68: Chapter 2: Magic Ore 68: Chapter 2: Magic Ore Roman had been in Sige Town for 55 days.
He pulled all the Guards from the livestock pens and, incidentally, kicked Green and Aaron to their front, ordering them to train the troops properly.
During this period, a small rchant fleet arrived at Sige Town.
Roman judged people based on their stature.
To the likes of Morry, with seven rchant ships and dozens of crew mbers, even having a stable channel to purchase iron ingots, he would value them highly and would even receive them personally.
For soone like Daken, with three rchant ships and over a dozen crew mbers, capable of various dealings, his attitude would be relatively good.
But for those with just one rchant ship or even smaller vessels, selling items like linen and other goods, he didn’t care much for them.
Such vendors were all small-tirs with no cash flow, relying on barter trades and minor dealings just to scrape by.
The rchants of Sige Town belonged to this category, their ships no more than discarded junk other people didn’t want, and even then, they had to sink themselves into debt to acquire a vessel.
Roman sent them away to do business with other rchants, trading salt for grain.
Upon learning that Sige Town sold refined salt at low prices and tariffs, that small rchant left all of his cargo in Sige Town and left with a hundred or so catties of salt, escorted by two Guards, promising to bring a large quantity of linen to Sige Town next ti.
Roman hadn’t been idle these days either.
First, he allocated the destinations for the slaves; so did light handiwork, such as making wooden furniture, twisting ropes, and making clothing—this clothing was ant for the slaves to wear.
After arriving in Sige Town, they didn’t even have a broken bowl to their na, to call them beggars would be an insult to beggars.
The rest of the slaves were set to quarry stone.
Now Sige Town had over a hundred draught cattle, used daily to haul stone—Roman had huge demands for li, and since there were no coal mines around Sige Town, they temporarily had to burn wood.
So of the labor was also directed here, and since there weren’t enough felling tools, they had to harness the strength of several cattle, which could pull out trees up to half a ter thick, roots and all, and then toss these root-entangled trees into the river, where the timber would drift down to where the stones were baked.
This thod was much faster than cutting, and it also allowed for the clearing of nearby forests, making it easier for future road construction and land reclamation.
Not being accustod to it at first was alright; they would slowly gain proficiency.
anwhile, the two thousand acres of farmland had been given additional fertilization and no longer needed special care; the manpower there could actually be used elsewhere.
Roman had previously also allocated dozens of draught cattle to a hundred farrs there, instructing them to plow out five hundred acres of new farmland to plant crops like barley, oats, and peas.
In the future, hundreds or even thousands of slaves would co to Sige Town, and food reserves had to be ensured—relying solely on buying grain for sustenance wasn’t viable, as the slightest disturbance could cause trouble; they had to grow their own.
Roman then summoned the leatherworkers and carpenters from Sige Town and had them craft specialized harnesses for the draught horses.
Draught horses didn’t have the physical strength or endurance of oxen and were more expensive, but that didn’t an they lacked advantages.
Draught horses were faster than oxen, and horse-drawn carriages were quicker and could travel farther than oxen carts.
rchants highly valued this detail as they could use faster horse-drawn carriages to travel between different places, saving ti and increasing efficiency and profit.
Knight Armies also used packhorses and draught horses to transport supplies and materials.
Roman bought the draught horses to increase hauling capacity and labor.
However, draught horses weren’t well suited for plowing fields, and forced plowing could even lead to their death.
This rendered Roman speechless.
In this era, the foolish used ox yokes on horses, restraining their chest and windpipe, refusing to let go, and then wondered why they weren’t efficient at plowing.
It made him twitch.
Ti to change!
Change it quickly!
To hell with church decrees!
Roman designed a new harness that shifted the burden from the chest to the shoulders.
This invention quickly proved effective and even enabled the draught horses to surpass the efficiency of oxen in plowing fields by about twenty percent.
Because there was a lack of managers, Roman had to be hands-on with everything.
But each day he was full of fighting spirit, organizing all affairs in an orderly fashion, and he would share the sa al with the common folks and slaves at noon.
…
On the 58th day.
Soone from the Salt Mine sought out Roman and said they had unearthed sothing.
This caught Roman’s attention.
He imdiately dropped all his work, mounted his steed, and rushed to the Salt Mine.
The Steward in charge of the Salt Mine handed over to Roman, with both hands, the substance they had mined.
It was an irregular crystal, weighing approximately five to six pounds.
Roman recognized it as a salt-sealed crystal ball.
All veins in geological evolution produce certain resources, which are considered associated minerals.
Over long periods, minerals condense into special crystal layers that envelop these resources; without breaking the crystal layers, one cannot know what resources lie within.
Roman used a stone to crack it open and saw that inside was a solid piece resembling charcoal, but its surface shimred with a fluorescent black ore.
“Tsk, it’s Magic Ore…”
So resources are deed extraordinary solely because of these unique minerals.
Magic Ore universally exists within many veins in the form of Sealed Crystal Balls, with a certainty of being found after mining to a certain extent, able to enchant various tals, turning Gold into Fine Gold, silver into Mithril, and steel into Magic Steel.
If one is lucky, even digging the soil might yield a piece of Magic Ore.
Nobles know how to utilize Magic Ore, and blacksmiths in big places are also privy to this technique.
After enchanting the most common steel, its durability and sharpness can be greatly enhanced.
To Roman, Magic Stone equaled strengthening stone; although the enhancent it provided to steel was significant, it did not exceed the category of ironware, unless one possessed special forging skills or added other extraordinary resources.
So rich veins themselves contain a faint extraordinary power in the tals mined from them; with just a little refining, they could beco a piece of Demon Refining Equipnt.
Mining veins is a difficult task, hence the limited production.
Roman had no channels to acquire such resources and could only rely on Mining.
Green, Aaron, Riptide Great Bow, Ruby—those extraordinary resources were only what he brought as dowries from ho.
The Salt Mine was relatively pure among the many veins, and the appearance of a Sealed Crystal Ball was a stroke of great luck.
Magic Ore cos from Sealed Crystal Balls.
But that doesn’t an Sealed Crystal Balls can only yield Magic Ore; there’s also a chance for various gemstones to erge.
Such as Red and Blue Gemstones, Crystal Diamonds, Onyx, Amber, and so on.
Similar to gambling with stones.
All gemstones enveloped by the crystal balls are of high quality and possess a rich mystical power.
Roman’s mindset remained fairly calm.
If no gemstones were uncovered, then so be it.
There would be other days.
One day, when he discovered rare Gemstone Mines, Crystal Ore Mines, or even the legendary Magic Veins,
he could have as much of it as he wanted.
For now, this piece of Magic Ore weighing just over two pounds was of little use to him; it wasn’t very large to begin with, and after calcining, even less Magic Stone would remain.
Roman was currently lacking iron, copper, silver, gold…
In short, he lacked everything; there was no spare capacity for refining tals with Magic.
That was a high-level project, only affordable by powerful Nobles.
He could only convert it into original stones for recruitnt.
However, he wasn’t going to conduct a second round of recruitnt anyti soon.
Roman thought for a mont and arranged for soone to handle a certain matter.
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