While the northern region is still freezing, the central plains of the mainland have entered a warm spring.
In the palace of the Bayer Empire, the old emperor was waiting for his visitors in the garden.
, is not tall, does not speak loudly, and walks with the slowness of a learned man. He seems to be an old scholar who is easy to deal with, but in the country, he has the "reputation" of the Fox and Scorpion Emperor, which refers to him.
A method that is poisonous both internally and externally.
Is it difficult to understand how poisonous both internally and externally is? "As long as the result is good, any means is acceptable" is his life motto, and he has always done so.
In order to consolidate the centralization of power, he used murder, division, blaming, and fraud internally. For the sake of national interests, externally, he tore up various covenants and agreements several times, and actively provoked wars several times, which earned him the title of "Untrustworthy"
The nickname also caused the current Bayer Empire to lose all its allies.
But every loss has its own gain. While he destroyed the credibility accumulated by the Bayer Empire for countless years, the national power of the Bayer Empire also reached its highest peak in history. Within half a century, it was annexed by it.
There are seventeen small and medium-sized countries in the country, their territory has been greatly expanded, and their population has also increased significantly.
"From the day I came to the throne, the war has never stopped."
This exclamation initially expressed my helplessness, but in the middle and later stages, it became the pride of a consecutive winner.
On the other hand, the continuous victory in foreign wars has also enhanced the prestige of the royal family, and the domestic nobles are also extremely respectful to the royal family. In fact, all the nobles send heavy gifts to the old emperor every year to celebrate his birthday. The heirs of each feudal lord are also in the capital.
Learn from the royal family (act as a hostage).
Well. Those who refused to hand over the hostages and those who were openly disrespectful are already dead. There has been peace in the country for a long time. I am afraid that in the next three thousand years, the authority of the Bayer royal family has reached the highest peak in history.
These were only his achievements in his middle age when he took the throne, but in his later years, they became even more remarkable. He spent more than thirty years making a century-old plan:
"Establish a military united front department to unify the command of all military services. All feudal nobles must perform military service regularly. Those who desert military service will die, and those who default on taxes will die."
"Official control over the unified sales of important daily necessities such as salt, grain, and steel, and production supplies. Those who smuggle goods and sell materials without authorization are subject to death."
"Officially controls the idle forces of the people. All fighting professions must be registered. Adventurer associations and adventurers in various places must be loyal to the royal family. All adventurers are the wealth of the country and unconditionally accept the mobilization of the country in a state of emergency. ** is not allowed
Adventurers exist, including mages! Unlicensed mages will be executed in public."
It has to be said that Oros is very skillful. He took over the throne when the country was in the most turmoil. However, he spent his whole life working hard to run the entire country to its highest peak in history. Although he has a notorious reputation and has no faith or integrity at all.
Countless people at home and abroad are looking forward to his death. The assassin who signs in on time every month throughout the year can make a duty list... Although he is hated by people, even the people who hate him the most have to admit it.
, he is indeed a famous king who made this country strong.
It is indeed hateful to monopolize the sale of important materials and compete with the people for profit, but at this time, the abundance of Bayer's treasury has far exceeded ordinary people's imagination. The annual military expenditure is three times the accumulation of the surrounding countries, but the treasury has nothing at all.
Nervous, at the same time, Bayer has not experienced widespread famine due to disaster years for decades, and its population and urban prosperity are also at their highest peaks in history.
The national property ownership of relatively neutral adventurers and mercenaries caused a huge backlash at the beginning, but with the backing of the royal power and the army, a generation later, the original waves have calmed down, and now the new adventurers
Everyone has taken it as a natural obligation to serve the country, and even rare professions such as mages have consciously registered to become a member of the officialdom.
Undoubtedly, this is tantamount to declaring war on the old management, which has aroused the dissatisfaction of many neutral forces such as adventurers, mercenaries, mages' associations, churches of the gods, etc. Protests and assassinations have become commonplace. He doesn't know where he came from.
The powerful guards who came have never let him down, and even demigod-level assassins have fallen into his hands several times. He has never been afraid of any enemy's provocation.
But on the other side of the high-pressure rule, the domestic grievances are really not small. Countless people hope that he will die early, and there are even more people who hope that the Bayer Empire will return to the past. In the eyes of caring people, this seemingly powerful country,
In fact, the foundation is not strong and is always crumbling in the wind and rain. It is only a matter of time before it falls apart.
The biggest and most fundamental problem is that Oros XIII has no descendants.
Maybe it was because he was injured in the early battles, or maybe the so-called Yin De theory really worked. In any case, although he had numerous harems, he could never give birth to a child. However, two concubines became pregnant, and they were killed by him the next day.
He was dragged off to feed the dogs. Suddenly, rumors spread throughout the streets that the Bayer Empire was doomed to have no heirs.
Of course, in order to solve this problem, he has also made efforts, such as adopting many adopted sons and daughters. After all the hardships, among the thirty or forty adopted sons and daughters, there are probably more than twenty people alive today.
, and Ioros’s suspicious character, those with too strong abilities will be eliminated early, but it is basically unrealistic to find a successor that can be accepted by all forces.
The oldest sworn prince, Karostan, is already over fifty, but he looks older than the emperor. The prince can live to this day only because he is incompetent and does not have the ambition like their elder brother, nor does he have the extravagant hope of being able to ascend the throne in his lifetime.
Ascend to the throne.
"Anyway, he is over seventy and doesn't have much time left. Let's wait for him to die. When the time comes..."
There is an unspoken unspoken rule in the main plane. A short-lived king must be a short-lived king. God will not allow an immortal king to exist. If you still cherish the kingship after a hundred years, divine punishment will come unexpectedly.
The careerists are sharpening their teeth in the dark, waiting for the old lion king to die of old age. Among them are not only the wealthy wolves of foreign races, but also the equally shaky old lion. His princes and brothers who are still alive have been waiting for his death for a long time.
The lion king has fallen, and the fertile territory will naturally usher in a new round of competition among the heroes.
"It's not far, it's not far. He hasn't practiced any martial arts or magic. He's just relying on the medicine jar to hold him up. He might fall down tomorrow."
But today, the old king, who seemed to be about to reach his end, had a long-awaited date. It was a visitor wearing a black cloak who, led by the royal guards, walked into the old emperor's palace.
garden.
"Emperor Esso, your personal arrival is the glory of our entire empire. It is a pity that it is not suitable to disclose our relationship now and we cannot hold a feast to entertain you."
The old king put aside his royal dignity, stood up quickly, and personally greeted the visitor who came in the night, just because the man in black robes in front of him was an immortal king who was far more ancient and noble than him.
Facing Oros's welcome, Emperor Esso had no intention of being polite and stayed in this plane. Every moment was torture for him, and he went straight to the point without hesitation.
"It's okay, we never care about those false names. The only thing that can make me come is the real benefits. So, young king, have you made a decision? Have you finally decided to embrace death and become one of us?
Gain true immortality."
A sudden dark wind blew by, and the true face under the hood of the robe was revealed. Or, it should be said that there was no face, but the blazing green flames in the skull said everything.
The only undead soul that can be called an emperor is probably the legendary undead emperor. In front of these ancient emperors who originated from the plane of death, even the modern gods are just juniors.
Countless shackles and seals were densely covered on the body of Emperor Esso, but just the leaked power of death caused the black wind to billow in the royal garden. A large number of plants died instantly, and the land began to wither. Under the ground, there was a faint...
There are bones returning to the world.
Faced with this terrifying power that could make a brave man timid, Oros, who was just a mortal, smiled.
"Back then, everyone knew that I, Oros, was the most trustworthy. From the moment you saved me thirty years ago, from the day the ancient contract was concluded, our agreement was destined to be valid forever."
Oros XIII also opened his splendid clothes, revealing his upper body. He saw that a piece of his abdominal cavity was missing. Where his heart should have been, there were dark bones and rancid rotten meat pushed together. It looked expensive.
Even the silver rose perfume could not cover up the stench of corpse flesh.
Even though his physical body was disgusting and frightening, Oros' smile remained the same, seemingly painless, but the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes made him look a little depressed.
"I have been a living dead for more than thirty years. From that day on, do I have any other choice?"
----------
Unlike the south where there are long days, the northern areas tend to get dark earlier in winter, especially in late winter, when it is only around 6 pm, and it is already completely dark in Diefende.
Magic Lamp, the latest product of Magic Mechanics, has been distributed to every household as a daily item, but most families still have the same living habits as in the past, eating dinner early, lying down in warm quilts, and
Get up early and get ready tomorrow.
There were no pedestrians on the streets that were still lively a few hours ago. Pedestrians were either hiding in their warm homes or getting drunk in bars and hotels. After all, even at the end of winter, the cold at night was still fatal, and drunkards would freeze.
Although it is regrettable that people die on the streets, it does happen from time to time.
When the whole city seems to have fallen into silence, there is a place in the suburbs in the south of the city. There is a closed area of three-story bungalows. There is no difference between late night and day. It is always bright all night long and there is always constant noise.
"Boom!" The loudest sounds are all kinds of explosions. Judging from whether the person flying in the sky is a goblin engineer or an alchemist, you can know whether it is an alchemy laboratory or an engineering laboratory.
In the blacksmith shop in a corner of that enclosed area, the sound of knocking never stopped no matter day or night.
At this time, I am also here, checking the progress of an important work.
"Orange Head, how is the situation? What is the quality of these ores? Can they meet the demand?"
"This batch of magic iron ore is of good quality. Our mines produce this kind of special grade material. You must have bought it from Oran."
Seeing me nodding silently, Old Hoyle continued with satisfaction.
"If I can keep up with the materials, the progress will be very smooth. But the time is too tight. In three days, I can probably have a good product. I can run, jump and see, but I definitely can't fight."
"As long as it looks like it."
When displaying new equipment, the important thing is the design ideas and the new technology. Anyway, those invited guests may not know the goods, so it is enough to fool them. Once I have orders and funds, I will actually start the production line.
"……."
The cold winter wind turned the dwarf's wine nose red from the cold, but the dwarf took a sip of wine with a displeased face. He did not answer. As a senior armor master, he was quite dissatisfied with rushing to produce inferior products.
"Is it worth it? In order to find me, you even turned all the flower streets upside down."
"Hmph, don't be too self-righteous, it's just a way of doing it. If you work here obediently, you will save me a lot of trouble. Guess what will happen to your brothers if I tell them that they were imprisoned because of you?
you."
"Those heartless bastards will tear me to pieces. A cunning, tall, tall human who specializes in picking out old Hoyle's weaknesses. Be careful your daughter doesn't grow a beard."
After taking a puff of his pipe, the dwarf muttered a dwarf-style curse word under his breath, and then continued to pick up the hammer and continue tinkering.
Hoyle, a gray dwarf, is a master blacksmith specializing in armor, nicknamed Orange Head, a member of the League of Gentlemen, and my most trusted blacksmith master. His skills have further improved in his cooperation with goblins. If I want to give him his current
The level of armor forging ability may have surpassed the boundaries of mortal masters and reached the realm of legend.
The advancement of life-type professions is far more difficult than that of combat professions. Legendary combat professions have their own soul emblems and their own unique paths, while legendary blacksmiths also have their own paths.
But his path is so special, so special that he is unique in the world, so special that he really can't do it without him.
In the blacksmith shop, what was beaten by Old Hoyle was a goblin mecha. This was not unusual. Goblin harvesters and mechanical giants were already technologically mature engineering products, but what was strange was this mechanical mecha.
of size.
He is 2.4 meters tall, and the mecha itself probably weighs more than 150 kilograms. If it weren't for the energy engine composed of the "Olivia's Box" behind it, exerting its own power, even the orcs would be
You can't wear this kind of armor.
The streamlined armor is inlaid with obsidian protective plates. This special protection used to reinforce the chariot is far more powerful than the knights' plate armor. Even the small-caliber goblin artillery can only leave a trace.
Yes, this is not a mechanical war puppet, but a pure armor. There will be warriors wearing the armor inside, rather than a pilot operating the mecha.
"Although this design idea is good, the problem is also there. Without the ability to control elements, its magic circuit cannot be activated. Even with my specially made magic parts, if the magic power is insufficient, it is just a piece of scrap metal."
"Don't worry, I have many people with the ability to control elements. I will give top priority to your funds and materials, finalize them as soon as possible, and then strive to start mass production next year. I will find some bad guys as sponsors and experimenters, you
Just be bold and innovative. Those 'good Samaritans' will give their lives to feed back the data of your work."
Looking at the old dwarf who became silent as he fell into working mode, and touched the solid protective plate and steel body of the heavy armor, I couldn't help but nod with satisfaction.
"With this, my Four Spirit Sword User will be able to exert at least three times its combat power...Should I paint it red and install a collision angle?"
To determine how far a career can go, we must not only look at its strengths, but also its weaknesses.
The worst thing about the Four Spirit Swordsmen is probably that they still have an unparalleled defense ability. A mature Four Spirit Swordsman must not only hone his magic sword skills, but also work hard to train the ability to control elements and specialize in swordsmanship.
It is extremely unrealistic to expect them to have the same hand-to-hand fighting abilities as ordinary knights and warriors without counting their magic power.
The fragility of the physical body and the need to use magic power also allow them to wear light armor and go to the battlefield, which is in sharp contrast to those muscular warriors who can still move freely wearing dozens of kilograms of heavy armor.
.
But on the battlefield, weak defense is the most deadly. Bows and arrows are always the most cost-effective killing weapons. You can encounter bows and arrows flying all over the sky almost every time. The magic swordsman who has been trained through hard work can be killed by a stray arrow or gravel.
Not worth it.
"The first batch of mechas, the 'Sith Warriors', which are hand-to-hand combat models with high protection, high power amplification, and short-range burst capabilities, are all supplied to the Silver Cross Chapter (Four Spirit Swordsmen). The second batch of mechas are based on
The 'interstellar machine gunners' with high mobility, medium protection, and high sustained combat capabilities are all supplied to magic bullet shooters and top hunters."
In my long-term blueprint, the future armored army has already formed a battle formation. Between the mecha dragon and the giant metal war statue, countless mecha warriors act as the main force. They accompany me all the way to kill demons and gods, easily
Pine drove the demons back to the abyss and kicked the undead emperors back to the plane of death.
"The firepower-specialized 'Tauren Machine Gunner', the Juggernaut-specific 'Force Master', haha, I can imagine the perfect upgraded version now."
When the magical steel army of the new era is formed, I will let these ancient antiques who are still alive in the Middle Ages deeply understand what "advanced technology is combat power" and "being lagging behind is being beaten". And just when I was thinking about it, a malicious man
The voice brought me back to reality.
"Stop dreaming. Many parts of this thing require extremely high requirements. Now only I can build it. Your local craftsmen will break even a kitchen knife. Even if I work hard for you, one piece every three months is fast.
Besides, even if I can keep up with the progress, can your mineral materials keep up? If you just rely on the open-pit scattered mines of the barbarian tribe, you won’t be able to save enough materials even if it takes ten years."
"Also, your pig iron ore can still be bought, but the output of magic ore is too small. If you can't get high-grade magic ore, your mecha army will be the target of thunderstorm spells."
Hearing this, I couldn't help but frown. Although it was unpleasant to have my dream interrupted, what he said was also true.
The matter of mining there has already begun, but the war situation here has involved all my energy. Coupled with the cold weather and lack of large equipment, it is already the limit to obtain some open-pit minerals by simply and crudely blasting mines. Deep excavation has not yet been completed.
Expand.
"It seems that we need to make another trip there. Not even a single mining area is safe, so we need to prepare a few more. Otherwise... find the Holy Church to do more digging." (To be continued...)
