dhibooks Chapter 239: Abandoned Iron Mine
Chapter 239: Abandoned Iron Mine
Held like that, Elena could do little more than sigh in defeat, the breath escaping slowly through her full lips.
Her delicate fingers traced their way up to Ethan’s shoulders, finding support in the firm muscles beneath the fabric of his shirt.
Without hesitation, he began to run.
His boots pounded against the darkened basalt at a steady rhythm, each step echoing along the empty road.
It was, without a doubt, much better than forcing his way through the dense forest.
His body covered kilometers in a matter of minutes, the landscape blurring into smudges of green and gray all around them.
Something that pleased him greatly was noticing that even the bridges over the small streams had been erected by the system, forming a perfect road, wide enough to accommodate four wagons traveling side by side.
It wasn’t long before Ethan slowed his pace and finally stopped. The constructed road ended right in front of the mine.
Carefully, he let Elena slip from his arms, lowering her gently until her feet touched the ground.
The delicate shoes of the voluptuous black beauty sank slightly into the soft grass around her.
She smoothed the skirt of her dress, the fabric clinging and shifting as her hands ran over the generous swell of her full hips and the heavy curve of her large chocolaty tits.
They were in a small clearing, almost swallowed by the dense forest closing in around them.
Ahead stood one of the many mountains that made up Eternal Peak, visible even from Goldenveil—a steep, colossal rock formation whose summit pierced the clouds.
At the base of the mountain, Elena could see the entrance to the mine Ethan had mentioned. It was small and practically falling apart, the wooden beams rotten and darkened by centuries of neglect.
"You’re going to have to order a major renovation on this thing if you want to do any mining work here," Elena remarked, crossing her arms beneath her ample breasts as she surveyed the precarious structure.
Ethan merely nodded.
Well, he’d have to have it renovated... if he were anyone else.
He was almost certain he could simply use his instant-construction ability to fix everything right there on the spot.
Approaching the entrance, Ethan pressed his palm against the aged wood of the door. The brittle fibers gave slightly under his touch as the information screen materialized in his vision.
[Name: Abandoned Iron Mine
Description: An old iron mine, abandoned about five hundred years ago. For a long time, it served as a shelter for a necromancer and, later, an Orc tribe.
The mine walls could collapse at any moment, as much of the wood holding them up has rotted.
Iron reserves: 3.6 billion tons
Coal reserves: 1.3 billion tons
Reserves of various superior magical ores: 353 million tons]
The broad smile on Ethan’s face slowly faded as he reread the numbers over and over, as if afraid he had misread them.
He activated his Resource Vision ability, analyzing that portion of the mountain much more carefully.
The numbers were far greater than anything he had imagined, especially considering the reserves of rare magical ores, such as mithril and adamantite.
"What’s wrong?" Elena asked, noticing the strange expression on his face.
When Ethan repeated, in a low voice, exactly what reserves the mine held, Elena’s brown eyes widened, her lips parting in silence.
Even the Fallen Sun Empire, at its peak, would take centuries to exhaust a mine of that magnitude if it were the only one sustaining the nation.
Its value was by no means inferior to that of the magical vein near Goldenveil!
In the end, the two simply exchanged glances for a brief moment, barely managing to contain the excited laughter that threatened to escape.
Ethan even resisted the idea of handing such a city over to Aerick for a while, tempted to keep it directly under his control.
After reflecting for a moment, however, he dismissed that thought.
Aerick was a loyal man, and, at the end of the day, Ethan had no interest whatsoever in building yet another feudal society.
He would maintain the noble titles, yes, but the state he intended to create would, in practice, be an absolutist regime.
The titles would function as governors’ posts in a republic, with the sole difference being that they were hereditary.
Lords like Aerick would, at heart, be little more than civil servants dressed in noble garb. The people’s loyalty could, and should, remain entirely focused on Ethan.
The army itself would be fully centralized, and the Lords would have control only over a small number of private guards for the protection of their families.
It was a difficult proposal to implement, of course. But, unlike established states, he didn’t need to reform a system corrupted by time.
He was building something completely new, and could shape it as he pleased.
That mine, following traditional feudal logic, would belong to Aerick. In reality, however, it would belong to the state of Goldenveil and, consequently, to Ethan himself.
Pushing all these complicated thoughts to the back of his mind, Ethan pressed his palm against the mine’s structure once more.
He activated his instant construction ability, spending about ten thousand gold coins to transform the place into a modern operation.
When he clicked to confirm, he immediately stepped back a few paces.
A tall, imposing structure of reinforced concrete rose above the mine entrance, reaching about three stories high, with central gates wide enough to allow five carts to pass through side by side.
Inside, massive pillars replaced the old, brittle wooden beams, while magical arrays engraved on the walls ensured both the structure’s stability and a constant supply of oxygen throughout the mine.
As the tunnels expanded in the future, these arrays would eventually lose their functionality, but for now, and for initial mining operations, they would be more than sufficient.
"Oh? Are you going to found the city now?" Elena asked, her beautiful eyes sparkling as they took in the majestic construction rising before her. "I haven’t even finished my designs yet. I need another couple of days."
"Not now." Ethan shook his head. "As soon as you have everything ready, I’ll found the city."
"Oh, perfect!" Elena clapped her hands, excited. "Have you thought of a name for it yet?"
"Hm... not yet."
"Ah! How about..."
For the next few hours, Ethan studied the geography of the area alongside Elena, chatting about all sorts of topics, until, finally, it was time to leave.