Chapter 158: Dwarves (1/2)

”Overtier Magic - Mist Cyclone.”

Nadine cast a Tier 2 spell at the tier 3 level as she now had enough mana reserve to consistently cast over tier magic at this level for a while. The spell activated and a windy cyclone of wind restricted the movements of six cloakers that had tried to ambush them in the dark.

These were intermediate-class monsters. They were intelligent creatures that resembled large flying manta rays when flying. Although at rest, they looked like a black cloak, hence their name.

They were currently being attacked by only two of them but for some reason, the two creatures had turned into six. They must've used a skill so Tyler wasn't worried about them and left the job to Nadine while he kept an eye out for other monsters and protect the dwarves.

Nadine then followed her spell with a movement technique and pummeled the large monsters into the ground with her staff. Her strength had improved quite a bit so the creatures died after only a few hits and the groups proceeded on their way after retrieving the monster cores and corpse.

Tyler and the dwarves then continued to move deeper into the mine as they headed for the cave with the Runites that Nadine and Kylyra had stumbled upon. Naturally, Nadine took the lead and was the vanguard of their new team although Ragdek and the others provided no battle support whatsoever.

While Ragdek said he could move through solid objects at will, the others could not and thus he could not abandon them, hence their uselessness.

Well, maybe useless was not the word to use as they were still useful to the group in a way since they chatted with Tyler along the way. The tunnel to the cavern was long and it would still take them a while to get there so Tyler took the opportunity to find out more about the dwarven continent and the current state of the Human continent.

According to Ragdek, the dwarven continent had a friendly relationship with the Human continent and trades had been going on between them for the past thousand years now. However, just because they could trade with each other, doesn't mean they would.

Just like the Humans, the dwarven continent had a lot of kingdoms and empires within it and thus, there was not much cooperation within them. However, the humans were no exception as they still fought about each other for rights to trade and many laws and restrictions had to be put in place.

Besides, the two continent was separated by the sea, thus, communications between the two continent was still a little hard to accomplish as the all the several Kindom sand empires from the dwarven continent, could not send ambassadors that agreed on anything due to their sub racial differences.

However, there had been cases of dwarves migrating to the human continent and vise versa. Although interspecies relationship wasn't common yet as dwarves had a way longer lifespan than humans. While dwarves specialized in a lot of things, it was still important to note that they were still known for their craftsmanship and their weapons and armors were the best in the world.

They also produce the best wines in the world and several other things. The only reason the reincarnated and summoned heroes had not been able to fully develop the technology of this world faster than it was currently was because they weren't born in the dwarven continent. This world did not contain any crude oil and thus, technology could not progress the same way as it did on earth.

Naturally, with the addition of magic, things were bound to be different. However, even with that, it was hard for anyone that did not have a long lifespan to make a very significant influence on the advancement of the world.

Heroes generally didn't live long lives as they were usually summoned for a particular reason and thus could only remain in this world for a maximum of around 40-50 years while reincarnates that are smart enough to increase their magic potential at a very young age before their mana body had the chance to form, would live for around 200-300 years but those were still very rare and thus the advancement of this world was still slow in many ways.

And back to the dwarven continent, there were different types of dwarves that dwelled in the various kingdoms and empires in the continent namely, mountain dwarves, Duergar, artic dwarves, and dwarfintes. Naturally, not all of these subraces got along with each other. Ragdek and the four were all half Duergars and dwarfintes from the Vineyard Kindom and were considered low born.

They were not able to study in the best Blacksmithing academy mostly because they had no money as although their city was also a mining city, most of the material they mined could not be sold and would be used by the city. The human continent was also not able to freely trade for high-level weapons and armors with the dwarves and thus would often settle for importing things like wine, fine articles of clothing, and other materials.

”So, you still haven't told me why you lot left the dwarven continent for the Human continent and why you decided to mine here.”

While they told him a lot about their home and the general state of the human continent, they seem to be avoiding the topic of why they were here even though they knew it was dangerous, and while Tyler didn't enjoy digging into people's personal lives. He would if there was no other choice in the matter.

Ragdek sighed, he had tried his best to avoid speaking on his situation but it seems there was no longer any way he could do that.

”Seeing as you've agreed to help us leave this place, I guess we can tell you.”

Je was yet to speak when Darren interjected and answered Tyler from the side.

”We weren't given much of a chance in the dwarven continent to live our lives. Since everyone can't do the same thing, the dwarves have a system in place to help only the talented have their choice of work and the others would be assigned to whatever field required more labor.”

”Indeed that was the case.” Hulnyl nodded in agreement and Ragdek shrugged his shoulders.

”Umm.”

”However, people like us weren't given the same opportunity.”

”Why so?”

”Well, as I said before, all five of us are low born, and combined with our low status we are also mix blood of dwarfintes and Duergar also known as underground dwarves. Mix bloods, while not heavily discriminated against would always be considered last whenever things like a selection occur.”

This time it was Ragdek who answered him as it seemed he felt irritated to be interrupted before he had a chance to speak earlier.

”I see.”

”Well, that alone is not why we left.”

”Indeed.”