Chapter 68: Black Iron Ore Bestow by the Gods

It was narrower inside the mining cave than Han Shuo had expected. The dwarves had smaller statures and could move around with ease, but Han Shuo found it a bit uncomfortable. Even with the light from the oil lamps along the way, the cave was still quite dark.

After a few minutes of walking, Han Shuo had to start bending over. The further down they went, the wetter and more humid it became. Broken stone shards littered the ground, and when Han Shuo discovered that it was becoming difficult to make any progress even while stooping, the three dwarves finally stopped.

The dwarves in front of them held metal spades and hammers in their hands, working with all their might. The sound of hammering could be heard continuously. When they realised that Han Shuo had entered, they all involuntarily stopped their movements and eyed Han Shuo suspiciously.

"The cave will become more spacious as we make our way past this narrow passage. Even though there are more iron and copper cores inside, rocks rain down from above as we transport the ores. There was a collapse a few days ago and we had to go to a lot of trouble to reopen it. Bennett leaned back on the hard rock wall somewhat tiredly as he looked at Han Shuo as he explained.

Nodding, Han Shuo said, "All right, make some room for me. I'll summon the skeleton warriors and have them go inside to mine the ore."

Following Han Shuo's instructions, the dwarves cleared the area, starting with those furthest inside the cave. When there were no more dwarves in the cave, Han Shuo began the necromancy spell. Seven skeletal warriors appeared in a row within the passageway, completely blocking it.

Han Shuo had originally only been able to control six skeleton warriors, but now that he had meditated with the round green ball, his mental strength had improved again and he was now able to manipulate seven skeleton warriors simultaneously.

"Place your iron spades and hammers on the ground. I'll command the skeleton warriors to use your tools to mine the ore inside. After the seven skeletons had appeared, Han Shuo looked at the dwarves who had retreated and spoke to them.

The dwarves hesitated when they heard Han Shuo's words, and then at Bennett's persuasion, they threw out the mining tools in their hands one by one. Han Shuo manipulated the skeleton warriors, commanding them to throw the bone daggers from their hands and pick up the mining tools on the ground instead. Each of them arched their bodies and slowly plunged into the depths of the mining cave.

A "wraith" was released and floated into the depths of the cave with the skeletal warriors, following Han Shuo's instructions. With the help of this wraith, Han Shuo was able to observe the surroundings of the wraith. With the wraith leading the way, Han Shuo could observe the sights in the depths of the cave as if he were there in person.

It was as the dwarves had said, the skeletal warriors had to crouch down and slowly make their way through an extremely narrow entrance, after which the space grew larger and larger. Only, there were no lights inside. As a result, Han Shuo was unable to see his surroundings clearly.

As the "Wraith" and the Skeleton Warriors covered a great distance, to the point where Han Shuo felt that he would no longer be able to manipulate these dark creatures, he gave the order to start mining ore. According to the "Wraith" vision intermediary, Han Shuo focused his concentration and manipulated the seven skeletal warriors to start tapping and hitting the ore around them.

Loud rumbling sounds accompanied the movements of the skeletal warriors. After a short while, Han Shuo could clearly sense through the 'Wraith' that the rocks at the top of the mining cave had begun to shift due to the Skeleton Warriors' digging. After a while, some large rocks actually fell down and crushed the skeleton warrior directly into a pile of bone fragments.

Focusing his concentration, Han Shuo closed his eyes and stood in front of the dwarves, carefully manipulating the skeletal warriors. He sent the 'Wraith' to the top of the cave and carefully observed the loosened rocks. He would hastily send the skeletal warriors to the side as the rocks fell.

After doing this for a while, another skeleton warrior was smashed to pieces by another large rock. Han Shuo's mental strength was severely depleted and he felt a wave of dizziness in his mind. Immediately realising that he had exhausted his mental strength, he hastily ordered the remaining five skeleton warriors to stop mining the ore, pick up the ore fragments they'd extracted, and start moving them backwards.

As the five skeleton warriors began to move the ores on the ground towards the narrow pass one by one, the dwarves on Bennett's side cheered and started to walk towards the pass without waiting for Han Shuo's instructions. There they picked up the ores and carried them safely to Han Shuo's side.

This went on for a few minutes. Feeling that his mental strength could no longer withstand the continued actions of the skeleton warriors, Han Shuo immediately and decisively chanted another spell, sending the remaining skeleton warriors and the "wraith" back to the other dimension.

At that moment, the cave opening in front of Han Shuo was already filled with dozens of large and small pieces of ore. The dwarves cheered as they fell upon each other to remove the ore from the surrounding rocks. They put the ore into the sacks behind their backs.

"Oh, dear friend, thanks to your help we've made more money today than we did in a week. These lovely iron and copper ores can be used to forge beautiful weapons after they've been refined. What a joyful event. Although Bennett was very tired from his injuries, he was in exceptionally good spirits as he watched his companions jubilantly knocking off the excess rock and picking up the ores. He excitedly thanked Han Shuo.

The other dwarves picked up the ores with great glee, laughing heartily as they took out the wineskins they always carried with them and gleefully poured beer down their throats, making hearty "gulping" noises.

"Oh dear, what is this, what is this?" One dwarf suddenly shouted shrilly, attracting the attention of all the other dwarves as they all rushed towards this dwarf.

Han Shuo was similarly surprised and involuntarily glanced at the dwarf, but he was already surrounded by the other dwarves, completely blocking Han Shuo's view. He speculated to himself, was something wrong?

Just as Han Shuo's mind was filled with suspicion, Bennett suddenly lost his composure and laughed wildly, even throwing the wineskin of beer into the air as he cut a caper. Exceedingly exhilarated, charged cries came from his mouth, "Black iron. Damn, black iron. I am sure it is black iron. Oh my God, there's black iron in there. The chief will go mad when he hears about our find!"

The other dwarves also turned red at Bennett's words, as they too danced wildly, raising their hammers to pound the walls on all sides. The loud noises they made frightened Han Shuo more than anything else.

Han Shuo heaved a private sigh of relief upon hearing Bennett's words, understanding that the dwarves must have obtained some wonderful metal to be so crazy with excitement. He was also happy inside.

After a while, Han Shuo asked the dwarves, who were finally beginning to calm down, "Bennett, what kind of ore is this black iron? Is it very valuable?"

Bennett nodded repeatedly like a little chick pecking at rice and said excitedly, "Of course, extremely precious. Extremely precious! The density and hardness of black iron is the highest of all ores, but its weight is the lowest of all metals. It also never rusts and can change colour by adding other materials. It's the supreme material for making weapons, and a gift from the gods!"

Han Shuo was about to congratulate them when something suddenly flashed through his mind and a patch of memory flooded in. He suddenly realised that according to the properties of this black iron, according to Chu Cang Lan's memories, the black iron was actually a precious material used to forge magical treasures - Mystical Metal.

"Too bad there's only a small piece. Looks like there's only enough to forge a small dagger. ." After expressing his excitement, Bennett looked at the black iron in the dwarf's hand and said with a bit of regret.

"Bennett, don't be downhearted, there's bound to be more black iron in there. Maybe next time we'll be able to mine a bigger piece, so we can forge the sharpest weapon!" The dwarf Benson said.

"Dear friend, thank you for your help. We are willing to share our mining cave with you. Can you continue to help us? We are willing to share the mined ore with you." Bennett turned a face full of desire towards Han Shuo and pleaded after hearing Benson's words.

"I'm very happy that you trust me so much, and I'm also quite willing to help you, but I'm too tired today and need to rest for a night. I'll come back tomorrow and continue to help you with mine, okay?" Han Shuo chuckled to himself and said humbly to Bennett.

"Of course, of course. We'll be here early tomorrow morning with the village chief. I hope you can drop by again!" Bennett hastened to reply

Nodding, Han Shuo smiled, "Then I'll see you tomorrow!"

Han Shuo didn't leave with a single piece of ore after saying this and walked naturally and unrestrainedly to the mouth of the mining cave, leaving behind a few very excited dwarves who kept taking large gulps of beer.