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Goblin Simulation: Building a Dark Empire-Chapter 124 – Silver ore
"Benben, you don't need to follow me. Go play wherever you want."
Watching his leader's departing figure, Benben didn't get up. He lay back down on the ground and continued to snore away.
Ever since he started following the boss, he had grown fond of a life of eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating. The goblins provided him with food, meat to eat, and tasty fruits.
After leaving the Throne Tribe, Li Meng headed north.
***
Half an hour later, at the Iron Cave.
On the bank of the underground river, the extinguished blast furnace roared back to life.
"Boss, boss!"
As soon as Li Meng entered the Iron Cave, Gobu Ge came running over excitedly.
"Boss, boss, look at this!"
Gobu Ge held up a silver stone with a fawning expression.
"What is this?"
Li Meng took the stone from Gobu Ge's hands and examined it. It looked somewhat like iron ore, but the material on it was silver.
"I don't know. We found it hiding deep in the cave, boss. This cave is really deep, with many bottomless abysses. We discovered these stones in a small stream, and they glow in the water."
Stones that glow in water?
Li Meng turned and walked towards the underground river.
At the riverbank, Li Meng threw the stone into the water, and just as Gobu Ge had said, it emitted a faint silver glow. It made the stone look very beautiful.
"Could it be mithril?"
Looking at the glowing ore in the water, Li Meng mused to himself. In Western fantasy movies, there was often a precious metal called "mithril."
This reminded Li Meng of the greatsword used by the human warrior "Carlos." Carlos's greatsword also emitted the same glow in water. Perhaps this was the main material used to forge that sword.
The greatsword in Carlos's hand was extremely resilient. His Big Iron Rod couldn't inflict any damage on it, not even a nick on the blade.
"Gobu Ge, go mine some of these stones. I need them now!"
If it's metal, it must be smeltable.
Gobu Ge turned and sprinted towards the depths of the cave.
By the water, Li Meng crouched down and picked up the stone from the water. Once out of the water, the stone returned to its original state.
"This cave is truly a treasure trove. I must explore it thoroughly when I have the time!"
Although he couldn't yet determine what the ore in his hand was, Li Meng had a strong premonition that he had stumbled upon something valuable.
And so he waited for five hours.
***
Five hours later, in the afternoon.
At the Iron Cave, on the underground riverbank.
Two goblins carried over a basket full of silver ore.
"Throw these ores into the bonfire!"
If the silver ore was indeed metal, the smelting process shouldn't differ much from iron.
Li Meng directed the goblin underlings to start burning the silver ore. Soon, the bonfire blazed fiercely.
Standing by the bonfire, Li Meng watched the silver ore in the flames with anticipation.
***
Three hours later, by the bonfire.
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Li Meng looked at the unchanged ore in his hand with a speechless expression.
It wasn't entirely unchanged. The non-silver parts of the stone had become brittle from the heat, but the silver material remained unaffected. It was very hard, impossible to crush.
"Gobu Ge, fire up the furnace!"
Li Meng dumped the ore into the blast furnace to begin smelting.
Time slowly passed, and night gradually deepened. Li Meng sat by the blast furnace, staring intently at it, while over a dozen goblins panted as they worked the bellows. Waves of scorching heat hit him in the face.
***
The next morning, at the Iron Cave, on the underground riverbank.
"Boss, still no change!"
Gobu Ge extracted a piece of ore from the bottom gate. After a night of smelting, the ore remained unchanged.
"Could it be that the smelting method is wrong?"
Looking at the ore at his feet, Li Meng pondered. After all, some precious metals required special smelting methods.
"Looks like I'll need to find a human adventurer!"
He regretted not keeping some human captives. Otherwise, he could have figured out what this mysterious thing was.
"Boss, should we keep smelting?"
"Yes, but not this stuff. Smelt steel!"
Later that day, Li Meng began smelting steel again. He selected some human steel armor from the spoils of war for secondary smelting.
It wasn't until the seventh day that Li Meng left the Iron Cave.
"Ah, the sun feels so good!"
Outside the Iron Cave, Li Meng basked in the scorching sunlight. The warm and slightly stinging sensation on his skin made him feel comfortable.
After enjoying the sun for a while, Li Meng entered the forest. In the dim forest, he walked slowly, carrying the Big Iron Rod on his shoulder, deep in thought.
"How can I change the future where the Black Mountain tribe summons the Barbarian God 'Aqua'?"
The source of this future event was the Temple Knights of the Papal State. But in previous future lines, the causes of the event were different each time.
The first time, it was because the expeditionary army was completely annihilated, and out of fear, they summoned the Barbarian God 'Aqua.'
The second time, it was because they couldn't defeat the pair of strong human warriors, so they summoned the Barbarian God 'Aqua.'
The third time was this current one. Each time, there were different reasons for summoning the Barbarian God 'Aqua.'
There was something strange about this matter. The first and second times, the future was altered to prevent the Black Mountain tribe from summoning the Barbarian God 'Aqua.' But the future where the Black Mountain tribe summons the Barbarian God 'Aqua' hadn't changed.
So, there was only one answer: the timing difference of the Temple Knights of the Papal State.
The threat of the Temple Knights of the Papal State was always present. The Black Mountain tribe just didn't know about it.
If in the previous future lines, the Black Mountain tribe had summoned the Barbarian God 'Aqua,' the Temple Knights of the Papal State would have appeared as well. But they would have faced not the Black Mountain tribe, but the Barbarian God 'Aqua' summoned by the Black Mountain tribe.
The strength of those two human warriors was also a mystery. Their power might be even greater than Carlos's. Even Carlos couldn't withstand an attack from tens of thousands of goblins.
Carlos was indeed powerful, but his magic and stamina were limited. The stronger the magic and combat skills, the more magic power they consumed. When magic power was exhausted, it accelerated the depletion of stamina, putting the body in a weakened state.
In this state, even a strong warrior would become extremely vulnerable. Therefore, on a large battlefield, even a strong warrior could hardly change the course of battle.
Yet, those two human warriors forced the Black Mountain tribe, with its tens of thousands of members, to summon the Barbarian God 'Aqua.'
Of course, there was another possibility.
The Black Mountain tribe might not have known the dangers of summoning the Barbarian God, so they chose to summon it to deal with the human warriors. Perhaps the Black Mountain tribe believed that the god they worshipped wouldn't harm them.
"Steal the sacrificial disk?"
This thought had barely emerged before Li Meng dismissed it. With his large build, sneaking into the Black Mountain tribe to steal the sacrificial disk was nearly impossible.
The Black Mountain tribe was surely not a small place. Finding the sacrificial disk would be a major challenge.