When the leader of the Dwarf Race descended onto Blue Star, both sides' war maps officially activated, marking their respective positions.
As the mechanical voice issued its notification, Bo'er, the planet's lord, took the form of the dwarves' god and arrived on Blue Star as well.
The moment he stepped onto Blue Star, he could see every species on the planet, and he was instantly dumbstruck.
"Holy crap!"
"This is a fucking level-one civilization?"
He saw all kinds of bizarre species, numbering in the tens of thousands. Dozens of kinds of enormous beasts more than ten meters long roared on land, while monsters over thirty meters long prowled the seas.
Honestly, he lost his nerve.
His Bo'er Star had only a few dozen species. He had poured all his energy into the Dwarf Race; the other species had arisen naturally.
Seeing the Human Race, twice the dwarves' height, he trembled a little too. What species is this? Why have I never seen it before?
He was absolutely certain that the species list provided by the Cosmic Elders Council contained no such creatures.
They wielded primitive weapons and clearly lacked the dwarves' sophistication, looking as though they belonged to the most primitive era. They were a full two technological ages behind the Dwarf Race.
What frightened him was, Fuck, what species are these?
How can they breed so much? How are there so many species?
As a level-one civilization, do you even have enough energy points to awaken this many species??
Following the species options provided by the Cosmic Elders Council, he had ultimately cultivated the Dwarf Race.
After choosing the dwarf civilization, he had received information Zhang Yang lacked: wars did not occur between level-one civilizations. A planetary war would only take place when one sought to advance to level two. This knowledge was part of the racial inheritance.
Why had Zhang Yang received no information? Because he had chosen none of the existing races. He had created and cultivated an entirely new race himself, leaving him to feel his own way forward, without even a technology tree.
Getting the Dwarf Race's population to its current size had cost him painstaking effort. He had poured all his energy into strengthening the dwarves and constantly unlocking their technology tree.
Choosing a racial template provided by the Cosmic Elders Council came with a fixed racial technology tree. But the Human Race Zhang Yang had created was entirely new, with no inheritance to receive. He could only toss stones to probe the road ahead and find his own way.
Bo'er had never chosen to accelerate time, spending all his energy points on unlocking the technology tree.
A full seventy million years had already passed on Bo'er Star, measured in cosmic time.
Zhang Yang had always spent his energy points on accelerating his planet, speeding up Blue Star's own time. Since he first began accelerating it, 1.8 million years had passed on Blue Star.
In the universe outside, however, only 180,000 years had actually passed-a very, very short span.
With the birth of steam airships, Bo'er Star had finally reached the pinnacle of level-one civilization and could advance to level two.
Dwarves generally lived long lives, up to five hundred years. Their society was patriarchal, but Dwarf Women held high social status and were highly fertile. A Dwarf Woman could give birth to five to ten dwarves at once, and she lived a long life as well.
However, of every ten newborn dwarves, only two were Dwarf Women. Dwarf Women accounted for twenty percent of the total population.
Dwarf Women lived roughly fifty years longer than male dwarves, reaching an astonishing five hundred and fifty years.
Compared with male dwarves, Dwarf Women were more intelligent and somewhat calmer, with less explosive tempers.
Because Dwarf Women were scarce, most male dwarves remained bachelors all their lives. Their love of alcohol and violent tempers also kept the population from growing.
"I can't keep thinking about this. If I do, there'll be no need to fight." Bo'er dared not let his thoughts run wild any longer. His pride as a god would not allow him to tell his Starfolk this news.
He ordered a musketeer forward to fire a shot outside and test whether the protective barrier had disappeared.
A dwarf took a gourd from his waist and drank a mouthful. His already dark face reddened slightly as he swayed, raised his musket, and loaded a bullet some four hundred meters from the barrier.
Bang!
The bullet instantly flew out, and the surrounding dwarves watched its flight with excitement.
"The protective barrier is gone!"
Bo'er took out two war maps and tossed them to Nodin, declaring:
"Excellent. Split the army in two. Nodin, King of the Dwarves, lead the elite troops and clear the way ahead. I'll hold the center with the old and young and follow you forward."
A dwarf wielding a golden hammer respectfully accepted the maps, then led the army forward to clear the way.
Watching from the sky, Zhang Yang saw everything clearly. The dwarves' muskets had a range of around five hundred meters and considerable power. Their cannons probably had a range within two thousand meters, and they possessed many other weapons beyond Blue Star's era. He passed this information to the Yellow Emperor, who spread it throughout the Human Race.
The Star Gate had appeared right in a desert. With protective energy deployed around it as well, the dwarves had suffered no attacks.
Once the barrier disappeared, the vast dwarf army advanced toward the center of the war map.
Seeing the direction of their advance, Zhang Yang immediately ordered Chiyou to have the air force stand by. They were to fly higher-even at the cost of accuracy-to avoid being shot down by muskets.
He also ordered the Human Race's Beast Taming units to move out and unleash a beast tide, letting these dwarves taste the might of a dinosaur army.
Zhang Yang did not interfere any further. The Human Race had intelligence of its own and needed practice to grow. Besides, they were fighting on home ground, so he was not worried.
The defending side had two maps. One was in the Yellow Emperor's hands as he directed operations, while the other was with Chiyou.
The real-time war maps showed allies as blue dots and enemies as red dots. It was practically a game of Fight the Landlord with everyone's cards exposed.
The dwarf army rapidly advanced toward the human city-states and soon reached a primeval forest.
"Stay alert." Nodin, King of the Dwarves, looked at the red dots scattered throughout the forest, his expression grave. Has the enemy laid an ambush here?
"Artillery units, prepare. Fire incendiary shells into the forest ahead." Nodin sneered. This was not his planet, after all.
Resources were plentiful in the rear, where a planetary-core furnace was being built. Weapons and ammunition could be manufactured freely; there was no need to conserve them.
Thousands of smoothbore cannons lined up in a row, aimed at the primeval forest ahead. At their leader's command, incendiary shells fired one after another.
The primeval forest slowly began to burn. Seeing this, Nodin immediately ordered his troops to fall back to a safe position and prepare their defenses.
It was only because Zhang Yang had learned about these weapons in his previous life that he was not shocked by the dwarves' powerful arsenal.
As the forest burned, many animals within it fled frantically.
A herd of Triceratops had been perfectly comfortable in the forest when a series of deafening blasts suddenly rang out, followed by raging flames. The entire herd stampeded out.
Some Velociraptors, Therizinosauruses, and Deinonychuses also raced out.
Large numbers of pterosaurs took to the sky. Seeing the enormous mass of creatures ahead, they cried out and headed straight for the dwarf army.
Nodin, King of the Dwarves, turned pale at the sight of the enormous beasts overhead. He hurriedly ordered his army to prepare, aiming their muskets and other weapons at the sky.
The earth began to shake, and cries of agony from various creatures kept ringing out. The dwarves were puzzled.
Before they could dwell on it, the pterosaurs were already upon them.
The pterosaurs spread their enormous wings. The Quetzalcoatlus, in particular, had a wingspan of ten meters, blotting out the sky and sun.
Quetzalcoatlus was the undisputed overlord of the skies, with an exceptionally vicious disposition. Ravenously greedy, it would eat any creature it could swallow.
These pterosaurs were the Human Race's greatest adversaries. Out of every ten attacks the humans suffered, eight came from Quetzalcoatlus.
Only after the humans learned Beast Taming and mastered the language of beasts did things improve considerably.
Filled with terror at the approaching monsters, the dwarves hurriedly opened fire.
Bang, bang, bang!
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Boom, boom, boom!
A dense volley of bullets swept into the sky. Some Microraptors and pterosaurs dropped to the ground like dumplings tumbling into a pot.
Zhang Yang saw it clearly from the sky. Is that a steam-powered six-barreled Gatling gun?
Six barrels pointed skyward, spinning madly and continuously spitting tongues of flame.
"Ah!!"
"Help!"
The immense flock of pterosaurs soon plunged into the dwarf army and began tearing into them, spreading their enormous wings and knocking down the surrounding dwarves.
The Quetzalcoatlus headed straight for the steam airships overhead. I'm the overlord of the skies, you sneaky bastard.
They snatched dwarves up with their feet, flew straight into the sky, and then let go. Forget about him-that dwarf was gone!
Or they simply swallowed the dwarves whole, displaying extraordinary savagery.
Some fierce dwarves, however, held tightly to their hammers the instant a pterosaur seized them, then delivered a charged blow that killed it outright.
While the dwarf army battled the pterosaurs, the dinosaurs in the forest rushed out.
Seeing the abundance of food ahead, a Tyrannosaurus Rex roared and charged toward the dwarf army.
A Tyrannosaurus Rex was fifteen meters long and weighed fifteen tonnes.
A dwarf stood 1.2 meters tall and weighed seventy-five kilograms.
At the sight of the colossal creatures ahead, some dwarves kept swallowing hard, trembling all over. What kind of monsters are these?
"Don't panic! Aim the smoothbore cannons at the monsters ahead! Load incendiary shells, explosive shells, and solid shot! Three, two, one, fire!" the artillery commander hurriedly ordered.
"Muskets and steam-powered multibarrel guns, open fire!"
"Steam airships, launch rockets!"
Boom, boom, boom!
Countless incendiary shells burned on the Tyrannosaurus Rex, filling the air with the smell of roasted meat.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex roared incessantly in pain. Even its thick hide could not stop the incendiary shells from continually eating into it.
"White phosphorus shells?" Zhang Yang looked at the flames on the dinosaur's body, uncertain.
Some dwarves swallowed with an audible gulp. It smelled so good.
In terrible agony, the Tyrannosaurus Rex roared and charged toward the creatures ahead. It was going to teach these little shorties a lesson.
A vast number of land dinosaurs charged straight at the dwarf army as bullets struck their bodies.
Many dinosaurs fell to the ground, crying out in agony, but many others ignored the pain and charged straight ahead.
Zhang Yang hurriedly ordered the humans to stay put for now. The dinosaur army was exceptionally savage at the moment-it would attack anyone who approached.
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