The Forbidden Forest of the Earthen Kingdom was the most guarded location after the royal castle.
Not only this forest was filled with poisonous animals and apex predators, but a powerful army squad patrolled the central area as well, and they were far more vicious than anything present in the entire forest.
The reason being there was an extremely precious Titan Iron Lode in this area which was discovered a few hundred years ago when the Earthen Kingdom foundation was established.
It was the lifeline of the Earthen Kingdom's economy.
But this lode was almost exhausted by the excessive mining. Nevertheless, the Hob Trolls still didn't vacant this place, and they were determined to undermine every piece of ore from this lode.
There was a small stone building where the superintendent of this mine lived.
At this moment, the superintendent was respectfully standing in front of a capped man with fear in his eyes.
He said, "M-my lord, last night 2… 2 tons of titan iron were stolen!" His legs turned into jelly when he felt a ghastly aura from the capped figure.
"Useless thralls!"
A deep icy voice sneered in anger and the next moment thereafter, the hob troll's head suddenly blew into bits!
"It seemed we underestimated this fish. It's a cunning one." A melodious voice sounded with a hint of ecstasy before another capped woman entered the room.
"Hmph!" the capped man grunted coldly, "He had already got two tons of titan iron, and we don't know about other materials of the titan tears formula. So, we might have to wait before he runs out of the stolen titan iron and approaches this place."
"Heh, do you think he'll come for more?" The woman suddenly asked playfully.
"What do you mean?" The man questioned.
The woman catwalk into the room as she said, "He's not coming back for more."
"Oh, how can you be so sure?" He was uncertain.
"You're just a muscle brain, sigh…" the woman lamented. "Tell me in these two raids, what was common?"
"Titan Iron?" The man coldly replied.
"No. Don't you read the reports that there weren't any traces of a carriage or any vehicle moving the titan iron in the first raid on the warehouse? This time, the convoy was completely destroyed, and only the container was taken away.
"This means whoever stole the titan iron had used no means to carry it. I can understand the 250KG even though I can carry it with one finger. But 2 tones will take me at least one hand while you have to use your full strength to travel with this much weight." The woman's voice went serious in the end.
"So, you're saying this person might be as strong as me?" The man asked in disbelief.
"Maybe, but he's not far away. So, tell me how much something made with a Tier-3 Common Material can affect your strength?" The woman asked another question.
The man was startled before he blurted, "It won't affect me at all, but if I took in a large quantity, then it might make some difference. But only once!
"Now I understand that motherfucker won't need this level of titan iron anymore after consuming over two tons of it! Didn't this mean we'll let him escape again?" His voice was filled with indignation and helplessness.
"Hehehe, you see, that's why I called you a muscle brain." The woman suddenly laughs in a mocking tone, a dark red light suddenly glowed between the cap as two crimson eyes glow with bloodlust, "Now we just have to visit those people who know about the convoys routes as well as to check their purchases in these past few days. We might catch our little troublemaker fish. I can't wait to eat this cunning fish…"
A chill ran down the man's spine when he heard this, and a scary proposition surfaced in his mind, 'Could it be all of this was just a trap set by this crazy bitch?!'
---
It had been an entire week since Jacob had stolen the entire container of the titan iron, and he was locked in the underground facility while making the titan tears.
He was almost done, and only a little over five hundred kg of titan iron left.
If not for the other two materials shortage, he won't take a break until he was done.
Jacob exited the underground warehouse to get some fresh air.
'I have successfully made over fifteen hundred drops of Titan Tears, and with the remaining titan iron, the grand total would be around seventeen to eighteen hundred drops.
'Well, this much is enough for me to cross two more limits, and till then, I'll be able to acquire the materials for the higher-level elixir. I can finally leave this place…' Jacob looked at the cloudy sky with some expectation.
Jacob also absorbed the heart essence of Tunny, who was a tier-7 Pine Orc, and it only raised his heart percentage from 51.01% to 52.06%.
Which made Jacob somewhat depressed because he was used to getting this much from a rare species, but now the rarer species were adding 1.5% to the heart's progress.
This means, by the time he reaches 60%, this number would further drop between 00.06 to 1.00.
Jacob now had a deep understanding of how percentages would add to the progress rate as he grew stronger and stronger.
'It seemed I have to skip the rare region…' Jacob thought deeply.
At this moment, he heard hurried steps and looked in the direction he was the Sunset Duke's son was rushing toward him with a pale face.
"What is it?" Jacob coolly questioned.
The young hob troll answered while panting, "W-war!"
Jacob's eyes narrowed. "What war?"
"An all-out war between our kingdom and humane kingdom! It was just announced, and everyone was ordered to get ready for the invasion." The hob troll answered while catching his breath.
"All-out war, invasion? Did they provoke you guys?" Jacob asked curiously.
The hob troll shook his head. "I don't know, but Father has to make a trip to the capital. The King summoned every noble to discuss the invasion plan. I was here to report it to you and deliver the materials Lord ordered. They have arrived.
"However, the supplier told me that this would be the last batch of these materials and we have to wait a couple of months for a new batch, and it might even take longer because of this abrupt war." The young hob troll seemed quite excited when he spoke about the war.
Not just him but the entire Earthen Kingdom was in an uproar because of this sudden war declaration. The hob troll species were innately warmonger and savage. They even support this decision and shower their King with praise.
However, the Humane Kingdom was completely baffled by this sudden declaration. They never provoked the two kingdoms and even pay taxes and tributes to the two kingdoms as a peace offering and always remained low-key.
The King of the Humane Kingdom even sent a diplomatic envoy to inquire about why the trolls suddenly turned hostile and do anything to stop this madness.
But on the same evening, the envoy's head was delivered back. It was a silent message, 'Fight or Die.'
Many human cities went into a state of war and some noble and weak humans fled the kingdom toward the common region without any hesitation.
The Earthen Kingdom was the strongest of the three kingdoms, and it would be akin to death by fighting this already lost war. So, fleeing seemed to be a better option.
However, the trolls seemed to have gone completely mad as they even sent 2/10th of their armies to the common region to hunt down every last human.
It appeared they simply didn't want to let any humans live anymore.
Jacob was astonished when he heard just how far trolls were going against humans.
'Something is not right with this war…' Jacob thought with a frown, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Nevertheless, he didn't want to be involved in this mess, and he wasn't a hero, either. The previous owner of this body was traded as a slave to Decker, so Jacob didn't have any goodwill toward humans as well.
'It's not like they're only humans as an intelligent species in this world…' Jacob shook his head. He ordered the young troll to shift all the materials into the warehouse.
He was planning to refine the remaining titan iron if he could and then leave this place for good.
Just like that, two more days pass,
As expected, the humans were getting slaughtered by the trolls on the battlefield. Only those mercenaries and knights were putting up a fight, but the trolls seemed to be playing with them as any of their B-rank experts had yet to join the battle.
Jacob was completely oblivious to this.
Right at this moment, two capped figures enter the Sunset Duke's mansion as if they were on a stroll.
"Hehe, see? We caught our fish!" The woman chuckled darkly!