Birth Of The Crafts-God

Different from the other city-states, the unofficial Belfargos city-state occupied an entire continent to itself. This enabled the city-state to greatly develop and widen the gap between itself and the others. Unlike other continents that had to split the desolate beast domains, mineral mines and so on, amongst themselves, all these resources were left for Belfargos city-state to devour.

However, of the resources that the continent of Bernin had to offer, relics were the most valuable.

Relics were remnant sites of ancient civilizations, with some having existed and fallen even before the hyumankin's forces had made it to the Kellan solar system. Chances were that relics from civilizations as old as the human race existed on this planet. But considering how much time had gone by, most of them would have faded away. At this same time, such relics held little practical value since they were essentially technology from tens of thousands of years ago which definitely can't compare to modern standards.

Regardless, whether it was the historical value, aesthetic appeal or practical usage, artefacts were very valuable, and the Relics which possessed them were often frequented by pioneers, freelancers and even tourists.

Some of the other continents in Eretre held relics, but whether it was in terms of quality, quantity, or preservation, the relics in the Bernin continent were superior. With Belfargos city-state being the sole city-state, all these resources were available to the forces and cities under it for distribution.

Amongst the various relics controlled by the forces of Belfargos city-state, the relics of the Sunil civilization was a popular one. The Sunil civilization was an empire estimated to have existed around four to six thousand years ago. Compared to the others, they were relatively recent. Due to this, their traces were still well preserved and many of them could be spotted.

Four thousand years ago, the Oklo Dynasty didn't even exist much less some six thousand years ago. Around that time, the hyumankin had probably just begun expanding into the Kellan solar system yet. It was only a few hundred years later that the Oklo Dynasty began to take root here.

Before then, Eretre was said to have suffered a global catastrophe that ended a majority of life on the planet. A while after, desolate beasts from outer space and the neighbouring planet, Jota, migrated to the planet and became the dominant species. Of the surviving locals, the majority were also beasts and only one percent were intelligent lifeforms. However, they soon went extinct under the ferocious attacks of desolate beasts.

This was why there were no native alien species on Eretre; including the desolate beasts, all of its current inhabitants had migrated over including the hyumans and other alien species.

Due to that global catastrophe, the records of the Sunil civilization was buried underground and when the Oklo Dynasty had just taken over, they didn't spot any of them. It wasn't until they had completed their expansion and urbanisation of the planet, did the Oklo Dynasty and the new inhabitants decide to begin digging deeper. That was when most of the relics were excavated.

One of the criteria for identifying relics was there to just be a trace of a previous civilization. There also had to be a significant amount of ruins and remnant historical artifacts [1]. The site also had to be large, and usually a city or a huge town, restored to at least seventy percent of its original state to classify officially as relics. Because of this, a lone building from an ancient era couldn't be classified as one.

The Sunil civilization had quite a few relics sprawled across the outer area of the Bernin continent, roughly where the Oklo Dynasty had built their empire. However, only a few of them were yet to be completely explored and so, became a gathering ground for pioneers. The most notable was the East Braftford relics, which was only forty percent explored.

"Compared to the other regions, East Braftford relics still have a lot of dangers so please do well to stick close to me." The guide stared at the group as he informed them.

This group had quite a few individuals of significant background. There was the young master of a top family from Heavenfall City, the daughter of the CEO of a top three hundred company in Belfargos city-state, and the nephew of the chairman of a trading alliance.

However, there were three others that stood out in this group. One of them was the son of the vice city lord of Blue Springs City, while the other two were the children of Russell Mertens, the head of the Mertens family from Baylands City. This entire trip was done simply to entertain these two so it could be seen how influential their background was.

In Baylands City, one would only know of the Mertens family as a top four force in the city-state. Those with a bit more knowledge would know that they were crucial in the installation of the current city lord and ruler of Baylands city-state, Noah Bergs. However, they were more than just that.

There was a reason why Russell was confident in protecting Lucas even at the cost of a fallout with the other forces. One was because he believed that the city lord would side with him. The other, was simply because Russell was that confident in holding them off.

In any city-state, the top factions and forces who stood out from the rest were never to be underestimated, especially those with heritage. To be able to retain the position of a top faction for a very long time, the power they wielded was incredible, but their connections were also not to be underestimated.

Apart from the Ross family, which was relatively new to the rankings, the other three families all hard some sort of connections to Belfargos city-state. In the case of the Bergs and the Dufours, their connections extended even to the Oklo Dynasty.

In Belfargos city-state, while the family name 'Mertens' didn't necessarily strike fear into the hearts of others, the top forces knew to give some form of respect to them. This was because the Mertens family was allied with a city lord family in Belfargos city-state through marriage.

It just so happened that Russell wanted to try his hand at a new business venture which would require the aid of his ally. Hence, he sent his children to not only seal the deal but also strengthen the Mertens' relationship with this family.

"Thank you for your help, Mister Duran." The young man who was the son of the deputy city lord said.

"It's no problem." The man smiled.

Although he was a somewhat famous pioneer in this area, he couldn't compare to these young ones in terms of resources, influence or power. Since they needed a professional guide to the East Braftford relics, Duran decided to take up the offer so as to build even a little bit of connection with them.

"Please follow me." Duran said, before leading the way.

Apart from the six young heirs, there were also a few guards tagging along. However, because of the dangers of the relics, they weren't much and only numbered about seven.

"Do you think we'd find any artefacts today, beauty?" Vergil smiled at the lady who followed the group.

True to his nature as a playboy, he had already began making his advances on the girl in the team. Experience more tales on My Virtual Library Empire

"I doubt that. Most of the sections in the outer region has already been scoured by others." The girl lightly said.

"Well, I'm something of a good luck charm myself, so I think it will be different today." Vergil winked at her.

The girl was speechless, but so as not to seem rude, she simply smiled at him.

Laura ignored her brother's misbehaviour as she turned her focus towards the relics.

Even if the outer region has been explored countless of times, it still held a certain degree of danger. Part of this was because of the traps within the relics, some of which were mechanical or magical. The other danger was the desolate beasts within these relics.

The majority of desolate beasts in the outer region had been wiped out, but there was a certain species that could reproduce quickly. They were insect-type desolate beasts.

Compared to the hyuman-sized or larger ones, insect-type desolate beasts were greatly feared. One reason was because of their insane reproduction rate while the other was Thier attack tactics.

Since insect-type desolate beasts were small and often couldn't pose a threat to a prey or even predator, they learnt to move in groups and gang up on a target. The smallest of these groups could reach numbers of up to three hundred, depending on the size of the desolate beasts. The smaller ones numbered even more in groups, reaching thousands in one swarm.

At first, hyumankin developed unique pesticides to combat against them, but unlike typical insects, these desolate beasts began to develop resistance at a much faster rate. This meant that every few years or so, hyumankin would have to develop a new brand of pesticides for each insect-type desolate beast to combat against them.

Naturally, many found this to be stressful and resorted to the ancient ways which was to simply swat these insects to death. But in this case, they used vestiges.

"Don't worry. With Duran here and our guards, we'll be safe." The son of the deputy city lord turned to Laura with a smile.