Chapter 331

In fact, Negrilis had overthought it; inscribing divine runes could not turn a blank divine core into a forging divine core, but merely made the core more condensed and less likely to disperse, creating the illusion of growth.

Regardless, the divine core had stabilized and no longer needed to be stored in a bud—that was real. Since it didn't need to be put away, where should it be placed?

The blacksmith shop in Meishencheng was enormous, equipped with every possible tool: from magical furnaces to water-powered hammers, to mechanical cranes—almost every advanced device available could be found here.

Every month, the funds allocated to Waguili were completely funneled into this place.

Why would goblin engineers pour money into a blacksmith shop? Can't you be a goblin engineer if you can't forge?

Whether it was the guardian construct of the World Transit Station or the construct harvester, each required steel components—forging was the goblin engineer's daily work.

Perhaps to accommodate him, the previous group of dwarf drunks had requested to be assigned here, making Waguili furious: "I don't need these crude, stupid dwarves! Take them away! Take them away!"

"Who are you calling a dwarf? You short, scrawny goblin rat!" Copperbeard rolled up his sleeves in rage.

"What? Want to fight? Come on, I'll take on all of you alone." Waguili dashed back inside, then reappeared seated inside a construct.

It was a construct resembling a standing bear—thick-limbed, towering and imposing, standing over two and a half meters tall.

Waguili sat in the open cockpit, gesturing wildly, and the bear-like construct mirrored his movements precisely.

"What's so impressive about piloting a construct? Come down and fight me one-on-one." Copperbeard didn't summon his companions, but he also didn't charge headlong into a steel construct.

At that moment, they felt a bright light flare beside them, as if a high-power magical spotlight had been switched on.

Turning, they saw Lisa, who had brought the dwarves, smiling sweetly, her holy power surging as she rubbed her hands together: "Looks like you're all ignoring me now?"

After scrubbing toilets with the dwarves for two days, Waguili returned to the blacksmith shop utterly drained and collapsed wherever he could.

Engineers sleeping on-site made perfect sense; as a single goblin, no one cared where he slept—he could lie down anywhere comfortable. Every corner of the blacksmith shop was fair game; spread a greasy oil-stained rug on the floor, and he could sleep soundly.

But as he slept, Waguili felt something watching him—he snapped his eyes open.

After searching for a while, he found the object that didn't belong in the blacksmith shop: a statue of the God of Forging.

He kicked his goblin assistants and apprentices awake and roared: "Who dared place a dwarf's… a dwarf's statue here? Is this a provocation?! Who? Who…?"

The assistant hurriedly replied: "It was Lord Ange."

"Who cares so much for me? So it's Lord Ange! The lord treats me so well—he even sent the God of Forging to protect me! I'm moved! May the God of Forging bless me!" Waguili said with tears in his eyes.

"The lord has left," the assistant reminded him.

Waguili froze, then slumped after a long moment: "Why did the lord place a dwarf god statue here? Why not his own? We goblins don't answer to dwarves—I'd rather pray to the God of Undeath."

Sullenness was useless; he dared not throw out what Ange had placed, so he simply avoided looking at the statue—out of sight, out of mind.

Whether due to psychological effect or something else, since the statue was placed, his success rate in forging and casting seemed to have improved.

His assistants and apprentices felt the same, so they often sneaked in to pray when he wasn't looking.

Learning that Ange intended to place the forging rune's divine core in a relevant location, Huang Tong the bronze dragon immediately thought of Waguili—the territory of an atheist goblin engineer, with a dwarf god statue standing there. Just imagining it was thrilling.

Of course, only because Waguili was an atheist could Huang Tong dare do this; otherwise, it would have violated his faith.

Ange simply thought the divine core inscribed with the forging rune should be placed somewhere related to forging—he placed it and left it alone, fully devoting himself to elf bean cultivation.

Based on simulations over this period, Ange discovered that none of his own lands had suitable areas for planting elf beans—elf beans disliked sunlight and could not tolerate exposure.

Of all the places he'd visited, the most suitable was the Elf Forest, where elf beans naturally grew, thriving in damp, moss-covered clearings among the trees.

Unfortunately, the Elf Forest wasn't his land—he couldn't plant there. The only area with a similar environment left was the forestland of the Rosa Duchy.

With some modifications and intercropping of trees, he could adjust the environment and climate to be suitable.

Arriving at the Rosa forestland, he leveled the slopes, transplanted the elf bean plants that had been accelerated in his space, and applied insect fertilizer.

Normal insect ash liquid was made by burning insects into ash and extracting the liquid fertilizer, but elf beans disliked such fertilizer—they preferred compost made by burying insects in soil to ferment.

So Ange patiently tested dozens of different compost ratios and selected the most suitable one, spreading it along the edges of the plants.

After days of labor, he finally planted the entire slope with elf beans. Before he could rest, Anthony found him.

In the consciousness space, Anthony spoke with a strange expression: "Just now, the Dwarf King told me that Dai Sen personally visited him, hoping to form a coalition army to attack Meishencheng. He asked if I'd agree."

"..." Negrilis didn't know what to say: "He's just too unlucky. You guys just left, and he shows up right after—didn't the Dwarf King smash his head on the spot?"

The Guangmingzhongshen 's betrayal of the War God and the God of Forging was an eternal, mortal conflict for any religion. Yet Dai Sen went to them? If the Dwarf King had crushed his skull on the spot, it'd be hilarious.

"That's why he asked me—whether to set up an ambush, lure Dai Sen's people together, and wipe them out in one strike," Anthony said.

"This… is this Copper Hammer's idea or yours? It doesn't sound like something a straightforward dwarf would come up with," Negrilis mused.

Since Copper Hammer had offered fine wine and held back, letting them state their terms first, Negrilis had already viewed him differently—he didn't seem crude or straightforward anymore.

Anthony sighed: "Yes, we underestimated him. But it's normal—anyone in that position, no matter how straightforward, must learn to be smooth. The dwarves' days are hard now—surviving in the cracks, cautious everywhere. If it weren't about faith, I'd suspect he'd swallow this insult."

Negrilis froze. What could make a straightforward dwarf swallow his pride? Survival?

After a moment of stunned silence, Negrilis thought of another question: "Why is Dai Sen always fixated on us? Even after we destroyed one of his dragon knight squads, he still isn't afraid?"

Anthony shook his head: "I think it's precisely because of that dragon knight squad—he thinks you have grain."

What does the Western Diocese lack most now? Grain. The rice fields Dai Sen saw beside the Dragonfall Lake convinced him Meishencheng had grain, strengthening his resolve to seize it.

"Why doesn't he send scouts to investigate? The grain isn't ripe yet—the ripe ones are all sold." Negrilis sighed.

"... He did send someone, didn't he? The black knights from last time were caught by Luo Ge," Anthony said.

Black knights—elite intelligence gatherers and assassins—vanished without a trace. How could Dai Sen dare send anyone else?

Meishencheng and Dragonfall Lake had become information black holes. Aside from rumors, the only reports came from the few dragon knights who escaped last time.

Most failures tend to embellish their stories, exaggerating wildly: some claimed ten thousand hectares of fertile fields lined Dragonfall Lake, heavy with ripe rice; others said the rice fields floated on the lake's surface, golden grains stretching beyond sight; still others claimed a colossal tree at the lake's center blocked out the sun.

Filtering out the obviously exaggerated claims—the floating rice fields, the sun-blocking tree—Dai Sen confirmed one thing: there were vast rice fields along the lake.

Rice fields meant grain. Meishencheng had grain.

Previously, Dai Sen coveted Meishencheng's wealth; now he coveted its grain even more. In contrast to Anthony's desperate relief efforts, his inaction looked especially cold-blooded. Some severely affected nations had begun voicing criticism against him.

Having just taken over the Western Diocese, his foundation was unstable. With dissent rising, he had no choice but to find ways to appease them.

"So he sent scouts… What now? Should we just follow Copper Hammer's plan and kill him?"

Dai Sen was now the Western Diocese's Grand Archbishop. Killing him and his entire faction would create a power vacuum in the West, giving Anthony far more maneuvering room.

"The problem is—where does his confidence come from? He knows the lord used Dragon God Transformation. Why does he still dare come? Has he found a way to counter Dragon God Transformation?" Anthony said.

That was a valid concern. As everyone pondered, Ange suddenly notified Negrilis that someone was seeking him. Going out, he found Nai Aili, who spoke a few words before Negrilis returned to the consciousness space and said:

"I think I know where Dai Sen's confidence comes from. Just now, Gulianni sent an envoy to Longdao, found Brucek, and presented the ancient pact between dragons and humans, demanding dragons not interfere in human conflicts. He actually thinks Ange's Dragon God Transformation was Brucek's doing?"

"Pfft… Dragon God Transformation? Brucek doesn't even know how to do it—how could he be behind it?" Anthony burst out laughing.

"Right, so Brucek has decided to stay on Derek Island for now—just remain in his true form, creating an alibi. Meanwhile, Black Crow has restored order on the ocean, so Brucek will go support her."

Here, Negrilis turned to Anthony: "By the way, when Black Crow cleared the ocean, she seized tons of grain, cloth, dried fish—several ten thousand tons. She plans to donate them to Derek Island's temple in exchange for a few Holy Honor Knight titles."

Holy Honor Knight was an honorary title, originally awarded to non-church believers who made outstanding contributions to the church. But with the gods' disappearance, the title had degraded into a church elite's money-making scheme—anyone who paid could buy one.

"No, no, no—donate it to the island. Those bug-riding clerics will siphon off half of it. Donate it to me—I'll issue a bishop's decree and grant her one Divine Grace Knight and one Holy Honor Knight title." Anthony hurriedly said.

Negrilis's mischievous streak returned. He grinned: "Fine. I'll have Brucek tell her—she only wanted a Holy Honor Knight, now she's getting a Divine Grace Knight. That'll scare her to death."

Holy Honor Knights could be bought—any regional temple could grant them. But Divine Grace Knights could only be granted by major dioceses. Major dioceses didn't care about small sums—they awarded them only to influential allies with real power.

Wait—didn't Black Crow unify the ocean? She clearly had "real power." If she showed "friendliness," both Western and Eastern dioceses would gladly grant her a knight title.

Damn it—Anthony had once again brushed him off with a cheap, effortless solution.

After the discussion ended, Negrilis and Anthony both turned to Ange and asked: "Lord, what should we do?"

No matter how much they planned, the final decision always rested with Ange. If Ange disagreed, they were helpless—Anthony's own resources couldn't execute any of their plans.

Ange listened to the entire process and felt irritated—it was the third time.

The first time, before Dai Sen acted, Ange had destroyed him. The second time, Dai Sen didn't appear—only sent a dragon knight squad. Now it was the third time. Annoying. It disrupted his planting. Destroy him!

Having decided, Ange returned to Meishencheng to prepare. Just as he arrived, an elf approached him.

Asdoria knelt respectfully before Ange, eyes tightly shut, and said solemnly: "Lord Ange, please allow me to serve at your side. Truth Mage Asdoria humbly beg to pledge my loyalty to you."

Ange tilted his head and refused: "You don't farm."

"Huh?" Asdoria froze: "You really mean farming?"

Last time, Ange had refused her with the same words. She'd assumed it was just an excuse—she was a Truth Mage! To make her farm? What a waste.

But now it was the second time. Given this pattern, was it really not an excuse?

No—she couldn't be dismissed again. Asdoria pointed at Lisa: "But she doesn't farm either."

Lisa, who had been watching the scene, slowly straightened her posture, a spark of battle in her eyes: You refuse her, then shift the blame to me? Do you think I'm easy to pick on?

Lisa gently lifted her skirt, bowed with a smile: "I know how to pick manure. Do you?"