Great Wilderness Lord: System Intelligence Updated Daily

As the sun sets, the evening glow paints the entire hillside a dark red.

The old chief, Greymane, leaning on his wooden cane, stepped forward and bowed slightly.

Although his back was already somewhat hunched, he still retained the demeanor of a clan leader.

"This must be the lord of the Vast Territory, right?"

"This old man with gray mane is the chieftain of the Fire Wolf Clan."

His voice was hoarse, but his tone was deep and steady.

The old chief's gaze swept over Younger, then landed on Reinhardt and Agnes, his pupils contracting slightly.

Fourth-tier knight, fourth-tier mage.

With such a configuration, let alone their small tribe of two hundred people, even the Rock Bear tribe would have to avoid them.

The old chief understood the situation and lowered his stance even further.

"The children are ignorant and have offended Your Lordship. Please forgive them."

Yang Erde waved his hand: "It's not offensive at all, the two children are quite clever."

He nodded toward Reinhardt.

Reinhardt bent down, lifted Luka and Kulu from the ground, and placed them in front of the old chief.

Luka pulled Kuru towards the old chief's back, but after a couple of steps he stopped and looked back at the plate of dried meat on the ground that was still unfinished.

Yang Erde smiled and said, "Take them with you. They were originally meant for them."

Luca hesitated for a moment, then quickly ran back to pick up the plate and ran back behind the old chief.

Misha came over, and the three little heads squeezed together, sharing the jerky piece by piece.

The old chief coughed lightly, bringing his attention back to the main topic.

"My lord, you brought so many people to this desolate wilderness for those glowing stones?"

"Yes."

Yang Erde didn't hide anything, and took out the fire crystal ore from his pocket, tossing it in his hand.

"The fire crystal vein is very important to our Cangmang Territory."

The old chief was silent for a moment, then looked up at Yang Erde:

"This ridge was originally unclaimed land."

"Our Fire Wolf tribe is far from here, so we can't be considered the masters."

"Our lord has no right to stop us from mining, nor would we dare to."

"But if I may be so bold as to ask, what is your attitude towards our Fire Wolf Clan, Lord?"

Looking into the old chief's shrewd eyes, Yang Erde knew he was probing him.

"I have no hostility towards you."

Yang Erde carefully put away the fire crystal, his tone indifferent.

"But there's not much goodwill involved yet."

"My people come to mine, your people live your lives, let's keep to ourselves."

"As long as they don't provoke us, I won't go looking for trouble."

The old chief let out a long sigh.

This answer was much better than he had expected.

"My lord is very generous."

The old chief nodded:

"Then I'll also state my position: Lord, you may dig up any stones on this ridge."

"The Fire Wolf Clan will not interfere, and will also restrain its members from disturbing them."

He paused, then added, "The children are ignorant; we won't let them come again."

Yang Erde glanced at Luca and the other two. The three little guys were gnawing on jerky, their mouths greasy, completely unaware that they had been sold out by the chief.

"It's just a child, it's alright."

Yang Erde withdrew his gaze. "Then it's settled."

It's a deal.

The old chief clasped his hands in greeting.

The old chieftain, along with Holo and the hunters, turned and left.

After walking a dozen steps, Holo suddenly stopped and looked back at Young Wilde.

A faint golden glint flashed in his amber pupils.

He didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly, then turned and followed the old chief's steps.

Yang Erde watched the Fire Wolf Clan group disappear on the other side of the ridge.

"My lord, are you really going to let them go like this?"

Glenn leaned closer, somewhat puzzled.

"Otherwise what?"

Young glanced at him:

"They didn't provoke us, so we have no reason to bully them."

"The Great Wilderness is so vast, it's always better to have one more friend than one more enemy."

Glenn opened his mouth, but said nothing more.

Reinhard sheathed his sword and looked toward the mountain ridge:

"That old chief is no simple man. He's lived to a ripe old age and knows when to bow his head."

"That's why he was able to lead more than two hundred people to survive in such a place."

Young Wilde turned and walked back to the camp:

"Starting tomorrow, we will focus all our efforts on mineral exploration."

In the following days, Yang Erde mobilized a large amount of manpower and resources from Cangmang Town.

One hundred miners and two hundred slaves arrived at the mining area and began large-scale mining.

Ten knights and fifty militiamen set up camp around the mining area to guard and patrol.

Todd was appointed as the mine manager, in charge of all mining operations.

The miners carved out tunnels in the rock face, the sound of their pickaxes striking the rock never ceasing, day and night.

The raw fire crystal ore transported from the mine was piled up into small mountains.

Yang Erde would come to the mining area every day to check on the progress.

Everything is progressing smoothly.

That evening, Todd climbed out of the mine, took off his helmet, and ran up to Wilde, covered in sweat.

"My lord, there's a problem."

Yang Erde was checking the day's ore production when he heard this and looked up: "What's wrong?"

Todd wiped the sweat from his face, his dark face full of exhaustion and helplessness.

"The temperature inside the mine is too high."

"The deeper you dig, the hotter it gets. Ordinary workers have to come up for air after less than half an hour, otherwise they simply can't stand it."

"We tried rotating shifts, but it didn't work very well."

"With one hundred miners and two hundred slaves, the actual time spent working in the mines is less than 30% of what it should be."

He spread his hands, and the calluses on his palms were white from being soaked in sweat.

"At this rate, the mining speed is much slower than expected."

Yang Erde frowned and walked to the entrance of the mine.

A wave of scorching heat surged out of the cave entrance, carrying the smell of sulfur.

He peered inside and saw a faint, dark red glow emanating from the rock walls deep within the mine. This was the heat radiation emitted by the fire crystals under high temperatures.

"What about the martial artists specializing in battle qi? Can they hold out a little longer?"

Todd shook his head:

"The knights can hold out for an hour, which is much better than ordinary people."

"But we don't have many martial arts practitioners in our territory to begin with. We can't just make them mine every day, can we?"

Yang Erde fell silent.

Todd is right.

Qi warriors are the most important defensive force in a territory; using them for mining is a waste of their talents and would also affect the security of the territory.

"Let's maintain the status quo for now, and I'll think of something else."

Young patted Todd on the shoulder, "You guys have worked hard, we'll give you a special meal tonight."

Todd sighed and turned to make the arrangements.

Yang Erde stood at the entrance of the mine, his brows furrowed as he gazed at the faint red light inside.

Having a mine but not being able to extract it is even more frustrating than not having a mine at all.

While the mining area was facing difficulties, the Fire Wolf tribe was also experiencing another crisis.

The valley where the Fire Wolf tribe resides is unusually oppressive today.

Several hunters crouched on either side of the valley entrance, clutching stone axes and staring intently at the mountain path outside.

The old chief sat on a stone platform in the center of the tribe, twisting and unraveling the straw rope in his hands, clearly distracted.

Saintess Holo stood beside him, her hand resting on the bone ornament at her waist, her dark red hair swaying slightly in the wind.

"They're here."

Holo spoke softly.

Outside the valley, heavy footsteps approached from afar.

It wasn't just one person, but more than a dozen.

These people stepped on the ground simultaneously, their footsteps mingling with the clanging of metal, sounding like rolling thunder.

The hunters at the valley entrance involuntarily took a few steps back.

A group of people swaggered into the valley.