Lord Game: I Have 100 Million Talents-Chapter 89 - 72: Steel Ants... A Purely Natural Siege Weapon
After dealing with the Kobolds who were daydreaming of fighting back, Qin Feng didn’t rush toward the deeper parts of the mine.
He opened the system chat interface, found the name Invincible Tyrannosaurus Warrior, and sent him a message:
"Long Zhongyi."
"For now, take my Ratman Warriors back to your territory."
"Then, find a way to equip them with a batch of short-handled weapons. Any quality will do... as long as they can be used to fight in the narrow mine tunnels!"
"Next."
"Transfer all the other miners from your territory over here."
"Have them follow the Ratman Warriors, now equipped with short-handled weapons, down to the area near the Kobold settlement in the underground mine."
"Bring some villagers, too."
"Have them build a few Residential Buildings in the Kobold village in the mine first. That way, the miners can sleep here directly, which will speed up the daily rate of ore excavation."
"Then, arrange for more people to transport the mined Black Crystal Ore to your territory and to bring Food from your territory for the miners stationed here."
"This will maximize mining efficiency..."
As soon as the message was sent, a reply from Long Zhongyi popped up:
"Got it!"
"Tingfeng!"
"Have you already conquered the Kobolds’ territory?"
Qin Feng replied:
"Not yet."
"I’ve only taken half."
"But it won’t be long until I take the rest."
Long Zhongyi first replied with a nod:
"OK!"
"Understood!"
However, just a moment later, a new message suddenly popped up in the chat box, every line filled with palpable anxiety:
"This is bad!"
"Tingfeng!"
"These Ratman Warriors haven’t received your direct orders. It seems they aren’t willing to go with me!"
Qin Feng said calmly:
"Don’t rush."
"I’ve already sent a Messenger to inform them."
"You can head back to your territory alone for now and start preparing."
"They’ll be there shortly."
With that, Qin Feng cut off the communication, then looked at the dense cluster of Kobold stone houses before him and ordered all his Ratman Warriors to go in and loot them.
These Kobolds were natural-born miners, and aside from forging weapons and armor, they had no other use for the ore here.
Therefore, they must have hoarded a lot of gold mined from the veins, along with other miscellaneous ores, as collectibles from their work.
Sure enough.
After a round of meticulous looting by Diablo and the others.
Qin Feng instantly found himself with 1,231 units of gold, which could be converted into 1,231 Dinars.
The recruitment cost for 60 Ratman Warriors and one Leader Level Ratman was a total of 1,240 Dinars.
Subtracting the three Ratman Warriors he had already recruited.
He still needed 1,180 Dinars.
It was just enough to recruit all of them.
[You have spent 20 Dinars to recruit one "Ratman Warrior". They are departing from the "Poison Arrow Tribe" and are expected to arrive at your Lord’s Hall to report in half an hour!]
[You have spent 40 Dinars to recruit one "Leader Level Ratman". They are departing from the "Withered Leaf Tribe" and are expected to arrive at your Lord’s Hall to report in 8 hours!]
[You have spent...]
"Heh!"
’Now this is satisfying!’
Originally, Qin Feng didn’t have a single coin to his name. He had also received a recruitment time reduction from "Levy." A new round of recruitment was set to begin after 12:00 PM today, which would have wasted the slots for the Ratman Warriors he hadn’t managed to hire.
But now that he had used up all of this week’s recruitment slots, he could start preparing for next week’s recruitment fees.
He could also use the spare Dinars to upgrade his slacking Fire Fox.
This would help him defend against those dangerous Steel Ants.
’As for how to prepare... of course, I’ll have Long Zhongyi’s level-3 miners act as my personal Black Slaves.’
Qin Feng’s own territory was too far away.
If he activated Long Zhongyi’s "Joint Efforts" Talent, the temporary miners’ daily mining output would be reduced.
So, it was better to have the level-3 miners from Long Zhongyi’s territory do the digging directly. Afterwards, the resources could be given to him either via "direct transfer" or "transport to territory."
’If he tries to skim a little gold for himself, it wouldn’t be a big deal.’
’This was a wild gold mine that had spawned near Long Zhongyi’s territory to begin with. The fact that I was able to discover this gold was partly due to him.’
’He deserves a small cut...’
With that thought, Qin Feng and his men continued onward, pressing deeper into the mine.
The stone path underfoot snaked like a serpent through the wavering halo of the torches. Fine beads of water condensed on the damp rock walls, sliding slowly down the protruding ore veins to form trickling streams on the stone floor.
The deeper they went, the heavier the air became. A smell of ore mixed with rust filled their nostrils, making every breath feel heavy and oppressive.
They rounded a sharp bend, and the view before them suddenly opened up.
Beneath a massive dome, an underground city lay prostrate like a slumbering steel behemoth.
Giant gears forged from Black Crystal Stone were stacked in layers along the rock walls, driven by scorching magma that welled up from the earth’s veins, producing a deafening roar.
Thousands of Glowing Crystals, embedded in the cavern ceiling, brightly illuminated the dense rows of workshops and forges below.
Qin Feng stopped dead in his tracks. As his gaze swept over the magnificent scene before him, he couldn’t help but gasp:
"This is...?!"
"An underground city?!"
Diablo bowed his head and replied, his voice tinged with caution:
"Yes."
"Lord."
"These appear to be the ruins of an ancient civilization that sank underground a thousand years ago. It has yet to be discovered or recorded by any of the continent’s powers, so it became a place for those Kobolds to occupy."
