- Fantasy Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence
- FLDI Chapter 33
Chapter 33: Two Surprising Pieces of Intelligence
The value of an iron mine is immense in any world, and in this extraordinary world, it’s even more significant. A large iron mine is of even higher value, not only because iron itself is used as a currency but also because large iron mines have the potential to yield *mithril*, a crucial material for crafting silver armor.
Owning a large iron mine means that the territory will have the chance to continuously produce the key component for silver armor, which is far superior to black iron or brass armor. Silver armor is considered a true extraordinary armor and is almost like hard currency in the market.
The value of black iron armor is relatively low, with a single piece costing around ten silver coins. Even in the Northern Province, the price of black iron armor doesn’t go too high, costing only around 20 to 30 silver coins. Brass armor is slightly more expensive, usually priced at two to three gold coins.
But silver armor is different.
In the Frostmoon Province, a single set of silver armor can cost over 100 gold coins, and in the Northern Province, the price is even higher.
Even the *mithril* needed for crafting silver armor, when sold as raw material, fetches at least 80 gold coins when bought by merchants like the Habus Trading Company. Selling it to other nobles can bring in 100 gold coins or more, and if it’s crafted into silver armor, it can be sold for over 300 gold coins. To put that into perspective, the price of a robust serf in the Northern Province is only about 20 silver coins, and 300 gold coins could purchase 1,500 serfs.
Even the smallest large iron mine, based on Thor’s knowledge, could produce enough *mithril* to create at least 20 sets of silver armor.
And with the size of this particular iron mine, Thor had no doubt that it could produce at least 50 sets of silver armor.
Perhaps even more.
Such wealth would tempt anyone in the Northern Province, except maybe Marquis Lehman. Thor was no exception either.
Although his father, Engel Dresrosa, had provided him with a significant amount of start-up capital, no one would refuse more wealth—especially when it was worth tens of thousands of gold coins.
Thor had no doubt that if this information were leaked, the surrounding nobles and expansion knights would declare war on him.
In the Northern Province, aside from Lorren City, chaos was the best description.
Of the fifty nobles who had been granted titles, only thirty remained. Some may have died in expansion wars, but who could say whether some had fallen victim to wars of annexation?
Not all the slaves in Lorren City had come from other provinces; many were originally from the Northern Province.
These facts were never openly discussed, but they were known.
The losers were long gone, their remains lying with the dead, their traces on this land washed away by time.
Thor had no intention of becoming one of them.
After further verifying the iron mine’s reserves, he began issuing new orders.
The first step was to encircle the entire iron mine, marking it as part of his territory.
Next, he deployed knights and reserve knights to scout the surrounding area, ensuring no information about the mine would leak.
By the time these tasks were completed, it was already late at night.
The stars dotted the sky.
As night deepened, the familiar system prompt rang in Thor’s mind.
Buzz!
**[Daily Intelligence Updated]**
[1: At dusk tomorrow, a herd of unicorns will pass through the upper reaches of the Maine River Valley. The unicorn leader has reached the peak of the second tier.]
[2: Three miles to the left of Eagle Ridge, a colony of mole rats has settled.]
[3: Two hundred miles to the right, a void dragon has left its nest, now occupied by a group of earth dragons, along with the treasures it collected.]
[4: One thousand miles from Lorren City, in Fallen Leaf Valley, there is a small iron mine guarded by goblins.]
[5: In the depths of the timid goblins’ cave, an unexpected surprise awaits.]
[6: Magical elements are gathering in the large iron mine. In three months, an adamantine ingot will be formed.]
[7: Thirty miles to the right of the large iron mine, in the forest, there is a small colony of green goblins.]
The familiar daily intelligence had arrived as usual.
Thor’s gaze immediately focused on the updates.
He scanned through each piece of information, lingering on the mention of the void dragon once again. Thor had been keeping an eye on this ever since the void dragon first left its lair. At that time, he had wanted to explore the area, but it was too far—1,000 miles deep into the Northern Province. Given his current strength, it was too risky to venture there.
When he finally arrived in the Maine River Valley, the distance had been reduced to 100 miles—a one- or two-day journey. However, by then, a group of earth dragons had occupied the lair, and the void dragon’s egg had disappeared, forcing Thor to abandon the idea.
But each time the daily intelligence updated, the thought remained in the back of his mind.
Still, for now, it was just a thought.
After a moment, Thor shifted his gaze to the rest of the intelligence reports.
When he saw the fifth and especially the sixth piece of information, his breathing quickened.
Adamantine.
Unlike *mithril*, adamantine is a higher-grade magical material.
It is generally used as the primary material for crafting golden armor.
If *mithril* is considered extremely valuable, then adamantine is priceless.
A single piece of adamantine, enough to craft golden armor, is worth as much as a bottle of mid-grade life essence—over 1,000 gold coins.
And that’s just the raw material. Once crafted into golden armor, its value increases even more.
At auctions in the Frostmoon Province, a set of golden armor can sell for over 5,000 gold coins. Even at the highest price, mid-grade life essence sells for only 3,000 gold coins, while 5,000 gold coins are enough to buy two bottles of mid-grade life essence.
This high price is reasonable.
Mid-grade life essence might help a peak knight break through to become an earth knight, but it’s not guaranteed. The success rate is only around 10%.
Golden armor, however, can truly withstand attacks from earth knights, making its value incomparable.
Only high-grade life essence surpasses golden armor in value, as it offers a more than 50% chance for a peak earth knight to break through and become a sky knight.
(End of Chapter)