Chapter 553: The Dwarfs' Expedition

Just like that, a huge wave of public opinion spread rapidly in the North.

Like a wave, it spreads from one city to another.

Most of the races, with the mentality of "there's nothing to lose by taking a look", began to gather people and head towards the Green City.

"Will the dwarves be angry?" This is also a common concern of all major races.

But after thinking about it carefully, "Even if the dwarves are angry, they will only go to Green City. What does it have to do with us small fish and shrimps?"

"When the time comes, I'll follow whoever wins!"

The exchange ratio of 1:50 is indeed shocking.

Even though some races had once received favors from the dwarves, now that there was a trading market, they also wanted to go and take a look.

It is easy to shake the soul, but it is difficult to shake the interests. It is not that I don't want to refuse, but he gave too much!

Of course, these races would not believe it easily. They only carried a small amount of resources, sent out teams, and waited and watched.

…

…

In the south of the North, there is a towering active volcano that emits endless heat, with sulfur and thick smoke constantly pouring out of the crater.

Near the volcano, there is a huge carved array, which is like a cage that traps the wild beasts in nature.

The dwarves use the "Volcano Harmony Glyph Combination" to continuously extract volcanic geothermal energy, which not only ensures their own energy but also keeps the volcano in a long-term stable state.

This is a great third-level civilization technology!

However, at this moment, the situation within the dwarf tribe was not peaceful. A competitor suddenly appeared, and the mighty momentum even affected their affiliated civilizations.

"Many vassal civilizations are in a state of restlessness."

“Do we need to use the army to suppress it?”

"No... I can suppress it temporarily, but not forever. Can I really annihilate all the civilizations that want to go and take a look?"

Many dwarves looked at the information at hand and felt annoyed.

It’s okay to open a trading market, which is tolerable - many powerful tribes have some small trading markets, which is normal.

But they bought up civilization points in large quantities and reaped the benefits of their years of hard work!

It was so infuriating! "Chairman of the Council, we should go to war with this damn Green City and use blood and fire to intimidate the surrounding races!"

"The soldiers are already very motivated and eager to fight after hearing the news. With just one order, we will go to the distant places and bring destruction!"

This bearded humanoid creature is only about 1.5 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide. He has well-developed muscles and looks like a bunch of muscle lumps.

There are two branches of the dwarf race.

Some of them have bad tempers, great strength, are good at mining and forging, are called "Bronzebeard Dwarves", and have little patience.

The other part is the nobles among the dwarves, who are good at rune carving, design and other delicate work. They are called "Storm Dwarves" and are more patient and have better tempers.

"Alas, you'd better stop making blind suggestions. Going to war all the time is simply self-destruction." The leading Storm Dwarf, the current Speaker of the Council, stroked his beard and said helplessly, "First of all, this Green City that suddenly appeared is also very powerful. They are still a civilization based on pure materialism. Don't you know that this kind of civilization is best at large-scale hot weapons?"

The various technologies currently displayed by humans are indeed based on pure materialism.

Generally speaking, the number of talented people in a civilization is limited, and it is difficult to balance both materialism and idealism.

The Speaker of the Parliament added: "Secondly, declaring war without any reason will only make other civilizations panic."

"They are even less willing to come to our trading market. After all, no one wants to interact with a civilization that enjoys slaughter."

"Fifty years ago, we made a big mistake! We were too impatient at the time, and for a little profit, we bought the civilization points of a small city at a low price. As a result, the news spread everywhere, and damaged our own reputation."

"There are rumors out there that we are scammers, saying that we have robbed other people's luck and that is why we have prospered so well. This is really... nonsense!"

Many members of the parliament felt deeply saddened when they recalled what happened.

They were all covered in dust and dirt.

There is really no way to control public opinion in the North. No one believes the metaphysical statement "extracting civilization points will harm one's own luck" even if they explain it a thousand times.

Misunderstood for 50 years.

In the end, as more and more materials were unearthed, the misunderstandings were resolved and the credibility of their city was slowly restored.

"So, we must not rashly start a war with Green City!"

"Unless we find a reasonable reason, it will only disrupt the current order. Our reputation must not be damaged in the slightest!"

The room fell silent.

"You are a smart man, I will listen to you." The Bronzebeard Dwarf slammed the table heavily and calmed himself down.

"For now, we can only use the most traditional method in the North, gambling!"

"We will attack the other party's reputation from all sides!" the Speaker of the Parliament whispered, "As long as we win the bet, we can take everything back!"

"But since they are actively collecting civilization points, they are obviously a third-level civilization. And they offer a 1:50 exchange rate. How strong is their productivity?"

1:50 is indeed an exaggeration. The dwarves who prefer idealistic technology can't afford this price at all. Although they have also entered the electric age and have mechanical puppets, these puppets are developed based on idealistic technology and cannot be expanded on a large scale.

"They also have a level 12 combat unit, level 12... I don't know where they got it."

The number 12 is even more worrying.

Even the one-eyed people can only climb to level 10.

If we use cold weapons to fight, it would be humiliating! "This Green City obviously has some skills, but everyone should know that this is an era where idealism and materialism coexist, and cold weapon fighting is only suitable for low-level struggles."

"For more advanced civilizations, cold weapon combat is of little significance. If a person cannot outrun a car or beat a fire beast, does that mean he has lost?"

"What we want to compete is... comprehensive strength!" The Speaker's gray beard trembled twice, and he said firmly, "From the quality of the population, to the level of technology, to the quality of the craftsmen, to the foundation of civilization, a comprehensive competition of strength! Only in this way can we make the many races in the North surrender!"

After a moment of silence, someone asked, "How do we compare? We can't just move the entire city over..."

The Council President said: "In Pangu Continent, craftsmen are kings. This is recognized by all major races."

"The other party is suspected to be a third-level civilization, and must have a large number of craftsmen. The competition of craftsmen's concepts is the most intuitive."

"I will invite the elders of the tribe to come out and compete with them."

"The elders...may not be willing to participate in this kind of thing."

"It's okay. I will convince them. You guys collect more information and make adequate preparations."

"We are going to have a great victory!"

"You have to crush the opponent to win everything back."

"Big victory!", "Big victory!"

Many dwarves in the conference room roared with red faces.

Their self-confidence is very strong.

Because of their natural race, the proportion of craftsmen among the dwarves is higher than that of other races.

In addition, they are a very competitive race, and the knowledge they have inherited from ancient times makes them even more powerful!

They believe they can have a crushing advantage in the forging fight!

After the meeting, the Speaker of the Council took a deep breath and walked towards the volcano with steady steps.

The steps, constructed of volcanic rock, sparkle with fiery red carvings, like flowing magma.

This is the third-level idealistic technology that the dwarves spent eighty years to create, the "Volcano Harmony Glyph Array".

Near the crater, there is a magnificent building called "Lu Palace". It looks like a huge furnace and covers an area of ​​about one square kilometer. You can faintly hear the sound of gears turning and the "ding-dang-dang" sound of iron hammering.

"What's the matter with you suddenly coming to visit us old guys?" An old man with a red beard and bare shoulders.

A piece of black metal is being tempered. Judging from the special Weidmanstätten pattern on it, it is a piece of meteorite.

"Elder, we would like to invite you to go out and fight with other civilizations." The Speaker of the Parliament bowed.

This old man's identity is very special - an ancient alien! He has superb forging skills, profound knowledge, and a lot of wealth.

However, no matter how powerful the ancient aliens were, they could no longer borrow the fortune of Pangu Continent after the change of era. They had to join the native civilization of the Ninth Era to borrow fortune again, so they chose the dwarf tribe who were the same race as themselves.

There are a total of 45 ancient aliens who have survived to this day.

The one in front of you is the one with the most superb skills, his name is Rock Fist Shenlu.

Rockfist Deep Furnace frowned and said rudely, "You think about gambling all day long. Is your civilization strong enough? Can you survive the epochal disaster?"

"You actually asked us to help you gamble. You're really being generous!"

"Get out! You might as well send up more materials!" The other aliens became disgusted when they heard the noise.

"You are developing too slowly. With our funding, you only have this much strength. At this rate of progress, when will our [Immortal King] be completed?"

"I should have found another civilization to support..."

We have to admit that compared to current civilization, aliens do have a great first-mover advantage.

The wealth accumulated in that era alone is incomparable to that of a normal civilization.

In addition, since one's own civilization has been lost, it is normal to have a bad temper.

The chairman of the council said with a bitter face: "My fellow elders, we have no choice. If we don't fight, our business will be taken away, our civilization points will be taken away, and the completion of [Immortal King] will be even further away."

"The Immortal King... also needs to consume civilization points."

"What?" Yanquan Shenlu scratched his head when he heard the words "civilization points". "Please explain it more clearly. Who in these poor cities in the North can use civilization points?"

"There is a powerful foreign race that wants to open a trading market."

"This civilization may be even more powerful than ours... They mainly develop a purely materialistic path..." The Speaker of the Parliament took out a stack of information from his backpack, "Such as solar energy equipment, floating fortresses, airplanes, trains... Oh, yes, they even sell floating cities. As long as you give them enough civilization points, they can even tailor-make a city for you!"

"This shows that the civilization's automated production line is very powerful. We are no match for it in this respect."

"Materialistic technological civilization..." Yanquan Shenlu stroked his beard and looked at the information. "The path of pure materialism has no future. Even though the scene is so grand, a little interference from idealism will immediately paralyze a large number of robots."

"Of course, the materialistic path is not unimportant either. There are many ways in it that we can learn from..."

"Why don't we just buy a floating city?" Another ancient alien slapped his head and had a sudden idea, "In other areas of Pangu Continent, sky cities are the mainstream."

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

"Only in this damn place called the North, everyone is squatting in the geothermal area, guarding their own little piece of land. Wait, why do I have this memory... Oh, I can't remember."

Another alien who was only 1.3 meters tall sneered, "Let them live in peace... It's only one era anyway. By the next era, everything will have become ruins."

"We really have to buy it. It will save us a lot of trouble! Once our Immortal King is finished, we must leave the North and head for a wider world!"

“Spend a little money to achieve great things.”

The Speaker of the Parliament felt his scalp tingling after hearing what the elders said. Green City is our competitor!

The dwarves came to buy the city openly, which was like personally endorsing the other party. However, these elders were obsessed with the [Immortal King] and had no interest in anything else, which was also very frustrating.

The Immortal King is great, but what’s the point if it can’t be completed?

In the boiling magma, there is a huge humanoid machine immersed.

The roar of the gears comes from the core of the humanoid machine.

【Giant Warrior: Immortal King】

[A certain civilization in the Eighth Era created a heavy combat weapon to fight against the disaster of the era. It has powerful functions and excellent performance, and can withstand almost all harsh environments. ]

[Its core can hold a small number of souls, serving as the pilot of the Immortal King.]

[Unfortunately, this heavy combat weapon did not take a unique path. ]

[The concept of creating the Giant God Soldier was proposed in the Sixth Era.]

[Therefore, it cannot be judged as "mythical level". (Immortal Level +++·Man-Made Wonder)]

【Shape：90.2】

[Qi: 72.3]

[God: 0]

[Abilities: Gravity Control, Annihilation Laser, Shock Wave, Extreme Hardening, Great Seal of the Infinite Gate. ]

These abilities are both offensive and defensive, and they are all combat abilities, which allow the Immortal King's combat power to reach an extremely high level.

However, the "mythical" level of judgment is very special.

It must be a unique concept or rule that has never appeared in the world before, and it must be something created out of nothing at the idealistic level.

The combat power of some "myths" is not strong, but it is the first time since the creation of Pangu Continent, so they are judged as myths.

[Immortal King] is indeed extremely powerful, but without new rules, it can never reach the mythical level...

So, this fact was like a thorn, piercing into the hearts of the old aliens, like a demon in their hearts.

They vaguely felt that the lack of mythology was the cause of the destruction of their own civilization.

Willing to give up everything to promote the Immortal King to a myth!

“Elder, there is no point in working in isolation here, and there won’t be any inspiration…” The chairman of the dwarf council bowed.

"Perhaps if we go out and collide with other civilizations, we will have new ideas. This time, human civilization is a powerful race."

"Hmph, powerful? A bunch of frogs in a well. Humans are at best a third-level civilization. How can they be considered a powerful civilization?"

"Don't think I can't see what you're thinking." Rockfist Deepfurnace turned his head and said, "The souls of us aliens are all bound to the Immortal King. Do you want to bring the Immortal King over to intimidate that human civilization?"

These old dwarves, like the Shumiba civilization, have their souls bound to the Immortal King. Only in this way can they survive the "Era Disaster".

Their bodies cannot be too far away from the [Immortal King].

Even though his thoughts were exposed, the chairman of the council was thick-skinned and did not feel embarrassed at all: "Elder, if we really cannot win, you will also lose face."

Is their dwarven civilization considered a third-level civilization? In fact, they themselves have no idea. The knowledge of these aliens is incomplete and their inheritance is incomplete.

It's hard to figure out your own strengths without ever clashing with a decent enemy.

At this moment, there was a light "crack" sound, and the hammer in Yanquan Shenlu's hand was actually knocked crooked, and a shallow crack suddenly appeared on the Weidman pattern of the meteorite from outer space.

For this master craftsman, even the slightest flaw can mean a major mistake.

"Alas, it's easy to have flaws, but it's hard to be perfect." He put down the hammer in his hand, looked at the subtle crack, and suddenly lost the desire to create. "When I think about the end of the era, even what happened will be forgotten, there is always an indescribable sense of urgency."

The chairman of the council persuaded again: "More haste makes waste, elder, why don't you follow us out for a stroll and relax? We won't go to war with humans. And you just need to stay in the back and watch the gambling fights of the younger generations, isn't that good?"

"Yes!" The other aliens were also a little moved, "In the last era, our civilization was more powerful than it is now, but we didn't complete the [Immortal King]."

“It’s unrealistic to expect it to be completed in a short period of time.”

"It's better to go out and see the civilization of the outside world."

"Perhaps a lot of new knowledge will appear in the Ninth Era. The alien civilization is a purely technological civilization, and may bring new knowledge."

"If we leave for a distant place, the Immortal King will go with us." Rock Fist Deep Furnace snorted coldly, "You are not allowed to use this thing to start a war! We have lived for so long, we should at least have some dignity. What's the big deal about bullying the civilization of the Ninth Era?"

"Elder, the Immortal King is just a backup item, it doesn't have to be taken out. This time we have to collect enough information first, and then dispatch the floating fortress to fly over slowly. Your Immortal King can hide in the fortress, and there is no need to show up." The Speaker of the Council said, "We will pass through more than a dozen cities along the way. We will do some small transactions with them, and you can also experience the culture of the exotic cities and relax a little."

"It will take three years for our fortress to reach the Green Market."

“Only then will gambling fights occur.”

"So there's no need to rush. Let's just have some fun and relax for now."

The dwarves set the time three years later after careful consideration.

Because it takes time for news in the trading market to spread.

It takes time for word of mouth to ferment. The North is so large that some cities further away hesitated for a while and prepared for a while, and half a year passed.

Therefore, the timing to suppress the opponent is very clever.

If the fight happened too early and few civilizations witnessed it, what would it matter if they won? A fight is not a war, and there is no way to destroy the other party.

It is necessary to crush the opponent in front of the public when representatives from many cities have gathered in the trading market to deal a devastating blow to the opponent's reputation! In this way, three years later is the time for the dwarves to make careful plans!

"A journey that lasts for several years?" The master craftsman, Rockfist Deepfurnace touched his chin, as if recalling that long, long ago, their civilization had a huge city in the sky.

That great journey may have lasted for hundreds or thousands of years! And this trip today may bring back memories of the high spirits of youth.

The old man was convinced: "Well, that's fine... Let's get ready and bring all kinds of forging tools."

The aliens who survived the Eighth Era possessed various rare divine skills and had a lot of wealth.

All the remaining extraordinary materials were used to forge the [Immortal King], but instead of forging a myth, a disaster came.

"Let's just buy a city! We can buy it regardless of whether we win or lose the bet." To be honest, the aliens' attitude towards the dwarves is actually quite subtle.

After their souls were bound to the [Immortal King], they have lost their ability to reproduce.

They just look similar to the current dwarves, but they themselves are not sure whether there is reproductive isolation.

Isn't it the same no matter which civilization they support? Of course, after so many years of getting along, they have developed some feelings. In addition, the dwarves are also quite competitive and have become the most powerful civilization in the North, so they settled here with peace of mind.

"Don't disrupt their plan for now! You all know what civilization points mean to a civilization that wants to rise... Let nature take its course."

"They are still a young civilization and need to have their own rights. We cannot force them to grow too fast."

Rock Fist Deep Furnace put all his personal property into the chest of the [Immortal King] and then he let out a sigh of relief.

I turned my head and looked at the azure sky. The flying birds, time, travel, and vague memories left only the clanging sound of forging.

When people get old, they always miss the past.

But if you don't look to the future, you will never have a future.

"The world of the Ninth Era... I must go and see it."

…

(End of this chapter)