"Lord Ian!"
Before Johnny could even get a good look at the boy, he hurriedly bowed repeatedly.
"Your name is Johnny, right?"
The clear voice of the young man sounded.
"Yes, yes, my Lord Ian!"
A wave of excitement surged through Johnny's heart—this lord actually knew his name!
"Tell me how you discovered it."
The lord spoke with genuine curiosity.
"Yes!"
Johnny straightened his back, but his eyes lowered, still not daring to look at Lord Ian.
He recalled what had happened a day ago.
"At that time, as usual, I was searching underwater with my comrades."
"Because the seabed there was very dark, we all carried lamps, searching slowly with our own eyes in the deep sea."
"So, when I brushed away some underwater dust and sand again, I suddenly saw a faint light reflecting off the exposed seabed."
"I realized something was wrong."
Johnny's voice suddenly rose with excitement.
"Quickly, I grab some sand from over there and take a closer look! I recognize it immediately — this is the golden sand we saw in our training materials!"
"There's a gold mine here!"
"You did well, Johnny."
Johnny heard Lord Ian's praise. "You've discovered a huge underwater gold mine, which is a significant contribution to the development of Hive Island."
"I-I don't deserve such praise, Lord Ian!"
Johnny's face almost broke into a smile, but he kept humbly replying, "It's just what I'm supposed to do!"
"I appoint you as the leader of the exploration team."
At that moment, Ian's voice sounded like music to Johnny's ears, instantly making his face flush with excitement.
"From now on, I entrust you all to continue venturing into the deep sea and uncover the hidden treasures lurking in the darkness."
"Yes, sir!"
Johnny's answer was firm and resolute.
As Johnny received Ian's summons after discovering the gold mine, the gold mine located not far from Hive Island, deep underwater, had already begun to be excavated.
Several massive sea beasts were digging along the seabed.
Sea lions, sea gorillas, sea tigers — all had hands and claws, and with their enormous strength, they could stir up large amounts of sediment with a single swipe.
They were like giant excavation machines working underwater.
Beside these sea beasts, the fishmen assisted with the labor.
They collected the golden sand unearthed by the beasts or dug with shovels themselves.
Though the gold mine was underwater, for Hive Island now, extracting the minerals wasn't a difficult task.
Docked near the underwater mining site were several ships covered with membranes.
The fishmen continuously loaded the excavated gold onto these ships.
Once fully loaded, the ships suddenly began to float mysteriously.
Without any visible power or crew to steer them, these ships drifted like ghost ships beneath the sea, then headed toward the surface.
"I'll take these ships up first."
In the pitch-black depths of the sea, a voice suddenly echoed.
If one looked closely, it was possible to see that the seawater around several ships was behaving strangely.
Unnatural currents swirled around the large vessels, and faintly, a gigantic face could be seen.
Hive Island, the harbor.
Ian stood on the dock, gazing at the ships steadily approaching in the distance.
Although the sea surface was calm with no strong winds, fierce waves surged beneath the ships, propelling them swiftly forward.
"How convenient,"
Tesoro stood beside Ian, unable to hide his admiration.
"They don't even need people to steer them. They can transport minerals on their own."
Saying this, he looked at Ian's back with deep respect.
Lord Ian, is this your foresight?
By then, the ships had gradually stopped just outside the harbor.
Workers who had been waiting on the dock rushed forward immediately.
Next, they needed to unload the gold ore and carry out the initial processing.
Then, the ships would be recoated.
Ian nodded gently.
The gold mine's reserves were considerable, temporarily easing his urgent problems.
With this, Hive Island finally had a pillar industry to rely on for survival.
"Good work," Ian said, addressing the vast ocean before him.
"Wort."
"You are too kind, Lord Ian," The ocean before him suddenly rose, forming a small mountain of waves, upon which a face appeared.
This Homies made of seawater spoke in a deep voice.
"This is simply what I am meant to do."
Ian nodded.
"Go ahead. Continue your work."
"Yes, Lord Ian."
The seawater sank, and Wort, the Homies, dove back into the sea, heading for the mine.
That's why Homies truly are such extraordinary beings.
"But, Lord Ian,"
Tesoro watched the workers busy on the dock.
"Is it really necessary to go through so much trouble? If it's gold ore, why not just have Solem come? He can easily extract all the gold in no time."
"In the future, the Fishmen will discover even more mineral deposits on the seabed, and even more ores will flow into Hive Island."
Ian said, "Instead of seeking shortcuts, it's better to first train a group of skilled workers. After all, Hive Mining isn't the Hive Gold Company."
"Besides, gold isn't the main point, Tesoro."
He said calmly, "What matters is to keep wealth circulating."
Tesoro nodded thoughtfully.
This was the very reason Lord Ian established Hive Mining.
He hired Fishmen and Merfolk to explore and extract minerals from the sea.
Then the humans on land would further process those ores.
This way, both Fishmen and humans could earn their wages.
When they had money, naturally they would spend it, stimulating the island's economic prosperity.
As expected of Lord Ian!
"By the way, how is the entertainment company coming along?" Ian asked.
"The basic framework is already organized,"
Tesoro said with a smile, "With your and Morgans' connections, the most troublesome issue of distribution channels has been perfectly solved."
"He's already helped us warm up in the newspapers."
"Gordon is helping Uta write songs, and soon the first live broadcast will start, spreading Uta's voice to the whole world."
"Good," Ian nodded with satisfaction, "I can't wait to see Uta's voice reach every corner of the world."
Tesoro reminded, "Lord Ian, of course, the member nations of the World Government are not included in the coverage."
"That's enough," Ian chuckled lightly, "I believe that one day, Uta's voice will attract everyone around the globe."
Tesoro's smile stiffened slightly.
Lord Ian, I can't just pretend I didn't hear that!
**********
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