The fissure is very deep. According to Nightmoon's estimation, the Fire Elemental Crystal appears near the ground, which means it can be mined directly from the ground. This is another piece of good news.
However, the fissure runs in an arc towards the inside of the mountain, meaning the mine would probably have to be dug very deep to reach the storage location of the elemental crystals.
Unas dragged the Dwarf brothers up to the spider cave, hoping they could help with the investigation. However, the Copperhammer Brothers were professional Warriors who had never touched a miner's pickaxe before. After peering at the crack for a long time, they could only vaguely say, "Judging from the amount of White Crystal, there should be quite a bit of red crystal as well."
If there were a large quantity of red crystals, there would be no need for a heater or cotton clothes. Unas felt the warmth of the crystal in his hand. This amount of heat was certainly not enough to change the environment, but Blood Elf mages could use Magic Circles to amplify its heat release, a fact that had already been proven by Perella.
The ranger captain was more excited than anyone else; this concerned the fate of her people. Fire Elemental was a very pure energy that would surely satisfy the Blood Elves who were suffering from Mana Addiction.
"Lord Unas, I'll go back and find a few Dwarf mining masters right away." Perella couldn't wait to return to the stronghold and bring Dwarves to mine, but she knew that everything depended on the Warden's approval.
Unas nodded and let her go, but he was conflicted. The Mushroom Farm had just started construction, and mining would require a lot of manpower. Moreover, the place was not far from the Red Stone Stele, and too much human activity could attract spider attacks. But seeing the Blood Elf's eagerness, he didn't want to immediately discourage her.
Compared to this, the matter of the spider eggs was insignificant, Unas stopped arguing with Haikesi and left it entirely to him.
The Troll immediately gathered all the eggs together and began performing a ritual around them, supposedly a spell to delay the spiders from hatching. It seemed he was determined to wait until food became plentiful before raising these spiders. Unas then thought that it wouldn't be bad to give everyone a spider pet in the future, using spiders to fight spiders.
Perella returned quickly. Besides Stonebrow and a few Dwarves Gnomes, the high-ranking Blood Elf mage Arenas Fireleaf also came along. He was a fire mage, and his presence in the cave indicated that the Fire Elemental was very strong.
The Dwarves knocked and tapped around in the cave, and even lowered a smaller Gnomes into the cracks with ropes to investigate. Their final conclusion was that the stone was very hard and the reserves were astonishing.
After a brief discussion, the group reached a consensus: the excavation of the Mushroom Farm should be the top priority, as food security was the most important issue. The mining of the crystal mine should not be neglected either, but for now, they could only select small, thin miners to dig through the cracks. Later, they could gradually bring in more people to widen the cracks or dig new holes from the ground, and then they could discuss the rest.
It's perfect timing; the Gnomes don't need to design any stoves anymore, so they can all be brought over to work as miners. I wonder what the chief engineer's expression will be when he hears this news. This matter is urgent, Unas immediately sent Stonebrow back to gather more people.
As for the elemental crystals mined earlier, Unas decided to give them all to the Blood Elves, since they were the ones who needed this energy the most. At the same time, the problem of keeping the Mushroom Farm warm and the people in the stronghold through the winter would also be left to them to solve.
The Warden's decision moved Perella and Huoye to tears. The two repeatedly pledged their loyalty and vowed to complete the task assigned to them.
Having finished explaining the situation, Unas was still concerned about the whereabouts of the third spider. He entrusted the affairs of the cave to Perella and then called the rest of the elite team to continue their journey.
The Troll carried eight spider eggs on his back and led the team slowly forward, weaving through the canyons until he finally led them out of the Canyon.
Unas quickly shouted, "Stop! That spider has run out of the valley!"
"I'm tracking its movement route, so I should be right," Haikesi explained. "Occasionally, spiders leave their habitat, and I haven't figured out why yet."
Unas shrugged. Running away from home isn't a behavior unique to humans, it turns out. If only there were more of these capricious spiders in the Canyon. "Let's go, keep chasing them, try to get a sample for your research."
The group continued onward, heading southwest for an hour before stopping in front of a remote, Plaguewood. Plaguewood are forests contaminated by the plague. Large areas of Tirisfal Glades have been ravaged by the Scourge, and even plants have suffered. Those with mild contamination simply turn grayish-green, while those with severe contamination are called Plaguewood.
The woodland before us showed no signs of life whatsoever; dark spots covered the bare branches, and withered yellow leaves carpeted the ground, with no trace of any living creature having ever walked there.
"Are you sure it went into this forest?" Unas asked.
The Troll dismounted, lay prone on the ground, observed for a short while, and then nodded firmly.
Being scared off by a Plaguewood would undoubtedly make him a laughingstock, but Unas sensed something was amiss. He activated the obsidian hanging on his chest—a gift from the Argent Dawn after he was appointed Warden. A golden aura spread from his chest to a radius of thirty meters. "Everyone, don't run out of the barrier. There might be Undead in the forest."
Before the words were finished, red lights suddenly lit up in the thumbnail of the undead, and at the same time, the thick layer of fallen leaves on the ground of the Plaguewood began to rustle and be lifted up from under the leaves, Sense Undead Undead creatures such as Zombies and Ghouls.
A rough estimate suggests that the number of images densely packed in the thumbnail is at least over a hundred, and it's still increasing. An aged voice echoes from the forest, "Go back, this is not a place for you!"
The Balnir Outpost, the Monastery's frontline, is quite a distance from here. This grove of Plaguewood, still within human-defined sphere of influence, has been infiltrated by an army of Undead.
"Is this a place for you?" Unas shouted, making a gesture as if preparing rockets. "You should go back to hell! Fire!"
The specially made rockets with arrowheads inlaid with saltpeter were easily ignited. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, streaks of red meteors shot into the forest. Unas also fired two consecutive Flame Slashes, blasting away four or five Undead charging towards them. Almost every member of the elite squad was a sharpshooter, and the Undead who were desperately charging forward turned into rolling Fireballs one after another.
Three rounds of rocket fire failed to bring any of the Undead to the Copperhammer Brothers who stood at the forefront with their shields raised. Thick smoke billowed, and dead branches and leaves were ignited everywhere, threatening to turn into a raging fire that would burn all the Undead hiding in the forest to ashes.
Suddenly, a deep blue light curtain gathered in the sky above the forest, and the next moment, raindrops mixed with ice shards poured down, instantly extinguishing many of the spreading fires.
"Haikesi, dispel it!" Unas immediately shouted the order. This was clearly a minor version of the ice spell Blizzard, and the only way to counter it was with the Priest's dispel spell.
The Troll Priest unleashed three golden halos that flew towards the blue orb in the air, but the golden light dissipated upon contact, while the blue light remained steadfast; Haikesi was utterly unable to sway the enemy's spells.
Unas cursed under his breath, thinking the opponent's Undead Mage was a tough opponent. He had no mages around and would suffer if he encountered one; mages were just that unreasonable.
The fire was quickly extinguished, and the Undead began to regroup. Unas estimated the number of enemies and realized that unless he could set the forest ablaze again, any victory would be a Pyrrhic one.
"Retreat first!" He turned his horse around and spurred it sharply. This time, he had no choice but to let them go for now.