Mountains Born in a Single Night
The night was no different than any other… except the earth decided to remember something ancient.
In a hidden room within the palace, Lee Soo-yeon faced the system's cold interface:
Large-Scale Summon: Initiated
World: The Lord of the Rings
Asset: Dwarven cities/kingdoms + mine network
Cost: ruins/remnants will appear across your world at scattered mountain locations
Warning: Unpredictable global impact
He did not hesitate.
"Begin."
The window vanished.
And the northern island trembled.
No explosion. No sky-splitting light.
Only a heavy silence.
Deep underground, stone shifted as if answering an ancient call. Mountain layers slid. Passages formed. Massive doors appeared from nothing—engraved with runes unknown to humankind.
Mines that were never dug… now existed.
One thousand mines spread like roots through the mountains:
Gold. Silver. Iron. Titanium. Gems. Metals humans didn't even have names for.
But the mines were not alone.
Among the tunnels rose dwarven kingdoms—most of them ruined, carrying treasure and history… and only three were alive.
Warm lights in the deep. The rhythmic ring of hammers like the planet's heartbeat. The scent of fire that did not belong to this world.
The dwarves awoke.
And in the depth of their minds, one name echoed like an old oath:
Lee Soo-yeon.
A King Who Pretends Not to Know
The next morning, the king sat before the ministers. He listened to budget reports and debt assessments without interruption—calm enough to be mistaken for weakness.
He said simply:
"I want a geological survey of the northern island."
Ministers exchanged quick glances. An abandoned island? A harmless request.
"We'll arrange it, Your Majesty."
The king smiled faintly.
The first step in the greatest economic deception in Arcadia's history had begun.
The Cost… Begins Elsewhere
In distant mountains outside Arcadia, a drone passed above a ridge no one cared about. Its camera captured something impossible:
A vast stone city—ruins that had never existed on any map.
Then the signal warped.
Runic magic began its work: hiding, distorting, making the city look like a technical glitch to any eyes that didn't understand.
But suspicion was planted.
And suspicion does not die easily in the rooms of governments.
A Promise Under Stone
That night, Lee Soo-yeon returned to his balcony. The island looked unchanged from above.
But beneath the surface… a new world had been born.
The system reported:
1,000 Mines Created
Warning: Do not inflate output before securing major export channels
Suggestion: Build the value chain, then seize control of ports
He closed the window and murmured:
"Phase one… establish production."
Deep within the mountains, a dwarven hammer struck—loud and certain—like the announcement of a new age.
End of Chapter Two