Chapter 444: A Brief Calm

Following the acceptance of the confederation, detailed information on the Angrund Clan faction was opened to Sinuoli. Combining this information with the map on the table, Sinuoli stroked his beard and fell into deep thought.

"This is a massive project, but we can also harvest valuable experience from it, which will be used when rebuilding Eight Peaks."

To tell the truth, crossing the Dushuihe leads to the Dongedi, and with Tiefengbao as a pivot point, it is not unfeasible to venture directly into Eight Peaks. But reality is not a game; retaking Eight Peaks will not bring even a tiny bit of immediately usable population—no matter how urgent, one cannot possibly capture Greenskins or Skaven as slaves!

If not for Sinuoli's great migration to the Southlands beforehand, if Belegar could truly retake Eight Peaks, perhaps there would be a chance to gather tens of thousands of people in a short time by summoning the former clans.

But now, except for a small, most steadfast group, the survivors of Eight Peaks are already in the Southlands. Having finally stabilized, they would not be willing to leave immediately, and Sinuoli could not easily let them go.

When the time comes, the Angrund Clan will still have to rely on Human immigrants to fill the magnificent halls. Rather than hoarding risks and difficulties inside Eight Peaks, it is better to take it one step at a time and walk steadily, rather than adopting a "last stand" attitude.

"It won't be easy to convince them, my friend. The four ancestral spirits are anxious, and I am even more anxious than them! The call of the Ancestor Goddess echoes in my ears day and night."

Sinuoli stood up, patted Belegar on the shoulder, and took the little Prince from Lady Anya's arms to tease him. This is a "decision that goes against the ancestors" in the true sense; being able to withstand the pressure shows that I am already a qualified King.

"Let go and do it; you will be their weakest front shield. Remember one thing: you are welcoming us over, not begging us to come over."

In the following days, Belegar and the Sinuoli couple conducted in-depth consultations on how to screen good citizens from the Border Prince Territory and Tilea, formulate policies to attract immigrants, plan the first phase of environmental transformation projects, and follow-up military action plans, reaching a series of consensuses.

"That old piece of trash Gortz only knows how to stab people in the back. Even Ironhand's remaining remnants couldn't be taken down, yet he still has the face to call me to help!"

In the command tower of the Baise Yaosai purgatory barracks, a very young Demon Smith had fire in his palms as he burned a letter to ash. This was Delazhuosi-Huijin, master of the Azog Legion and the most gifted sorcerer in the Baian Zhidi.

The Skaven poured resources into researching behemoths to counter the Rune Colossi, Arkhan left the Southlands to search for more accessible Nage-shi Modian, and the combination of the Green Prophet and Tiepi stirred up the Baian Zhidi before finding a place to hide and accumulate strength; for a time, Belegar enjoyed a rare period of calm.

East of the Southlands, at the southernmost tip of the Baian Zhidi, there is a wasteland dominated by howling winds all year round, with Baise Yaosai standing in its center. Don't let the simple name fool you; it is the second most important stronghold of the Chaos Dwarfs, second only to Zharr-Naggrund.

In Belegar's opinion, serving and pleasing gods to gain power is normal, but building a drill to strike into the God Realm to take God Blood is too absurd. Isn't that the same as the four disciples of the Tang Monk fighting their way up to Lingshan, not asking for scriptures but asking the Buddha for sarira? Being able to have such a thought shows that this guy has no faith at all; he just wants to control stronger power.

"Only finishing the casting preparations now? It seems this is a major project even for a true god."

Belegar was not in a hurry to take new actions; he now needed to devote as much time and energy as possible to the production of Colossus Cores, as the Dwarf Kings of every stronghold were eagerly awaiting them.

Previously, he only needed to occasionally manifest miracles to recruit believers, but now his Apostles often needed to compete with the priests of other gods for territory, or even deal with violent suppression by local authorities, making requests to borrow power increasingly frequent.

But even the Granite Hand lord of Weifengbao, who also served as the head of the Mason Guild, did not support using stone. The lords who had suffered enough from behemoths wanted to develop the anti-large capabilities of the Colossi to the extreme; if one slash could kill a giant, they would never spend two.

When the Geomantic Web of the Southlands was connected, a miraculous thing happened: the power of the world itself dissipated, improving the environment and benefiting all living things. The increase in food production was the most direct proof; as for whether the improvement in people's physical condition was psychological or real, Belegar, who had stepped into the realm of a Demigod, could no longer feel it.

"That's right, those old things who don't submit to me, haven't they always wanted to go back and reshape their glory? We can take this opportunity to arrange them!"

The difficulty of casting a pure metal Rune Weapon over twenty meters long is extremely high, and the weapons of the Nehekhara Sheng-sheng Taitan and the Zhendan Terracotta Sentinels were only carved from stone. Although stone is brittle and lacks strength, it's no big deal to replace it if it breaks.

He certainly did not waste this opportunity. To reduce the burden of manufacturing Energy Cores and to contribute a little bit of power to the Great Protector, Belegar secretly gathered the construction teams that were originally sent to work for Outelakesi and built geomantic structures in his controlled area.

When they left, they took a group of members of the confederation and middle-to-lower-level officials. These Dwarfs aimed to seek opportunities, as the Southlands development, the Dushuihe, and even the future Eight Peaks would be a new blue ocean.

After spending more than three years delivering all the Energy Cores, Belegar was already raring to go for the official deployment of the Rune Colossi. He planned to place one at Red Cloud Mountain to guard the gateway and one at Highland Fortress to suppress petty thieves.

Delazhuosi could be called crazy even among a race like the Chaos Dwarfs, and the drill project was precisely his whimsical idea. When he presented the concept to the conclave, Ironhand immediately exiled him on the grounds of blasphemy, but naturally, he also kept the documents and pushed them forward in secret.

Buluokesen and the Southlands Engineer Hanghui were also operating at full capacity. Wearing the Focusing Lens of Mogewamu, the young master engineer had endless inspiration. Having presided over major unprecedented projects like the Southlands railway and the restoration of the Colossi, in the eyes of the young Apprentices, he was already the chosen one of Mogewamu.

For the sake of appearances, he named this team the White Sun Warriors, and every member took a solemn oath before the geomantic crystals of Highland Fortress, never to leak a single bit of information about the mission.

Through their efforts, one Zhanren Firearm after another was sent from the workshop to the hands of the warriors. The weapons optimized by the Chaos Dwarfs in high-frequency warfare were soon welcomed by the Dwarfs; isn't it better to carry one less axe and bring two more jars of beer or ammunition?

Knowing he couldn't get involved, Snuo decided to wait for good news at Highland Fortress. Over these two years, besides working, he was also distracted by issues of faith. After passing the initial germination period, his sect began to face various challenges.

Those who can read this far are loyal readers; thank you for your strong support. My studies abroad are coming to an end, and I've been researching what souvenirs to bring back recently. I previously favored Bergman beer, as it can't be bought domestically and fits the theme of this book, but I found that beer is difficult to mail, and it only comes in glass bottles, so there's no guarantee it won't break if shipped. Now the official Warhammer models aren't being made, and the only related products are Warhammer 3 print T-shirts, which cost 25 pounds, and the ones made on Taobao for 50 might even be better. I've seen various content creators promoting Chinese setting books; are there any book friends who know about them? If they're good, I can raffle off three or five copies.