Zul'Saroth was bustling at night, as Kaldorei soldiers divided tens of thousands of trolls into different areas based on age and physical condition.
Young, strong, and healthy trolls were sent to Sin'dorei, where they would be assigned to farms near Sin'dorei to produce food for the Kaldorei.
The old, the young, and the physically disabled, if in better condition, would be transported to Corridor Forest to work on newly opened farms, supplying the two fortresses and other Kaldorei bases within the forest.
Those in poorer physical condition or too young would remain in Zul'Saroth, establishing farms there to supply the large army in Zul'Saroth.
With the troll distribution complete, the division of spoils, led by Gale, also drew to a close.
Because he controlled the Forging Factory, Gale took advantage of his position, allocating most of the rare ores, gems, crystals, and other forging materials accumulated by the trolls to himself.
Yue Nu and the others did not object; without Gale opening the gates of Zul'Saroth and without the weapons and equipment Gale had forged, they would not have been able to easily conquer Zul'Saroth.
Of course, Gale also compensated them in the distribution ratio, ensuring they did not suffer any losses.
It was a good opportunity to transport these treasures back along with the prisoners.
Gale also planned to transport the ores to Alpha Fortress, hoping to use the magical furnace there to smelt them into ingots, and then transport them back to the Forging Factory.
However, less than half a month later, Queen Azshara's command arrived.
The Queen was very displeased that the trolls dared to attack Sin'dorei.
She ordered Yue Nu to continue clearing out the trolls and fully occupy Zul'Saroth.
She also instructed Yue Nu to gather more wealth from around Zul'Saroth: ores, crystals, herbs, magical materials, and all other collectible riches.
The Kaldorei Empire had gained too much from the war so far.
The troll captives were a given; the value of slaves would be realized over time.
The material gains alone had already made the entire Kaldorei Empire incredibly wealthy.
Four ore veins were discovered in Corridor Forest, in addition to the most precious Han Tie Mine, there was also a copper mine and two silver mines.
Although they were all common metals, both copper and silver mines could be used to mint coins.
The Kaldorei Empire's previously ruled areas had very few ore veins, so there weren't enough coins minted, and large transactions within the empire could only be done through bartering.
Not only were gold coins scarce, but silver and copper coins were also few, which did not reflect the empire's wealth.
After all, not all copper, silver, and gold mines could be minted into coins; they were still needed for daily life!
This led to these three mines being even more important than the Han Tie Mine.
Moreover, these three mines were owned by the Empire; Azshara merely bestowed some treasures and then nationalized the three mines.
With the ores from these three mines, a large number of copper and silver coins could be minted, vastly increasing the currency in circulation and indirectly boosting the circulation rate of money.
In Earth's terms, this was called boosting GDP.
Getting back to the main topic, the Empire decided to occupy Zul'Saroth, so Gale no longer planned to transport the ores to Alpha Fortress.
Compared to Alpha Fortress, Zul'Saroth was safer.
Zul'Saroth had a river that led directly to the eastern part of Duskwood Forest; by opening a road in Duskwood Forest, it could directly connect to Sin'dorei.
This transport route was shorter than going through Corridor Forest and also avoided the threat of the Dragon Knight of the Dragon Rider Clan.
Yue Nu was currently busy transferring captives and property, so it would take some time to launch a new offensive.
Gale used this leisure time to study the shadra spike.
Everything on a loa carried a certain divine power, and these spikes were no exception.
However, because these spikes were too small, they contained little divine power, making it impossible to create artifacts, but they were excellent for crafting epic-grade weapons.
He analyzed these spikes, primarily focusing on Shadra's divine power.
As the god of rogues, Shadra's divine power was shadow-based, and since the spikes were only dagger-length, they were perfect for crafting weapons for Kana.
Gale categorized the spikes by shape, putting aside the straight ones, and picking out the two best curved ones.
Shadra's spikes were sharp enough, but they lacked an edge.
So Gale selected two pieces of obsidian from the ores collected by the trolls.
obsidian is brittle and easily broken.
Likewise, its advantage is its sharpness, making it very suitable for creating an edge.
To forge the obsidian, Gale found a high ground within Zul'Saroth city and built a magical furnace there.
With the magical furnace, the speed of smelting obsidian would increase.
After melting the obsidian into liquid iron, Gale cast Arcane, fusing the liquid obsidian iron into the shadra spike.
Under the control of Arcane, the liquid obsidian concentrated on the curved outer side of the spike, gradually forming an edge.
Then Gale used Arcane again to infuse the shadra spike, changing their shape to match the thickness of a dagger.
The excess portions extended backward, forming the dagger's hilt.
With the daggers forged, only one final step remained: enchantment.
Gale used Shadra's spikes because he wanted to utilize the divine power on them.
Considering Kana's future development as an assassination rogue, it was essential to enhance the ability to kill in one strike.
Thus, the inherent sharpness of the spikes alone was not enough.
Gale enchanted them with a Penetration Rune, increasing the dagger's armor-piercing ability.
In addition, assassination rogues also need extremely powerful Stealth capabilities.
Stealth and Shadowmeld might be sufficient against ordinary enemies, but against BOSS-level enemies with super strong perception, their effectiveness would be greatly reduced.
Gale decided to permanently affix a spell, Shadowstep, onto the daggers.
This spell was an evolution of Elune's divine magic, a specialty of the Shadow Walker family.
Kana's strength was not enough to cast this spell, but he understood how to cast it.
Gale also could not cast it, but that did not mean he could not permanently affix the spell.
Permanently affixing a spell involves two parts: one is the permanent rune, and the other is the method of casting the spell.
With Kana's help, Gale quickly completed the final enchantment.
Gale warned Kana, "The Shadowstep permanently affixed to the Shadow Walker Blade uses Shadra's divine power from the spikes.
The day the divine power runs out, Shadowstep will be unusable.
Therefore, you must use it at critical moments and not waste the divine power."
Kana nodded, indicating he would cherish it.
However, Gale was still not at ease, so he forged two more Shadow Walker Blades and gave them to Kana as spares.
Kana was very grateful, "Lord Gale, I swear to follow you to my death!"
Gale patted Kana's shoulder with satisfaction.
He was the first Kaldorei to pledge allegiance to Gale.
In a game, Kana would be his follower.
In that sense, Gale also had an obligation to train Kana.
He took out some Regeneration Potions, "You should go out into the wild, get used to wilderness life, and outwit wild beasts.
Only when wild beasts can no longer detect your presence will your concealment ability be considered qualified.
Then, follow the development path I've given you to hone your abilities."
Kana took the potion, placed his fist on his chest, "I will not fail your expectations!"
That night, Kana left Zul'Saroth.
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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