Chapter 258: Chapter 258: The Continent’s Number One Iron Mine!

"You seem very concerned about being able to loan the money out?"

"Of course." Ren nodded. "Merchants chase profit. If they’re willing to take on loan interest, naturally they’ll try to earn it back—they’ll want to earn many times that back. Otherwise, wouldn’t they be working for nothing? In that state, they’re the group most likely to produce change."

"Whether it’s minor nobles or small-to-medium merchants, if they want to earn more money, what’s the best choice right now? Isn’t it our magic conductor technology?"

For entrepreneurs, loans were startup capital. With this money, they could recruit talent, purchase equipment, prepare facilities, and produce and sell things.

For merchants who were already established, they could expand their scale, transform their workshops, switch from manual labor to machinery... they could do even more.

He didn’t expect all loan recipients to do this—as long as half, or even a third did, that would already achieve his purpose, achieve the purpose of flooding the market with money!

Unfortunately, right now Dragon Bank’s credibility wasn’t enough to promote the launch of credit currency. Otherwise, this move would work even better.

"Actually, I have an even better idea that can push magic-tech industrialization forward faster. This bank operation is a precondition. After a while, I’ll also start implementing it."

Ren quickly explained another plan in his mind, leaving the Goddess of Magic dumbfounded. "But before that, our Magic Net should also launch a new feature."

With the explosion in Magic Net users, the existing features might not be able to fully tap the potential of all Magic Net users. For these ordinary user groups, Ren also had a comprehensive plan.

The mortal realm.

Hill Lands Commonwealth, Nation of Mutuns.

Lava General led 1,000 tech church combat clerics wearing War Soldier exoskeletons and successfully arrived at the continent’s number one iron mine—the Foster Iron Mine.

"Lava General, welcome to the Nation of Mutuns. We’ve prepared a lavish welcoming feast for you..."

Facing the Foster Iron Mine’s person in charge, Lava General didn’t put on airs and spoke directly. "Let’s go to the mine first."

"Alright, okay!" The mine supervisor immediately nodded.

Facing a figure like Lava General, he had no other thoughts at all. He only knew to execute the other party’s orders, nothing more.

Entering the mining area, Lava General was obviously stunned for a moment. Looking at the miners going in and out, each one covered in dirt with no vitality, the air was also very foul. The smell of sweat mixed with some inexplicable odors made him feel very uncomfortable.

Even in some traditional cities, where the streets were piled with human and horse manure, the smell wasn’t as pungent as here!

This was the continent’s number one iron mine?

He couldn’t help but activate his physical strength and magic power, turning on the filtering system built into his helmet. Only then did his sense of smell feel more comfortable.

"General, should we summon some miners to come over and inquire about the situation now? We’ve already gathered all the workers who’ve encountered monster attacks."

"People who’ve seen the monster are still in the mining area? How many people total?" Lava General’s eyebrows raised slightly.

"Occasionally some people survive. If a team has more members, the monster will only kill some of them."

The supervisor quickly explained. "Currently there are eight people total, all settled within the mining area."

"..." Hearing the earlier words, he thought there would be more people. He didn’t expect there would only be a mere eight.

Sure enough, just as their grand general said, in the past half year, of those who’d seen that monster, fewer than ten survived.

"No need. Let’s go down into the mine."

The numbers matched up, so most likely the situation was also as their grand general said. Probably these few survivors had no idea what attacked them at all. They only knew that those coworkers were all eaten by some extremely fast monster.

The mine supervisor steeled himself and spoke up quietly. "Um, my lord, shouldn’t we first inquire and look at the survivors’ situation, then continue..."

"You’re scared?" Lava General’s tone was flat. He pointed at the miners not far away in the mining area. "They’re still working in the mine right now. With us by your side, what are you afraid of?"

If it were other lords or nobles saying they wanted to go down into the mine, that would be absolutely impossible. If they died inside, the impact would be way too huge. But who was he, Lava General?

Even without this exoskeleton, even without divine arts, entering this mining area posed no risk at all, let alone now that he was equipped!

The mine supervisor thought about it and finally hardened his heart and gritted his teeth. "Alright, I’ll take you down into the mine right now... but I suggest you bring more soldiers..."

"We don’t have soldiers, only clerics." Lava General corrected him. "Select 50 people to go in with me. The rest will guard the entrance and exit. If any monsters try to escape, capture them alive if possible. Don’t let them get away!"

After all, this was the continent’s number one iron mine. Its production capacity wasn’t as backward as one might imagine. The entrance was fairly spacious, enough for three to five people to advance side by side. Lava General directly had his subordinate combat clerics surround the mine’s supervisors to ensure their safety.

Clearly.

This choice was correct.

The mine managers surrounded by War Soldiers, along with the ’guides’, seemed to know about the War Soldiers’ combat record during this period. They immediately felt incredibly safe and didn’t get weak knees.

If they could suppress and eliminate those war-crazy lunatics from the Church of the God of War, facing the unknown monster inside the mine, they should have some ability to resist, right?

What’s more, rumor had it that Lava General had long since become a legendary master!

"General, our Foster Iron Mine has 120 years of excavation history. The supporting facilities are fairly mature. Each time we go down into the mine, each team is equipped with a low-level knight or magician for protection to ensure safety."

When the mine supervisor said this, he showed a proud expression. Looking across the entire continent, you probably couldn’t find a second mining area with this kind of setup.

At least in the regions occupied by humans, it was like this. Perhaps those gnomes or dwarves had more advanced configurations or something, but that was obviously not within his consideration.

"To get inside the iron mine, we ride this?"

But Lava General didn’t pay too much attention to what he said. He just pointed at the strange device in front of him and asked.

These were two things fixed above the mine tunnel that resembled rails. A seat would hang down from them, somewhat similar to a cable car. Sitting on it, you could slide all the way down.

"Yes, you can walk or ride this. We call it the monkey car." The mine supervisor nodded slightly. "Through the monkey car, we can save a lot of time and slide directly down to the destination."

"Does the monster generally appear in the depths, or is it also outside?"

The supervisor immediately understood what he meant and quickly said, "All the incidents occurred in the depths, in newly excavated mining areas."