Chapter 440: Repairing the Colossus

For Sinuoli, the face-to-face meeting with Ironhand was also highly beneficial; retrieving a complete Artifact, catching a glimpse of the evil plans of Hashut's followers, and injecting a powerful, destabilizing factor into the Dark Lands left the Secret Society with no time to look elsewhere.

After rewarding Ahetanmu, who had performed a great service, with an Exquisite Amulet, Sinuoli returned to Slayer Keep to raise supplies for Ironhand. With the dual-core drive of the merchant guild organized by Cousin Tomi and the Karak Gold Bank, the circulation of wealth in the Dwarf treasuries faced no more obstacles.

"Why have you been gone so long? Without your encouragement, the Little Beards have gone back to that dead-eyed state! I think it would be better to catch some rats and whip them to get the work done!"

As soon as he returned to Jiliuguan, what awaited him was a verbal barrage from Kelage. The old Dwarf had long since broken through the Rune portion, but the problems with the engineering part had been dragging him down and exhausting his already limited patience.

"Look what I have brought back!"

"Hmm? The Ancestor Gods are above! When I see them, I must ask what kind of background you have! I have searched everywhere for these lost treasures, so how is it that they seem to have delivered themselves into your hands?"

"Hahaha, when it comes to treasure hunting, there is strength in numbers."

Sinuoli did not want to explain too much about the origin of the Focusing Lens; he pushed through the crowd to the imitation core, took two breaths to regulate his Qi, and placed the lens over his left eye.

"Hiss, hoo!"

Even though his mental strength was already sufficiently powerful, Sinuoli still felt his temples swell from the knowledge suddenly poured into his mind. The Rune Colossus was originally a creation of Mogelimu and Thurni working together; with the Focusing Lens left behind by Him, one difficulty after another melted away like ice and snow.

"I understand, this King understands!"

Sinuoli's cheer broke the tense, deathly silence in the testing ground. After he set to work making some adjustments to the key circuits in the imitation Energy Core, it shone with a brilliant light, erupted with energy similar to the one brought back from Zhendan, and floated slowly into mid-air.

"Quick, install it and test it!"

Sinuoli beckoned, and the Engineers followed him as they surged toward the elevator leading to the control room of the Rune Colossus. The control room was housed in the chest cavity of the Colossus, protected by a thick outer shell.

"Zzz-hum!"

"Matching successful!"

"Praise the Exalted God Mogelimu, praise the great King Sinuoli!"

There was another wave of cheers. Having received an energy supply, the Colossus's operating room lit up. Sinuoli stood on the control console and attempted to connect to the Colossus's control system. The Rune Colossus was somewhat like the mechs in the movie Pacific Rim from his past life, relying on the pilot's movements for synchronized operation.

King Thorgin had long been selecting his pilots; individual martial arts would directly affect the performance of the Colossus, and the ability to withstand and adapt to this unprecedented challenge was also very important.

"Rise!"

Accompanied by a "creak, creak" sound, the Colossus, which had been silent for thousands of years, raised its hands. Even though this underground testing ground had been specially reinforced, it was shaken so hard that gravel and dust rained down.

"Boom! Boom!"

Sinuoli turned slowly and pushed both palms horizontally against the rock wall behind him. This was the passage the testing ground had reserved at the time of its design for the Colossus to deploy after being repaired; the mountain rock, several meters thick, collapsed with a roar under the immense force.

"Wonderful, wonderful! Only those who have suffered the bitterness of giant beasts know how important it is to have a giant unit!"

Sinuoli looked up into the distance, feeling the strange vision of the Rune Colossus. Even though he had already led the Dwarf Realms to achieve one major breakthrough after another, repairing the Rune Colossus was enough to make his heart surge.

The supernatural bodies of giant beasts contained matching power; when mortal armies faced them, it was considered elite if they did not immediately scatter and flee. Since the beginning of the Old World, no one knew how many heroes had lost their lives facing them.

The Dwarf Realms were accustomed to relying on fortresses and heavy artillery to defend against the incursions of giant beasts; a veteran artillery crew could pour fire onto them the moment they entered range. But to revitalize the Mountain Kingdom and recover the lost Karaks, just crouching at home and defending was not enough.

Sinuoli still remembered that thrilling night in the Grey Mountains; he had not been that miserable even when fighting the Greater Daemons of the Four Gods later on. It could be said that if the White Dwarf had not stepped in to help, there would have been no "later."

"I need them now; I cannot wait until the recovery of Eight Peaks!"

Giving up his position for other Engineers who had studied hard for a long time to experience it—because the first unit was highly experimental, only a few Masters had the opportunity to operate it to reduce any possible risks—Sinuoli stood to the side and made a secret decision.

The two Rune Colossi in Jiliuguan were currently empty-handed. The equipment forged for them by the Ancestor Gods had been lost during the Dark Age. Simply forging two usable weapons was easy for them, but that was not the Dwarf style.

Every clansman hoped that the Colossus, which had consumed countless energy and resources to repair, could erupt with the strongest combat power. Imagine, if you were wearing a loincloth and holding a wooden stick to fight a stone man of the same size who was armed to the teeth, what a beautiful scene that would be! The giants wandering in the mountains would surely love it.

After attending the grand victory banquet, which was also the launch event for the formal repair of the Rune Colossus, Sinuoli took the main relevant personnel, including King Thorgin, back to Everpeak to discuss the issue of technology transfer with Thorgrim.

Repairing the Rune Colossus relied mainly on the entirety of Jiliuguan and Kelage, with Sinuoli and his master contributing; the core brought back from Zhendan and the first imitation could be considered Jiliuguan's reward, but it was unreasonable for other Karaks with Colossi to receive the repair technology for free.

Considering that the materials for repairing the Colossus's body and recasting the core were all treasures, Thorgrim decisively summoned the lords of the most ancient and influential Dwarf Karaks—Weifengbao, Haojiaobao, Tongshanbao, Haimenguan, Slayer Keep, and Tiefengbao—to hold a meeting and coordinate planning.

After spending three days, the Kings set aside two Colossus shells and enough materials to forge their cores for Sinuoli—after experiencing a series of disasters, Everpeak only had four Colossi left with repair value, while other Karaks hovered between one or two.

Immediately following this, they reached an agreement to build an unprecedented Great Forge at Everpeak, with Kelage presiding over the unified forging of Rune Weapons for the Colossi. As a reward, Kelage would henceforth be recognized as the eighth Ancestor God—the God of Armaments—with all worship and sacrifices equal to those of the four lesser gods.

The explosive news plunged the Qunshan into a new round of frenzy. Sinuoli had no time to attend the various banquets; he was working tirelessly to produce Energy Cores.

This was a job only he could do—Demigod status, Focusing Lens, Stone Form, Ritual Buff, and Ley Line Power were all indispensable; relying on sacrificing massive amounts of souls to grant the construct the ability to act was simply not a realm for mortals.