The final tallies stunned everyone involved.
Not surprised.
Not impressed.
Stunned.
Guild officials checked the numbers once.
Then twice.
Then a third time.
A fourth ledger was brought in.
Then a fifth.
Someone accused the first clerk of making a mistake.
The first clerk accused the second clerk of making a mistake.
The second clerk accused mathematics itself of being defective.
None of it helped.
The numbers refused to change.
By the time the Crystal Cave sealed itself and the final shadow workers withdrew, Jax's team had extracted nearly five years' worth of crystal production.
Five years.
In less than three days.
Actual crystal.
Actual inventory.
Actual value.
Veteran miners stood silently beside warehouse manifests, staring at figures that should not have existed.
One elderly miner looked at the final total.
Looked at Jax.
Then looked back at the total.
"...I quit."
Everyone turned.
The old man shrugged.
"What am I supposed to do after this?"
The warehouse erupted into laughter.
Even Jax smiled.
Not everyone was happy.
A handful of people had quietly hoped for the usual aftermath.
Missing inventory.
Disorganized logistics.
Confusion.
Opportunity.
Normally, when a raid party cleared the Crystal Cave, chaos followed.
Workers skimmed inventory.
Merchants argued over contracts.
Crystals disappeared.
Exhausted adventurers got taken advantage of.
That hadn't happened this time.
The shadows didn't steal.
They didn't sleep.
They didn't accept bribes.
And they didn't forget instructions.
For some people, that meant lost opportunities.
For everyone else?
It meant stability.
The city felt different.
Shops stayed open later.
Restaurants were fuller.
Workers smiled more.
People talked about plans instead of problems.
Jax noticed.
He always noticed.
But the Crystal Cave wasn't the only reason they'd come.
The guild contract still mattered.
Mana Bulbs.
Once the cave sealed, Jax redirected the shadow workforce immediately.
Not randomly.
Not carelessly.
Systematic.
He demonstrated exactly what he wanted harvested.
Which bulbs.
Which sizes.
Which colors.
Which growth stages.
The shadows spread across the surrounding wilderness like a living survey team.
What they found was absurd.
Entire fields.
Hidden valleys.
Rare variants.
High-density strains.
Mana-rich specimens that most adventurers never even saw because reaching them was dangerous and time-consuming.
Within hours, piles began forming.
Within a day, those piles became mountains.
Jax reviewed the final inventory sheet.
Then reviewed it again.
"...Huh."
That was all he said.
The guild receptionist who had helped process the numbers nearly fainted.
The value was ridiculous.
Not because of the quantity.
Because of the quality.
Some of the bulbs were worth ten times standard rates.
A few were worth considerably more.
Returning to the guild was going to be interesting.
Very interesting.
Later that afternoon, Jax found Nyxian sitting atop Grim.
The giant shadow beast appeared perfectly content with this arrangement.
Steed looked mildly jealous.
Jax folded his arms.
"How long has this been happening?"
Nyxian shrugged.
"A while."
"Why?"
"He likes it."
Grim snorted proudly.
Steed nudged her shoulder.
"Fine."
Nyxian rolled her eyes.
"You too."
The second Grimsteed immediately lowered itself so she could climb aboard.
Jax stared.
"They're like giant dogs."
"They're better than giant dogs."
Nyxian patted Grim's neck.
"They listen."
Fair.
"Are you okay with them pulling the caravan?" Jax asked.
Nyxian blinked.
Then laughed.
"Jax, they're practically offended you haven't asked sooner."
That settled that.
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 smiled.
"Yes."
Knowledge flowed into place.
Hours disappeared.
The caravan became his latest project.
Structural supports strengthened.
Weight distribution improved.
Mana channels embedded.
Stress points eliminated.
Shock absorption added.
Then he got creative.
Which was usually dangerous.
For everyone involved.
Jax stood beneath the caravan, staring thoughtfully.
Then smiled.
"Oh."
That smile worried everyone.
Especially the Vixens.
Several hours later, he emerged covered in grease, dust, and satisfaction.
"Done."
Bunny looked around.
"...What changed?"
"Everything."
That wasn't reassuring.
Jax climbed aboard and activated the system.
Mana flowed.
Runes ignited.
The caravan rose.
Three inches.
Then six.
Then a full foot above the ground.
Silence.
Complete silence.
Llandra blinked.
Zee blinked.
Nyxian blinked.
Bunny walked around it twice.
"...It's floating."
"It is."
"It's floating."
"Still true."
Bunny pointed.
"Caravans don't do that."
"This one does."
The hover effect wasn't true flight.
But it no longer touched the road.
No ruts.
No bumps.
No rough terrain.
Just smooth motion.
Steed and Grim immediately pulled it forward.
The caravan glided like a boat across water.
Everyone stared.
Jax watched proudly.
What had once been a week-long journey would now take two days.
Maybe less.
Pophov happened to arrive just in time to see it.
The warehouse owner stood there silently.
Watching.
Thinking.
Calculating.
Then he slowly looked toward Jax.
"How many more ideas like that do you have?"
Jax considered the question.
Honestly.
"...A lot."
Pophov closed his eyes.
Not because the answer frightened him.
Because it excited him.
Across Crystalshire, people were already talking.
About the record.
About the shadows.
About the warehouse.
About the scientist.
About the strange outsider who kept making impossible things look easy.
The Crystal Cave had changed the city.
But Jax suspected something else.
The city had changed too.
People were beginning to expect more from the future.
And expectations were powerful things.
As the sun began to set, Jax stood beside the hovering caravan and looked toward the distant road leading home.
The harvest was complete.
The contracts were fulfilled.
The city was growing.
And Solmere was waiting.
What came next would be bigger than a dungeon.
Bigger than a city.
Bigger than any of them realized.
The road home was about to become very interesting.