Chapter 371: Gem Mine
After much hesitation, an adventurer finally walked into the municipal hall.
Half an hour later.
A considerable number of people rushed out from their respective posts.
Their purposes were clear.
Either heading straight to the barracks, ready to gather the troops.
Or going to the Lord's Manor, preparing to attend a meeting held by the Lord.
Meanwhile, the lucky adventurer, holding onto his reward of 10,000 gold coins, joined the Professional Training Academy without hesitation.
In the academy, this adventurer would teach his exceptional mining exploration and detection skills to curious students.
Lord's Manor.
Matthew, frowning, was examining an experiment subject covered in bruises and clotted blood.
Unlike several other subjects who had successfully undergone the Reinforced Steel Bone surgery.
This particular subject, drenched in blood, was suddenly teetering on the edge of collapse.
Even though Matthew placed him in the nutrient solution, the subject could no longer hold on.
His muscles were torn all over, skin splitting open into deep wounds, with blood gushing out everywhere.
Matthew placed his hand over him, adeptly casting Time Reversal.
The blood mist hanging in the air slowly retracted, condensed, and then seeped back into the wounds.
The gaping injuries scattered across his body also quickly healed under the influence of reversed time.
Reaching the critical point of his failure, Matthew paused the surgical procedure.
However, Matthew still vividly remembered the sudden breakdown scene from earlier.
"Physique at 14 points, strength at 14 points, agility also at 12 points—such physical stats are already quite impressive."
"If physique and strength were raised just a bit more, perhaps this situation could be avoided again."
"Could it be that it's precisely because of insufficient physical strength that the experiment fails?"
When faced with unknown questions, Matthew's thirst for knowledge was always insatiable.
At present, the simplification, segmentation, and step-by-step processes of the surgery were progressing smoothly.
The abundant data Matthew had gathered had already helped him figure out how high-ranking professionals could successfully complete the surgery.
But for Matthew, this still wasn't enough!
Matthew didn't think it was necessary to immediately revise the technique so that even low-level spellcasters could successfully complete the transformation.
But at the very least, elite mid-tier professionals, as the backbone, needed to be incorporated into this surgical modification.
Just as Matthew was brooding, the arrival of Steward Ralph snapped him out of his thoughts.
"An adventurer discovered a small gem mine while excavating at the bottom of Troll Valley!"
A gem mine?
Matthew immediately looked up, his dark eyes shining brightly. He took the information Ralph handed over, clicking his tongue in disbelief:
"Who would have thought it was true—there really is a gem mine in Troll Valley..."
According to many player rumors, there were supposed to be small veins in Troll Valley, located in the Dark Forest. Such rumors spread among players and the residents of Blood Moon City.
However, most people scoffed at the idea. Their reasoning was simple.
On the vast Western Continent, all sorts of tales and rumors spread far and wide.
Most were just exaggerations or distorted versions of reality, but occasionally, there was a nugget of truth hidden in them.
Adventurers had indeed ventured to Troll Valley before in search of treasures.
They ended up spending days digging rocks only to fight the trolls and lose their lives, often becoming mere amusement for others.
Eventually, everyone came to believe there couldn't possibly be a gem mine in Troll Valley.
The initially bustling valley quickly fell silent.
Until the neighboring Iron Nest rose to prominence, slowly engulfing the area around it.
In the end, Troll Valley disappeared without a trace, leaving not even its name.
Now, with a small gem mine being discovered there, Matthew, who was already worried about covering the costs of all the supplies he'd purchased, instantly perked up.
He decisively called upon Yaya, who hadn't been out in a while, grabbed a map, and flew straight towards Troll Valley.
As Yaya's increasingly massive form took flight from the Lord's Manor and swept over Bay City, their journey was greeted with the people's enthusiastic cheers.
About ten minutes later.
With Yaya's lightning-fast flight, Matthew swiftly reached Troll Valley.
Nowadays, Troll Valley wasn't as bustling as it once had been.
There were still plenty of adventurers visiting to capture trolls or gather magical herbs and materials.
However, until he could confirm the presence of a gem vein, Matthew had no desire to interact with the adventurers.
After all, greed can easily corrupt one's heart, and avoiding unnecessary trouble was always better.
With her keen eyesight, Yaya easily spotted the marked spot in the middle of a mountain stream deep within the forest.
She and Matthew descended, and with the aid of Data Vision, they tracked the adventurer's path to a multi-layer-camouflaged cave entrance.
Without violently breaking through the camouflage, Matthew and Yaya carefully used Mage Hand to open a gap big enough to enter.
The outer section of dozens of meters contained a small vein with minimal silver content.
If mined, the effort and return would hardly be worth it.
However, Matthew was elated because precious gem veins often accompanied veins of heavy metals.
In the dark, narrow tunnel, traces of previous excavation were evident everywhere.
Clearly, many had mined here before, but they had all eventually left and forgotten about it.
As they descended about fifty meters, Yaya suddenly let out an excited cry:
"Look! I see rubies!"
Rubies?
Following Yaya's pointing finger, Matthew saw a faint red glow in the corner of a descending crevice.
Rubies—mid-tier gems of excellent quality that could be used for crafting staves, magical devices, and consumables for casting high-level spells.
Market value: 100 gold coins!
The value wasn't the key—the key was how much ruby this area could yield.
Would it be enough to meet Bay Territory's massive demand?
Yaya, unconcerned with Matthew's thoughts, gleefully grabbed the glowing ruby and presented it to him.
"Look! So pretty!"
The stone encasing the gem was easily peeled away by Yaya. The little dragon seemed eager to find more gems around them.
Matthew turned his attention back to the dark, narrow mine.
After about a dozen seconds, Data Vision provided feedback.
A medium-sized ruby mine!
An entrance to the underground world!
Matthew's gaze sharpened as he carefully processed the two lines of information. He then smiled faintly, his eyes glinting as he slowly said:
"So that's it—the drow elves emerged from here and dealt the fatal blow to Bloodmoon City!"
"What a case of finding something by sheer luck!"