Chapter 277: Chapter 277: The Slime Solution

Lava General stared at the creature in front of him, kind of dazed... How to put it? A mini version of the ’Foster Iron Mine God’?

These monsters weren’t that big—about the size of an adult human’s arm. According to feedback from the combat clerics, their attack power was pretty weak. Even any low-level supernatural being could take them down.

But there were a lot of them.

Just this one trip, the combat clerics had already caught over 30 of them. Obviously, there was no way they’d eliminated all of them that easily.

"General, I’m thinking—is it possible that the ’Foster Iron Mine God’ from before was just possessing one of these creatures? Maybe we didn’t actually deal with the real ’Foster Iron Mine God’ at all."

The combat cleric hesitated slightly before continuing: "These worm-like creatures might just be ordinary underground species."

Lava General remained silent, his mind racing.

Yeah, that was definitely possible.

Sure, that ’Foster Iron Mine God’ was just a false god—a collective manifestation of faith worshipped by the mine’s workers. But when he went to destroy it, things went way too smoothly. Maybe he’d only dealt with one avatar?!

"Organize a team. Form squads and do a carpet search of the mine tunnels. Eliminate as many of these worm creatures as possible to ensure the miners’ safety."

Without complete information, all they could do was address the surface problem for now—strengthen patrols and make sure no follow-up issues popped up. After thinking it over, Lava General added: "The mining machinery we had the dragons transport at a premium price—that should all be delivered soon, right?"

"Yes, General. Most of the equipment has arrived and is being installed."

Lava General let out a long breath: "Good. Once the upgrades are complete, the mine’s safety will improve dramatically. Even if the ’Foster Iron Mine God’ is still alive, prayers will become fewer and fewer until it eventually disappears from this world."

"But I’m not sure if the ’Foster Iron Mine God’ still has the ability to strike back. From now on, all combat clerics entering the mine tunnels are on highest alert. Make sure they maintain contact with surface command, just in case."

Lava General had decided that until the problem was completely resolved, he’d stay stationed near Foster Iron Mine and be ready to send reinforcements at any time. The reforms in other areas should go smoothly even without him watching over them.

After sending off his deputy, Lava General stared at the ’worm’ corpse on the ground. After hesitating for a while, he quickly pulled out his Magic Net and opened a group chat called ’Church of Technology Exchange Group.’ He rapidly uploaded a photo of the worm’s corpse.

"@Roster @Wild Mage @Apprentice We found tons of these creatures under Foster Iron Mine. The Foster Iron Mine God from before was attached to one of these things. I don’t even know if the Foster Iron Mine God has actually been eliminated... But that’s not important—I’ll stay on guard. What I want to ask is: do you guys recognize this creature?"

Wild Mage: "Never seen it."

Apprentice: "First time seeing this. Want me to ask around? I know people at the Hunters’ Association."

Roster: "Never heard of it. I thought it sounded weird when you described it before, but seeing it now makes it even weirder."

Viscount Roster, who hadn’t finalized his plans yet, suddenly saw someone @ him. He quickly opened the private chat, and seeing that creature, he almost spit out his drink.

This thing was seriously... bizarre!

Soon, other members of the Church of Technology popped up too, but not a single one had seen this worm-like creature.

They hadn’t even heard of it.

"@Lava General How’s this thing’s combat ability? Need reinforcements? The situation in the Teylir Emirates has basically stabilized, the defensive line is complete, and I’ve got some spare forces." Wolf General Lucina also made a rare appearance.

"Don’t need it for now. This creature’s combat ability isn’t very high—it basically just bullies ordinary people."

Lava General thought about it: "I noticed this creature secretes some kind of slime from its body. Over time it solidifies—high elasticity, low hardness, very light, very soft, and it stretches. @Wild Mage @Apprentice, do you think there’s any way to use this in magic conductors?"

"I keep feeling like this stuff might fit your requirements for tires."

Even though Lava General didn’t know jack about making magic conductors—wasn’t even that great at traditional alchemy—he was still a pretty high-level magician. He understood the basics pretty well.

During this time, he’d often seen the R&D people in the group discussing stuff. The discussions about car tires came up the most. Viscount Roster took this really seriously but hadn’t been able to figure out a good solution.

Just now, when he discovered that the slime secreted by this creature’s body seemed to have these properties, he brought it up.

What if it worked?

According to Wild Mage and Apprentice, if they could solve the tire problem, their vehicles’ speed could increase significantly... For marching and mining operations, it seemed like a pretty solid assist.

"? You sure?"

"You sure?!"

Dozens of Church of Technology R&D personnel in the group almost simultaneously expressed their doubt. The shock was clearly evident in their words.

Lava General thought about it and didn’t reply directly. Instead, he turned on the video function and got hands-on, extracting the slime from the worm creature’s body. He flattened it, rolled it, stretched it freely, shaped it, then finished recording and sent it to the group chat.

"That’s the situation. It looks like it pretty much meets the material requirements you’ve been looking for, but I can’t say for sure what level it’ll reach. Want me to place an order and have Dragon Delivery send you some?"

Watching the video in the group chat, Wild Mage and Apprentice—two inventors who’d been dedicated to researching various transportation magic conductors—both froze in place.

Yeah, they’d been focusing most of their energy on ultra-high-speed trains and some production-type magic conductors lately, but that was because they just couldn’t find excellent tire materials. Treads alone weren’t suitable for all scenarios.

They’d been posting bounties on the Quest Board, Hunting Guild, Bounty Guild, and many other new and old era bounty areas. They’d tested hundreds of materials but nothing had been satisfactory.

But they never expected it to just show up out of nowhere!

The worm creature that looked kind of gross a second ago suddenly looked pretty handsome the next second.

"@Lava General Quick, send it over—just use cash on delivery. Oh, and are there a lot of these things in the mine tunnels? If possible, help us capture some alive. Don’t let them go extinct over the next while—this might actually work!"

"If this slime material really works, we might need to breed these creatures on a large scale in the future."

Lava General looked at the group chat messages and fell silent.

Looked like his approach to the mine tunnel creatures needed some adjustments.