CHAPTER 1696: CHAPTER 562: STILL RACING AGAINST TIME {PART 2}_2

There are still seven days until the full moon of this month. Even if the Broad Cold Moon Shadow Ritual is successfully held, few elves are likely to willingly contribute their moonstones to the Aegean Flower, Elise----the current era is one filled with the stench of wealth, far from the harmonious world of ten thousand years ago.

After consulting with Master Aymar, Liu Shake finally understood what was going on. It turned out that ever since the Twelve Knights of Light participated in the suppression of the batmen in the Dorott Duchy, major military academies and institutions of various human factions have been researching Verde’s new weapon, and the St. Jose Empire was no exception.

Since the "Tower of Light’s Wish" itself didn’t have too many technical wonders, and during their stay in Dorott, the simple-minded Antelope Warriors lacked a sense of secrecy, many alchemy experts from various countries managed to observe the mirror cannon and the foundational pillar used to supplement the light source through various means.

The lenses and moonstones are two major bottlenecks that could make most human countries see red, but the St. Jose Empire managed to solve the moonstone issue----this human nation designs and manufactures a variety of powerful military crossbows, with export models lacking sights; however, the crossbows equipped within their own army long ago adopted focusing sights made of "laser gems," a specialty found at the bottom of Mississippi Lake!

The so-called "laser gem" belongs to the same category of focusing gemstones as the Night Pearl and moonstone, but it absorbs infrared light beams; when encased and sealed into a barrel shape, it can emit an infrared beam that remains a circular point, no matter how far it shines. A powerful crossbow equipped with such a sight can hit wherever pointed, instantly turning a novice into a marksman capable of hitting a target every time.

This secret is evidently a highly guarded military secret of the St. Jose Empire. As for how the Pompeii Empire got to know, Liu Shake had no interest in asking; it was just like how the division between the Francisco Empire and Pompeii Empire was known to St. Jose Empire soon after reaching an agreement with Verde—they are all endlessly entangled, never clean.

Once their cover was blown, the St. Jose people dutifully abided by the fifty-fifty division rule, installing each mirror cannon with a load of thirty gemstones as compensation to Verde. As for whether they would return and install a hundred, or two hundred gemstones, Liu Shake couldn’t care less—absolute fairness doesn’t exist. Besides, those "laser gems" aren’t that abundant; otherwise, St. Jose wouldn’t restrict their use to the powerful military crossbows.

Like a farce, the St. Jose people could guess that it was the other two human empires who had reported them. In their fury, they privately revealed the military secrets of the Francisco Empire and the Pompeii Empire to Liu Shake.

The Francisco Empire’s rush to produce Mechanical Gao Cen is due to the Silver Dwarves, one of the four pure-blooded Durigias, having emerged from the Azeroth Mountain and joined the Francisco Empire’s camp, ready to contribute their strength to the greatest crisis on the Aegean Continent since ancient times.

Silver Dwarves have long excelled at extracting "Black Silver" from silver—an unstable compound possessing enormous explosive power, comparable to the black powder devised by Goblin the Great Sage ten thousand years ago to cleave mountains and rocks. However, this unstable compound was too hazardous, susceptible to explosion with even slight impact or environmental temperature changes, so the Silver Dwarves’ great invention has long remained underground.

Yet, as time passed, the Silver Dwarves managed to achieve safe usage of Black Silver through special refinement and purification methods. Their design of a breaking cannon could hurl Black Silver shells up to five hundred yards in a parabolic trajectory.

Originally, the Goblin craftsman created the Mechanical Gao Cen for felling towering ancient trees, not for dealing with warfare. With its biomimetic spider form, the Mechanical Gao Cen could scale mountains like level ground, and its all-metal body was indestructible. However, the only weapon—the Tyrant Chainsaw—lacked the adequate power to address extensive combat needs.

The Francisco Empire intended to equip the mechanical puppet’s back with metal attachments, transforming this mechanical puppet into a cavalry puppet. By loading it with Black Silver explosive cannons, they aimed to endow this goblin weapon with greater impact and intimidation!

The Pompeii Empire’s urgency in producing the Babylon Siege Cannon stemmed entirely from the naturally formed purple ice beneath the tundra in the northern cold region. This type of ice can burst into flames like petroleum, won’t be extinguished by water, and is called "Seafire Ice" in the Viking language, meaning the Ice and Snow Goddess’s gift. {PS: On Earth, there exists a similar ice—a combination of methane and water called "combustible ice," a type of natural gas hydrate.}

Clearly, Verde was not the only one who thought of using ice bombs to manufacture shells for the Babylon Siege Cannon.

Compared to Verde’s use of white phosphorus for lighting fires, Pompeii, with its deep foundational alchemy, employed cheaper sodium cellulose patches, which ignite rapidly upon intense collision. The explosive burning power of Seafire Ice is no less than the costly "Morading’s Fury."

Liu Shake is a blunt man; he wouldn’t harbor thoughts like "At this critical juncture of life and death, there are still petty schemes and infighting, oh~" He only thought of demanding Seafire Ice and Black Silver from the two great empires.

If the Silver Dwarves run short of silver, it’s fine; the Underground World has a Mercury River where they can refine as much as they wish.

As for Seafire Ice, his appetite is modest; for each Babylon Siege Cannon, three hundred combustible ice bombs and endless sodium cellulose ignition patches would suffice.

Faced with these demands, the Francisco and Pompeii had no choice but to accept.

Leaving aside cunning and slyness, Liu Shake was impressed by the human intelligence. They thought up equipping the Mechanical Gao Cen’s back with metal attachments; if others could install Birdwing Crossbow Cars and flamethrower tubes on Verde, why couldn’t Liu Shake?

With careful weight and balance control, converting this mechanical puppet into an infantry tank is no problem at all!

Upon hearing of the Silver Dwarves’ emergence, Liu Shake also thought of the Shieldaxe Dwarves, one of the four pure-blooded Durigias. These dwarves have a unique shield wing crafting technique, allowing them to soar through the sky like birds and use their axes to kill enemies!

As guardians of the Aegean’s Four Pillars of Heaven, it doesn’t make sense that the other three Durigias would stand up to the Continent’s unprecedented crisis, but the Shieldaxe Dwarves would lag behind. However, unfortunately, there’s no exact news on this tribe of Durigias at present.

Verde’s military industrial system currently includes two hundred and sixty-two Wild Dwarves. This pure-blooded Durigia belongs to Lord Mourinho of the Swan’s main forces, currently on loan for Verde’s alchemy laboratory’s use; if they were a Vassal Clan of Verde, old Liu would definitely visit the Shieldaxe Dwarves’ native land in the Eastern Aegean’s Furnace Mountain Range to try calling upon the ancestral "Douglas Storm Horn" of the Wild Dwarves and Golden Dwarves’ bloodline.

Regrettably, the Wild Dwarves do not belong to Verde.

Nevertheless, we must acknowledge the great contributions of these Wild Dwarf reinforcements; since their first day in Verde’s alchemy industry, this large body of alchemists has rendered immense service to Verde!

Liu Shake tasked them with crafting the "Durex Burst Arrow."