Chapter Summaries

Lin Mo confirmed that Great Xia wanted the Dwarves to help make a castle at sea fly, and Thorin said the Dwarven king and Elder Council would decide whether to take the costly job. Lin Mo then read a letter from Fendona describing the Elves’ victories with Great Xia’s weapons, and he considered visiting Lothia City again.

• Lin Mo confirmed his plan to make a castle at sea fly, and Thorin said the Dwarven king and Elder Council would decide whether the Dwarves would take the job.
• Elder Muyu gave Lin Mo a letter from Princess Fendona, while he and Thorin tried to peek as Lin Mo opened it.
• Fendona apologized for leaving without saying goodbye and thanked Lin Mo for the weapons he had given the Elves.
• Fendona described how the Elves used Great Xia’s weapons and enchanted vehicles to defeat the Demon Clan and reclaim territory.
• Lin Mo folded Fendona’s letter and thought that he should visit Lothia City again when he had the chance.

Lin Mo worried that the Elves and other races could use magic or their strength to make Great Xia’s weapons more effective, but Zhao Gang pointed out their dependence on Great Xia’s industry and realized they were buying little fuel because they had found ways to move the vehicles without it. Deep underground, Balin Copperhammer’s Dwarf force reached the only passage to Mountain City and found it guarded by elite Demon Clan Scouts.

• Lin Mo told Zhao Gang that the Elves could enchant Great Xia’s weapons and that other races might enhance them too, but Zhao Gang said they still depended on Great Xia for ammunition, fuel, and repairs.
• Zhao Gang noticed that the Holy Human Race and the Elves had bought little fuel and guessed that Treants and strong soldiers were moving their vehicles instead.
• Lin Mo suggested the Dwarves might be unable to push heavy vehicles, and Zhao Gang hoped they would buy more fuel without devising another workaround.
• Balin Copperhammer led over a hundred Dwarves through underground caves while avoiding Demon Clan Scouts.
• A Dwarf scout reported that the only passage to Mountain City was blocked by over a hundred elite Demon Clan Scouts led by a Fifth Order Demon General.

Balin led the dwarves through a fierce battle with Demon Clan scouts, then fought off Burrowing Earth Dragons as they raced toward Dwarf Mountain City. The dwarves made it through the rune-covered wall, while a squad of High-Ranking Demon Clan members emerged outside it.

• Balin ordered the dwarves to use heavy machine guns and grenades against the Demon Clan scouts while he attacked them with his battle-axe.
• After the scouts were killed, Balin urged his clansmen to flee as a Burrowing Earth Dragon pursued them through the tunnels.
• A second Burrowing Earth Dragon broke through a side passage, and Balin hacked a path through it so the dwarves could escape.
• Balin planted anti-armor mines and the dwarves used mines and rocket launchers to delay the pursuing dragons.
• The dwarves rode through the rune-covered wall of Dwarf Mountain City using their glowing tokens, and the pursuing dragon crashed against it.
• A squad of High-Ranking Demon Clan members emerged outside the wall after the dragon's pursuit stopped.

Demon Venerable Yaxes chose to preserve his forces rather than attack the Great Xia Expeditionary Force, as rival commanders vied to replace the dead Malphite. Balin returned to Dwarf Mountain City with Great Xia weapons and went to report to Dwarf King Muradin Copperbeard.

• A bone-spurred Demon General urged Yaxes to unite with other commanders and attack Great Xia, but Yaxes struck him down.
• The one-eyed Demon General argued that the demons should wait for the Demon God's decree and save their strength while the Seventh Order commanders competed for supreme command; Yaxes approved.
• Yaxes withdrew from the Wall of Sighs, leaving the dwarves protected from an immediate demon assault.
• Balin and his group entered Dwarf Mountain City, where crowds of dwarves gathered to see their unfamiliar Great Xia equipment.
• Balin ordered his companions to rest, then entered the council hall and bowed to Dwarf King Muradin Copperbeard.

Balin returned to the Dwarves with Great Xia weapons and demonstrated their devastating power to King Muradin and the elders. Stunned by the weapons, the Dwarves resolved to study them and combine them with rune technology to restore their clan’s former glory.

• Balin told King Muradin that eighty-seven Dwarves had died on the journey and that he had brought back half of the Great Xia weapons in Spatial Rings.
• Balin unloaded a tank and a mountain of modern weapons, prompting Glenn Stonefist to dismiss the rifles as inferior scrap metal.
• Balin demonstrated the heavy machine gun with cubic nitrogen ammunition, blasting through a metal wall and silencing Glenn’s objections.
• Balin fired a rocket launcher, tank cannon, and Vehicle-Mounted Land Shield 2000 at targets, leaving the Dwarves stunned by their destructive power.
• Balin explained that even more powerful weapons were too large to use in the testing yard, and Muradin and the elders resolved to study and replicate Great Xia’s weapons with Dwarf rune technology.

King Muradin and the Dwarves dismantled a Great Xia rifle and discovered that its cartridges contained mysterious powders that differed by ammunition type. After deciding to study the powders, they faced the challenge of taking apart a tank and tentatively chose its tracks as a starting point.

• King Muradin led Balin and the elders to the weapons workshop, where the Dwarves quickly dismantled an automatic rifle and found no runes or magical components.
• Elder Glen struck a cartridge primer with a hammer, firing a bullet into King Muradin's armor; Muradin was unharmed and told Glen to be more careful.
• Balin opened several kinds of ammunition, revealing different powders and fillings that the Dwarves could not identify.
• King Muradin ordered the powders collected for the alchemy workshop and announced that they would take apart the tank.
• Balin brought out a tank, and Elder Glen suggested beginning with its tracks.

Balin led King Muradin and the Dwarves in dismantling a Great Xia tank, but its thousands of parts and intricate systems overwhelmed them. After taking apart a circuit board, Balin opened the CPU and discovered structures so tiny that even his magic power left him baffled.

• Balin used tools from his Spatial Ring to teach the Dwarves how to remove the tank’s screws, and the craftsmen forged the tools they lacked.
• King Muradin ordered the Dwarves to dismantle the tank and study its construction so they could reproduce it.
• The Dwarves removed the tank’s outer shell, then worked through the night to sort its engine, gearbox, wiring, and electronic parts.
• King Muradin and the craftsmen reacted with disbelief at the tank’s complexity, while Balin explained how its systems helped ordinary Great Xia soldiers operate it and stay protected.
• Elder Glen discovered that the circuit board was made of multiple layers, and the Dwarves continued dismantling the components until they were exhausted.
• Balin pried open the CPU’s metal cover, examined its densely packed structures, and jumped up cursing when his magic power revealed how intricate they were.

King Muradin redirected the Dwarves after the CPU’s intricate construction left them despairing over how to copy Great Xia’s technology. The Dwarves adopted the idea of modifying what they could understand, then paused their work to feast on Great Xia food and drink, with Balin mentioning rice wine he had not brought back.

• Balin examined the CPU and cursed when its intricate internal construction proved impossible for the Dwarves to reproduce with their forging methods.
• King Muradin and Elder Glen inspected the CPU, and the other Dwarves were overwhelmed by its miniature maze of circuitry.
• Muradin told the Dwarves to adapt Great Xia’s designs to their own strengths instead of copying every feature, restoring their confidence.
• Muradin called for a break, and Balin brought out Great Xia baijiu and seasonings for a meal of roasted meat and mushrooms.
• The Dwarves praised the food and liquor, and Balin said he would try to obtain Great Xia rice wine on his next visit.

Balin and King Muradin’s Dwarves tried to reassemble a tank engine, but their first attempt left out screws and could not be started because its battery and motor had been dismantled. After consulting Great Xia’s manuals, they tested a second tank, but its engine still refused to start, leaving them baffled.

• After finishing their meal, King Muradin ordered the Dwarves to reassemble the tank engine, and they put it together but found leftover screws.
• Balin realized the first engine could not be started because its motor and battery had been dismantled into basic parts.
• Balin produced Great Xia’s instruction and maintenance manuals, and the Dwarves studied how the battery, motor, and engine worked together.
• The Dwarves dismantled a new tank carefully and connected its battery and motor to the engine, but the engine would not start.
• King Muradin ordered the Dwarves to check their work, but after two hours of disassembling and reassembling the parts, they still could not find the problem.

King Muradin and the Dwarven elders abandoned copying Great Xia’s diesel engine and decided to build a tank using magic golem technology, runes, and energy crystals. They began designing a Magic Punk Tank while Muradin organized magical modifications to their weapons and vehicles.

• The Dwarves removed the engine from a second tank, installed the battery and electric motor, and successfully started it.
• Elder Glen and the other elders figured out how the engine, pistons, crankshaft, gearbox, and tank components worked, then realized they lacked the knowledge and materials to reproduce them.
• King Muradin proposed using energy crystals and rune magic circles to create a Dwarven engine instead of copying Great Xia’s design.
• The Dwarves began drawing up designs for a Magic Punk Tank with rune-enhanced armor, speed, and defenses.
• Muradin assigned craftsmen to study runes for the weapons and equipment he took from his Spatial Ring, beginning a campaign of magical modifications and training.

General Liu grew frustrated that the New Hope Plan remained secret while its technologies and medicines transformed Great Xia. When the Navy Shipyard requested two aircraft carriers for more underwater-focused modifications, he suspected the upgrades were connected to the plan.

• At a generals' meeting, other officers teased General Liu that Long Zhan's mission and the missing army divisions could eclipse his recent achievements.
• General Liu called Elder Zhao and learned that Long Zhan had joined the New Hope Plan, but Elder Zhao told him to wait for his own notice.
• General Liu reflected on the plan's room-temperature superconductor, Zhengjin metal, Super Mecha, fusion technology, and life-extending medicines.
• General Liu's secretary delivered a request from the Navy Shipyard to modify two aircraft carriers, and General Liu criticized the proposed torpedo ports, electric-discharge systems, and underwater weapons.
• General Liu recalled similar modifications across his fleet and wondered whether the carrier upgrades were part of the New Hope Plan.

General Liu wondered whether the New Hope Plan involved underwater targets as Lin Mo welcomed Warwick and more than two hundred Half-Orcs seeking weapons customized for their strength. Five Dragons and the Elves arrived to request mounted weapons and Treant artillery, and the chapter ended with Zhao Gang asking whether the Elves would sell their Treants.

• General Liu ordered his secretary to investigate reports of anomalous underwater targets and pondered the true scope of the New Hope Plan.
• Warwick led over two hundred Half-Orcs to Lin Mo and asked Great Xia to custom-make simpler, more powerful weapons suited to their bodies.
• General Adrian arrived with five Dragons and explained that the Dragon Race wanted weapons mounted on their backs.
• Adrian asked Great Xia to design artillery for Treants, and an Elf Mage enlarged a palm-sized Treant into a hundred-meter giant.
• Zhao Gang asked Adrian whether the Elves would sell their Treants.

Lin Mo agreed to design custom weapons for the Half-Orcs, Wood Elves, and Dragon Race, while the Holy Human Race and Dwarves declined. He explained that the exclusive equipment would require the requesting races to cover the customization costs.

• Lin Mo invited High Archbishop Kael and Dwarf Elder Thorin to discuss custom equipment, but both said their races did not need modifications.
• Warwick requested shoulder-carried artillery for the Half-Orcs, and Lin Mo and Zhao Gang approved the idea.
• Adrian asked Great Xia to design weapons and defenses that would turn Treants into mobile fortresses, and Lin Mo agreed.
• Yadis asked to mount ranged weapons on dragons so they could attack from a distance, and Lin Mo agreed.
• Lin Mo told the three races that their exclusive weapon systems would be expensive and that they would have to cover the customization fees.

Lin Mo finalized plans to develop custom weapons for the Half-Orcs, Elves, and dragons, who paid with a huge hoard of gold and energy crystals. He summoned Academicians Qian Zhenhua and Liu Chengen, whose excitement over the dragons quickly turned to fascination with the Elves’ grow-and-shrink Treant.

• Yadis poured out a mountain of gold coins and energy crystals to pay for the dragons’ custom weapons.
• Lin Mo, Zhao Gang, and Long Zhan agreed to have technical teams design weapons for all three races and seek their approval before production.
• Lin Mo sent Wu Suowei to fetch Academicians Qian Zhenhua and Liu Chengen, who had been studying Elf blood and initially dismissed the request.
• Wu Suowei told the two academicians that five dragons had arrived, and they rushed from the laboratory to see them.
• Lin Mo explained the races’ weapon requests, then told the academicians that the Elves had brought a Treant that could grow and shrink.
• Qian Zhenhua and Liu Chengen ran off to study the Treant, and Lin Mo hurried after them.

Lin Mo introduced Academicians Qian Zhenhua and Liu Chengen, who began studying the treant and dragon. Liu Chengen’s increasingly reckless attempts to draw blood from the dragon forced Lin Mo to intervene just as he prepared to use an excavator-mounted hammer drill.

• Lin Mo introduced Qian Zhenhua and Liu Chengen as top scientists who would handle Adrian’s customization requests.
• The two academicians examined the treant and dragon and directed soldiers to build scaffolding around them.
• Liu Chengen tried to pierce the dragon’s toe with syringes, shoot it with a rifle, and drill its scales, but nothing worked.
• Liu Chengen kicked the dragon’s claw in frustration and hurt his foot, while Qian Zhenhua laughed at him.
• Liu Chengen returned in an excavator fitted with a hammer drill and prepared to strike the dragon’s claw, so Lin Mo rushed over and warned him about endangering the soldiers nearby.

Lin Mo secured Yadis’s consent for Great Xia’s scientists to collect Dragon Blood, while Liu Chengen and Qian Zhenhua eagerly examined it. Elsewhere, Warwick told Grom and Wukong that Great Xia’s weapons had helped the Half-Orcs repel a Demon Clan attack, and Grom vowed to grow stronger with their custom weapons.

• Lin Mo asked Yadis for permission to take Dragon Blood, and Yadis agreed and cut its claw to provide a drop.
• Liu Chengen collected the Dragon Blood, while Qian Zhenhua warned him against tasting it.
• Lin Mo noticed Yadis’s wound healed within seconds and decided Great Xia should give the Dragon Race a discount on its weapons.
• Warwick told Grom and Wukong that the Demon Clan had killed nearly ten thousand Half-Orcs in a surprise attack.
• Warwick described how Great Xia’s artillery, guns, tanks, and armored vehicles helped the Half-Orcs defeat the demons.
• Grom looked forward to receiving custom weapons and vowed that the Half-Orcs would become stronger against the Demon Clan.

Liu Chengen and Qian Zhenhua discovered that dragon blood could greatly enhance organisms and might help humanity reach a higher level of life. Jiang Guoyu and his weapons design team were summoned to a heavily secured Arctic base, where they found a vast gateway opening onto a world with two moons.

• Liu Chengen and Qian Zhenhua found that diluted dragon blood increased a lab mouse’s strength, speed, and endurance more than tenfold.
• Liu Chengen identified an unknown energy factor in dragon blood that could affect an organism’s basal metabolism.
• Zhao Gang arranged for weapons design experts from Blue Star to help design equipment for Dragons, Treants, and Half-Orcs.
• Jiang Guoyu and his entire design team were urgently summoned and flown to a military base in the Arctic.
• After extensive security checks, Jiang Guoyu and the team descended to an underground complex and saw a huge blue gateway opening onto a world with a sea, a starry sky, and two moons.

Jiang Guoyu and the other experts learned that the Astral Portal connected Blue Star to the Terra Continent, then crossed over and saw its fantastical inhabitants. The officer welcomed them and tasked them with designing weapons for the other races, leaving Jiang Guoyu determined to help save humanity.

• An officer explained that the Astral Portal led to the Terra Continent and was the core of the New Hope Plan, shocking Jiang Guoyu and his colleagues.
• Jiang Guoyu and the experts rode through the Portal and arrived beneath the Terra Continent’s two moons.
• The convoy passed sprawling construction sites and revealed five enormous Dragons and a hundred-meter-tall Treant.
• Jiang Guoyu saw Half-Orcs, Elves, and Dwarves gathered near a dormitory camp, confirming that the legendary races were real.
• The officer told the experts to design weapons for the other races, and Jiang Guoyu resolved to help save humanity.

Lin Mo attended Great Xia's first rune-enhanced rocket launch, which successfully placed a satellite in orbit and recovered the rocket. As Qian Zhenhua announced plans for a vast satellite network, Liu Chengen pulled Lin Mo away to show him a mysterious surprise.

• Lin Mo used Holy Light Purification to revive the exhausted Qian Zhenhua and Liu Chengen before the scheduled launch.
• Qian Zhenhua explained that Weight-Reduction Runes and Stability Runes made the rocket lighter, more efficient, and more reusable.
• Lin Mo and the command center watched the rocket launch as the Dragons Clan, Dwarf Clan, Holy Human Race, Elves, and Half-Orc Clan stared in astonishment.
• The rocket successfully deployed a satellite and returned its booster, prompting Qian Zhenhua to announce plans to launch ten rockets daily for two weeks.
• Liu Chengen tugged Lin Mo away from the launch center, promising to show him a surprise.

Liu Chengen gave Lin Mo purified Dragon Blood, which Lin Mo drank despite learning it had been prepared for injection. The Dragon Blood rapidly strengthened Lin Mo, and Liu Chengen proposed giving him more, leaving Lin Mo wondering whether he could refuse.

• Liu Chengen led Lin Mo to a secret laboratory and revealed a syringe of purified Dragon Blood.
• Liu Chengen explained the Dragon Blood's effects and risks, and Lin Mo chose to drink it rather than receive an injection.
• Lin Mo swallowed the purified Dragon Blood before Liu Chengen could warn him about possible unknown risks.
• Liu Chengen monitored Lin Mo as the Dragon Blood increased his cellular activity, bone density, and muscle toughness.
• Liu Chengen brought out five liters of Dragon Blood and suggested giving Lin Mo more in batches, while Lin Mo asked if he could refuse.