The human alliance naturally denied that accusation firmly, and at the same time expressed sympathy for the dwarves' huge losses. However, although they sympathized with them, they did not show any mercy when it came to dividing the fruits of victory. Instead, they became even more unscrupulous, and almost completely excluded the dwarves. It was only because the living environment in the original territory of the dwarves was too harsh. Otherwise, they might not even be able to keep that bit of territory.
The attack by the High Elves, as well as the disappearance of Master Sol and the Sky-breaker's blueprints, became a historical case that had been lingering for nearly a thousand years. In the past 300 to 400 years, the relationship between the dwarves and the human kingdoms had finally eased a little. At least, they had resumed normal trade with each other.
However, just when the dwarves had lost hope of reproducing the Sky-breaker, a blueprint of the Sky-breaker appeared in front of them again. One could imagine how much of a shock it would cause to the higher-ups of the Dwarf Kingdom. The higher-ups of the Dwarf Kingdom were divided into two factions when it came to how to deal with the matter and obtain the complete blueprint of the Sky-breaker.
One faction had a more intense reaction, and felt that the Sky-breaker originally belonged to the dwarves, and they should demand that the Tower of Dusk return the blueprint unconditionally. As for the Tower of Dusk's offer to help create the Sky-breaker in exchange for the complete blueprint of the Sky-breaker, they disagreed even more. A powerful weapon like the Sky-breaker should only belong to the dwarves. How could it be in the hands of the greedy humans?
In fact, they even suggested that Odin, the Dwarf King, should order all the best dwarven warriors to head to the Breezy Plains to retrieve the blueprint of the Sky-breaker. In their opinion, the Tower of Dusk was just a local human force, just like the tribes in their kingdom. They could not compete with the Dwarf Kingdom at all.
However, on the other side, which should be considered a moderate faction, advocated cooperating with the Tower of Dusk in order to obtain the complete blueprint of the Sky-breaker. After all, it was no longer the war-torn era that had just ended during the Dark Age. Even if they created a real Sky-breaker, they might not have to rely on it to start a war.
In this era, the Sky-breaker was more of a deterrent that could elevate the status of the Dwarf Kingdom in the mainland. Once the Dwarf Kingdom used the Sky-breaker to start a war, they would quickly become the public enemy of the entire mainland. No matter how powerful the Sky-breaker was, it was impossible for the Dwarf Kingdom to have the power to challenge all the countries on the mainland.
The dispute between the two factions left Odin at a loss of what to do. After all, the Dwarf Kingdom was not a kingdom with a centralized monarch. Instead, it was an alliance of tribes. Although the Dwarf King Odin had a high reputation, he still had to consider the opinions of the tribal leaders.
Fortunately, in this dispute, the moderate faction still had a certain upper hand. Although the dwarves' tempers were not very good, they were not all belligerent. That was also the reason that the Tower of Dusk's order for the Magical Crystal Cannons could be executed smoothly, allowing Beckley to successfully ship the first batch of Magical Crystal Cannons back.
The conflict caused by the blueprint of the Sky-breaker in the Dwarf Kingdom was actually within Lin Li's expectations. After all, the Sky-breaker was too important to the dwarves. However, Lin Li believed that the dwarves would eventually make the choice they wanted. Although some of them were saying that they wanted to snatch the blueprint back, most of them would probably shut up if they really saw the strength of the Tower of Dusk.
Hence, Lin Li was not too worried about the cooperation to create the Sky-breaker. In fact, it could be said to be a done deal, and the only problem was time. On the other hand, the Gilded Kingdom had unsurprisingly encountered some trouble with the purchase and sale of the Magical Crystal Cannons. The people of the Gilded Kingdom were not fools, and selling the Magical Crystal Cannons to the Tower of Dusk would be a blatant act of aiding the enemy.
The Tower of Dusk and the Gilded Kingdom were enemies, which was a well-known fact in the Breezy Plains. Everyone knew that a war would break out between the two sooner or later. Under such circumstances, if the Gilded Kingdom were to sell their Magical Crystal Cannons to the Tower of Dusk, it would be the most foolish act in the history of Anril.
However, the Gilded Kingdom had agreed to many conditions when they asked for help from the Tower of Dusk and the forces of the Breezy Plains for the matter of Cage Island. Although the Tower of Dusk did not propose to purchase the Magical Crystal Cannons from the Gilded Kingdom at that time, they had also left a foreshadowing. Unless the Gilded Kingdom was willing to bear the label of going back on their word, they would really have to be fools.
From a political perspective, as long as there were enough benefits to the kingdom, it would not be a big deal for the Gilded Kingdom to tear up the agreement. After all, for more than 1,300 years after the end of the Dark Age, the various kingdoms had been constantly signing agreements and tearing them up. Everything else was inconsequential in the face of interests.
However, if the Gilded Kingdom wanted to develop in the Breezy Plains now, they had to put on an image of keeping their promises. Otherwise, they would probably be stuck in the Breezy Plains. Besides, the Gilded Kingdom was not ready to go to war with the Tower of Dusk yet. If they were to directly reject the so-called legitimate request of the Tower of Dusk, it would probably be no different from falling out with them.
However, as the envoy of the Gilded Kingdom, Cantory was not completely helpless. Faced with the Tower of Dusk's request to purchase the Magical Crystal Cannons, he did not directly reject them, and instead skillfully tried to stall for time. Although their Magical Crystal Cannons were similar in principle to the Dwarf Kingdom's Magical Crystal Cannons, they were larger in size, and more difficult to manufacture. Those became Cantory's excuses for delaying.
"I know, according to the previous agreement, we shouldn't refuse your request to purchase and sell the Magical Crystal Cannons. However, our Magical Crystal Cannons are very difficult to manufacture, and they are large in size and inconvenient to transport. Hence, please wait patiently. I can't possibly dismantle the Magical Crystal Cannons on our battleships and give them to you, "Cantory said with a helpless expression when facing the envoy of the Gilded Kingdom.
He had to admit that Cantory's excuse was not entirely nonsense. If it were Lin Li, he would be able to store as many Magical Crystal Cannons as there were in the Ring of Endless Storm, which had infinite space. However, the Gilded Kingdom did not have a heaven-defying storage item like the Ring of Endless Storm, and they still had to rely on the cargo hold of the ship to transport the goods. Hence, it was indeed difficult to transport a large number of Magical Crystal Cannons.
There were indeed difficulties in manufacturing them. After all, the Magical Crystal Cannons of the Gilded Kingdom were not simply enlarged versions of the Magical Crystal Cannons. Many alchemical techniques were used in them. Otherwise, the Dwarf Kingdom wouldn't have to worry about the Sky-breaker. They could have just built a massive Magical Crystal Cannon.
However, the Tower of Dusk was in charge of negotiating this matter with the cunning old man, Gerian, who was not easy to fool. Dismantle the Magical Crystal Cannons on the battleships? Great, that would save us the cost of transportation! Cantory almost fainted from anger at Gerian's response.
Faced with Cantory's delay, Gerian was not anxious at all, and simply sent a message to the forces that were trading with the Gilded Kingdom. Almost overnight, all the forces temporarily stopped trading with the Gilded Kingdom, causing the Gilded Kingdom to be unable to buy a single piece of copper in the Breezy Plains.
If it had been before the battle on Cage Island, perhaps some of the forces of the Breezy Plains would have disobeyed the Tower of Dusk's words. However, the battle on Cage Island allowed the various forces to see the strength of the Tower of Dusk. They were the president of the high-level Sanctuary-realm, and the powerful Sky Castle that could severely injure the dragon corpse with a single blow. Who would dare to go against such a force?
Now, it all depended on how long the Gilded Kingdom could persist. After all, the Gilded Kingdom also had a huge demand for the resources of the Breezy Plains. Judging from the latest news, Cantory had gradually begun to loosen up. He first promised to trade one Magical Crystal Cannon with the Tower of Dusk every month, and then increased it to two. However, that was not enough to satisfy Gerian. Two Magical Crystal Cannons a month might seem impressive to others, but it was still far from enough to meet the firepower needs of the Sky Castle.
The Sky-breaker and the Gilded Kingdom's Magical Crystal Cannons didn't seem to have achieved much, but Lin Li was well aware that both the Dwarf Kingdom and the Gilded Kingdom would eventually bow down to him.
Hence, Lin Li did not pay too much attention to those two matters. After instructing the first batch of Magical Crystal Cannons to be installed in the Sky Castle, he immediately set off for Ortland Port, which was located on the southern coast of the Breezy Plains. Ortland Port was a newly built seaport of the Tower of Dusk, which was very close to the Tera Mine. It was originally just used to dock the battleship that the Tower of Dusk had captured from the Gilded Kingdom previously. The main task of that battleship was to guard the coast of the Tera Mine in order to prevent anyone from attacking the mine from the sea.
However, after Lin Li obtained the nautical information of the Gilded Kingdom, he invested a large amount of wealth to expand Ortland Port, and built a large-scale shipyard in the port. Although the Tower of Dusk did not have any maritime trade now, it would not be enough to rely on the modified battleship to truly ensure the safety of their coastal areas when facing the Gilded Kingdom that had a powerful fleet.
Besides, although the modified battleship had been modified beyond recognition, its foundation was still that of the Gilded Kingdom's giant alchemical battleship. That caused many aspects of the modification to be greatly restricted, and he would have far less freedom than building a brand new battleship.
Besides, Lin Li had a vague feeling that he might one day need an incomparably powerful battleship to be able to deal with the possible crises that might come. Lin Li could not figure out the real reason for that feeling, and it was just a pure premonition, or perhaps it was because of the influence of the world that Geresco had created.
After all, since Geresco had created such a world and left behind such a powerful ship, The Star, he definitely wanted the inheritor to learn something from it, and definitely not just to let the inheritor watch a show. Although Lin Li still couldn't figure out Geresco's intentions, there was no harm in making more preparations.
After Lin Li arrived at the shipyard of Ortland, the battleship in the shipyard had just completed its basic framework, and the massive hull alone made everyone who saw it secretly speechless. Compared to the giant alchemical battleships of the Gilded Kingdom, the newly built battleship of the Tower of Dusk was probably comparable in size to four or five of those giant alchemical battleships. When Lin Li saw the real thing for the first time, he even thought of the aircraft carriers that were known as the giants of the sea in the world before he transmigrated.
Seeing Lin Li appear in the shipyard, the several people in charge of the construction of the battleship couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. After all, the progress of the construction of the battleship was much slower than they had expected. After all, no matter how experienced they were, it was their first time building such a large battleship.
Fortunately, Lin Li did not blame them for the slow progress, and instead gathered all the people in charge and many shipbuilders to make major changes to the original design of the battleship. Fortunately, the construction of the battleship's hull had only been completed, and there were still many other things that had yet to be started. Otherwise, they would inevitably have to add a lot of work.
Lin Li's new modification plan was precisely inspired by The Star. In addition to having complete control of The Star, he also had a very clear understanding of the entire structure of The Star. After comparing the two, he realized that there were too many areas that needed to be improved on in the original design of the battleship.
For example, the most basic power system of the battleship. The power system used by The Star was actually very similar to the power system of the Sky Castle. However, Lin Li had always believed that it would be difficult to perfectly transplant the power system of the Sky Castle to a battleship. After all, it was not just a matter of enlarging or shrinking, but also the transmission and matching of the power system.
Hence, Lin Li had never considered transplanting the power system of the Sky Castle to the battleship that was under construction. Instead, the design of the battleship still followed the design of the power system of the giant alchemical battleships of the Gilded Kingdom. However, the type of battleship that should be matched with the type of power system was a standard that the Gilded Kingdom had developed for thousands of years and paid a huge price to determine.
Lin Li wanted to build a larger battleship, and although he had made certain modifications to the design of the power system of the Gilded Kingdom so that it could support the operation of the larger battleship, there would definitely still be many problems. Perhaps some of the problems could not be seen at the moment, and would only be exposed when the battleship was in the water. However, it would be too late to modify it by then.
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