Chapter 1009: Chapter 353: An Unexpected Harvest (Double-Length Chapter, Part 2)

“Oh, why does it seem a bit different?” As Anna quickly walked over and crouched down to pick one plant, she frowned slightly and said.

“Miss Anna, if I’m not mistaken, this should not be ordinary snow moss, but the extremely rare and precious Dragon Saliva Moss.” Winterfort Academy’s headmaster, Batalov, walked up, examined it closely, and said with a smile.

As a Potion Master, he’s even more adept at herb identification than Anna, the young Druid.

“Wow, Dragon Saliva Moss, that’s incredibly precious.” Anna looked at the white herb in her hand, resembling an oyster mushroom, and her beautiful eyes couldn’t hide her shock.

Soon, the group discovered several other herbs inside the lair that had mutated due to Dragon Breath, all exceptionally rare and valuable.

This made Rein’s smile grow even more pronounced.

Now, these things naturally belonged to him.

Perhaps because Kolaxius had just awoken not long ago, the lair didn’t contain the legendary glittering Dragon treasures, only some shiny Knight Armor, weapons, and a pitiful few hundred Gold Coins.

Judging from the outdated style of the armor, it seems to be equipment from recent times.

Rein naturally wasn’t impressed with these items.

“Huh? Rein, what’s that?” The barbarian girl, Lagaray, pointed to the ground at the deepest part of the lair.

Rein followed Lagaray’s direction, and saw the northern side of the lair’s ground seemed to be shimmering with a faint golden light.

“This… such a large piece of nugget gold (Note: exposed mass of shiny gold resembling a dog’s head)!” Luther exclaimed in surprise upon identifying it.

But immediately after, he seemed to realize something and quickly started digging the ground for inspection.

“Indeed, there’s a rich gold mine here!” Luther said excitedly.

Rich gold mine?

Rein raised his eyebrows and quickly stepped forward to inspect it.

Upon hearing there’s a gold mine, Batalov, Werti, Anna, and the others gathered around.

“It’s indeed a rich gold mine, the gold content in this mine exceeds forty percent, I estimate the purity to be about sixty percent.” Batalov, a Third Level Crystalized Wizard, affirmed after careful examination.

Everyone analyzed the situation thoroughly in no time.

Adding ‘rich’ to a gold mine signifies the gold content far exceeds that of typical mines.

Furthermore, most of the ore veins in this gold mine are exposed near the surface, making excavation easier; plus, rich mines often contain rare minerals more valuable than gold.

Hearing Luther and Batalov’s confirmation, Rein’s eyes lit up as he waved to the Bear Monster Priest, Ulu Sen, in the distance, saying:

“Ulu Sen, there’s actually a rich gold mine here, did you know about it previously?”

“Uh… my lord, I really didn’t know. For us, food is more useful than a gold mine.” Ulu Sen looked at the freshly mined nugget gold on the ground in confusion.

“Alright, never mind, go about your business.” Rein began to ponder.

Whether on the Knight path or Wizard path, upgrading requires vast resources.

In other words, wealth aids in enhancing strength efficiently.

At this point, Luther seemed to have an idea, shook his head, and lamented:

“Lord Rein, what a pity! Located deep in the ice fields, it’s unlikely for miners to come to extract, but such a large piece of nugget gold can be taken easily.”

If this rich gold mine vein were in Frostwind Prairie, he’d invest greatly for extraction, but this location is too remote.

Not to mention the lurking dangers en route, it’s challenging to transport living supplies for miners to the ice fields.

Even a nugget of gold as large as a washbasin holds little significance for someone like Luther.

“Yes, what a pity! Not just mining, but smelting here is also improbable.” Balotaf glanced at the surrounding glacier walls and shook his head.

In the glacier lair, the internal temperature is extremely low; setting a furnace for smelting here would be inefficient and risk collapse.

Most likely, they’ll need to excavate the gold ore and transport it outside for smelting.

“Transporting refined Gold Ingots might gain some assistance from Winterfort Academy’s Ice Plain Giant Vultures.” Balotaf added.

“No, perhaps the Bear Monsters can do it.” Rein chuckled.

Rein pointed behind Ulu Sen, and soon, a Bear Monster guard handed over its Rough Iron Stick.

Upon receiving it, Rein transformed the iron stick into a Miner’s Pickaxe in a blink.

Moreover, Rein thoughtfully covered the Pickaxe tip with a thin layer of Hardened Essence Gold to prevent quick wear during excavation.

“Ulu Sen, let your people try it.”

“As you wish, my lord.”

Soon, a strong Bear Monster began mining with clanging sounds.

In just a few minutes, the Bear Monster excavated quite a bit of gold ore.

“This…” Luther’s eyes bulged.

Can it really work like this?

Let the fierce White-furred Bear Monster mine!

Batalov and Werti exchanged glances and saw shock in each other’s eyes; they’ve heard of ice field Kobolds mining but never of ice field Bear Monsters doing it.

Simultaneously, they instantly realized.