Cthulhu Gonfalon

There was strength in numbers. With so many men in the exploration team, it did not take much time to finish building camp.

All credit went to the pioneering team who had earlier laid a solid foundation for them. The ground was flat and compact, the surrounding plantations were cleared up, and even the tents had long been set up. And the tents they pitched were no ordinary ones. These were tents specifically strengthened with immense thickness and consisted of two layers—an inner and an outer layer. They were windproof and waterproof, and their heat-insulating and winter-proof effects were even more outstanding. Even if it was already freezing cold at the moment, once the soldiers walked into the tents with well-lit braziers, they would instantly feel the warmth in the atmosphere. Living inside such tents, even if the weather got colder, they would not have to worry about frostbite.

The main thing the exploration team had to do was to build the equipment required for explorations and to build a small smelter.

They used a very expensive magic furnace that would consume a large amount of magic every time it was used. Usually, a mid-ranked mage had to be present for the furnace to be used more frequently. Of course, there would be mid-ranked mages in the exploration team, and there were currently three of them. When the three mages combined their strength, it was possible to open the furnace roughly once every two days. And this was just about enough.

Theoretically speaking, so long as there was an adequate supply of magic, a magic furnace could be fuel-free. But to ensure the stability of the magic furnace, the exploration team prepared a large amount of magic crystals that was worth a total of at least ten thousand gold coins.

If there was a need to, these magic crystals would be used as fuel for the magic furnace. However, unless they were down to their last resort, no one would be willing to use up crystal stones just for ore smelting—the silver itself was certainly not worth this price. Even if it was for the more expensive Mithril found among the associated minerals of silver ore, it was also not worth using up crystal stones for smelting the ore.

The reason why they prepared these crystal stones was merely because they wanted to play safe by being prepared.

The construction of this magic furnace was not easy. This thing was quite complex. It required people with intelligent minds and deft hands and who were relatively strong to work under the guidance of professionals just to ensure the construction proceeded smoothly. A majority of the people in the exploration team could only perform the menial jobs. There were only four who could truly take up leadership roles and shoulder the main responsibilities, and they were all from the elite group.

As the number one spellcaster of the elite group, Sid was undoubtedly the main force in building the magic furnace. The others were cooperating with him as supporting roles. In the past, he never had to shoulder such a heavy responsibility, so he was somewhat nervous and nearly made two mistakes in a row.

If it were anyone else, someone from the other three mid-ranked mages who would have been scolding and cursing at him. But whether in strength or in status, Sid was not inferior to them at all. As a rising star, his future was even brighter than theirs. He was way above them. So even the proud and arrogant mages had to have enough patience and console him with kind words as they tirelessly explained to him over and over again.

When Sid finally succeeded in building the core of the furnace on his third attempt, he let out a huge sigh of relief with a smile, as did everyone else.

The most difficult part of the magic furnace lay in the building of its core. After the core was built, the rest was nothing more than physically-demanding work. So long as the people working on it were able to sense the flow of magic, then it was highly improbable for anyone to piece the parts together incorrectly. All four from the elite group of the exploration team were able to sense the magic flow, of which, three could even cast spells. Of course, they would not make such a low-level mistake.

About half an hour later, when the sky was getting dark, the magic furnace that was almost as high as three people put together, was finally completed. With a low, muffled hum, a greenish-white electric light flowed through the furnace. After making a rapid turn, it eventually turned into a small vortex and disappeared into the core of the furnace.

This meant that the furnace was built correctly and could function properly.

Even though they were previously filled with confidence, it was only at this moment that everyone could truly ascertain that they had succeeded. They could not help but cheer.

This magic furnace was specifically made in the Kingdom of Dwarfs. Many special materials and newly-developed techniques were used to greatly enhance its smelting efficiency. At the same time, impurities were also effectively filtered out from the mineral ores. The former was not a big deal, but the latter was extremely important when the smelting process was of concern. Most of the time, the differentiating factor between good steel and scrap iron was in fact, nothing more than a few impurities.

Although this furnace could not filter out many impurities, just that little bit, as compared to the ordinary magic furnaces, was already a great difference.

It was so amazing that it was naturally very difficult to make. Just the cost of raw materials alone exceeded 20 thousand gold coins. If the cost of research and development, as well as the hard work put in by the various masters of blacksmithing, were included as well, the total value might be worth around 50 thousand gold coins.

This price was truly a little crazy because people should know that an ordinary magic furnace would only cost four to five thousand gold coins. The price of this guy was almost ten times that of an ordinary magic furnace!

It was so precious that everyone could not help being extremely careful. This was one of the important reasons why Sid had been so nervous earlier on. Given his financial status, an ordinary magic furnace that cost merely four to five thousand gold coins would not be able to make him nervous to the point of failing two times in a row.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly. It was built steadily and, in the end, the few tens of thousands were not in vain.

After this magic furnace was built to completion, everyone took a break. Before complete nightfall, they worked to build another magic furnace. But this furnace did not enjoy the same treatment. A few strong men from Dudu Hill easily built it up. The total time they took did not exceed 20 minutes.

“I’m skilled in such work,” Dudu boasted tirelessly as he worked. “When I was still learning how to smelt, I had built at least a hundred of such furnaces. Even with my eyes closed, I can get one done, and absolutely nothing will go wrong.”

“So you are saying that you have never made a mistake before?” Hopes asked with a smile.

“Of course… I have,” Dudu said as he laughed. “Who in this world would know everything right from the start? When I first learned how to build a magic furnace, I damaged a total of seven or eight of them.”

This crowd listened to him with faces twitching away. Seven to eight magic furnaces would be around thirty to forty thousand gold coins?! The Kingdom of Dwarves had to be really rich to be able to throw away such large sums repeatedly for the young ones to practice…

“Don’t believe him. He’s just talking big!” said a senior dwarf who was the leader of a team. With a sneer, he said, “It’s true that he damaged seven to eight furnaces in total, but previously, they worked in groups of 30 to 40 people. And the damaged cores could still be recycled and remade. Ordinary magic furnaces are not like this newly-designed one. When the core is damaged, we can just put it back into the furnace to be remade. The cost will at most be around a thousand gold coins.”

“Give me some face!” shouted Dudu. “I even treated you to a drink yesterday!”

“We dwarves are honest and trustworthy people,” that senior dwarf laughed and said. “Don’t brag about yourself; go and get a drink! Today, it’s my treat.”

“Do you have any wine to treat your guests? Didn’t you finish everything earlier on?”

“You believed me when I said I finished everything? How old are you? You’re still so naïve.”

“You just said that we dwarves are honest and trustworthy people!” Dudu was almost on the verge of hopping around in rage.

The senior dwarf stroked his beard and laughed heartily. Then he asked, “Which is more important, to drink or to be honest and trustworthy?”

Dudu contemplated for a moment, then hesitantly, he said, “Drinking is a little more important.”

“Then why do you even bother asking! Go, go and drink!” said the senior dwarf as he made his way over. He gave Dudu a slap on his back while surveying the surroundings. Then he said, “Let’s all go get a drink. I’ve got a lot of wine, so it’ll definitely be enough for today!”