Chương 75: Cave Spiders

"Fire!" Bang! Bang! Bang! Gunfire roared and lead shot whistled. On the walls, the musketeer Goblins mechanically reloaded and fired, picking off the skeleton soldiers crawling from beneath the Underworld Tree with precision. During this period, Li Qinwu had piled a mountain of animal bones near the Underworld Tree. Using the Underworld aura combined with the bone meal dropped by the system, this place had become a perfect "Newbie Leveling Ground."

Through high-frequency grinding, he had summarized several laws of the Underworld Tree: Resource Conversion: The more bones invested and the higher the quality of bone meal used (such as the jade-colored "Magic-Infused Bone Meal"), the greater the strength and quantity of the skeletons spawned. Diverse Forms: The skeletons appeared in humanoid forms, quadrupedal beast forms, and even massive bone amalgams. So far, no flying units had been sighted.

Grinding Down the Strong: The remains of the powerful (like the late Hero) initially rose as Tier 5 elites. However, after being killed and revived several times, their soul-fire magic depleted, and they eventually crumbled into indistinguishable dust. Cyclic Harvesting: Clearing them once a week yielded a steady supply of grain and various types of bone meal.

Li Qinwu planned to build a circular stone wall, 10 meters high and 2 meters wide, centered on the Underworld Tree, allowing his soldiers to safely harvest experience from an elevated position. As the battle results finalized, he upgraded all his Great Goblins to Goblin Sharpshooters, with six among them advancing to Senior Sharpshooters. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Just as he was leading the newly formed 10th Company back to "Iron City" (formerly the Goblin Tribe, now the industrial core), Iron-Orc rushed toward him in a panic.

"Sir! Disaster! The mining team was attacked by Cave Spiders! We've suffered heavy casualties!" Li Qinwu frowned.

"Calm down. Tell me what happened." It turned out the iron mine was essentially the territory of the Cave Spiders. Previously, the Goblins had only picked up surface ore at the edges, maintaining a tentative peace. However, with Li Qinwu constantly droning on about "ten-thousand-ton steel production" and "industrialization," Iron-Orc had led a team deep into the mountain to survey reserves. They triggered the spiders' perimeter hundreds of meters from the cave entrance.

A swarm of spiders the size of small cars erupted from the tunnels, slaughtering over 20 mining Goblins on the spot. Iron-Orc only managed to escape due to his long limbs. Li Qinwu rubbed his chin. Iron was the lifeblood of industry; with the spiders occupying the mine, the conflict was irreconcilable. Furthermore, he couldn't allow such a threat to remain so close to his seat of power. He summoned Gobu-Spear and Gobu-Bow.

"Is the troop ready for real combat?" Gobu-Spear puffed out his chest.

"Report, Boss! They have at least 70% of the strength of the old 10th Company!" Although training progress was slightly slower since Li Qinwu had restricted extreme measures like the "one-in-three execution," half of this force was now equipped with breech-loading flintlocks, boasting a high rate of fire.

"Good! Pass the order: target, the iron mine. Full mobilization!" Li Qinwu's eyes turned sharp.

"Tell the soldiers that those who distinguish themselves in this battle will be promoted to the rank of Captain!"