The Christos Hills were located at the edge of the Mana Mound Plains and connected to the Titanic Mountains. It was also a buffer zone between the Ford Commercial Union and the Dwarf Kingdom. Legend had it that during the Age of Chaos, the remaining Magicians had opened a dimensional door for the future and development of the humans of Galinthea, sending the other intelligent races of Galinthea to other planes. However, they had somehow missed the Dwarf Tribe in the Titanic Mountains. After more than two thousand years, the Dwarf Tribe had slowly developed and established the Dwarf Kingdom with the Titanic Mountains as the center.
This was the only intelligent race that was similar to humans in Galinthea. However, the Dwarf Tribe's preferred area of activity was mostly in the high mountains. They had contact with humans, but there were no conflicts. On the contrary, there were some trade exchanges from time to time.
The Christos Hills were nominally within the sphere of influence of the Commercial Union, but in reality, the Commercial Union could not effectively divide and govern the Christos Hills. To put it bluntly, the mountain people who lived here were naturally unruly, brave, and aggressive. A joke or a collision could lead to large-scale bloody fights. At present, the Commercial Union had adopted a pacifying policy. It was said that there was a proposal to divide the Christos Hills into areas as fiefdoms for those who had made contributions to the Commercial Union. The Commercial Union was still considering this proposal.
After three days and two nights, Fatty Shi brought Lollister and the others to their destination, a small village called Barca. The person who welcomed them was the client of this private job, the village chief of Barca Village, who was also the owner of the mine, a middle-aged man called Pam.
Speaking of which, Pam was also Lollister's senior and had graduated from Dawn College. Pam's father had participated in the Commercial Union's war against the Christen Empire. Later, he had been injured and returned to his hometown. Having seen the world, he wanted to change the poverty and backwardness of the village, so he gritted his teeth and collected the tuition fees to send Pam to Dawn College. Pam had studied for three years, and his two majors were resource exploration and mineral development. However, these two majors had always been unpopular in Dawn College. The tutors who taught these two courses were not very professional, either. They only read from the books and talked on paper. Later, the college abolished these two majors.
After returning to his hometown, it took Barm five or six years to combine the theoretical knowledge and practical experience he had learned. Finally, he discovered a vein under a small mountain near the small village of Baka. After mining it, he discovered that it was an associated silver tin ore. Although it didn't produce much, this small mine became the pillar of survival for the five or six small villages around it. With this small mine, no one in the surrounding villages had starved to death in the past ten years. Basically, food and clothing had been ensured. Pam had also relied on the profits of this small mine to send the talented children in the village to Morente to study, hoping that they would have a better future when they grew up.
After chatting with Pam, everyone began to admire Pam. Not everyone could give up on developing in Morent City and return to his hometown to change the situation of poverty. This was especially so since he had used the money he earned to send the children in the village to school after opening a small mine. This was even rarer. Laurist and Yuri had experienced it firsthand. The tuition fees for a few children in Morrent City was not a small sum.
Senior Pam was very straightforward. He said that he had found traces of Goldbiter Rats in the depths of the mine a year ago. As a Black Iron Swordsman, he had led people down to kill two of them, and then stopped for a while. Later, he had found traces of Goldbiter Rats one after another. He had led people down to patrol and killed about a dozen of them in a year. It wasn't until two months ago that the miners who were working were attacked by Goldbiter Rats. Three of them died and five were injured. Only then did he feel that something was wrong. He gathered all the people in the surrounding villages who had awakened qi. Including himself, there were three Black Iron Swordsmen and eleven Bronze Swordsmen, and they prepared to go down to the mine to eliminate the Goldbiter Rats.
However, this operation did not achieve its goal. Pam's team was attacked by nearly a hundred Goldbiter Rats in the mine. The team of fourteen people was caught off guard, and almost everyone was injured. Although they killed no less than thirty Goldbiter Rats, they could not stop the waves of attacks from the Goldbiter Rats. In the end, they barely managed to retreat to the surface, paying the price of serious injuries with nine people.
At this time, Pam had already realized that the Goldbiter Rats in the mine had become a disaster. The only way was to issue a mission and commission mercenaries to eliminate the Goldbiter Rats. However, he was a little short on money. After paying the miners' compensation and the medical expenses of his people, he had less than 30 gold coins left. Moreover, because he had closed the mine for more than a month, he had no income, and he had to leave some money to buy food to distribute to the surrounding villages. Therefore, he could only take out a dozen gold coins as a reward. The news that the Mercenary Guild had heard from him disappointed him. A commission like his would take a commission of five gold coins, and the remaining money was not enough to pay the mercenaries for completing the mission.
Pam suddenly remembered that when he was studying at Dawn College, the students in the college often formed adventure teams to take on missions to earn extra money. Therefore, he had asked the children who were studying at the college to ask around, and they found Fatty Shi.
After listening to Pam's story, everyone was relieved. This private mission should not be risky, and everyone trusted Village Chief Pam's character. Fatty Shi analyzed the situation for everyone. According to the information provided by Senior Pam, there should be around 200 to 300 Goldbiter Rats in the mine. It could be considered a small rat swarm that was developing into a medium-sized one. If it was a large rat swarm, then there would be at least a thousand of them surrounding Senior Pam's party. If there were nearly a hundred surrounding them, the five of them would be enough to deal with the three Silver and two Black Irons. Even if they could not kill all the Goldbiter Rats, they would be able to kill the female rat king and force the remaining Goldbiter Rats to leave the area where the mine was.
Although the 18 gold coins that Senior Pam had paid was not enough, it was enough for everyone to earn a sum of money. Moreover, Senior Pam would bring two Bronze Swordsmen to join the team. Firstly, they would act as guides, and secondly, they would help everyone carry their luggage. It was all a free service. The most important thing was that all the gains from this mission belonged to the adventure team. Precious metal ores could often be found in the nests of the Goldbiter Rats. In the past, someone had obtained a large piece of Gold Nugget, which was a good thing. Therefore, this adventure was very worth it. Everyone had a good night's rest, and they would set off tomorrow.
"Generally speaking, the meat of the Goldbiter Rats is a little sour, but it can be eaten without worry. It will taste better if it is made into bacon jerky. The internal organs and blood have to be thrown away, as they are inedible and contain heavy metal toxins. The most powerful part of the Goldbiter Rats are their two front teeth, which are extremely hard. On the market, the price of one front tooth is a small silver coin. However, their fur is useless. The main thing is that the smell can't be removed. No matter how it is tanned, there is a stench similar to that of a sewer. It attracts mosquitoes and flies, so it is discarded … "
In the mine, Aire was assigned to scout ahead. Fatty Shi, Yuri, and Terman walked in the middle, while Lollister, Senior Pam, and the two Bronze Swordsmen with metal cages followed behind. As Lollister walked, he showed off the knowledge he had learned from the professional course on magical beasts to Senior Pam. "The Goldbiter Rats hate the smell of pine trees, especially their roots. The potion we applied at the crossroads was extracted from the old roots of pine trees. This is to prevent the Goldbiter Rats from escaping, and to prevent them from moving around …"
"Yes, that's right. This is the result of research published last year. It is the latest discovery of Professor Snard Borg, the tutor of our academy's magical beasts specialization. For this, he won the Stafford Research Award, and a prize of 200,000 gold coins. This discovery is good news for all mine owners. As long as the potion is applied regularly in the mine, the Goldbiter Rats can be driven away from the mines to prevent them from being disturbed. "
"It's not expensive. A large barrel only costs three gold coins, and it can last for a month. In fact, if you use it for a long time, the mine will naturally retain the smell of pine trees. After using it for a year or two, you won't need to apply the potion anymore. It's really worth it! Senior Pam, think about it. If you want to buy it, send me a message. Right now, this potion is in short supply, and the academy's production is limited. Only insiders can get their hands on it. If you want to use it, I'll definitely get it for you based on our friendship. "
Lollister was rather pleased. As long as Senior Pam was interested, he would be able to get a share of the sale of a barrel of potion. With twelve barrels of potion a year, he would be able to get twelve gold coins without any effort. This was a good deal. Should he go to those mines to promote this potion after he returned?
Lollister and the others went deeper and deeper, and had already encountered two waves of Goldbiter Rats. More than two hundred Goldbiter Rats died under the adventurer team's swords. Putting aside Fatty Shi, El, and Terman, who were at the Silver rank, just the performance of Yuri and Lollister, who were at the Iron rank, left Senior Pam and the two Bronze Swordsmen speechless.
Yuri stood in the middle of the triangle formed by Fatty Shi, El, and Terman. Facing the swarm of Goldbiter Rats, he did not take on the role of the main attacker. Instead, he picked up the slack that Fatty Shi and the other two had no worries and could kill freely. Meanwhile, Lollister's performance was even more exaggerated. He stood alone with his sword, and he killed dozens of Goldbiter Rats with each swing of his sword. Not a single drop of rat blood was on him, and he was not any slower than Fatty Shi and the others.
Pam and the other two felt ashamed. Fourteen of them had entered the cave, and they had encountered the same number of Goldbiter Rats. Which one of them had not been flustered? Not only had they been chased by the Goldbiter Rats, but nine of them had also been seriously injured. Now, looking at the others, they were killing so easily, as if they were practicing swordsmanship.
After killing these two waves of Goldbiter Rats, Fatty Shi decided that everyone should take a break, take a breather, and collect their spoils of war. Yuri took a pair of large pincers and prepared to extract the Goldbiter Rats' teeth. Senior Pam had asked everyone if they wanted the corpses of the Goldbiter Rats, but he remembered Lollister's words that rat meat was edible, so he had a Bronze Swordsman return to the village and find some people to bring back the corpses of the Goldbiter Rats for the villagers to eat.
After eating some rations and taking a short nap, Fatty Shi decided to split up. He would take Terman and Yuri to the left fork, while Lollister and Ell would take the right fork. There shouldn't be many Gold Biter Rats left anyway. All they had to do now was find the rat nest and kill the female Rat King, and everything would be over.
Lollister carried the bag of Goldbiter Rat repellent potion on his back and casually applied it as he walked.
El asked, "What are you doing?"
Lollister briefly introduced the effects of the potion. Because El did not own a mine, he had no intention of selling it to him.
El was very suspicious of the effects of the potion, so the two began to bicker again.
After walking for a long time, they did not discover anything. Seeing that they were almost at the end of the main tunnel, they did not discover anything, nor did they encounter any Goldbiter Rats. El said, "Let's go back. There's nothing here."
Just as he finished speaking, the rock wall in front of them suddenly arched up. Then, with a rumble, it burst open, and a huge black head popped out. It seemed to sniff the air a few times before pouncing at Lollister and El.
"What's that?" Lollister was so shocked that he dropped the torch in his hand. This thing was a little too big. The head was at least two meters in diameter.
"Hurry up and run!" El grabbed Lollister and turned to run.
"F * ck, I knew nothing good would come out of meeting you. I was already unlucky enough the last two times, and this time, you insisted on joining. I've been on tenterhooks, worried that I would run out of luck. Now, I can finally relax. Killing rats and getting this thing, even if I'm unlucky, it's the end of my bad luck. "Lollister complained as he ran behind El.
"You still haven't thanked me for pulling you out. Otherwise, you would have been swallowed by that thing a long time ago. Didn't you see that you were so scared just now that you even dropped the torch?" El replied.
"I just suddenly thought of the legendary horned rock python from the mine incident. I was afraid that the thing behind us was this thing. When I saw that head and that long body, I realized it was that thing, so I froze." Lollister's face was a bit hot. He had indeed froze in fear just now. Thankfully, El had pulled him out.
El looked back as he ran. After a while, he said, "I don't think it's a horned rock python. The thing behind us isn't fast, and its head is round. It doesn't seem to have eyes, and it doesn't have scales …"
"No way. How can you see in such a dark place? Don't treat me like a child. Do I look that easy to fool? Also, don't run so fast. We can't see anything clearly. Be careful of crashing into the rock wall, "Lollister said.
"Haha." El laughed proudly. "You know that I train in dark element battle aura, but you don't know that training in dark element battle aura allows one to have night vision, right? Although it's dark here, it's like daytime to me. This is my innate ability. How about it? Aren't you awesome? Aren't you envious? I'm not like you who lost your torch and became blind. "
"Damn, I have plenty of gold coins. I can afford lamp oil. Unlike you who never lights up … "Lollister was both envious and jealous. This guy's night vision seemed to be not much worse than his dynamic vision, especially at night.
"So you're saying that you must have had a great time in the female bathroom that day. Although it's very dark inside, it's not a problem for you," Lollister said while panting.
"Can I not mention what happened that day? Brother really was facing the wall. He didn't see those old women … "As Lollister said this, El thought of the heart-wrenching words again and panicked. In the end, he was careless and tripped over a rock.
Lollister hurried over to help him up. El grabbed Lollister's arm and climbed up. "Huh? Loke, why are you hurt? Why are your clothes wet? "
Lollister was shocked. He touched himself up and down. "Oh, I'm not hurt. The bag of potions broke, and the potions spilled all over my body. Are you okay? I think I heard something behind us again. "
"I'm fine. That thing is catching up again. Let's run."
Not long after, they saw Fatty Shi and the others waiting at the place where they were resting. The two of them ran until they were out of breath. They couldn't speak, so they could only wave their hands and tell everyone to run. Fatty Shi and the others thought it was funny when they saw Lollister and El dancing. They couldn't stop laughing. Then, they saw a big guy chasing after them with a loud rumble. Now it was lively. Everyone turned around and ran out of the mine as fast as they could.
Fatty Shi was fat, but he ran the fastest. He was the first to run out of the mine, followed by Yuri, Terman, Pam, and a Bronze Swordsman. Finally, El and Lollister. Outside the mine, the other Bronze Swordsman and the villagers, who were about to load the carcasses of the Goldbiter Rats back to the village, were stunned when they saw them escape. What happened now?
Fatty Shi shouted at them, "Run! Spread out! Don't stay at the entrance! There's a magical beast coming out!"
Everyone immediately scattered like birds and beasts. Fortunately, the big guy chasing them seemed to be afraid of light. It chased them to the entrance and shrank back.
Fatty Shi heaved a sigh of relief and asked Lollister and El, "What was that? How did you meet it? Ptui, Loke, what's that smell on you? Did you pee? "
Lollister said, "No, I poured some potion on my body. It's the potion that our academy's Professor Snade Borg invented to repel the Goldbiter Rats. Since this job is to kill the Goldbiter Rats, I brought a bucket with me. "
"Damn! Are you kidding me? You brought the potion over. I know what's in it. "Fatty Shi jumped up and punched Lollister angrily.
"No, Fatty Shi, tell me clearly. This potion can repel the Goldbiter Rats. Isn't that good?" Lollister asked as he dodged.
"Good my ass! It's true that this potion can repel the Goldbiter Rats, but it can attract an earth dragon. That thing inside is an earth dragon. It was attracted by your potion. "
"Do you know what an earth dragon is? It's a demonized variant of an earthworm. Its favorite thing to drink is the potion refined from pine tree roots. If you don't believe me, you can go dig under the pine tree yourself. I guarantee it'll be a nest of earthworms. There are even people in the academy who use this potion to hunt earth dragons. "
"When Professor Borg invented this potion, he wanted to make a fortune. In the end, he drove away the Goldbiter Rats and attracted an earth dragon, causing him to lose his two hundred thousand yuan prize money. Don't you know that the potion he produced is piled up in the academy and can't be sold? F * ck, only an idiot like you would fall for the professor's trick! "Fatty Shi was flustered and exasperated.
F * ck, no wonder the professor promised him three gold coins per barrel. If he sold a barrel, he would get one gold coin. How could there be such a good deal in the world! Lollister hugged his head and squatted on the ground. "Go ahead and beat me. Everyone, come and beat me up to vent your anger."
No one came to beat him. Since things had reached this point, they had to think of a way to solve it. Compared to other magical beasts, earth dragons were easier to deal with. After discussing for a long time, everyone felt that it was more reliable to use fishing.
Earth dragons were actually extra-large earthworms. They were afraid of water and light, and were a kind of scavenging magical beast with a mild temperament. They didn't take the initiative to attack living targets. Of course, this had a lot to do with their large bodies, slow speed, and slow reflexes. With the help of Chief Bam and the villagers, Fatty Shi spent six days making a thick rope that was nearly a hundred meters long. They also made a big iron hook that looked like a ship's anchor. Then, Loriste made up for his mistake by carrying the big iron hook with the thick rope on his back and entering the mine alone.
As he walked in, he found that there was someone beside him. It was Ell. Lollister asked, "What are you doing here?"
Ell said, "Of course I'm here to accompany you. If Fatty Shi hadn't asked Yuri and Terman to help pull the rope, they would have come as well. Because we are companions. "
Lollister was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes.
After walking for a while, Ell said that it was about time. So he put down the big iron hook and wrapped it around the rag. Lollister poured the remaining half barrel of potion on the big iron dog and the rag.
Soon, there was a "huff, puff" sound in the mine again. Ell said to run, and the two rushed out of the mine.
Before he reached the entrance of the cave, the thick rope on the ground jumped up and tightened a meter in the air. Lollister said happily, "It took the bait."
Outside the mine, Fatty Shi was instructing the villagers to use a few big wheels to start a tug-of-war with the earth dragon in the mine. From morning to afternoon, they finally managed to pull the earth dragon to the entrance of the mine. However, the earth dragon seemed to be resisting something and refused to come out. Finally, as everyone shouted the slogan "One, two, three, use your strength!", Lollister saw the mine erupt like a flash flood. Black, smelly blood and mucus gushed out, and the big iron hook flew out, with tubular strips of various sizes hooked on it.
Fatty Shi walked closer to take a look and said with satisfaction, "Not bad, all the internal organs are out. The earth dragon is dead. Tomorrow, we'll go in and pull out the skin. "
The earth dragon's regenerative ability was very strong, and external injuries could easily recover. Therefore, people used the characteristic of the earth dragon to swallow the intestines in one bite to come up with the hunting method of fishing the earth dragon. As long as the internal organs of the earth dragon were pulled out, the earth dragon would be finished.
There was nothing valuable on the earth dragon's body. The only thing that was useful was its thick skin. The people cut the skin into pieces and threw them into the pot. When it was boiled into soup, it would become a very good binding agent. When it was mixed with sand, it could be used to build walls and lay a good foundation. When it was dry, it would be joined together and become extremely strong.
Because it was Lollister who had caused the trouble, Fatty Shi gave the earth dragon's skin to Senior Pam, which made him very happy. With the earth dragon's skin as a binding agent, he could build a batch of good houses in the village for the villagers to live in.
After another three days, Lollister and his companions cleared out all the Goldbiter Rats in the mine. They hung an iron cage in a corner and placed the corpse of a Goldbiter Rat in the cage to let it rot naturally. This way, if any Goldbiter Rats passed by in the future, they would smell the dead Goldbiter Rats left in the iron cage and naturally avoid the mine.
After everything was done, everyone bid farewell to Senior Pam and set out on the road back to the city.
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