"Impossible." Jihalin shook his head firmly and said, "The vein sealing technique is mainly for mineral veins. It only makes the state of objects constant. It does not mean that time really stops passing. The creatures sealed in it are in the seal. While it lasts, it will remain unchanged, but when the seal is lifted, time will catch up with them in an instant.
The moment the seal was lifted was also the moment they died.
During the sealing period, they were still and even unconscious, so there was no point in doing so.
Whether it is the past or the future, time is the most difficult to span.
Not the craziest person would dare to attempt this easily. "
Gavin couldn't help but nodded repeatedly. He understood this very well, because he was the madman who tried to travel through time. Even with the protection of the Tears of Selun and the Starry Sky Gate as the road, he still had twists and turns and almost failed.
"It's no use guessing. Just go and take a look and you'll know. Maybe it's an automatic mining equipment made by the dwarves here. When the seal here is lifted, it automatically enters operation." Yuriu, the leader of the gray dwarves, is a practical man and took the lead in asking Walk deeper into the passage.
"It's not impossible." Everyone nodded involuntarily. If it were purely mechanical equipment, it would make sense.
If there is no corrosion, oxidation, etc., even if time comes to knock on the door, materials such as steel will not be affected in any way. Only those flesh and blood bodies cannot withstand the pure blow of time.
"Stone thorns? So many stone thorns!"
"Can Stone Thorn grow so big?"
"Ordinary stone thorns will definitely not be able to grow so big, but don't forget where this is. The law of enlargement on the Giant Plains can also be enveloped here. If it becomes giant, it will be super large!"
"The reason why the passage here is so huge is not simply to prepare it for the giants, but it is left over from their mining process."
"That's not right. Stone Thorns are elemental creatures, not bloodline creatures. Can enlargement also be effective on them?"
"This comes from the level of laws and is not of blood. It is not surprising that it can take effect on elemental creatures."
"I didn't expect that our dwarf mining's use of stone thorns could be traced back to the period of the Supreme Shanatar."
"Supreme Shanatar is known as the most glorious era of the Northland dwarves. It's not without reason."
"Congratulations, Lord, this is the first treasure you have excavated from the Kingdom of Supreme Shanatar. You have a group of the best ore diggers, who can work non-stop to mine for you, and you have to pay , which is the residue produced during the smelting process and the air mixed with metal dust. This is their favorite food, but you need a group of dwarves to help manage them."
"Can gray dwarves do it too?"
"You need to ask Chief Yuriu about this."
"I don't know about this, because our clan has never used stone thorns. Wait, I can try it."
The crowd didn't go far before they found the maker of the sound.
That's a very unique creature.
Its main body is like a rough black stone pillar covered with blunt thorns, with varying numbers of hammer-shaped tentacle arms. The least is four, and as many as seven or eight. This is related to their size.
These hammer-like tentacle arms are both their arms and their feet, dragging them forward.
They have only one organ, which looks like a big, hollow mouth, occupying the entire front. When it turns around, it is discovered that it is not a mouth at all, but an extremely deep eye, with an earthy yellow light blooming in the depths, and even the surrounding Inlaid with tiny blunt spines that resemble eyelashes.
When it stares at you blankly, not only does it not feel cruel, but it feels silly.
The sound Gavin and the others heard earlier was not the roar of this creature called Stone Thorn, but the sound of their hammer-shaped tentacle arms hitting the wall or ore.
This is not a matter of striking an egg against a stone.
It's the iron ore that's flying around, not the hammer-shaped tentacle arms.
Because their owners are not made of flesh and blood, at least what is exposed outside is made of hard rock, especially the hammer heads of their hammer-shaped tentacle arms, which are extremely hard and shine with a blue-gray color belonging to steel.
The stony thorns also have different body shapes. They have a columnar body squatting there, about the same height as a dwarf. After the four hammer-shaped tentacle arms are stretched out, they have a medium-sized body with the height of an adult.
There is also a body as tall as a hobgoblin, with hammer-like tentacle arms spread out, but over four meters tall.
There are also behemoths as tall as the hobgoblin giants, with wingspans exceeding seven meters.
Their movements are very slow. Even those with as many as eight hammer-like tentacle arms rarely use two to hit iron ore at the same time. However, their power is quite amazing. Even those with relatively inconspicuous medium-sized bodies can It can easily smash down a small piece of iron ore, not to mention those of large size and super large size. Every time it smashes down into pieces.
As if they were unaware of fatigue, they slowly but firmly waved their hammer-shaped tentacle arms, hammering the surrounding iron ore rock formations.
This is a kind of elemental creature called Stone Thorn. Their properties are very similar to the earth element. They were born from the earth element plane and have immortal life. Naturally, they will not be negatively affected by the mineral vein sealing technique.
They are often summoned by dwarf spellcasters and bound to the material plane as their own guards or miners. Their temperaments are also very similar to dwarves. They are also hard-working, rough and straightforward, and indomitable. They are usually very willing to serve the dwarves. .
This is basically the biological version of the breaker, and it is a perfect match with the kobold's flutter bomb for blasting and mining.
The deep-buried blasting of Kobold flutter bombs can split large sections of iron ore directly from the rock mass. However, due to the difficulty of crushing and problems with loading and transportation, many times they have to sacrifice the number of blasts at one time and instead Use more blasting energy to crush iron ore.
With this group of stone thorns of different models, there is no need to worry about this.
The blasting ability of the flutter bomb can be brought into full play. Large pieces of iron ore can be given to large-sized stone thorns, and small pieces can be broken to a satisfactory level in a short time.
Compared to smashing iron ore directly from the iron ore mine wall, the shape of the stone spines is better at crushing the mined ore.
If coupled with multi-section rail cars and large forklifts, a modern underground iron ore mining system will be complete.
At that time, the annual output will not be one million tons, but the monthly output will be one million tons.
Gavin couldn't help but launch Dragon Vision on the super-large stone thorn closest to him.
Hit Dice: 160 (12D8+108)
Size: extra large
Movement speed: 4 km/h (running 12 km/h, sprinting 20 km/h)
Attributes: Strength 28, Agility 6, Constitution 28, Intelligence 6, Perception 13, Charisma 13
Elemental Creature Traits (Special Ability) - Stone Thorn is immune to poison, sleep, paralysis and shock effects. It will not be hit hard or flanked, and can neither be resurrected nor resurrected. It has dark vision of 18 meters.
Uncoordinated (Special Ability) - Stone Thorn's body coordination is extremely poor and its tentacle arms are unevenly distributed. It cannot use more than 50% of its body's arms to attack at the same time, but it can attack without moving. Attack from multiple directions.
Vibration and Shattering (Special Ability) - Extraordinary strength reward. The stone thorn's hammer hits with a strange tremor, which can crush and disintegrate the target from the inside. If it hits a living creature, it will easily cause internal injuries such as broken bones and ruptured internal organs. Hit objects , especially stone objects, which will be more likely to break apart from the inside, taking maximum damage from all sources.
Stone body (special ability) - Extraordinary physical reward. The essence of stone thorns is connected to the earth. When they are on the earth, they will have five points of regeneration ability. Rock collapse will not cause fatal injuries to them, and stone thorns will only Be buried without dying.
The ability of Long Vision Glasses is not static, but increases with the user's intelligence and will.
When scanning each other, the two sides will engage in a confrontation of wills.
If the enemy has crushing strength, just like when Gavin tried to spy on the six-armed snake demon, he will be directly blocked.
If it is evenly matched, or slightly inferior, you will only get superficial data, which is the case in most cases.
If you have a crushing advantage over the enemy, you can get its detailed data. This is the case with Gavin now against these stone thorns.
The oversized Stonethorn has eight hammer-like arms and a Hit Dice of between 11 and 15.
There are six large stone spikes, with a Hit Dice between 5 and 10.
There are four medium-sized stone spines, and the Hit Dice are less than five.
Their ability is simply for breaking rocks and mining, especially the large and super large ones. They all have extraordinary strength and physique. They are all shaken, broken and stony bodies, which makes them have no fear of mine collapse. , as long as there is a gap, they can use their own abilities to push it out bit by bit.
Given their characteristics as creatures from the earth elemental plane, it is only normal to have such abilities.
Because the earth elemental plane is an endless world of earth and stone, there is no distinction between up and down, and there is no earth pressure. All states are constant. The creatures living there either have the ability to dig rocks, or they live in various places. In the cave.
Stonethorns are obviously cave creatures.
The inability to resurrect and the inability to be resurrected as described in the special system of elemental creatures does not mean that once the stone thorns are killed, they will die completely. Their soul consciousness is only taken away by their original plane (that is, their birthplace), and Resurrection there.
On the material plane, there is naturally no way to resurrect or resurrect (after all, a creature cannot be resurrected twice), but you can summon or teleport them from the earth elemental plane again through summoning spells, interdimensional teleportation, etc. .
This characteristic is not unique to elemental creatures. All alien creatures, whether they are upper-level, lower-level or elemental plane creatures, have this characteristic. If you want to completely destroy them, you must be in their original plane. For example, if you kill demons in the Abyss and kill demons in hell, their life essence will be reabsorbed by the plane, and they will truly die.
But if someone uses magic or magic to pull them back, they can still be resurrected again, unless they are prevented by special methods, die of natural old age, or they themselves are unwilling to be resurrected.
The speed disadvantage and uncoordinated nature of Stone Thorns destined them to be much more useful in mines than on the battlefield.
Gavin's behavior of using the Dragon Vision Glasses to peek was like poking a hornet's nest. All the stone thorns stopped mining, turned around, and looked at Gavin with their huge but cute single eyes. These uninvited people.
In their gazes, Gavin felt neither hostility nor any welcome element, but more indifference.
This is perfectly normal. Emotions are not simply intellectual behaviors, they are also inseparable from the physical body.
Many times, various emotions in the brain are caused by physical stimulation, such as rage caused by pain, excitement caused by massive adrenal gland secretion, estrus caused by the secretion of male hormones, etc.
Those undead whose bodies have been transformed by negative energy, even if they have their own intelligence, have no emotions. This is especially obvious in people like Estelle and Daphne who have the ability to transform souls into flesh.
Even if the undead have emotions, they are negative emotions dominated and amplified by negative energy.
Most elemental creatures are composed of various elements, and their emotions are naturally indifferent.
When all the stone thorns focused their attention on Jihalin and the Heart of Regeneration in his hand, the khaki eyes involuntarily softened a lot, and they turned around and continued to blast the mines, no longer paying attention to Gavin and his party.
Obviously, Jihalin's dwarf identity and holding the Heart of Regeneration were recognized by them, and they regarded him as the new owner of this mine.
Gavin and the others were not yet ready to formally take over the entire mine. Since these stone thorns had no intention of attacking them, they naturally ignored them and allowed them to mine here on their own.
As for whether their bombardment would cause landslides, even a layman like Gavin didn't have any worries.
Not to mention the original owner of this mine, how abnormally the dwarves of Supreme Shanatar reinforced this place - many places used fine steel as load-bearing pillars, not to mention Gavin was stunned to see it, even the dwarves Jiharin and the gray dwarf Yuriu were also dumbfounded.
It is understandable that the cage shafts and high-pressure steam pipes, including those steel gates, are cast in fine steel.
Especially cage shafts and high-pressure steam pipelines, which involve safety issues, so we cannot be too careful and cautious.
But as a load-bearing column in a mining area, it would be a bit too luxurious to use fine steel structure.
There was only one such situation, and that was the dwarf mine, which had a serious overproduction. The dwarves would rather use the excess steel as safety expenses for the mine than sell it in large quantities at low prices.
"Damn it...a multi-section minecart!"
After turning around a passage, Gavin couldn't help but curse.
Because the scene in front of us is no longer modern, but super modern.
This passage is a pure transportation passage, with huge railroad tracks on it and huge carriages full of steampunk style. You can't even see the end at a glance.
These iron ore carriages are obviously not prepared for dwarves or humans. They are so tall and scary. Next to the carriages, there are tools such as oversized fine steel shovels and fine steel picks. You can tell at a glance that they are for those. Prepared by a giant who is seven or eight meters tall.
Just by seeing the scene in front of them, everyone has already imagined the operation of this iron mine at its peak.
The stone thorns in those mines are responsible for mining and crushing.
Those giant slaves were then responsible for loading the ore onto steam multi-section rail mine cars.
These steam multi-section rail minecarts transport it to the feed port above the Colossus dungeon.
The Colossus dungeon uses the thermal energy of dry hot rock for smelting and forging, and the high-pressure steam generated in this process is transported to the mine to assist in production - this multi-section rail mine car obviously uses high-pressure steam as transportation kinetic energy, and those stone thorns seem to also I like to use the produce there as food.
Theoretically, elemental creatures do not need food. They can directly draw energy from the earth elemental plane for their own consumption.
However, most elemental creatures have their own food habits, and each creature is different. Some feed on rocks, and some feed on ores or gems. For example, the Thor Stone Monster is a typical example.
All in all, this is a modern mining area that integrates mining, smelting, and forging. At its peak, the output was so high that it was probably ranked among the top ten in Faerûn, if not No. 1.
It is not difficult to understand that those dwarves use fine steel as load-bearing columns.
They can make a lot of money just by selling the armor equipment that is forged in batches. How can they sell steel?
This kind of steel output is seriously disconnected and unequal to other outputs in the world. Even if they want to sell it, other forces are unable to digest it.
"How do these steam multi-section rail mine cars use steam? You can't just drag the pipes out from these steam pipes, right? Or, the dwarves of Supreme Shanatar forged super large high-pressure steam gas storage tanks ?" Gavin ran towards the front of the mine cart hidden in the darkness.
This is what interests him most.
If it is only the former, its role will be limited to mining in Colossus City in a short period of time.
If it is the latter, then its use will be exhausted. It will become an effective power source and push many things into the modernization process, such as steam trucks, steam boosters, etc., even if they are limited by high-pressure steam generation , can only be used for short distances, this kind of cross-era thing will also quickly promote the development of a place.
No one could answer Gavin, because for them, this kind of thing was completely new to them, including the gray dwarf leader Yuriu.
When they took over Colossus Dungeon, the place had been idle for hundreds of years, many things had been destroyed, and no such cargo-carrying minecart was seen.
In the past thousand years, although the Colossus Dungeon has produced a lot of money, most of the profits have been taken away by the Death Chiefs Council. The dungeon has been barely maintained without much development and change.
As slaves, gray dwarves also lack the passion for creation and innovation, and have continued to do so for thousands of years.
Everyone couldn't help but follow Gavin's footsteps, wanting to see the true face of this behemoth.
(End of chapter)
