Amidst the greenery of the sacred tree, in a house carved from the trunk, dozens of Blood Elf civil employees bustled back and forth, busy with their tasks.

"The security in the West District has been a bit problematic lately; there were six theft cases last month. Five cases the month before. A year ago, we basically had only one case per month. This isn't a good sign. Plus, two of those theft cases haven't been solved yet. Violet Street's roads have been in need of repair for three months now without any response. The city-wide patrol frequency has also been reduced... If this continues, the public will complain about our governing team."

"That's because we've diverted too many people to do other things, like collecting mordo ores and preparing for the construction of Magic City. We're very tight on both funds and manpower. And the complaints aren't greater than when we initially decided to massively mine mordo ore, are they?"

"That shouldn't be your thought process; you weren't like this before."

"Before, we had abundant funds and manpower, which we don't have now. A few months ago, I also wished to fill all gaps like you, but now I realize it's simply impossible. It's already good if no new gaps are created."

"So, you plan to just keep going like this, with no intentions to improve?"

"To be honest, yes," the administrative officer said, spreading his hands.

Hearing the official's reply, the Cardinal Court member, who had come to question him, was so furious that his beard curled up, and his eyes widened in anger.

The administrative officer bowed his head and continued with his work.

Not far from him was a small room. The room had large windows on all sides, without even glass, neither blocking the view nor soundproofing.

Inside the room, Lady Cornelia was instructing her capable subordinate, Dariana.

"The production of mordo ore must increase rapidly. The Queen has already promised Giant Snake City, and we must deliver on schedule."

"But we've already used all available manpower. We've even conscripted workers from the copper mines. Are we going to conscript workers from the iron mines too, Lady Cornelia? We still have a certain stock of copper ore, but it may become tight in a while, and then there will be more problems."

"If there aren't enough people, then recruit more. The promised progress is accelerating, and I worry that even conscripting iron mine workers won't suffice in the future. Supplying mordo ore is our most important task right now."

"But... isn't maintaining public welfare important too? And even if we recruit workers, they can't be used immediately. Letting workers unfamiliar with mining go underground involves risks."

"Then train them, train them until they are familiar."

"It's hard for us to both train workers and guarantee output."

"Then try to ensure..." Lady Cornelia supported her forehead, feeling a bit impatient. Her eyes were filled with exhaustion. After thinking for a moment, she could only add, "While ensuring output and training workers, pay slightly more attention to public welfare issues."

Dariana was speechless, holding the document she had just received, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly, unable to utter a word for a long time.

The two of them just stood there in silent stalemate.

Lady Cornelia sat at her desk, holding her forehead with a book. Dariana stood silently.

Outside the room, it was still noisy, with officials busy as ever.

After a while, Dariana hesitated and said, "My Lady, I think you should talk to the Queen. We can't indefinitely boost mordo ore production. She can't only focus on Giant Snake City. Plus, increasing mordo ore production really shouldn't be our task. It should be the Mineral Department's job."

Lady Cornelia sighed helplessly, "Mordo ore is very important. The Queen gave us this task exceptionally because she trusts us. She only trusts our ability to mobilize."

"But she should know that we, whom she trusts, are already severely overloaded," Dariana hesitated and replied, "The time is too tight; we simply can't meet her demands. No matter what we do, we can't achieve the goal, and this will severely damage morale. The key is, no one knows what this task is truly for. Has Luo Ge Xian Ni already become a colony of Giant Snake City?"

Lady Cornelia looked at Dariana helplessly.

"Is it because of Krimasha?" Dariana asked, puzzled.

Lady Cornelia glanced at Dariana faintly and said softly, "I can't tell you anything. All I can say is, you should trust Her Majesty the Queen. She would never do anything harmful to the Blood Elves."

...

At that moment, elsewhere, Angel had already secretly infiltrated the pit.

The torches on the walls of the pit sizzled as they burned. Under the dim firelight, Angel cautiously inched forward.

A few miners passed by, and Angel hurriedly slipped into a side tunnel.

Carts filled with ore were being pushed by, and Angel had to quickly hide again in a side tunnel.

In the dim light, Angel could clearly see that the carts were loaded with lots of mud and sand, without a single piece of mordo ore.

Yes, this was exactly normal.

Mordo ore used to be cheap not because it was easy to mine, but because it was a byproduct of other mines. Of course, the most crucial reason was that there were very few uses for it. This is why there was stockpiling and low prices.

Now, with a huge demand...

If dedicated mordo ore mining is required, it's really not an easy task. Digging ten cubic meters of soil around the roots of the sacred tree might not even yield one piece. The key is, Giant Snake City's demand is also very large.

This is the real reason for Dariana's troubles.

Stealthily, Angel moved forward a bit more.

He should be grateful that the security of this mining area was not strict, the miners were all Centaurs, with not one Blood Elf among them. Comparatively, being both a Mage and a Blood Elf, Angel had a tremendous advantage in perception.

He moved forward for nearly more than an hour before finally reaching the real "mining area."

It was a large underground space excavated by humans. In the center was a root of the sacred tree, with all the surrounding dirt dug out. Countless miners were busy transporting cart after cart of ore.

Standing in the abandoned part of the pit, Angel looked down from above.

"What are you planning to do? Drip down from here?" A voice whispered.

Angel whispered back, "Of course not. Dripping from here probably won't be very effective. If I'm going to do it, it must be effective. Otherwise, I may as well not do it."

"So, what are you planning to do?"

Angel did not answer.

He stood there for a couple of eyes quietly and then turned to silently vanish into the darkness.

About half an hour later, Angel appeared at the bottom of the "mining area."

Using the cover of the rock face, he swept a glance, then took a few steps back, jogged, leaped, and then lunged onto the ground, quickly rolling into a less noticeable corner of the mining area. Just next to the root of the sacred tree.

The miners didn't notice a thing about all this.

"See, didn't I say you weren't untalented, hahahaha. With such skills, there's no way you could have failed your initial archery test," a nearby voice laughed.

Angel shrank his head, silently observing the surroundings.

After a while, he finally took out a small knife, stabbing it into the root and making a downward slash.

Immediately, green liquid started to flow out.

Compared to the trunk, the root buried deep underground was indeed much more fragile, even though it looked enormous.

Next, Angel took out that small bottle, unscrewed the cap, and positioned the mouth of the bottle over the cut, then chanted an incantation.

The transparent bottle began to tremble slightly, and the liquid inside was gradually squeezed into the root.

Angel recited the incantation again, sealing the cut with ice.

With everything done, he finally let out a slow breath, then put away the empty bottle.

"Done."

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