Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 395 Shocking Change
The second issue is the cost of time and effort. While the raw materials are relatively inexpensive, the production process is tedious and complicated.

The main material required him, a level nine mage, to use rituals to perform targeted summoning in various acidic solutions, followed by a series of operations such as mixing, reaction, nitration, and soaking. Even though two master craftsmen handled the subsequent assembly, these spells and alchemical processes were already enough to overwhelm him.

In fact, after stockpiling a certain amount of ammunition, Mr. Zhang voluntarily gave up on this kind of work that only a donkey in the production team could do, and after thinking it over, he decided to wait until the factory was established and the technology and industry were upgraded before doing anything else.

With the development of industry and military equipment, unstable compounds such as nitroglycerin, which have the risk of spontaneous explosion, will inevitably be phased out. We can only hope that we will be able to develop a few more reliable and practical insensitive explosives by then.

As for the Black Brew family?

Their specialty is unstable compounds, you know!
(￣ヘ￣;)
However, there was no need to reveal these details to outsiders, and the sailors didn't dare to pry. So the mage simply brushed the topic aside with a single sentence and then discussed the departure time and preliminary preparations with Lars.

With all the overall plans successfully completed, the final piece of the puzzle is the arrival of the dwarf dispatch team.

"Your Excellency Chanem, the goods can be loaded onto the ship starting tomorrow. As for the crew, they can register first. It's only a matter of a couple of days anyway. The temporary warehouse in the dock area can accommodate about a hundred people without any problem."

Lars was very efficient; he made a promise as soon as the ship was modified and launched.

"The only problem right now is that Badkegan and the other guy are too slow. It's been almost a month. Even for short-legged dwarves, this speed is really excessive."

Before Zhang Yuan could even speak, Nancy grumbled a few words of complaint, sounding rather impatient.

"What's the rush? So many people from our tribe are setting off with their bags and bundles. It's not like they can speed things up just because they say so."

The monk remained calm and composed, and only spoke to the female thief after disembarking from the ship:

"The Sweet Wine Clan is quite sincere. The extra brewers they sent are not only learning the craft but also have a responsibility to support the development of our own wine industry. They even donated a complete set of brewing equipment. It's normal that the process is a bit slow."

These dwarves were unusually generous, which surprised Nancy. She was used to seeing how stingy dwarves were, but then she realized it made perfect sense. Such equipment was commonplace for their brewing clan. Doing a favor and learning more and faster techniques was better than anything else.

"Just yesterday, Bard and the others sent me a message saying that they had crossed the most dangerous Troll Mountains and the Dead Swamp and entered the civilized area. Their journey home is unobstructed, completely unobstructed!"

Mr. Zhang, feeling quite pleased with himself that everything was going smoothly, ended the conversation with a rather smug remark.

As night fell, after bidding farewell to Lars and the others, the mage was about to leave the dock and head to Ska's camp when he suddenly stopped.

A tingling sensation came from his left rib area, where the communication crystal was located. The usually docile crystal alerted the mage to the situation with its high-frequency vibrations.

He took out the crystal, and saw that the once pale yellow and almost transparent crystal was now flashing with a blood-red light, vibrating incessantly in his hand like a buzzing bee.

As the monk watched the red light emanating from the communication crystal, signaling an emergency, his heart sank slightly.

This signal was sent by Bard.

Without any further hesitation, Zhang Yuan directly connected the call:

"Bard, what happened to you?"

"Boss, we need backup! It's the Drow, those damn black guys!" "How many enemies are there? What's your situation?"

The mage frowned slightly, but showed no sign of panic. He calmly inquired about the situation of the dwarven expedition while quickly organizing the necessary scrolls onto his battle belt.

"There were about thirty in total, and a priest was leading the group."

"Damn it, these damned ground rats, if the boss and Elder Rune weren't away, I would have rushed up and drowned their heads in their own piss."

Bard was agitated but not desperate or hysterical. From the sidelines came occasional roars and curses from Kegan. The mage finally gave only one instruction:
"Form a defensive formation, leave some space, I'll be there."

"What happened? The dwarves were attacked? I'll go with you!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than Nancy, standing beside her, couldn't help but ask anxiously.
"I'm not even entirely sure I can play this nonsense, what are you going to do with me?"

After saying this, the mage cast layers of buff spells on himself at a speed close to his own limit.

Stone Skin, Obscuring, Mirror Image, Protection against Ranged Weapons—his hand gestures changed like a soaring swift, dazzling the eye, and his incantations were like thunderclaps, swift as lightning.

The female thief, who had been silenced, was stunned for a moment and was about to retort when she saw the mage, who was covered in various spiritual lights, take out another scroll.

As the scroll was released, a spherical barrier enveloped the mage in an instant. The formless and intangible arcane domain was like the clearest crystal glass, its existence only detectable through subtle distortions of light.

The sixth-circle spell immunity barrier was channeled from the scroll and placed upon the mage, providing immunity to almost all fourth-circle and lower-circle spells, thus ensuring the mage's safety.

"Um…"

Startled by the lord's solemn demeanor, the female thief swallowed back the rebuttal that was on the tip of her tongue, her hands gripping the longsword tightening and loosening repeatedly.

She no longer insisted on participating in the rescue operation, but simply bit her lower lip and watched as the other person disappeared into a blaze of light, their figure swallowed up by the night that had once again enveloped them.

When did it start? Almost all the formidable enemies were left for the captain to face.

Originally, they were teammates who embarked on the adventure together, but now they can barely fight side by side. They can only rely on their voices to serve as supporting characters and sit back and reap the rewards of victory.

Perhaps, as Lawrence said that day, every journey has an end. Perhaps we have accompanied him to the distance we can go, and we cannot ask for more. It is wise to stop and appreciate the scenery halfway up the mountain.

After all, the story of a group of once ordinary mercenary adventurers rising to the ranks of nobility after a fantastic and exciting journey is a legendary tale that many adventurers dream of and pass down by word of mouth.

But is that all you're going to do?

Nancy's myriad thoughts were unknown to outsiders, and the mage, who had already been teleported away, simply didn't have the extra energy to consider them.

The drow are not some low-class, inferior creature like goblins or kobolds; their reputation for cruelty and wickedness is widespread even on the surface of the earth.

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(End of this chapter)