Chapter 328 - 233 - Invitation of the Dwarves

At this moment, Wesley appeared with a new piece of news.

The Black Dragon Empire admitted defeat and signed a ceasefire agreement three days ago. The Black Dragon Empire paid the White Dragon Empire a considerable sum of money and resources as compensation, and the imperial border was pushed twenty miles in the direction of the Black Dragon Empire!

This meant that for the first time since the end of the World War, there had been a shift in territorial boundaries between the two nations!

Wesley said that the negotiator from the Black Dragon Empire had been extremely polite, accepting almost all of the terms proposed by the White Dragon Empire without any bargaining. It was so straightforward that it was mind-boggling, and everyone was convinced that there must be some underlying scheme. However, when the tangible gold and silver appeared, and the Black Dragon Empire’s border forces began to withdraw, everyone believed that it was all real.

"I don’t believe the Black Dragon can be honest." Long Yi grumbled.

"No one does," Wesley said. "I guess our new emperor also wants to put an end to this situation as soon as possible. The Black Dragon Empire has been our sworn enemy for many years, and if pushed too hard, it might bite back hard."

Long Yi did not agree or disagree. He didn’t understand political games, but based on his understanding of the Black Dragon Emperor, the old man was incredibly ambitious. If he were to pay any price, it would have to lead to a much greater gain in the future.

At this moment, within the secret laboratories of the Royal Research Institute in the Black Dragon Empire’s capital, the emperor was staring at nine empty cultivation tanks.

"Your Majesty, the envoy has returned. Here is the ceasefire agreement."

A servant knelt behind and said.

"I don’t care about these things." said the Black Dragon Emperor Kaniel Black. "All I want to know is when these cultivation tanks of mine will be filled with subjects."

"Your Majesty, we are selection suitable candidates as quickly as possible. It will take some time. It also takes time to apply for Black Dragon Eggs from Dragon Island. But I believe that soon, a new batch of mass-produced Dragon Knights will be born, and this time they will be even stronger than the last," reassured the attendant.

"I hope so."

The servant left, and the emperor walked forward alone, traversing the complex corridors. As he neared a certain door, a strong, pungent smell filled the air, an odor so pungent it challenged his fortitude. But the emperor seemed unfazed, opening the door, and slowly walking in.

"My dear son, are you doing well?"

In the glass tanks ahead, within the green solution, a stitched up man was floating. At the sound of the emperor’s words, the man opened his dull white eyes, and a horrifying smile spread across his face.

The training at the sixth grade was boring and monotonous. Due to a lack of opponents, Long Yi often had to seek out the regular army stationed in Academy City for practice. Against these soldiers, Long Yi was able to grasp some formal battle skills. However, due to their weak abilities, he found difficulty in experiencing substantial challenge.

Indeed, the drawback of releasing all of Long Yi’s power at once became apparent then. Without an opponent, there was no drive to keep moving forward.

Long Yi felt the sky darkening before him.

Should he apply to go to the border?

Ai Lin was eager to help, but as she was already one with her Dragon, her assistance in aerial dragon battles was limited.

Just then, the ’Golden Hammer’ came with an edict from the emperor.

It turned out that the Dwarves were having some problems using the machine tools. Originally, they had planned to accumulate all the problems before asking for help. But now, the problems had become so pressing that they could not proceed without resolving them. Then, a clever dwarf suggested, ’Why don’t we invite the great Long Yi to Furnace Fortress?’

Suddenly, the suggestion gained unanimous approval. Luckily, the ’Golden Hammer’ happened to be in Academy City at the time, so they quickly sought the new emperor’s opinion. Upon receiving the emperor’s positive response, they rushed to Academy City.

How could Long Yi say no at a time like this!

Upon meeting, ’Golden Hammer’ naturally praised Long Yi’s performance in previous battles. Although the Dwarves had always been neutral, it did not prevent the Dwarves from having personal preferences. ’Golden Hammer’ liked Long Yi, so he naturally sided with him in his speech. But, it was only a line or two.

"The new stainless steel recipe you provided is simply perfect! I’ve never seen such perfect steel!" Metals were ’Golden Hammer’s’ greatest concern. His long beard swished as he spoke, clearly overwhelmed with excitement.

"That does not count as perfect. Perhaps we can make something even better in the future!" said Long Yi.

"I believe you! You, young man, are simply a miracle!" ’Golden Hammer’ laughed. "the Elders can’t stop mentioning your name. They’d prefer it if you just moved into the Furnace Fortress."

"That won’t do. If I live in Furnace Fortress, where will I go to fight?" Long Yi joked.

"I bet if you live in Furnace Fortress, the Elders will fight with you every day." ’Golden Hammer’ wasn’t exaggerating. Recently, production of machinery in Furnace Fortress had intensified and several individuals with mechanical talent had emerged. However, some of them reached a bottleneck and couldn’t find a way out. They urgently needed Long Yi to systematically teach them about machinery.

"So when shall we set off?"

"The sooner the better!"

"Now?"

"Alright! Let’s go!"

"Hang on! Let me say my goodbyes first!"

While he was ready to leave, and had already gotten the Dean’s permission, he couldn’t just disappear abruptly.

Long Yi ran to the sixth grade to fetch Ai Lin, who was studying magic, and together they ran to the fifth grade to tell Wesley. ’We’re going to Furnace Fortress.’

Then, amidst the envy of Wesley, the cook, and the mosquito, the two left the academy.

"No point in staring. They’re off on a trip together. We, on the other hand, need to keep grinding through our studies," said the cook.

"Ah! After I finish my service, I want to hook up with ten girls!"

Wesley shouted this out without much regard for his image.

"Well, you can wish for as many as you like, but ten girls?" The mosquito laughed derisively, driving Wesley into despair.

Furnace Fortress is located in the towering mountains in the west. The dwarves had hollowed out an entire mountain range and built luxurious palaces inside. At the entrance to the palace were two gigantic sculptures etched into the mountainside, depicting two dwarves: one holding a hammer, the other holding a flame. This symbolized the essence of the dwarves, the hammer and the flame.

Under the protection of two Iron Dragons, Bajie landed in the distance, transforming into its resting phase. The Iron Dragon was the dwarves’ guardian dragon, made almost entirely of steel. Contrary to Long Yi’s expectations, the most common color of an Iron Dragon wasn’t black, but a rust-brown. Moreover, there were no dragon knights mounted on the Iron Dragons. The dwarves weren’t humans; they had their own fighting aura and didn’t need to rely on the dragon clan’s power.

So, the relationship between the Iron Dragons and the dwarves seemed more like a professional contract.

The Iron Dragons protected the dwarves, and the dwarves provided gold and gems to the Iron Dragons.

Entering through a massive ungodly door was the real entryway into the dwarves’ world.

The most prominent thing Long Yi saw here was the color gold. Golden floors, golden sculptures, golden murals.

"All the gold you see is real gold. All the silver is genuine silver," Golden Hammer proudly informed Long Yi.

"Cool!"

Although gold was everywhere, it didn’t feel tacky or lifeless, unlike some oil-rich countries. The dwarves might not have been the greatest artists, but they certainly knew how to judiciously use gold and silver.

Golden Hammer walked beside Long Yi. Long Yi, an intimidating figure even among humans, made Golden Hammer look even smaller.

Swarms of dwarves darted to and fro, all glancing and pointing at Long Yi, who wasn’t a commonplace sight at the Furnace Fortress. Because visitors were infrequently allowed, the sight of a human attracted quite the attention. The dwarves were intensely curious, and very quickly a crowd gathered around Long Yi, preventing any further movement.

"Hey, hey, did you see? That big guy has a black iron badge on his waist," said one dwarf.

"No shit, look at him. Compared to Golden Hammer, he’s like a giant. He’s definitely Long Yi!" another dwarf responded.

"Ah, that bastard Golden Hammer is too lucky, he found us our hero, Long Yi, allowing him to enter the Elder Council. Otherwise, with Golden Hammer’s qualifications, it would have been impossible," a dwarf grumbled with a shake of his head.

"All of you, fuck off!" roared Golden Hammer, and the crowd of dwarves immediately scattered.

Then, from a distance, a group of dwarves approached. Leading them was a dwarf Long Yi recognized: One of the elders, Morton.

"Hello, Uncle Morton!" Long Yi called from a distance.

"Long Yi, young lad! You’re finally here!" Morton responded, elated.

"Cut it out, he calls you Uncle, and you call him little brother? Look at you, trying to act like a youngster," sneered Golden Hammer.

The onlooking crowd clearly knew of Golden Hammer’s temper. He jeered and scoffed his heart out, but no one bothered him.

"Come on, young Long Yi, we have prepared a proper dwarf-styled welcome banquet for you!" Morton warmly suggested.

If dwarves were famous for two things, it was their metalworking techniques and their alcohol. During the entire banquet, Long Yi hardly ate anything but kept downing drinks one after another. It wasn’t because the dwarves were trying to get him drunk, this was just their custom. The dwarves believed the best way to honor their guests was to grant them the satisfaction of a good drink, to the point they could hardly stand.

Even though Long Yi had already reached Complete Form of the Giant’s bloodline, he was still knocked out by the alcohol.

So, in such a short time, Long Yi had already passed out twice from alcohol. However, the first time, Long Yi hadn’t used the Giant’s bloodline and had intended to get drunk. This time, even with the Giant’s bloodline, he couldn’t resist the never-ending onslaught of strong liquor.

There is an old saying among the dwarves: "Pass out where you drink, wake up where you fell," and they consider this to be their highest form of courtesy. To have no precaution against a guest from another race meant the utmost level of trust and honor.

Although Long Yi had already sobered up quite a while ago, considering the rumbling snore of the dwarves around him, he decided to play along and lay down again, completely devoid of sleep. Like so, Long Yi stayed awake until the first morning light came in through the giant stone pillars.

One by one, the dwarves woke up. Obviously, due to Long Yi’s good drinking capacity, the dwarves’ affection for him had increased even more.

Morton, in particular, was almost gushing over him.

Throughout the following day, Morton and Golden Hammer accompanied Long Yi for a tour of the entire Furnace Fortress. Long Yi finally got a chance to appreciate the dwarven pursuit of metalwares and mechanics. The dwarves’ mechanical skill was roughly at the level of the early stages of the Second Industrial Revolution, and Long Yi’s arrival was like a hand pushing them forward. However, this push was quite abrupt, and the dwarves had missed out on the process of knowledge accumulation.

Of course, his arrival now was precisely to make up for that process.

In the following three days, Long Yi held a series of classes explaining the most basic mechanical knowledge to the dwarves. The dwarves worshipped Long Yi as if he were a god. They couldn’t comprehend that anyone could possess such intricate knowledge of mechanics.

However, even though being a respected teacher felt good, it was also immensely boring. Especially after the first three days of novelty had worn off, Long Yi began to feel a tremendous sense of boredom.

Then, at that moment, trouble came knocking. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to qidian.com to vote for it. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)