They found themselves in a place called the "Soren Continent," surrounded by boundless seas. The continent was vast, with towering mountain ranges, dense forests, fertile plains dotted with rivers and lakes, and of course, barren deserts and wastelands. Many races inhabited this land: humans, orcs, elves, dwarves, and reportedly in some remote places, mysterious other races and powerful dragons.
The powerful humans occupied the most fertile plains, while the weakest orcs could only survive in the barren deserts or cold wastelands and grasslands. They were constantly oppressed, enslaved, and even massacred by humans. In the human world, the only identity for surviving orcs was either slaves or gladiators facing death at any moment.
Orcs were stronger than ordinary humans, and they were fearless in battle, born warriors. But why were they still in such a miserable position? Because among humans, there were powerful beings who could cultivate battle qi and terrifying magic. Although in the powerful orc tribes on the northern plains, some orcs could cultivate their own battle qi called "Beast Battle Qi," humans were said to have even more terrifying warriors who could use the crystals of mythical beasts to create invincible armor all over their bodies, capable of withstanding even the fiercest attacks from orc warriors. A high-level Beast Battle Qi warrior might not even be able to kill a human battle qi warrior of the lowest level wearing mythical crystal armor. Every war with humans often led to mass slaughter and forced retreats for orcs.
Norman's recounting of all this was incredibly fascinating, but unfortunately, he only knew these things superficially. He didn't even know much himself. He had only been to a human town once, and the most powerful human he had seen was just a mid-level battle qi warrior. Perhaps these miraculous things were just legends; who knew?
The information Ba'alor received was limited to this. To know more, he would need to go out and experience it himself. Fortunately, he had at least learned the common language of the continent, which was the only thing worth celebrating.
Yes, it felt somewhat unbelievable, but even now, Norman the shaman still looked at Ba'alor strangely, as if he were looking at a monster. However, the fact that Ba'alor had learned the common language of the continent in five days was indisputable. Perhaps it was because of the fusion of two souls; his learning ability had reached a terrifying level, truly remembering everything he saw, and the common language of the continent was not difficult to learn. At this point, Ba'alor could already write proficiently, and Norman the shaman simply gave him his scrolls on shamanism.
The rich vein of ore once again surprised the orcs. Along with a certain orc's pickaxe, a somewhat special ore fell down, the size of a fist, not reddish-brown but faintly purple, shimmering with a metallic luster. The orcs were ignorant and didn't know what metal it was, but they felt it was beautiful. They handed it to Norman the shaman, asking him to unravel the mystery.
Norman was neither a dwarf nor a prospector, so naturally, he didn't recognize it. Perhaps they should take it to a human village and ask some knowledgeable humans.
Not all the humans in Black Crow Town were bad; there were still a few kind-hearted ones. One retired old warrior was one of the rare kind-hearted ones. He was Norman the shaman's only human friend. Back then, he had managed to escape from a human town, and that old human warrior had helped a lot in secret. They decided to take the purple ore and go to Black Crow Town to find the old warrior. Perhaps he would know what kind of metal it was.
Ba'alor didn't say much. Norman the shaman's actions were very cautious, and his mind was not here either; shamanism fascinated him.
No one would have thought that the orcs from those two lizardman tribes would never have the chance to enter Black Crow Town. They were ambushed by human adventurers on the way...
With the tacit approval of Misa in Black Crow Town, One-eyed Kasim led three of his desperados into the Gravel Wasteland. The appearance of the orcs here was quite special; their fur was silver-gray, and most of them were handsome and strong. Those noble ladies loved these orcs as playthings; the price of one orc could even be sold for ten silver coins, which was a thousand copper coins, or even a gold coin's price if they could be taken to a larger city. That would be a hundred silver coins!
If it weren't for the consideration of the colleagues in Black Crow Town, Kasim couldn't help but gather a group of people to capture all the orcs here and sell them. Of course, orcs were always difficult to tame, and many would die, but who cared? The remaining dozens of orcs could bring a huge fortune, enough to squander for a long time.
Their luck was good; not long after entering the Gravel Wasteland, they encountered two orcs. Kasim was a junior battle qi warrior, and it didn't take much effort to capture them alive. He firmly tied them up, ready to continue inward; it wouldn't be too late to go back after catching ten orcs. However, in the struggles of the orcs, something dropped from one of them caught his attention.
Picking up the tightly wrapped thing in animal skin, Kasim opened it and suddenly sucked in a cold breath, his eyes showing a fanatic look—purple copper ore! It was the rare purple copper ore! Only fire copper ore could have a small amount of association with it. This was the high-level metal most commonly used by mages. A pound of fire copper could be sold for five silver coins, while a pound of purple copper was two gold coins, tens of times the price of fire copper!
Completely forgetting about capturing orc slaves, he and his equally greedy companions tortured the two orcs frantically, interrogating them about the origin of the purple copper. Orcs were not all strong-willed; although one of them died under torture without saying a word, the other one finally couldn't bear it and spilled everything...!
Kasim drew his long sword from the orc's heart, wiping away the blood stains casually. "The orcs found the purple copper ore. This news won't be hidden for long. Go back immediately and find the captain. By the Light, we're going to be rich!"
A few days later, Black Crow Town was shrouded in an unusual atmosphere as large numbers of mercenaries or adventurers entered. They all belonged to a mercenary group, to the extent that Mayor Huda personally brought his men to see what was happening. He had established his foothold here, but many of his peers were envious.
The imagined showdown didn't occur. The leader of that mercenary group and Huda had a very short conversation, and it seemed they reached an agreement. That evening, dozens of mercenaries, along with dozens more of Huda's men, rallied a large number of desperate gravediggers and adventurers and left Black Crow Town overnight, heading into the Gravel Wasteland!
As the last person disappeared into the night, a gray-bearded old man asked the curious townsfolk, "What happened? Why is Mayor Huda mixing with the Scorpion Mercenary Group?"
"Oh, I heard the people from the Scorpion Mercenary Group found some rare ore in the wasteland, so they went to mine it, right?" one of the townsfolk replied uncertainly.
The old man's face immediately changed drastically. Damn it, mercenaries wouldn't go mining. If there really was rare ore, it would have been discovered by the orcs first in the Gravel Wasteland! Damn it, they must be going to deal with the orcs!
The old man quietly retreated home, took out his iron sword that he hadn't used in a long time, and sneaked into the wasteland unnoticed...!
The mining of fire copper ore increased more and more, as if it would never be exhausted, and several pieces of that purple ore also appeared. Norman had begun discussing with the tribal chiefs about transporting the ore out and trading with humans! No one noticed that in a secluded spot on a hill far from the mine, two humans were observing. These orcs were completely ignorant of concealment; perhaps they didn't even know the value of purple copper. They let the ore, which emitted a faint glow even in the darkness, pile up by the edge of the mine.
"All right, the news is certain. Huda, do you have any doubts?" Sava, the muscular but not very tall leader of the Scorpion Mercenary Group, said to Mayor Huda of Black Crow Town. "I have two battle qi warriors under my command, while you have only one, and most of the people here were gathered by me. So, I get seven, you get three. Any objections to this split?"
"Damn it, Sava, this is my territory, and these orcs are half my slaves. You're trying to snatch food from my mouth and take most of it. There's no such good deal. Fifty-fifty, I won't bargain!" Huda said angrily.
"Heh, six-four split it is then. Huda, don't make us fall out. The Scorpion Mercenary Group has more people than your men. You know the consequences of fighting!"
Huda was still furious; he couldn't believe outsiders knew about this first and were taking away most of the wealth. If it weren't for his own lack of real power, he would have killed this disgusting fellow in front of him immediately. Damn Misa, why did he agree to let One-eyed Kasim enter the Gravel Wasteland? Otherwise, where would all these damned things come from?
He had no choice. Once the situation here spread, more people would come soon, and even the lord baron of this territory would be alarmed. Huda knew that he obtained Black Crow Town using unsavory means, and for the wealth here, the baron would hesitate and kill him completely legitimately. From the moment he discovered the purple copper ore, Huda knew his tenure as mayor was over. He could only choose to cooperate with Sava, make a killing, and leave. Of course, before leaving, he needed to maximize his profits!
"The ore can be split as you say, but the money from selling the captured orc slaves must be split evenly. That's the bottom line."
"Deal, dear Huda. I think we'll have a pleasant cooperation."
As night fell, most of the orcs, who had toiled all day, crawled into their rudimentary tents and slept soundly. Norman was teaching Ba'alor shamanism, and the totem poles of both tribes were brought here and erected not far apart. One emitted a faint yellowish glow, while the other emitted a faint blue light. Now Ba'alor could already communicate rudimentarily with the spirits of nature. His affinity element was water, and the wolf-shaped light shadow circling the totem pole no longer just mechanically rotated and then turned into a wolf head that slammed into his chest. Occasionally, it would circle Ba'alor and run in the air, emitting circles of cold breath. Even others could see the white mist around Ba'alor.
Norman was numb; reaching this level of communication with the spirits of nature had taken him at least a year. But this child in front of him had done it in just three to five days. Perhaps soon, Ba'alor would truly master it, turning the power of the elements into his own power, manifesting it in a real state, just like Norman, who could unleash something like the Earth Thorns. It's just that no one knew what Ba'alor's water-based nature spirit was or what powerful abilities it would have, which was eagerly anticipated!
Norman was daydreaming, and Ba'alor fell into a semi-comatose state of communicating with the spirits of nature. They both neglected it, and then the attack came suddenly...!