After walking for a while, Anvil still didn't feel safe enough, so he picked up a goblin iron armor from the ground and awkwardly draped it over his burly frame.
Although it didn't fit properly, it at least provided some pitiful protection, preventing him from being injured by suddenly appearing elemental creatures.
Chen Yu felt this unnecessary trouble and spat out two magic leaves, handing them to him.
"If you encounter danger, tear these - they'll protect you."
"Oh, alright, thank you, Your Majesty."
Anvil threw off the ragged, uncomfortable iron armor with relief, carefully clutching the two magic leaves in his palm. With his other hand gripping the battle axe, he took a deep breath and cautiously entered the fortress entrance leading deeper into the mining area.
Dust floated in the mine tunnels, making the light considerably dimmer.
The scenes along the way made Anvil's heart sink continuously.
The rock walls that once bore the copper fire clan emblem were now covered with ugly goblin-style graffiti and rough excavation marks.
This was no longer the home he remembered.
Anvil's mood became somewhat low, but this didn't affect his duties.
He forced himself to perk up, vigilantly observing his surroundings while quietly explaining to Chen Yu on his shoulder: "Your Majesty, look over there, that huge depression used to be our clan's largest obsidian smelting furnace. Unfortunately now... it's just a pile of scrap metal."
"And there, that used to be the brewing area..."
"If that fissure is located in the main mining area, it's not far from here. Just cross two connected mining areas to reach it."
Soon, he brought Chen Yu through the connecting passages inside the fortress and entered another, more spacious mining area.
Faint traces of unfinished gemstone veins could be seen on the rock walls here, shimmering with faint light.
"This used to be the gemstone subsidiary mine, also one of the main mining areas," Anvil explained.
But now, this place was long deserted, leaving only chaos everywhere.
Goblins and slaves lay piled together, their congealed blood staining the ground dark brown. Broken weapons and tools were scattered everywhere, silently telling of the fierce conflict that had occurred not long ago.
Seeing those slaves who had once suffered alongside him also fallen here, Anvil's mood couldn't help but grow heavier.
Chen Yu's attention remained more focused on the earth elemental magical creatures wandering through the mining area ruins.
Noticing what seemed like magical creatures confronting each other nearby, he guided Anvil to quietly approach.
Soon, using a pile of abandoned mine carts for cover, they clearly saw the situation ahead.
Those escaped small earth elementals had actually sneaked back, holding shiny ore fragments, and happened to be blocked by a large stone sphere monster.
Two groups of magical creatures were tense in confrontation, but judging by the small earth elementals' constantly trembling bodies, they were clearly no match for this big guy.
Suddenly, one small earth elemental seemed to discover the hiding Anvil and Chen Yu. It immediately started excitedly chattering, its short hands desperately pointing in their direction.
As if bluffingly shouting: "Look, our people are here!"
The stone sphere monster didn't seem very bright and indeed fell for it, clumsily turning around, its stone eyes scanning the direction where Anvil and Chen Yu were hiding with confusion.
"Ee-wah! (Run fast!)"
The moment it turned, the small earth elementals gave the signal, instantly dropping the ores, and "plop plop" like dropping dumplings, quickly burrowed into the ground, disappearing without a trace.
The stone sphere monster realized it had been tricked, emitting an angry, muffled roar, pounding its solid chest vigorously, then directed all its fury toward the exposed Anvil and Chen Yu.
"Uh, Your Majesty, the situation seems a bit unfavorable..."
The giant creature's oppressive presence made sweat break out on Anvil's forehead as he slowly retreated while gripping his battle axe.
"No problem, this guy isn't very bright," Chen Yu's voice remained calm.
He exerted effort, and "gurgle gurgle" - dense steam emerged from his head.
【Evaporative Illusion】
The steam rapidly condensed, transformed, materializing into a stone giant phantom even taller and more imposing than the stone sphere monster, blocking their path while emitting low growls.
The stone sphere monster was startled by this sudden appearance, letting out a fearful whimper, instantly curling its body into a huge stone sphere, rumbling as it quickly rolled away along the mine tunnel it came from, afraid that if it slowed even a step, it would be crushed by this "big guy."
"This works too?" Anvil stared dumbfounded.
With the stone sphere monster gone, Anvil cautiously continued forward, entering deeper into the mining area.
As he walked, perhaps to dispel his earlier low mood or maybe remembering something, he said with a regretful tone: "Back in the day, among our copper fire clan ancestors, there was a great craftsman who forged a magical black copper ring."
"It was said to enable communication with earth elemental creatures, forming contracts. Back then, we could even peacefully coexist with some gentle stone sphere monsters, helping each other..."
He sighed: "What a pity, after those damned goblins came, the clan fell into chaos, and some defecting clansmen seemed to have taken that legendary treasure ring with them..."
"Black copper ring?"
Chen Yu muttered, suddenly remembering that after defeating that demonic bat boss in the lava well earlier, he seemed to have picked up a black, unremarkable ring.
It was still stored with the magic leaves inside his body.
Could it be this thing?
"Take a look, is it this?"
Chen Yu spat out the black copper ring, handing it before Anvil's eyes.
Anvil immediately froze, his eyes widening like bronze bells.
He carefully took the ring, examining it closely under the faint light from the rock walls, seeing the almost worn-away dwarf runes on the inner circle.
"That's it, Earth's Whisper, one of the copper fire clan's heritage treasures."
His voice trembled slightly with excitement, but was soon replaced by confusion.
"But how did it end up in your hands?"
"This," Chen Yu recalled, "I killed that big bat earlier at the lava well and found it in its stomach."
After hearing this, Anvil fell silent.
He clearly understood what this meant - those clansmen who fled with the ring back then weren't unwilling to return or had betrayed the clan, but likely met misfortune along the way...
The last trace of dissatisfaction and resentment toward the "escapees" in his heart dissipated with this news, replaced by boundless loneliness.
The copper fire clan... might truly only have him left.
Chen Yu noticed his low mood and painted an enticing picture in a tempting tone.
"It's all in the past. Later I'll find you a beautiful dwarf girl as a wife, you work hard and have several little dwarves. Then won't you be the new copper fire clan leader yourself."
Anvil's dark face seemed to blush somewhat as he stammered: "Uh... Your Majesty... that's not really appropriate..."
But upon careful thought, this actually made a lot of sense.
Rebuilding the clan seemed to depend entirely on him.
"How exactly is this thing used?"
Chen Yu interrupted Anvil's wandering thoughts, waving the retrieved ring with his gel small hand.
Anvil quickly collected himself and explained: "According to the clan elders, you need to point the ring at the earth elemental creature you want to communicate with and concentrate to use it."
"As long as communication goes smoothly and you gain the recognition of their group, you can form a contract with the entire group, establishing a connection."
"Seems somewhat interesting."
Chen Yu scanned the surroundings and soon discovered those sneaky small earth elementals again behind a pile of ores.
"Let's go try it out."
Anvil complied and walked over, his footsteps immediately startling the little creatures.
They trembled with fear and immediately wanted to burrow away again, but seeing the black copper ring in Chen Yu's gel small hand, they all scratched their bald stone heads in confusion and stopped moving.
Just then, an angry voice transmitted through the ring entered Chen Yu's mind.
"Damn slime, what do you want actually, following us all the way here."
Chen Yu found this amusing - these little things really had big tempers.
He tried responding through the ring: "Who's following you? You're the ones constantly on the path I'm taking, you're the ones blocking my way in advance."
"Is... is that so?"
The small earth elementals looked at each other, their small stone heads showing great confusion, their simple logical brains seeming somewhat tangled.
"Wrong!"
Suddenly one slightly smarter little creature realized something, hopping and pointing at Chen Yu.
"He keeps catching us, he's definitely a bad guy, don't believe his excuses."
Chen Yu shook his body, "You're the bad guys, stealing all my ores."
Hearing this, they clearly grew guilty, their transmitted thoughts weakening considerably.
"We just saw no one was there, the shiny things were on the ground, so... so we took them, it wasn't stealing, yes, sorry..."
"Who said no one wanted them? I need these ores to craft many amazing treasures."
Seeing how much they liked ores, Chen Yu deliberately took out a gray gravel crystal filled with spiritual energy, waving it before their eyes.
"G-g-g-glowing ore!!"
The small earth elementals' attention was instantly completely captured, collectively exclaiming in amazement, their stone eyes seemingly glowing.
"So pretty, grinding it into powder and sprinkling it on ourselves, making stone skirts would definitely look beautiful."
"Nonsense, inlaying it on our heads is the prettiest, most dazzling."
They immediately argued about the best use for this "pretty stone," but without exception, their gazes remained fixed on the ore in Chen Yu's hand.
One who seemed somewhat timid stepped forward, whispering:
"Slime, we apologize to you, how about giving you lots of ores in exchange?"
Chen Yu remained silent, just quietly spitting out a second "spirit stone," immediately causing the small earth elementals to exclaim even louder.
"What to do, what to do, he seems to have many of these treasures."
Chen Yu felt the timing was about right, leisurely transmitting his thoughts.
"Hey ya, I have so many of these glowing pretty ores they're almost piling up, just worrying no one will help consume them."
"If anyone's willing to follow me, I'll give them one for free, they can hug it to sleep every day."
"You're telling the truth?!"
Immediately several small earth elementals eagerly jumped out, their previous vigilance and arguments instantly forgotten.
"St-st-stupid, this guy definitely wants to trick us into being his laborers." A few others tried to remain clear-headed.
Chen Yu still remained silent, just like performing magic, quietly spat out a third "spirit stone."
Gulu.
For a moment, even Anvil seemed to hear these little stone people swallowing saliva.
The small earth elementals suddenly fell into an eerie silence, using their simple stone heads to look at each other.
The next second.
"Boss! Boss! I'll follow you!"
"Me too, give me glowing stone!"
"And me, I'm best at digging holes!"
They instantly changed faces, cheering and jumping as they ran over, excitedly hopping around Anvil's feet, their previous hostility completely vanishing.
The moment their voices fell, the black copper ring in Anvil's hand flashed with an oily brightness, then the light rapidly converged.
Finally "poof" - it transformed into a small pile of fine black metal powder, slipping through Anvil's fingers.
Anvil looked at his empty palm and explained: "The contract spirit has responded, connecting these little ones with your will."
"Unless one party completely perishes, or you actively dissolve the contract, this connection will persist. The ring itself is just the contract spirit's physical form. Once the contract is established, its mission is complete."
The moment the contract was established, the small earth elementals seemed to vaguely sense some intangible connection, looking at each other in confusion, but this feeling wasn't bad, and the glowing stones were more important!
So they immediately happily started jumping again.
"This thing is amazing."
Chen Yu felt the joyful emotions transmitted through the contract, somewhat surprised.
Then he silently thought, "You all hide first, or play nearby. After I finish exploring ahead, I'll bring you and the glowing stones home."
"Okay boss!"
"There's a big stone blocking the path ahead."
"Very strange big stone, hard hard, can't drill through, green-skinned bad guys can't enter either."
Feeling this barrier-free communication, Chen Yu curiously asked: "Then how did you get here before?"
"It was the fissure, fissure demon, it opened its big mouth, suction so strong, it ate many of our companions, then we dazedly emerged from the ground here..." A small earth elemental transmitted emotions mixed with some lingering fear.
"When we came, that big stone wasn't here yet."
Fissure demon?
That should refer to the planar fissure.
As for the big stone...
Chen Yu felt curious about the "big stone" they mentioned, so he continued forward with Anvil.
Along the way, Anvil finally couldn't contain his curiosity and quietly asked: "Your Majesty, what method did you use earlier... to persuade these earth elementals?"
In the legends left by his ancestors, communicating with earth elementals required immense patience, sincerity, and time.
"Very simple." Chen Yu answered matter-of-factly, "They like these glowing pretty stones. I promised if they work for me, I'd give each one a stone."
"Cough... cough cough!"
Anvil choked on his own saliva, eyes wide with disbelief, "J-just that simple?!"
"Just that simple." Chen Yu confirmed.
Anvil fell completely silent.
He remembered the legend carved on the clan's stone tablet - the great ancestor Stoneheart, to tame a powerful stone sphere monster as clan guardian, spent thirty whole years, daily singing ancient dwarf war songs outside its nest, offering the purest rock salt and gems, finally moving the other with sincerity to form an alliance.
This story was greatly celebrated, passed down through generations, said that only the most skilled bards were qualified to recite this epic.
Then what he just witnessed with his own eyes - His Majesty buying off an entire small earth elemental group with glowing ores... what was this?
Looking at it this way, wasn't he himself experiencing an epic right now?
Anvil felt his dwarf worldview had received quite an impact, his mind wandering the entire way.
Soon, they reached the end of this mine tunnel.
The path ahead was indeed completely blocked by an enormous black-brown giant stone, thoroughly cutting off access to the main mining area.
Anvil approached, using the back of his battle axe to forcefully knock on it.
"Clang!"
A clear echo reverberated through the mine tunnel, the sound not like striking rock, but more like hitting some extremely hard metal.
Anvil immediately gasped sharply.
So hard!
But soon his face showed excitement, his dwarf instincts instantly overwhelmed all other thoughts.
If this thing could be used to craft equipment...
He didn't dare imagine what treasures could be forged.
But the problem arose - this metal ore was hard and so massive, ordinary mining methods seemed unlikely to be effective.
Meaning, if this ore couldn't be mined, it would just be pure torture.