The two groups prepared to go their separate ways once they were out of the dungeon, then the Elders remembered that Karl and his team had never seen their Sect before.
"Would you like to take a look around? We’re not as glorious as the New Home Merchant Clan, just a small mining Clan, but we do have a rather impressive shop district," one offered.
Karl smiled. "It would only be right. After all, we will be working together many more times in the future, I suspect.
This arrangement is mutually beneficial.
How about we stop for dinner before I take my team home? Perhaps somewhere a bit less formal, so we can see the real tastes of the Clan, not what is prepared for guests."
That made the Elders a bit nervous, as Karl was clearly an Elite, raised by his Guild to be a leader from the start.
He had all the best skills, the gear, the team of highly skilled assistants who had centuries more experience than him. Letting him head to a miners’ tavern for dinner just didn’t seem right.
But Karl was already leading the way through town, while one of the miners explained the layout to him.
"This is the best spot in town. Don’t mind the appearance, we’ve got agreements with or control of six different mining-based dungeons, so everyone tends to be a little rough spoken."
Karl laughed and patted the man on the shoulder. "Let me tell you a secret, friend. I was born in a mining town, father was a lithium miner, and mother worked in the office’s accounting department.
I was down in that mine from the time that I could hold a shovel. If there is one thing that I know well, it’s miners.
A bit of bad language isn’t going to scare me off."
The miners chuckled, then wondered what Clan had any sort of use for lithium. The material was cheap, and generally not all that useful. You could use some as a core for lightning-based artifacts, but that was just about it.
But maybe that was his point?
If he was born in a town that mined the most worthless of materials, he certainly wasn’t born to the glory and power that he held now.
The pair led the group into the tavern, much to the dismay of the Elders who had come with them. This was not the part of the Clan that they were trying to show to outsiders, not at all.
But the moment that Karl walked in, he tossed an Uncommon Grade Strength ring to the barkeeper and raised his hand.
"Rounds are on me."
"You’ll like this stuff. We raise a specialty breed of bees that make the honey for us. It’s got a very pleasant flavour, not at all inferior to the peach wines that the New Home makes.
Though, we unfortunately don’t have a Brewmaster in the Clan.
We had one, and still use his methods, but the actual Brewmaster was lured away by a larger Clan."
Karl sipped the mead and nodded. "I see what you mean. It’s excellent, but you can tell what is apprentice made and what was made by the master himself. Still, this is nothing to complain about. A bit more practice and you’ll have a new Brewmaster soon."
"How did the run go?" One of the miners at the next table, a Spirit Immortal whose Immortal Spirit was fully formed, but whose power was weak, asked.
"We cleared all three bosses in just under an hour, then mined the place out. I would say that it went pretty well, but I haven’t had a chance to actually inventory what we dug up. It’s mostly just in piles right now, waiting for me to get home and start arranging it for the crafting groups within the Darklight Host.
The Smiths will need some, the Runecrafters will want other parts, and then we will see about what nobody claims.
We’re allied with these lovely gentlemen from the New Home Merchant Clan, and I’m assured that they have buyers for nearly anything."
The Miners of the Yizimon Clan laughed. "Indeed, they can find a buyer for nearly anything. That’s how we started our arrangement with the New Home as well."

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