Surviving The Fourth Calamity
Chapter 486 - 284: Rich or Poor? A Shocked Hill

Chapter 486: Chapter 284: Rich or Poor? A Shocked Hill

After awakening his bloodline, Hill knew that as long as he stood on the ground, in any place he had been before, he would never be lost.

Hill glanced coldly at Aurelio, who was talking nonsense. It was the first time he had seen an Earth Bear that could get lost!

Even newborn bear cubs could find the beehive they had eaten from, yet this over-a-thousand-year-old Aurelio couldn’t find such a big underground island!

Aurelio’s bear skin was extremely thick, and he didn’t mind at all. He lay in front of Hill, lowering his head and whispered, "You see, if it weren’t for that little girl of yours stirring up the ocean so much, I wouldn’t need to walk on land, would I?"

"What could be so delicious that you got lost for a few months?" Hill sneered. The speed at which an Earth Bear moved underground was much faster than swimming. No matter how much he detoured, it shouldn’t have taken so long.

"There were too many good things," Aurelio awkwardly scratched his head, looking at the clear-eyed Hill, "I just had to find a place to let the puppet cook. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been delayed for so long."

Hill couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Bringing a Cooking Puppet along on a journey, he must have planned to eat all the way here!

"Oh, let’s not talk about that." Aurelio sat up and brought out more than a dozen tattered bags, "The Clan Leader said you might find these bags more useful. Anyway, we have boxes now, so you can play with these bags first!

The things inside are their thank-you gifts for you, bear cub. Not to mention how practical the Crystal Stone materials you gave were, those cedar trees were a big help!"

Hill couldn’t help but smile, feeling comfortable knowing that what he had done for the Earth Bears had been somewhat useful.

It wasn’t just the feeling of bloodline connection that made him willing to exert himself for the clan but also his genuine admiration for everything this group of bears did to protect the earth.

Loyalty was always a praiseworthy virtue.

"Speaking of which, it’s good timing that I’m going back," Aurelio patted his stomach, "Since the Elf God in the blue cloak came, the edges of the earth have recovered a lot. The Clan Leader is leading everyone to desperately replant, afraid that the newly grown land would be washed away by Elemental Storms.

The cedar saplings were almost not enough, but thankfully I brought so many back!

We barely had enough to plant all of them.

Our Clan Leader always says you are indeed his kid, blessed with good luck."

Hill nodded, "I’ve always been lucky. I’ve cultivated a lot this time too, did you bring the cedar tree fragments?"

Aurelio took off the green necklace hanging around his neck. The cedar tree quickly extended its branches and took root in the ground.

Hill watched in surprise as the cedar tree held onto one of his branches, the feeling of needing nourishment continuously transmitted to him.

After releasing a Nature’s Blessing, Hill realized that half of the Crystal Stones accumulated in the cedar tree had been taken out.

He didn’t say anything. It seemed the Earth Bears, due to the need to replant, had spent so much material and energy that they preferred to lose the Relic Fragment’s functionality.

Aurelio didn’t notice that Hill had already realized the clan’s difficult situation. He just happily said, "That Cooking Puppet of yours is really useful! The clan no longer has to worry about the cubs not being taken care of and not daring to give birth!

By the time I left, good news had already been spreading. Hill, you’re no longer the youngest bear!

How wonderful! You’re doing much better than me. I’ve been waiting for a few thousand years, and only you appeared!"

Maybe thinking about those thousands of years of lonely life, Aurelio turned over and lay down, pressing his big head on his front paws, filled with longing expression, "There are going to be little brothers and sisters!"

Hill didn’t know what to say, seeing the joy on Aurelio’s face. Finally, he asked, "I brought a lot of food, can you still eat?"

"Of course!" The big bear instantly sat up, ready and vigilant, "Every single bit!"

So, anything I take out, you want to eat and can eat it all? Hill couldn’t help but complain inwardly.

Then he set up a long table and filled it with food.

Aurelio looked with great interest at the table where he could easily eat the food by just lowering his head slightly. Trying a few different poses, he found it very easy to get the food into his mouth.

"Is this table made just for me?" Aurelio asked happily, "It’s fantastic. Everyone else summons stones to place food on, and I could never get the height right. Eating on the ground is more comfortable!"

He didn’t need Hill’s answer, deciding on his own that this was his table, and then he started gobbling down the food.

Hill watched him eat with a smile. Of course, this table was for Aurelio. He noticed last time that the bear seemed uncomfortable eating on the ground.

But he really didn’t expect that it was because of laziness. Aurelio hadn’t made a stone table of suitable height for himself because he was too lazy.

Unfit height? With more practice, such things wouldn’t be a problem.

Hill had been a student before, and excuses like that were clearly from someone too lazy to practice even the simplest tasks.

Shaking his head, Hill began to sort through the gifts the Earth Bear gave him.

Hill was stunned, looking at the ground full of precious materials, a bit at a loss for what day it was.

The impression of the Earth Bear’s poverty shattered into pieces in his mind.

They only lacked Crystal Stones!

Compared to these bears, Hill realized he was the poor one!

Hill picked up a large piece of mithril, this extremely rare premium metal, so scarce in Teraxil.

And this piece in Hill’s hand, he could feel its weight even with his strength.

Hill looked at a few similarly sized pieces of mithril beside him and the dozens of slightly smaller pieces. Suddenly, he felt the extravagance of a nouveau riche.

He always thought this world had no mithril mines!

With mithril’s existence, Hill had been very content and hadn’t delved deeper, assuming the measly amounts of mithril he had seen came from the Elemental Realm.

Turns out it wasn’t non-existent?

"Do you like that stuff? It must indeed be precious." Aurelio noted Hill cradling the golden rock and couldn’t help but say, "There’s quite a bit of it in our place. When the world shattered, luckily, there were these ores, or it would’ve kept breaking apart.

So, we can’t dig it out.

But sometimes, large and small pieces break off, and Elemental Storms carry them up, so everyone picked up a bit.

You know, no matter how hard it is, it can’t withstand the Earth Bear’s claws. There isn’t enough of it to build wind-blocking nests, so there’s no real use for it.

The Clan Leader said you were an Alchemist, you might find a use for it. So everyone gave me some to bring out."

Hill opened his mouth in a daze, "I actually do find it very useful. This stuff is quite valuable."

"Too bad," Aurelio said, "The Clan Leader mentioned that maybe the Goddess of the Earth sent all these ores to the World’s End to save the planet. It was probably because it was the hardest material, so it can’t be moved at all.

The dwarves seem to know about the existence of this ore, too, but they can’t get into the wilderness, let alone reach the World’s End.

They tried to trick us into trading with them. How could the Earth Bear deal with something that harms the earth!

What’s given to you is yours, use it well! I remember there are a lot of small pieces in the family’s storage area. If you like it, you can take it when you can go there!"

Hill put down the large piece of mithril and found one about the size of his head, the smallest mithril ore here.

Perhaps, to the Earth Bears, anything not bigger than their claws was a small stone. Hill felt that what Aurelio called small fragments would be what he had seen as mithril ores before.

Even the wealthy Alchemist Master Fran had only a few pieces the size of Hill’s fist. They would never use them unless refining Legendary weapons.

Hill raised the piece of mithril, telling Aurelio, "A piece this size is worth 100,000 Crystal Stones. But even so, it’s almost impossible to buy."

The roast piglet fell from Aurelio’s mouth and dropped back onto the table, "What? This stuff is that valuable? No wonder those few fools tricked by elves always said elves loved this stuff! We thought it was because elves liked gold-colored things!"

Hill lowered his head: A mithril scimitar alone could make an elf let go of all restraint. Add a tube of mithril arrows, and they’d utter the sweetest flattery in the world.

Hill took out a space ring and put the slightly smaller mithril ores inside.

He put the larger pieces directly into his pendant space, letting List take care of them.

He could sell the smaller ones to William, but he couldn’t bear to part with the larger ones.

If mithril only astonished Hill due to its rarity in this world, the Star Meteoric Iron made his heart pound.

This stuff could be used to craft Divine Artifacts!

"Aurelio!" Hill raised a black piece of meteorite iron that shimmered with a rainbow of dark hues and asked loudly, "Where did this come from? There shouldn’t be any in Teraxil!"

"We live at the World’s End! Beyond the cedar forest, we face the starry sky’s torrent directly," Aurelio answered nonchalantly, "This is some odd material. It can even self-repair. Initially, the Clan Leader fished a piece back and found it great for sharpening claws; even better than the mithril you mentioned, so some bears were keen to fetch more.

But this material is rare, and getting it is tough. Not many bears would go through the trouble, and claws don’t need daily sharpening.

If it weren’t later discovered that even after the claws left marks, those scratches would eventually repair themselves, not many would have collected so much for backup supplies.

No matter how valuable it is, not many bears would sell it. You can only have these few.

We must prepare for the little bears too!"

Hill murmured, "Kill me; I would never sell these."

"Oh, have fun with it," Aurelio casually replied to Hill, continuing his meal.

After being stunned by the Star Meteoric Iron, Hill was unfazed even upon seeing the ground covered with various large gemstones and crystals.

Although these gemstones were bigger than any prized possession he had ever had.