Chapter 178: The Mining Area

After becoming a high-level Alchemist, Heatherway also began enchanting those Dragonhide Armors. Enchanting over thirty pieces of Dragonhide Armor would take a long time.

The construction of Zhenbei City progressed steadily. The ice and snow continued to melt, and many hibernating animals came out. The cold wind disappeared. All signs showed that spring was coming.

The Centaur Tribes came to Zhenbei City again to buy food. Their battle with the Orc Tribe had temporarily stopped. Both sides were exhausted, but the Orc Tribe probably suffered greater losses because they ran out of food.

The Orc Tribe retreated for the time being, and the Centaur Tribes did not pursue them. After all, the Centaur Tribes were also having a hard time. This time in Zhenbei City, Su Lun traded with them again for a batch of food and weapons. Su Lun exchanged for five hundred fine horses. Now, Zhenbei City had enough horses for every Soldier to have one, with some to spare.

The Blacksmith Shop had been very busy during this time. After all, the demand for armor and weapons for the troops in the Territory was quite high. The Blacksmith Shop used a lot of iron every day, but fortunately, there was an iron mine in the Territory.

Su Lun planned to re-equip the Spearman with full-body Iron Armor. The Barbarian also needed full-body Iron Armor. Although the Blacksmith Shop in Zhenbei City could make Plate Armor, the output of steel used for Plate Armor was not high. Even after several improvements by Su Lun, the Blacksmith Shop produced a lot of steel, but most of the steel was used to make weapons.

When he returned to the Lord’s Castle, Angela and Annie came forward to greet him. Angela helped Su Lun take off his cloak and hung it on the coat rack nearby, while Annie took out a towel and wiped Su Lun’s face.

After cleaning up, Su Lun stretched and then collapsed on the sofa. Cultivating farmland was the foundation of the Territory’s development, so Su Lun had been very busy during this time. He spent the whole day inspecting and giving guidance everywhere, because he had too few people with high farming skills. Often, he had to do things himself.

Angela and Annie obediently came to Su Lun’s side. One massaged his shoulders, and the other pounded his legs. Their massage skills were still a bit clumsy, but they were pleasant to look at.

Just as Su Lun couldn’t resist wanting to taste the sweet treats, a Guard came to report.

“Lord, there is an urgent situation.”

“What happened?” Su Lun comfortably rested his head on the little maid’s springy thigh.

“The iron Mine found a hole. When the Kobold dug it open, some Undead skeletons came out. The tunnel seems to connect to the Underworld.”

“The Underworld?” Su Lun opened his eyes and looked at the Guard. “Are you sure it’s the Underworld?”

“Sorry, Lord. The Soldiers did not go too deep, so it’s not clear yet whether it connects to the Underworld…”

Su Lun nodded and said nothing more. There were few connections between the Underworld and the surface, and they usually appeared in mining areas. Many people thought the Underworld was full of lava, darkness, and narrow spaces, but in fact, the Underworld was very large.

Most planets had faults underground, rather than being completely solid. The scale of the Underworld varied; the largest could be as big as a kingdom, while the smallest might just be some tunnels and caves.

Currently, the Drow Elf dominated the Underworld, along with many other species, such as Gray Dwarf, magical eyes, Minotaur, cave dwellers, and so on.

The number of races living in the Underworld was no less than on the surface, and the Underworld was far more dangerous than the surface world.

The appearance of a passage to the Underworld in the Territory made Su Lun take it seriously. He needed to find out whether this Underworld posed a threat to the Territory.

Su Lun sent someone to call Aydin. As a Drow Elf, Aydin was very familiar with the Underworld. Su Lun planned to take Aydin with him to explore the Underworld.

The passage found in the iron Mine was deep inside the mine. Su Lun entered the Mine led by the Kobold miners. Torches were placed in the mine tunnels. Because of the Kobold’s size, the tunnels were dug quite small. Often, Su Lun had to bend over to get through.

There were simple mine tracks here too, but the ore was pulled out by human power. Torches were placed every ten meters or so along the way, but after about two hundred meters into the mining area, there were no more. The surroundings gradually became dim, and numerous interconnected mine tunnels appeared before them.

The iron mine in Zhenbei City had been mined for a long time before Su Lun arrived. Initially, it was an open-pit mine, but after long-term mining, the quality of the upper-layer iron ore became worse, so they had to mine downward.

Led by the Kobold, Su Lun and Aydin came near a cave entrance. Su Lun opened the Strategic Map. All the places he had passed appeared on it, but there were still many blank areas on the map, while some places were marked with a lot of data.

Going down from this cave ahead would lead into the Underworld. Su Lun observed it briefly, then entered with Aydin. The cave was very dark, but fortunately, both Su Lun and Aydin had night vision, so their sight was not affected in this dark environment.

The passage was very long. The two walked for over ten minutes without any changes. The passage seemed to have traces of artificial modification, but the work was crude.

“Squeak! Squeak!”

Just then, some weird noises came from nearby.

Then, from the corners in the dark, some rats larger than cats crawled out. They were quite different from common rats, with prominent sharp fangs, sharp claws, and slightly red eyes.

“Species: Mutated Magic Rat

Level: 4

Skills: Bite, Disease, Sharp Claws.”

Seeing those rats, Su Lun was also surprised. These rats were actually bigger than cats. And at that moment, a rustling sound came from the passage ahead. Then, the two saw over a hundred Mutated Magic Rats quickly approaching from deep within the passage.

“So many rats!” After seeing the scale of the Mutated Magic Rats, Su Lun was secretly amazed. If such a group of mutated rats suddenly ran out, it would be a big problem for those Kobolds. According to the System Panel, those Mutated Magic Rats were not very strong. The only problem was the viruses they carried. After all, the plague was very terrifying.

A large number of rats, upon seeing Su Lun and Aydin, rushed forward to attack. Dozens of rats densely packed in front made Su Lun’s scalp tingle.

Clang.

Su Lun drew his longsword. The space in the passage was narrow and not suitable for using a spear. The strength of the Mutated Magic Rats was similar to that of ordinary people, with power close to that of wild cats and relatively fast speed. An ordinary adult man could deal with them if he was careful, but there were too many of them.

“Be careful. These rats carry viruses. If bitten by them, you might get the plague.” Su Lun moved his wrist and said to Aydin beside him.