It was precisely because of such temptations that many wizards went ahead to the third stronghold, only to encounter suicidal attacks from the green-skinned orcs, resulting in significant losses.

The Black Sail doesn't care how many slave creatures die, but losing even one wizard is a substantial cost for them.

Every official wizard who reaches this stage has a challenging journey behind them and represents the greatest wealth of each wizard organization.

After this experience, Duke also realized that he must be more cautious in the future.

Wealth entices people, but having the life to take it doesn't guarantee you'll have the life to spend it. Longevity is the way to go.

The third stronghold has completely become a ruin, with hardly any valuable items left, and a massive crater was blasted into the Balage Highland.

This crater will remain for many years to come, becoming an insignificant scar in the war.

Duke walked on the yellow sand, surrounded by countless grains of it flying at high speed through the air, directly sweeping over the ruins of the third stronghold below.

His target was the many mines and orc smelting factories on the Balage Highland, where vast reserves of Golden Scale Celestial Iron Ore were kept, along with much already refined Golden Scale Celestial Iron.

The Balage Highland is rich in mineral resources with numerous mining areas.

After flying past the third stronghold, Duke could see from afar the existence of many mines, with quite a few wizards already inside.

However, only a few wizards went to the mines; most headed towards stronghold one, stronghold two, and the smelting factories.

Ore resources hold little value for wizards; a ton of ore yields barely any magic metal and takes up space.

The limited space of a space ring cannot be used to store heaps of ore.

The abundance of wealth within the two strongholds is the target of these wizards.

Of course, Duke also wanted to acquire that wealth, but for now, the Golden Scale Celestial Iron in the mines and smelting factories was most important to him.

This was something that could directly enhance his power and held great value itself.

Others simply did not have the ability to directly extract Golden Scale Celestial Iron from ore; otherwise, it would represent a significant fortune.

Duke glanced at the mines below, not in a hurry to land, but remembered the locations of these mines.

He needed to head to the smelting factory first, to absorb the Golden Scale Celestial Iron already refined, and then go to the mines to extract the Celestial Iron from the ore.

Duke soon arrived at a nearby smelting factory, which looked very primitive, with very rudimentary smelting equipment, essentially basic refining and separation procedures.

He quickly found the storage area for Golden Scale Celestial Iron, a massive cavern with uniformly sized blocks of the Celestial Iron stored inside.

Duke immediately began absorbing; the Yellow Sand Crystal absorbed at a swift pace, and a large section of the Celestial Iron in the warehouse disappeared in the blink of an eye.

He noticed that the ground would be covered with a pile of debris after absorbing the Golden Scale Celestial Iron, looking much like fine sand.

This was the impurities within the Celestial Iron that were all expelled by the Yellow Sand Crystal.

This indicated that the green-skinned orcs' smelting process was inefficient, with their refined Golden Scale Celestial Iron being impure and with too many impurities.

The Golden Scale Celestial Iron Duke absorbed earlier had been refined by wizards in an alchemy project, with virtually no impurities.

Approximately thirty tons of Golden Scale Celestial Iron were stored in this cavern, which was the upper limit of what could be stored here; more wouldn't fit.

It seemed to be a recently completed batch that hadn't yet been transferred elsewhere before it was besieged by the Black Sail Legion, leaving this Celestial Iron temporarily stranded here.

Duke quickly absorbed all thirty tons of Golden Scale Celestial Iron, and inside the Yellow Sand Crystal, there was now over fifty tons of sand enhanced by the Celestial Iron.

Just as he was leaving the cavern, he encountered several other wizards, who seemed to have come for the magic metal inside.

These individuals glanced at Duke and said nothing before heading inside, only to find nothing but fine sand, with no trace of the Golden Scale Celestial Iron to be seen.

They realized they had arrived too late, with the recently encountered man likely having taken everything.

They had no grounds to cause trouble for Duke; at such times, it's all about who acts fastest, and disputes or conflicts over this are not justified.

This is wartime, and any internal strife would be punished harshly. No one would violate Black Sail's rules at this critical juncture, having to accept their misfortune.

After exiting, Duke immediately took to flying with the yellow sand, heading to the next smelting factory.

In the sky, he appeared to be a cloud of yellow sand rapidly moving through the air.

Duke quickly arrived at the second smelting factory, which was similar to the previous one, with Golden Scale Celestial Iron stored inside a cavern.

Only this time, there were already two wizards there.

These two wizards stuffed a good amount of Golden Scale Celestial Iron into their space rings, filling all their rings to the brim, even tossing a bed out from them to make more space for the iron.

Seeing the round bed placed at the entrance of the cavern left Duke speechless; he didn't expect a wizard to carry a bed with them, showing quite a taste for comfort.

By the time he arrived at the cavern, only about ten tons of Golden Scale Celestial Iron remained, and the other two wizards couldn't take any more.

Duke used the Yellow Sand Crystal to absorb it all at once without needing to hide its presence anymore.

This method looked quite mysterious, but for an official wizard, using various means was quite normal, and there was no need to explain anything to others.

After absorbing the Celestial Iron here, the amount of Golden Scale Celestial Iron within the Yellow Sand Crystal reached seventy tons.

He could now manipulate one hundred tons of yellow sand at the same time, with thirty tons still lacking.

Duke directly flew out of the cavern, rushing to the next location, with the two other wizards realizing there was no need to waste time here and quickly following him out.

When Duke arrived at another smelting factory, he discovered he was too late—they had already taken all the Golden Scale Celestial Iron, leaving none behind.

He flew into the sky, surveying the other smelting factories, finding similar situations, with wizards having visited them all.

Duke, thinking it over, turned and headed to a nearby mine instead of testing his luck further with smelting factories.

Time was of the essence now, and most of the smelting factories nearby likely had nothing left; it was better to directly extract from the mines.

If he was any later, and the ores were claimed under the Black Sail's name, he wouldn't be able to take advantage any longer.

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