Chapter 1388
Leon had anticipated this long ago and stockpiled a vast amount of food. In the Northend World, such supplies were almost worthless, but in the Netherworld, they were the most sought-after hard currency. No race ever complained about having too much food stored away.
The Blood Elves managed to thrive largely because they could cultivate plants. They rarely faced food shortages—even after their powers had shifted to blood magic, they retained many of their elven instincts.
Darryl's eyes went green at the sight of all that food. Even the Cave Goblins, who usually resisted cooperation out of fear, went wild when they saw it.
"Wait until you break through to Transcendence, then we'll talk."
Leon didn't immediately accept Darryl's allegiance. The Lizardmen were numerous, and Darryl only spoke for his own tribe. The stronger Lizardman tribes wouldn't be so easy to win over—power was what really mattered here.
Taking back a small Lizardman tribe wasn't much use right now. Having Darryl along was enough for the time being—he was a native guide in the Netherworld, and that was all Leon needed for now.
Leon waited quietly on the surface while Gobwin clutched his spatial ring and dashed madly back to the underground plaza where the Cave Goblins were gathered.
A dense crowd of short Cave Goblins had already assembled there. Everyone brought all their belongings, and some carried tools, preparing to flee the underground. Despair hung over them, yet not a single Cave Goblin even considered resisting.
After countless years, the Cave Goblins had survived by running, not fighting. Any who tried to resist had long since disappeared without a trace...
"The chief is back! The chief actually made it back alive!"
"This is great! Hurry, let's escape—destroy this place and flee somewhere else. Those bastards will never catch us!"
Gobwin was held in high regard here. All the Cave Goblins thought he was doomed, yet they still waited for him. No one expected him to come back alive.
Suddenly, the Cave Goblins who had already packed up rushed toward the escape routes they'd prepared in advance.
"Don't go! Stop—there's no need to run. Look what I've got!"
With that, Gobwin pulled out more than a dozen sacks of food from his spatial ring. The aroma of grain spread like poison, and instantly, every Cave Goblin went mad. They lunged for the food, and in seconds, the sacks were buried by the mob.
At this point, no one paid attention to anything Gobwin said. He angrily kicked a few of his tribesmen, but still no one listened. Gritting his teeth, Gobwin threw out another thirty sacks of food.
"Idiots, stop fighting! There's ten thousand sacks here! Ten thousand!"
Suddenly, the entire underground plaza went eerily quiet. All three or four thousand Cave Goblins in the tribe turned their red eyes toward Gobwin, stunned into silence.
A few older Cave Goblins started counting on their fingers, but after a long while, they hadn't figured out a thing...
"By the gods and demons, ten thousand sacks of food! I couldn't eat that much in a lifetime. How did the chief pull this off...?"
Gobwin climbed to a high spot, looking smugly down at his dumbfounded tribesmen.
Ten thousand sacks of grain—that much food would keep our tribe well fed for years. Next year, we'll have plenty of new births, and at least we won't have to worry about the little ones starving.
That terrifying Dragon Lord gave me all this food. It can't be just to eat us, and it can't be to send us to die in the mines. For someone like him, this much food must mean a lot. These supplies are more important than our entire tribe.
He must just want us to submit. Maybe it's to have us build a dragon lair for him—no, not maybe, definitely!
If we follow this Dragon Lord, we won't have to starve anymore. We won't have to worry about our tribe being wiped out...
"Listen to me, you idiots! There's a powerful Dragon Lord who wants us to help build his lair. These ten thousand sacks are just his reward. If we follow him, we'll never have to worry about the little ones going hungry again."
Those brutal Blood Elves have already been burned to death by one of the Dragon Lords. That strong Lizardman from before? Just a servant of the Dragon Lord.
Now, everyone come with me—let's go pay our respects to the mighty and merciful Dragon Lord!
Gobwin laid it out plainly, and with all that food to shock the Cave Goblins into submission, everything went smoothly. There was no need for further persuasion...
Thousands of Cave Goblins—old and dying, or barely half a meter tall—now followed Gobwin, surging toward the surface.
What was there to fear now? What was left to worry about? The chief had brought back ten thousand sacks of food! If they escaped now, that food would be theirs. And if the Dragon Lord could hand out so much food so casually, he clearly wasn't planning to kill or eat them. Besides, who'd ever heard of a dragon eating goblins?
Ten thousand sacks of grain said it all. That was a fortune, even for a Dragon Lord...
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A tribe of timid, cautious Cave Goblins—when faced with so much food, they went utterly mad.
On the surface, the once-empty burrow openings suddenly spewed forth Cave Goblins like ants leaving a nest. But as soon as they emerged, the pressure in the air reminded them—they were about to meet a powerful, terrifying dragon.
Especially after reaching the surface and seeing three fearsome, powerful beings, every Cave Goblin instinctively dropped to the ground in submission.
Thousands of ugly Cave Goblins lay prostrate on the ground. Many carried tools—mining gear, and some crude implements used for building arcane structures. It showed that the tribe's technical knowledge hadn't died out, and was even fairly well preserved.
Leon couldn't help but smile at the sight. The Cave Goblins' knowledge wasn't like a mage's—theirs was mostly about using their innate talents to build arcane structures, not theory or research.
Gobwin led his entire tribe to the surface, then nervously stepped forward and prostrated himself, calling out loudly.
"Great and merciful Lord Merlin, Gobwin pledges our tribe's allegiance to you..."
Leon spoke a rune, and a spatial gate appeared before them.
"Take your tribe inside. This is my world—it's absolutely safe, with plenty of food, and no Blood Elves."
Since they'd sworn allegiance, Gobwin dutifully followed Leon's orders, leading his tribe through the spatial gate into the Natural Semi-Plane.
The Cave Goblins were settled in the northeast of the Natural Semi-Plane, where the mountains were thickest—perfect for these burrow-loving creatures. The plane had almost no other life forms, nothing that could threaten them—not even ordinary beasts.
All the Cave Goblins were moved inside, but Gobwin stayed with Leon.
"Gobwin, do you know where the other Cave Goblin tribes are? And the Red-Skin Mana Leech tribes?"
Gobwin definitely knew more about this than Darryl. Now that he'd submitted, Gobwin naturally put Leon's orders first. Besides, this wasn't betraying the other Cave Goblin tribes—it was helping them...
But when Leon asked, Gobwin's eyes reddened a little.
"Lord, the Tunguska Mountains are already the largest gathering place for Cave Goblin tribes. There are five big tribes and twelve smaller ones here, but most have probably been captured by those damned Blood Elves."
It seems the Blood Elves discovered some precious ore vein, but it's extremely hard to mine. Half the orc slaves they captured have already died in cave-ins, which is why they're now desperately hunting our tribe.
Our tribe is located in the most rocky part of the Tunguska Mountains. For dozens of kilometers, it's all solid stone—that's the only reason we escaped capture..."
Leon frowned. A vein that's so hard to mine and so valuable to the Blood Elves could only be one thing.
Blood Essence Ore: formed when the remains of powerful creatures are buried underground, their blood and strength merging with the earth over time, eventually condensing into stones infused with immense blood energy.
Blood Essence Ore doesn't just contain vast blood power—it can also grant special abilities. For other races, these abilities might just make for decent magic items, but for Blood Elves, it's a whole different story.
If a Blood Essence Ore's ability matches a Blood Elf, then while absorbing its power, they might even fuse that special ability into their own body.
But these ores are extremely hard to mine, since the ground is always loose in places where they're found. Sending unskilled orc slaves to dig means half will die—the only thing this proves is that the vein isn't all that rich in Blood Essence Ore...
This kind of mining is perfect for Cave Goblins. These little guys can dig tunnels even under deserts, and cave-ins are rare.
But that's where things get tricky. For mages, Cave Goblins are one of the most valuable races in the underground world. Once their prowess in building arcane structures was exposed, the mages of Northrend nearly wiped them out, scouring the depths for every last one.
A large Cave Goblin tribe can single-handedly build a massive Arcane Fortress, mage towers, arcane defense towers, magical outposts, and arcane walls...
If Cave Goblins build an old Arcane Fortress, even a Ninth-Rank Title Archmage running a mage tower could hold off a third-tier Sky Rank mage attack.
In the Nesser Dynasty, the Arcane Fortress went by another name—the Dragon's Nest...
A dragon's lair isn't just a hollowed-out cave—it's a vast Arcane Fortress, packed with warning systems, storage, defenses, countermeasures, mana gathering, and more. All these functions combined make up the Dragon's Nest.
Otherwise, during the Nesser Dynasty, even the Chromatic Dragons who looked down on pure-blooded elves would have never let Cave Goblins build their Dragon's Nests.
With ordinary materials, humans can build first-grade structures. But Cave Goblins can build third-grade ones, thanks to their innate +2 talent—absolutely essential for constructing Sanctuary Towers.
Thinking back to the records, when human mages discovered the Cave Goblins' abilities and began hunting them en masse, only scattered small tribes remained underground. A tribe of thousands like this one would be unheard of in the future.
But to think Gobwin's tribe isn't even the biggest—there are several larger ones, and a dozen smaller ones too.
All told, the Cave Goblins in the Tunguska Mountains might number forty or fifty thousand. In a few thousand years, there won't be anywhere near that many left.
It's all thanks to those Blood Elves. After a few millennia, Cave Goblins became nothing but mining slaves, their numbers nearly wiped out.
Originally, having a few thousand would be enough—slowly raise them, let them thrive. After ten years, a few hundred would be ready to help build Sanctuary Towers. With just a few hundred, construction could begin.