Crookes is a mining city located in the heart of the Varla Empire, the name Crooks in the ancient language means 'rich mountain capital', backed by the Meredith Mine, they can not only mine high-quality Yaojing, but also many high-quality open-pit iron ore.

After the establishment of the Varla Empire, Taylor Meredith, a great nobleman who was divided into this area and loved to explore, discovered rich mineral deposits in the nameless barren mountains, so he organized a man to start mining.

The nameless barren mountain was also named after Taylor himself, and became one of the largest mines in the Valla Empire.

Crookes started out as a shack for miners, but as the Meredith Mine became famous, more and more people came to hear about it—Bright Crystal, in many places, it's better than gold—and in less than two hundred years, it expanded and renovated around the shack at the foot of the nameless barren mountain, and finally a new city was born.

Although Crookes is far inferior to Lancaster as a commercial city in terms of prosperity, Crookes is far superior to the latter in terms of wealth created.

And as the ruler of Crooks, the Meredith family is naturally rich and rivaled.

Meredith the Elder was a staunch royalist, believing in Grimon, the god of travel and art, who had been passed down from Taylor Meredith, and belonged to the kind of church faction that did not even have normal church facilities and had no quarrel with the world.

It is precisely because of this that the royal family also has a lot of trust in the Meredith family, and the prestige of the old Meredith is not bad, Crooks City can be said to be as stable as Mount Tai in every sense.

But under this stability, there is a surging undercurrent.

The reason is simple, the elder Meredith had no children, he had only one daughter, and he died of illness very young.

In addition, the Meredith family is afraid of being jealous of the royal family, so they never form a gang to marry, so there is no intricate kinship, and the family is almost a single lineage, if it weren't for the thick foundation, a large number of Yaojing sacrificed every year in exchange for the protection of the gods and the royal family, I'm afraid this family would have long since ceased to exist.

But old Meredith is only a mortal after all, with a limited lifespan, and even with a divine favor, life is like a candle in the wind, about to come to an end.

If he continues like this, when he dies, eighty percent of the Meredith family's family and the territorial rights of Crooks City will be pocketed by the royal family.

In the face of such lucrative benefits, it is natural that some people can't sit still and want to reap the benefits.

As long as old Meredith made a will under the witness of the gods before he died, and transferred all his wealth to others, then even if the other party could not fully inherit the Meredith family's family and Crooks City (the royal family could reasonably bypass the will witnessed by the gods through taxes and other reasons), at least they could get most of it!

Crookes City, the master bedroom in the City Lord's Mansion.

"Mr. Meredith, your physical condition hasn't changed much." A priest from the Temple of Life took off his stethoscope-like magic device, and said helplessly to the old man lying on the bed, whose body was as withered as a dry corpse: "As I said last time, the 'elf stone' embedded in your heart when you were young has the power to slow down aging. But it seems to be a failure, and the power inside is almost gone......"

When he said this, Miao Zhu was a little unsure of his idea, and he hesitated again when he wanted to speak.

"Don't mind, just tell me how much time I have left." The old man spoke.

"Your body is already aging quite severely, and judging from the current situation, it is likely that the elf stone will last for about a year."

Old Meredith has a good reputation, not the kind of brutal nobleman, and Miao Zhu is not afraid that the other party will anger him, so he replied honestly: "If you can find a good spirit stone in a year's time, replace the one on your heart, maybe you can live longer......"

"You don't have to comfort me for this impossibility." The old man smiled, but the smile on his withered face was not only not kind at all, but a little infiltrating: "Is there still a year left......

Miao Zhu was also silent, and he also understood that what he had just said had no comforting effect at all.

After all, the elf stone is a treasure that only exists in legends like the 'philosopher's stone and the 'philosopher's stone', and it is said that only the royal family in the high elves will make it, each of which has the power to almost resurrect the dead, and can also extend the life span of human beings, and can even transform ordinary people into the extraordinary race 'blood elves'.

It's just that the High Elves have become extinct, and even the so-called orthodox Forest Elves have not been able to inherit one-tenth of the elven technology of the High Elves, let alone other elven branches.

As a result, the legendary elven stone disappeared into history along with the annihilation of the High Elf civilization.

Even Miao Zhu himself had read similar content in ancient books, but if he hadn't really found one in the old lord's heart, he would have thought it was just a myth......

"I want to be quiet alone for a while, you go out first, just ask the housekeeper for the consultation fee."

The old man said in a deep voice.

Miao Zhu tried to keep his expression from being happy—the old lord was generous, and each time he paid the same amount of money as he had for several years—he bowed respectfully to the old man and then walked away.

After the temple was gone, the whole room fell silent again, except for the crackling of the fireplace in the fireplace.

The old man lay on the bed, silent for a long time, and then let out a long sigh.

In fact, he knew very well that the elf stone in his heart was not a defective product, but a real elf stone.

The reason why the power in it has been lost is very simple, because he is the nobleman who found the Meredith Mine two hundred years ago, Tyler Meredith!

With the help of the power of the elven stone, he has lived as a mortal until now, and in order to prevent unnecessary suspicion, he even learned makeup to make the original Meredith die of old age, and replace the illusion that the new generation Meredith will continue to rule.

But the power of the elf stone is limited after all, and he will eventually face death.

To be honest, Taylor Meredith has lived enough, and his fear of death is not as strong as he originally thought.

It's just a little unwilling in his heart.

After seeing the vicissitudes of the world in two hundred years, he knows very well what the current nobles are, and he knows that when he dies, Crookes City will definitely be ruined.

Even if the royal family takes over, after all, it is impossible for them to move the imperial capital here, and they will eventually send people to manage here, and the people who are sent over need to pay the income regularly, but people are profit-oriented, so in addition to handing over the normal income, they will definitely find a way to make profits for themselves, and the result is undoubtedly desperate to loot the civilians and squeeze the miners......

The cub sells Ye Tian's heart is not distressed.

What he cherished, what he spent a lifetime building, was abandoned by others, and even completely destroyed, just to be able to grab that drop of profit from it, how could this make Tyler Meredith die in peace?

"It's okay...... There is hope. ”

The old man took out a compass from under his pillow, an artifact he had begged for from his god, Grimon, and it had only one purpose, that is, to point in the direction of those who were related to him.

Tyler Meredith has spent his whole life on running Crooks City, until Crooks City is on the right track and he doesn't need to worry about it anymore, he puts a little bit of his mind on himself, experiences the love of ordinary people, and even has a daughter.

It's a pity that his wife died in childbirth when she gave birth to her daughter, who was stubborn and rebellious since she was a child because of lack of companionship, and even eloped with a civilian guy when she grew up a little.

Although he was finally caught by his hired people, he fell ill and died of depression not long after, which made Taylor regret it.

It wasn't until a short time ago that Taylor suddenly received a revelation from Gremon that he had a blood relative living in this world - his daughter had already crystallized love during the elopement, and it was in order to protect her husband and children that she was deliberately caught by Taylor's hired men.

This gave Taylor new hope.

Whether it's your grandson or granddaughter, you have to take the other party back and teach them well for the next year, so that the other party can inherit your will and continue to govern Crooks City!