50: The First Magical Industrial Revolution! Elf: What kind of monster is that?

In the square of the Goblin Fortress—now properly called the "First Player Main City"—there was a strange smell lingering in the air, a mixture of diesel, sweat, and magical elements.

The craze for universal meditation had come quickly and faded just as fast.

When players discovered that the sparks they produced in reality could do little more than light a cigarette or scare a roommate, rather than turning them into human Gundams, their passion rapidly shifted to a new, more interesting, and more "hardcore" toy.

That was Wang Wei's (Luban No. 7) laboratory.

Ever since this mad scientist successfully powered an ancient diesel engine with a mana crystal, his laboratory had become the most dangerous and attractive place in the entire game.

It was no longer just a simple tent.

Using obsidian bricks scavenged from the Mage Tower, players had expanded it into a massive factory filled with a post-apocalyptic punk style.

In the center of the factory, the engine Wang Wei had named "Mana Heart No. 1" was connected to countless pipes and cables, emitting a steady, humming roar.

Instead of black smoke, its exhaust pipe emitted a pale blue, pure magical aura.

"Success! The energy output has stabilized at three hundred percent!"

Wang Wei pushed up the goggles on the bridge of his nose, which had several lenses welded onto them, his face filled with uncontrollable ecstasy.

In his hand, he held a stone tablet covered in charcoal-drawn circuit diagrams and magical loops that only he could understand.

"Look, I ground a Goblin Shaman's skull into powder and mixed it with slime mucus to create this 'Mana Voltage Regulator'! It's like a dam; it can turn the violent flood of energy from the mana crystal into a controllable trickle!"

A circle of players with various IDs over their heads surrounded him.

They looked at the slightly glowing, somewhat disgusting "regulator" with eyes full of awe.

"Holy crap, Old Wang is amazing! The perfect combination of necromancy and mechanical engineering!"

"So? What's the point of this thing? Can you eat it?" an honest-looking warrior player asked, voicing everyone's inner thoughts.

"Eat? Foolish!"

Wang Wei looked at him with the disdain one might reserve for a primitive caveman.

"This is an epoch-making revolution! It means we no longer need that damned diesel! We can use magic to power everything!"

"For example..."

Wang Wei pointed to the other side of the square.

There sat a metal monster pieced together from various scrap metals, golem parts, and dragon bones—a masterpiece of violent aesthetics—lying quietly.

It had three wheels, a seat that looked like it came from a tractor, and a menacing front end decorated with a polished Dragon's skull.

Two exhaust pipes were arrogantly welded to the sides of the chassis, pointing straight up at the sky.

It was the crystallization of the players' collective wisdom over the past few days.

An assembled "Magic-Tech Tricycle Motorcycle"!

"Once we install the 'Mana Heart,' we'll have a tireless steel mount capable of traveling a thousand miles a day!" Wang Wei's voice was full of temptation.

The breathing of every player present grew heavy.

A mount!

This game was finally going to have mounts!

"I'll do it! I'll drive the first one!"

Li Qiang (Also a Ruthless Person) took the lead, pushing through the crowd and rubbing his hands in excitement.

As the first man on the server to buy a house, he felt he also had to be the first man to drive a vehicle!

"Brother Qiang, this thing hasn't been tested yet. In theory... its instantaneous acceleration might snap your spine," Wang Wei (Luban No. 7) kindly reminded him.

"It's fine!" Li Qiang patted his chest nonchalantly. "I can respawn anyway, why be afraid! If it breaks, even better; I've been feeling some discomfort in my cervical spine lately!"

"..."

The installation process was swift and chaotic.

A dozen burly men scrambled to lift the still-roaring "Mana Heart" and, under Wang Wei's direction, carefully slotted it into the pre-reserved groove on the tricycle.

Connecting lines.

Tightening screws.

Wang Wei performed a final check, then took a deep breath and gave an OK gesture to Li Qiang, who was already straddling the seat in anticipation.

"Ready, Brother Qiang? I'm starting it up!"

"Bring it on!"

Li Qiang gripped the handlebars—made from a polished golem's femur—feeling like he was Mad Max about to gallop across the Wasteland.

Wang Wei pressed a red button.

After a tooth-grinding sound of metal friction.

The assembled motorcycle shook violently, as if it would fall apart at any second.

"Is it not working? Is it going to explode?" a player asked nervously.

"Don't panic! This is just the break-in period between mana and mechanics! It's normal!" Wang Wei said, though he quietly took two steps back.

Just when everyone thought the experiment would end in another brilliant explosion.

Hum—

A high-pitched, clear roar, completely different from before, suddenly blasted out!

The sound was no longer the growl of a diesel engine, but more like an ancient beast waking from its slumber!

From the exhaust pipes on both sides of the tricycle, two meter-long jets of dazzling blue magical flame erupted!

The entire vehicle was instantly enveloped in a pale blue aura.

It worked!

"Brother Qiang! Go for it!"

Wang Wei shouted.

Li Qiang excitedly twisted the "throttle."

The next second.

Amidst a loud bang like a cannon shell being fired.

The menacing tricycle transformed into a black bolt of lightning, trailing a long blue flame, and blasted out of the main city gate at a speed that completely defied physical common sense!

"Holy shiiiiit!!!"

Li Qiang only had time to let out a distorted cry before the terrifying g-force slammed him firmly into the seat.

The scenery before him receded at high speed, turning into a blur of colors.

The sound of the wind turned into a piercing shriek in his ears.

He didn't feel like he was driving.

He felt like he was piloting a missile flying low to the ground!

"Awesome!!"

"This is so fucking awesome!!!"

Li Qiang's roars were shredded by the gale, but the expression on his face was one of unprecedented excitement and madness... Outside Silvermoon City, at the edge of a peaceful forest.

Two Elven scouts responsible for reconnaissance were hidden in the tree canopy, gazing at the smoky "human camp" in the distance with a mixture of disdain and confusion.

"By the Moon Goddess, what on earth are those short-lived ones doing?"

Legolas, a young Elven scout, furrowed his handsome brow and complained in a low voice.

"They spend every day there hammering away, creating pungent black smoke and loud noises, scaring away all the forest birds."

"Their behavior is simply a desecration of this sacred forest."

The older scout captain shook his head with a grave expression.

"No, Legolas, you don't understand."

"These humans... are dangerous. I have never seen such a... chaotic yet vibrant race. They are not like merchants, and even less like an army. They are like a group of..."

The captain hadn't finished his sentence.

His pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinheads.

He stared fixedly at the distant horizon, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.

"What... what is that?"

Legolas followed his gaze.

On the distant prairie, a menacing "steel monster" was charging toward them at an incredible speed!

The monster had no legs, yet it was as fast as lightning!

Its body was pitch black, composed of unknown metals, and its front was adorned with a white skull that exuded an ominous aura.

Most terrifying of all, it trailed two long, eerie blue flames behind it!

As it galloped, it let out a deafening roar capable of tearing the Soul!

That sound was more heart-stopping than the roar of the most violent Dragon!

"A monster! A monster from the Abyss!"

Legolas's face went white with fear, and the hand holding his longbow began to tremble uncontrollably for the first time.

He had never seen such a bizarre, such an evil creation.

There were no signs of life on it, yet it was filled with violent energy.

It was as if... it were a complete monstrosity born from the union of magic and steel!

Just as the two Elves were scared out of their wits.

The "monster" performed a beautiful tail-flick drift in front of the forest, kicking up grass and dirt before coming to a stop.

A human wearing tattered chainmail jumped off the monster.

The human took off his helmet, revealing a face twisted with excitement, and then arrogantly raised a middle finger toward the forest.

"Did you see that! You little Elves!"

Li Qiang's roar carried on the wind.

"This! Is your daddy's new toy!"

Legolas and his captain could no longer hear what he was saying.

Their minds were a complete blank.

Their worldview had been smashed to pieces at that moment by the roaring steel monster... Inside the rental house.

Su Mu held a cup of hot tea, leisurely watching the two Elven scouts who had fallen out of the tree in fear on the monitoring screen, a gratified smile on his face.

The players' creativity never failed to surprise him.

He had only made magic available and incidentally looted a Mage Tower.

And this group of hardcore grinders had used those basic resources to forcibly unlock the "Magic-Tech Punk" tech tree.

Fantastic.

This kind of product, autonomously created by players and merging the civilizations of two worlds, was the most deterrent and valuable weapon.

In the eyes of the natives of this other world, they were unspeakable horrors.

What they brought was a dimensionality reduction strike on a civilizational level.

"Since we have motorcycles, tanks and planes shouldn't be far off, right?"

Su Mu murmured to himself.

He watched the screen as Wang Wei directed a group of players to mount a six-barreled Gatling gun onto another, even larger magic-tech vehicle.

Wang Wei had even ingeniously inscribed a simple "Blasting Flame" rune on every barrel of the Gatling gun.

"Increase the energy output! Crank the regulator to five hundred percent!"

"Load the 'ammo'! Stuff all those useless low-level mana crystals in there!"

"Fire!"

The next second.

Boom boom boom boom boom—!!!

What the Gatling gun's muzzle spat out was no longer metal bullets.

But a continuous flood of death composed of countless fist-sized blasting fireballs!

That dense rain of fire instantly leveled a distant hillside.

"Beautiful!"

Su Mu couldn't help but cheer.

He felt it was time to find some new fun for this group of energetic players.

He reached out and tapped lightly in the air.

A brand-new version preview image, filled with a texture of machinery and flesh, was designed by him.

In the image was a Dragon as large as a mountain range.

But its wings had become mechanical wings composed of countless gears and pistons.

Its heart had been replaced by a massive reactor flashing with blue electric arcs.

Countless thick metal pipes were inserted beneath its decaying dragon scales, as if extracting something.

Below the image was a line of text filled with a sense of epic scale and oppression.

["Void Realm" Version 3.0 Preview: The Flesh is Weak, Mechanical Ascension!]

[New world coordinates locked—The Bottom of the Abyss, the Dwarven Golden City and the Underground Dragon's Nest!]

Having finished all this, Su Mu anonymously posted the preview image to the official forum of "Void Realm."

He could already imagine the expressions of the players, driven mad with excitement, when they saw this image.

The fires of the first magic-tech industrial revolution had been lit.

So next, let this fire burn even more fiercely.