Chapter 136: Fire Crystal Stone
Li Meng discovered many caves that once housed goblins.
Inside, they were empty with nothing left behind.
Not even a complete bone could be found, only some scattered bone fragments.
"Could it be the nomadic Savage Tribe?"
Lowering his gaze to the sand table, Li Meng pondered.
Something felt off, very off!
However, Li Meng couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
After all, the timeline ahead promised three peaceful years without major events.
If it were the nomadic Savage Tribe, they wouldn't have left for such a long time.
The ruins of those Savage Tribe settlements were clearly abandoned years ago.
"Forget it. It's better to focus on the tribe's current development!"
Shaking his head, Li Meng dismissed his wild thoughts.
The disappearance of the Savage Tribe wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Without competition, the tribe's growth would proceed much more smoothly.
After all, wars consume a great deal of population, and recovering from such losses takes time.
Two hours later, Benben returned.
It brought back yellow clay and water.
Li Meng resumed expanding the sand table in the Throne Cave Dwelling.
During the day, he expanded the sand table. As for the nights, naturally, he worked on propagating the next generation.
A new batch of tribute creatures finally tasted the might of the iron rod that night, marking the end of their peaceful days.
Time passed bit by bit, day after day.
On the fifth day, the tribal leaders began leaving the Throne Tribe one after another.
They were returning to their respective tribes.
Sometime in the following year, they would return to the Throne Tribe.
They would bring back some upper-tier goblins to receive the leader's rewards.
Two months later, they would depart again with adolescent goblins.
Their offspring would lead these adolescent goblins to establish new sub-tribes elsewhere.
This was the development model set by Li Meng.
---
A new day began in the morning.
In the Throne Tribe, Throne Cave Dwelling:
"Gobu Mo, have there been any Ghost Beastmen showing up this year?"
Inside the wooden house, Li Meng was busy working on the sand table.
His tall figure sat next to the sand table, hands continuously kneading clay.
Gobu Mo obediently knelt at the doorway.
"Leader, no Ghost Beastmen have been seen!"
Gobu Mo's response was as expected by Li Meng.
In the future timeline, the appearance of "Ghost Hands" happened much later, at least another year and a half from now.
"Have all the Goblin Warriors assembled?"
Though inside the wooden house, Li Meng could hear the clamor outside.
The noise outside was chaotic and rowdy.
Gobu Mo nodded vigorously.
"Leader, they're all assembled!"
Li Meng stood up and walked outside.
At the door, Gobu Mo's tall figure quickly moved aside.
In just one year, Gobu Mo had evolved into a Goblin Warrior, its height only half a head shorter than Li Meng's.
Not until the leader stepped outside did Gobu Mo quickly stand up.
"The leader is out!"
"Shh, quiet!"
Upon seeing the leader emerge from the doorway, hundreds of Goblin Warriors outside immediately fell silent.
They gazed with fervent admiration at the tall figure at the door.
Although many Goblin Warriors had never seen the leader before, they had heard stories of his might.
Now, finally seeing the leader in person, his majestic form and intimidating gaze sent shivers down their spines.
Looking at the sea of Goblin Warriors outside, Li Meng grinned.
That grin made all the goblins lower their heads in fear.
"From today onward, your only task is to prepare two months' worth of dry rations!"
The leader's words caused the Goblin Warriors, heads still lowered, to beam with joy.
Although dried meat wasn't tasty, preparing dry rations meant a battle was coming.
This was great news!
Behind Li Meng, Gobu Mo also looked thrilled.
Over the past year, it had been stationed in the Throne Tribe.
The monotonous daily routine had long bored it.
"Go now! You have half a month!"
The upper-tier goblins outside the Throne Cave Dwelling scattered in all directions.
Nearly 300 Goblin Warriors rushed into the depths of the forest.
"Leader, leader, who are we fighting this time?"
Gobu Mo eagerly approached to ask.
"We're not fighting anyone!"
Li Meng turned and returned to the Throne Cave Dwelling.
Standing at the door, Gobu Mo scratched its head, puzzled at the leader's response.
If they weren't going to fight anyone, why prepare two months of dry rations?
Disappointed, Gobu Mo left.
Before long, Li Meng left the Throne Cave Dwelling, hurrying out of the tribe's northern gate.
---
Half an hour later, in the Iron Cavern:
"Mine as much of this ore as possible and set it aside. It'll be useful later."
Standing by the underground river, Li Meng examined the white-glowing ore in the water.
Gobu Ge thought the glowing ore in the water looked beautiful.
So, it had mined some and dumped them into the underground river.
This turned the river into a shimmering silver stream.
"Understood, leader! I'll have the Lizardmen mine more of it."
"Leader, leader! I found some more glowing stones in the cavern. Do you want to see?"
Another peculiar ore?
Li Meng grew interested.
"Show me!"
Gobu Ge dashed deeper into the cavern.
Before long, it returned holding a large, fiery-red crystal.
[Fire Crystal Stone]
[Fire Element Magic:]
The system unexpectedly provided information!
"Leader, leader, it's this one!"
Li Meng took the Fire Crystal Stone from Gobu Ge.
Looking down at the stone, Li Meng pondered.
This item was similar to human crystals.
However, human crystals lacked defined attributes, while this one had a fire element.
"Leader, this thing glows and heats up when it touches water. It's scorching!"
It glows and heats up when in contact with water?
Li Meng's eyes lit up as he hurried to the water's edge.
He threw the Fire Crystal Stone into the water.
"Plop!"
With a splash, water splattered everywhere.
The Fire Crystal Stone submerged, emitting an orange fiery glow.
Steam billowed from that section of the water.
Before long, the surface began to boil.
The Fire Element Magic value on the stone started to decrease.
However, the rate of decline was slow—only dropping slightly every few seconds.
"Interesting!"
The Fire Crystal Stone's reaction to water made Li Meng smile.
This was a valuable find.
Perhaps with this, a steam engine could be developed.
Although a steam engine's structure was relatively simple, actually building one required time for experimentation.
"Gobu Ge, have you tried putting it in fire to see what happens?"
The Fire Crystal Stone reacted to water. What about fire?