Chapter 14: There is a World Within

After tidying up the black soil, Zhao Hai led Mutou and Shitou toward Merlyn and Meg to see how their progress was coming along.

Although this Iron Mountain contained many dwarven mines, it was actually one massive mine; nearly the entire mountain had been hollowed out by the dwarves. However, the structure of the mountain was quite unique, and combined with the dwarves' years of mining experience, the entire mine was built extremely sturdily, so there was no need to worry about the danger of collapses.

Although Merlyn and Meg were women, they had long served the Buda family and had always been Green's reliable helpers, so handling such tasks was naturally no problem for them. As for the slaves, encouraged by Zhao Hai's promise of freedom, they were working with great enthusiasm and required no supervision at all.

However, while cleaning up the mine, they discovered that there weren't many usable areas. The first few dozen meters of the mine consisted of a residential area made of open spaces and stone caves where the dwarves used to eat and sleep. With a bit of tidying, this area could be used to raise Blue-Eyed Rabbits. But as one moved further in, it was no longer suitable, as the path sloped downward and the interior was already flooded with water.

Nevertheless, the areas cleaned up on the outside were enough to raise a significant number of Blue-Eyed Rabbits—at least several tens of thousands would be no problem.

Because the dwarves had to live in the mine year-round, it was designed similarly to a small city, with proximity to water sources and certain drainage facilities. The space was spacious and close to the entrance; although there was standing water deeper in the mine, this area remained quite dry, making it an ideal location for raising Blue-Eyed Rabbits.

This was also the first time Zhao Hai had seen the true face of the Dwarven Iron Mountain. The mountain itself was not very high, with an altitude of only about a thousand meters, and it stretched for only a few thousand kilometers in a semi-circular shape, enclosing the Black Soil Wasteland. There was only one way in or out of the wasteland: through the opening of the semi-circular mountain range. Zhao Hai's castle was built against the mountain, with part of it situated on the slopes; the Iron Mountain was at his back, and the dwarven mines were located halfway up the mountain at a high elevation. Behind the Iron Mountain lay one of the most notorious deathlands on the continent, known as one of the five great forbidden zones: the Corpse Swamp.

The soil on the mountain was a deep brown, covered with scattered patches of weeds that grew poorly, looking as if they were on the verge of dying from disease. Even the few crooked trees looked malnourished and stunted.

Seeing this, Zhao Hai couldn't help but sigh. He finally understood why the great nobles had exiled him here, and why Green had spent his entire fortune on supplies before arriving. This was a dead land; no matter how hard they worked in the future, they would be lucky just to secure enough food to survive. If the Buda family hoped to rebuild their status starting from here, it was nothing more than a pipe dream.

Looking at the busy mine in the distance, Zhao Hai walked quickly toward it. He soon arrived, but Merlyn and Meg were busy directing the slaves inside and did not notice his arrival.

Although this mine was built by the dwarves, the entrance was quite grand, over three meters high and five meters wide. Inside was a vast open space, with caves of various sizes scattered across the walls. It was essentially a mountain city; even if people were to live there, accommodating tens of thousands would be no problem.

Zhao Hai was shaken by the sight before him. He truly had not expected the dwarves to be able to create such a cavernous city; it was truly breathtaking.

Looking further into the mine, he saw that the interior was entirely constructed with stone arches. This wasn't just a mine; it was clearly an underground base.

Zhao Hai nodded involuntarily. This place was truly excellent. Once properly organized, it could serve not only for raising Blue-Eyed Rabbits but could be used as a secret base. However, such organization would take time, and they didn't have that time right now.

Just then, Merlyn spotted Zhao Hai and hurried over, saying, "Young Master, why have you come here? It is very dirty; you should return to the castle."

Zhao Hai smiled slightly. "It's fine, I just wanted to see what it was like. Grandma Merlyn, how many more caves like this are on the mountain?"

Merlyn quickly replied, "There are only two such large caves on the mountain. One is by the castle, and the other is on the opposite side of the mountain; its scale is similar to this one. The rest are small passages, and there are dozens of them."

Zhao Hai nodded. "Are these caves interconnected? How deep is this mine? We want to build barriers inside; otherwise, if we raise Blue-Eyed Rabbits here, there will be no way to catch them if they escape."

Merlyn said, "Don't worry, Young Master. These caves might be interconnected, as that is the dwarven custom, but the passages are usually built beneath the mine. To ensure the mountain doesn't collapse, they do not dig horizontal passages on the outside. However, the caves inside are now filled with standing water, and it's unknown how deep it goes, so that area has become a dead end. You can use this area with peace of mind."

Zhao Hai nodded with a smile. "That's good. We can't worry about the cave on the other side of the mountain for now, but this one is perfect. We should properly repair the road leading here and block off that mine shaft. Even though there is water inside and we don't need to worry about the rabbits running away, we must prevent them from drowning."

Merlyn nodded. "Don't worry, Young Master, I know what to do. This is not a place you should be; you should go back."

Zhao Hai smiled faintly. "It's fine, I'm in no hurry. Grandma Merlyn, you keep busy; I'll go check the standing water in the mine to see if it's usable."

Merlyn nodded. "Then I will accompany you. I am a water mage and know quite a bit about water; I believe I can be of help."

Zhao Hai smiled. "Alright. Since there's nothing else to do here, you don't need to work too hard. It's good for you to walk with me." Having said that, he stepped into the mine.

Merlyn followed behind Zhao Hai, with Mutou and Shitou following them. Meg, however, did not move; she had to stay and watch over the slaves.

The four of them soon entered the mine. The passage sloped downward, though the incline was not steep. It appeared there used to be rails, but they had been removed, leaving only a floor paved with brown stone.

After walking several hundred meters down the slope, Zhao Hai saw an underground lake. Indeed, "underground lake" was the only way to describe it; the area was massive. Assisted by the light filtering in from the mine shaft, he could not see how large the surface actually was, hearing only the rhythmic sound of water.

At that moment, a ball of white light suddenly brightened beside Zhao Hai. Curious, he looked to the side and saw that Merlyn was holding a sphere of light in her hand, much like a lamp.

He understood immediately—this was magic. From the memories left by Adam, he knew this was a Light-attribute illumination spell. It had no offensive, defensive, or healing capabilities; its sole purpose was to serve as a light source. It was a spell that any mage on the continent, even a magic apprentice, could use, because illumination spells had no elemental restrictions.

Zhao Hai took a quick glance and then turned back to carefully examine the underground lake using the light from the spell. He realized now that calling it an underground lake was not an exaggeration; the surface area was much larger than a typical underground lake, appearing almost boundless. Most interestingly, there were several small islands on the lake. These islands were not large, only about a few dozen square meters, and they seemed to connect the sky to the ground like pillars.

Confused, Zhao Hai asked Merlyn, "Grandma Merlyn, do you know what those pillar-like things are for?"

Merlyn smiled and said, "You aren't mistaken, Young Master. Those are indeed pillars—pillars left by the dwarves to support the entire mountain range. The platforms there are command stations; when the dwarves were working, people would stand on them to direct those below. The water surface you see has actually been completely hollowed out; you could say this entire area is a lake."

Zhao Hai's eyes lit up, and he laughed loudly. "Great! This is wonderful! This way we can raise fish here—lots of fish! This is truly a natural treasure trove, hahaha!"

Merlyn looked around and said, "Your idea is quite good, but we must examine this place carefully. If this is stagnant water, we won't be able to raise fish at all. However, it doesn't seem to be stagnant; I can feel that the water elements here are quite active. But the source of the water is the problem. If river water flows in, there must be an outlet; otherwise, the water level wouldn't remain constant. But if there is an outlet, no matter how many fish fry we put in, they might all escape through it."

Zhao Hai nodded. "Yes, that is a major issue. I encountered a similar problem with the moat. It seems we must solve this first." He then turned to Merlyn. "Grandma Merlyn, please extract some water for me. I want to take it back to conduct some research."

Although Merlyn did not quite understand what Zhao Hai meant, she complied. With a movement of her hand, a water sphere about one meter in diameter slowly rose from the surface and stopped in front of Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai once again marveled at the wonders of magic, but he did not idle; with a thought, the large water sphere entered his spatial warehouse.

After storing the water sphere, Zhao Hai checked his status and found no notification, meaning the water sphere had indeed been stored. He couldn't help but marvel again—this spatial warehouse was truly miraculous, even capable of storing a sphere of water.