bookrebus Chapter 58 Taking Root
Chapter 58 Taking Root
As Zhao Chen gathered more and more survivors, he now has more than 50,000 mouths to feed and more than 5,000 soldiers waiting for him to distribute equipment every morning when he wakes up.
Zhao Chen took stock of the existing supplies—aside from the Iron Axe Tribe, which had three hundred iron axes and two hundred stone hammers, the other remaining tribes had less than a thousand weapons in total, and almost no armor, which were all hard leather armor sewn from animal hides.
With this little bit of stuff, it can't even withstand the lowest level of void creatures.
Zhao Chen called Goron over: "Are there any mines around here?"
Goron thought for a moment: "There is a mine to the north. The angels used to mine dark copper there when they were here. But the mine has been abandoned since they left."
"Take me to see it."
---
The mine was located in the northern hemisphere of the planet, more than 300 miles from the camp. When Zhao Chen arrived with Gronn and dozens of orc warriors, all they saw was an abandoned mine. Piles of rubble lay near the mine entrance, mine carts were overturned inside, and various digging tools were scattered about, covered in rust.
Zhao Chen entered the mine, his sharp eyes scanning the rock walls. He quickly concluded that the mine contained a considerable amount of dark copper, though its purity couldn't match that of Angel Workshop, its quantity was vast. Besides dark copper, there was also iron, tin, and a small amount of meteorite iron.
That should be enough for now.
Stepping out of the mine, Zhao Chen said to Goron, "Clear the mine and organize people to start mining. We need both iron and dark copper."
Goron scratched his head and said, "We only know how to mine, not how to refine."
"It's alright, you guys go ahead and dig. I'll take care of the refining."
Zhao Chen took out a smelting device from his storage ring—it was something he had brought back from the weapon workshop on Tiancheng Star, but had been sitting unused in the storage ring because it was duplicated. Zhao Chen set up the device near the mine entrance, lit the furnace with pure Yang true fire, and prepared to start smelting the first batch.
The dark copper ore was thrown into the furnace, and golden flames began to burn the surface of the ore. Impurities were peeled off layer by layer, and the molten dark copper flowed out from the bottom of the furnace and was poured into a pre-prepared mold.
Zhao Chen controlled the temperature of the flame, allowing the metal to cool slowly. The resulting metal structure was even more uniform than that produced by the machine.
Goron stood to the side, his eyes wide with disbelief. He had seen angelic ore refining before, but that required a lot of manpower; how could one person and a ball of fire accomplish it all?
"Chief, who exactly are you?" Goron asked.
"A cultivator." Zhao Chen tossed him the cooled dark copper ingot. "Take this and have the blacksmith forge it into armor."
Goron caught the dark copper ingot. The moment he held it, he felt its weight, and its warmth hadn't dissipated yet. He looked at the dark copper ingot in his hand, then at Zhao Chen, but ultimately didn't ask any more questions.
---
Mining, smelting, and forging were all carried out simultaneously.
Zhao Chen refined ore during the day and cultivated at night. The Pure Yang True Fire had been burning in the furnace for a whole day, consuming a considerable amount of energy, but fortunately, he had absorbed some of the trace essence from the ore using his Devouring Talent, which allowed him to maintain his strength.
He taught the method of breathing and circulating qi and blood to a few clever orcs, and had them teach the other orcs. Although it was not a cultivation technique, but only the most basic breathing technique, it could still make them stronger and recover faster.
The Goron Iron Axe tribe already had blacksmiths. Although their skills were relatively rough, they could still forge the most basic iron axes and spears without any problem.
Zhao Chen took out several sets of standard angel armor from his storage ring, disassembled them, and showed them to the blacksmiths so they could make their own.
Zhao Chen pointed to the disassembled nail plate and said, "It's okay if you can't make it. Just make the shape right first, and I'll carve the energy circuit."
The blacksmiths exchanged bewildered glances. They had never even heard of an energy circuit, but since the leader said he would carve it, they would simply focus on forging the iron.
When the first batch of armor was completed, Zhao Chen frowned. The purity of the dark copper was still insufficient, and the blacksmith's hammering technique was too rough. The armor plates appeared uneven in thickness, and there were even cracks in some places.
Zhao Chen threw the substandard armor plates back into the furnace. He started forging them again.
---
A month later, the first batch of qualified armor was finally produced.
These fifty sets of dark bronze armor, while not as exquisite as those made by He Xi, are sufficient for their current defensive capabilities. Zhao Chen used his magic to inscribe simple energy circuits on each set of armor, allowing them to absorb some of the impact of attacks.
Goron put on a suit of armor, picked up an iron axe, and chopped it into his chest. Only a white mark was left on the armor plate, but he took two steps back. Fortunately, he was not injured.
"Great!" Goron grinned. "This is a hundred times better than the animal hides we used to wear!"
Zhao Chen then took out fifty more iron spears, the spearheads of which were all made of an alloy of dark copper and meteorite iron, making them significantly sharper than ordinary iron spears. He distributed these weapons to the first batch of elite soldiers and had Goron lead them in training.
"Gorlon asked in confusion, 'What are you practicing?'"
"Practice teamwork," Zhao Chen said. "You're no match for the void creatures if you fight one-on-one, but if you form a group of ten and cooperate, you can hold them off. As long as the spear formation doesn't break down, they won't be able to get in."
Goron used to fight with brute force and had never thought about using any formations. But he would do as his leader said.
These elite warriors began training at the foot of the mountain. Ten men formed a hedgehog-like formation, spearheads pointing forward. Gronn shouted commands from the front, and the orc warriors practiced advancing, retreating, and turning repeatedly.
Zhao Chen stood on the mountaintop watching their training and nodded unconsciously.
---
As Zhao Chen's power grew, news about him began to spread in the nearby star systems.
There was a leader named Zhao Chen who could kill these unknown creatures, refine ores, and forge weapons. Following him meant food, armor, and protection from the unknown creatures. The tribes that were still observing began to waver.
The Shattered Stone Tribe came to join them, bringing eight hundred warriors. The Wild Wolf Tribe arrived, bringing six hundred warriors. The Black Stone Tribe, the Iron Hammer Dwarves, the Long-Eared Monsters... one after another, groups of warriors trekked from all directions and began to set up camp at the foot of the mountain.
Zhao Chen accepted all comers without hesitation. He had a well dug at the foot of the mountain, simple barracks built, and the camp expanded nearly tenfold.
When food was scarce, he led Gronn to attack the areas occupied by the Void creatures, scavenging supplies from their habitats—the Void creatures did not eat food, but the areas they occupied often contained food reserves left behind by former humans and orcs.
Three months later, the population of Zhao Chen's tribe officially exceeded 100,000, and the number of warriors capable of fighting had exceeded 20,000.
Zhao Chen divided the 20,000 orcs into twenty battalions, each with 1,000 men and a battalion commander. Gron remained the head instructor, responsible for training all the battalions. The training was simple: formation, advance, assassination, and retreat. Zhao Chen didn't need them to become elite; he just wanted them to withstand the first wave of the void creatures' attack and buy some time.
He wasn't idle either. Every night, he would fly into the universe and circulate the "Great Sun Golden Crow True Explanation" to absorb the power of the surrounding stars and consolidate his mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivation.
As the days went by, the camp slowly grew stronger, the warriors gradually became more powerful, and the invasion of the void creatures was temporarily contained.
Standing atop the mountain, Zhao Chen looked down at the brightly lit camp below and couldn't help but think of Keisha.
I wonder how she is doing now.
---
One month later, at the North Mountain camp.
Goron entered Zhao Chen's stone house and placed a newly forged dark bronze longsword on Zhao Chen's table.
"Chief, this is the latest piece forged by the blacksmith. Please take a look."
Zhao Chen picked up the iron sword, and pure Yang true fire appeared at his fingertips, tracing its path along the blade. As the blade was quenched by the true fire, its hardness increased significantly, and its color changed from grayish-black to a deep gold.
"Not bad." Zhao Chen put down his sword. "How much can the blacksmith's shop produce in a day now?"
"About twenty sets of armor and fifty weapons," Goron said. "We have enough ore, but not enough manpower. We only have three thousand miners, which isn't enough to keep up with the blacksmiths' demand."
Zhao Chen thought for a moment: "Recruit three thousand more from the common people, adding to the original three thousand, for a total of six thousand people. Divide them into three groups to take turns mining. Each group will mine for one month, rotating among them."
Goron nodded, then asked, "Chief, we now have over 20,000 warriors. Shouldn't we give ourselves a name? When other tribes come to join us and ask what kind of force we are, I don't know what to say."
Zhao Chen paused for a moment.
"Let's call it the camp."
Goron paused for a moment, then said, "The... camp?"
"Right. There's not much to it," Zhao Chen said. "First, train the troops well, equip them properly, and hold off the void creatures. We'll deal with the rest later."
Goron scratched his head, didn't dare ask any more questions, and went out with his longsword.
Zhao Chen sat alone in the stone house, listening to the shouts and battle cries outside, and slowly closed his eyes.