radicalducati Page 104
Page 104
"Okay, from now on, do as I say, open at nine in the morning and close at five in the afternoon. I don't care what you do at other times."
If someone causes you trouble...
Mo Jiang thought for a moment, then took out an iron ingot and unleashed Ten Yang Blue Flames from his palm. Under the high temperature, the iron ingot quickly turned into an iron plate about the thickness of a finger joint.
Mo Jiang glanced at Serena's arm, which had little muscle, and with a flick of his finger, reduced the thickness of the iron plate to just five millimeters.
"If someone causes trouble, first go to Irebeth and the warden in Neverwinter and ask for help. If they don't help, then you can use this thing."
Be careful, it's very powerful; don't accidentally blow yourself up.
Mo Jiang had infused the iron plate with a fiery palm strike; bending or breaking the iron plate would release the palm strike.
As he spoke, Mo Jiang suddenly remembered something, "Oh right, there's one more thing, we don't need to use honorifics anymore."
Although it feels alright to hear others address me with the formal "you" (您), it feels awkward and strange after a while.
"Sir, you...you're leaving?"
Serena easily understood from Mo Jiang's words that he needed to leave for a while. Although she held the iron token given to her by Mo Jiang, the young mage couldn't help but feel a little worried.
The worry was naturally not for Mo Jiang, after all, it was not her place, a mere fourth-level mage, to worry about a legendary-level expert.
She was more worried about herself, after all, Serena was quite certain that she had been caught up in some kind of conspiracy.
"Go investigate some things and find some people."
The plague outbreak in Neverwinter was not a sudden event; it was the result of long-term planning. However, the Lord of Neverwinter had a mole among his right-hand men, so Mo Jiang simply gave up on gaining the trust of Neverwinter.
He chose to go out and collect information, and at the same time, visit some people.
Some people connected to the floating city obtained some clues from them.
Of course, if possible, it would be good to collect some evidence involving the mastermind behind the scenes so that Neverwinter can take precautions.
After all, this is the pearl of the North, a city with a highly developed commerce. It is clearly not in Mojang's interest to let it be severely weakened by the plague.
The less Neverwinter is lost, the more benefits he can gain in Faerûn.
……
Although Neverwinter is called a "city", the lord of Neverwinter is actually closer in status to a king.
At the same time, Neverwinter is not an isolated city; the surrounding villages and towns are actually the tentacles of Neverwinter, supplying this pearl of the North with everything it needs.
Timber from the town to the east, stone from the village to the south, minerals from the west, grain from the north...
With Neverwinter as its core, each village and town has constructed an efficient cargo transportation corridor.
This is one of the reasons for Neverwinter's prosperity; the cheap and efficient transportation routes truly prove the saying, "If you want to get rich, build roads first."
The town is about 30 kilometers east of Neverwinter. It is rich in minerals and has attracted many dwarves to settle there.
After all, dwarves are more or less skilled in forging, and weapons forged by famous dwarven masters are priceless and unavailable.
Mo Jiang's reason for coming was quite simple: he planned to recruit some dwarven blacksmiths.
Although dwarves don't value money much, the materials and forging techniques of this other world can always attract some curious dwarves.
Furthermore, Mo Jiang was also quite curious to know whether the weapons forged by the dwarves could withstand modern high-carbon steel.
As soon as Mo Jiang approached the village, he noticed something was wrong. The village seemed lifeless, and even though it was already 11 a.m., there was no sound of hammering coming from the blacksmith's shop.
Even the stove wasn't lit.
190. The Dwarfs and the Book of Hatred: Untold Jokes
Dwarves are typically characterized by a large beard that covers half of their face. It is said that there are no women among the dwarf race, perhaps because the women also have large beards, leading them to be mistaken for men.
Dwarves are, in a sense, natural blacksmiths. They can naturally discern how to combine ores to maximize their effectiveness. In terms of ore material combination, they far surpass humans. In forging, they can easily defeat 90% of humans.
Dwarves are not numerous and do not reproduce as easily as humans, but no one dares to underestimate their power.
Although they are less than five feet tall, the dwarfs' broad and sturdy builds often make them weigh about the same as humans who are two feet taller, and their courage and endurance are no less than any of the larger creatures.
The brave and tenacious dwarves were considered skilled warriors, miners, and craftsmen proficient in stone and metal.
Dwarves typically live to be over four hundred years old, which is clearly a long-lived race for humans.
Of course, compared to the dwarves' extensive knowledge, most humans who have never interacted with them only have some stereotypes about them.
He has excellent forging skills, is a heavy drinker, has a long beard, is stubborn, rigid, and a bit petty...
And of course, there's the "Book of Hatred."
Because dwarves live a long time, they record the people who cause them pain in their lives in books. It is said that every dwarf has a book of hatred.
But often the Book of Hatred would stop updating very soon, not because the dwarves had become more magnanimous, but because the Book of Hatred had grown so much that it was taller than the dwarves themselves.
So much so that if the dwarf wanted to continue writing, he had to move a chair.
Dwarves aren't exactly quick to accept this name either. While they are indeed short, it's not appropriate to use it as a racial name.
Therefore, there was once a dwarf nation in history that protested and tried to change its racial name.
They were then given the new racial name "Short People".
It took a long time for the "Short People" to change their race name back to "Dwarfs," since "short" was only used to mock height, but "short" was used to mock even more people.
The town east of Neverwinter is a place that has attracted many dwarves to settle down because it produces high-quality ore.
It was already 11 a.m., but Mo Jiang saw that the blacksmith shop of the dwarves had not even lit a fire in the furnace, and the dwarves were even sitting in front of the blacksmith shop drinking beer.
This doesn't look like it's about to open for business at all.
Upon seeing a human approaching, the dwarf's excellent memory allowed him to immediately discern that Mo Jiang was not from the town, but rather an adventurer from elsewhere.
So the dwarf waved his hand and said, "We're closed today. All the blacksmith shops in town are closed for the time being, so don't waste your time looking for other blacksmith shops."
It's not uncommon for dwarves to not be in business, but it's rare for an entire town of dwarves to be out of business. Even if they weren't in business, it would be one thing, but it's quite surprising that there wasn't a sound of hammering coming from a town that produces high-quality ore.
After all, for dwarves, forging is a physiological need, just like eating, sleeping, and drinking beer.
Not operating a business might simply mean not selling one's products, but for a dwarf who doesn't forge...
That kind of willpower probably comes from someone who has quit drugs.
Based on some kind of intuition, Mo Jiang immediately realized that there might be an [event] or a [mission] involved.
"what's going on?"
Perhaps realizing that Mo Jiang was an adventurer, or perhaps simply out of boredom, the dwarf didn't hide anything and said directly, "A group of werewolves ran into the mine, and the miners are too scared to go in, so the ore production has stopped."
Because the mines and tunnels near the town are interconnected, and the excavation may have deviated from the original route, leading to connections to other places, it is more like an underground labyrinth than a mine.
Without a skilled miner to guide them, first-timers are very likely to get lost in the complex mine tunnels.
"Didn't you report it to Neverwinter?"
“I already spoke to someone about it.” The dwarf glanced at Mo Jiang. “The response I got was that they also needed to discuss how to handle it.”
This isn't due to Neverwinter's bureaucracy, but rather because werewolves are inherently difficult to deal with.
Werewolves belong to the chaotic evil faction. Their habitat includes forests and hills. They can transform from a humanoid form to a wolf form or a hybrid half-human, half-wolf form. Some individuals will lose control and transform on the night of a full moon.
In humanoid form, werewolves possess keen senses and a volatile temper. In half-human form, they combine thick fur with wolf head features, often using claws and bites in combat, and can also be equipped with longbows.
Its biting attack can infect humanoid creatures with a curse, causing the target to transform into its own kind upon death.
In any city, once werewolves are discovered, forces will be quickly mobilized to eliminate them, or at the very least, the roads leading out of the city where the werewolves are located will be blocked.
Because anyone bitten by a werewolf will be infected and transformed into a werewolf.
No lord wants to see werewolves establish themselves on their territory, otherwise it won't be long before the territory belongs to the werewolves.
After all, werewolves can spread curses through infection much faster than lords can recruit soldiers.
"Werewolves? What are they doing here?"
Mo Jiang's surprise was not without reason. Most werewolves would flee civilized areas after transforming. Those who resisted the curse were afraid of harming their relatives and friends, while those who accepted the curse were afraid of their crimes being exposed.
Although this town is a bit far from Neverwinter, it is definitely a civilized area, which is an area that werewolves avoid.
When werewolves set up settlements near civilized areas, it's either because they want to attack towns, or they've eaten too many red beans—and are lovesick (wanting to die).
The dwarf boss took a swig of wine. "Not just werewolves, but also goblins, and the miners who escaped said there were even bewitching monsters."
"Eye Demon? Your mines connect to the Underdark?"
It's unlikely that a creature like the Eye Demon would spawn in a mine. The only possibility is that there's a passage inside the mine that leads directly to the Underdark, and the Eye Demon came from the Underdark.
The Underdark is the collective name for the world beneath the feet of the surface inhabitants of Faerûn, where deformed and malevolent creatures live to avoid the sunlight.
The Underdark is filled with cities and nations of Dilo dwarves, drow elves, grey dwarves, and mind flayers.
This is also home to some rarer races, such as benthic fish, beholders, and Koto fishmen, as well as some intelligent humanoid slaves from the surface.
"I don't know. The town officials have offered a reward for it. If the adventurer is confident enough, he can take a look."
As he spoke, the dwarf boss, his eyes glazed with drunkenness, pointed to a notice board not far away. Mo Jiang went over to take a look and saw that the notice board was occupied by monsters and was seeking adventurers to resolve the situation.
The rewards are plentiful if you can complete the task.
In addition to a large amount of money, the town's dwarf blacksmiths offer a 30% discount on forging, and there's also the position of town sheriff, among other things.
The rewards were kept increasing, perhaps because after discovering the werewolf, more troubles were encountered, and the rewards were no longer enough to motivate the adventurers to set out.
And the rewards in the last column...
It represents 20% of the town's mine shares.
191. Are you a golden dragon or a silver dragon that has run away from home?
Even Mo Jiang couldn't help but raise an eyebrow when he saw that it was a 20% stake.
This reward is by no means small.
As a mining area of Neverwinter, the town is an important source of raw materials for Neverwinter. If the problem here hadn't been caused by the combined forces of werewolves, goblins, and beholders, Neverwinter would have sent people to clean up the site long ago.
Therefore, even if the 20% share offered by the town were allocated to a team, it would still be a huge fortune.
As for giving these 20% of the shares to individuals...
Given the problems that have emerged at the mine, it's likely that the town's officials didn't expect anyone to handle them well.
Even if Mo Jiang didn't know much about shares, he knew that a 20% stake in the mine would be a huge sum of money.
If what the dwarves had told him before had only piqued his curiosity, then he had to admit that when he saw the bounty notice, he already had the idea of taking on the mission.
The reason is quite simple: he was short of money.
Although a clear business strategy has been developed, it is aimed at making money in the long run, and Mo Jiang does not expect to see a return on investment in the short term.
Not to mention the plague in Neverwinter could break out at any time, and that plague is no ordinary one.
Ordinary plagues can be treated by priests or herbalists, but the "Howling Death" plague that broke out in Neverwinter cannot be cured, and the dead cannot even be resurrected.
After the outbreak of the "Howling Death", the Pearl of the North was also on the verge of destruction. Mo Jiang did not expect a city in danger of destruction to provide him with a stable environment to make money.
If it weren't for needing a suitable pretext to intervene in the disaster in Neverwinter and acquire numerous magical items, he wouldn't even want to spend money to open a shop in a city facing war.
Another point is because of Serena, who is a level four mage. It's impossible for Mo Jiang to really only offer ten gold coins a month as a salary.
Expecting Serena to offer insights and assistance in magic afterward is just asking for trouble with a monthly salary of ten gold coins.
After purchasing the shop, Mo Jiang didn't have much money left, so he really needed to find something to make money.
Coincidentally, the bounty placed in front of him at this very moment was exactly the type that Mo Jiang liked best.
Go to the mine and kill all the inhuman creatures m ((one) Lingqi> 捌翅是呜| VGI.
The task is simple and straightforward, and the method of completion is convenient and quick.
After taking a few careful looks, Mo Jiang turned around and left the town, returning to Winterless City.
Using his light-footed skills, Mo Jiang could cover more than ten meters with a single tap of his toes, and traverse a distance of over a hundred meters in just a few breaths.
A gust of wind blew down the leaves, and Mo Jiang simply stepped on the leaves floating in mid-air as a foothold, shooting forward.
Not long after, Mo Jiang returned to Wudong City.
Back at the shop, Serena was sitting and writing something down. As soon as Mo Jiang entered, he asked, "Werewolves, goblin bears, beholders, is there any good way to deal with them?"
When Serena saw that Mo Jiang, who had just left, had returned and even asked how to quickly deal with the werewolves, goblins, and bewitches, she was taken aback.