Chapter 149: Mineral Resources

Although Heatherway had already mastered the spell feat of casting without materials, some spell effects simply could not be achieved without materials.

For example, the grease used in the Grease Spell. The rose ointment that Heatherway carefully prepared was much more effective than what the casting without materials feat could produce. It was not only extremely slippery, but also carried a seductive floral scent and was very moisturizing.

Every day, several boxes of this rose ointment were consumed. Chris also praised this rose grease repeatedly.

During this period, both Heatherway and Chris grew in strength very quickly. Both had learned many spells. Of course, in this aspect, Chris could not compare to Heatherway, as the latter was a proper Wizard. However, Chris had her own strengths, such as the flexibility of her demon body and her extraordinary binding art, which often captivated Su Lun.

…

After wiping out the Troll Tribe, peace returned to Northguard Keep. Now he was considering how to subdue that group of Drow Elves. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“Lord, the caravan manager Ji En requests an audience,” a servant said respectfully.

“Bring him here,” Su Lun said after signing a document.

“Please wait a moment,” the servant bowed respectfully, took a few steps back, and then turned to leave. Soon, Ji En came in with a man in his thirties. The man was wearing Northguard Keep’s custom-made clothing. He was not physically strong, looked somewhat old, and had many calluses visible on his left hand. His other sleeve was empty.

“Honorable Lord, your servant Ji En greets you,” the caravan manager Ji En said respectfully.

“Alright Ji En, no need to be so polite,” Su Lun pointed to the seats nearby, indicating for the two to sit down. After they had taken their seats, Su Lun asked, “Ji En, do you have something to report this time?”

“Lord, this is Marshall. He has an important matter to report to you,” Ji En said, pointing to the man beside him. “He is a slave I bought back from Karlt City this time.”

Su Lun glanced at Marshall and then signaled for him to speak.

“Ho… Honorable Lord, I am a prospector. I discovered a mineral vein near your territory,” Marshall said nervously at first, but soon became excited, his eyes shining with enthusiasm.

“Mineral resources?” Su Lun, who had been looking through documents, stopped. “What kind of mineral resources?”

“Coal! I discovered a coal mine in your territory, and the quality is quite good,” Marshall said excitedly.

“You found a coal mine? Where?” Su Lun pressed immediately. A coal mine was very important for the territory. Although charcoal could be used for iron smelting, he would naturally not pass up the chance to have better coal. Moreover, compared to charcoal, coal was cheaper and had more uses.

“I estimated the general area. The exact location needs further exploration…” Marshall said, his face glowing.

Listening to his account, Su Lun learned how the coal mine was discovered. He had to admit that Marshall was a thoughtful person. As a prospector, he was young and capable, with rich experience, and his monthly salary was quite good. However, an accident at the mine later left him disabled. After the accident, he was directly fired from the mine, without even receiving his wages for that month. After losing his job and becoming disabled, he felt his future was bleak.

Every day he drowned his sorrows in alcohol and even picked up the bad habit of gambling. The end result was that his wife divorced him, he became penniless, and he owed a large debt to the casino. Finally, unable to repay the debt, he was sold into slavery by the casino.

After arriving at Northguard Keep, forced by the need to survive, he had to work if he wanted to eat. Moreover, upon hearing that there was a chance to regain freedom and receive rewards such as land and housing, he immediately became reinvigorated.

In order to quickly shed his slave status and have his own house and fields, Marshall began using his most skilled ability to earn Points. During a casual conversation, he heard about Ogres forging weapons, which drew his attention to one detail: the Ogres used coal to forge weapons.

Since there was coal, there must be a coal mine nearby. Then, Marshall actually managed to determine the approximate location of the coal mine based on these few clues.

After receiving the news about the coal mine, Su Lun was also very surprised and directly promised, “Marshall, if it is confirmed that the coal mine there is real, I can grant you freedom from slavery, reward you with housing and twenty acres of good farmland, and I will hire you as the mineral advisor of Northguard Keep.”

“Thank you for your kindness, honorable Lord. I am willing to work for you and help you find underground mineral resources,” Marshall said excitedly.

Next, Su Lun arranged for some men to follow Marshall to investigate the coal mine. Two days later, news came that they had found the mineral resources. Even better news was that this coal mine was actually an open-pit mine, which minimized the difficulty of mining.

Marshall sent back samples from the mine. Su Lun found that the quality of this coal was only average and not suitable for forging weapons. To use it, further processing was needed to turn the coal into coke.

The method of turning coal into coke was very similar to making charcoal. Both involved dry distillation in the absence of air. This was not difficult for Northguard Keep, which already had rich experience in making charcoal. They simply improved upon the charcoal-making process.

Then, using coke for steelmaking, the temperature provided by coke far exceeded that of coal and charcoal. Originally, the Iron-smelting Blast Furnace took several days to melt the ore. Now, with coke, it took about one day.

To mine the coal, Su Lun specifically took troops into the surrounding Wilderness to capture Kobolds. As one of the best miners in the wasteland, second only to Gray Dwarves, these Kobolds were the main force for mining. Fortunately, there were plenty of Kobold tribes in the wilderness, and Su Lun easily captured over two hundred Kobold slaves.

First, these slaves were handed over to trainers skilled in discipline for training. After basic training, they were escorted by the Barbarian Warriors.

Su Lun captured three batches in total, about five to six hundred people, all sent to the coal mine for mining.

Originally, Su Lun was somewhat worried about heating for the slaves and Refugees. After all, charcoal was expensive and output was limited. The charcoal distributed to each household was sometimes insufficient. But now, with coal, the demand for charcoal would greatly decrease.

Besides large chunks of coal, coal mining also produced a lot of coal residues. These were perfect for making honeycomb briquettes. The stove specially designed for burning honeycomb briquettes was not difficult to make. Su Lun planned to produce all of these directly. As for gas poisoning, installing a ventilation pipe would solve it.