The door opened.
A dazzling golden light rushed towards them, even brighter than Anveena's radiance. It took Jiang Jie a few seconds to adjust. Anveena's eyes were sparkling with stars.
What's in front of me?
gold!
Gold is everywhere!
This is the Hall of the Crafters, where Archaedas crafted Earthen and Stone Giants. So the space is very large, like a large stadium, with unfinished statues everywhere and various stones scattered around.
None of these matters.
Most importantly, the ground directly in front of them was piled high with gold!
There are unrefined gold ore, basketball-sized gold nuggets with unknown gold content, gold dust covering the ground, and Titans coins that don't even exist in the outside world!
How much gold is there in total?
Jiang Jie roughly estimated that it was probably thirty to fifty tons, and possibly even more.
What does that mean?
Even if you included everyone in the entire Lordaeron, you couldn't find ten people with this much wealth. Marquis Lawrence would probably have to sell all his possessions to come up with this much gold.
For Jiang Jie, who is building the Sky City, this is an unexpected windfall!
Building a city is very expensive; generally, only nations have the resources to do so. The entire Lordaeron only has four cities: Lordaeron, Stratholme, Tyr's Hand, and Hearthglen, yet it is already the most powerful and prosperous nation in the Eastern Kingdoms.
Even the incredibly wealthy Barov Family couldn't build a city back then; Caer Darrow Castle was just a castle, a far cry from a city.
If they were to actually build a city, the Barov Family's millennia-long savings would probably have to be poured in!
Think about it, how many cities are there in total, if you add up all the kingdoms in the world? Just a dozen or so.
This is a world of city-states, where a country typically consists of only one city. A city, along with the surrounding towns, villages, and farms, constitutes a country!
The Kirin Tor mages are so wealthy, yet they only own one city Dalaran.
Yes, that's right. Dalaran is a magical city, and its construction cost is definitely five or ten times that of an ordinary ground city. But the Sky City Jiang Jie wants to build is absolutely no worse Dalaran, and may even be better!
This requires a significant investment of human, material, and financial resources.
Even if all the original wealth of the Barov Family were invested, it wouldn't be enough, far from enough.
But now, with this gold, although it's still far from enough, at least we can complete the first phase of the project, right? At least it can sustain us for a while, right?
Jiang Jie couldn't help but sigh, " Archaedas is truly a great boss. Besides that Titans stone tablet, he's contributed so much wealth. If only the bosses we've defeated before were this generous!"
Where did this gold come from?
Of course, the Earthen dug it up!
Earthen were created, to put it nicely, to sculpt mountains and rivers, to change the terrain of Azeroth according to the requirements of the Titan Keepers, but frankly, they were created for mining.
The materials Archaedas needed to create the Titan-forged were likely all mined by the Earthen; the occasional gold find wasn't much of a problem.
Gold is precious, but it's probably unnecessary to make Earthen and Stone Giants. With Archaedas's abilities, separating gold directly from gold mines is not difficult at all. Besides, there are many more machines to come!
Yes, this is the Hall of the Crafters. Inside, there are many Titans facilities personally crafted by Archaedas. Of course, they are very small in scale, far from comparable to Ulduar. They are like small workshops, but the most advanced kind. They don't look very impressive from the outside, but they are fully equipped.
Jiang Jie's gaze did not linger on the gold for long before it was quickly drawn to the treasure deepest inside.
On a huge, round stone disc was their biggest goal for this trip:
Disc of Norgannon!
There is not one, but four Disc of Norgannon.
The four Discs of Norgannon, strung together by large stone keychains, were each as big as Old Chen and weighed several hundred kilograms. The entire Disc of Norgannon probably weighed over a thousand kilograms. Let alone taking it away, even moving it would probably not be an easy task.
With the amplification of their Chi, Jiang Jie and Old Chen could still exert a strength of over a thousand kilograms, but Brann was out of the question. Although Dwarves are strong and robust, an ordinary Dwarves is only slightly stronger than an adult human, at most two or three times stronger, and it would be quite good if they could lift a weight of two hundred kilograms.
Disc of Norgannon?
It's impossible to get it working!
Dwarves are used to gold, and the total amount of gold stored in Ironforge is probably more than ten times that here, not to mention the piles and piles of mithril, Adamantite, Thorium, and Truesilver, each of which is far more valuable than gold, and some are even ten or a hundred times more expensive.
For the prince of Ironforge, this amount of wealth meant little; Prince Brann had higher pursuits that transcended base desires.
Gold? Vulgar.
They're after everything related to Titans!
So Brann remained unmoved, took out a pair of sunglasses, put them on, and then, stepping on the gold scattered on the ground, rushed over like the wind and pounced on the Disc of Norgannon.
"I've finally found you, Disc of Norgannon!" Brann cried with joy, two lines of tears streaming down his old face.
Dwarves don't easily shed tears, except when they're happy.
The Disc of Norgannon record the entire evolution of Azeroth after the Titans' departure. These four Discs of Norgannon are even Dalaran.
The combined collections of all the major libraries in Dire Maul, Silvermoon City, Karazhan, and others are far more valuable and contain far more recorded information.
For Brann, who holds numerous titles including archaeologist, historian, Titans researcher, and linguist, the Disc of Norgannon was more precious than any artifact and absolutely could not be missed; he wouldn't trade it for a mountain of gold.
Jiang Jie and chuckled softly.
There are plenty of people like that on Earth. Although Jiang Jie wasn't interested in them, it didn't stop him from showing respect and reverence for them, even though Brann had caused him a lot of trouble along the way.
Anyway, he's not dead, is he?
Only Jiang Jie was attracted by the gold.
Old Chen was sitting cross-legged, meditating and healing his injuries, with the other three Pandaren beside him, seemingly oblivious to the room full of gold.
They have always lived on the Wandering Isle, self-sufficient, and no amount of wealth means anything to them.
Jiang Jie felt apologetic towards them, because this matter originally had nothing to do with them, yet he had dragged them into this adventure. But then again, Pandaren are naturally fond of traveling and adventure; isn't this a kind of enjoyment for them too?
While Brann was distracted by the Disc of Norgannon, Jiang Jie rummaged through the pile of gold.
This place contains not only gold, but also some ancient Titans artifacts. Unfortunately, they are all designed for Earthen and Stone Giants, and are either too large or too small, making them unsuitable for humans.
Suddenly, Jiang Jie saw a xiāng zǐ.
This is a stone zither, which looks more like a stone coffin. It's about 1.5 meters tall, and I reckon it could fit Old Chen inside, and maybe even Li Li.
The vast Hall of the Crafters contained only gold, stone statues, weapons, and Titans artifacts, along with this single stone chest. Anyone with half a brain would know that something extraordinary was hidden inside.
If Brann hadn't been drawn to the Disc of Norgannon, he would have been the first to rush over and open the treasure chest; now that responsibility has fallen to Jiang Jie.
The stone box was very heavy, and Jiang Jie had to use some of his inner Chi to push it open, then he frowned slightly.
There was only one thing inside, which looked like the folded wings of an eagle. Of course, it wasn't a real wing, but rather the head of a staff, made of metal, with the folded wings surrounding a crystal ball the size of a fist.
Yes, the staff head is very large, almost the same size as Old Chen's cross-section. This is not a staff that humans or Earthen can use, but a staff for giants!
There's also a bit of the handle where the cane head connects.
The staff handle appears to be made of stone, feeling somewhat cold to the touch, and is engraved with various patterns. Upon closer inspection, one can discover that these are Titans Runes, extremely intricate, far more so than those on the " Prehistoric Staff," indicating that this staff must be superior to the " Prehistoric Staff." It is unclear why it broke.
Moreover, the staff showed no energy fluctuations whatsoever; all its energy had dissipated, making it no different from a stone stick.
The enormous stone box contained only a fragment of a broken staff?
"Brother, those Titans Runes are actually Titans script, I recognize them. This staff is the Staff of Origination, an ancient Titans artifact, a Keeper- level artifact!"
Anveena's voice suddenly rang in Jiang Jie's mind, tinged with a hint of weariness but also excitement. "It looks much better than the Prehistoric Staff! Brother, if we can repair it, it will definitely have great power! I love it!"