A Possible Ancient Secret

Without any delay, the group didn't even bother to collect the spoils in the city, and then followed the assassin to the smelting plant further underground.

Upon arrival, Rein and the others were immediately stunned by the sight before them!

I had always imagined that ancient smelting plants would be dilapidated structures with earthen stoves, boilers, and anvils.

Unexpectedly, what I saw was a highly mechanized smelting plant.

It is even more advanced than modern steel mills.

The scene before me was a collection of equipment that rivaled even modern steel mills: large steelmaking furnaces, refining furnaces, molten iron ladles, internal combustion boilers, fuel conveyor belts, and sophisticated ventilation ducts and smoke extraction systems. There were also some incomprehensible devices—special reaction apparatus constructed of brass and rivets.

No one could have imagined that the Goblin Civilization already possessed such an advanced large-scale steel mill countless years ago. The sparks ignited by the collision of ancient alchemy and engineering created such a uniquely Goblin Civilization smelting plant underground.

If the steel mill in the modern Mechanical City is dark punk, then this is alchemical fantasy.

This Goblin Civilization has already achieved great success on another branch of the technology tree.

These laymen Rein only look at appearances.

Only professional mechanics can understand the internal structure and intricate operating principles of these devices.

Upon seeing this, Mr. Tuster was shocked once again.

"This is incredible! These smelting machines are still so well preserved. The design is simply amazing!"

He marveled as he carefully stroked the mechanical equipment with his hands, as if caressing the skin of a peerless beauty, his eyes filled with fervor.

It's probably because his body hasn't expressed the emotion of "shock" for the past thirty years, and today he released it all at once.

Goblins are naturally short, and their buildings are also very small.

But the scale of this smelting plant was surprisingly large.

Rein instinctively entered the factory area, as if stepping into a steel forest, feeling like a rabbit passing by an elephant. Surrounded by colossal lumps of iron, he felt a deep-seated awe—awe for technology, awe for alchemy, awe for a glorious civilization.

Rein may not understand engineering technology, but his gaze can see other things.

With a quick glance, he saw piles of "iron ingots" stacked up on the open ground of the smelting plant!

These dark, iron lumps looked familiar, and out of curiosity, Rein picked them up and tried them out.

It's quite heavy, weighing about 700-800 pounds, but that's only half the weight of a steel piece of the same volume. It feels cool to the touch, exactly like the shield I touched before!

Unsure, Rein asked the expert beside him, "Grandpa Tuster, this iron ingot looks like material for forging shields?"

Upon hearing this, Tuster also picked up a few pieces with his Mechanical Arm and immediately confirmed, "This is high-purity [Angelas Black Iron]!"

"Really?!"

Upon hearing this, Rein instantly felt that the dark iron ingots in front of him had transformed into a warehouse full of gold, suddenly glittering with golden light.

A rough estimate suggests there are over a thousand cubic meters here!

It's fair to say that before this mine was discovered, even a random piece of iron slag that fell on the ground of this smelter would be a hot commodity on the black market.

No one expected there to be such an astonishing number of refined iron ingots!

This Goblin Civilization was a treasure trove for the mechanics. It was like a hamster falling into a warehouse full of nuts; everything looked amazing to them.

Tuster was truly pleasantly surprised today. He said, "This pile of smelted finished products alone is enough for the First Tier of our mechanical airship construction!"

After a pause, the old man looked at the end of the smelting plant again and said, "Let's go, let's continue to take a look! There must be more ore warehouses and forging plants ahead, maybe they will give us more surprises!"

Sure enough, there was another ore warehouse.

A considerable amount of high-purity "Godblood Ore" has accumulated!

Then, sure enough, in that forge, there were also a large number of large, finished shields, as well as some armor, axes, scimitars, and other metal objects. These were all standard equipment that the goblin engineers had made for their army!

Of course, the most important thing is not these finished and semi-finished products, but the advanced forging equipment in the "forging plant".

This even reminded Rein of the semi-automated mechanized assembly line he had lived in before!

The entire forging process, from furnaces and molds to mechanical forging hammers and quenching, is carried out using specialized machinery.

This allows the goblins to mass-produce various standard equipment with very little manpower.

"No wonder I always thought the marks on those shields looked strange. It turns out they weren't forged by hand at all!"

Even the professional mechanic, Tuster, was astonished.

The forging machinery of that era could not achieve very high precision; at most, it could only complete the initial melting and forging process. High-quality equipment was invariably forged by hand, hammer blow by blow.

It's unbelievable that a forging workshop from countless years ago possessed such advanced mechanical forging equipment. Moreover, the quality of the machine-forged equipment is in no way inferior to the "fine-grade" hand-forged equipment!

The two products have the same quality, but the manpower and resources required are on completely different levels.

The group originally intended to go deeper into the workshop, but they all stopped at the forging workshop without prior arrangement.

The equipment here truly broadened everyone's horizons.

Tuster glanced at the forging equipment, which was in relatively good condition, and suggested, "I think we can move part of the forging plant from the Mechanical City directly into this mine. That would save us the trouble of transporting ore over long distances. Besides, the equipment here looks quite good; at least the boilers and such should still be usable. The mine tunnels, ventilation systems, and cooling pools are all readily available. This would save us a lot of effort compared to building a large steel plant."

Hearing this, Rein pondered for a moment and agreed with the old man's statement, "I think it's feasible. This mine is underground, so it will hardly be affected by magical beasts. Even if there is a zombie horde, the mineral layer is thousands of meters underground, which has isolated most of the smell. This place can be built into our Black Dragon City's secret base."

Since both Rein and the professionals had said so, Ymir naturally had no objections.

However, now is not the time to discuss this matter in detail.

Because Captain Rhine and his team sent someone again to urge them to go see that "still usable" ancient machine!

After walking past the forge, Rein and his group saw another piece of cutting-edge technology – an elevator!

Although it was very rough, it looked no different from the elevators on construction sites in Rein's previous life.

This "goblin elevator" had a control panel, Rein could read the words "Up," "Down," and "Pause." It also seemed to have some kind of special energy-driven system to replace the mains power. But that device was broken, or perhaps it had run out of power; in any case, it was completely useless.

Fortunately, the people who came down earlier had figured out how to operate it manually and had checked it; the structure was stable and sturdy.

Then came a series of clicks and clacks from the hand crank, and the cage of the elevator slowly descended.

The temperature around us kept dropping, as if we were coming from an icebox, the cold penetrating to the bone.

Shortly after, the elevator descended to a depth of about one thousand meters and stopped.

This is a closed space with thick metal walls on all sides, like a sealed laboratory.

As soon as I entered, the system gave me a notification sound.

[Warning! The absorption of 'Abyssal Demonic Qi' has exceeded the host's tolerance level. Please be aware.]

Rein glanced at the system panel and raised an eyebrow slightly.

Because the data panel showed that the concentration of "Abyssal Demonic Qi" in this laboratory had reached twenty times that on the ground!

Rein possesses the [Thunder Totem], which constantly and automatically absorbs and converts battle qi. Even though the demonic energy here is so dense that it exceeds the limits his body can withstand, the conversion still amplifies his battle qi seven or eight times more here than it would on the ground!

"A sacred place for cultivation!"

His eyes lit up, and he felt a surge of emotion.

Such a concentrated environment would likely be "deadly" to others. But for him, with his [Divine Healing Technique], it was perfectly tolerable!

Of course, this is not the most shocking thing about this laboratory.

What's most shocking is the black crystal in front of us that almost blinds us!

As soon as the magical light source was applied, the entire area that came into view slowly shimmered with a crystal-clear black light, reflecting a dazzling brilliance.

Is this a crystal mine?

Obviously not!

The crystals were moved here and cut into specific rhomboid shapes. Moreover, upon closer inspection, one can see that each crystal is engraved with mysterious alchemical formations.

There seemed to be a few tricky Skeleton Monster in the lab, but the people who came down first had already reduced them to skeletons.

Tuster glanced at the black crystals, then at the operating machine, and immediately understood. He exclaimed in surprise, "Those ancient goblins were actually creating 'magic crystals'?!"

"Artificial Magic Crystal?"

Rein was also stunned. Magic crystals were the same energy crystals found inside living corpses. Could those things really be artificially manufactured?

He picked one up and held it in his hand; it really was exactly the same as the magic crystal used to kill the zombies outside.

However, the amount of "Abyssal Demonic Qi" contained in these brick-sized magic crystals is a hundred times that of a regular fifth-tier magic crystal!

What's the point of this?

Cultivation?

Or perhaps it's energy?

There was a vague feeling that Rein had guessed something.

Meanwhile, Tuster had already gone over to look at the machine that was still running, infusing the crystal with black energy.

The old man pondered for a while, then exclaimed, "What an ingenious and brilliant design! They actually converted the energy of the 'Abyssal Demonic Qi' to power the alchemical array in real time, allowing it to continue operating until now!"

Rein's gaze followed the machine. Apart from the glittering alchemical arrays that he couldn't understand, the overall structure of the instrument was not complicated.

A ten-meter-tall cylindrical tank (probably made of brass alloy), a control machine with several buttons, then connecting pipes, and finally the chamber for manufacturing "Artificial Magic Crystal".

Suddenly, a brilliant idea flashed into my mind.

"Wait a minute, something's not right!"

After confirming that it was "Abyssal Demonic Qi," Rein immediately thought of another very crucial question.

"Isn't 'Abyssal Demonic Qi' something that only emerged after the [Black Tide]? The existence of this instrument means these goblins were already using this gas countless years ago. What's the deal with this time difference?"

"And isn't the Abyssal Demonic Qi's supposed to come from hell? How did this thing just come out of an iron tube?"

Rein was not only shocked, but also full of question marks.

He had previously witnessed the Abyssal Demonic Qi gushing from the "Eye of Hell" in the Kolman Central Courtyard Tribe, and Mafat had even said that it was the entrance to hell.

But what about now?

That strange, large iron barrel was propped up by a steel frame and didn't touch the ground at all!

This means that the "Abyssal Demonic Qi" here does not come from underground at all, but from the jar!

At that moment, Rein suddenly realized that they might have misunderstood the so-called "Abyssal Demonic Qi".

"What exactly is in the tank? Is it an energy-generating device like a 'nuclear reactor'? Or is it really like a biogas digester, with fermenting organic matter like poop?"

The first thing that came to mind for Rein was a "biogas digester".

The technology in front of you looks very advanced, but it's just a biogas digester design.

A sealed jar was connected to a tube, and then the gas was injected into the crystals engraved with magic patterns, thus mass-producing "Artificial Magic Crystal".

However, it has now been confirmed that the "Abyssal Demonic Qi" is not a gas from hell, but may have been created under certain conditions.

Then, another problem arises.

The entire area west of the Alkolon Mountain Range is now experiencing a "Black Tide," with massive amounts of "Abyssal Demonic Qi" gushing up from the ground and continuing to surge forth.

But obviously, there couldn't possibly be such an iron barrel under such a vast land, or some kind of goblin black technology at work.

Most likely, the "thing" emitting black gas is not a man-made device like a nuclear reactor that requires external intervention, but rather a natural substance that can continuously release "Abyssal Demonic Qi."

What exactly is inside that iron barrel that allows it to continuously spew demonic energy for countless years?

The black gas gushing from the "Eye of Hell" covered the entire wasteland. Was there a lot of that kind of "substance" underground, or was there a lot of that kind of "substance" underground in the entire wasteland?

In that instant, Rein suddenly realized that what was inside the iron can might be hiding a prehistoric secret.

This secret might explain the source of the fog in this Ice Ridge Wasteland.

Thank you to 'Dongfang Piaoxue' for the 15,000 coins reward. I owe 2 more chapters due, plus 4 more due for monthly tickets.