Time for a Little Technological Shock

The order swept through the entire underground base like an electric current.

Great Xia's vast, precise war machine sprang into action at an unprecedented speed.

Just six hours.

Two blueprints embodying Great Xia's finest industrial expertise, along with a set of metalworking instructions, were printed on a specially made fiber cloth as thin as a cicada's wing, yet incredibly tough.

It was carefully rolled into a bundle the size of a quail's egg and vacuum-sealed in food-grade material.

Zhao Gang placed the weighty "egg" in Lin Mo's hand, his expression utterly solemn.

"Comrade Lin Mo, everything on the other side... is in your hands."

He paused again and lowered his voice.

"Remember, your safety always comes first."

Lin Mo accepted it just as solemnly, then grinned.

"Brother Zhao, you're acting like you're entrusting your orphan to me and saying your final farewell. You make it sound like I'm landing at Normandy."

"I'm just going to another world for a nap and exporting a little technology while I'm there, aren't I?"

"With all these death flags you're raising, I'm getting chills down my back!"

"You little punk!" Zhao Gang scolded with a laugh.

"The mission comes second. Your life comes first."

"Oh, and... you don't have to put it in your mouth right now."

Lin Mo: "..."

A rich, fresh scent of greenery enveloped Lin Mo.

He opened his eyes to the familiar dome of the Elves' treehouse, formed entirely from living plants.

Without a moment's delay, Lin Mo sat up,

and deftly spat out the scroll protected by sealing wax.

Now he needed to find Fendona.

He pushed open the door. Sunlight spilled through gaps in the enormous canopy, casting dappled patches of light and shadow.

With respectful directions from the Elf guards, Lin Mo soon found Fendona.

She was not in the magnificent palace, but outside a hastily erected workshop.

Something seemed off about the mood?

The Elves' finest master artisans had gathered inside and outside the workshop, all looking dejected.

They stood around a pile of snapped bow limbs and damaged arrows, miserable and at a complete loss.

Exhaustion and anxiety covered Fendona's face. The harsh weight of reality had worn away most of the youthful innocence in her beautiful eyes, leaving only resolve.

"Fendona."

Lin Mo spoke.

Fendona turned. Seeing him, a faint light kindled in her dull eyes, and she managed a smile.

"Lin Mo, you're here."

Lin Mo swept his gaze over the broken bows and grinned.

"So you're... got it. I brought a few little things guaranteed to cure those blues!"

Fendona gave a slight start, curiosity stirring despite herself.

She stared at Lin Mo.

"What things?"

Then something suddenly occurred to her. Her eyes widened, and even her voice began to tremble.

"Is this the... help you mentioned before?"

Lin Mo nodded, opened his hand, and offered her the specially made fiber-cloth scroll, thin as a cicada's wing.

Fendona took it carefully. It felt extraordinarily strange in her hands, neither silk nor linen, yet remarkably tough.

She slowly unrolled it.

A moment later, her eyes went wide, as did those of the master Elf artisans who had crowded around.

The blueprints contained none of the Elf runes they knew, nor any other known writing.

Instead, they showed exquisitely precise diagrams filled with strange lines and structures.

Every component was broken down individually and clearly depicted in three-dimensional views from different angles.

The assembly process was divided into simple steps, accompanied by readily understandable scales and directional arrows.

The diagrams possessed a rigorous industrial beauty utterly at odds with this magical world.

Lin Mo watched with secret satisfaction. That's right. That's exactly the look I wanted.

"This is..." Fendona looked up at Lin Mo, a question in her voice.

"A bow." Lin Mo's answer was crisp and firm.

He pointed at the blueprint with the most complex structure.

"It's called a Compound Bow. See this? Here, and here."

Lin Mo tapped the diagram of the pulley system.

"These two little wheels let you draw a very, very heavy bow with very little effort."

"Once you've drawn it fully, you could practically pick your toes while taking aim. The strain on your stamina will be reduced to a minimum."

A gray-bearded master artisan, who looked exceptionally old even among the Elves, frowned.

"Impossible!"

He was Elder, the tribe's most renowned master artisan.

He rejected the idea outright, his voice brimming with the fury of a man whose ancestral craft had just been insulted.

"A bow's power comes from the elasticity of its limbs and the strength of its wielder's arms!"

"Adding these cumbersome wheels will only ruin its balance and beauty! This is a desecration of the bow! A betrayal of nature's way!"

Lin Mo rolled his eyes inwardly. Too disinclined to argue, he turned to the other blueprint.

"This is called a Repeating Crossbow. Its construction is relatively simple."

"Its value lies in its speed."

Lin Mo's voice was steady, firm, and full of confidence.

"Ten bolts per load. When the Demon Clan closes in, your archers can use it to turn the enemies in front of them into pincushions within a single breath."

His words brought instant silence.

That horrifying image reminded every Elf of the low-ranking monsters that surged across the battlefield like a tide, utterly fearless in the face of death.

Of the gruesome sight of their companions being torn apart in close combat.

Master Elder's lips moved, but his objections stuck in his throat. He could not get out a single word.

Fendona's breathing quickened.

She clutched the blueprints tightly. The thin, light cloth now seemed to weigh a ton.

She turned to the old artisan and gave her order.

"Master Elder, please lead the artisans in making one according to these blueprints immediately!"

Reluctance was written all over Master Elder's face, but when he saw the princess's resolute expression, he finally bowed his proud head.

"...Yes, Your Highness."

The Elf artisans worked with astonishing efficiency.

They might not understand the principles of mechanics, but they possessed an innate, extraordinary intuition for materials and structures.

With Lin Mo providing on-site guidance as both the "client representative" and the "technical translator," they overcame every difficulty.

"No, no, no! That angle isn't there to look pretty. It's to maximize leverage! Right, put your back into it like you're prying apart your neighbor's wall!"

"This slot has to be absolutely precise. It determines how efficiently the energy is released! Any more tolerance and this bow will become a slingshot!"

They used the ironwood normally employed for bows and arrows to make the bow's body, twisted silk from the magically mutated spiders they raised into a bowstring, and forged Mithril Ore into pulleys and mechanisms.

Three hours later.

Under the gazes of all the Elf artisans, mingling awe with doubt, the first oddly shaped Compound Bow came into being.

It was time for a little technological shock.

It had a cold, mechanical feel, utterly unlike the Elves' traditionally elegant longbows. It was even... a little ugly?