The Gnome Clan

Adamantine was extraordinarily expensive, and the conditions for its formation were equally harsh. Under normal circumstances, it could only possibly form in a Super Large Iron Mine—and even then, it was merely a possibility, not a certainty. Thor had never expected the Large Iron Mine he had just seized to have the potential to produce adamantine.

After his brief daze, a flicker of uncontrollable delight appeared on his face.

He did not even have the mind to consider the fifth piece of information.

But while he paid it no attention,

Steve soon came jogging over.

"My lord!"

Steve's respectful voice rang out, his expression unable to conceal his delight.

"What happened?"

Seeing the joy on Steve's face, Thor looked puzzled as he withdrew his gaze from the Daily Intelligence.

"My lord, we found a group of gnomes."

Steve pursed his lips. At that moment, he felt his lips going dry, unable to suppress the excitement and joy in his heart.

"What?"

"Are you serious?"

Thor, who had not been particularly concerned at first, abruptly rose to his feet upon hearing Steve's words. The question burst from his mouth.

"My lord, it's true!"

"Please come with me!"

Steve nodded heavily and spoke again.

"Alright!"

"Let's go take a look!"

Thor hurriedly responded. At that moment, excitement rose uncontrollably within him as well.

Gnomes—those were gnomes.

Gnomes were also among the lowest-ranking of the orcs. Strictly speaking, they belonged to the Goblin race, yet they were different from goblins. They had once been slaves to giants, forced to mine Kaja Ore for ages. Yet their prolonged exposure to Kaja Ore had made the gnome race astonishingly intelligent. The engineering and alchemical artifacts they created were renowned throughout the world.

Human alchemy had originally been learned from gnomes, and even now, human alchemy could not compare to that of the gnomes.

Every gnome was a natural craftsman and weaponsmith.

Thor had never expected that, compared with the sixth piece of information, the true gain from this Daily Intelligence report would be the unexpected surprise in the fifth.

Especially when he arrived deep within the underground cavern and saw those strange blue-skinned creatures, so similar in appearance to goblins, the smile on his face could no longer be hidden.

The value of a Large Iron Mine was beyond imagination.

Even without considering Mithril Iron or adamantine, the output of the Large Iron Mine alone was immensely valuable.

But selling iron ore and forging it into Black Iron Armor for sale were entirely different matters.

Although he had established a trade route with Lajos Assad, large-scale raw-material transactions could easily run into trouble. The best option was still to sell to the Habs Merchant Guild, but under the guild's price suppression, iron ore sold for very little—one could even call the price cheap. He would definitely lose a considerable amount of profit.

His original plan had been to see whether he could purchase some blacksmiths from the Habs Merchant Guild.

Or perhaps he could tinker with something himself using memories from his previous life.

But the former would likely cost a great deal. Even the prospectors employed by the Habs Merchant Guild were priced so highly that it made one's scalp tingle; blacksmiths would only be more expensive.

As for the latter—

Though both worlds had iron ore, they were truly different worlds.

Even their fundamental laws differed.

He might not actually be able to make anything useful.

But at this moment, those problems were no longer problems.

There was no one more suitable to be blacksmiths than gnomes.

Not only could they forge Black Iron Armor, they could even forge Silver Armor.

Even Golden Armor might not be beyond them.

"Honorable knight, we can work for you. Please do not kill us."

An elderly gnome stepped forward, bowed to Thor, and spoke nervously.

At that moment, all the gnomes were extremely tense.

They had previously been captured by Timid Goblins.

They had been forced to forge weapons.

But they had never expected that, not long afterward,

those Timid Goblins would all be killed by humans.

They had wanted to escape.

But the heavy chains around their feet made escape impossible.

Then they had been trapped in the underground cavern by the humans.

This left them deeply uneasy.

They feared that they too would be killed as goblins.

After all, gnomes were goblins as well.

"You may."

"I can guarantee your survival and even provide you with food and shelter, but you must work for me as well."

"How about this—thirty years?"

"You will work for me for thirty years. After thirty years, I will grant you freedom."

A thought stirred in Thor's mind. He looked at the elderly gnome standing at the front and spoke slowly.

Unlike ordinary goblins, Thor naturally intended to keep useful orcs like gnomes.

The best method would have been to use a Slave Contract, but forging weapons was an important matter. To avoid any accidents, it would be better to treat them somewhat more gently.

As for thirty years,

Thor believed that after living in Eagle Territory for a while, these gnomes might not be willing to leave such a stable and peaceful environment.

After all, compared with human territories, the Northern Lands were extremely chaotic.

Gnomes were slaves almost everywhere they went.

Even Timid Goblins could capture them.

There was no need to mention the other orcs.

Not to mention the ferocious magical beasts.

By comparison, falling into human hands was actually the best outcome for these gnomes.

Most gnomes were, in fact, willing to work for humans.

So, upon hearing Thor's words,

the elderly gnome was overjoyed.

"Honorable knight, may your kindness be blessed by the Goblin God."

"I, Asachi, am willing to work for you!"

The elderly gnome hurriedly bowed, his expression humble.

"The right choice."

Thor smiled and nodded.

To him, this was undoubtedly an unexpected surprise.

And a tremendous one at that.

Although the number of gnomes was not large, there were more than a dozen of them.

That was enough to meet his initial construction needs.

More importantly, these dozen or so gnomes were enough to turn vast quantities of iron ore into Black Iron Armor—and high-quality Black Iron Armor at that.

Once he sold those fine Black Iron Armors through the trade route established with Lajos Assad, their value would certainly be considerable.

His entire territory would then truly possess a complete economic industrial chain.

It would no longer be in the same state of spending more than it earned.

There would even be a substantial income that could further increase investment in the territory's development, creating a healthy cycle.

It could be said that, at this moment, even Thor had never imagined that seizing this Large Iron Mine would bring him such an enormous surprise.