I Became the Progenitor Vampire Chapter 246

Chapter 246: Chapter 247: The Powerful Improved Magic, The Temptation of the Alchemy Bomb (12,000 Words Enhanced Major Chapter)

Refined Blazing Fireball (Extreme Enhancement)

Refined Dragon Scale Shield (Extreme Enhancement)

These two modified spells were the results of Lide's efforts over the past month, incorporating countless efforts from the data analysis team who worked tirelessly day and night.

“Ding~ Successfully modified Big Fireball Skill to Blazing Fireball.

Advantages of the modification: The structure of the magic model has undergone revolutionary optimization, casting speed has increased to 1 second, trajectory speed has risen to 100 blades/second, power has increased 8-fold, and the central temperature of the fireball has reached 5000 degrees.

Disadvantage: Magic consumption has increased from 20 to 40 points.

Evaluation: Perfect Level fine product, though the magic consumption has greatly increased, the super-strong power has transformed the Big Fireball into the new spell–Blazing Fireball.

Reward character experience–4000.”

“Ding~ Successfully modified Mage Shield Skill to Dragon Scale Shield.

Advantages of the modification: The structure of the magic model has undergone revolutionary optimization, casting speed has decreased to 0.3 seconds, defense power has increased five-fold, and further increases in shield strength can be achieved by increasing magic input.

Disadvantage: Magic consumption has increased from 15 to 40 points.

Evaluation: Perfect Level fine product, though the magic consumption has greatly increased, the super-strong defensive power has transformed the Mage Shield into the new spell–Dragon Scale Shield.

Reward character experience–4000.”

This was the harvest of Lide's countless efforts over the month.

Over a hundred data analysts from Crimson Moon used various methods to eliminate at least 80% of ineffective node combinations, greatly enhancing Lide's chances of successful modifications.

Otherwise, he estimated that he might not have been able to complete these two spell modifications even after the winter had passed.

Although it wasn't impossible for him alone to modify to this extent, the time and energy required were absolutely unacceptable to him, especially at this crucial time point.

After all, the trillions of calculations per second performed by computers yield much more data than his repeated experiments would.

Of course, the entire modification process didn't rely solely on computers; the Crimson Moon analysis team merely provided assistance, while Lide himself was the primary mover.

Had his control over magic power not reached a bizarrely high level, he might have been rendered an idiot by magic backlash.

In the beginning, the data analysis department of Crimson Moon was merely groping blindly, full of wild ideas akin to forum users' nonsensical discussions, and Lide naively followed them, nearly causing an explosion.

It was utterly unreliable.

Eventually, as he provided more and more data during the modifications, the data analysis department began to get on the right track.

Lide estimated that if an ordinary player attempted to research magic modification, they might fall from a Level 20 Transcendent level back to Level 0.

It would literally cost thousands of lives.

The cost was too horrendous, although he was fine now, he still felt a headache. Having Magic Affinity (Extreme) as a Talent Specialization had even left him psychological shadows from these modifications–you can imagine how difficult it was…

And after the modifications, the power of these two spells was indeed worth his enormous efforts.

Blazing Fireball, this was an idea Lide had based on how a small fireball could melt anti-magic stones through intense attacks at high temperatures.

If the temperature was high enough, even insufficient magical power could still cause fatal damage.

Upon hitting the target, the extremely compressed hot core of the Blazing Fireball would burst, creating a temporary region of boiling magmlike high temperatures within several blades' distance of the enemy.

Its lethality was countless times higher than the original, which only relied on magic to create flames. According to Lide's estimates, the Blazing Fireball's lethality was no less than that of a Three Circle Magic Bursting Fireball.

However, the casting time for Bursting Fireball was too long, requiring at least a dozen seconds even with casting speed bonuses, while the Blazing Fireball had only 1 second of casting time. Additionally, the explosion from the Three Circle Magic Bursting Fireball caused splash damage, which was effective against groups but less so against individual targets.

Lide calculated that the damage from a Blazing Fireball could reduce the fighting power of a warrior of equal level by more than half.

Most critically, although the modified Blazing Fireball's magic nodes had reached 500, close to the number in Three Circle Magic,

it was still classified as Second Circle Magic.

Intermediate professionals from Levels 5 to 9 could learn it.

This was definitely a huge enhancement for the Bloodline, who are mostly at this level at present.

This means that the strength of the army under Lide's command would see a qualitative increase.

If Big Fireball Skill was a spell with damage of 10, then Blazing Fireball reached a damage of 50-80, and in certain circumstances could even double, such as in confined spaces like buildings, caves, and alleys.

The terrifying temperature was the most lethal weapon against enemies.

Moreover, the increase in casting speed to 1 second for the Blazing Fireball made it a regular spell, completely free from the lengthy casting times of other high-damage magic, marking another significant advancement.

Additionally, since Lide possessed the Extreme Spellcasting characteristic for Small Fireball Skill, this was inherited in the modified Blazing Fireball; he needed only 0.8 seconds to cast the spell, which was dozens of times more powerful than Small Fireball.

If Small Fireball Skill relied on high firing speed and ultimate suppression to restrict the enemy, then Blazing Fireball relied on its terrifying high temperature to cause damage.

The two are still very different.

Of course, Blazing Fireball had its flaws too, with magic consumption reaching 40 points. While such consumption seemed trivial to Lide, whose magic power was nearly 900,

it meant that lower-level Bloodline could only cast it five or six times before being spent.

The Small Fireball Skill did not allow for prolonged casting.

However, using the Blazing Fireball for diving bombardment had a different effect, inflicting damage that was more than tenfold of the Big Fireball Skill, and even more terrifying than using all the Bursting Fireballs of the Three Circle Magic combined.

The extremely high temperature was enough to suffocate any opponent, except those who were Fire Elements.

Overall, the Blazing Fireball lived up to the system's high praise.

This spell greatly enhanced the offensive power of the Bloodline.

It avoided the predicament of either having long casting times with other spells or negligible impact with the Small Fireball Skill in group battles.

Lide was also very satisfied with the second spell.

Dragon Scale Shield, a super-improved version of the Mage Shield from the Second Circle Magic.

After revolutionary improvements, it bore no resemblance to the original Mage Shield; it was a new spell.

Mage Shield with its 220 magic nodes was an essential spell for all mages, almost as ubiquitous as Mage's Hand, because it was the life-saving spell for Intermediate Mages.

Upon reaching level 5, spellcasters would choose to learn one from among dozens of Second Circle spells.

Why prioritize Mage Shield above all others? Because it saves lives; what could be more precious than the life of a mage? Prioritizing anything over survival in battle is simply foolish.

Survival is fundamentally everything.

In this context, Mage Shield was highly favored; many top figures growing from novices were impressed by this magic, and after countless studies by Extraordinary and even Legendary mages, a fixed template was eventually formed.

Like the Big Fireball Skill, it had fewer magic nodes, making it easy to learn and very stable in performance.

However, this also made Lide feel it was too generic and lacked distinctive features.

Moreover, the defensive power of the Mage Shield was far from sufficient.

Therefore, Lide made revolutionary changes to this spell.

Apart from several immutable magic nodes, he altered the arrangement of all magic nodes and added hundreds of new ones. This brought the total to 550 magic nodes, a critical point for the Second Circle Magic–just 50 nodes shy of reaching the realm of Three Circle Magic.

Drawing on both the failures and successes of the Big Fireball Skill, he ultimately transformed the classic Mage Shield into a brand new spell–Dragon Scale Shield.

The name was identical to the ancient Huaxian dragon scale armor. The idea for the modification similarly came from the Late Bell Church's research department, which had taken inspiration from fish scale armor; humorously, if it were called Fish Scale Shield, that would indeed depreciate its value.

The current Dragon Scale Shield's magic configuration was no longer just a simple flat shield. It formed several small shields, like scales. These were layered in sequence to form a curvature resembling dragon scales.

Lide personally tested the real defensive capability of the Dragon Scale Shield, which was several times stronger than the original Mage Shield and even exceeded the system's estimate of five times the strength.

The most crucial aspect was–after casting, if the spellcaster continued to channel magic power, the defense of the Dragon Scale Shield could still be enhanced.

This was the major difference between the Dragon Scale Shield and the Mage Shield, and a point of particular pride for Lide.

The Mage Shield required 15 magic power points to cast and could last for about two Sunshine Hours with the strength to withstand a full-on attack by a warrior of the same level. To maintain it for each additional Sunshine Hour, an extra 5 points of magic power were needed.

The defensive strength of the Mage Shield was fixed; no amount of extra magic power could increase its defense–only its duration.

The Dragon Scale Shield differed in that, once formed, it could continuously receive magic power to boost its defense.

Its maximum limit could reach twenty times the defensive strength of the original Mage Shield.

Of course, pushing the Dragon Scale Shield to its limits was costly… consuming 50 magic power points per second, and Lide, with almost 900 magic power points, could not sustain it for more than a few seconds.

But the flaw did not hide the merits. The ability to continuously input magic power to enhance the shield's strength was an unrivaled defensive tool. As long as there was magic power, even a top-tier warrior at level 15 couldn't break the shield effortlessly with a defense twenty times stronger.

The Dragon Scale Shield had undergone a qualitative change, significantly enhancing Lide's survival ability.

If combined with the Shadow Jump he learned previously from Emi, the likelihood of him being instantly killed would be nearly zero.

This was essentially the ultimate survival spell.

Coupled with the offensive power of the Blazing Fireball, both his offensive and defensive ends had been unimaginably strengthened.

Lide was very satisfied with this; the extensive effort the third shift at the Crimson Mage Tower had put into analyzing data over the past month had not been in vain.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without his relentless, life-risking efforts.

For any other person, experiencing magical backlash five or six thousand times within a month without dying could be considered a miracle.

This was magical backlash occurring in the Spiritual Sea, the most vulnerable part.

Moreover, it wasn't backlash from First Circle Magic but from Second Circle Magic with over 200 magic nodes–more than tenfold stronger than First Circle backlash.

The improvements to these two spells were indeed wrought through his repeated life-threatening efforts.

His respect for magic was far lesser than that of the original inhabitants of Glory, who, even if they had the same conditions as he did, would not dare to act as rashly; after all, each experiment could potentially result in idiocy, which nobody could withstand.

Yet, the rewards for his efforts also left him satisfied.

Not to mention obtaining two extremely powerful modified spells, even the 8000 points of valuable experience made him quite comfortable.

Level: Mage lv14 (14,308/50,000)

These experiences also included various scattered bits like transitioning from a Mage Apprentice to a full Mage, leveling up within Bloodline, among other miscellaneous notifications he had blocked, bringing him near to completing a quarter of his journey.

However, each time Lide saw the massive experience required to level up, he'd just shake his head.

At levels 10 and 11, advancing from Mage Apprentice to a full-fledged Mage could contribute a significant amount of experience, but by level 14, this experience was drastically diminished, causing his current leveling rate to slow down quite a bit.

“It seems I need to find a way to make a fortune to speed up my leveling…”

Lide shook his head and didn't think about it anymore. The Magic had been successfully improved, and now he needed to focus on the potential crisis he was facing.

In the short term, he didn't want to endure the pain of soul tearing again–the backlash from Second Circle Magic was more than ten times stronger than that of First Circle Magic.

It was only because his level had risen to 14 that his soul's resilience had greatly increased; otherwise, he might not have been able to withstand the thousands of magic rebounds.

However, this misfortune turned into a blessing as his Spiritual Sea and soul became increasingly resilient amidst the constant magic rebounds.

In fact, Lide felt that now he could ignore some of the relatively weaker spirit Spells because no spiritual magic could be more intense than the magic rebounds occurring within his Spiritual Sea.

Each rebound was like casting a Three Circle Spirit Shock on himself; if that didn't cultivate resilience, nothing would.

“What exactly does the Beastmen's activity signify? Could it really be as Nicole guessed, that the Beastman Crown Prince aims to take over Green City to prove his capabilities?”

After closing the attribute panel, Lide pondered over the recent matters, which troubled him because if this speculation were true, it would have far-reaching implications.

Most crucially, such wars are often very unique, with the opponent typically not hesitating to pay any price.

This war wasn't launched for plundering benefits; the Beastman Prince only needed to demonstrate his merit.

A quick look at Huaxia's history of princes fighting for succession showed just how serious these conflicts could be.

It was a special circumstance, and ordinary predictions were unlikely to work. If the opponent truly targeted Green City, then the pressure Lide would face was absolutely tremendous.

The opponent's goal didn't involve Dawn City, but it could still cause significant harm to his interests.

Standing up and moving to the window, he leaned on the wooden windowsill and looked down through the open window at the increasingly bustling streets below.

His gaze was profound.

“Let's hope our speculation isn't true; otherwise, we would have a lot to deal with…”

But the Crimson Mage Tower and the Dark Contract served as his left and right hands; he absolutely couldn't give them up. If the Beastmen's plans succeeded, the cost to him would be enormous.

Not to mention stopping the production of Magic Scrolls in the Magic Factory, the loss he would incur from the Ancient Alchemy Magic Array that he'd spent hundreds of thousands of Gold Pucks to construct was unimaginable.

There were also the Mysterious Store and his various visible and invisible networks of relationships…

It could be said that Lide's current interests meant that Dawn City was tied to Green City, and if Green City fell, his losses would be incalculable.

However, the only saving grace was that this was still conjecture; the Beastmen hadn't actually taken any action yet.

“Dammit, did that patrol just notice us?? I'm telling you, Chang Wei, if we fail today, grandpa is going to teach you what 'blossoming chrysanthemum' means!”

“It's your damn fault for wanting to peek at that noble NPC bathing. Now you blame me?? If it weren't for you wasting time, we would have completed the mission already.”

“Enough, both of you stop bitching and get to work. This warehouse is where Risier City stores the Alchemy Bombs…

Speaking of which, those two rich Beastmen really splurged, huh? They rolled out three Divine Artifact tier Transmission Scrolls in one go, damn, if they reward us this generously after the mission, it'd be awesome.”

“Don't dream. You still don't know these NPCs' true nature? I'd be satisfied with a set of Perfect Level armor.”

The three players, clad in aurconcealing equipment, were sneaking next to a heavily guarded warehouse right under the patrol team's nose.

Surprisingly, the trio was in plain sight of everyone, but the soldiers in solid armor seemed as if they saw nothing.

Brazenly, they approached the large, solid doors of the warehouse.

“Hey, did that Beastman really cast a spell on us using a Divine Artifact? Look at these guards, they can't even see us…”

“Bullshit, of course they can't see us; we're in a Different Plane space. Quick, take out that Magic Scroll, let's cast it and get the hell out of here…”

“Get the hell out? Are you dreaming? Do you think you can run from the explosion of a five Circle Spell? Plus, this warehouse is full of Alchemy Bombs, you understand? Alchemy Bombs.

Though the Gunpowder system of Glory is totally different from what we have on Earth, the power isn't much different.

This one blast could blow half the city to the sky.”

“How do you know Glory's Gunpowder is different from Earth's?”

“I'm a genuine doctoral student of materials science; can't I tell?”

“Then why haven't they developed cannons or something?”

“How come there are no alchemy cannons? You just haven't seen them.”

“Then they…”

“Will you stop talking and just finish the mission? Once I'm dead, I can log off. I still need to go shopping with my girlfriend…”

“mmp… I don't want to complete the mission anymore…”

After a bit of a scuffle, the three players simultaneously pulled out magic scrolls and then violently tore them open…

Boom~

The world split apart, and all the residents of Risier City could only see a blinding light flashing across the sky, turning their heads in unison as a mushroom cloud rose before their eyes. Before anyone could react, the ground shook, and an indescribable loud noise came from the sky.

Shattering eardrums.

Whoosh~

The shockwave swept through the entire city like a category twelve hurricane.

Three city blocks at the explosion site were leveled to the ground.

And that wasn't the end; another mushroom cloud erupted in another corner of the city…

Miss Andabella, the City Lord of Risier, was currently inspecting her soldiers on the city wall.

There were tens of thousands of Beastman troops gathered outside Risier City, but there was no worry in the soldiers' eyes.

They firmly believed that City Lord Andabella would lead them to victory, and the powerful alchemy bombs would thwart the damnable Beastmen.

Draped in a red cloak and with pale silver hair, Andabella looked through the crenellated wall at the Beastmen stationed on the grass outside the city, her eyes calm and her expression unworried.

Every year, the Beastmen would besiege Risier City, but with the solid walls, powerful alchemy bombs, and the stubborn defense of the soldiers, these Beastmen with no siege tools would usually disperse after some time.

This year, she guessed, would be no exception.

“City Lord Andabella, you should go back now. The Beastmen likely won't attack today…”

The deputy, with a face full of stubble and a hooked nose, just finished speaking to Andabella, who was observing the enemy behind the stone wall, when suddenly a loud noise erupted within the city.

Andabella, with a longsword in her hands, swiftly turned her head, clenched the hilt of her sword tightly after seeing the direction of the explosion, her pale silvery pupils filled with rage.

She gritted her teeth and said stiffly,

“That's our alchemy bomb storage warehouse.”

The deputy was stunned, his sunken blue eyes showing a flicker of shock, then like a man gone mad, he shouted, “Quick, go check what happened!!”

As soon as his words fell, another horrific explosion occurred in another corner of the city.

Boom~

The bearded, hooked-nose deputy felt like the sky was falling, his complexion turned extremely pale, and he instinctively stepped back, hitting the city wall behind him with a clang–the black full body armor making a crisp collision sound.

“That, that's the warehouse in the West District…”

Risier City had two alchemy bomb storage facilities, one built in the West District and the other in the East District, to prevent them from being sabotaged.

But now both were gone–the powerful alchemy bombs were their strongest weapon against the Beastmen.

“Woo~” The war horn sounded.

The long cow horn, the Beastmen's favorite war horn, once it sounded,

the Beastmen would launch their attack.

The deputy swiftly turned his head, looking at the once quietly stationed Beastmen now beginning to assemble, his lips trembling uncontrollably.

At this moment, how could he not understand that the explosion of the alchemy bombs was the work of the Beastmen?

“Double, double-legged flying dragons!! So many double-legged flying dragons!!”

A soldier beside him trembled, pointing at the sky above, his voice laced with indescribable terror.

Andabella took a deep breath, quickly forced herself to calm down, turned around without looking at the movements of the enemy troops outside the city, twisted her head to look at the still astonished deputy, and coldly said,

“Sound the horn, defend against the enemy.

Additionally, there's another alchemy bomb warehouse within the Risier family, take people to move the alchemy bombs to the city walls.

Order the Griffin Cavalry to take off and counter the enemy's double-legged flying dragons.

Prepare the alchemy cannon for bombardment, crossbows and magic towers get ready to snipe any threatening aerial units.

Risier Mage Group prepare your spells, if you encounter uncontrollable dangerous factors, immediately activate the magic array to cover Risier City!”

A series of commands issued from this silver-haired girl, who exuded pride, immediately provided the best comfort to the soldiers, who had become chaotic due to the explosion of the warehouses.

The city wall quickly stabilized, the soldiers clad in neat full body armor began preparing various siege tools.

The archers had already bent their longbows, mages behind the city wall were channeling magic power, and the crossbows in the city tower above the wall were also clacking into readiness.

Andabella only then turned around, her hands bracing against the cold black battlements to observe the movements of the Beastmen.

The pale white cross revealed under her armor contrasted starkly with the pitch-black city walls, and her red cloak fluttered in the wind, making a rattling sound as her silver eyes slowly became grave.

From atop the city walls, 35 blades high, she looked down with an extremely wide view. On the ground was verdant grass, with a moat 20 blades wide, filled with densely packed long hooks, while the black wooden drawbridge had been retracted. In the middle, a cobblestone road stretched into the distance towards fields and various crops not far away.

The Beastman army resembled a dark, oppressive cloud, stamping over the grass and trampling the fields, slowly crushing everything in their path in an exaggerated manner…

The greenish-brown spears stood tall, their tips shining coldly. The Beastmen, clad in animal hides and armor, mixed together, their bulging muscles as if forged from steel, with a cruel and vicious light flashing in their eyes.

The weapons in the Beastmen's hands struck against their own armor or round shields, making a dull thudding noise.

The war horns continuously sounded a mournful wail.

On either side of the Beastman army, Wolf Cavalry riding three-blades-high wolves slowly advanced. The gaping mouths of the wolves, with their sharp tusks, could easily tear through a knight's armor.

In the sky, the double-legged flying dragons with menacing backward-curving dragon wings and only two limbs roared towards Risier City with wide-open maws. Their corrosive saliva dripped onto the Beastmen's heads below, even corroding through their helmets.

Thousands of double-legged flying dragons, each with a wingspan of 8 blades, filled the sky densely, their shrill cries plunging the whole heaven and earth into madness.

Among them, the flying dragons with a wingspan of more than ten blades mostly carried flying dragon cavalry on their backs, their longbows and dragon rider spears extremely ferocious.

Currently, a thick fog slowly rose and shrouded the Beastman army, with the double-legged flying dragons appearing and disappearing within the fog, the scene akin to hell's demons about to break their seals.

War was imminent.

In Dawn City, sitting in his office, Lide picked up the red tea from his desk and took a sip. After swallowing, he looked across at Stanley with a somewhat strange expression and said, “Are you telling me that Craig has been conscripted by the Beastman prince to participate in the war? And they directly came to conscript him?”

Today was the third day since Lide had left his retreat on November 19.

After Nicole deduced that the target of the Beastman prince was likely Green City, the already busy Dawn City became even busier.

Not only was the planned capture of people to be carried out, but they also needed to find out about the main Beastman army's movements.

In previous years, the Beastman armies were scattered, rarely gathering in numbers of hundreds of thousands.

But this year was different. The Beastmen had already formed regulars at the border, and border cities with a population of more than 500,000 had over 100,000 Beastman warriors gathering.

Most of these were cannon fodder below level 5, but the true leather-armored, sharp-weapon-wielding Beastman warriors also made up 20% of these numbers.

This was quite exaggerated.

Although the Beastmen were a strong fighting race, their lands were always barren. Mobilizing more than 100,000 armored warriors undoubtedly required tremendous charisma.

Such charisma was almost nonexistent in the past years. Most invasions of human borders were actually by small tribes without food, Beastmen that couldn't survive.

Strong tribes rarely lacked food, and while large tribes also participated vigorously in looting humans, they hardly ever organized attacks on large cities by themselves.

With the Nolan Empire's border with the Beastman Empire stretching for hundreds of kilometers, defending against millions of invading Beastmen was nearly impossible unless a large army was mobilized.

“That's right, Your Highness, Craig's departure involved a level 19, nearly Extraordinary Being personally coming for conscription.

To protect Dwarf Valley, the Lion Tribe has established a new station ten kilometers outside of Dwarf Valley. The location isn't very concealed which is why it was discovered so easily.”

Since the previous clean-ups by the Beastmen weren't thorough, Dwarf Valley wasn't a secret at the former Lion Tribe location anymore, and Recker's action was also instigated by Stanley.

Lide frowned upon hearing this, a level 19 recruited person?

It seemed the situation was more serious than he thought.

“What about the Secret Silver Vein?”

“The Secret Silver Vein operates normally. They just came for people and left in a hurry, uninterested in anything else.”

“Instruct Dwarf Valley to contract its forces and pay attention to protect Dwarf Valley. We are too far from Dwarf Valley… We would struggle to provide immediate support in the event of a major conflict.”

Lide's expression was grave, which was why he had rebuilt the Lion Tribe. Dawn City now lacked the resources to manage Dwarf Valley effectively.

Why are these Beastmen necessarily targeting Risier City to take a major assault? Is it merely because Risier City was once a core city in the south and directly faces Green City behind it?

Stanley shook his head at the question, “No, it's not just that, Risier City possesses a powerful weapon that the Beastmen greatly fear…”

Oh? Lide became somewhat curious.

“A Divine Artifact?”

“No, it's an Alchemy Bomb.”

Alchemy Bomb–Lide's expression turned ambiguous.

Some rules in this world were different from Earth. His previous attempts to create gunpowder and cement had failed. The alchemy bomb wasn't like the bombs on Earth but was made using a magic crystal stone, containing a large amount of magical energy, as the core.

Although it is named after a bomb, it does not belong to the same system as the gunpowder on Earth. It is purely a product of the magic world.

However, upon hearing the name, he became somewhat intrigued, as the obsession with bombs had almost seeped into the souls of modern people.

Fear of inadequate firepower.

“How so?”

“Risier City is said to be backed by a group of ancient goblins capable of creating powerful alchemy bombs. According to my deductions, the reason the Beastmen targeted Risier City is twofold: firstly, because Risier City directly leads to Green City,

secondly, it's because of these goblins and the alchemy bombs.”

“How did you come by this information?”

Lide looked at Stanley with interest. Normally, the production of alchemy bombs such as these is strictly confidential.

Just like the Crimson Mage Tower's magic factory; the outside world only knows that the Crimson Mage Tower can produce a large quantity of stable magic scrolls, but not how they are made or who makes them.

“Your Majesty, Risier City has a large business,” Stanley began to explain, “Green City also has a commerce guild set up by the Risier family, and the scale is not small.

The Dark Contract once made contact with them, and they indeed brought out many items with distinct goblin traces.

Risier City has earned a huge fortune by relying on the goblin-made goods, which is why it has developed so rapidly in the past two years.

This information is no longer a secret among the nobles of Green City.”

Lide nodded.

“So, you mean the Beastmen's real target is the goblins capable of making alchemy bombs?? Risier City just happens to possess these goblins??”

Then his expression became a bit weird. Why did this feel so convoluted??

He shook his head, still limited by the sources of his information, or rather, he had not yet fully integrated the forces under his command. The differing inputs regularly changed his judgment.

Another line of thought started in his mind.

Currently, he had many forces under his control, but they lacked a unified command department to consolidate the strength of all the forces.

The Dark Contract was managed by Stanley and Groot, the Crimson Mage Tower by Vina and Betty, and Dwarf Valley by Craig, not to mention his headquarters in Dawn City.

These forces were strong, but the recent Beastman invasion had exposed many issues.

There wasn't a department to coordinate and arrange all personnel; they could only rely on the managers of each force to react individually, which was undoubtedly very crude.

“It seems I need to establish a department to govern all forces.

Or perhaps that won't be necessary, just an information command center, to connect all the information nodes of the forces, share messages, and provide decision-making bases for the leaders of each force…”

Integrating resources, a common step in corporate strategy on Earth, flashed through Lide's eyes.

Fighting separately just didn't release enough energy; integration was necessary.

He resolved quietly in his mind to promote this matter promptly.

“Your Majesty??” Stanley repeated, noticing Lide seemingly lost in thought.

“Ah, nothing, continue,” replied Lide, coming back to his senses.

“Yes, based on the information from Craig combined with what we know about Risier City, that appears to be the reason the Beastmen chose to attack Risier City.”

“If they are after Risier City's alchemy bombs…” Lide's eyes narrowed, “That doesn't make sense, the Beastmen aren't without spellcasters. Alchemy bombs, although powerful, is it necessary to go to such lengths?”

“Your Majesty, there's a fundamental difference between alchemy bombs and spells. Alchemy bombs are alchemy creations, the damage they cause is unrelated to magic power; it's purely physical damage.

In other words, equipment with high magic resistance is ineffective against alchemy bombs… and Green City's walls were built by incorporating a great deal of anti-magic material at an enormous cost…

Undoubtedly, alchemy bombs are the best tool for destroying those walls.”

Lide raised an eyebrow; this link-up seemed to have no issues.

The Beastman Crown Prince, in an attempt to establish dominance, could do anything, and if their target was Green City, this move was completely plausible.

“Green City is not easy to deal with since the city contains the Extraordinary…”

“Your Majesty, the Nolan Empire once signed a treaty with the Beastman Empire that forbids the use of Extraordinary power or above in border wars…”

Lide looked surprised. There was such a thing??

“When was this agreement signed, and could such a treaty count??”

Aren't treaties between countries just like toilet paper? Useful when needed, and casually discarded when not.

“Of course, four hundred years ago, the Beastman Army once crossed Green City and looted resources, causing massive casualties, and even killed a prince who was visiting Green City.

This completely enraged King Nolan, and the Nolan Empire dispatched two Legendary, and four human allied nations each supported one Legendary, totaling six Legendaries, and they also deployed more than three million troops into the barren wastelands.

At one point, they nearly reached the walls of the Beastman Capital, and the Beastmen eventually lost and sued for peace… Due to the barrenness of the wastelands, the Nolan Empire had no interest in occupying it, so they eventually withdrew.

The following year, due to a shortage of food, the Beastmen invaded the border again, but fearing another purge by several Legendaries, they proactively signed a treaty with the Nolan Empire forbidding the appearance of power above the Extraordinary on the border.

The center of the Nolan Empire was not in the south, and the king, after receiving a large amount of compensation, also didn't want to mobilize Legends and Extraordinary powers each year to fight the Beastmen, so he signed the treaty.

“And over these hundreds of years, the Beastmen had never dared to breach the contract.”

Lide suddenly realized why such a vast southern province, which faced wars against the Beastmen annually, only had one Transcendent stationed there.

He had found it odd before; not to mention a Legendary, but there should have been several Transcendents at the very least.

It turned out there was this hidden aspect.

With this in mind, Lide's previously subdued heart slowly began to stir.

If there were no higher-level combat forces involved in this war, then could he, perhaps, seize some benefits?

The high-end power he possessed was sufficient to support his ambitions of profiting from the hundreds of thousands of troops.

Especially since the name “Alchemy Bomb” kept stimulating him.

“How powerful is the Alchemy Bomb? Do you have it?”

“Your Highness, this time I specifically had a batch brought over from the Dark Contract, these are previously traded with the Risier family, you can try it.”

Lide became interested, “Let's go, try it outside the city.”

An explosion is true art.

He was very interested in the goblin's Alchemy Bombs, no, he was interested in any bomb for that matter. He wondered how the magical version of Alchemy Bombs differed from Earth's bombs?

What intrigued him the most was whether Dawn City could replicate these bombs?

Although it is an Alchemy Bomb, just hearing the word made it difficult for Lide to restrain himself.

If Dawn City could manufacture Alchemy Bombs, then in the future, the Bloodline's Magic Language Bats would become a real Air Force.

Superbly mobile bombers.

Although magic was powerful, it couldn't be cast from thousands of blades in the air; it had to be cast within a spell's range to be effective.

Apart from high-level magic and complex large-scale magic, most standard magic was within three hundred blades, and normally wouldn't even exceed two hundred blades because casting from too far away made it easy to evade.

The very intention behind creating magic determined this.

But if the Alchemy Bomb is indeed like what he imagined, then why bother with dive-bombing? After gaining air superiority, simply dropping bombs could reduce the enemy to ashes.

Thinking of this, Lide became endlessly enthusiastic; no Earthling could remain indifferent to bombs.

“Let's test the power of the Alchemy Bomb…”

One Sunshine Hour later, outside Dawn City, on the unplanned land of the new district far from the southern area.

Harrison, Stanley, and a few dwarves were standing behind Lide.

Two Bloodline members were flapping their wings high above, hundreds of blades in the sky.

Looking at the grass, almost waist-high, Lide didn't care if it would catch fire or not.

“Are the targets ready?”

“Ready, placed in a circle every five meters.”

“Let them drop the bombs.”

As his words fell, two Bloodline guards by his side immediately waved their flags to signal.

The Bloodline members, flying two hundred blades high, were holding the black Alchemy Bombs, about the size of a normal watermelon, constructed similar to tortoise shells, adorned with ugly green symbols. Upon receiving the signal, they directly pulled the pin from the bomb and dropped it.

Falling straight down, seconds later.

Bang~

A terrifying roar echoed across the Moonlight Plain.

Tsssss~, a splatter of earth mixed with grass soared into the sky~ whooshing~ it rained down like rain.

A huge cloud of smoke erupted like a mushroom cloud, rising over twenty blades high.

The blast wave swept furiously.

The surrounding grass looked as if it had been blown by a severe typhoon, pressed flat to the limit, bent to the ground.

The nearby dwarves' already messy hair instantly became tangled whirls, looking extremely humorous.

Lide, guarded by the Dragon Scale Shield, remained composed, the massive blast wave felt like a light breeze on his face.

But what surprised him was the power of this supposedly ordinary-level Alchemy Bomb. It was so strong.

They were standing over a hundred blades away, and even the impact of a third-circle spell couldn't have such a large effect at this distance.

With a curious air, he waved his hand and said, “Let's go take a look.”

He then slowly walked towards the explosion site, his expression growing more animated as they got closer. The fire that had ignited around them had been extinguished by Stanley's spell, leaving the ground scorched and damp.

When they reached the 50-blade mark, the human-high oak targets set up there were all broken, and those closer to the 30-blade mark were completely destroyed.

The burnt ground around them emitted the smell of gunpowder.

Somewhere in the bushes, a fire still smoldered quietly, its crackling particularly harsh in this environment.

The green grass mixed with dry straw created a strangely eerie scene.

Lide's gaze continued to move until it fixed on the center of the explosion.

At that point, a bowl-shaped massive explosion crater had formed, its top layer spanning at least eight blades in width and three blades in depth.

Such power…

After viewing it, Lide looked extremely surprised, feeling inexplicably like he had stumbled upon a treasure.

Although he couldn't produce gunpowder here, the alchemy bombs in this world were equally powerful.

This type of damage was close to that of a Third Circle Magic, he turned to the others with an excited look and asked, “What do you think about the alchemy bombs?”

Harrison pondered and said, “Clan Leader, the power of these bombs is tremendous, at least five times stronger than any alchemy bomb I've known before, making them highly suitable for the Bloodline to drop from the air.”

Lide looked at him appreciatively, “Not bad, the Bloodline need to descend to low altitude to cast spells on ground troops.

And once we are at low altitude, ground troops pose a significant threat to us.

Like the One-eyed Giants, they possess strong abilities to attack at low altitude, and if it's super low altitude like 50 blades, we can't withstand the boulders they throw.

If we could extend our attack range, and attack when they can't harm us, you can imagine it would be a nightmare for the enemy.

If we had this capability, then the striking power of the Bloodline would be greatly enhanced.

Now, the alchemy bombs undoubtedly provide us with this ability.”

After expressing his excitement, Lide turned to a few big-bearded dwarves nearby and asked, “Can dwarves produce alchemy bombs?”

Stepping forward, Anakin, the prince of the Barbarian Hammer Tribe, shook his head with a helpless expression, “City Lord Kachar, although no one can match dwarves in forging weapons,

alchemy bombs are not our main area of research. Compared to the complex art of alchemy, we prefer the simple creation of weapons…”

Lide was slightly taken aback–it was challenging to expect this group, who had “rocks for brains,” to delve into the spiritual and thoughtful art of alchemy.

“Take a batch of alchemy bombs back, if you can't figure out the internal structure, start with the casing. Study how to dismantle it, how to assemble it. That's what you're best at.”

Upon hearing this, Anakin sighed in relief.

Different professions were indeed worlds apart; while dwarves excelled in weapon forging, they struck out when it came to the complexity of alchemy which was many times more intricate.

Alchemy required familiarity with each material's properties, understanding their mixtures, knowing the reaction times after combinations… the list went on. A slight error would end in disaster.

So studiers of alchemy bombs, dying from their creations, was far more likely than being killed in battle.

Unlike the Bloodline, often dying at the hands of others, these people usually died by their own hands.

Among all the races researching alchemy bombs, goblins were renowned for their alchemy bombs.

Not only were they powerful and stable, but they were also abundantly supplied.

Even in Glory, many considered goblins synonymous with alchemy bombs, just as dwarves were synonymous with mining and forging weapons.

These bombs bore a clear goblin style–the shell shaped like a turtle shell, bizarre and ugly markings combined with pointy-eared pull rings.

After delegating the tasks, Lide grew restless.

He had just witnessed the power of alchemy bombs. If he could equip Dawn City with a batch, it would tremendously enhance his power.

He owned thousands of Magic Language Bats, essentially thousands of light bombers. Having air supremacy, bombing from above would be more thrilling than a Gatling fireball sweep.

” Harrison, can we make alchemy bombs?”

Harrison shook his head with an odd look, “Clan Leader, alchemy is more complex than Magic Arrays, and the Bloodline has no tradition of studying alchemy. Dawn City also lacks talent in this field.

We have the materials to make alchemy bombs, but not the expertise, however…”

He gestured towards Stanley.

“Maybe, we can tackle this problem from the source.”

Lide's eyes lit up, turning his piercing gaze towards Stanley. The former Dark Priest of the Late Bell Church was well-versed in goblins; perhaps he had the answers Lide sought.

“Dwarves can't make alchemy bombs, no problem; if Dawn City can't either, no problem–the goblins know how… Having goblins would fundamentally solve the problem.”

Lide always thought through problems with such simple and rugged logic.

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Chapter end