After walking out of the main road, Xiao Chen finally followed Ansaldo to the Dwarf Capital.
"This is our capital: the great lava city of Lavapolis." Ansaldo had been here countless times, but this was his first time bringing humans here, and there was still unconcealable pride in his voice.
In front of Xiao Chen was a magnificent fiery red canyon, and they were standing at the top of the canyon. The canyon stretched out in a winding way, like a new world unfolding in front of them. The canyon was deep and long, with a faint mist rising from below. At the deepest bottom, a red river divided the canyon into two halves. The cliffs on both sides of the canyon were carved by the dwarves into terraces, and on each step there were many rock-built houses stacked up. Occasionally, the wind blew, bringing a warm breath. There was also a knocking sound coming from a distant place. The sound had a strange rhythm, like countless hammers hitting iron felt, but that rhythm would not make people irritable at all. Instead, it was like a drumbeat beating in the heart, giving people a feeling of boiling blood.
People who came here for the first time, whether they were humans or dwarves, were all shocked by the scene. Farrell, who had been away from this place for a long time, stared at the familiar scene that had appeared in his dreams countless times, and couldn't help but burst into tears.
He fell to his knees, kissed the rocks beneath his feet, and then began to hammer the ground with his hands, following the sound of hammers in the distance.
His two sons followed him from behind and did the same movements.
A rough singing voice sounded from here:
"The river of lava, boiling and rolling,
The flames dance, forging my soul.
Valley of Ten Thousand Hammers, Rise and Fall
The battle of steel forges my foundation..."
The dwarves brought by Xiao Chen were quickly infected by the song and sang it together.
Later even Ansaldo's guards joined in the singing.
After singing a song of forging hammer, Farrell wiped his face with his sleeve and stood up from the ground, and said to Xiao Chen: "I'm sorry, I can't control myself. I've been thinking about it for too long."
Xiao Chen said: "If I were to be away from my hometown for so long, I would definitely do the same thing as you."
Ansaldo said: "Farel, you are not the only one singing the hymn of the hammer here. I have seen such scenes many times. No matter where we dwarves go, our roots are here."
"I wanted to just come in quietly, but when I saw the River of Lava and heard the sound of the Valley of Hammers, I just wanted to kiss the ground," Farrell said.
"There is a river of magma below, the river of lava you mentioned, right?" Mei Tiantian asked. Even though part of her soul had experienced so many things and heard countless rumors, she had never been here. These dwarves had been ignored in past battles.
"Yes. That is the Lava River, the mother river of the dwarves. Standing here you can feel its burning breath. When a dwarf dies, no matter where he is, his last wish must be to throw his body into the Lava River." Farrell said.
He pointed to the far side of the valley, where the hammer sounds seemed to come from. "Across this valley, behind that turning cliff, is the Valley of Ten Thousand Hammers. There are countless workshops there making all kinds of things every day. That's also where I used to work. This sound is really nice to hear."
Xiao Chen said: "In the next few days, we still need to wait for Governor Ansaldo's arrangements. You should have time to go around. You can go back to your family then."
Farrell said: "Before I came here, all I could think about was how to teach those old guys a lesson. Now that I see my hometown again, I suddenly just want to go back and take a look at my family."
Ansaldo led Xiao Chen and his party along a road down the canyon, where they could see the situation inside the Dwarf Capital more clearly. From the lava river upward, the houses on both sides became more dilapidated and smaller as they went up, and the houses became taller and larger as they went down. The most magnificent houses were a few hundred meters away from the lava river. However, whether it was the palace or the bungalow in the valley, they were all built with light red stones, which blended in with the color of the canyon itself and looked very harmonious.
Farrell said: "For the dwarves, the closer they are to the lava river, the more likely they are to receive the blessing of the God of Forge. So the nobles get a position close to the lava river according to their social class. The royal palace and the forge temple are naturally the two buildings closest to the lava river. Next are the houses of the six major families. Above them are various public buildings, such as the arena, library, and material warehouses. Above that are the houses of minor nobles, and further up are the houses of soldiers, merchants, and craftsmen. At the top are where farmers and slaves live."
"Are there farmers in the royal capital? But what can be planted underground?" Xiao Chen asked.
Ansaldo said, "There are fields on the top of the canyon, planted with a crop called rock rice. It doesn't need sunlight to grow, but absorbs the heat from the air and rocks. It tastes bad, but it is enough to feed the civilians and slaves. As for the food for the nobles, it is all shipped in from outside."
As the group talked, they walked down the road. Xiao Chen discovered that the light source of the entire dwarf capital, in addition to the light emitted by the lava river and the surrounding reflections, there were also many lights coming from lighting crystals inlaid on the layers of rock walls. The white light emitted by those crystals and the red light of the lava river intertwined together to form the color tone of the entire capital.
Walking down little by little, Xiao Chen found that although he was getting closer and closer to the lava river, the temperature around him did not rise much. He looked around and found many magic arrays engraved in the rocks, which could isolate the heat and absorb the heat into some kind of energy.
Dwarves are not a heat-resistant race, at least as they are also carbon-based creatures, their basic body structure follows the same standards as humans. So to survive in such a place, these magic circles are essential.
Xiao Chen carefully observed the lines of the magic array and found that some of them became the energy source of the lighting crystal. Other lines led to the house, and he guessed that they could provide energy for some tools in the room.
From this we can see that it is not a coincidence that the dwarves live here. They actually use geothermal energy to build their country. And it is not an exaggeration to call the Lava River their mother river. I am afraid that they use the energy of the Lava River in many aspects of their lives. (To be continued)