thing for Lin Li. Hence, he naturally wouldn't rush to follow them in.
In fact, Hoffman's thoughts were the same. He was merely asking Lin Li for his opinion out of politeness. Even if Lin Li really wanted to go in now, he would already be prepared to persuade him. At this moment, after hearing Lin Li's answer, Hoffman's chubby face once again revealed a sinister smile, and he said, "Haha, that's what I was thinking too."
Lin Li glanced at the large ice cemetery, and turned to his subordinates. "Although we're not going in, don't just stand there and do nothing. Look at these magical beasts' corpses. Many of them are Legendary-level. Go and smash them open to take out the magical crystals. Anyway, it's a waste to leave them here."
"Yes, President," Alan and the others responded, and immediately led their men to destroy the ice sculptures.
The frozen corpses of the magical beasts had been here for a long time, but the Legendary-level magical crystals would not be destroyed by the passage of time. Instead, they would continuously absorb the surrounding magical elements over time, and gradually grow stronger like mages meditating.
"Hehe, President Felic, you're really …" Hoffman shook his head in amusement. The young President in front of him was just like him when he was young, and wouldn't let go of any benefits.
"I'm sorry to have embarrassed myself. The Tower of Dusk has just been established, and its foundation is still very weak," Lin Li said to Hoffman humbly. He was also trying to tell the Glittergold Trade Union not to fight for such a small profit.
Hearing Lin Li's answer, Hoffman immediately felt depressed. Others might not know how rich the Tower of Dusk is, but how could I not know!? Putting aside the gains from exploring the Sky Castle and Osric's mausoleum, the wealth accumulated in the past two years from the pharmaceutical and forging businesses was definitely not inferior to any of the top forces in the Breezy Plains. It was probably comparable to the Glittergold Trade Union. How dare he say that its foundation is weak?
The mages of the Tower of Dusk had already started moving at this moment. Although the ice had existed for an unknown period of time, it did not take much effort for the Archmages to break it. It didn't take long for the Legendary magical crystals that emitted powerful magical waves to be dug out of the ice sculptures.
There were thousands of corpses of magical beasts in the snowy cemetery, some of which were buried deep underground. The Tower of Dusk had also dug out more than 10 Legendary magical crystals during this period of time. A Legendary magical crystal was a sky-high price in the outside world, and the dozen or so Legendary magical crystals were considered a huge fortune for any force. Even the wealthy Hoffman could not help but be envious at this moment.
As soon as the Tower of Dusk swept through the snowy graveyard, there was a sudden movement in the palace, and a group of people retreated from the gate of the palace as if they were fleeing. They were the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family that had entered the mausoleum first. However, they all looked rather disheveled at this moment, and many of them were injured.
As competitors, Hoffman and Lin Li should have been gloating at the sight of the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family in such a disheveled state. However, there was no smile on their faces at this moment. The two of them looked at each other, and saw the shock in each other's eyes. They turned around and gave orders to their subordinates to change their original plan. Instead, they asked their subordinates to set up camp here.
Soon, the tent in the center of the camp was the first to be set up, and the senior executives of the Glittergold Trade Union and the Tower of Dusk immediately walked in. Hoffman and Lin Li were not the only ones. The other senior executives of the two forces were also extremely solemn, causing the atmosphere in the tent to be extremely tense.
"I really didn't expect them to retreat in such a disheveled manner after only entering for a short period of time." There was no sinister smile on Hoffman's chubby face at this moment. Instead, his brows were furrowed, and he was filled with unspeakable anxiety.
Lin Li's expression was not relaxed either. He shook his head, and said, "Yes, although the strength of their expedition team is somewhat inferior to ours, it is indeed beyond our expectations to cause such a loss in such a short period of time."
The strength of the two parties was very clear from the moment they met each other. Hence, when they saw the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family retreat in a disheveled manner, Lin Li and Hoffman immediately made an accurate judgment. The other party had lost at least a dozen powerhouses above level-15 in such a short period of time in the mausoleum.
Everyone knew that the mausoleum was definitely not simple, but no one expected it to be this extraordinary. There were more than 300 powerhouses above level-15 in the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family, as well as more than a dozen Legendary powerhouses. Such strength could not be said to be weak. However, they had only entered the mausoleum for less than half a day. Perhaps it was only two or three hours. They probably hadn't gone far in the mausoleum, yet they had already suffered such a huge loss. What about the deeper parts of the mausoleum?
Although it was inevitable that there would be losses in the exploration of the ruins, such losses were not something that Hoffman or Lin Li wanted to see, especially when this was just the beginning. For any force, talents were the most important. If they were to suffer a great loss for the sake of exploring the ruins, it would be useless no matter how much wealth they obtained.
In view of the losses of the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family, Hoffman and Lin Li had no choice but to rediscuss the issue of exploring the ruins. They did not want their elite team to suffer too many losses in the process of the exploration, but they were also unwilling to give up the mausoleum just like that. After all, it was Prince Brahere's mausoleum. Once the exploration was successful, the gains would definitely be incomparably shocking.
"President, the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family has set up tents outside the mausoleum. Several of their patriarchs have also entered the central tent. The entire camp is very heavily guarded, "the person in charge of monitoring the movements of the other party entered the tent and reported to Hoffman and the others.
Hoffman nodded, and waved his hand to get his subordinates to leave. He then said to Lin Li and the others, "It seems that they haven't given up on the exploration of the mausoleum."
Although Hoffman was very displeased when he first entered the grand canyon of Gargas and discovered the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family, he now really did not want them to give up just like that. In the face of the unknown dangers in Prince Brahere's mausoleum, who else was more suitable to be the pathfinders than the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family!?
"I'm just afraid that they will be frightened and wait for us to be the pathfinders. Hence, we still have to be prepared to rely on ourselves." Lin Li did not intend to waste too much time there. He had more important things to do, and could not continue wasting time with the other party. If the other party was really frightened, Lin Li would only have two choices. He could either enter the mausoleum or directly retreat to the Tower of Dusk. The ruins were not as important as the catastrophe that was coming soon.
"Yes, it's naturally the best to have them as pathfinders. Even without them, we still have to find a way to explore this mausoleum. Now, everyone, take a look at what you have now, and tell us what you think." Hoffman gestured, and someone next to him placed the original information and excavated items on the table again.
To be honest, the things that could be studied had already been imprinted in everyone's minds. Finding new clues from them now would be like creating something out of nothing. Everyone smiled bitterly and frowned as they looked at the items on the table one by one. However, no one spoke for a long time.
"It's no longer useful to look at these things. I think we should think from another perspective," Davos, who was sitting next to Basel, suddenly said.
Immediately, everyone in the tent focused their gazes on Davos, and there was a hint of anticipation in their eyes. After all, he was a renowned authority on archaeology in the entire Felan Kingdom who had published countless academic works, and often had unique opinions on archaeology.
Faced with the burning gazes of the many Legendary powerhouses, Davos scratched his fluffy beard, and nonchalantly said, "You don't have to look at me like that. I'm not related to Brahere, and I don't know much more about this mausoleum than you do."
"Master Davos, you must be joking. If you have any new ideas, please feel free to share them." Although Hoffman was the President of the Glittergold Trade Union and a famous Legendary powerhouse, he was still very polite to Davos.
Magic was power, potions were power, mageweaths were power, and knowledge of the Abyss was also a kind of power. Although Davos did not have Legendary-level strength, he had more profound knowledge than those Legendary powerhouses who had lived for hundreds of years. Hence, no one present dared to belittle him at all.
"That's a little difficult for me. I'll just suggest a direction of thinking. I hope everyone can think of something." Although Davos was a little careless, he was not ignorant. He pointed at the tattered design drawing on the table, and said, "Although this design drawing is incomplete, it at least tells us a fact, and that is, the design and construction of this mausoleum is indeed done by the top craftsmen of the dwarves, just like the legends say. Since it was built by the dwarves, there would inevitably be some habits of the dwarves left in the mausoleum. You might want to think about it from this perspective. "
After hearing Davos' words, everyone fell into deep thought. That was indeed a direction. Since they could not know the exact situation in the mausoleum, they should be able to speculate some clues about the interior of the mausoleum according to the inherent habits of the dwarven craftsmen.
"According to historical records, we can get the approximate year of Prince Brahere's death. During this period, there were a few most famous craftsmen in the Dwarf Kingdom: Diak, Salf, Moratra …" Hoffman summarized everyone's information, and listed the names of the dwarven craftsmen.
"Legend has it that Blacksmith Guru Diak once went deep into the Haiga Mountain Range for several years in order to find herbs to treat his daughter's terminal illness. If the legend is true, I'm afraid he didn't have the chance to build this mausoleum in time."
"Moratra was the patriarch of the Bronze Furnace Tribe in the Dwarf Kingdom. It was said that he had benefited a lot during the reign of Prince Brahere, and had even received relief from Brahere during the great famine. Hence, he should have been involved in the construction of Brahere's mausoleum. Besides, with his skills, I'm afraid he was one of the leaders of the construction. "
"The original owner of this design drawing is said to be a descendant of Master Salf, so …"
Everyone chimed in, and verified some legends about the famous craftsmen of the Dwarf Kingdom with each other. Hoffman also focused on a few names. In the end, although it couldn't be said to be 100% certain, there was an 80% chance that the few famous dwarven craftsmen in history had participated in the construction of the mausoleum.
There were even more questions to be discussed next. After all, it was a long time ago, and even the serious historical materials might not be true, let alone the many unofficial legends. What they needed to do was to find out the habits and characteristics of these dwarven craftsmen, be it according to the historical materials or unofficial legends. This was not an easy task.
However, everyone intentionally or unintentionally neglected one thing. For the entire mausoleum, the dwarven craftsmen were responsible for the overall construction, but the internal magic traps and gears were definitely not something that the dwarves could do. For an exploration team, the real threat was the traps and gears that were impossible to guard against, as well as the possible existence of powerful tomb guards, and not the structure of the mausoleum.
The problem was that apart from discussing this and finding a breakthrough in this aspect, there seemed to be no other way to understand the mausoleum. That's right. Among them was Davos, the authority in the field of archaeology. However, Davos was not a god. Although he was good at seeing the truth of things from subtle clues, he would be at a loss if there were no useful clues at all.
After the intense discussion, there was dead silence again. Everyone knew that the real gain from this discussion was actually quite limited. As the discussion went on, the unverifiable legends brought more questions to everyone. Not only did the problem of the mausoleum not become clearer, but it was also shrouded in more and more doubts.
"No, it's useless to continue discussing like this. With such a limited understanding, I can't put my subordinates at risk," Lin Li said helplessly as he rubbed his swollen forehead.
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