635 Deep-Sea Steel
Vaan calmly smiled at Acharon's hidden anxiety before replying, "Young Master Acharon seems more eager to show me around your treasury, so why don't we do that first?"
"Sure, sure, of course! Right this way, Young Master Vanderlin!" Acharon's eyes beamed as he gestured for Vaan to follow him.
Previously, Acharon referred to Vaan as Junior Martial Brother Vanderlin back in the Martial Hall. But now, he called him Young Master Vanderlin. It showed Acharon held Vaan in higher esteem and viewed him as someone of equal standing.
However, this surface respect was only shown due to Acharon's fear of making a mistake in the process of winning Vaan over to their side.
Acharon quickly led Vaan around to the main residence's backyard, where a big metal warehouse was found. Several Low-level Rank 4 Body Refiners guarded the vicinity. Their strength wasn't too high, but the security seemed tight, nonetheless.
Evidently, even for the Evron family, guards of Sir Terach's level were considered a minority. Still, it shouldn't be surprising for the eldest young master and heir to the Evron family to have at least one or two such High-level Rank 4 Body Refiners or warriors with equivalent combat power.
When Acharon expressed his intent to enter the warehouse with Vaan, the guards quickly pulled up the large rolling shutters and let the two through.
Almost immediately, a plethora of herbs, minerals, magic tools, miscellaneous ancient relics, and piles of mana stones entered Vaan's sight. Each category of items was separately and neatly placed in its own sections.
Alas, none of these items entered Vaan's sight – they were all low-
quality.
Vaan knew these items were only for display and weren't truly valuable items hoarded by the Evron family. Just as he expected, Acharon led him to the center, where he inserted a special crystal key into an empty socket on the ground.
The hidden magic mechanism in place was activated as a result, and a secret passage leading underground was revealed.
"Don't worry about the stuff here. Our family's real treasury lies underneath," Acharon explained, fearing Vaan might doubt their wealth.Read latest chapters at nov(e)lbin.com Only
As long as Vaan could secure enough uranium and produce his nuclear weapons, he would no longer feel as pressured by the existence of the seven Great Devils. The illusory Sword of Damocles that hung over the heads of humanity would also cease to exist.
By then, if the seven Great Devils really pushed him with the threat of death and slavery, Vaan wouldn't mind giving them a taste of humanity's greatest achievement from his past life.
With nuclear weapons, even mortals could slay divine beings.
It was the power of science.
But what was science? It was just knowledge of any kind.
Increasing that knowledge was called the cultivation of wisdom – something that all sentient beings could utilize, and nuclear weapons were just the result of humanity's collective cultivation of wisdom.
"Young Master Vanderlin seems to be curious about our collection of refined Deep-Sea Steel," Acharon commented with a smile as if he could understand the reason behind Vaan's curiosity.
"Deep-Sea Steel is a highly toxic metal that has been banned for hundreds of years and doesn't appear anywhere on the market or in books. Unfortunately, it's also the one thing we can't sell to you."
"Even if we do, you won't be able to take it away. The empire will hunt you down if they find out you are in possession of Deep-Sea Steel, and our Evron family will also be implicated," Acharon explained.
Vaan quickly understood he had never heard of Deep-Sea Steel; it was a strictly controlled mineral.
However, what made him speechless was Pangea's name for uranium.
What the hell was Deep-Sea Steel? Steel that could only be found at the bottom of the sea? Did that even make any sense? How could solid uranium exist in water, let alone deep seawater?
The anoxic water in the deep sea coming into contact with uranium would produce a highly exothermic reaction.
Suddenly, Vaan realized why the seawater in the outer sea regions was toxic. Furthermore, it wasn't just toxic; it was radioactive.
Vaan's lips twitched.