Lin Feng stood in front of the map, watching as everyone filed out of the Council Hall one after another.

He withdrew his gaze and walked out of the Council Hall alone.

He could navigate the layout of the inner city with his eyes closed. Passing through the small alley paved with bluestone slabs and rounding the newly built granary, the southeast corner lay just ahead.

This area was enclosed by a high perimeter wall. Two Beacon Guards stood at the entrance; upon seeing him, they immediately straightened their posture, their halberd blades held vertical.

"Lord."

Lin Feng nodded, walked up to the stone door, and pressed his hand against the cold stone wall.

With a slight thought, an interface visible only to him floated before his eyes.

【Great Qin Elite Camp (Unique)】

【Currently trainable units: Weakened Great Qin Garrison Soldier (Infantry), Great Qin Garrison Soldiers (Infantry), Great Qin Garrison Soldiers (Crossbowmen)】

【Training Requirements: Eligible Refugees or Awakened, Copper, Tin, energy crystals】

【Training Time: 10 days】

Lin Feng's gaze swept over the resource reserves.

Copper Ingots: 1,600 units

Tin Ingots: 1,600 units

Grey energy crystals: 17,400

He took a deep breath and issued the command:

"One hundred Weakened Great Qin Garrison Soldiers (Infantry)."

"Total: one hundred. Training commencing."

Grey energy crystals: 17,400 → 16,400

Copper Ingots: 1,600 → 1,500

Tin Ingots: 1,600 → 1,500

Lin Feng remained silent for a moment before turning to leave the Elite Camp. Sunlight fell upon his face, bringing a touch of warmth.

He glanced back at the building disguised as a warehouse, thinking: Although they are weakened Garrison Soldiers, they will be sufficient to defend against a Level 1 Nightmare Tide.

He walked along the inner city wall for a distance before entering the outer city.

The commercial street was busier than usual.

The shops on both sides of the street were open—salt sellers, ironmongers, medicinal herb shops, as well as several newly opened taverns and teahouses.

There were many people coming and going on the road: local subjects, foreign merchant caravans, and those working Awakened from Blue Star.

But the atmosphere today wasn't quite right.

Lin Feng slowed his pace, blending into the crowd and pricking up his ears.

"...Did you see the moon last night? It was red! Just like blood!"

"How could I not? I was so scared I didn't sleep all night! What on earth was that about?"

"I heard something big is about to happen in the Nightmare World. Some say it's a Level 5 Nightmare Tide, some say it's a mysterious recovery, and others say..."

"Don't talk nonsense! I've never heard of a Level 5 Nightmare Tide!"

"Then what do you say it was?"

"I don't know. But it's definitely nothing good."

Lin Feng passed by the front of a teahouse where several working Awakened were sitting together, their voices kept very low.

Walking a few steps further, even more outrageous claims came from the blacksmith shop:

"...Have you heard? Someone was digging for something in the north yesterday and ended up unearthing a great calamity."

"What did they dig up?"

"I heard they dug up an Ancient Evil God! The Blood Moon was drawn out by that thing!"

"Blood Moon? What's that?"

"You don't even know about that? Eighty years ago when the Blood Moon appeared, nearly a third of the nations on Blue Star were destroyed!"

"A third? Don't scare me..."

Lin Feng's footsteps paused slightly, but he did not look back.

Ancient Evil God, Blood Moon.

He continued forward, his expression unchanged, but his heart sank a little deeper.

Passing through the commercial street, he turned into a quiet alley. At the end of the alley stood an old locust tree with a stone beneath it.

He leaned against the stone and looked up at the sky.

The sky of the Nightmare World was always this color. Dark red, like coagulated blood.

But today it seemed deeper than usual, though perhaps it was just psychological.

He withdrew his gaze and began to calculate.

In ten days, the town would be upgraded to a county seat. At that time, the recruitment quota for the Great Qin Elite Camp would increase, allowing him to raise more soldiers. But the problem was the copper and tin.

He currently had iron mines, stone materials, salt, and fish, but no fixed source for copper and tin. The batch previously coordinated by Director Chen had already been used up.

He needed to return to Blue Star.

As Lin Feng thought, he pulled up his attribute panel.

【Lin Feng · Current Level: 24】

Strength: 57.9 (Base Strength 23, Wildfire Spear +4, Yellow Turban Ritualist's Headband +1, Class and Lord Bonus 130%)

With one more level, he would gain an attribute point. Adding it to Strength would bring his Base Strength to 24, which would reach 60.2 after bonuses.

60 Strength was a threshold. Breaking through it would unlock additional attribute special effects.

Lin Feng calculated: First, return to Blue Star to coordinate the copper and tin with Director Chen, then enter the Crying Rift Valley at night to grind monsters.

Going from 24 to 25, with his current strength, wouldn't be a big problem as long as he found monsters above Level 24.

Just as he was thinking this, hurried footsteps came from the mouth of the alley.

"Lord! Lord!"

Lin Feng looked up to see Zhang Ping jogging into the alley, followed by Tian Jian.

Tian Jian was red-faced from running, but his eyes were frighteningly bright. His expression was both excited and nervous, and he clutched a piece of ore in his hand as if he were harboring a monumental secret that he had been holding in the whole way and was about to burst.

Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat, followed immediately by a surge of joy.

Tian Jian had been wandering the mountains looking for mineral veins these past few days. Seeing him like this, could he have found a tin or copper mine?

"No rush," Lin Feng stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes. "Speak slowly."

Zhang Ping gasped for air, grabbing Tian Jian's sleeve: "Master Tian, you say it! You say it!"

Tian Jian swallowed hard and took a deep breath, his voice trembling: "Lord, I don't dare speak here. Let's go to the Council Hall."

Lin Feng glanced at him without asking more and strode out of the alley.

The three of them, one in front and two behind, passed through the outer city and went straight into the inner city.

The Council Hall was empty; the tea bowls left from when the meeting adjourned earlier hadn't been cleared yet.

Lin Feng walked to the main seat and sat down.

"Speak," Lin Feng said. His tone was calm, but his eyes were fixed tightly on the stone in Tian Jian's hand.

Tian Jian took a deep breath and placed the dusty grey ore on the table, pushing it ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) toward Lin Feng.

"Lord, as for the copper and tin mines... I didn't find them."

Lin Feng was startled.

"But—" Tian Jian's voice suddenly rose, carrying an irrepressible tremor, "eight li north of Beacon Fire Town, I found something else."

He pushed the stone further toward Lin Feng and pointed to the silver-white metallic veins at the fracture.

That silver-white shimmered with a cold luster under the sunlight, like a piece of unpolished jade mixed in with rubble.

Lin Feng picked up the ore and looked closer. The silver-white veins were very thin, embedded in the cracks of the stone; they would be easily overlooked if one didn't look carefully.

But its luster was too unique. It wasn't the dull grey-white of ordinary silver ore, but a near-transparent silver brilliance, as if moonlight had solidified within the stone.

His heart jumped, and a thought emerged from the depths of his mind, causing his entire body to freeze.

"This is..." his voice was a bit dry.

Tian Jian nodded heavily, his eyes turning red: "Mithril. Lord, it's a Mithril Mine."

The hall was silent for a full three seconds.

Lin Feng stared at the ore in his hand, his pupils contracting slightly.

Mithril. He had seen this term while cramming advanced knowledge of the Nightmare World.

In that book, "Introduction to Nightmare World Resources," three entire pages were dedicated to introducing this metal.

Every page was filled with words like "scarce," "strategic," and "irreplaceable."