"What's your name?" Suhlen put down the map and asked.
"My lord, my name is Bach Ironhammer Schild …" the dwarf quickly said.
"Bach, are you sure that the silver mine on this map contains mithril?" Suhlen interrupted Bach's self-introduction and asked directly.
"Of course I'm sure. My Lord, I used to be a miner in a silver mine. I once dug out a piece of mithril from this silver mine, but that stingy King Thorne only gave me a pound of gold as a reward …" Bach continued to blabber on, obviously very dissatisfied with that king.
"Alright, since you're sure that there's mithril here, I'll let you form a team of miners, and you'll be the leader. If you can find mithril, then I'll give you the position of the city lord of Orlando. But if you can't find mithril, then …" Suhlen stared at the dwarf in front of him and said.
"My lord, please don't worry. I'll definitely find mithril for you!" Bach patted his chest and promised.
"In that case, it's decided. If you can find mithril, I'll reward you generously. Status, money, or even vodka will be given. Now it all depends on your performance," Suhlen said with a smile.
"My lord, I'll form a team of miners right away!" After hearing Suhlen's promise, Bach could no longer sit still. He hurriedly left the lord's castle and went to find other gray dwarves to form a team.
Suhlen threw the map aside with some disdain and found another piece of parchment to copy the map. Although it had been washed, the parchment still had the smell of salted vegetables on it.
The map on the parchment was a little crude. After all, mapping in this world was not a professional subject like it was in his previous world. Most of the time, only they could understand the map they drew. To others, it was a completely abstract drawing. Fortunately, the map was drawn well. Although it was still crude, the general location was drawn.
Soon, Suhlen completely copied the parchment. After comparing the two maps again to make sure that he didn't miss anything, Suhlen picked up the parchment and threw it directly into the brazier. The flames rose and quickly burned the parchment into a pile of ash. He opened the window to disperse the smoke.
After forming a team of 50 miners, Bach excitedly brought his team back to Orlando to mine silver. The remaining two iron mines and copper mines also needed to be mined. The remaining 100 or so Gray Dwarves also formed three mining teams and then went to Orlando to mine ores.
After the population of the northern city expanded, there was a shortage of all kinds of tools and ironware. Moreover, the army also needed a lot of equipment. The surface iron mine was originally not big. Before Suhlen obtained it, many tribes had already mined it. Now, the output of the mine was very low. was close to exhaustion. This was one of the reasons why Suhlen was in a hurry to control the underground world.
After several expansions, the number of soldiers in the northern city had increased to four thousand. There were three hundred barbarians, four hundred centaurs, one hundred drows, and three hundred half-elves. Apart from the war spirits that Suhlen had summoned, the rest were all humans.
If the militia, the city guards, and the five hundred men stationed in Mirror Lake City were included, the number of soldiers in Northern Battlefront City had reached a shocking six thousand men. Adding all the people in Northern Battlefront City and the newly captured Grey Dwarves, the total population had only reached twenty thousand.
One-third of the population were soldiers. Such a high proportion, no matter how one looked at it, could be said to be militaristic. If it weren't for the buffs from the Harvest Altar and the numerous slaves, the northern city wouldn't even be able to support themselves with food.
Not to mention the money, resources, and equipment needed to raise so many soldiers. In the past, the size of the northern city's army wasn't very obvious. Now, just maintaining the number of soldiers required tens of thousands of Kinnar's worth of pay every month.
Suhlen had always been curious. How did his predecessors manage to not pay the soldiers and make them listen to orders obediently? They were even braver than the other when they went into battle. If Suhlen dared to not pay the soldiers in the northern city for a few months, there would be a large number of deserters. It wouldn't be strange if there was even a rebellion.
If it weren't for the sugar trade that gave the northern city a lot of money, it would have taken years of hard work to develop the city to this extent.
The northern city's army needed a lot of equipment. Apart from the army, the centaur tribes also needed equipment to protect their herds. Fortunately, Suhlen had made a lot of money from the raid on the grey dwarves' city. Not only did he solve the problem of money, but he also solved the problem of equipment.
After settling the matters in the northern city, Suhlen brought the grey dwarves' mining team and the drows back to the underworld. He was going to restore the grey dwarves' mines and clean up the dangerous areas around the mines.
He returned to Orlando. At this time, there were a hundred barbarian warriors and a hundred centaurs guarding the city. A group of Subterrane Dweller slaves were in charge of the labor.
These Subterrane Dwellers were short. Because they lived in the dark for a long time, their eyes had deteriorated. They relied on infrared sensing to survey their surroundings, so Blindness and Petrification spells didn't work on them. Most dungeons had Subterrane Dweller slaves. They were the best growers in the underworld.
Suhlen brought three teams of grey dwarves to the various mines. The grey dwarves had discovered a lot of ore veins, but many of them were occupied by monsters from the underworld. The grey dwarves had to clear out all kinds of monsters every once in a while. If it wasn't for this, the other veins would have been excavated by them long ago.
After resting in Orlando for a day, Suhlen brought a team of drows and miners out of the city. They passed through some narrow tunnels and headed to the first mine.
This mine was the closest to Orlando. It was an iron ore mine that produced good quality iron ore. It was a few grades better than the iron ore produced by Suhlen's surface mine. The group moved forward in the dark tunnel, encountering a few Hook Horrors along the way.
Hook Horrors were a common type of monster in the underworld. They had sharp hearing and walked on two feet. Their heads looked like vultures, and their eyes were small. They had sharp beaks and a pair of compound eyes. Their bodies were covered with a layer of hard gray carapace. They looked ugly.
Their eyesight was poor, but like bats, they could emit high-frequency sound waves to determine the enemy's position.
Just as Suhlen led the team forward in the tunnel, a dozen shadows suddenly jumped down from above. Suhlen reacted quickly. Because the tunnel was narrow, he didn't use the Purple Dragon Halberd. Instead, he swapped it for a longsword forged by the dwarves. He subconsciously swung the longsword in his hand.
The Hook Horrors that attacked Suhlen didn't expect Suhlen's reaction to be so fast. They didn't have time to react before the sharp sword swept across them. The powerful force directly split open the hard carapace on the Hook Horrors. The monster that was about 2.7 meters tall and weighed nearly 200 kilograms was directly cut in half.
The next dozen or so Hook Horrors didn't affect the team at all. As soon as the Hook Horrors attacked, the Drows dodged. As for the Duergar, they were wearing heavy armor, so the Hook Horrors attacking them was a waste of energy.
Soon, the dozen Hook Horrors were all killed. No one died in the team. Only a few grey dwarves suffered some minor injuries. After Suhlen healed them, the team continued on their way.
After walking out of the dark tunnel and passing through two desolate underground caverns, Suhlen's team finally arrived at the first mine. They hadn't mined this mine for a while. When Suhlen arrived, he found that the mine had been occupied by the monsters of the underworld. A group of vampire bats and underground salamanders used this place as their nest.
The grey dwarves were already prepared for this situation. They first used smoke to smoke the monsters out, then worked together to kill them. It didn't take long for the mine to be cleared out.
The information of this mine appeared on Suhlen's system panel.
[Iron Mine: Ore Quality + 5, Ore Yield + 8, Mine Disaster Reduction + 5, Associated Ore Veins + 2, Chance of Producing Dark Iron Ore.]
With the grey dwarves' work, the iron mine quickly resumed production. Seeing that the mine had resumed production, Suhlen didn't stop and led the rest of the team to the next mine.
The second mine was a gem mine. When Suhlen arrived, he found that the vein looked gloomy. There were some shadow-like creatures outside the vein.
The Twisted Shadow was a type of undead creature that was formed due to certain reasons. It was similar to a ghost. This thing had very high resistance to physical damage and appeared in groups. It was very unfriendly to those who purely focused on physical attacks. At the same time, it also had spell-like abilities.
If Suhlen hadn't come with them today, this team of grey dwarves would've been finished. Their half-energy form could reduce physical damage by 50%. Normal weapons would be troublesome to deal with them, no matter how sharp they were. Elemental weapons had to be used to deal with them.
Even more troublesome was that these monsters lived in groups. Their best attack was the Touch of Death, which could drain the enemy's energy and strength. Once the energy was drained, the enemy's life force would be depleted. In the adventurer's handbook, these monsters were rated as Grade-A. Without a special way to deal with them, it was best not to provoke them.
"Crack!"
There was a soft sound, as if someone had stepped on something and broken it. Although it was a very soft sound, it was very abrupt in this quiet environment. The wandering Twisted Shadows instantly noticed this place.
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