End of the Magic Era

A few minutes later, after passing through the complicated narrow channel, Darri finally came to the bottom of the cave. This underground square, which was only five meters tall, was already a splendid building for the Cave Gnomes which were one meter tall on average.

A huge number of Cave Gnomes were hiding in the underground square, trembling with fear. They were panicked to see Darri emerge from one of the caves.

The gray Cave Gnomes, whose skin seemed to be contaminated by stone pieces, were like sheep in the presence of a ferocious tiger. Even the strongest of them was only in level 38.

The Cave Gnomes all moved back in fright, clearing the space in the square. The strongest of them, who were only as strong as Archmages, stared at Darri in fear, holding simple staffs made of beast bones or other shabby materials.

Darri looked at the terrified Cave Gnomes and the short spellcasters in disdain.

What a bunch of weak and filthy creatures. I can eliminate this tribe on my own. They'll be a waste of food even if they are sent for mining. I wonder why they are still alive, or why that great dragon is interested in them. Does he really want to let them build a nest for him?

"Those stupid and arrogant Blood Elves have been killed by a great dragon. You're truly lucky. The great dragon wants to see you. Who's the boss here? Come with me. Don't keep the great dragon waiting."

As he talked, Darri released the unique aura of a level-40 beastman, which swept throughout the square. Almost all of the survivors of the Cave Gnome tribe had gathered here to avoid the disaster.

Under normal circumstances, this place would've been the best shelter, unless the enemy were here to destroy the tribe. There was no way that the arrogant Blood Elves would crawl into the tiny caves that the Cave Gnomes dug out.

Also, the shelter was not right underneath the entrances on the surface. Even if the enemy had vented their fury by destroying the entrances, they would still be safe. However, the Cave Gnomes didn't expect that a level-40 expert was willing to crawl into the narrow caves, and even found them in the complicated underground environment.

If Lin Yun hadn't been here, Darri wouldn't have wasted so much time talking. He would kill some of them, and scare them first…

Darri didn't know why Lin Yun was looking for the Cave Gnomes, but considering how he killed a bunch of Blood Elves without hesitation, he was certainly not here to kill the Cave Gnomes…

Darri was already running out of patience. He had released his aura exactly to threaten the Cave Gnomes.

Feeling Darri's aura and his impatience, one of the Cave Gnomes who was holding the bone of an unknown creature as a staff gritted his teeth and walked out.

Bulinwon summoned his courage, and asked, "Sir, I'm Bulinwon, the leader of this tribe. Is there anything I can—"

Unfortunately, before he could finish, Darri grabbed him with one hand, as if he were a toy, and then quickly crawled into one of the caves.

Inside the narrow channel, Darri moved quickly on his fours like an agile lizard. He never even hit the walls on his sides. But Bulinwon was less lucky in his hands. He kept bumping into and scratching the walls as he was dragged forward.

When they appeared on the surface, there were already a tremendous number of bruises on Bulinwon's skin that seemed to be full of stone pieces.

Dropping Bulinwon to the ground, Darri quickly put on a big smile, and stood aside respectfully.

Darri had already terrified Bulinwon, but the three strangers here were even more terrifying. One of them was a red-skinned beastman, and one emitted coldness all over her body. Both of them carried the distinctive auras of dragons. The last one had such a pure and abundant dark aura that he felt suffocating.

"Idiot, your tribe has received a gift of fate. Those three great dragons have come specifically for you. Stupid weaklings, pledge your loyalty immediately, or be prepared to be burnt to ashes by Sir Xiuban just like the arrogant Blood Elves!"

Seeing that Lin Yun and his team didn't say anything, Darri immediately began to threaten the gnome.

Whether that sir was here to eat the Cave Gnomes or to let those dirty weaklings build a nest for him, he had to turn those creatures into slaves first. Naturally, Darri couldn't let that sir express his wish on his own.

Sir Xiuban was clearly unhappy. He was definitely disappointed because the Cave Gnomes were too slim, and didn't carry a lot of meat.

After Darri said that, Bulinwon simply fell on his knees, so frightened that he didn't even dare to raise his head.

"Sir Merlin, why are we looking for them? They're so dirty and slim. They don't carry a lot of meat. I'm sure they're not delicious…" Xiuban mumbled in disappointment.

Bulinwon fell into desperation, and cried, "Great dragon, I, humble Bulinwon, am willing to serve you. It's our honor to pledge our loyalty to you…"

The Cave Gnomes were originally slaves to dragons, especially the Destruction Black Dragons, which loved the nests that the former built. They were best at construction, and they had the special ability of building powerful magic buildings.

Unfortunately, after the Nesser Dynasty's fall, those weaklings lost their protectors. It was lucky enough that they didn't become extinct. They had managed to survive by digging caves and hiding underground. Being weak and short of resources, they couldn't build any powerful magic buildings.

It was not until they were found by the mages of Noscent that the best magic architects finally had a higher position. When they were more respected and given more resources, they had more top experts and a territory of their own, where they could build magic buildings.

But their life wasn't easy when they were still in the underground world. Their talent in constructing magic buildings was useless, but their talent in digging was well known. They were needed for dangerous mines that contained rare materials.

Their experiences during the past millennia in the underground world made them realize that it was best to prevent others from knowing about their talent. They were already so miserable after their capability of digging was exposed. If their other capability was found, they would probably all get enslaved very soon.

They had been dragons' slaves at the beginning, and they had seen dragons again. The natural fear had been etched into their bloodline…

Lin Yun gazed at Bulinwon. To be honest, he was a bit disappointed, but not exactly because the gnome was ugly. After all, all gnomes looked similar.

Gnomes all had a big head, big eyes, a short body, and four slim limbs that looked like bones covered with skin without any flesh. Different races of gnomes looked similar.

Lin Yun was only puzzled because this gnome didn't look like a great architect at all, but more like a foreman of slaves in a mine.

Had those guys completely forgotten their capability because they had been hiding it? Or was the knowledge lost?

That didn't look right. When the Cave Gnomes were found in history, they were only a bit unskilled. Given enough materials for exercise, they would soon pick up their talent.

The Cave Gnomes' capabilities largely depended on inheritance, and partly depended on teaching. They were so talented in building magic buildings that it was almost like cheating. As long as they inherited the knowledge, every Cave Gnome could build a simple magic building. The smarter ones, given enough materials for exercise, could even become an Artisan from an apprentice in one year in the field of magic buildings.

Lin Yun was worried that the Cave Gnomes had lost their knowledge. But all of a sudden, Lin Yun saw a hard pad on the Cave Gnome's wrist that was similar to his skin color. He would've overlooked it if the Cave Gnome hadn't moved his hand.

Seeing the pad, Lin Yun put on a smile. Only a Cave Gnome who had built magic buildings recently would have that on his wrist. It was their body instinct to protect their fragile hands. It meant that the Cave Gnomes hadn't lost their knowledge yet.

If the leader of this tribe hasn't lost the knowledge, then the entire tribe must be still passing on the knowledge.

"Do you know how to build a magic watchtower?" Lin Yun suddenly asked. Instantly, Bulinwon's big eyes almost popped out. He crouched on the ground, trembling with fear and desperation.

Bulinwon didn't reply, and Darri instantly burst into fury. His fork-like tongue stuck out, and aura flashed on his hand. He was going to slap Bulinwon, but then he stopped, fearing that he might accidentally kill the gnome.

"Idiot, great Sir Merlin asked you a question, yet you're not answering it? I can kill 10 weaklings such as yourself at once with one slap!"

Bulinwon didn't answer the question. He slightly raised his head, and found that nobody was beating him. He was less worried.

"I need you to build a special magic building for me. I know you still have your knowledge. You don't need to worry about what you're worrying about.

"Let me ask you again. Do you know how to build a magic watchtower?"

Bulinwon nodded.

"Yes. We can only afford the materials to build a magic watchtower. There's one here."

As he talked, Bulinwon walked away, and transmitted mana into a stone that was half a meter tall. Then, patterns appeared on the surface of the stone, which then transformed into a magic watchtower that was one meter tall. It looked like a toy watchtower that had been scaled down hundreds of times.

Lin Yun had been standing here for a long time, but never noticed the watchtower 100 meters away. The watchtower was so tiny that it looked just like an ordinary rock on the mountain. There were too many such rocks here.

Countless runes flashed in Lin Yun's eyes. He analyzed the magic watchtower thoroughly. It was quite shabby, and couldn't even raise an alarm voluntarily. Someone had to activate it in order to send the alarm out.

However, the shabby materials and making, plus the Cave Gnomes' racial talent, became wondrous. Lin Yun didn't discover the disguised magic watchtower that was only half a meter tall even though he was so close.

Nobody would probably notice the seemingly ordinary rock except the Cave Gnomes…

With the knowledge, given enough materials and time to practice, Bulinwon would surely grow into a real magic building master that was as good as an Artisan, at least in the field of architecture. They might not be as knowledgeable as other Artisans, but their magic buildings certainly met the top standard.

"Pledge your loyalty to me, and nobody will hurt you, or force you to do mining in dangerous places. Also, there will be enough food for all of your people without doing any work."

Lin Yun narrowed his eyes inside the black mist, and put on a smile. As he talked, he waved his hand, and threw out bags of cereals that were piled into a hill five meters high.

Bulinwon was completely shocked to see the hill. He quickly rose from the ground and jumped to the hill greedily, sniffing the cereals like a hound. He also looked like a devout pilgrim.

Then, Lin Yun took out another space ring, and threw it to Bulinwon.

"This space ring is yours. There are 10,000 bags of food in it, and eight kinds of food in total."

Bulinwon gazed at the space ring. Seeing the bags of food inside the ring, he was dumbfounded. He counted the bags for minutes, until he lost track of numbers. Then, he didn't know what to think.

Holding the space ring, Bulinwon's expression changed quickly, and he dashed into one of the caves. A few seconds later, he ran back and stored the cereals on the ground into the space ring. He then disappeared into one of the caves.

Xiuban wasn't surprised at all. That was just a bunch of cereals that were worth 1,000 purple gold in Noscent. In particular, the Gilded Rose had its own farms that weren't suitable for magic plants, so they were used to grow food and vegetables. Such things were not valuable for mages at all.

In the Odin Kingdom, even the poorest ordinary people had enough food. Even if they pledged their loyalty to a swordsman apprentice instead of a mage, the purple gold they earned would be enough to feed hundreds of ordinary people.

Xiuban wasn't surprised, but Darri was completely shocked to hear about 10,000 bags of cereals. The half-beastmen were mostly omnivorous. Some of them only had meat, and some were vegetarians, but most of them ate both.

There was an enormous population of half-beastmen, but very few of them were good at farming. They couldn't feed all the half-beastmen. Their population was their foundation in the underground world, but it hadn't grown in years due to the lack of food…

The weaker half-beastman tribes might even have people who starved to death. How could they fight or strengthen themselves if they didn't have enough food?

Seeing that Bulinwon had run off with a bunch of food, Darri became angry, and was about to chase after him when Lin Yun said softly, "Just wait."

Darri greedily and angrily stared at the cave, holding still.

That's 10,000 bags of cereals. 10,000! Those cereals smelled delicious, and are definitely the best food. Each bag of the food is enough for a lizard man to eat for a year. The food that can sustain a big tribe for an entire year was offered to the filthy gnomes for free!

This sir is truly terrifyingly generous! No, I have to pledge loyalty to him too. While the population of lizard men isn't small, our tribes are too far away from each other. It cannot be helped. If we gather together, we'll soon all starve. We have to split up and survive as small tribes.

I have to pledge loyalty to Sir Merlin. Yes. Sir Merlin already gave me a drop of dragon blood that can help me awaken my bloodline power. As long as I pledge loyalty to Sir Merlin, none of the children in my tribe will ever starve!

Thinking about that, Darri fell on his knees and crouched on the ground, which was a gesture of submission in the underground world.

"Great sir, allow Darri and his tribe to pledge loyalty to you. Your thoughts will be our faith, and your enemies will be ours!"

Lin Yun wasn't surprised at Darri's pledge of loyalty at all.

Every bag of the food he offered was huge, and contained at least 1,500 kilograms of food, and he offered 10,000 bags at once. In Noscent, they weren't as valuable as a bottle of ordinary potion. A good product in the Gilded Rose could be exchanged for tens of thousands of bags of such food.

But the situation was different in the underground world. This place had always been in chaos. Also, there were a lot of conflicts between the complicated races here. Besides, even among the half-beastmen, the contradictions of different tribes were quite serious too.

Because of the chaotic environment, and how very few races knew how to grow things, they had to feed on the plants and animals that existed in nature. A lot of the creatures here had huge stomachs. Some of them could even eat as much as a dozen human beings could. The lack of food was the most important reason why many races hadn't ever risen in the underground world so far.