Chapter 16: Persuading the Stubborn Dwarves (Part 2)

"Master of wood carving techniques, how should I address you?" Jier asked jokingly.

This time, the shy Dwarf finally gave his name: "My name is Bob-Wili-Ruan Shi, a Miner. I am no master of techniques; I cannot bear such a title."

The middle-aged Dwarf Miner shook his head.

Jier patted the other's shoulder: "But I consider myself someone who has traveled to many places and seen many wood carving artworks. I feel that these wood carvings of yours are already among the finest works I have ever seen. What is especially precious is that the quality of your works is highly consistent. What does this show? It shows that your technique is superb and stable. This is exactly the manifestation of what a master of techniques possesses!"

Yet, of all Jier's flattering words, this Dwarf Miner only heard the few words "among the finest."

He muttered to himself, confident that although his works were only the natural color of the wood and lacked the expressive power that coloring would provide, they shouldn't just be "among the finest," right? Not to mention first, but ranking second shouldn't be a problem, should it?

"Knight Jier, you say my works are not the best you have ever seen, so could you tell me, besides the regret of not being colored, where else do these wood carvings of mine fall short compared to other wood carvings you have seen?" This middle-aged Dwarf Miner was cowardly in other matters, but only in the production of art, his area of expertise, did he possess strong confidence and conviction.

Jier laughed, thought about the wood carvings he had seen before, and briefly explained the situation to the other.

"What? There are actually wood carvings with special effects?" The Dwarf widened his eyes, looking incredulous.

Jier spread his hands: "I heard it used a rare type of wood, combined with excellent carving techniques, which allows those who touch it to feel, in a trance, as if they are in a quiet Forest, accidentally encountering a Forest Deer."

"That wood carving seems to be able to calm people's spirits and possesses magical effects."

Jier picked up one of the Dwarf's wood carvings and gestured: "Compared to it, your works, while excellent, are ultimately just at an ordinary level."

Jier pretended not to care as he put the wood carving in his hand back into the Wooden Box.

Hearing Jier's words, the middle-aged Dwarf Miner's eyes lit up, as if a door to a technique he had never thought of before had suddenly been opened for him. His whole body was trembling, not from fear, but from excitement.

"I have an idea, I have an idea, magical effects, magical effects..." he muttered to himself, looking excited.

But soon, he deflated again and sat on the ground with a thud: "I have some ideas, but other than some basic things like Baishi here, those precious materials belong to the mine collectively. I simply cannot make the things I have in my mind..."

Jier smiled and pulled him up: "Just because you can't do it here doesn't mean you won't find suitable materials after leaving here, right? The small Babotali Valley can no longer provide help for your wood carving techniques. It is time to walk out of here and find excellent materials in the wider world outside to create even better artworks. Don't you agree?"

The Dwarf's eyes shone, and he muttered to himself: "That's right, that's right. I must leave here as soon as possible and find better materials outside. I cannot hesitate any longer; I can't wait even a day!"

Seeing the timing was right, Jier took the opportunity to pat the Wooden Box next to him filled with wood carvings and asked in an indifferent tone: "Since that is the case, can you give some of your works to me and my people? I think the young people in the village and town will all like your works. After all, true works are not meant to be locked in narrow, dark Wooden Boxes, but to be taken out for people to admire."

The Dwarf nodded subconsciously, waved his hand at Jier and said: "Then you can just take them. My mind is now full of even better wood carvings, and I already have some new ideas. No, I have to find something to try right now. Although our materials here are limited, a simple test is still possible."

After speaking, the middle-aged Dwarf actually walked away on his own, heading quickly toward a passage at the other end of the hall.

Jier shouted to him: "If you are going to leave, remember to only take a set of tools for carving wood. There is no need to bring other things. Because the best work is always the next one from you, as you continue to improve your technique!"

The middle-aged Dwarf Miner, in a hurry to leave, did not look back, but just gave Jier a thumbs-up to show he had heard and understood.

Once the other was far away, Jier clapped his hands and muttered: "Got another one!"

Afterward, he said to the surrounding Dwarves who were watching: "Everyone heard just now, this Dwarf wood carving artist whose surname is Ruan Shi let me take these wood carvings as I please."

Then, under the gaze of others, Jier moved these light Wooden Boxes back and forth several times to the entrance of the hall, placing them in a separate spot.

Passing by the old Dwarf, the other teased Jier: "I have to raise my regard for your words once again, Jier. Compared to your martial strength, your mouth is the sharpest weapon."

"Is that a compliment?" Jier replied.

The old Dwarf shook his head: "Your skin is thicker than a Shield reinforced with adamantine; it is second only to your mouth, your second most formidable piece of equipment."

"Sounds like a compliment too?" Jier muttered, thick-skinned.

The old Dwarf saw through the purpose of Jier's previous actions but did not stop him, which Jier had also anticipated. After all, they would have to travel together later, so clearly, the old Dwarf's tacit approval of Jier's behavior was a gesture of goodwill.

But everything has its limits; gaining some benefits that the Dwarves themselves do not care about in such harmless areas is clearly different in importance from the core matters the Dwarves are concerned about.

In the process of Jier 'persuading' some Dwarves, more Dwarves were notified and called back. They entered the hall, and seeing the old Dwarf let them wait for a while, they found some items they were reluctant to part with that they had left in the hall, continuing the work of indecisive trade-offs.

Jier was not idle either; he began to talk to one Dwarf after another, asking where their hesitation lay, and then trying to provide solutions.

"Madam, is there anything you are having trouble deciding on?"

"You are reluctant to part with all these kitchen utensils? You don't know which ones to keep and which ones to take away, right?"

Jier found a middle-aged female Dwarf who was hesitating in front of a pile of Dwarf kitchen utensils. This one seemed to be the mother of 'Xiaoxuezi', whom Jier had dealt with; she was a Dwarf Chef, responsible for the meals of dozens of Dwarves.

Facing this difficult problem that had caused the other to hesitate for a long time, Jier gave a direct plan.

"You don't need to worry at all, because your worry itself is meaningless. An important point of traveling is eating! Eating until full, eating well, eating on time—you must eat under any circumstances; this is an important foundation for a long journey. After all, whether it is a Human or a Dwarf, as long as you don't eat, you can't walk, right?"

"So you don't need to worry about this at all. You have more than forty Dwarf companions, and although these kitchen utensils vary in size, the total number doesn't exceed forty, right? Let each Dwarf carry one kitchen utensil on their back, whether they can use it or not. After all, no one knows when you will need it. And when you need it, having forgotten it at the starting point is a thing that will make people very devastated."

"So please distribute these kitchen utensils to them one by one according to each Dwarf's strength for them to carry. Let the stronger Dwarves carry some larger and heavier Dwarf kitchen utensils on their backs, and for those with ordinary strength, let them take some smaller ones, how about that?"

The middle-aged Dwarf Chef's eyes lit up. After hearing Jier's words, she excitedly patted Jier's arm with her large hand, and even though Jier was wearing armor covered in Metal Armor Plates, he still felt his arm go numb.

This seemingly ordinary middle-aged woman actually had quite a bit of strength in her hands. Of course, if they really fought, having strength and being able to fight are two different things.

Didn't those stronger Dwarf Strength God Believers who used Double-handed Heavy Weapons get defeated by Jier's tricks?

"Do you have any problems here that are hard to solve?"

Jier pinched his nose and came to a corner of the hall. Here, there were dozens of animal cages of various sizes, ranging from Mangyan Wumao Youshu to fruit bats hanging obediently upside down in the cages, as well as large Tanguang Laoshu that followed the Miners into the mines, and even a few beautiful birds with fragile lives. Basically, these were all kinds of animal assistants that the Dwarves needed for mining.

Seeing Jier, a rare Human, approach, they had originally started chirping noisily, but after Jier glanced at them, these animals of all sizes instantly quieted down.

"Don't, don't, don't, please don't use your aura to suppress them, I beg you. Other things are fine, but these few birds I finally managed to raise again are fragile little birds that will be scared to death if someone frightens them!"

A middle-aged Dwarf who was somewhat bald on top but had a thick beard on his chin hurriedly blocked Jier and the animals, using his own body to shield Jier's line of sight.

Jier smiled: "Of course, of course. Look, aren't they fine? Even if I were to scare them, I would be very careful. After all, who would want to make things difficult for animals? Right?"

The Dwarf looked back and saw that, sure enough, those few beautiful little birds with fragile lives had only closed their mouths but had not been scared to death. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief: "You are the one the leader brought to help us solve our troubles, right?"

"Uh-huh—" Jier hummed softly, confirming it.

"That's great. I have been worried about how to handle these animals I have been raising. Each one was raised by me, and they have all undergone my professional training. They are indispensable animal partners for digging and mining, or rather, work assistants."

This middle-aged bald Dwarf rubbed his hands and excitedly introduced these animals to Jier.

He pointed to the few beautiful birds he had been most careful with earlier: "This is a type of suitable work bird that I searched for a long time in the nearby Forest."

Jier raised an eyebrow: "What use are they? Especially beautiful? Make the Miners feel happy when they see them? Thereby increasing Mineral Ore production?"

"Hehehe, if that were the case, it would be too much like a fairy tale. In fact, underground mine work is far more professional and harsh than you imagine. They were chosen as work birds entirely because they are fragile enough." The bald Dwarf introduced.

"Fragile?" Jier asked suspiciously.

"Yes, fragile. You know that air is composed of many different components, right? Do you know that?"

Jier nodded: "Although we Humans are not as good as your Dwarf civilization and our development time is shorter, the wise Mages have also researched and understood most of the things that should be known in the world."

"That makes it easy to explain. The air we breathe normally is composed of several common, harmless gases that cannot be seen, touched, or smelled. Among them, one important gas is called Life-Source Gas; not only do the vast majority of living things need it to survive, but it also supports common occurrences like combustion. Without this Life-Source Gas, even something as ordinary as combustion would be impossible."

Jier nodded, not saying anything more.

The bald Dwarf did not mind; most Dwarves actually did not know these things either. Seeing that Jier spoke little, he subconsciously assumed that Jier did not understand these matters and was just too embarrassed to admit his ignorance, choosing to be cautious with his words to avoid embarrassment.

"Unlike the several air gases that are almost balanced with the surface atmosphere, the situation underground is much more complex. Often, toxic gases seep out from rock crevices, and sometimes there is simply no Life-Source Gas there at all. Of course, there are many possibilities for the lack of Life-Source Gas, so I won't go into them. This is where my work birds come in handy."

He said excitedly to Jier; other than when they were looking for him to gamble with Mangyan Wumao Youshu, the other Dwarves did not really care about his work.

At this moment, although he did not know how much this Human Knight could understand, at least this attitude of listening attentively to his account really made him like him.

"Their lives are very fragile. If the Life-Source Gas in the air decreases even slightly, they will die immediately. And the Miners who observe their deaths can then evacuate the area in time."

"Or, when the air is mixed with flammable or toxic gases, these little birds will grow weak and die, and the Miners can also escape this place in time to save their precious lives! You see, these work birds are so useful! Right?"

Jier nodded: "Indeed, although it is somewhat cruel, it is certainly important. Their deaths can save the lives of Miners and ensure production safety!"

"That's exactly it! You're right!" the bald Dwarf shouted excitedly.

Other nearby Dwarves looked over, but this Dwarf did not care, loudly introducing other animals to Jier.

"Look, this is the Communication Bat we use the most! Don't let their scary appearance fool you; in reality, these little guys only eat fruit! A single berry can feed one of them for a whole day. They are very easy to keep." This Dwarf took out another tall, narrow cage and introduced the Communication Bat inside to Jier.

Jier asked one of his doubts: "Eating fruit, then what happens in winter when there are no suitable berries? What do they eat? Or do they hibernate through the winter like other bats? If they hibernate, wouldn't they be unusable in winter?"

"Haha, you are really suited for animal husbandry, I'll say." The middle-aged bald Dwarf seemed very happy; he did not answer Jier's doubt immediately, but instead introduced himself.

"I am Kangberge-Limor-Ironbucket, everyone calls me 'Choushou', very happy to meet you, Human Knight Jier."

Facing the extended hand, Jier was curious why the other party's nickname was 'Choushou', but he still reached out and shook hands with him: "Very happy to meet you too, Mr. Ironbucket."

Ironbucket was the other party's surname, Kangberge was the other party's given name, and Limor was a name component used to further distinguish people if the family was large; of course, it could also be the name of a famous family member, added to the surname to commemorate them.

"Just call me Kangberge, hehe. Let me tell you some secrets about the Communication Bat."

The other party said happily.

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