Chapter 968: Demonstration
Andrew stared blankly, following the Gray Orc’s pointing finger. He saw a red-skinned orc swaggering down the street, carrying a massive warhammer over two meters long. People on both sides greeted the orc as he passed...
"Hey, are you going to trade or not? If you’re not, I’ll go find someone else."
Andrew quickly apologized, trading at the prices listed on the form—actually, even a little lower. He used grain seeds, fruit, and various Northend resources, mostly food items.
But with these things, he managed to exchange for ten tenth-rank Alchemical Golem warhorses, ten servant Alchemical Golems, and even got a large pile of spare parts thrown in.
It’s worth noting that food and fruit like this are the least valuable commodities in Northend...
After a quick calculation, Andrew’s heart pounded wildly. If he brought these things back to Northend, even after deducting planar transmission fees, he’d make at least twenty to thirty times the profit in a single transaction...
Andrew gripped his spatial ring, face flushed with excitement. He quickly asked what was most needed here, then left through the portal. At this point, the transmission price didn’t seem expensive at all...
On the other side, Dell carried the large amount of grain and seeds he’d gotten, letting a laborer Alchemical Golem haul them, and happily returned home.
"Hey, sis, look what I brought back—a thousand jin of processed grain, and a hundred jin of wheat seeds! Wheat, you know, is what that new bakery on the street uses for those delicious cookies. Or so they say. With these seeds, we can grow some ourselves."
Hey, even if we don't know how to farm, it's fine. Just spend a little money and hire a couple of Alchemical Golems who do. The wheat we grow will be enough to feed us for a year.
Look, and there’s these dragonfruit. Last time, Lord Hubert gave me half a dragonfruit—it was delicious. And there are seeds, so we can grow our own. Soon we’ll have endless dragonfruit. And these other fruits, too—they say the pits are seeds, so we can plant those. Our family will have all the fruit we want.
Expensive? Not at all. Ten tenth-rank Alchemical Golem horses and ten servant Alchemical Golems—that human gave us a real bargain. I felt bad, so I threw in some spare parts as a gift.
Yeah, things have been much better since Archmage Leon Merlin arrived. At least now we all have enough to eat, and the fortress isn’t nearly as dangerous as before. With all the Alchemical Golems Archmage Leon arranged for defense, we can grow grain and fruit outside.
Orcs don’t farm? Who says so? We just couldn’t before. If we don’t farm, there’s hardly any edible game on the Four Seasons Plain. What, should we go trade food with those red-skinned idiots?
Pfft. I asked Lord Hubert about it—he’s a Dragonblood Orc. I don’t really know what a Dragonblood Orc is, but he’s definitely not like those red-skinned fools.
Back then, the warhorses I made could only be traded for a single orc leg. If we rationed, it’d last three days at most. We had to risk going outside the city to hunt Alchemical Golems, or scavenge for parts in the junk heap.
But now, it’s great—a single trade, and we don’t have to risk our lives. It’s enough food for half a year, plus seeds to plant.
Idiot, if you keep saying we shouldn’t farm, you’re not allowed to eat any of the endless dragonfruit!
Yeah, after we harvest, we’ll give some to Lord Hubert to try, and send some to Archmage Leon Merlin. Then you can eat cookies every day, how about that?
Don’t worry—the old days aren’t coming back. Back then, except for those useless Alchemical Golems, none of us had enough to eat. Now everyone’s full. I just saw Lily—she’s actually gained weight.
Hurry up and eat. I heard Archmage Leon Merlin is recruiting again. I’ll try my luck next time..."
Development on the Four Seasons Plain was booming, especially at the Gray Orc Fortress, which grew fastest of all. Countless Gray Orc alchemists were all desperate to be hired by Leon, joining the ranks of alchemists had become a badge of honor.
This completely different kind of prosperity shocked everyone who came here. It didn’t feel like a fortress that had just survived a war—it was more like one of Northend’s thriving cities.
In fact, in some ways, it was even more prosperous than Northend. Everything was strictly ordered, from the cleaning of alleys and streets, to the price of snacks, to the fortress’s energy supply and defenses—everything ran like clockwork.
You wouldn’t find any human city thugs here. Even if there were some before, you wouldn’t find them now—after a few were beaten to death by those ever-present Alchemical Golems, everyone followed the rules inside the fortress.
All eight fortresses on the Four Seasons Plain had their defenses completely upgraded, combining layouts from the Gray Orc Fortress and Radiance Fortress. New arrangements were finished, and there were permanent teleportation halls between the eight fortresses. Except for large merchant caravans, travel between fortresses was easy for everyone.
Everything was developing rapidly, and Leon hardly bothered with fortress management anymore. Everything ran by the rules he’d set. Ever since the Title Archmage from Cloudspire Tower personally came to apologize, nobody dared challenge the rules here.
"Archmage Leon Merlin, Lord Krovitz sent word—he’s made a breakthrough and invites you to inspect it."
A voice announced from outside the door. Leon’s expression shifted; he smiled faintly and cast Flight to soar out of the fortress.
The Anti-Air Suppression Array here was personally set up by Leon—it didn’t affect him at all. Only his trusted followers had magical devices to bypass the array. No one else could fly inside the fortress.
Anyone who saw a figure streaking across the sky in the fortress looked on with respect. If you could fly here, you were someone important...
Three thousand meters outside the Gray Orc Fortress was a barren mountain, all rock, no ore veins, and unsuitable for farming. Now it served as the alchemists’ experimental base.
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There was an Alchemical Golem Factory here, along with all sorts of advanced equipment. Whenever something new was developed, it was tested here first.
After all, Alchemical Golems were extremely dangerous when not perfected—especially the Magic Reaction Core. If you messed up, it could explode. There was no way to test this kind of thing inside the fortress.
As Leon landed, Krovitz rushed over, face full of excitement.
"Archmage Leon Merlin, it’s done—the Full Right-Angle Magic Reaction Core is complete! And the weapon system—the laser cannon you mentioned, that’s finished too. All that’s left is to test them..."
Leon was stunned. In such a short time, Krovitz had already managed to build the Magic Reaction Core. The Full Right-Angle Magic Reaction Core was the Max Mana Reactor that wouldn’t be invented for another century.
And it wasn’t just that Krovitz built it himself. After Leon explained some knowledge about Full Right-Angle Alchemical Glyphwork and the principles of the Max Mana Reactor, Krovitz managed to produce a working Max Mana Reactor in just three days.
But now, the Max Mana Reactor wouldn’t appear—the device was called the Full Right-Angle Magic Reaction Core.
It was built using the factory’s machinery, with Machine Alchemical Golems—those with no combat ability, specialized for producing parts—handling the manufacturing.
By programming the Machine Alchemical Golems in advance, the factory could mass-produce Full Right-Angle Magic Reaction Cores.
The difference was massive—the first version could only be made by top creators like Krovitz, especially those specialized in Alchemical Golems, and was just a lab prototype.
The new version could be mass-produced and put into use, with optimized costs and resources, and the defect rate dropped to an acceptable level.
This meant all Alchemical Golems under Leon’s command could be upgraded to Full Right-Angle Magic Reaction Cores!
This would greatly boost their explosive power, and extend their combat duration at least two or three times, while cutting energy costs by more than half.
Plus, many new weapon systems could be installed on newly produced Alchemical Golems, and even existing ones could be retrofitted with new weapon systems after upgrading to the Full Right-Angle Magic Reaction Core.
Earlier, Krovitz studied the remains of a Sky Rank Alchemical Golem and managed to create a new weapon system that could be mounted on Alchemical Golems.
It was a terrifying laser cannon—one type focused on piercing power, another on explosive force. There were options for both long-range and close-quarters combat.
However, this weapon system consumes an enormous amount of energy. Even after minimizing the energy cost as much as possible, only spellcasting alchemical golems of Level 30 and above can operate it. And because the power drain is so severe, when a Level 30 golem uses it, the effect is barely equivalent to a standard spell attack.
But when handed to a Level 35 alchemical golem, it can unleash the strength of a Level 36 or even Level 37 unit.
There's also a variant—the most powerful laser cannon—which demands even more energy. A Level 30 golem can fire it once, and the blast rivals the full-force attack of a Level 33 alchemical golem. Yet, because the spell's power is so overwhelming, it takes at least ten seconds before the second shot can be fired. During this interval, the Magic Reaction Core runs in overload, and ordinary spellcasting becomes impossible.
The root of the problem is simple: the Magic Reaction Core just can't deliver enough explosive power.
Leon could personally craft Magic Reaction Cores far superior to the Full Right-Angle models, but with so many golems under his command, swapping them out one by one would take years. The only real solution is mass production at the base.
Once Leon arrived, the combined factory and laboratory base kicked into high gear, and the mechanical alchemical golems began producing Full Right-Angle Magic Reaction Cores from scratch.
Mechanical arms ceaselessly grind and cut component shapes, followed by others etching standard runes and alchemical patterns onto each piece. Finally, everything is assembled and loaded with magic crystals. The process is fully automated, with only a handful of steps needing alchemist intervention.