Chapter 205: Ore Storage Warehouse, Mine Tunnel Secret Room
After storing away the two magic energy puppets, it seemed there was nothing else worth taking in the entire warehouse.
But just to be safe, Zong Shen started to consult the strategy guide.
"Is there anything else worth taking in this warehouse?"
(The warehouse has been emptied since the outbreak of the war. Some materials that were left behind have also decayed. What can be preserved until now are only the mining pickaxes and the magic energy puppets wrapped and protected by oiled paper.)
After confirming there were no other overlooked resources in this equipment storeroom, Zong Shen and his group left the warehouse, and before leaving, he conveniently closed the rune gate once more.
The rune gate had a very high durability value, and since he had the key in hand, Zong Shen planned to dismantle the gate and take it back to his territory if he ever got the chance. Although the rock walls in the mining area were reinforced with magical runes, they were easier to break through than those of the Azshara Mountain Fortress.
Returning by the original path to the main mining tunnel, they continued forward, where several intersections awaited. According to previous strategy tips, the second intersection also led to a mining area warehouse.
The ore storage warehouse belonged to this mining area, and it stored some ores that had been processed by the refining workshop, hoping for some harvest.
Entering the second intersection, after advancing over a hundred meters, they reached the end of this branch road, where another rune gate stood erected in the rock wall.
Just as the group arrived near the door, the ground around the passage suddenly lit up, and light curtains shot up abruptly, isolating the passage. Circular mana points emerged from the rock walls on both sides, arcs of electricity flickering within, seemingly ready to attack Zong Shen and his team!
To their surprise, the mining area still had residual defensive arrays protecting it. Those arrays were engraved in magic crystal chips buried beneath the rock walls and would activate automatically when invaded by outsiders.
As the magic array was about to launch an attack, Zong Shen remained unperturbed. He flicked his wrist and took out a golden plaque!
As the plaque suddenly brightened, with a magic array emerging on its surface, Zong Shen grabbed the plaque, and with a thought, all the defensive arrays dimmed and disappeared.
This plaque was the "Miner's Identity Card" Zong Shen had found in the office area earlier. The identity plaque, imbued with magical power, had control authority over some of the defensive arrays and magical restrictions within the mining area.
After shutting down the defensive arrays, Zong Shen took out a large bunch of keys and began searching for the appropriate key based on the badge on the gate.
He quickly found the corresponding key, inserted it into the keyhole, and unlocked the rune gate in front of him.
This door was even thicker than the previous one, with a thickness of thirty centimeters, making it incredibly heavy.
Having not been opened for such a long time, the door hinges were somewhat stiff, and although protected from decay by magical power, the surrounding mountain had shown slight deformation and compression.
This was the force of time's passage, making it a problem of how to push open the door.
Zong Shen tried pushing the door open, but even with his strength, it felt challenging.
Using both arms with full force, he managed to open just a crack.
Eventually, it took several gun and shield warriors assisting him to push the door open to create a two to three meters wide entrance.
Carrying the "Magic Power Flashlight," they first entered the warehouse, followed by the other warriors.
The entire warehouse was much larger than the equipment warehouse, structured entirely as a separate mining hall. A massive ore pile stood within the warehouse, piled up several dozen meters high like a small mountain, truly magnificent.
"Holy crap! So much ore, we're going to get rich!"
Zong Shen exclaimed, nearly unable to hold onto the magic power flashlight.
The thought of piles of secret silver, refined gold, and magic energy crystals made his hair stand on end in excitement.
But upon closer inspection, he realized he had been too quick to celebrate.
This huge pile turned out to be all iron ore, with not a single piece of the precious ores.
It seemed this was primarily an iron mine, with other higher-grade byproduct minerals sparsely produced and segregated for separate storage, just like the few mineral boxes Zong Shen found earlier in the office area, all filled with precious minerals.
Also, judging by the warehouse's size, this pile of ore only amounted to about one-tenth of its total capacity.
The surroundings appeared quite empty, likely suggesting most of the ores were transferred out when the war broke out.
But with just the remaining iron ore, his territory wouldn't worry about iron resources for a long time.
The surplus could be traded to other lords, with the current exchange rate for iron resources standing at roughly 100 pieces of wood for 30 pieces of iron. In short, taking all this iron ore away would result in a substantial profit.
Zong Shen gestured and started using the lord's storage grid to collect these iron ores. The storage grid was one of the few convenient functions the lord had left; after the newbie stage ended, many features had been adjusted, but the storage grid's effect still remained.
It allowed for quick extraction and storage, with up to a thousand of the same item stacking in a single grid, akin to a human conveyor belt.
At this moment, Zong Shen turned into a bottomless pit, frantically collecting these ores, but after collecting this heap, he felt exhausted...
Both his personal and backpack storage grids were nearly full, with only fifteen grids remaining.
He had a total of 50 Lord Personal Storage Grids, and factoring in previously stored items, he still had 23 empty slots available, capable of storing 23,000 units of iron ore.
Plus, with the 48-grid storage space of the [Dragon Turtle Hard Shell Expedition Backpack], he could still accommodate 48,000 units of iron ore.
Now, 56 grids were already filled.
A rough estimate showed that one heap could contain over 55,000 iron ores.
If this batch of iron ore were exchanged for secondary resources like stone, wood, and hemp, it could be traded for 180,000 to 190,000 units, which would constitute quite a fortune.
It's worth noting that for the construction of Zong Shen's territory up until now, the total resource consumption was just several tens of thousands.
In comparison, the value of this batch of iron ore was substantial, and the quantity was very impressive. It's sure to meet the building needs of the territory for some time to come.
Meanwhile, a portion could be sold in the market or gifted to Ah Ze. Although Ah Ze is living quite comfortably, when it comes to territory development and wealth, Zong Shen is still very confident. The little brother has the luck of a Lucky Dog, and he's akin to a cheat; achieving some acclaim in the future is inevitable.
After collecting all the ores, Zong Shen's personal storage grid was completely full, and the backpack only had 15 spaces left.
The entire storage warehouse became empty, with no ores left.
Zong Shen led the team out of the warehouse. He originally wanted to close the door again, but leaving the alliance was really too troublesome, so he gave up in the end.
They retraced their steps, left this branch path, and returned to the main mining road.
The previous strategy only mentioned the first, second, and fourth entrances, without mentioning the other entrances and locations. Zong Shen intended to inquire further, since it had been several days, and missing anything would be too regrettable.
"Please tell me what's at the third entrance and at the end of the mine path?"
(The third entrance leads to the depths of the mine path, where there's a mine elevator directly reaching the underground mining area. At the end of this road is the former ore refining workshop, which was later occupied by the Kobolds as a stronghold. Now that the Dogman Tribe has suffered severe damage, you might want to go and take a look.)
Zong Shen had a rough understanding of the left side area.
There's no need to go to the mining area for now. The priority is to quickly sweep through the known areas, return to the territory, and convert this harvest into combat power as soon as possible. After the Burrow Challenge ends, he'll deploy personnel to clean up the mining area to make final preparations for mining the tunnels.
Currently, because of the Burrow Challenge, traveling between the mines and the territory is fraught with danger. The wandering Burrow Monsters are increasing by the day. Zong Shen still had a complete blueprint of an Ore Refining Plant in his hand, which he could place in the appropriate area when the time came.
After a brief pause to gather his thoughts, Zong Shen decided to explore the secret chamber in the fourth entrance first, according to the sequence of locations, and then move on to the ore refining workshop to meet the Kobolds.
With that in mind, he waved his hand, and the team set off again.
After passing the third entrance, they reached the fourth entrance on the mine path.
Entering inside, this entrance was also a branch path, seemingly deeper than the others.
They walked a full four to five hundred meters to reach the end.
There was no grand, solid rune gate here, and at the end, there seemed to be a rock wall.
Goodness, it was indeed a secret chamber. Without the strategy guide, Zong Shen couldn't have guessed a chamber was hidden here. As he focused his attention, a golden mark appeared before his eyes.
This mark pointed to a recess in the rock wall. Zong Shen approached this recess and carefully observed that the shape of this recess could perfectly fit an identification plaque.
So he took out the Sheriff's plaque and placed it on. He pondered that a prestigious Sheriff should have the authority to enter the secret chamber.
The card stuck in the recess, magical runes emerged, and the rock wall in front trembled slightly, sank down, revealing a small entrance.
Zong Shen retrieved the plaque and shone a flashlight inside, discovering another small world. Inside was a small room forcibly excavated from the rock, with a stone table in the middle.
In the secret chamber room, there were round slide entrances on both sides, leading to unknown destinations.
Zong Shen focused again, and strategy tips emerged.
(The left slide leads to the west, 370 meters underground mining area; the right slide leads to the east, 435 meters underground mining area; these two slides are emergency escape routes, leading to other mining areas.)
After acquiring the intelligence on the slides, Zong Shen entered the room. On the stone table were some albums and documents, along with a few toppled crystal wine glasses.
In the corner of this secret chamber room, a Silver Treasure Chest lay quietly, waiting to be opened.
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