Regarding Nilly's idea, Chen Yu expressed that as long as the payment was sufficient, not just digging a tunnel, even if they had to dig through the entire Dark Realm, it would be possible.
After some discussion, they finally reached a preliminary agreement—the Belmont Family would provide funds and some rare materials as payment, while the Slime Kingdom would be responsible for investing Slime Engineers to jointly develop an exploration passage leading deep within Gore.
As for the secret of the Gargoyle Legion, there wasn't much point in keeping it under wraps, since even they, the Stone Descendants, didn't know what the secret was. It might as well be offered as one of the "sincerities" of cooperation.
And Chen Yu's thinking was also quite simple.
He wanted to use this opportunity to gradually infiltrate the influence of the Slime Kingdom into the Dark Realm, slowly incorporating this vast and mysterious world into the future territory of the Kingdom.
Now, the Stone Descendant side was mostly settled, next... it was time for those vampire clans.
Chen Yu pondered his future strategy in his heart.
With Yano's departure, he had nothing much to do here at the Stone Fortress for the time being. Feeling a bit idle, his consciousness returned to the swamp.
Riding Little Ka, he flew out of the lush Dryad domain. After some thought, Chen Yu decided to go to the Mining Area to offer his condolences to Anvil, the new father.
"Whoosh..."
Little Ka flapped its wings, skillfully gliding through the winding and deep underground city passages.
Along the way, they encountered a giant cave worm that tried to block their path. Little Ka directly opened its mouth and spewed scorching flames, instantly roasting the plump worm to a crisp, inside and out, emitting a charred aroma.
Then it was enjoyed by Chen Yu as breakfast.
Not long after, the familiar fortress entrance and the Slime guards patrolling on the battlements appeared before their eyes.
The clanging sound of hammering, which had stopped for several days, was ringing out again. Anvil seemed to have adjusted his mindset and returned to his daily forging routine.
As soon as Chen Yu entered the Mining Area, the first thing he saw was Little Aileen sitting outside the mining area.
At this moment, the half-elf little girl was sitting quietly on the ground, holding a slime in her arms, playing with several small Earth Elementals.
She seemed to treat these hard little creatures as building blocks, trying to stack them in various ways, having a great time.
Those small Earth Elementals, who had just been proudly showing off the shiny ore decorations embedded on their bodies to Little Aileen, immediately jumped out of Aileen's hands upon seeing Chen Yu approach, as if they had seen an idol.
"Boss! Boss!!"
"Boss! I'm coming!"
"I want to be the first to get there, don't you dare steal my spot!"
These little guys clamored as they rolled over, hopping and jumping around him, crowding him, creating quite a lively scene for a moment.
Amidst the enthusiastic support of the small Earth Elementals, Chen Yu jumped down from Little Ka's back to the ground, then *squelch squelch* hopped over to Little Aileen.
He originally wanted to put on a bit of lordly dignity and say something more serious.
Who knew this little one wasn't afraid of him at all. Instead, she curiously blinked her sapphire-blue eyes, put down the slime in her arms, and then reached out her small hands, wanting to pick him up.
Anvil had just walked out of the workshop and, seeing this disrespectful scene, was startled. He hurriedly picked Little Aileen up.
"Little one, you mustn't be rude. This is His Majesty," Anvil, suppressing his impatience, educated her.
"His Majesty?"
Little Aileen tilted her head, her face filled with confusion. "What is His Majesty?"
Anvil clearly had little experience dealing with children and was immediately rendered speechless by the question. He stammered for a long time before vaguely explaining:
"I-in short, it means very powerful. Because of His Majesty, all of us can live safely here, have food to eat, and houses to live in."
"His Majesty, very powerful."
Little Aileen seemed to understand, softly repeating the phrase, her eyes becoming somewhat bright.
Anvil helplessly scratched his messy hair, then gently placed Little Aileen back on the ground, instructing her, "Be good and stay right here, you hear me? I'll be back in a bit."
"Oh."
She seemed to understand, and was soon attracted again by the "building blocks" on the ground. She picked up two small Earth Elementals who were arguing about who was shinier and pieced them together, immersing herself in her own little world.
After Anvil accompanied Chen Yu a bit further away, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced back at Little Aileen, who was immersed in her own world not far away, and lowered his voice to speak to Chen Yu:
"Your Majesty, I... I suspect this child might not be very bright in the head."
"Look at her. She doesn't cry or fuss, plays with whatever she's given, quiet and calm... what normal child is like that?"
"When I was three years old, if I couldn't find my mother, I would cry for half a day, shaking the entire mine with my wails."
Hearing this, Chen Yu couldn't help but take a closer look at Little Aileen not far away.
She was indeed excessively quiet. Her eyes were clear, but lacked the vigorous curiosity and emotional fluctuations typical of ordinary children.
"Hmm... perhaps children of elves or half-elves are naturally like this, more quiet and reserved."
Anvil sighed, a troubled expression appearing on his face. He rubbed his hands awkwardly and made a request to Chen Yu: "Your Majesty, do you think we could find a way to send her back to the main fortress in the swamp?"
"At least there she could learn something from Princess Little Flower, and the environment is much better."
As he spoke, he pointed to the piles of ore, scattered slag, and the nearby flowing river of scorching magma surrounding them.
"Just look at this place. There's ore, slag, and scalding hot magma... ahem... this really isn't a suitable environment for an elf to grow up in."
Chen Yu gave a little hop and asked, "So, has she agreed to leave here and go live at the fortress?"
"Uh..."
Anvil's expression instantly fell. "No. Every time I bring it up, she either hugs my leg or hides..."
He was truly at a loss.
Seeing this, Chen Yu patted Anvil with his gel-like little hand, comforting him, "It's alright, look on the bright side."
"Isn't your Copperfire Clan in the midst of a revival? Look, now you have a second clan member, even if she was found..."
He changed the subject and asked, "By the way, have you found her biological parents?"
Anvil shook his head, his expression growing even more dejected: "That kid Tulk has been helping to inquire around Ironboot Town recently. He's asked all the few half-elf Adventurers in town. No one knows her, and no one has claimed her."
He irritably scratched his beard: "This is strange. Did this little one just pop out of a fireplace chimney?"
"Of course, it's also possible that because Tulk is a Lizardfolk, those half-elves are wary of him and didn't tell the truth."
"But regardless of which it is, the current situation is just terrible."
Anvil looked utterly dejected, like a potato that had lost all its moisture, completely wilted.
Chen Yu expressed his sympathy.
Poor Anvil. He hadn't even held a female dwarf's hand yet, but was already experiencing the troubles of being a father.
To lift Anvil's spirits, Chen Yu steered the conversation toward his most beloved field: "So, how is the forging progress on the Goblin Ripper Type II going?"
As soon as this was mentioned, the previously wilted Anvil indeed perked up.
"Your Majesty, good news. With the help of the enchanted mining equipment and the mining Beetles, we can finally extract fist-sized, complete dark gold ore from that massive, peculiar metal raw ore."
"Although the speed is a bit slow, we can still steadily mine over a dozen pieces a day."
"Then, using magma for high-temperature softening treatment and spending some time, we can shape them into any form we want. Whether it's hardness, toughness, or magic conductivity, they far surpass ordinary steel."
He forcefully patted his chest, confidently guaranteeing: "Give me three more days, and I promise to finish ahead of schedule and forge the core structural components of the 'Goblin Ripper Type II' for you."
Hearing this, Chen Yu felt immensely gratified.
It seemed the funds he had "earned" from the vampires were not spent in vain.
"Very good, keep up the good work," Chen Yu encouraged.
"Once this is done, I'll have Tulk help post a few recruitment notices at the Adventurer's Guild in Ironboot Town."
"We'll write the name of Forging Master Anvil of the Copperfire Family. That should dazzle those female dwarves who yearn for craftsmanship."
Upon hearing this, Anvil's dark face instantly flushed bright red. He waved his hands repeatedly, stammering in refusal: "N-no need for that, Your Majesty. I'm doing quite f-fine on my own..."
Chen Yu, however, puffed out his belly, adopting a serious posture, and lectured: "How can that be? You bear the responsibility for the great revival of the Copperfire Clan. This matter is settled."
He knew that although Anvil usually seemed rough and straightforward, he was actually quite shy at heart.
As the Slime patriarch, if he didn't give him a push, this guy would probably spend his entire life guarding the Mining Area with his hammer.
Of course, Chen Yu had his own little scheme.
There were still too few professional blacksmiths in the Kingdom.
If they could attract some dwarf craftsmen through this opportunity, it would be a huge benefit for the Kingdom's development.
Perhaps in the future, there might even be a chance to attempt forging artifacts from Xu Xuan Heaven.
Or maybe, they could consider finding a dwarf mother for Little Aileen to take care of her in place of Anvil.
He and Anvil didn't chat for long. The dwarf said he suddenly had an inspiration and excitedly ran back to his workshop.
Chen Yu carefully inspected the entire Mining Area, seeing the Slime Alchemists trying to refine Spirit Awakening Pills according to the new formula.
Before long, once a large number of slimes take the pills and awaken their spiritual intelligence, perhaps the Kingdom's slime population might experience explosive growth in the future.
There might even appear Slime Adventurers of various professions like warriors, assassins, mages, and so on.
It's quite amusing to think that in the future, the footprints of Slime Adventurers might spread across the entire continent.
After leaving the noisy and busy Mining Area, Chen Yu rode Little Ka and began a leisurely patrol of his ever-expanding swamp territory.
Now, the Gray Mist Lake fortress, the Riftrock Fortress, and the Dryad domain fortress were all completely built.
A portion of the Slime Engineers would be escorted by the Blood Legion to Gore to begin the tunnel excavation work in cooperation with the Stone Descendants.
The majority of the remaining Slime Engineers were gathering toward the center of the swamp.
That's right, an even more magnificent plan was already on the agenda.
The Slime Royal City was about to officially commence construction!
The first phase of their project was to completely flatten the dense and dangerous Swamp Forest, then harden and level the ground, laying a solid and reliable foundation for the future construction of the royal city.
Chen Yu had already thought it through. As the royal city of the Slime Kingdom, this city must be grand and sturdy enough.
In his vision, the scale of this royal city had to be at least several dozen times larger than the Riftrock Fortress, capable of easily accommodating hundreds of thousands of slimes living within it simultaneously.
Therefore, defense formations of the "Kingdom's Shield" level would need at least twenty to protect the royal city walls.
But Chen Yu always felt... it still wasn't enough.
"If only we could bring over the Three Origins Sect's protective grand formation..." Chen Yu thought of that great formation enveloping the entire Three Origins Sect's mountain gate, and the more he thought about it, the more he coveted it.
However, he could only think about it. Not to mention that he currently couldn't access that level of formation knowledge at all, even if he got it, who could help him modify the formation?
Perhaps they could reserve underground tunnels capable of housing large formation foundations, just in case they had the capability to build a true city-protecting grand formation in the future.
One must have dreams;
otherwise, what's the difference between a slime and a salted fish?
Looking down at the busy transport roads opened up by the swamp slimes and Beetles below, and seeing the rudimentary shape of the city, Chen Yu felt a surge of emotion in his heart.
He seemed to sense that a true Kingdom was rising in the depths of this untrodden swamp.
Of course, he also clearly knew that potential threats had never truly left.
The shadows of those Demons still loomed outside.
If one day a golden-tier Greater Demon suddenly appeared, no matter how grand or sturdy the royal city was built, in the face of absolute power, he would probably have to abandon everything in the end and flee in disarray.
They must find the Crown of Ignis as soon as possible.
Breaking through to Foundation Establishment and enhancing his own strength was the fundamental way to deal with all crises.
Thinking of this, a part of his consciousness once again drifted into the distance, focusing on Bat Slime One, who was deep within the White Horse Kingdom.
...
Consciousness descended.
What greeted his vision was a not-too-dense oak forest.
This little fellow seemed to be tired from flying. It was perched on a branch like an owl, sneakily and cautiously observing the activity on a packed-earth road outside the forest.
Soon, it saw a wagon loaded with bulging sacks creaking past.
With the cooperation of several Poison-stinger Wasps responsible for the rendezvous, Bat Slime One silently slipped down from the tree, accurately sneaking into a pile of soft hay on the wagon, hiding in the gaps between the grain sacks.
However, this was grain painstakingly grown by farmers, so it couldn't bear to eat it. It had to go hungry, jolting along with the wagon until it finally entered a seemingly quite prosperous human village.
Through the gaps in the wagon, it saw the wooden sign at the village entrance, written in the Common Tongue: Granary Town, Glendale.
A name that sounded full of the atmosphere of a bountiful grain harvest.
And it was also at this time that intermittent messages came from the slime that had lost contact after following Arthur and the others deep into the White Horse Kingdom.
It seemed they had long since arrived at the final destination of their journey—
Allen Bridge Fort.