Dragons come from the Xia clan of the forest.
The little dragon was about the same height as Jiang Yunlan and seemed to be a cub that had not yet reached adulthood.
He folded his wings, stood on two legs, and his body was covered in sky-blue scales. He opened his mouth and spoke something in the language of the mountains.
When Jiang Yunlan heard that he could speak the language of the mountainous region, he realized that he was an orc, not a wild beast.
"We're here to mine," Wolf Ann explained to the dragon who had questioned them, indicating what kind of ore they were referring to.
She was acquainted with the wolf-beastmen and learned the language of the mountain range from them. She had learned quite a few mountain range languages and could communicate with the dragon-beastmen, albeit haltingly.
When the dragon heard that they needed those dusty, nutrient-poor stones, it looked at the beastmen in front of it with a shocked expression.
Such terrible food will definitely cause indigestion.
The dragon gasped, about to say something, when it suddenly remembered that the orcs' diet was different from its own. They didn't eat stones or energy stones. The dragon silently swallowed back what it was about to say.
"Take any of those dusty stones you like, but the energy stones inside the cave are mine." After saying that, the dragon dragged its tail and walked away, not giving Jiang Yunlan and the other orcs a chance to speak.
In an instant, the dragon's figure vanished completely.
Jiang Yunlan felt a slight regret, quickly averting her gaze and continuing to lead the beastmen out of the passage. She had a hunch that this passage might have been dug by a dragon.
As she continued forward along the winding passage, a sudden gust of wind made her realize that she would soon reach the exit.
Following the sound of the wind, Jiang Yunlan quickly walked out and arrived at a high mountain platform. She looked up and saw many clansmen standing around her.
After her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, she could see clearly what was in front of her. The scenery was exactly as she remembered the mountains. There was vegetation only on the lower half of the mountain, and the vegetation became less and less as she got closer to the top, until the upper half of the mountain was just bare rock.
All the mountains in the mountainous region look like this.
A few herbivores wandered along the valley slopes and at the bottom. They were unaware of the arrival of the strange orcs, and continued their usual strolls, sunbathing, and foraging for food.
The slope of the mountain was relatively gentle, and Jiang Yunlan and her group walked along the slope to the area near the exit.
The tranquil valley was devoid of carnivorous beasts, and no second dragon appeared. They expanded their search area further.
The quiet valley was occasionally punctuated by a breeze, but otherwise, there was no other sound. Jiang Yunlan gradually realized that the dragon beastmen did not live nearby, and this was not a habitat for any beastmen.
It's a bit strange. Do dragon beastmen like to let their cubs roam freely? They actually allow such small dragons to leave their habitat on their own.
With doubts in mind, Jiang Yunlan led her people back to their temporary residence, took out iron pickaxes, pushed the upgraded wooden carts that could be pedaled, and excitedly returned to the mine to prepare to go down into the mine.
The dragon that allowed them to take the ore was, of course, a dragon here. The mountain range isn't a dragon's habitat; dragons have to dig their own burrows and find their own food. The mines and tunnels they saw were dug out by a dragon over a very long time.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
The orcs of Xia were full of enthusiasm and energy, completely oblivious to the noise they made while mining. They even had the energy to chat while mining.
"Oh! I dug it up, it's iron ore! Haha, I dug it up again, it's still iron ore."
"Aaaaah, stop talking! So what if you're lucky? Are you bullying me because all I've dug up so far is rocks?!"
"Don't be angry, I'm the same. As Nature022 said, the ore here is unlikely to be piled up in one place, it's already difficult to mine. It's impossible to find ore every time..."
"Huh? But it looks like there's an iron ore pile here. We've found some ore again."
"...Where? Let me dig too."
"What? Really?! I'll try digging too... Wow! We've actually found some ore."
Next to the ore pile, where energy stones could be mined, the dragon, who had just finished eating and was lying on the ground digesting his energy, was awakened by the noise. He irritably roared twice through the wall, but his roar was drowned out by the clanging of the miners and the chatter of the beastmen.
The dragon was depressed. The dragon wanted to sleep, but couldn't. It could only stare blankly.
The exhausted dragon couldn't take it anymore, so it ran out of the mine and found a quiet place to sleep.
When he woke up, he returned to the mine and found the orcs still digging away. He turned around dejectedly and wandered around outside, killing a few wild beasts from other mountains to vent his anger.
Night fell, and the mining noises finally ceased. The dragon, believing the noisy orcs were gone, was overjoyed and couldn't wait to return to consume energy stones and digest its energy.
The next morning.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
On the empty ground of the energy stone mine, the dragon, still half-asleep, was once again awakened. It abruptly sat up and, after the orcs had left, poured several puddles of water at the cave entrance and into the long passageway.
This road is blocked!
After finishing their lunch, the Xia clan orcs, carrying iron pickaxes, excitedly ran into the mine, only to be puzzled by the strange puddle of water on the ground. Where did this water come from?
It doesn't matter, mining!
The orcs took off their shoes, carried them in one hand, and walked barefoot across the puddle into the water.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
The dragon, hearing the sound again: ...
The dragon, having reached its limit, spread its wings and flew through the mine. Using its voice to pinpoint the location of the orcs mining, it conjured solid ice in the air and threatened, "Shut up! Either get out of here, or die!"
Hearing the translation provided by Lang An, and seeing the ice that Long Ning had created, the puzzled Xia clan orcs happily carried the mined ore away from the mine.
They returned to their temporary lodging with the meager amount of ore, and angrily complained to Lan, who was at the rest area, about Long's broken promise.
"The dragon beastmen promised us they would take the ore, but just now they suddenly used the power of nature to drive us away."
Xia's orcs felt wronged, and so did the dragon. He regretted it; he deeply regretted not driving away those noisy orcs from the beginning. They were driving the dragon crazy.
Jiang Yunlan was trying to extract the materials needed to make gunpowder in the rest area. She did not go to the mine with the beastmen. At this moment, she suddenly heard Long Ningbing come out and ask the beastmen to leave, which made her very confused.
Why would the dragon-beastman's reason be "it's so noisy"? Could it be that he's been in the mine the whole time, so he finds the mining noise very noisy?
She knew that regardless of whether the actual situation was as she suspected, they could no longer go into the mine. Clearly, Xia had angered the dragon beastmen, and the beastmen might really get injured if they went to the mine.
Jiang Yunlan was reluctant to part with the unfinished mine inside. After a sigh, she gently comforted the aggrieved beastmen.
Seeing that the orcs had recovered their strength, she felt relieved and said to them, "We don't have enough ore. Let's use the rest of the day to organize our supplies. Tomorrow morning we'll go to other mountains and see if we can find a second mine."
The situation was reversed from that of Guoji, with Lan now comforting the beastmen who couldn't mine any ore.
The orcs' emotions came and went quickly, and before long they were talking about the natural power that dragons possessed.
"His power is the same as the natural power that Lan always carries in his pocket. Is there a natural force that governs ice and snow here too?"
The orcs were curious.
At that moment, they had no idea that their doubts would be answered soon.
Xia, walking through the mountainous area, found a second mine. Jiang Yunlan and 022 exchanged a glance the moment they saw the new mine; the entrance and passage were familiar, as were the tail trails left by the animals.
"Could this be a mine that the dragon beastmen once visited?" Jiang Yunlan asked in surprise.
“022 is certain that a dragon has been here,” 022 said. It never expected that, by sheer coincidence, the second mine it found was the one where a dragon had been.
After exploring inside, it flew out and happily announced, "There are a few places inside that have been hollowed out, but there is still the ore we need. The marks left on the cave walls are from a long time ago, so we can dig without being disturbed."
There were no traces of orc clans nearby, and the cave had no other exit, so it was highly likely that it was not the territory of any clan, and there was no need to worry about being driven away again.
The orcs were delighted and eagerly went down into the mine again.
A few days later, an explosion was heard some distance away from the second mine.
Looking at the newly developed gunpowder, Jiang Yunlan said with a slight troubled expression, "The power is less than I expected... Oh well, once the quantity is increased, it should be enough to deal with wild beasts."
The orcs who accompanied Lan to light the gunpowder looked dazed.
Wait, what is this thing? It shattered the stone with a single blow. I can't imagine how terrifying it would be if this were used on an orc. Luckily, the orc who wielded this item is Lan.
They suddenly remembered that the bows, arrows, swords, and other highly lethal items were also made by Lan and the others.
The gentle Lan seemed to have been filled with martial spirit. As expected of a chieftain who could lead them to power, this Lan made the orcs like her even more.
"Lan...? What are you doing here?" Qingzhi Yuya descended from the sky with his kin. He transformed his wings back into his hands, cautiously surveying his surroundings, and said, "We just heard a huge noise coming from here. We wonder if it was a rockfall. Are any of you injured?"
"I'm not injured. Cough, actually, I was the one who made the noise just now." Jiang Yunlan said guiltily.
Just as she finished speaking, a winged beastman who had finished surveying the surroundings landed and exclaimed in the language of the mountain range with delight, "Qingzhi! We've found the location of the energy stone; it's over there!"
The winged beastman pointed in a direction with his wings, and she looked in the direction he pointed. The second mining area, where one could start mining, came into view.
“We’re here to mine, and the mining site is in the direction your clansmen pointed out,” Jiang Yunlan said, feigning composure.
Her mine, is it going to be gone again?
Wolf An, who could understand the language of the mountain range, quietly slipped to her side, squatted down and translated the language of the mountain range for her, telling her that the winged beastmen were looking for a certain kind of stone.
After hearing the translation, Jiang Yunlan's heart sank completely. They wanted a certain type of stone, but the mining area only had ore.
Upon learning that Lan was mining, the Green-Branched Crow fell silent. Had the Xia Clan orcs already mined up all the energy stones?
"Did Lan bring her people here to mine energy stones?"
"I think perhaps we can discuss this further."
Qingzhi Yuya and Jiang Yunlan spoke one after the other.
"Energy Stone?" Jiang Yunlan asked, puzzled. She read the three words spoken by the Green Branch Feathered Crow in the language of the grassland beastmen and asked the Green Branch Feathered Crow what they meant.
“It’s a transparent or opaque stone that looks similar to the stone in Lan’s pocket,” said Qingzhi Yuya.
Not all orcs could recognize the existence of nature. He did not recognize that the ice crystal in Lan's pocket was nature, and always thought it was an energy stone that Lan carried with her.
His explanation wasn't very clear, but Jiang Yunlan understood. The energy stone they were looking for was probably a gemstone-like stone.
Only then did she finally understand why the dragon beastman said that the gray stones (iron ore and other stones) were for them to take, while another type of stone (energy stone) was his.
Everything makes sense now. There's a type of stone in this world that resembles a gemstone, called an energy stone. It seems to be a very valuable item, needed by both dragon-beastmen and winged-beastmen.
"But this mine doesn't have what you want. All that's left are those grayish stones. That's the ore I want."
Jiang Yunlan explained, and seeing the incredulous expressions on the faces of the winged beastmen, she sighed helplessly, "You'll see when you come with me."
She led a few winged beastmen to see the ore Xia had dug out, and then led them into the mine to inspect it.
The Green-Branched Crow and its kin split up to explore the locations of several energy stones. Without exception, they were all empty.
"Are all the energy stones here gone? What should we do? If they're not here, where else can we find them?" Green Branch Crow was greatly discouraged.
The winged beastmen were anxious, their eyes lowered, and they subconsciously spoke to each other in the language of the mountainous region. Their words were so dense that Wolf Ann struggled to understand them and couldn't translate them in real time.
Jiang Yunlan couldn't understand their language, but she could read the uncontrollable sorrow and grief in their words. For a moment, she thought they would shed tears.
The heartbroken winged beastmen refused to weep in front of the other clans' beastmen, forcing back the urge to shed tears. There was still time, they told themselves. There was still time.
"What happened to you? Can you tell me why you need energy stones? Perhaps I can help." Jiang Yunlan approached Qingzhiyuya, looked up to meet his gaze, and asked gently.
She knew that the dragon orcs had energy stone mines, but the dragon orcs, who possessed the power of nature, would not give up the energy stones.
If the energy stones cannot be found elsewhere, and they cannot be replaced by other items, and the Feathered Beastmen are willing to risk their lives to obtain them, she will tell them the location of the First Mining Area.
Qingzhi Yuya hesitated, then said tentatively, "If Lan insists on knowing, I need to consult the clan leader first."
"We need the consent of our entire clan before we can tell you this."
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Author's note: 841 words have been written today, 1292 words still owed.
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