Chapter 61 Weathertop

Little Gimli puffed out his chest proudly and said with some impatience:

"The mithril content in the Mines of Moria is unique in Middle-earth. Although the mineral vein rewards available at the Khazad-dûm Council are good, even ten of them added together cannot compare to the purity of even one mineral vein in Moria."

Fang Senyan nodded. His second question was very abrupt and seemed unrelated to the first:

"The Gimli clan should be a fairly large dwarf clan, right? I wonder how many members you have in total?"

Little Gimli puffed out his chest even more:

"Our clan's population is at least in the top ten among the dwarves, with a total of over ten thousand people."

An elderly dwarf elder yawned loudly, rubbed his sleepy eyes, and said:

"If there are no more questions, I'm going back to sleep. I have to prepare to move tomorrow."

As he spoke, he turned to walk outside, and his behavior also moved several other dwarf elders. However, Fang Senyan's third question immediately stunned them in place at the doorway.

"Then, how many people are in the Durin clan?"

Durin is the recognized god of the dwarves! Moreover, the leader of the Durin dwarf clan has always been addressed as Durin X. The current ruler of the Durin dwarves is Durin VII. Even now, he is the ruler of Erebor and the Iron Hills. It is conceivable that the Durin dwarf clan's position in the entire dwarf race is similar to that of the Han people in the Chinese—perhaps even more powerful!

Little Gimli hesitated for a moment and said:

"Those guys have always been quite arrogant. They even host the Khazad-dûm Council. I don't know the exact number, but it's probably several hundred thousand… maybe more?"

Fang Senyan suddenly said again:

"I heard that the former Khazad-dûm, today's Moria, has always been the Durin dwarves' capital. They have been tenaciously guarding it. However, after the Balrog appeared, its abilities were like a nemesis to the dwarves. First, it killed Durin VI, and in the following year, it killed his son Náin, which forced the Durin dwarves to completely abandon this place and retreat to Erebor and the Iron Hills, right?"

The room was silent. Wu Ge, who had been leaning on the soft couch beside him and sleeping, suddenly sat up, rubbed her sleepy eyes, looked around at so many people, but then leaned back on Fang Senyan's leg and fell asleep again.

These people were long accustomed to the Dawn Elf Wu Ge. Zhui Ri Zhe's dependence on this guardian, so they turned a blind eye. After an indescribably deathly silence, Old Gimli finally said with difficulty:

"Yes, my sailor friend, you are absolutely right."

Fang Senyan continued:

"The news of your reoccupation of Moria cannot be blocked, right? So guess, once the Durin clan gets this news, what will they do? Perhaps their leader is a magnanimous guy who will give the Mines of Moria to you; you never know."

There was another long, long silence. Little Gimli said bitterly:

"Magnanimous? If those guys were all magnanimous, how could our mithril jewelry not pass the preliminary selection?"

Obviously, Fang Senyan revealed a cruel reality to all the dwarves. With just a few words, he knocked the dwarves from an incomparably happy heaven into a deep valley! The huge contrast almost made them vomit blood!

Obviously, if they wanted to avoid the Durin dwarves' revenge, they would have to offer the newly restored peace of Moria with both hands. But!!! But!! How could all the Gimli clans bear this! For their long lives, they could often focus on only three things: ale, mineral veins, and forging.

Old Gimli suddenly stood up and respectfully saluted Fang Senyan:

"Since Guardian has pointed out the current problem for us, then there must be a way to solve it."

Fang Senyan smiled and said:

"Of course. Whoever wants to take over the Mines of Moria cannot ignore Wu Ge's will, because we can capture the Balrog, so naturally, we can let it go. Moreover, our sacred beast can easily control the water flow. If someone tries to anger us, then what they will undoubtedly get is a Moria completely submerged in water. As far as I know, no one has mastered the ability to mine underwater."

Hearing Fang Senyan say this, Old Gimli's eyes lit up:

"Since our previous cooperation was very pleasant, why not continue to cooperate?"

Fang Senyan said with a wry smile:

"The basis of cooperation lies in the efforts of both parties. If the Durin dwarf clan pays a higher price..."

Speaking of this, he looked at Annel. Saron—this elf elder was already dumbfounded, but quickly responded to Fang Senyan's hint and immediately said sternly:

"No one can impose their will on the elves of the entire City of Dawn! Even Lord Wu Ge and Guardian only have the right to make suggestions. Everything must be resolved through the Council of Elders and made public to all the elves. It is impossible to harm the interests of the entire City of Dawn because of personal relationships!"

Old Gimli immediately fell into despair and entanglement. Obviously, the conditions that the Gimli clan could offer, the Durin clan could also offer! And they would definitely be richer, but... but facing this best opportunity for the Gimli clan to rise in thousands of years, how could he miss it? How dare he miss it?

In the end, Fang Senyan woke up the dreamer with a single word:

"The Gimli clan certainly cannot swallow the feirou of Khazad-dûm, so why not unite several dwarf clans? In short, there are seven large mineral veins here, and countless small mineral veins."

Just seven days later, with the help of costly teleportation (why didn't the Fellowship of the Ring use teleportation at that time? Because the power of the Ring was too great, the interference to the teleportation array was too great, and teleportation could directly lead to a trip to Earth), as many as six large clans among the dwarves united.

These six large clans, with a population of over one hundred thousand, announced the formation of the Zhui Ri Alliance (Sun Chasing Alliance), and signed a mutual assistance pact with the "powerful, holy, and captured the evil underground Balrog" City of Dawn. Then, the entire clan began to move into the long-abandoned Mines of Moria, renaming it Resthadûm (Land of Peace)!

Faced with this situation, the Durin dwarves, although extremely powerful, absolutely did not dare to act rashly. First of all, although they had many clan members, if they were to launch an expedition to Moria, they could only send at most fifty to sixty thousand warriors, while the dwarves of the Zhui Ri Alliance occupied the terrain and might not be easily driven away.

Secondly, the hidden strength of the City of Dawn was too terrifying. Capturing a Balrog alive was absolutely genuine, because since it was captured alive, then it meant it could be seen with one's own eyes! It was precisely because the Durin dwarves were driven out of the former Khazad-dûm alive by the Balrog that they knew how much strength was needed to capture a Balrog.

For Fang Senyan, the reason for choosing the Zhui Ri Alliance was very simple. A scattered and loose alliance was easier for him to control and divide, and even if there were any problems, the time to form a resolution would inevitably be slower!

More importantly, Fang Senyan's ambition to achieve the "Cover the Sky with One Hand" silver title had never faded! Wu Ge had indeed taken control of a large clan, but it was extremely difficult for her to settle in another world. It wasn't that she was unwilling, but because the Zerg themselves had such high-tech gadgets as the wormhole to shuttle through time and space, but Wu Ge didn't have this technology.

The only reason why the Durin dwarves were passed over by Fang Senyan was because they were good at crafting weapons and armor. Under Fang Senyan's intentional or unintentional guidance, the six major dwarf clans that formed the Zhui Ri Alliance were all very experienced in forging jewelry, enchanting, and building teleportation arrays!

The establishment of the Zhui Ri Alliance not only added another layer of insurance to the City of Dawn but also gave Fang Senyan an additional powerful research team that tirelessly researched the magic circle to bring Wu Ge and her clan over day and night!

The sky was clear, and white clouds floated in the blue sky.

Aridity was clearly showing its power in this place. The sparse grass on the ground had turned a deep yellow, and the sand next to the roots was clearly visible. The leaves of the small-leaved privet trees by the roadside already had obvious yellowing marks, and even the bark on the trees had been gnawed into pits one after another by passing horses. They were reluctantly trying to bypass the flat-topped hills in front.

This hill was not actually too high, but it seemed majestic and towering because of the surrounding terrain. Fang Senyan jumped off his horse and carefully identified the location on the map:

"We should have entered the territory of Arnor. This should be Amon Sûl, where the Seeing-stone was once placed, also known as Weathertop."

"I'm thirsty. I want to drink water. It must have ice cubes," a clear voice said with a hint of coquetry. It should be Wu Ge's voice.

Fang Senyan sighed and said:

"I really shouldn't have let you come with me. Our journey this time is very dangerous."

As he spoke, he took out a bottle of water from his personal space and handed it over. Wu Ge happily said:

"If I don't go with you, I don't know when I'll see you next time."

Fang Senyan said helplessly:

"Aren't I having the dwarves research magic teleportation arrays? They have already mastered the technology of teleportation arrays to different planes, but... the tearing space storms in the teleportation process will seriously injure even Haim Jia if he goes through it. But I think it should be soon. What are you rushing for?"