Monster Hunter: Wild Pointer

Therefore, the dragon people are often better at professions that require a lot of time to accumulate to achieve success, such as scholars, craftsmen, alchemists, etc.

At the same time, the village heads, town heads, and elders of various pioneer villages or remote towns and villages are mostly from the dragon people.

After all, when it comes to "experience", it is difficult for humans to compare with the older dragon people.

It can be said that the higher the proportion of dragon people in a place, the greater the number of "high-end technical talents" such as scholars, researchers, and master craftsmen, and the more developed the industry will be.

Chongri Town, which is rich in heat-resistant metals, is a typical example.

However, this ratio cannot be too high

Due to their long lifespan, the dragon people are naturally not fond of fighting. Many of them are slow-tempered and lack ambition. They need to integrate into human society to truly display their talents.

If a village is full of dragon people, or if dragon people make up the majority of the population, it is likely to develop a leisurely atmosphere where everyone drinks tea and retires together, and a hundred years pass by in the blink of an eye.

Just then, a mine cart loaded with metal ingots passed by on the track next to them.

"Look at that!" The young townsman pointed to a gear-shaped pattern on the mine cart, "That's the sun emblem of our Chongri Town, and it's also a totem.

The sun disc has eight teeth, symbolizing sunlight, steel, humans, sand ships, fire, furnaces, dragon men, and airships.

These eight things are indispensable for Chongri Town to develop to its current size."

The professor stroked his beard lightly, "Indeed, when I came here many years ago, the sun emblem was not like this. At that time, the sun emblem was just a religious decoration used to praise the sun.

Compared to that, the current sun emblem is more substantial, and Chongri Town is much more prosperous now than it was then."

"Ah, are you referring to that?" The young townsman pointed to the ancient patterns carved on the high, sunny slope.

"Yes, that's right." The professor nodded.

The hunters' sight was slightly diverted, and they saw a giant bee landing not far from the carved rock wall.

"That was a long time ago," the young townsperson lamented. "Now you can only see the old sun emblem on the oldest buildings."

"Speaking of which, Professor," Orlan said, looking away, he suddenly became curious. "How many years ago was it when you last came here?"

The professor paused for a moment. "I was quite young then, about two hundred years ago."

Aolan: “.”

This old guy must be older than the Hunter Guild was established, right?

Chapter 88

After walking on the long mountain road for more than half an hour, they finally arrived at the mountainside area where Chongri Town was located.

According to the young townsman, they could actually take the elevator directly, but that way they couldn't bring their animals, and the two long-haired camels needed to be taken to the stable in advance for storage.

Because there were still a lot of important luggage on the camels, and they all wanted to take a look at the scenery of the town, they simply walked up.

When they reached a building in the town, the young townsman stopped and said to them, "This is the elder's house. Please wait a moment while I call the elder out."

The professor nodded, and Orlan took the opportunity to observe the buildings in the town.

"wi"

Just then, a giant bee flew over from high above, attracting their attention.

But the giant bee did not land and soon disappeared, so the few people could only withdraw their attention.

His gaze returned to the building, and Orlan discovered that the architectural style here was somewhat similar to that of Rocklake, both using sandstone as walls and taking advantage of the terrain to a large extent.

Most of the buildings are built on caves and rock depressions on the rock walls, and it is rare to see houses built directly on flat ground.

Don’t think these houses are simple. In the sand sea area where the temperature difference between day and night is extremely large, the thermal insulation performance of this type of house is far better than that of constructed buildings.

After waiting for less than a minute, an old man from the Dragon Clan, who looked to be in his seventies by human standards, walked out of the house quickly.

Conservatively speaking, this person's age should be more than twice his appearance.

"I'm sorry, I didn't prepare a welcome in advance. I'm the elder of Chongri Town. I'm sorry to have kept everyone from the guild waiting for so long."

The elder behaved very politely, especially in front of the professor, an old dragon who looked obviously much older than him.

The professor extended his hand and shook his, "You're welcome. We are from the Academy, assigned by the Guild to investigate the giant bee infestation in Chongri Town.

If it is deemed necessary, hunters will be dispatched to carry out the subjugation."

"Okay, okay!" The elder nodded repeatedly, not caring at all about the former's statement of "if necessary". He obviously believed from the bottom of his heart that as long as the scholars investigated, they would definitely give the judgment of "necessary".

"Let's arrange accommodation for you first. There aren't many tourists in Chongri Town, so there aren't many hotels. But there are always some empty houses. A family just moved out last month, and the facilities in the house are quite complete.

I'll have someone clean it up for you, and you can move in right away. Oh, that house has three rooms, is that enough? If not, I'll find you another one, but it might be up in the mountains, farther away."

"That's enough." The professor nodded. "I'll have one room with the equipment, one with Orlan and Eric, and one with Muti. Is that all right?"

The three young men, whose combined age was probably less than one-fifth of the professor's, naturally had no objection. They were there to complete a mission, not to travel.

Not to mention there were three rooms, no one had any objections even though we had been sleeping in the desert for ten days.

"The luggage will be delivered to the room, and I'll arrange for someone to take the long-haired camel to the stable and take good care of it. The welcoming banquet will be in the evening. Would you all like to rest up first?"

"wi"

Another giant bee flew by. Eric took out his insect net and tried to chase it, but was pulled back by Orlan.

The professor's gray eyebrows twitched a few times, "No need to rest, we have only been traveling for half a day, we are not that tired.

There's no need for a banquet or anything like that. We're not here just to eat. Simply prepare some food and send it to our accommodation. Please explain the situation here to us first."

The elder was very pleased with the professor's straightforward pursuit of efficiency. After asking someone to take over the two long-haired camels, he personally walked in front to lead the group.

"Let me take you to the cave first. That's where those damn giant bees first appeared."

"Cave?" Eric seemed a little excited. "What kind of cave is it? What's the temperature and humidity like? Is there an underground river?"

Under certain conditions, underground caves may form very unique and independent ecosystems. For a biology enthusiast like him, it is one of the most research-worthy terrains.

The elder opened his mouth, looking a little unsure of where to begin. The professor said, "Let's start with the origin of Chongri Town.

This place's natural environment and human factors are both very unique, and perhaps they are directly related to the appearance of the giant bee swarm."

"Okay." The elder nodded and began to narrate as he led the way, "Initially, this place had no name; it was just an unknown rocky mountain.

Some nomadic dragon people living in the sand sea discovered this place. They found that, unlike ordinary rock platforms, this one contained many holes and caves that could provide them with shelter and protect them from attacks by monsters in the sand sea.

At this point, the elder paused for a moment and looked at Eric, "As for the underground river you just mentioned, there is no underground river here, but there is water vapor seeping from the bottom of the bedrock.

Under the heating of the sun, these water vapors are evaporated and condensed in the caves on the upper layer of the bedrock, forming some caves and pools, which are the precious water sources on which we depend for survival.

Our ancestors believed that all this was a gift from the sun, so they named it Rilun Township.

Under the guidance of the elder, several people took the elevator and came to a cave entrance higher up on the bedrock. After entering, they realized that this was the cave the elder had mentioned.

Compared to the dry and hot outside, it is humid and cool here, which is obviously more suitable for human survival.

But according to the elders, this is their precious water source. The water vapor condensed after evaporation is not living water after all. In order to ensure the cleanliness of the water source, no one will live here.

After obtaining permission from the elders, the professor and Eric extracted some water and rock samples here, hoping to get some clues.

"Bedrock, sun, and caves provide us with shelter and water, but these two things alone are not enough to survive in the desert.

Therefore, for a long time, Rilun Township only served as a water source and shelter, rather than a place for settlement.

Until we discovered mineral veins in this bedrock and the nearby rocky beaches.”

Aolang and the others understood what he said.

The mined ore can be exchanged for food and other necessities of life, and together with shelter and water, this bedrock has the necessary conditions to become a settlement.

"wi"

The elder's drooping ears twitched. "From that time on, our ancestors settled on this bedrock, from the initial few to a dozen or even dozens.

Our ancestors worshipped the sun, mined ore, and lived quietly. This small-scale settlement lasted for hundreds and thousands of years.

"wi——" The annoying sound was approaching, but the elder's story had reached a critical point, so the few of them tried their best to endure it and ignored it.

“It wasn’t until two or three hundred years ago, with the influx of humans, that the development of Rilun Township began to accelerate.

It has to be said that humans are a race full of vitality and creativity. The technology of the dragon people, combined with human imagination, has brought about a leap forward in everything in Rilun Township.

We no longer just mine ores, but have developed unique smelting technology and built trade routes with the help of human merchants.

Gradually, the ancient name "Rilun Township" was abandoned and replaced by the more lively "Chongri Town".

The sun emblem, originally full of religious meaning, gradually evolved into the eight-tooth gear pattern of today."

"wi——!" The shrill sound was getting closer.

Muti, who was listening to the story intently, finally couldn't bear it any longer. She angrily took the weapon off the hook behind her and opened the rifle with a wave of her arm. "Can I go and kill it?"

The elder seemed hesitant. "It's best not to do it here in the cave. Your weapon will shatter the giant bee, right? The corpse debris will contaminate the water source, which will cause us a headache."

Muti took a deep breath and said, "Don't worry, I won't smash the body. Lend me the sword."

As she spoke, she folded her gun and put it back on her back, then took the iron sword [Kagura] from Orlan and chased after the annoying big mosquito with an angry face.

Chapter 89 Praise the Sun!

In the end, Muti failed to catch the giant bee, and it flew out of the cave and ran away, which made her very upset.

A strange thought even popped into my mind: "I wish I were a shooter now."

Seeing her return dejected, Aolan was also a little confused. "Isn't your gunlance also a long-range weapon? Why didn't you shoot it down after it flew out of the cave?"

Muti was stunned for several seconds after hearing this, "I, I forgot"

Orlan didn't know what to say. It was obvious that this guy subconsciously still regarded the rifle as a large shield and a machete.

The professor also felt a little regretful. Everyone could notice that there were an unusually large number of giant bees in Chongri Town, or the entire bedrock area.

If Muti could cut one off like he had done a few days ago and have them dissect it properly, they might find some important clues.

Fortunately, such opportunities are not difficult to find. Let Muti take action later.

Seeing the two young hunters' troubled expressions, the elder sighed, "Even putting aside the loss of livestock and the dangerous attacks on the townspeople, do you feel the pain of hearing this sound every day?"

"I feel it." Muti nodded and answered seriously.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your empathy." The professor raised his hand. "Elder, you mentioned earlier that you've developed a 'unique smelting technology.' Could I ask what kind of technology it is?"

The elder looked over here in surprise, "Could this be related to the giant bee infestation?"

"It's hard to say." The professor pushed his heavy glasses, seriousness written across his wrinkled face.

“There are countless cases where the emergence of new technologies has had an impact on the environment, causing local organisms to exhibit abnormal behaviors.

As far as I know, although the desert is rich in metal minerals, it is difficult to develop a metallurgical industry, right?"

After hearing what the professor said, Orlan also remembered.

Located in the same sand sea area, Rocklak and Chongri Town are both rich in ores, but Rocklak's own industry is very mediocre. The mined metal ores can only be transported to the Eld area (Latio Volcano) by caravans for refining, or directly sent south to Tangia Port for export.

The main reason for this is that desert areas do not produce coal, which is essential fuel for smelting metals.

It is normal for craftsmen in the processing house to purchase some charcoal as fuel in order to forge certain tools, such as hunter weapons. It doesn't matter if the price is a bit higher, after all, the fuel cost will not be the biggest expense.

But from the perspective of towns, it is not cost-effective to purchase coal on a large scale for industrial smelting.

Even if the metal is finally refined, the cost will become very high, and there will be no price advantage, so it cannot be sold at all. It is better to sell the ore directly.

"Is it because of lack of fuel?" Orlan asked tentatively.

"That's right." The professor responded, "So, the Eld region is the main metal supplier in the entire continent.

Mount Tirion is rich in ore and charcoal, and the Earth Dragon Tribe's craftsmen are highly skilled in smelting. Its geographical location is close to the sea, making transportation convenient, so it can be said that it has everything it needs."

"If there's no charcoal here, then maybe they're burning black oil?" Eric, standing nearby, speculated. "Although there's no charcoal in the desert, black oil is quite common, right? Wouldn't that be burnable as well?"

The professor glared at his student unhappily, "Black oil isn't that easy to burn. It has too many impurities. Even if it's distilled into light oil, the combustion temperature isn't high enough to smelt metals.

This is common sense for scholars. How come you don't even know this and skipped class again?"

Eric shrank his neck after being scolded. He was interested in biology and ecology, and his knowledge of industry was not even superficial.

So the question is, how did Chongri become such a major industrial center? And what it produces is a heat-resistant metal that even coal might not be able to melt.

Not to mention Orlan and Eric, even the knowledgeable professor couldn't figure it out, and Muti's mind was blank, he was just picking his nails for fun.

"It has nothing to do with fuel." Seeing that everyone was still guessing, the elder spoke up, "This matter is not really a secret. It can only be said to be a gift from the sun."

"Gift of the sun?" The professor chewed over the words.