BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 28 – The Paths

Chapter 28 – The Paths

Five days.. then the secret disaster falls.. despite all the preparations, I still feel anxious..

Many insects will attack at once.. will they attack from one side or multiple sides? No one knows..

Will they attack in reasonable numbers or massive numbers.. no one knows that either.. all we know is the type of insects and their goal..

It may be considered a positive point, but it’s not enough.. we have 4 strong leaders. Without a doubt, they are capable of defeating no less than 20 insects each.. but..

The question remains: how many will be enough for them to defeat until we are victorious? In all wars of numerical accumulation, endurance accompanied by energy conservation might be the optimal solution..

Despite the strength of the four leaders, the large number of insects might be an obstacle that drains their accumulation at any time..

With the condition that the passage of even a single insect leads to loss, this means one thing..

That all sides must be completely fortified.. that’s why..

I am standing now.. near the Rock Village..

The Rock Village? Yes, it is.. in truth, I can hardly believe what I am looking at..

Above the ground are more than 20 semi-oval domes topped with a chimney..

Near each dome, a pile of black stones, each the size of a palm or larger..

{ Medium Quality Coal Stone }

{ 400 Accumulation Points }

{ One medium quality coal stone is enough to provide one house with the necessary heat for one day }

{ Price = 10 Dinars per stone }

So, is this what the Rock Men extract? The benefit of the stone seems excellent, but..

Considering its extraction is this easy and in this quantity.. it seems it’s available in abundance in the world..

Well.. it could be a good additional income.. diversifying income in itself is a good thing..

Step.. then another..

I noticed the presence of new faces.. many children moving stones from inside the domes..

Their number is about 16 children.. with no adults around them..

"The Master.. the Master is here.. tell the Chief"

A child shouted and ran.. after a while.. fast running footsteps came from one of the domes..

"Welcome, My Lord"

The Rock Man stood with dignity as I had known him.. it cannot be said that his features have changed.. I thought that with this number of boys, the father and mother would be already old..

But it doesn’t seem so.. perhaps I should learn more about the Rock people and their lives..

"I see that you have indeed increased in number"

"Yes, thanks to your care, My Lord.. the area seems excellent indeed. Do you wish to see the tunnels?"

"Of course.. lead the way"

Upon entering one of the domes, the dome was not a house but a gate to an underground passage.. the passage contained some glowing stones..

{ Glowing Stone }

{ 100 Accumulation Points }

"The light provided by those stones is excellent.. do you extract them as well?"

"No, My Lord.. we extract black stones only.. but we can transform some stones into glowing stones"

"Transform? Can you transform stones?"

"Yes, My Lord.. but.. now we can only transform into the Light Stone"

"Haaa.. this.. seems good as well.. but why can’t you transform into other stones?"

"My Lord, I will show you.."

Upon reaching the end of the stairs.. maybe it was 200 steps downward..

The stairs branched into several paths.. each path in a different tunnel.. after walking a hundred steps.. the walls started to widen.. and the lights reflected toward dense black layers in the walls..

Near the walls, there were 3 children using a coal stone to strike the solid stone in the wall..

After several strikes, the wall begins to break and new coal stones fall..

Their method is very primitive..

perhaps I can help them with digging tools

{ The Shop }

{ Simple Mining Drill }

{ Medium Mining Drill } 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

{ Good Mining Drill }

{ Simple Granting Mining Drill }

{ Medium Granting Mining Drill }

{ Good Granting Mining Drill }

The shape of the drill is similar to a pickaxe, but its head is a sharp triangle... the simple one looks like that damn axe that breaks after two trees..

As for the medium drill, it is more powerful, of higher quality, and lighter in weight..

The good drill is the highest grade and possesses higher abilities..

But all of them are consumable.. and there is no drill that doesn’t break like the axe that doesn’t break..

The granting drills have the same shape, but.. they grant accumulation.. they seem good for them..

"Tell me, Chief of the Rocks.. can you use drills?"

"Yes, My Lord.. of course.. but as you see, we still do not own one.. I am sorry to you"

"Haha, don’t worry.. take this Good Granting Drill"

"My Lord... it is.. it is a great thing.. thank you.. thank you.."

"Don’t worry.. how many do you need for your work? Maybe I can give you a larger quantity in case you need them for other workers later"

"This is a great favor from you, My Lord.. but.. we still haven’t developed yet. We cannot use this high type"

"Explain more to me.."

"My Lord.. perhaps you can grant us something less"

"Well, how about a Medium Granting Drill?"

"I am sorry, My Lord.. perhaps less"

Are you telling me that they can only use the simple one? Well, if it was the Simple Granting one, it would be a good thing and grant them noticeable accumulation..

Haaaa, I remembered, haha.. every time I forget

{ Unique Predictor under activation }

{ The Rock Men need simple granting tools to open their development potential }

Why did I forget to use the Predictor from the start, hahaha

"Take, O Chief. A Simple Granting Pickaxe"

"This... is wonderful, My Lord.. it is, it is truly the suitable one"

{ Ding.. Ding.. Ding }

{ Rock Men Evolution }

{ Activated }

{ Unique Predictor under activation }

{ Each Rock Man needs a thousand accumulation points before evolving and choosing the path }

Well.. it seems like a good thing, but..

"Can one of you start using the drill to work.. I want to see something"

"Your command, My Lord"

Immediately.. the three began working all at once.. each of them started using the drill..

Above their heads, and upon activating the Predictor again..

the accumulation counter was still zero.. after two minutes, the number changed to 1.. after four minutes, it changed to 2

It seems that their accumulation increases every two minutes..

So that’s how it is..

"O Chief.. I have some questions for you"

"At your command, My Lord, I will answer everything"

"But tell me first, is there something I can do to make your work more effective?"

"There are several matters, My Lord, but.. the place where we mine is already at an excellent grade. I don’t believe there are many like it in the world"

"Your words sound good, but.. are you telling me that the place with an excellent grade.. can only extract medium quality coal stone?"

"No, My Lord.. I won’t say that.. but.. the matter of the stone’s quality does not depend on the place. The extraction must be excellent and suitable for the element to be excellent.."

"Well.. how do I develop that for you?"

"You have done the most important thing now, My Lord.. when we start the evolution, the work skill will increase and we will gain the abilities that make us reach the extraction of excellent coal stone and higher.."

"Well.. so after several days, the evolutions will begin.."

"The matter is not certain, My Lord.. we need something else"

"Speak"

"The temperature in the tunnel must be higher than it is now.. the stones are affected by the temperature."

"A higher temperature.... hmmm.. well, I think I have a suitable idea"

"There is another matter, My Lord"

"What is it?"

"Increasing the temperature will lead to increasing the coal quality, but..."

"What?"

"It will lead to losing our homes.. they will become unlivable"

What a dilemma.. under the ground they live and work.. if I want to increase the quality,

must I sacrifice some of them?

I have no doubt that they will execute what I ask. But..

Will I sacrifice them for my own interest.. hahaha

Of course I won’t.. I still hold onto my principles, thank you..

"Then why don’t you live on the surface?"

"We can, but My Lord, we need the temperature to be a little hotter outside.. we differ from humans, My Lord, we cannot adapt to temperatures.. therefore our areas must be at certain temperatures"

"Okayyy.. I understand.. that can be solved.. is there another matter?"

"Yes.. just one last thing, My Lord"

"Speak.."

"We need guards for the village, My Lord.. the area is witnessing natural building and of course contains predators. There must be guards"

"Well.. this matter is simple.. you won’t need guards during this period.. because the area does not contain any predators for you.. unless the owl is a predator, haha"

"No, My Lord, it is not.. thank you, My Lord.. we will only need the guard for a few days only"

"Why?"

"When the evolution opens, the selection paths will open for everyone.. we can make some choose the fighter path to guard the village"

Oooooh.. here we go..

"Well.. it’s time to turn you into fighters, haha"