Home Delivery

"Lord."

"Lord Colin?"

A warm, white, pure, and gentle light—not blinding in the slightest—shone before his eyes. Accompanied by a voice as soothing as a spring breeze, Colin slowly snapped out of his trance.

Seeing Shana's glowing fist right in front of his face, Colin felt as if he had just surfaced from underwater, suddenly "sobering" up.

Only then did Colin realize that everyone was looking at him with expressions of concern.

"Did something happen just now that we aren't aware of?"

Shana withdrew her hand, her voice sounding like a melodic chant, carrying a power that calmed the spirit and felt like a refreshing breeze.

Seeing that Colin's expression had turned strange and his eyes had gone hollow, and unable to wake him with ordinary methods, she had decisively used some special power.

After all, Shana remembered that she had once been a member of the Sun Chant Choir, though she seemed to have been transferred to other departments of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun later on to serve in different capacities.

"It's nothing, I just thought of something else."

Colin rubbed his forehead. For some reason, while he had been thinking about the population, he had suddenly hit upon something very important and fallen into a vortex of thought, sinking deeper and deeper until he couldn't pull himself out for a moment.

Even now, that sense of panic and heart palpitations lingered.

It felt as if something terrible could happen at any moment, yet he was powerless to change it or undo it.

Everything seemed to have become urgent.

However, when Colin tried to recall what he had just been thinking about, he suddenly found he couldn't remember, as if he had been struck by sudden amnesia.

"What are we going to do now?"

Shana's crystal-clear blue eyes stared at Colin, suddenly interrupting his thoughts.

"Let's go into the mine and start digging first. No matter what happens later, we have to take it one step at a time for now."

Colin made his decision. Regardless of the future, what he needed to do right now was to increase the strength in his hands as much as possible.

And explosives were power!

Soon, they returned to that saltpeter mine, which was about three meters high and four or five meters wide.

The entrance was pitch black, and it was clear that some Aberration creatures existed inside, but Colin hadn't received any warnings of extreme danger, which meant the Aberrations inside shouldn't be very strong.

Colin carried the Hurricane Lamp and prepared for defense. With Shana taking the lead, they walked into the mine surrounded by the others.

The interior of the mine was dark, cold, and damp, the air filled with a turbid, rotten stench.

The ground beneath their feet was barely level from long-term trampling, though there were many stones scattered from the ceiling or the rock walls on either side.

The cave was supported by thick, unnamed wooden pillars, forming long, narrow passages about two meters high; every few meters, they had to duck their heads to pass through a rectangular section.

The further in they went, the narrower it became, and the sound of water dripping deep within the cave made everyone involuntarily tense their bodies.

Moreover, because this mine was relatively humid, combined with the nature of saltpeter itself, it grew colder the deeper they went—a contrast to other types of ore mines that grew hotter the further one ventured.

However, perhaps they were lucky; Colin and his group hadn't encountered a single Aberration yet. After walking a bit further, they finally reached the extraction area.

The walls in every part of this area were covered with large amounts of colorless, white, or gray crystalline minerals.

Colin didn't waste any time. Using some crude iron blocks and wood he had bought from the trading market earlier, he quickly synthesized six iron pickaxes.

Clang, clang—

Number Two immediately led several subordinates to start excavating.

As soon as they knocked the ore loose, Colin collected it directly into his inventory and processed it on the spot.

The others held iron axes, responsible for keeping watch to prevent any monsters from rushing in and catching them off guard.

More than ten minutes passed, but there wasn't a single sign of monsters inside the cave, as if it were already dead.

Suddenly, some chattering sounds emerged.

Only then did Colin notice that the subordinates tasked with guarding against danger and accidents were shivering from the cold in this icy mine.

At this moment, these people, who were only wearing shorts and tattered rags, looked at the brothers digging for ore with expressions of envy.

"Miss Shana, do you have any spells that can provide warmth?"

Colin remembered that her healing spells seemed to bring warmth to people.

Shana looked troubled and hesitated before saying, "Uh, I do, but... my mana isn't quite enough, and I can't sustain it for very long. Ten minutes is my limit."

What? Ten minutes is your limit too? Colin muttered to himself.

Then, he thought for a moment, abandoned the idea of having her use the spell, and waved his hand, shouting, "Everyone, rotate every ten minutes! Rest for ten minutes! From now on, we rotate!"

He wanted everyone to enjoy the glory brought by labor!

"Hooray!"

"Praise the Lord!"

The servants holding axes were immediately excited, took the iron pickaxes from the others, and swung them with force.

For a time, only the sound of steel striking the walls remained. Every servant swung their pickaxe with all their might, their faces filled with drive.

However, the people digging did not include Shana, as she didn't feel much cold due to her own constitution and spells.

At this moment, Shana glanced at the pickaxes in the hands of those few men, feeling a bit regretful that she couldn't join in and was forced to stand on the sidelines just watching.

However, she also understood the importance of safety; if she went to mine herself, efficiency would certainly increase, but if any unexpected situation occurred, the strength of those servants would easily lead to casualties, so she had no complaints.

Ten minutes, half an hour, one hour, nearly two hours passed by.

Under Colin's excavation, the mine tunnel here had become less cramped and was significantly more spacious than before.

Furthermore, as his operation became increasingly proficient, the speed at which Colin prepared the explosives grew faster and faster.

At this moment, the black powder piled up in his backpack had reached an astonishing two tons!

It's a good thing the backpack is divided into slots and doesn't experience any shaking. Although it doesn't compare to the absolute stasis of the trading market, as long as the items don't touch, they are essentially in a static state. Otherwise, if they exploded inside my backpack, wouldn't I be sent straight to the heavens?

Thinking of that scenario, Colin felt a bit of fear.

After all, this was two tons of explosives!

Well, now it was three tons.

The speed of manufacturing black powder was far faster than Colin had anticipated.

However, at this very moment, Colin's expression suddenly turned somewhat strange because he saw a notification.

[Through some subtle vibrations, sounds, or perhaps intuition that would be imperceptible to an ordinary person, you seem to realize that someone is approaching this area.]

[You have made a guess regarding this, believing them to be survivors just like yourself.]