Goblins!
Staring at the chat box, Chen Yu froze for a long time. He quickly lowered his head and searched through the pile of books on the desk, finally finding a book titled "On Monster Trivia."
This book was obtained by Chen Yu from the Wind Rise City library.
It was also the first book he had ever read.
The book recorded many monsters in the grotto-heavens, and generally speaking, the grotto-heavens only acknowledged two types: humanoids and demi-humans.
Anything outside of these two races was defined as a monster.
Even among monsters, there was a distinction between good and evil. Goblins and elves, for instance, belonged to the more neutral monster factions.
"Goblins, humanoid."
"They have two eyes and two arms, mostly with brown skin, rarely black or blue. They are small in stature, with four fingers on each hand, and are skilled in artifact forging, with their forging talent second only to dwarves, comparable to them."
The book recorded goblins in this manner, and it was accompanied by a black-and-white illustration.
Chen Yu was not concerned with their physical characteristics; what he cared about was the last sentence: "skilled in artifact forging, with their forging talent second only to dwarves, comparable to them."
Everyone knew that the pinnacle of artifact forging in the entire grotto-heavens belonged to the dwarf race.
Several mythical-grade weapons that had survived to this day in the grotto-heavens, such as the Azure Smoke Sword wielded by the Human Emperor, the Earth-Splitting Axe held by the Orc Emperor, the Sea King's Trident of the Queen of the North Sea, and the Heavenly Thunder Hammer of the Dwarf King, were all crafted by dwarves.
Dwarves possessed innate artifact forging skills.
Even a juvenile dwarf could forge weapons of at least Silver grade.
It was just that dwarves were somewhat eccentric and difficult to get along with. No force had ever been able to subjugate the dwarf race throughout history.
Furthermore, dwarves were extremely greedy, and their forging prices were exorbitant.
This also led to the scarcity of dwarven artifacts, despite their skill in forging. However, even so, it did not negate their forging capabilities.
Chen Yu did not dare to think about the dwarf race.
Let alone whether he could encounter them, even if he did, he would be reluctant to spend a fortune to have them forge artifacts in bulk. Customizing a few high-level weapons and contacting the dwarves might be feasible.
Goblins were the target Chen Yu truly valued.
He hadn't expected Yu Pu to have incorporated a group of goblins into his ranks.
"He has goblins under his command. How did you know?" After sending the message, Chen Yu glanced at the small group chat with only the three of them. The content was from last month.
"I ordered a batch of coal from him."
Not long after, Jiang Yaqing's message came through.
"He happened to ask me if I had high-purity white iron ore, copper ore, black iron ore, and so on. My place is frozen and covered in snow, so where would I find such resources? But I was curious why he wanted them, so I asked, and he mentioned goblins. Did he not contact you? That's impossible, you two have such a good relationship."
"Didn't pay attention."
Exiting the chat box, Chen Yu specifically clicked on Yu Pu's chat dialog. Only then did he see that Yu Pu had indeed sent him a message a few days ago. It was just that unlike Jiang Yaqing, he only sent a single, brief message.
"Benefactor, do you have any high-purity ores?"
After that, there were no more messages.
Chen Yu received a lot of private messages, and if he wasn't careful, his content would be pushed down.
"Damn it, I had Yu Pu pinned as a favorite," Chen Yu cursed under his breath, then re-pinned Yu Pu's message and replied, "Possibly."
Chen Yu did not have high-purity ores on hand.
But his territory did.
When he first entered the city, Clay had tried to entice Chen Yu with this, but according to his development strategy, it wasn't yet time to fight for and mine the high-purity ore veins. Now, with Yu Pu having a group of goblin artifact refiners who needed high-purity minerals, Chen Yu could completely advance the priority of seizing the mines.
Although there were no soldiers in the city, and defending it might not be possible.
It was very simple.
He just needed to clear out the monsters, mine some ore, and then abandon the mining site and return to the city. Once the city had sufficient military strength and could defend the mines, he could then proceed with orderly mining.
He had postponed seizing the mines earlier because he found it troublesome.
If he needed it, he could still seize it!
After waiting for a long time, there was no reply from Yu Pu. Chen Yu guessed that he must have already gone to sleep.
"I contacted him. He's probably asleep."
Exiting the chat box, Chen Yu sent another message to Jiang Yaqing. A moment later, Jiang Yaqing replied.
"Brother, look at the time, it's already two in the morning. Even dogs are asleep. Who stays up late like you? I contacted Old Yu at 10 to buy ore earlier, but he wasn't there. That guy has the healthy routine of a sixty-year-old."
"Dogs are asleep, why aren't you?"
"Scram!"
Sensing Jiang Yaqing's outburst, Chen Yu typed gently.
"Rest early."
"You too. I'm really sleepy, I'm not talking to you anymore. You can contact Yu tomorrow morning. He should be able to solve your shortage of weapons." After sending the message, Chen Yu did not reply again and lazily stretched.
Wristwatch time: 2 AM.
The conscription on the Abao side would commence tomorrow, and he wasn't very clear about the situation with high-purity iron ore. At this time, Wind Rise City urgently needed a batch of combat power that could be formed in the short term.
After pondering for a moment, Chen Yu frowned again, looked at the chat box, and sent a message.
"Are you asleep?"
The Tatu Kingdom, Royal City, Inner City.
It wasn't until late at night that Liah left Liya's villa and returned to his mansion outside the inner city. The old man waiting outside the villa was terrified, but fortunately, the enraged Liah was eventually persuaded by his sister Liya and did not vent his uncontrollable anger within the inner city.
Upon returning to his mansion, Liah went straight to the study.
In the study, the Chief Financial Officer was quietly reading a book. Liah stood silently at the door, watching him.
"Show no emotion, I've taught you this for over ten years, yet you still wear your thoughts on your face. How can someone like you bear the future of the family?"
The Chief Financial Officer put down his book. Liah remained standing at the door, unmoving.
"Still not coming in? Don't you feel ashamed?"
"Father, do you know my sister was beaten?" Liah walked into the study with a frown. The Chief Financial Officer, still holding his book, trembled his little finger slightly but maintained a detached expression. "How badly injured is she?"
"Her entire face is swollen."
"Liya has suffered."
"Hey, you just say 'suffered' so casually?" Liah frowned. "Father, I understand your desire for the family's eternal prosperity. Sister is willing to support you and enter the royal family. Shouldn't you pay more attention to my sister? That brat, Lao Qi, he even dared to hit your daughter. Aren't you going to teach him a lesson? Also, according to the plan, it will still take about half a year to support the eldest brother, right? I heard you allocated two hundred million to the eldest brother today?"
"Your wristband has been flashing. Won't you look?"
The Chief Financial Officer did not respond to Liah's words, but pointed towards his flashing wristband.
"Can we talk about the main issue?" Liah knitted his brows. The Chief Financial Officer remained silent. After a long while without receiving a response, Liah clenched his fist and projected the virtual display. The moment he saw the message, his expression changed slightly.
"Chen Yu contacted you, didn't he? Take a look."