Chapter 75: Mining Rights and the Interstellar Transport Company

A few days later, the spacecraft arrived at Qilong Star.

Jiang Chen first accompanied Luo Feng to complete his citizenship registration, then helped him open an account at the Galaxy Bank. After transferring six billion Black Dragon coins to Luo Feng, the two temporarily parted ways.

Luo Feng went off to purchase resources to enhance his own strength, while Jiang Chen returned to the administrative building of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire.

After consulting the directory in the lobby, Jiang Chen made his way to the eighty-eighth floor. Guided by an attendant, he entered an office.

“Hello, sir. How may I assist you today?” A staff member with four arms looked at Jiang Chen, his manner polite and gentle.

“Four arms? That’s interesting,” Jiang Chen thought, glancing at the staff member before speaking directly. “I wish to purchase some ‘resource planets’ or acquire mining rights for them.”

“To purchase resource planets, one needs to qualify as a ‘Level Three Group Company.’ For mining rights, only sufficient funds are required,” the staff member explained. “Of course, some special resource planets have additional requirements. What I mentioned is the minimum. If you wish to purchase ownership, please show the relevant credentials.”

“Level Three Group Company?” Jiang Chen was familiar with the term. It was an internal rating system for companies registered within the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, based on registered capital, scale, assets, industry, employee count, and other factors to generate a comprehensive score. A Level Three Group Company was already fairly sizable. The base Jiang Chen owned on Bai Lan Star was far from meeting the standard.

Jiang Chen shook his head slightly. “I don’t have Level Three Group Company status. I’ll just buy mining rights. I want the mining rights to some A-grade and B-grade metal veins within the Milky Way, preferably at the lowest prices.”

The staff member reminded him, “Mining rights for B-grade metal veins require a deposit of ten billion Black Dragon coins, and A-grade veins require one billion. Upon completion of mining or termination of the contract, the fee is deducted by year, and the remaining deposit is refunded.”

The numbers were somewhat above Jiang Chen’s expectations, but still within an acceptable range.

Jiang Chen nodded. “I can accept those terms. For B-grade metals, I want mining rights for ‘Red Copper Essence.’ For A-grade metals, I need ‘Black Iron,’ ‘Stellar Gold,’ ‘Silver Tungsten Metal,’ and ‘Threaded Titanium.’ Please help me check the relevant information.”

“One moment, please.” The staff member began operating a machine, and soon a projection appeared in front of Jiang Chen, listing vast amounts of data.

“Milky Way, ‘Red Cloud Star,’ ‘Red Copper Essence’ vein, proven reserves of 22.8 billion tons, grade B lower, mining difficulty medium-high. Status: unmined. Annual contract price: 2.5 billion Black Dragon coins.”

“Milky Way, ‘Heavenly Profound Star’…”

And so on. Each planet, vein, reserve, grade, mining difficulty—every detail was clearly laid out for Jiang Chen to choose.

“The prices are outrageous!” Jiang Chen’s heart skipped seeing the rates. The Black Dragon Mountain Empire’s ‘resource contracting system’ involved leasing out surveyed mineral veins to professional mining companies. The extracted minerals belonged entirely to the mining company; the empire only collected a fixed annual contract fee.

Of course, the fee was not cheap. If the mining technology wasn’t advanced enough, or the extracted quantity too low, there was even a risk of loss.

But Jiang Chen had no such worries. At the A and B-grade level, the SCV’s mining capabilities were extremely strong, with costs kept remarkably low. Compared to the mainstream approach in the universe—relying on powerful slaves and workers for manual mining—the SCV’s average cost was lower, and efficiency higher.

Of course, SCVs could only mine up to B-grade veins. Anything higher and their probes couldn’t penetrate. Unless Jiang Chen developed more powerful machinery or significantly upgraded the SCVs.

“Jarvis, calculate the mining, transportation costs, and prices. Let’s see which option is most cost-effective,” Jiang Chen ordered Jarvis in his mind.

After the upgrade, Jarvis possessed the ability to communicate with his owner through ‘consciousness’ like mainstream cosmic AI. Essentially, a module was added to read Jiang Chen’s thoughts when permitted.

Jarvis’s voice quickly sounded in Jiang Chen’s mind: “Calculation complete. The optimal plan is to select ‘Aurora Star’ for ‘Black Iron,’ ‘Stellar Gold,’ and ‘Threaded Titanium’ veins, and ‘Raven Star’ for ‘Red Copper Essence’ and ‘Silver Tungsten Metal’ veins. Considering mining, transport, and base construction, these two planets offer the lowest expected cost and highest projected profit.”

Jiang Chen nodded and reported his choices according to Jarvis’s analysis.

The staff member calculated for a moment before looking at Jiang Chen. “For these two planets and five veins, the total annual contract fee is 2.958 billion Black Dragon coins, with a total deposit of fourteen billion. Your mining activities will be protected by both the planetary lord and the Black Dragon Mountain Empire.”

‘Aurora Star’ was directly controlled by Black Dragon Mountain officials. ‘Raven Star,’ however, had a lord.

Most planetary lords preferred to mine resources themselves, but some lacked the necessary technology or were unwilling to bother, opting to lease them out. The lord of ‘Raven Star’ belonged to the latter group.

Jiang Chen felt a pang at the cost, but considering the projected profits Jarvis calculated, he grit his teeth. “Draft the contract. I’m ready to transfer the funds at any time.”

Establishing his own resource extraction channels was also the steward’s suggestion. It would lower procurement costs, increase profit, and prevent upstream disruptions from affecting Jiang Chen’s interests.

When the steward proposed the idea, he wasn’t sure Jiang Chen had the resources to pull it off. But Jiang Chen, after Jarvis’s calculations, made the decision without hesitation.

He spent several hours signing contracts, paying deposits, and handling mining credentials. With a stack of permits in hand, Jiang Chen left the administrative building to meet up with Luo Feng.

——

“You bought a batch of slaves?” Jiang Chen immediately noticed the group behind Luo Feng, exuding powerful auras yet behaving with utmost humility—clearly slaves.

“I sold the ‘Arc Blade Disk’ and bought some slaves,” Luo Feng admitted. “I’ll be traveling the universe often, so leaving strong guards for my family gives me peace of mind. I can’t always rely on you.”

It wasn’t that Luo Feng didn’t trust Jiang Chen; he simply didn’t want to burden him. Jiang Chen could see this and nodded. “You’re most familiar with the ‘Sky Shuttle,’ so holding onto the ‘Arc Blade Disk’ isn’t much use. Better to exchange it for something you need.”

“Chen, do you need anything else? I bought cultivation resources and slaves, and after spending, I still have about ten billion Black Dragon coins left. Nothing pressing to spend it on for now,” Luo Feng said.

He didn’t bring up returning the six billion to Jiang Chen, but if Jiang Chen needed funds, Luo Feng wouldn’t hesitate.

Hearing this, Jiang Chen thought for a moment. “If you won’t use the money soon, buy a batch of spacecraft. I’ll hand over cosmic transportation for my industry to you.”

Interstellar transport was one of the lowest-barrier industries. Buy ships, hire staff or buy slaves, and you’re in business. Of course, because of the low barrier, profits were squeezed thin, and there was always the risk of space pirate attacks.

Still, for a transport company, as long as there were enough orders, profit was guaranteed. The payback period might be long, but it was stable.

And conveniently, Jiang Chen could supply sufficient orders.

If Luo Feng didn’t want to do it, Jiang Chen wouldn’t care—he could start his own company or collaborate with others. The industry was so competitive that, with enough orders, there was never a shortage of takers.

“Transport company?” Luo Feng was puzzled; business wasn’t his strong suit.

“Our factory on Bai Lan Star needs lots of transport ships. I just bought mining rights for a batch of veins, so we’ll need massive transport. Better you start a company and keep the profits in-house than let someone else earn them,” Jiang Chen explained, adding, “But transport company profits aren’t high, and payback is slow. It’s up to you whether you want to do it.”

“Transport industry profits are low, mainly relying on volume. For you two, it’s small-scale, so losses are unlikely; you can try it out,” Babata chimed in.

To Babata, a few hundred billion Black Dragon coins was ‘small fry,’ not worth a glance. For a star-level being, it was a lot, but a cosmic-class could easily earn dozens or hundreds of times more.

In this universe, each leap in power meant exponentially more resources. In Babata’s eyes, cosmic-class and domain lords were nothing. Only at realm lord level would he take notice, with funds measured in universe coins or even mixed yuan units.

Compared to that, a few hundred billion Black Dragon coins was indeed ‘small business.’

“But I’m not skilled at management, and wouldn’t running this distract from my cultivation?” Luo Feng hesitated.

Jiang Chen could see Luo Feng was tempted but had reservations. “You don’t need to manage it yourself. Do as I do—buy slaves skilled in administration to run the business. Just oversee the big picture.”

Hiring staff brought risks of corruption or negligence, making management troublesome. Slaves, however, were much easier to control. Their cost was high—a single slave could cost more than hiring a whole team of employees for decades—but Jiang Chen and Luo Feng didn't mind spending a bit extra for peace of mind.

Taking Jiang Chen’s advice, Luo Feng didn’t hesitate. “Let’s do it your way. I’ll use the money to establish a transport company and handle your errands.”

With that, Luo Feng contacted the slave market manager to purchase slaves skilled in commerce and management.

Such slaves weren’t exactly cheap, yet compared to ordinary planetary slaves, they were more expensive; but relative to star-level slaves, quite cost-effective.

For Luo Feng and Jiang Chen, it was just a small expense—not something to fuss over.

Because Luo Feng needed to buy slaves, the two stayed on Qilong Star for another half day.

Once the slaves arrived at the port and were bound to their new master, the spacecraft set off again for Bai Lan Star.

——

Nine days later, Bai Lan Star.

The massive warehouse base had now been converted into rows of large factories. Under intelligent control, they ceaselessly produced parts for ‘Goliath Giants,’ assembling them, and shipping batches out to buyers’ designated locations.

“Master.”

The four slave leaders—Number One, Number Three, the Steward, and the Brewer—had already learned of Jiang Chen’s arrival and were waiting at the landing site.

Seeing Jiang Chen emerge from the hatch, they immediately stepped forward and bowed.

“Has anything unusual happened recently?” Jiang Chen asked.

Since purchasing them, Jiang Chen hadn’t met them in person again, but with biochip control and occasional virtual universe contact, their loyalty was assured.

“Master, there have been no incidents affecting security,” Number One replied.

The Steward also spoke. “Master, the factory has expanded steadily as planned, and partnerships up and down the supply chain remain solid. There’s nothing major to report. Here’s a report on the factory’s development from your last departure until the end of last month, for your review at your convenience.”

He respectfully handed Jiang Chen a storage card.

“Master, here’s a report on the wine brewing over the past year. I’m not adept at reports, so most of it is my narration, compiled by the Steward,” the Brewer said, offering another storage card. “You’ve arrived just in time—another batch of new wine will be ready in two days. You can sample it then.”

Jiang Chen accepted both cards and nodded. “I’ll find time to look over them.”

He stepped aside, allowing Luo Feng and his slaves to come forward. “This is Luo Feng, my friend and a shareholder in the Bai Lan Star factory. These are his subordinates, who will establish an interstellar transport company. From now on, our transport business will be handled by them, settled at market rates. Steward, exchange contact information and coordinate with them from now on.”

(End of chapter)