Chapter 207 Goblin Civilization
This time, the [Black Tide] directly pushed out the corpses that had been buried underground for countless tens of thousands of years. Huge cracks appeared on the earth, and countless skeleton monsters crawled out from the ground.
No one expected to encounter a "legendary" skeleton, and no one dared to be careless anymore.
After clearing the "Cold Wind Temple", the Flying Dragon Patrol Team once again carefully patrolled the area within a radius of more than ten kilometers. After not finding any threatening zombies, they began to pay attention to the area with a large number of shield skeleton monsters.
Although these shield skeletons are of high rank, most of them are above level four, but their strength is too weak.
Apart from a shield, they had no other means of defense, and they didn't know "Kung Fu". For the "Sharp Knife Team" with an average of Level 5 Transcendent, the tiny and fragile skeleton could be smashed into pieces with just one blow. Compared with the previous "Vine Armor Skeletons", the combat effectiveness of the two was a hundred times worse.
The rank of these shield skeletons is so high probably purely because of the high rank of their bloodlines when they were alive.
Following the cracks in the ground where the skeletons crawled out from, everyone went all the way down to the underground.
Then, they indeed found traces of iron ore layers about a thousand meters underground, as well as ancient mines that were interconnected like a maze.
The mine led to a deeper underground, and no one knew how much it had collapsed over countless years. It was naturally impossible to use manpower to explore each path in this situation. Elder Yimuyu's insects once again made a great contribution, and also saved them a lot of exploration effort.
After countless small bugs were released and fed back information, he drew a rough map of the mine.
The bugs also confirmed that there were a large number of skeleton monsters underground, and there was a huge space about three thousand meters deeper.
After getting this information, Ryan and his team naturally had to go down.
But the mine is only about 1.5 meters high, which is not very friendly for Coleman's soldiers who are generally about three meters tall.
Finally, the Coleman warriors stayed on the ground to guard, while Ryan, Bazel, Tust, and Ymir and her subordinates went into the mine together.
…
The air in the mine was slightly turbid and had a strong earthy smell. Everyone put on gas masks and did not dare to use open flames, but instead lit up the magic light source.
Along the way, we encountered quite a few skeleton monsters and some magical beasts like crypt lizards, but they were not very threatening.
The high-level extraordinary people who were responsible for clearing the way also cleaned it up easily.
Apart from the fact that occasionally a skeletal hand would suddenly emerge from the hard mud on the ground and grab people's ankles, giving them a scare, there was nothing that could be called unexpected.
The magic lamp illuminated a corner in the dark mine, and some metallic luster was reflected on the wall. This was a rich iron mine.
There are still some traces of mine cart tracks on the ground, but because they are too old, they have been corroded and only two deep dents remain.
It's eerily quiet underground.
There have always been fluorescent marks made by scout thieves in the tunnel, and all threats and obstacles have been cleared.
The deeper they went underground, the lower the degree of oxidation of the small skeletons. Ryan collected some complete skeletons and planned to take them back to his teacher Irubek for research.
Tust went down, hammering on the mine , taking some ore samples, trying to find something.
Everyone had gotten used to the "ding-ding-dong" sound, which was crisper than hitting rocks, but slightly duller than hitting metal. In this extremely silent underground mine, it echoed far away.
Suddenly, while walking, Mr. Tust discovered something when he knocked off another piece of ore sample, and shouted softly: "Wait!"
Ryan asked, "That's it, Grandpa Tust?"
He and Ymir both looked back at Tust behind them, and when they saw the eyes of the old man that seemed to be burning with flames, they vaguely guessed something.
Grandpa Tust took a piece of ore in his hand and carefully observed it with a magnifying glass. He became more and more excited. "Hahahaha... As expected! This is not an ordinary iron ore layer, but the 'God's Blood Mine'!"
Upon hearing this, Ryan and Ymir looked at each other, with great joy in their eyes.
They actually guessed it right, there is a mine called "Divine Blood Mine" in the Karathewa Basin!
Tust could not hide his excitement. He shone the light on the ore in his hand and introduced it excitedly: "Did you see it... It is really the 'God's Blood Ore'! The blood threads on it are said to be formed by the blood of the gods infecting the iron ore layer..."
Ryan took a look and found that it was true.
On the black iron ore in front of me that reflects a metallic luster, I can actually see red lines like capillaries. It looks a bit strange, as if the ore is the mineralized flesh and blood of some kind of organism.
"The purity of this piece of ore is only about 'grade 2', and it can be refined into about two grams of [Angela Black Iron]. But on the black market, it will definitely become a hot commodity among alchemists!"
Tuster said with a flushed face: "Moreover, this is a piece I just knocked off the rock wall of the mine! Do you know what this means?"
Ryan had never seen the old man so excited.
Without waiting for anyone to answer, Grandpa Tuster said anxiously, as if he had discovered a rare treasure: "This means that these are still inferior ore on the surface of the ore layer, so those ancient civilizations did not mine them! Somewhere in this mine, there must be a 'rich ore layer' with a higher purity!"
"this……!"
After hearing this, Ryan and Ymir also became excited.
The old man had previously explained to them the extraordinary performance of [Angela Black Iron]. Not to mention its incredible value, if it was used to forge their Black Dragon City steam airship, they would definitely be able to create a super airship!
Although they picked up a lot of black iron shields along the way, no matter how many shields they had, they could not meet the huge demand for forging a mechanical airship.
But if... there is a "Divine Blood Mine", it would be different!
The fact that ancient humans could afford to use this metal to forge shields means that the reserves of "Divine Blood Mine" in this mine have reached an astonishing level!
It was just a suspicion before, but now the ore is right in front of us, how can we not be excited?
Looking at this dark mine now, it is no exaggeration to say that it is a pure gold mine. Even if it is inferior ore with high impurities, the value of these ores is far beyond imagination!
As Mr. Tuster spoke, he could no longer contain his excitement and urged, "Let's go! Let's go down and take a look. The blood veins on the ore below will definitely become more and more dense..."
After hearing this, the group decisively accelerated their descending speed.
As they went down, the skeleton's broken bones became more and more.
Ryan was also very curious about what race these little skeletons, who looked a bit like the big-headed aliens from his previous life, were.
As he walked along, he asked, "Grandpa Tust, do you recognize the skeletons of these ancient civilizations? What race do they belong to?"
"Look at this skeleton... If I'm not mistaken, it should be the 'Goblin' from the mythical civilization."
Tust's tone was also slightly uncertain.
Then, he explained the reason for his speculation: "In mythology, dwarves are good at forging and very strong, so their bones are very thick. If they are gnomes or hobbits, their bone proportions should be similar to those of humans. The skull proportions of the corpses in this mine are very abrupt, and probably only the wise and cunning 'goblins' in the legend fit this..."
When Ryan heard this keyword, his intelligent brain automatically projected the introduction about "Goblins" seen in various classics.
[Goblins: A special race in myths and legends, short in stature, greedy, cunning, and extremely smart. Legend has it that they used their wisdom to create two great disciplines, "engineering" and "alchemy", and like to live in dark mines...]
Seeing this, Ryan also vaguely felt that Tust’s guess was correct. All signs showed that these shield skeletons might really be "goblins"!
He was also surprised and asked, "Are you talking about the founding race of alchemy, the goblins of the post-mythological period?"
Tust nodded, but corrected him with a rigorous mechanic's attitude, "It's unlikely to be a goblin from the mythological period. After all, that time is too far away. Even if there are relics, they can't be preserved so well. The most likely possibility is that they are a goblin bloodline that survived in this wasteland like us."
After a pause, the old man continued, "In the field of ancient alchemy scholars, the ancestor of alchemy, 'Ajitai', is worshipped as a mythical goblin. Moreover, from what we can see so far, this shield may really have been forged by a goblin! Because [Angela Black Iron] cannot be refined by ordinary smelting methods, only ancient alchemy can melt this special metal..."
Listening, Ryan thought.
…
The farther away from the ground, the better preserved the ancient ruins underground are.
Some decayed mine carts began to appear in the mine, and the two dents on the ground gradually turned into complete rusted tracks...
As if to confirm Tust's guess, more and more intact ancient objects appeared on the bones. Shields, pottery jars, weapons, ornaments, and even tattered animal skins and clothing...
These ancient artifacts have a large number of symbols, totems, and characters that are characteristic of ancient civilizations...
All signs indicate that this is truly a goblin civilization that has disappeared into the dust!
Ding, ding, ding…
After knocking another piece of ore off the rock wall and estimating the purity and reserves of the ore, Tust's laughter resounded throughout the mine.
"Hahaha... It's true. The deeper we go, the higher the purity of the 'Divine Blood Ore' becomes. Now it has reached the level of 'Grade 20'... This is an ultra-high purity ore that has never appeared on the black market! The reserves of this ore layer are definitely enough for us to refine enough [Angela Black Iron] to forge the armor of the mechanical airship. We can even... build a batch of super individual mechas!"
This old man looks like he has gone crazy.
The excitement on his face never left as he went along, and he was as excited as if he had taken stimulants.
If it were before the poison was removed, Ryan would have been afraid that the old man would just laugh it off.
But now, even the city lord Ryan is extremely happy!
Even Ymir, who was standing beside him, had a look of joy on her pretty face.
This time, she not only got a "Divine Power Crystal" of her exclusive sequence, but also found a "Divine Blood Mine" with such a huge reserve, which was of vital importance to the future development of their Black Dragon City.
Moreover, bigger surprises are yet to come!
Just when they went down to a depth of three thousand meters, the thieves who were leading the way ahead suddenly brought good news. The huge space detected by the bugs before turned out to be a complete goblin city!
