In the early morning two years later, the first bell in the central city of the Dwarf Autonomous Region rang from a thirty-meter-tall mechanical tower.
The bronze bell had been made by the dwarves themselves, and atop the bell tower stood a statue of the dwarven King Muradin.
The bell rang clearly through the streets, factories, and underground mine tunnels, reminding everyone that a new day of work and life was about to begin.
After the bell rang, the city's lights went out one by one.
At the end of the street, automated transport vehicles slowly started moving along the tracks, their carriages loaded with ore extracted from the mines below.
Two dwarves stood beside the platform, deftly swiping their terminals to confirm the cargo numbers and destinations.
One of the dwarves yawned and looked into the distance.
"At this time in the old days, we'd have needed eight horned sheep to haul the cargo."
"Now we only need two people watching the machines."
"Does that mean we can have a couple more drinks?"
"In your dreams. Master Dulong said we're inspecting the new gearboxes today."
At the mention of Dulong Anvil, both dwarves fell silent.
Two years earlier, Dulong had still considered standardized production an affront to forging tradition. He had believed that true craftsmen should rely on experience to judge heat and dimensions, for that was the only way to embody craftsmanship.
Now, he had become the most enthusiastic advocate of dwarf industrial transformation, even hanging an iron plaque outside his workshop.
It bore just one sentence.
"Standardization is the future of dwarven development!"
At first, the dwarves had complained bitterly, but when the first batch of parts produced to uniform specifications was successfully fitted onto a large magitech mecha, all doubts vanished.
In the past, a weapon