Qin Feng didn't want to discuss the Ratman Warrior he'd recruited last night, so he decisively changed the subject to his current predicament.
"Diablo, do you know where I can get some Dinars?"
Diablo's brow furrowed slightly, a ripple of confusion appearing in his ink-black pupils.
"Dinars?"
"What are those?"
Guessing this would be the outcome, Qin Feng couldn't help but raise the hand hanging at his side, giving it a casual wave as he continued.
"It's fine if you don't know... Gold, Gold Coins, money—you should at least know about these things, right?"
"How can I get my hands on them?"
Diablo's brow knitted.
"Gold Coins?"
"Lord?"
"Are you planning to trade with the humans of the empire to the south?"
Qin Feng lifted his head. His eyes were like a snowy reflection on a frozen pond, and his voice was as direct as a drawn sword, holding nothing back.
"No."
"I have a special use for them."
"It will require a great deal of Gold Coins."
"And I only need Gold Coins. It doesn't matter which country they're from. I don't need Silver Coins or any other type of currency."
As his future Heroic Unit, Qin Feng knew that an imprint called "Loyalty" was branded deep within Diablo's soul. It was a vow more solid than the iron rock of the Dragon Ridge Mountain Range; betrayal was impossible.
So, it wasn't a huge problem for Diablo to know that he could use gold resources to recruit Void Mars Soldiers from his tribe's village.
Diablo's fingertips traced the Beast Tooth Pattern on his chest plate, his tone laced with deep thought.
"The Forest Tribes here have always bartered, trading Food for weapons."
"Only those shrewd humans use Gold Coins and Silver Coins as a medium to make transactions simple and fast."
"Although I previously considered introducing this advanced method of trade into the forest,"
"I did not receive the Bakadi Leader's permission."
"The other Forest Tribes weren't interested either..."
"However,"
"Lord."
"If you wish to acquire some Gold Coins,"
"I do know of a few ways."
He flicked his finger, tracing an arc in the air.
"The first method."
"Take some surplus resources from the territory, send someone to the nearest Violet Commerce Association outpost to the Northern Forest, and sell them to the merchants of various races stationed there."
"The Violet Commerce Association's reputation is known throughout the continent. They are a neutral power respected and protected by all continental races, and are known as the continent's most trustworthy central bank."
"As long as you do nothing to offend them,"
"they will surely trade you Gold Coins equivalent to the value of the goods."
"However, the journey between these two places is long and arduous, and the path is dotted with all sorts of Forest Tribes."
"They will likely target our shipment, plundering it like Mountain Bandits and killing all the caravan guards we send."
"Even if we get lucky,"
"and our caravan isn't targeted by those tribal forces in the forest,"
"there's still a chance of encountering even more dangerous high-level Demon Beasts along the way, which could cause casualties among our caravan members and lead to the loss of the valuable goods."
After a pause, Diablo's voice grew a few shades deeper.
"The second method."
"Deep within the Northern Forest, there is a Forbidden Forest tainted by an Evil Curse."
"A group of corrupted Twisted Tree-men are entrenched there, and a Corrupted Tree Demon that has lived for a thousand years lies dormant."
"They are wreathed in a decaying black aura and have mastered terrifying High-level Black Magic. Any living creature that dares set foot in their territory will be instantly shredded to pieces by their horrifying Black Magic."
"But if one can sneak into the deepest part of the Forbidden Forest without angering these Demons, one can find a bottomless underground gold mine."
"The Gold flowing in the veins of the mine is piled up like mountains."
"Its reserves are vast enough to buy an entire prosperous city in the human empire."
Diablo rubbed his nose.
"Lord."
"I happen to know a way to avoid these Corrupted Tree-men and the Corrupted Tree Demon."
"They aren't much of a threat."
"It's just that within that underground gold mine, another danger lies dormant."
"It's a swarm of black insects tainted by an Evil Curse. They dwell in the deepest part of the mine. A single insect is only about the size of a newborn wolf pup, but relying on their massive numbers, they can weave an impenetrable black tide within the rock crevices."
Diablo's pupils constricted as he looked up, as if he could already see the terrifying sight.
"When they appear, the walls of the entire mine will crack open. Then, like a black tsunami bursting through a dam, they will flood the mine, devouring all intruders until nothing but bare bones remain—even the marrow is sucked clean..."
'Hmm?'
'Insects?'
'Small?'
'Weak?'
'And a super-large number of them?'
Having extracted the keywords, Qin Feng was instantly intrigued. The Bloodthirsty skill needed dense, low-level targets to kill, and these insects were practically a living experience-point bank tailor-made for him to power-level.
He hurriedly pressed for more information.
"Exactly how weak is an individual insect?"
"Can you be more specific?"
Diablo tilted his head and pondered for a moment. His voice flowed as slowly as ever, but his knuckles unconsciously rubbed the leather armor at his waist.
"Let me think..."
"Oh!"
"That's right!"
"Lord!"
"Yesterday, I saw that you have three Fire Foxes under your command. Their combat strength is quite formidable, far stronger than the pack of Forest Wolves our Poison Arrow Tribe has tamed."
His tone suddenly shifted.
"But the other Fire Foxes living in this forest,"
"are a completely different story."
"They don't have their own exclusive Hunting territories, so they're forced to roam every day, hiding from other predators while searching for prey just to survive."
"They can't even compete with the vultures in the sky for carrion on the ground."
"It's said that a long time ago, the ancestors of the Fire Fox were terrifying—dangerous Demon Beasts who controlled high-level fire Magic. The demonic flames burning on their backs were enough to incinerate the entire forest."
"But for some unknown reason, the Magic Power in their bloodline has weakened with each generation."
"After several hundred years, the Demon Beast bloodline that once made all other beasts tremble has long been diluted to almost nothing."
"The Fire Foxes of today are just mundane beasts that retain the name, ranking near the very bottom of the predator food chain."
"And so on and so forth..."
"As for those black insects,"
"their actual combat strength is even a notch weaker than the current Fire Foxes."
"They're like fierce little rabbits, but with slightly sharper teeth, and that's all."
"Put that way,"
"you should be able to understand the specific threat level of those insects, right?"
'Mhm.'
'I get it.'
'They have a Zero-star (Gray) Combat Evaluation, and their base stats are even more pathetic than the Fire Foxes before they were formed into a legion. They're the cannon fodder of cannon fodder.'
'If I could just learn an AoE-type skill, I could go to the underground gold mine right now and have a field day slaughtering the swarm. I could use the insect tide as an EXP piñata to grind levels like crazy, while also using the attribute points from Bloodthirsty to stack my stats to the moon.'
'I could also dig up some gold from the mine while I'm at it, and figure out a way to mint it into Dinars or Gold Coins.'
'Then I could use it to recruit new Ratman Warriors from the Poison Arrow Tribe, or to upgrade those veteran Fire Foxes who already meet the advancement conditions...'