I've been transported to the orc continent.

Chapter 364 Gold Rush

When the young beastmen arrived at the Fifth Tribe, those with relatives or friends went to stay with them, while those without relatives or friends went with Bai Ling and the others to find accommodations from the elders of the Fifth Tribe.

The elders of the Fifth Tribe knew they were coming and had already cleaned the courtyard specially for entertaining guests. There were quite a few orcs coming this time, so the elders arranged two courtyards for them. The females lived in one courtyard and the males lived in the other. The two courtyards were adjacent to each other, with a vegetable garden where radishes had just been planted in the middle.

The orcs emerged early, quickly tidied themselves up, and then set off aboard the backs of the Sky Orcs.

The early autumn sun hung in the sky, and the air currents created by the orcs as they flew around were already chilly. Bai Ling was wrapped in animal skins, and a piece of animal skin was also covered on his head, leaving only his eyes exposed.

The four seasons on the Beastman Continent are truly distinct. The day before the start of autumn is still sweltering, but as soon as autumn arrives, it immediately becomes cool. Especially in the morning, Bai Ling and the others are still sitting on the backs of the Sky Beastmen. With the wind blowing so high in the sky, it would be unbearable without wearing animal skins.

The Sky Orc flew over lakes, valleys, mountains, and a river before finally landing on a riverbank.

The orcs slid down from the backs of the sky orcs and gathered together, awaiting Bai Ling's instructions.

After the Sky Beastman also transformed into human form, Bai Ling said to the pig, "Pig, where have you seen golden mud and sand? Take us there."

The pig pointed in a direction: "It's not far ahead, where the river bends."

*

The river flows out from a green mountain, then suddenly makes a sharp bend, forming a "フ" shape.

The river wasn't wide, and the current wasn't particularly rapid, except when it turned a bend. Pig and the orcs from the Fifth Tribe led Bai Ling and the others to the downstream area of ​​the bend.

One of the orcs from the Fifth Tribe said, "This is it. We asked the elders of our tribe, and many of them have seen yellow mud and sand here."

"Yes, my great-uncle said that the mud and sand is the color of the sun. It looks very pretty when it sparkles in the sunlight. They also tried to collect that golden mud and sand to make ornaments, but they were all too small and it was too troublesome to collect them."

“My father said that my grandfather once collected some, and it took him a long time to collect a little bit. Later, he wrapped it in animal skin and buried it with my grandfather.”

This is the territory of the Fifth Tribe. There must be orcs who have seen gold. Given the orcs' habits, it's not surprising that they would collect this golden sand. However, because they haven't mastered smelting technology, even if the orcs collect some gold sand, they won't be able to turn it into beautiful ornaments.

These gold dusts are neither edible nor usable; even if you look at them, you can only hold them in your hands. Over time, the beastmen stopped collecting them.

I only collect a little bit of things I really like.

Bai Ling started practicing alchemy last year, and some of the orcs of the Fifth Tribe had heard about it. He could turn golden mud and sand into beautiful ornaments. When he helped the Fifth Tribe build houses, he stayed there for quite a while, but none of the orcs from the Fifth Tribe came to him to learn alchemy skills.

Bai Ling didn't know what the orcs of the Fifth Tribe were thinking, but she could guess some of it. They felt that they were very busy and had to do more important things for the tribe, so they couldn't waste their time on such "useless" things.

Bai Ling didn't say anything. Led by the orcs of the Fifth Tribe, he arrived at the riverbank.

There were many pebbles on the riverbank. They walked on the pebbles to the river and began to search inch by inch along both banks of the river.

They didn't find the place until noon.

This is a rocky beach. The current has slowed down after the bend. As the river flows over the rocky beach, the rocks shimmer with tiny points of light under the sun.

Upon seeing these tiny rays of light, Bai Ling's eyes widened in shock; the golden sand here was incredibly dense!

If gold prospectors on Earth saw this, they'd probably faint from excitement.

*

After careful consideration, Bai Ling decided that the gold ore and gold dust found on this trip should be refined together. Thirty percent of the refined gold would be given to the Fifth Tribe, and the remainder would be divided equally among all the participating orcs.

Searching for gold is a time-consuming and laborious task, and they only have a little over half a month to do it. After that, they have to return to their tribe to prepare for the autumn harvest.

If they're lucky, they might find a gold mine and refine gold within the next two weeks; if they're unlucky, they might not find a single piece of gold.

This is a matter that relies on luck and requires close cooperation. If whoever finds the gold gets to keep it, even if half of the orcs return empty-handed, it is impossible for one orc to refine the gold alone.

Moreover, they were searching for gold in the territory of the Fifth Tribe, and according to orcish custom, the Fifth Tribe had to receive a share first.

The beastmen disagreed with this distribution method. They felt that it was unfair for Bai Ling to teach them how to find and refine gold, only to have to share the same amount of gold with them in the end.

The final agreement was that the Fifth Tribe would receive 30% of the gold found, Bai Ling would take 10%, and the remaining gold would be divided equally among all the orcs.

Seeing the specks of gold at the bottom of the river, Bai Ling decided to put the search for gold mines on hold and take the orcs to pan for gold first.

Bai Ling propped up the wooden planks he had brought by the riverbank. This time, he nailed a layer of animal hide onto the planks to increase resistance, making the silt flow slower and more likely to leave the gold behind.

He directed the orcs to move the rubble aside, revealing the mud and sand underneath, speckled with gold.

Then Bai Ling demonstrated for the beastmen. He put on animal skin gloves, filled a ceramic basin with mud and sand, and poured it onto a wooden board. Yue took a broom made of sorghum ears and swept it back and forth on the board. The mud and sand slowly flowed down. When all the mud and sand had flowed down, only a few tiny golden particles remained on the animal skin.

The gold dust in this river is of such high quality that you can find gold just by washing a basin of mud and sand. If this were in my previous life, gold prospectors would probably risk their lives for this place.

Bai Ling brought ten planks, with three orcs working on each plank. One orc was responsible for washing sand on the plank, two orcs were responsible for digging for gold dust with pottery basins, and the remaining orcs were not idle either. Some orcs were led by orcs from the Fifth Tribe to search up and down the river for more gold dust, while a few orcs went to look for caves. They would be staying here for more than half a month, and in case of wind or rain, they would need a place to take shelter.