Chapter 213: Expedition Preparations

While Sinuoli was busy mastering rune knowledge and improving his own strength, his followers were not idle. Balin and Tomi were each responsible for one side, promoting Sinuoli's expedition, or rather, his Expeditionary Force, and soliciting sponsorships.

The vast majority of Dwarf lords were willing to provide some support to a warrior seeking lost Karaks, though this naturally meant sharing in the potential gains. The specific level of support was, of course, determined by the probability of success and potential returns, and in their view, Sinuoli's probability of success was undoubtedly the highest.

When there was one year left until departure, the two of them handed various agreements to Sinuoli. Under Sinuoli's instruction, the official support from various strongholds was primarily focused on personnel, specifically Ironbreakers.

Sinuoli considered that there were too many unknown threats in the Southlands and that more elite troops were needed, while the clansmen who volunteered to come lacked the discipline for group combat, even if they possessed Meteorite Iron Armor.

The various Dwarf lords pooled together a force of one hundred and twenty Ironbreakers for Sinuoli; the Dwarfs did not have many standing armies, and squeezing out some special forces from them was not easy.

Beyond the actual help, this also demonstrated a supportive attitude, so that the clansmen under the lords' rule would have no worries when they rushed to serve in the reclamation of their ancestral lands.

Buluokesen was sent to Jiliuguan to track the progress of orders for Sinuoli. To solve the problem of aerial reconnaissance and deal with large units, Sinuoli ordered two Dwarf Helicopters, a batch of Trollhammer Torpedo launchers, and several sets of ballistae engraved with the Burning Rune.

Currently, in addition to his own savings, Sinuoli's military funding sources included official support from the High King's Court, support from his own Drazkrad Clan, routine support from various strongholds and guilds, and donations from individual clansmen who were enthusiastic about the cause of reclaiming the Ancestral Lands but could not come for various reasons.

Sinuoli was quite wealthy at the moment, but he also knew that this money had to show results; if this expedition failed, his reputation could be considered completely collapsed. For this reason, he spent every gold coin where it would be most effective.

In addition to orders for war machines, Sinuoli also sent orders for cement to Jiliuguan; this was his profession in his previous life, as inorganic materials mainly included cement, glass, and ceramics.

The technological development of this world was a bit skewed, but glass and ceramics no longer needed Sinuoli to develop them. Sinuoli also did not intend to engage in any fancy tricks like plating armor with ceramic coatings; if he had the energy to hand-craft those, wouldn't it be better to make something else?

In fact, concrete made by cementing crushed stone with a mixture of lime and volcanic ash had already appeared in Human society. After hardening, it not only had high strength but could also resist erosion from rain or salt water.

Of course, the Humans had not yet figured out the proper proportions and production methods, remaining in a state of utilizing natural cement. Sinuoli directly brought out a "two-grind, one-burn" production process with common proportions and mixtures, and handed it to Guildmaster Buluoke to put into practice.

Actually, if he wanted to, Sinuoli could also dabble in fiber reinforcement, high-efficiency water reducers, ultra-fine powders, and the like to enhance the performance of the cement. But firstly, there was not enough time, and secondly, Sinuoli felt that what he had now was enough; the Southlands were relatively backward, after all.

Qiangsen-Jian Dun and Henlide-Tulongzhe were organizing the volunteers who had arrived early at Everpeak and Haimenguan, respectively, to conduct some necessary coordinated combat training. They also occasionally sortied to clear out sporadic enemies or carried out missions to earn some funding.

With half a year left until departure, Sinuoli completed the carving of most common runes; relying on the effects of the Thurni ritual, he drastically shortened the time that would normally take decades.

Now, in addition to the Speed Rune, Hearth and Home Rune, and Rune of Wrath and Ruin that he originally possessed, the runes he had mastered were as follows:

Oath and Steel Rune—could be used to increase the armor strength of the clansmen.

Slow Rune—could reduce the movement speed of enemies and the charge bonuses associated with them.

Destruction Rune—increased the weapon damage and armor-piercing ability of friendly units.

Veto Rune—directly increased the damage resistance of friendly units.

The mastery of these new runes gave Sinuoli much greater tactical flexibility. He finally left the Forging Room, preparing to give himself a break, but two or three days later, he suddenly realized that he still lacked manpower around him.

Currently, Sinuoli only had Rogov acting as his guard; he was a true warrior, but had no outstanding abilities in other areas. Long-term independent operations in the wilderness had also left him with little social ability or desire.

Just as Sinuoli was pondering, a Hammer Guard came in to report that someone claimed to have a map concerning Kalake-Zuen. Sinuoli decisively invited the person in.

Quite a few days had passed since he issued the notice, but no applicants had come. It was rare for someone to come, and the authenticity of the information in their hands was likely not bad.

Dwarfs were a race with a strong sense of honor; those half-true, half-false rumors and stories were fine to tell at a dinner table, but if one led the chosen one of the Ancestral Goddess and an expeditionary force formed by divine oracle into a ditch, they would have to go to Karak-Kadrin to become a Slayer.

A few minutes later, a young Dwarf appeared in Sinuoli's room; the equipment on his body was of a distinctly adventurer style, wearing heavy armor with a cloak draped over it.

"My name is Andemuge! Andemuge-Kazadson. I heard you were looking for information about Gaoyuanbao, and I happen to have an ancestral map here!"

The young Dwarf stated his purpose straight away. Hearing that name, Sinuoli suddenly thought of his experience at Hemujiade Yaosai while escorting a caravan a few years ago.

"You, did you stay in Helmgart before?" Sinuoli did not ask about the map directly.

"That's right, I suffered misfortune when I was young, and the clansmen there took me in." The young man nodded.

"My condolences! By the way, how is that, Mutual Protection Association, of yours doing now?" Sinuoli continued to ask; he had been very appreciative of this young man with ideas at the time.

"It's the Mutual Protection Association. Thanks to your rune telegraph machine, our work is much more convenient to carry out now." Although he found it strange that Sinuoli didn't ask about the map first, Andemuge was still very enthusiastic when mentioning his cause.

"Recently, that pig Dieter IV has been looking for new ways to make money; I found out that he actually wants to grant autonomy to Marienburg! Grungni above! You don't know what that means!"

"You know about this too?" Sinuoli was startled! In the three years at Everpeak, he had truly felt the isolation of the Dwarfs; almost all information had to be spread by word of mouth in taverns.

The Dwarfs of the World's Edge Mountains only cared about things at their own doorsteps; it could be said that no one knew what was happening outside the Qunshan.