Chapter 67: Initial Exploration! Spectacular Saltpeter Mine!
Chapter 67: Initial Exploration! Spectacular Saltpeter Mine!
"Hourly speed 45…"
"Hourly speed 62…"
"Hourly speed 23…"
The journey to the kobold’s saltpeter mine collection location was not smooth sailing. They stumbled over rocks throughout the journey, and that made them unable to increase their speed.
Despite having traveled almost forty to fifty minutes, Su Mo had only covered less than thirty kilometers.
The kobold behind him had obviously never seen such a speedy artifact before and spent the entire journey lost in their imagination. No one knew what it was thinking.
When the kobold noticed the car slowing down, it immediately understood and continued pointing out directions.
"Oh, looks like the kobold camp and saltpeter mine are on the Westside."
The car continued going forth in the direction the kobold had pointed in. After traveling for another twenty or so kilometers, it surmounted a high slope that obstructed their view.
When Su Mo noticed the kobold gesturing, he instinctively raised his head to look toward where the kobold’s finger was pointing.
His pupils contracted immediately!
On the distant ground was a sheet of ice crystals that looked like silk as it lay atop a mountaintop that stretched for miles.
There were still around ten kilometers left before they arrived at the saltpeter mine. Su Mo could already tell that this area was a massive, natural saltpeter vein.
Without a doubt, it would feel even more eerily stunning when they got nearer and stood below the mineral veins!
"How is this saltpeter mine so massive? How on earth did it form?"
Su Mo had an expression of surprise on his face as he hurriedly got out of his car and retrieved his binocular that had a 5x zoom from his storage space to begin sizing up the saltpeter mine.
With the help of the binoculars, the full view of the saltpeter mine began growing clearer.
No need to feel panic when you have a mine at your disposal.
Gustav II Adolf, who was otherwise known as "the Lion of the North" back in the day, had led the Protestant Alliance to multiple victories against the Catholic armies thanks to the utilization of his firearms and saltpeter mines back in his old home of Sweden.
However, many European countries did not produce saltpeter, which made the source of these ores a big, constant problem.
It was alright during peaceful times, but the minute war broke out, it would be a big problem if their business supply was cut off.
King Charles the First of England had been plagued by the problem of gunpowder while he was at war with opposition forces both at home and abroad.
Thus!
The king of England himself had no choice but to turn his attention to a stinking, filthy place — pit latrines.
To ensure the production of gunpowder, the king had specially appointed officials to dig up the topsoil (which contained nitrites) from the latrines and stables on his territory.
He extracted the nitrates from the soil and even issued an order that forbade any latrines or stables in the country from having stone slabs or wood slabs laid on the ground so that it would not affect the collection of soil.
Cobblers, who were large users of nitrate, lost their source of income.
Every respectable clergy in churches then were bestowed with an honorable task, which was to rally the city folk who attended prayer sessions to come forth and pee collectively. From that moment onwards, peeing was no longer an awkward, filthy thing to do. Instead, they were playing their part to contribute toward the country.
Among these, the church’s chairs were particularly valued. One was not allowed to leave and use the restroom halfway through prayers, but nature’s call was difficult to ignore. Thus, the church’s chairs were so battered and bruised that one could scrape off high-quality saltpeter off of these chairs.
At that time, England folk thought that women’s urine contained particularly high amounts of saltpeter.
They even began chanting the slogan "Please contribute your share for your husband fighting on the frontlines."
Yet, now!
Su Mo stared at the giant saltpeter mine in front of him. He could not for the life of him imagine any reason that would cause the birth of such a huge vein.
"If you told me that this massive vein was formed because some monster peed from the sky, I would have believed you!"
"However,
"Huh? That is??"
"Human!!"
With the help of the binoculars, Su Mo could clearly see an upright creature that looked completely different from the kobolds.
Ten kilometers was still too far away. The image created by the binoculars with 5x zoom caused a shadow to cast over Su Mo’s heart.
Su Mo returned to the buggy, pulled up Oreo, who was still busy sniffing the ground, relit the fire, and set out again.
This time, he was going to risk traveling another five kilometers forward.
The buggy did not travel quickly, but it managed to arrive at the location Su Mo wanted it to after an estimated 10 minutes had elapsed.
This time, even without using the help of binoculars, Su Mo could clearly see a large expanse of houses that seemed to be built from wood in the distance.
Even more, Su Mo even noticed a house constructed using the base of a Safe House built next to these houses!
After getting out of the car, retrieving the binoculars, and looking at the image formed by the binoculars again.
Su Mo’s hands curled into fists!
Dozens of people were hard at work mining on the rolling expanse of mines.
However, these people… were not kobolds!
Instead, they were humans!!!
Kobold Warriors were scattered around the veins. Su Mo counted under his breath to get a rough estimate.
Right now, there were no less than two hundred Kobold Warriors in his line of sight.
And the most terrifying part was that there were at least 50 Kobold Warriors who were sitting and having fun in the middle of the campgrounds!
These were just the ones in his direct line of sight!
He was afraid that after accounting for those he had not seen, there would be more than three hundred kobolds in this particular saltpeter mine camp!
Three hundred kobolds monitoring a dozen people while they mined?
As Su Mo gazed into the binoculars, he came into a realization.
"I thought everyone else nearby the area I was deposited had been taken care of by Huang Biao. Now, it looks like the remaining humans have all been captured to the mines by the kobolds.
"Luckily, my shelter is a full sixty kilometers away from this place. If not, I would have met strange creatures like these on my first two days!"
"No wonder the Huaxia shelter was so secretive about matters concerning foreign civilizations. It’s probably because there have been countless humans who have already been enslaved by these monsters. But have their chat channels been restricted? If not, why have I not seen any messages regarding this on the World Channel!"
Su Mo speculated to himself as he made observations.
There were so many kobolds. He looked at the gear he had on. Unless he was given a Gatling gun and a limitless supply of bullets.
Only then could he try attacking the base and saving the humans.
At the very least, with the gear he had on now, it would not be a simple feat to launch an attack on that base.
"Who would have expected this saltpeter mine… to be this tricky…"
"I’m afraid that the number of monsters inside this kobold camp will be larger than the ones I have here!"
"Up to a thousand kobolds!"
Once he thought of the fact he had neighbors as "enthusiastic" as he was by his side, and that they would invite you to go mining at their house once they met you, a line immediately appeared above Su Mo’s head:
Sense of security: -10000!
"No, I must go and scout out the situation inside the kobold camp.
Su Mo had a solemn expression on his face as he turned and returned to the buggy. Oreo hurriedly jumped in after him.
"Oreo, let him lead the way. We’re going to their camp."
The minute he finished speaking, Oreo began communicating with the kobold.
A minute later, the buggy left a trail of dust behind it as it began traveling toward the direction of the northern side of the saltpeter mine.
The terrain near the saltpeter mine was all steeped and had high slopes. Although the speed could not be picked up, the saltpeter mines and kobold camp were not too far away if the distance was measured using the buggy’s speed.
When he heard the kobold signal that they were almost there.
Su Mo parked the buggy underneath the shadows of some shrubbery, dragged the kobold off the seats, and held it in his arms as they walked forth.
After walking for around five or six hundred meters and climbing over another tall hill, Su Mo finally caught sight of the kobold camp.
"This…"
"Can this be called a kobold camp? Perhaps it should be called a… castle! It would be more suitable, right?!"
Su Mo’s eyes filled with astonishment as he stood on the hill and looked down at the massive area in front of him.
If the saltpeter mine could be described as one of nature’s miracles.
Then the kobold castle in front of him was definitely a sign of unparalleled architectural greatness.
By the looks of it, the diameter of the castle in front of him was more than 500 meters!
There were round towers, narrow windows, semi-circular arches, low domes, and layered door frames. It all looked stunningly beautiful.
In terms of its style, large quantities of columns and domes of various shapes had been used to achieve the aesthetic effect of solidity and heaviness, balance and stability, and saturation of strength.
The narrow windows and the massive space within formed a stark contrast. It caused the castle’s interior to be dimly lit and looked as if it had never-ending corridors, giving people an air of mystique.
Four sharp turrets were atop the four corners of the castle. Su Mo used the binoculars and saw that there were kobolds in charge of making patrols inside the tower.
When he looked downwards, besides the mages and warriors, Su Mo’s sharp eyes spotted a kobold wearing a long white robe.
"This is the third type of kobold. I wonder what is special about this kobold…"
The kobold’s stature could not be considered as upright, but as it stepped up onto the city walls, the four or five Kobold Mages behind it followed it respectfully.
The city walls were not long.
The white-robed kobold did not stop in its footsteps as it spoke.
Soon, they all vanished from the end of the city walls.
However, Su Mo did not have time to continue investigating when one of the small doors on the kobold mansion opened abruptly. A group of kobolds walked out, and it was obvious they were walking toward Su Mo.
"Oh no! Have they seen me?"