Chapter 557

Hops successfully became a student in the mineral processing program at New Oriental Technical School. Over the next few years, he would have much to learn: knowledge of all kinds of minerals, methods for judging a mineral's texture and quality, until he finally became an expert capable of picking out the finest specimens from a pile of ore.

More than a dozen others had entered the program alongside him. Most were dwarves, with a few humans and several half-orcs as well. But among the half-orcs, he was the only one from outside the Republic.

Those half-orcs were all very young, born and raised in the Republic. They were curious about the lands beyond its borders, and they yearned for the vast grasslands that were the half-orcs' homeland. Whenever they spoke with Hops, they repeatedly said that, given the chance, they wanted to travel to the grasslands to seek out their roots and trace the footsteps of their ancestors, to see how their forebears had truly lived.

Hops earnestly urged them to abandon that idea. Never mind anything else—being half-orcs who did not believe in the Orc Pantheon was already a grave crime on the grasslands. If they encountered a more extreme tribe, they might be killed outright and offered as sacrifices to the gods.

"What? Killing people as sacrifices? The Orc Pantheon is that brutal? My heavens! Then I'd better not go!" Suri, a half-orc from the Republic, exclaimed in shock. This mixed-blood youth with half leopardfolk ancestry loved cooking and was especially skilled at making rice balls, steamed buns, and the like. But he had no desire to truly become a chef. What he dreamed of was traveling to the ends of the earth and seeing every kind of scenery.

The reason he had chosen to study mineral processing