Chapter 31 - Burning the Cave of Threads

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“There’s only one choice: submit or die.”

“I need you to help me mine the ores. When I’ve completely cleared out this mine, you’ll be in charge of mining for me. As long as you submit, not only will I not mistreat you, I’ll treat you all equally.”

Jiang Chen’s voice rang out faintly.

It wasn’t mixed with any personal emotions.

It was as if he was narrating a trivial matter.

The old doghead fell silent upon hearing his words, then turned his head to the other dogheads and began to translate “Waaa, waaa”.

Among the dogheads, the only ones who could grasp the human language were the wise prophets of the clan.

The other dogheads seemed to have become a little agitated after hearing the old prophet’s narration, and began to argue.

After a few minutes, these dogheads seemed to have reached a consensus.

They walked forward together and knelt before Jiang Chen.

“My lord, we… we are willing to pledge our loyalty to you!”

The doghead prophet spoke respectfully.

Jiang Chen nodded in satisfaction.

All of the dogehads’ attributes weren’t that high as far as the eye could see.

In fact, they were even a bit weaker than ordinary people of the same level. Every doghead had the option of “loyalty”.

But it wasn’t high, only 50 points of loyalty, between submission and neutrality.

They still needed to be nurtured properly.

“Rise, you will also be a member of the territory in the future, and the glory of the territory will shine upon you.”

“You will definitely be proud of today’s decision in the future!”

Jiang Chen spoke passionately.

He knew all too well about this kind of chicken soup.

As the saying goes, you’ve never seen a pig run before you’ve eaten pork?

The old doghead hurriedly nodded his head as if to curry favor.

The other dogheads didn’t understand and only nodded along with the old doghead prophet… Jiang Chen secretly laughed in his heart.

This round of bluffing had been very successful.

The territory was lacking manpower.

Although these dogheads weren’t very strong in battle, they were perfect for mining ore resources.

These guys were born miners.

Jiang Chen thought happily.

Then, he began to inspect the items he’d obtained after killing the spider.

“Mage spider armor 3x, soul 6x, elementary earth element crystal 2x”

Not bad. It probably wouldn’t be long before foreign lords like Jiang Chen had the strength to challenge the natives.

However, Jiang Chen had a feeling that things wouldn’t be so simple!

His experiences these past few days had made him feel that the suzerain system was too benevolent.

That’s right, benevolent.

In such a favorable environment, his own external system had yet to be deployed, and the seeds planted in his territory had yet to mature. The growth of Jiang Chen’s territory had already begun to take shape, and he was confident that he would be able to survive, it was gradually developing.

Therefore, this wasn’t right, and it was very wrong!

Such a situation and condition wasn’t a challenge to the lords, but rather a kind of preferential treatment.

As the saying goes, the more things happen, the more demons will appear.

He had a very strong premonition.

There would be some major changes after the novice phase ended.

Many of the rules would change.

As the name implied, the novice phase was a period of adaptation for the novice to adapt to the overall environment and rhythm, so protection and preferential treatment would be given.

However, the end of the novice phase meant that they had officially stepped into the rhythm of the Lord’s game.

Jiang Chen thought for a moment and subconsciously furrowed his brows.

But no matter what, his goal hadn’t changed. It was to continuously develop and strengthen his territory, and at the same time, increase his strength.

This was the foundation of settling down and staying alive.

No matter how the rules changed, strength was the guarantee of everything.

The dark mine was silent.

No one dared to disturb him.

Jiang Chen shook his head and dismissed these distracting thoughts. There were times when thinking too much wasn’t a good thing, and would instead affect his determination to walk towards his goal.

He began to inspect the unknown items and equipment.

“Mage spider armor (green). Rarity : excellent, body protection: 28, magic resistance: 10, durability: 200, ability: spiderweb shield LV1 (when HP is below 50% , a layer of sturdy spider web with 300 points of armor and 10 points of armor can only be triggered once an hour).”

“Not bad, this light armor. It might be able to save a life at a critical moment.”

This piece of equipment could be used to replace the leather armor on his body.

Jiang Chen immediately equipped it.

After collecting the items, Jiang Chen’s gaze swept across the entire hall.

Where should he explore next?

“Right, is there anything good here?”

Jiang Chen turned around to ask the old doghead.

The doghead replied respectfully,

“The passages here mainly lead to the mines, warehouses, and workshops.”

“In addition, there’s a black iron treasure chest in the right corner of the hall, covered in cobwebs. The ground is littered with items left behind by the exploration team. There’s an ancient bronze treasure chest in the right passage, but we don’t know what’s inside the treasure chest, because we can’t open it no matter how hard we try.”

“It’d be a miracle if you could open it.” Jiang Chen ridiculed in his heart.

Then, the doghead continued:

“There’s a missing package in the first room of the mine area, a black iron treasure chest in the seventh room, and a silver treasure chest in the last room.”

“This is all I know, but there are even more mines in the interior. The spider cave monsters that have followed us are stationed there, and we don’t dare set foot in them.”

“Apart from these, there are also the ore materials that this mine is rich in.”

There was a whole bunch of them.

After the doghead prophet finished speaking, Jiang Chen had a rough understanding of the situation in his area.

This meant that this mine was extremely valuable to explore. Just the ore materials were what Jiang Chen needed right now.

This was only a very small area for the entire mining area.

There were several similar mines and entrances to the mining area, and each entrance had a corresponding area to the left and right. Only by passing through these areas could one finally go deep underground and reach the mining area.

Some of the entrances had been destroyed by the Great War ten thousand years ago, and some had been preserved.

The value of this mine was even higher than Jiang Chen’s assessment!

If he could fully explore it, he would definitely benefit greatly.

However, this also meant that this mine hid a risk that was comparable to the profits.

How much profit he could obtain depended entirely on his strength and ability.

The vast majority of the treasures on the left were in the mine’s storehouse, and the storehouse was protected by a sturdy gate. He had to obtain the key first.

Therefore, if they wanted to maximize the profits, they had to completely open up the lair of the magic spiders on the right.

Moreover, these magic spiders were not neutral creatures like the dogheads.

In their eyes, humans were just one of the foods on their menu..