Chapter 304: Humanity Cantons – Dwarf Kingdom (4)
“I have saved the demonstration in a Video Memory Stone. Please take a look.”
Kyung-joon took out the Video Memory Stone from his inventory and played it immediately.
Pop.
The people shown in the video were ordinary-looking residents of the Fael Alliance.
And next to them were Arc-en-Ciel employees and Kim Elsa dispatched as Safety Officers.
▶ Civilian A: Oh, variant monsters are approaching……They look really terrifying……
▶ Civilian B: Are you sure we can really stop this?
▶ Civilian C: We’re safe, right?
▶ Kim Elsa: Yes. It automatically aims, so all you have to do is pull the trigger towards the variant monsters. If there’s a problem, the Safety Officers will intervene immediately, so you don’t have to worry too much.
▶ Civilian D: But still……
▶ Kim Elsa: Oh, they’re here. Everyone, aim and shoot.
▶ Civilian A, B, C, D: Uwaaaak?! D, Die!!
Tatatatatatatatata!
The sound of gunshots firing almost continuously could be heard in the video.
Approximately 2,000 rounds per minute, zero recoil, and the quiet sound made it seem like they were shooting toy BB guns.
However.
Puff puff puff puff puff!
▶ Variant Monster: Kueeeeek!
Dozens of variant monsters that were rushing in were instantly turned into dust and oxidized.
Click.
Kyung-joon stopped the Video Memory Stone.
“For reference, the monsters caught here are roughly around level 300 on average. This should be quite tempting, isn’t it?”
At Kyung-joon’s explanation, the surrounding ministers were in an uproar.
━W, What is that weapon? How can it fire so rapidly……?
━Each shot surpasses ordinary Energy Bolts……
━Level 300s, and variants at that, turned into dust in an instant……
━It’s simpler and more superior than any crossbow made in our workshops……If something like that comes out on the market, our workshops will simply go bankrupt.
━B, But the price must be incredibly expensive! For a weapon like that!
“Oh, by the way, in the mass production plan, we’re thinking of lowering the unit price to about 500,000 liyan. Right now, it costs roughly……Siam, how much was it?”
Kyung-joon knew the answer but deliberately asked Siam for dramatic effect.
Siam, as if waiting for this moment, answered with a bright smile.
“Including labor costs, it’s around 1 million liyan, right? Soon, the quartz wafer single crystal growth system will be operational, so lowering it to at least 300,000 liyan won’t be difficult~”
━G, Gasp……!
━A, A weapon like that for less than 1 million liyan……!
━Ah, that won’t do, Lothar-nim! If something like that comes in, all of our workshops will go bankrupt!
Murmur murmur!
The surrounding ministers felt a tremendous threat and offered all sorts of words.
If such cheap and powerful weapons were to spread everywhere, it was obvious that existing weapons would become worthless.
Then, all the dwarf workshops that have continued their long history will fade into the annals of history.
At the same time, it goes without saying that the workshops will go bankrupt.
“I know there will be a lot of opposition. That’s why I’ve been preparing to mass-produce this with everyone, not to monopolize it myself. Didn’t I say it? Let’s mass-produce it together. This includes all the workshop owners gathered here.”
Kyung-joon reassured the people by saying so.
But despite that, the ministers’ backlash was strong.
━Doesn’t that mean that we should become subcontractors that produce your weapons?!
━It’s no different from a head-on match against the technology that we dwarves have honed for hundreds and thousands of years!
━Lothar-nim! The stability of that weapon hasn’t been confirmed yet! There can’t be such a specious weapon! There must be something fishy about it!
Kyung-joon did not refute or reassure the ministers’ backlash any longer.
Ignoring them all, he looked at Lothar and said.
“What are your thoughts, Lothar-nim, the leader of all dwarves and the best in technology and craftsmanship?”
“Hmm……”
Lothar showed himself pondering with his chin resting on his hand on the armrest of the chair.
And then he asked Kyung-joon a question.
“Can I take your words to mean that you will not monopolize your technology, not only the strange staff you just showed, but also various other things?”
“Not everything, but some will be released freely with a small royalty. For example, the technology inside my territory cannot be disclosed, but Arc-en-Ciel’s is fine.”
“I’ll ask just one more thing. Is your technology limited to the weapon you just showed, or can it also affect our dwarven technology?”
Lothar hit the core.
Kyung-joon was very satisfied with Lothar’s quick-witted behavior and answered immediately.
“First of all, I wouldn’t be able to arbitrarily grasp and shake the long-standing dwarven technology. No matter how good I am, I can’t create a technology that has grown over hundreds and thousands of years of long history from scratch without anything. However, I can assure you of one thing.”
Kyung-joon began to declare confidently.
“Not only dwarven technology, but all the technology, no, civilization that intelligent beings of the world can do will develop noticeably. What I’m trying to do is not to monopolize technology, nor to kill the old technology that has existed so far. It’s about adding a new axis called ‘science’ to the existing technology. I’m going to call that the ‘Magic Engineering Revolution’.”
“Magic Engineering Revolution?”
Just as humanity on real Earth underwent tremendous civilizational development through two industrial revolutions.
Kyung-joon was thinking of achieving something similar in the world.
There is one difference.
Unlike the 1800s when the West alone dominated and ravaged the East with the Industrial Revolution.
This time, he will make it so that all intelligent beings in the world can enjoy the revolution.
“Of course, there’s no soup for those who are hostile to me, but if it’s a relationship that can be maintained as a ‘friend,’ everyone will be able to benefit. And that revolution can be brought forward as long as there are talented dwarves in technology and craftsmanship.”
“Are you saying that you will include us as the main agents of the revolution?”
“Everyone who joins me will be able to become the main agents of the revolution, big or small.”
“Friend……”
Lothar rose from the throne.
And then he came down and stood in front of Kyung-joon.
Armed with a strong dwarven body and dazzling weapons, he had enough pressure to threaten a small human.
“Friends are good. The ministers gathered here, and everyone in the Dwarf Corps living here are my friends.”
Lothar began to look around.
Every time he did, the ministers on both sides began to greet him with courtesy and their own postures.
“Being friends with me means that you too must be friends with all the other dwarves. But do you really have the qualifications to do that? Your words are so attractive that they could bewitch you right away, but I can’t betray my loyalty when all my friends are against it.”
“Isn’t it enough that I’m friends with the Half-and-Half Dragon and Fairy King-nim?”
“The dwarves’ technology is eternal, but their lifespan is not as long as that of fairies or dragons. It’s just a little longer than humans. Therefore, the two you just mentioned and our dwarves can be said to be members of the same Humanity Cantons, but they are not friends.”
“Then what if this person and I become friends?”
It was the moment Kyung-joon said so.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Footsteps were heard from the broken door of the Blue House.
An old man was walking towards them.
━Is that person, by any chance……!
━I saw him in textbooks, when saluting the national flag, and even in the statue in front of the Blue House entrance……!!
━He was dead……wasn’t he?!
<The Maker of All Things>
<The First Redbeard>
<Currently in a Half-Death State>
▼Redbeard (NPC)
The 1st Redbeard who founded the Flame Hammer Dwarf Clan.
The legend of the dwarves who was called The Maker of All Things and the blacksmith of flames.
That very legend was now walking towards Kyung-joon.
Chuck.
Redbeard stopped in front of Kyung-joon.
“Why is my great-great-grandfather’s great-grandfather here……”
Lothar couldn’t speak.
He had only heard of the 1st Redbeard, his great-great-grandfather’s great-grandfather, but he was still alive and not dead……
It was unbelievable.
(※Lothar is the 7th and Redbeard is the 1st, so he is his great-great-grandfather’s great-grandfather.)
The 7th Lothar recognized the 1st, but Redbeard did not.
He only came up from underground to tell Huma’s descendant.
He barely opened his mouth with a trembling body.
“I’ve been……waiting……descendant……”
Swipe.
He reached out to Kyung-joon.
In his hand was a fan-shaped token.
It was the Hero’s Token.
Following the 2nd Token Fairy King and the 3rd Token Half-and-Half Dragon, the 4th Token Redbeard.
When Kyung-joon grabbed it, a cylindrical orange light shone and merged into one.
[Hero’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Tokens]
▶The token worn by the hero who sealed the Demon King 700 years ago. The 2nd Token (Takiki), the 3rd Token (Half-and-Half Dragon), and the 4th Token (Redbeard) have been combined.
▶『2nd Token: Wings that Cut Through Space』 : -Effect description omitted-
▶『3rd Token: Half-and-Half Dragon』 : -Effect description omitted-
▶『4th Token: Redbeard』 : Allows entry into the underground workshop where Redbeard constantly hammered in a half-death state for 700 years at the request of Huma.
▶Item Grade: Legend (Stage 3)
Thud!
As soon as Redbeard handed the token to Kyung-joon, he immediately collapsed.
Kyung-joon caught him with his hand before he hit the floor.
Kyung-joon immediately raised his mana and tried to heal him with Eternal Telomere, but.
“It’s okay……descendant……”
The old man who had become white as snow shook his head.
“I will soon……go to meet my friend……”
Rustle.
As soon as Redbeard said those words, he immediately turned into white powder and scattered ephemerally in Kyung-joon’s arms.
All that was left was powder on the floor.
Wooo.
Kyung-joon used Vector Calculus to gather all the powder without missing a single piece and put it in a bottle.
“After the Demon War, the first Redbeard was said to have died shortly after founding the Flame Hammer Dwarf Clan and handing over the position to the second generation. Perhaps that’s how it was known.”
Ding!
Kyung-joon showed the truth he had read from Huma’s computer to all the dwarves here.
“But he wasn’t dead. He gave up all his will except for hammering at the request of his close friend, my predecessor Huma, and went into a half-death state to prepare for future disasters. For 700 years.”
Kyung-joon handed the bottle containing Redbeard’s will to Lothar.
“Please take this. This is what Lothar-nim should have, and what the dwarves should have.”
“……”
Lothar took the bottle.
His expression was complicated.
“It’s heavy.”
Contrary to what he said, the bottle was as light as if it would float in the sky.
But Lothar felt it was heavier than any steel.
The weight Lothar was feeling was the weight of history.
After he carefully put the bottle in his inventory, he asked Kyung-joon.
“Friend. Can you tell me what has happened so far, what is happening now, and what will happen in the future?”
Lothar reached out to Kyung-joon.
Kyung-joon grabbed the rough and rugged hand of the dwarf with sincerity and smiled.
“Of course.”
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Suddenly, Kyung-joon’s position completely changed from an illegal immigrant to a prophet chosen by the ancestor of a nation.
It was a huge turning point that would be recorded in dwarven textbooks, and it began to advance the stagnant history.
The Dael Alliance, the Fael Alliance, and the Flame Hammer Dwarf Clan united as one, and things progressed rapidly.
A massive project undertaken by the three cantons together.
Magic engineering began to develop at an incredibly fast pace through collective intelligence and unprecedented capital.
Magic engineering rifles were mass-produced.
Energy Towers were further developed and began to be mass-produced.
Real-world cars, trains, airplanes, tanks, etc., were all reinterpreted in a magic engineering way, breaking away from the framework of science.
At the same time, existing standard weapons also began to develop further.
Those who were familiar with swords were able to emit sword energy regardless of their abilities.
Arrow and crossbow technology, unlike magic engineering rifles, evolved to allow for powerful penetration shots from long distances.
In this process, one more canton joined Kyung-joon’s side.
<Leader of the Beastkin Alliance>
<Beastkin King>
▼Buried Bones (NPC)
“Our Beastkin Alliance has a larger population than anywhere else, is hardworking, and has very low labor costs! If you build and operate all those magic engineering factories in our Beastkin Alliance, it will be much more efficient and economical!”
The Beastkin Alliance welcomed the Magic Engineering Revolution very positively.
Because it could perfectly solve the chronic problems of the Beastkin Alliance: employment and the economy!
Since the Magic Engineering Revolution also included the food revolution with Kyung-joon Fertilizer, the Beastkin Alliance quickly joined Kyung-joon’s side without much conflict.
[The Hero’s 5th Token (Crouching Black Tail) is combined.]
※Crouching Black Tail: The first Beastkin King, now deceased.
Incidentally, the effect of the newly combined 5th Token was quite something……
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