41: Chapter 41 The Iron Lady's Shock and Defection

Levi's fingertips tapped lightly on the smooth wooden table, producing a crisp "tap" sound that seemed exceptionally abrupt in the deathly silent secret room.

That sound seemed to strike Balin's taut nerves, causing him to shudder involuntarily.

"Pursuit?" Levi repeated the word, a cryptic smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Balin, what do you think is the most powerful weapon in the world?"

Balin was stunned, answering subconsciously, "Of course it is... it is the legendary warhammer forged by the Dwarf Kingdom royal family using a Star Core, the 'Heart of the Mountains'!"

"Wrong." Levi stood up and walked slowly to the window, pushing it open a crack.

Outside the window was the bustling night view of Saint Andrew City, with lights like woven fabric and a clamor of voices.

But in Levi's eyes, this was not prosperity; it was a form of unorganized, inefficient chaos.

"The most powerful weapon is not a certain hammer, a certain sword, or even a certain Forbidden Spell." His voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached the ears of Balin and Evelyn. "It is 'standardization.' When I define the standard, I define strength and weakness, I define value, and I even... define enemies and friends."

He turned around, his gaze like a torch, staring straight into Balin's eyes, which still held lingering fear. "I do not need you to leak the Dwarf Kingdom's rune technology. What I want you to do is help me establish a brand-new 'enchantment standard.' We will dismantle a complex rune into ten, or even a hundred, basic strokes. We will have a hundred literate apprentices, each responsible for engraving only the simplest stroke on a sword. You, Master Balin, only need to serve as the final 'quality control' process, using your spiritual power to activate and connect these scattered strokes, bestowing them with true magic."

Balin's breathing suddenly ceased; his genius brain was once again stirred into a tempest by these words.

This... could this actually work?

Simplifying sacred rune engraving into manual labor akin to tracing characters?

This was even more heretical than assembly-line sword making!

This was the most thorough trampling of the glory inherited by Dwarf rune masters for thousands of years!

But... if it were truly feasible...

It would mean that Blackstone Territory would possess the terrifying ability to create a thousand "enchantment apprentices" in a single day!

"This Iron Lady, she will come." Levi's tone was as certain as if he were stating an established fact. "I not only want her to come, but I also want her to willingly watch us 'profane' Dwarf technology in front of the most powerful group of people on the continent, without being able to utter a single word."

He offered Balin a smile so gentle it was hair-raising. "I have even prepared a... grand recruitment fair for her."

Ten days later, on the outskirts of Saint Andrew City, at the exhibition venue temporarily erected by Blackstone Territory.

Unlike the luxurious banquets that the nobles in the city were accustomed to, there were no flowing silk curtains here, no decadent music played by bards. There were only rows of exhibition stands and viewing platforms built from rough logs, and the air was filled with a scent mixed with machine oil, wood shavings, and freshly turned soil.

However, the magnificent carriages parked outside the venue were enough to prove the weight of this "crude" gathering.

The City Lord, tax collectors, presidents of major merchant guilds, and even representatives of high nobles who had heard the news and rushed from the capital, were all in attendance.

Princess Ella Radiance sat in the main seat beside Levi, her face expressionless.

She was increasingly unable to understand this man; he was like a bottomless vortex, pulling everyone into his plans in the most unimaginable ways.

Just as Levi was about to signal Ella to announce the start of the exhibition, a heavy and rhythmic sound of footsteps came from the entrance, striking everyone's heart like war drums.

Under the sunlight, a squad of Dwarf guards clad in heavy rune-inscribed steel armor marched in with unshakeable strides, parting the crowd.

Each of them was stocky, with a composed aura, and eyes as sharp as the cold winds of the Far North ice fields. The fluctuations of their Battle Qi caused the surrounding noble guards to change color in succession.

At their lead was a female Dwarf.

She wore no helmet, revealing a resolute face that looked as if it had been carved from granite.

A hideous scar ran from her left temple, across the bridge of her nose, and extended to the corner of her right mouth; far from ruining her appearance, it only added a sense of iron-blooded majesty.

Her crimson hair was braided into a thick plait that swung casually behind her, and in her hand, she carried a massive warhammer that was completely disproportionate to her height.

She was Brunhilde, the inspector of the Dwarf Kingdom, the "Iron Lady" whom countless rogue craftsmen regarded as a nightmare.

Ignoring the fawning smile of City Lord Kane who attempted to step forward, Brunhilde's gaze swept across the venue like a hawk, finally locking firmly onto the Dwarf behind the exhibition stand, whose face had instantly turned ghastly pale.

"Traitor... Balin."

She did not roar, but simply spat out the name in a low, cold voice.

But the terrifying pressure contained in that voice was like an invisible mountain, instantly pressing down upon the entire venue.

The air seemed to solidify, and even the wind stopped.

Balin's hand holding the wrench trembled violently, and cold sweat slid down his temples, soaking his meticulously groomed beard.

Facing Brunhilde, he was like a mouse encountering its natural predator; he couldn't even summon the thought of resistance.

Levi seemed not to feel this Battle Qi pressure that would suffocate an ordinary person. He didn't even glance at Brunhilde, but instead turned his head and whispered to Princess Ella beside him, "Your Highness, the auspicious time has arrived."

Ella took a deep breath, suppressing the tempest in her heart, and stood up.

Her crisp and noble voice broke the suffocating silence: "I declare the first Blackstone Territory Industrial and Technology Expo, now open!"

As her voice fell, Levi clapped his hands lightly.

The first exhibit was pushed forward; to everyone's surprise, it was not some divine weapon or sharp blade, nor was it some ingenious alchemy creation.

It was a pile of... parts.

A dozen brass gears of various sizes, several steel connecting rods of different lengths, and some cast iron components whose names were unknown, were piled messily on a long table.

Amidst everyone's puzzled gazes, ten human craftsmen dressed in uniform linen work clothes stepped forward.

They looked no different from the laborers seen everywhere in the city, their hands covered in calluses, their expressions nervous and numb.

Levi's voice, carried through a simple amplification magic array, clearly spread throughout the venue: "Ladies and gentlemen, these ten workers were still farmers in our Blackstone Territory three days ago. Now, let them demonstrate to us what is called 'the power of standards.'"

At the command, the ten workers immediately sprang into action. Their movements were unfamiliar, even somewhat clumsy, but each of them strictly followed a simple blueprint in front of them, picking out the parts they needed from the pile, and using wrenches and bolts to assemble them.

A murmur of whispers arose in the venue.

The nobles looked at each other, unable to understand what this impoverished lord was up to.

Did he make them go to such great lengths to come here just to watch a bunch of peasants play with building blocks?

Brunhilde's face revealed undisguised contempt.

In her view, these shoddy cast iron parts didn't even deserve to be sent back to the furnace for remelting; they were simply an insult to the word "forging."

However, a quarter of an hour later, when ten simple machines with identical appearances were assembled, the whispers gradually died down.

Levi walked to one of the finished products; it was a hand-cranked water pump with a simple structure.

He turned the handle, and a stream of clear water immediately gushed out from the pipe.

Immediately after, the remaining nine water pumps were started one after another, and without exception, all functioned successfully.

"This is our first product, the 'Blackstone Mark I' hand-cranked water pump." Levi's voice carried a peculiar infectious quality. "It is ugly and crude, but it is cheap enough and simple enough—simple enough that any farmer can assemble its parts within a quarter of an hour."

Brunhilde let out a scoff, her resonant voice drowning out everyone else: "A toy cobbled together from a pile of trash—is this the technology you are so proud of? This is a profanation of craftsmanship!"

"Profanation?" Levi smiled. He turned to face Brunhilde and made a gesture of invitation. "Your Excellency Inspector, you are an expert in the field of forging. I implore you to personally inspect every part of these ten 'toys' and see if they are, as you say, just a pile of 'trash.'"

Brunhilde snorted coldly and strode forward.

She wanted to see what tricks this human boy could pull.

She casually dismantled the identically sized piston connecting rods from two water pumps and compared them with her eyes, which had been steeped in forging for decades and were more precise than any caliper.

The next second, the disdain on her face froze.

The length, thickness, the diameter of the holes at both ends... they were actually... completely identical!

Refusing to believe it, she dismantled seven or eight more similar parts—gears, rocker arms, valves... the result was all the same!

These parts were as if they had been carved from the same mold; the dimensions, weight, and even the tolerances were kept within a range difficult for the naked eye to distinguish.

She took a part dismantled from water pump A and installed it randomly onto water pump B; it fit perfectly, and it operated as well as before!

How is this possible?!

A tempestuous wave rose in Brunhilde's heart.

Even the top Dwarf masters could not guarantee the manual creation of two completely identical complex parts.

How on earth was this precision, which surpassed divine skill, achieved?

Before she could figure it out, Levi had ordered the black cloth covering the second exhibit to be removed.

Fifty dark, heavy muskets were neatly arranged on a gun rack.

Their appearance was incredibly crude; the stocks were unpolished raw wood, and the barrels even retained traces of the casting process. Compared to the exquisitely crafted alchemy muskets collected by the nobles, they were simply a pile of fire pokers.

But this time, no one dared to mock them again.

Levi did not introduce the performance of these muskets, but instead signaled for Balin, whose face was still pale, to step forward.

Balin took a deep breath, forcing himself not to look at Brunhilde's murderous gaze.

He walked to a huge black cloth and ripped it down violently.

Behind the black cloth was an even larger, more complex "assembly line production diagram" than the one seen in the secret room earlier.

"Ladies and gentlemen... and Your Excellency Inspector." Balin's voice was somewhat hoarse due to nervousness, but as he began to elaborate on his philosophy, a fanatical light rekindled in his eyes. "We admit that, in terms of ultimate performance alone, any weapon manufactured by Blackstone Territory cannot compare to the masterpieces of Dwarf masters. Compared to the works of the Kingdom's alchemy masters, our standard-issue muskets have a 20% shorter range, 15% less power, and the risk of the barrel exploding... is also a little bit higher."

He pointed at the flow chart, his voice growing louder and more confident: "But we sacrificed this 20% of performance, sacrificed all artistry—what did we gain in return? It is the extreme compression of costs! It is the geometric increase in production efficiency! Following the process in this diagram, I, Bronzebeard Balin, can lead one hundred ordinary craftsmen like the ones from just now, and in a single day, produce... one thousand standard-issue muskets with identical performance!"

"Enough! You traitor!"

A thunderous roar interrupted Balin's words.

Brunhilde could no longer endure this subversion and trampling of Dwarf glory.

She yanked out the warhammer from behind her back, and violent Battle Qi erupted, instantly grinding the exhibition stand in front of her into powder!

"You dare to simplify sacred forging techniques into this kind of soulless replication! You have defiled the glory of the Soul of the Mountains! Today, I will execute clan law right here and clean up the house!"

The warhammer was raised high, carrying the force of ten thousand jun, and it looked about to smash down onto Balin's head.

Just at this moment, a uniform, icy sound of metal friction rang out.

Levi had somehow already stepped in front of Balin. Behind him, fifty Blackstone Territory guards raised those fifty crude muskets, their pitch-black muzzles aiming uniformly at the ten fully armed Dwarf elite guards behind Brunhilde.

Levi still wore a gentle smile on his face. He watched the furious Iron Lady before him calmly, his voice not loud, yet it clearly spread to every corner:

"Your Excellency Brunhilde, I have a question. When your elite guard of one hundred, which you are so proud of—even if they are one hundred warriors as powerful as those behind you—face one thousand farmers armed with these muskets on the battlefield, can your so-called glory still translate into victory?"

Brunhilde's arm, holding the warhammer high, froze in mid-air.

She could not feel any Battle Qi or magic fluctuations on Levi, but this man's calm gaze made her heart tremble more than any abyss demon she had ever faced.

The elite guard behind her was the pride of the Dwarf Kingdom, and each one was a warrior capable of taking on a hundred.

But... facing a volley from one thousand muskets?

Brunhilde's mind, which had been occupied by rage, instantly cooled down.

She slowly, inch by inch, lowered the warhammer in her hand, but did not retract it; the bottom of the warhammer smashed heavily onto the ground, emitting a dull thud, and the ground cracked open.

"Human, your words are interesting." Her voice was hoarse, like metal rubbing against sandpaper. "But I do not believe in any empty words. I want to see with my own eyes that so-called 'one thousand produced in one day' production line of yours."

She stared fixedly at Levi, her eyes as sharp as knives: "If you are lying, deceiving me, and deceiving everyone present, I guarantee that this camp, along with you, will be smashed into meat paste by my warhammer."

"But," she changed the subject, every word carrying unquestionable determination, "if what you say is true... then I, Brunhilde, will remain in Blackstone Territory in my capacity as an inspector of the Dwarf Kingdom. I want to personally 'supervise' this technology that is capable of overturning the entire world, until I am certain that it will not be used to destroy our shared order."