Chapter 9: The Blackrock Mine

Ten days later.

In the meditation room, Sunan sat cross-legged on the floor.

Invisible to the naked eye, countless energy particles swarmed towards him as if pulled by an unseen force, eagerly merging into his body.

Deep within his sea of consciousness, the majority of the star ring had materialized, leaving only a tiny portion still shimmering with an ethereal quality. As the energy particles continued to pour in, this last vestige of illusion steadily vanished.

The moment the final trace solidified, the entire star ring suddenly burst with brilliant light, vibrating gently. A clear ringing resonated within Sunan's mind, and his consciousness felt incredibly sharp.

"Success!"

Sunan opened his eyes, a genuine smile of joy spreading across his face.

It had been almost half a year since he began cultivating the Star Ring Meditation, and he had finally constructed his first star ring.

Snapping out of his elation, he immediately checked his panel.

[Spirit 3.60 / Physique 3.25]

"My spirit increased by 0.78, and my physique by 0.31!"

Sunan nodded in satisfaction. Even with the aid of the Inferior Activity Potion, it had still taken him nearly a month of meditation to achieve this increase in spiritual power. The boost from constructing the star ring was truly significant.

His physique now surpassed that of an apprentice knight, though it was still far from the 8 points required for a formal knight. After all, he hadn't practiced any breathing techniques.

"If I start practicing breathing techniques now, my progress shouldn't be slow."

Breathing techniques and physique complemented each other. Faster progress in breathing techniques led to faster physique enhancement, and vice versa.

With his current physique, he might be able to master the basics of a breathing technique in less than a month.

However, despite this, he didn't plan to do so.

Wizards had plenty of ways to strengthen their physique; there was no need to waste time and energy on breathing techniques. He'd rather spend that effort increasing his proficiency in spells or skills.

Sunan opened his spell list.

[Mage Hand]

[Sleep Curse]

[Acid Splash]

[Flash]

Thanks to the Inferior Activity Potion, his spell learning efficiency had increased several times over. In just two months, he had not only mastered Sleep Curse but also learned Acid Splash and Flash. He was currently working on Unlocking Technique.

"Most of the knowledge involved in wizardry is incredibly profound and takes a lot of time to master."

"This is the main reason why many wizard apprentices with good aptitude take hundreds of years to be promoted to wizards."

"However, with sufficient resources, this time can be greatly shortened."

Sunan sighed inwardly.

The Starlight Continent had been abandoned precisely because of its dwindling elements and scarce resources, leaving wizards with no hope of increasing their power.

If he didn't have the Synthesis Cube, it would be a pipe dream to be promoted to a wizard on the current Starlight Continent.

"Upgrading to level 2 Star Ring Meditation requires 3000 proficiency points, which will take about four months."

"If I can maintain a continuous supply of the Inferior Activity Potion, I can be promoted to a level 2 wizard apprentice in two years at most."

Sunan estimated that the cost of making one bottle of Inferior Activity Potion was about twelve gold coins.

Later, when he became more proficient, it should be reduced to about ten gold coins.

That would be twenty gold coins a month.

"It seems that the monthly tax revenue of Blackrock City is only forty or fifty gold coins. This is not a small expense."

Sunan had thought about synthesizing the Inferior Activity Potion, which might significantly improve the potion's effect.

Unfortunately, with Blackrock City's current income level, he couldn't afford to purchase a large amount of materials at once to make enough Inferior Activity Potions for synthesis.

"I'll have to discuss it with my brother."

Sunan got up and left the meditation room.

He encountered Old Geller on the way and learned that Kyi was currently in the study, so he turned and headed straight there.

However, when he found Kyi in the study, he found the latter sighing and looking troubled.

Seeing Sunan, Kyi put on a brave face and asked, "Oh, it's you, Sunan. You've been cooped up in your courtyard for days, why did you decide to come out today?"

"Brother, I have something to discuss with you."

Sunan got straight to the point and brought up the matter of buying materials.

Upon hearing this, Kyi smiled wryly.

"There are still more than fifty gold coins in the account. I originally planned to use them to purchase armor, but since you need them, I'll give them to you first."

Sunan glanced at Kyi and, recalling his worried look earlier, immediately understood.

"Is the territory short of money now?"

Kyi didn't hide it and sighed, "Recently, the number of knights in the territory has increased a lot, and the expenditure on food has increased significantly. Next month, we will start farming again, and we need to spend money to buy tools and seeds. The expenses are indeed quite high."

"Is there any way to increase revenue and reduce expenditure?"

"Reducing expenditure is not an option. If the territory wants to develop, it's impossible to save money. Whether it's arming the army or developing the economy, it can't be done without gold coins."

Kyi had always had the idea of strengthening his forces and taking back Flashing Territory, so naturally, he wouldn't be content with just muddling along.

"As for increasing revenue, I do have an idea. I plan to reopen the Blackrock Mine!"

Blackrock Mine?

Sunan's expression shifted slightly.

He remembered that Blackrock City was once famous for producing Blackrock Iron.

Blackrock Iron was a high-quality metal that, with simple refining, had a hardness comparable to that of refined iron, making it a good material for forging armor and weapons.

The name Blackrock City also came from this.

It was precisely because of Blackrock Iron that Blackrock City became one of the most prosperous cities in Goldenrock Province.

But then something happened that caused the Blackrock Mine to be abandoned, and Blackrock City gradually declined.

"Speaking of which, why was the Blackrock Mine abandoned in the first place?" Sunan asked curiously.

Without a special reason, the successive lords of Blackrock City would never give up a cash cow that could continuously produce gold coins.

"According to the old soldiers in the city, it was because a kind of monster appeared in the mining area."

"Monster?"

Kyi was prepared. He took out a piece of parchment and spread it out on the table.

It depicted a pitch-black panther, but its body clearly showed the texture of stone and emitted a metallic luster, making it look like a creature completely made of metal and stone.

"The previous lord called this monster an Iron-Swallowing Beast. They feed on Blackrock Iron ore, and their bodies are as hard as Blackrock Iron. Each one has a combat power comparable to that of a primary knight, making them very difficult to deal with."

"Are there many of these monsters?" Sunan asked.

Although knight-level monsters were fearsome, they shouldn't be enough to deter successive lords.

If all else failed, they could just spend a few hundred gold coins to hire a Great Knight to deal with them.

Unless the number of monsters was extremely large, or there were other reasons.

Sure enough, Kyi continued, "The number of monsters is not large, estimated to be only twenty or thirty. The key is that the Iron-Swallowing Beasts are very cunning. Once they sense danger, they will burrow into the rock walls and escape. They are very fast, and even a Great Knight can't stop them."

"If these monsters are not cleared out, the mining area cannot operate normally."

A monster that can burrow into the ground...

Sunan raised his eyebrows. This was indeed difficult to deal with.

—Of course, only for ordinary people.

"If that's all, there might be a solution."

Kyi was stunned by Sunan's words. It took him a while to react before he stood up in surprise.

"Do you have a way to deal with the Iron-Swallowing Beasts?"

Sunan pondered, "We can try."

Although Sunan didn't give a 100% guarantee, it was enough to make Kyi ecstatic.

The thing that had been bothering him most lately was the gold coin issue.

If they could reopen the Blackrock Mine, all the problems would be solved!