Kingdom Simulator: I, a Fallen Noble, Build a God-Level Kingdom!-Chapter 50: The Semi-Elder Figures of the Thune Territory

Chapter 50: Chapter 50: The Semi-Elder Figures of the Thune Territory

Seven days later.

254 magitech drones launched from the dwarven factory, with 746 more on standby freёweɓnovel.com

Each drone was equipped with a core integrated with 120 units of Magic Crystals. Every standard unit of Magic Crystal contained the energy level of a standard mage.

In other words, the energy stored in each Magitech Drone was equivalent to that of 120 fully-fledged mages.

Ordinary folks could never waste resources like this on R&D. But Romon could—he owned a Magic Crystal mine.

Romon looked up at the sky. The area once known as the Poison Swamp was, today, clear and bright, with a gentle, pleasant breeze.

The dwarven factory still spewed a massive amount of waste daily, but Romon had never bothered with the Pollution Purification Device. Ever since he threw it out there, he’d just left it in place. It ensured the area’s safety and the factory’s environmental compliance.

It was precisely because of this that Romon decided to conduct the first round of stress tests here.

Any piece of equipment destined for the battlefield must undergo rigorous stress testing. The sooner problems are found, the sooner they can be resolved. If issues only show up once you’re on the battlefield, it’s already too late.

"Lukoff, you’ll take charge. Red Team: 127 people. Blue Team: 127 people. Each side will control their Magitech Drones and face off against each other."

"My lord, do we really have to do it this way? That’ll result in a lot of—"

Before Lukoff could finish voicing his concerns, Romon cut him off. "Don’t worry about damage. Just go all out. I want you to fight with everything you’ve got. Whichever side wipes out the other first, that team gets a seven-day, all-you-can-drink reward!"

Aside from forging, the dwarves’ other passion was drinking. For various reasons, Romon had imposed a prohibition on alcohol for the dwarves; only with his permission could they drink.

So this reward was an enormous temptation, instantly whetting the dwarves’ appetites.

Even Lukoff, who was acting as the referee, couldn’t help but swallow hard.

"W-What about me, my lord?" Lukoff looked up at Romon, eyes filled with hope.

"Which side do you bet will win?"

Hearing this, Lukoff’s round eyes swept across his fellow clansmen. He figured whoever won would get to drink, so naturally, the smarter dwarves would have a higher chance of victory. The side with more clever dwarves was the Blue Team.

So he answered firmly, "I bet on the Blue Team."

"Alright. If Blue Team wins, you stay on prohibition. If Blue Team loses, you get to drink with the Red Team."

"Ah?!" Lukoff was instantly dumbfounded.

"Let’s begin."

"Yes, my lord."

With a nervous heart, Lukoff commanded all the dwarves to simultaneously launch two rows of Magitech Drones vertically. The Red Team headed east, while the Blue Team went west. Once there was a distance of a thousand meters between them, Lukoff immediately gave the order to commence battle.

Instantly, streams of rapid-fire magic formed a web of firepower, pouring toward the opposing side.

As the dwarves pressed the fire buttons, they also had to maneuver their Magitech Drones to dodge incoming magical attacks. Through their remote-sensing goggles, it truly felt like a first-person aerial combat experience.

Before long, a few of the dwarves couldn’t handle the constant vertical motion and started to feel dizzy and nauseous, even vomiting.

Naturally, the Magitech Drones they were controlling were instantly shredded by the dense web of firepower.

Lukoff watched the explosions blossoming in the sky, feeling a pang of pain in his heart. Every one of those machines had been enchanted by his own hands—such finely crafted products, destroyed in midair before their energy cores had even been depleted.

"Boom—boom—boom—"

What hurt Lukoff even more was that the explosions were only just beginning. The dwarves who had gotten "airsick" were quickly knocked out of the competition, and the rest—the ones still operating normally—kicked off a true money-burning spectacle.

Each Magitech Drone, aside from its 120 standard units of high-purity Magic Crystal, boasted a frame and engine that were worth a small fortune.

But once hit, it was basically done for; the materials could perhaps be melted down and reused, but if the Magic Crystal integrated core was struck, it would be completely shattered in midair—impossible to recover.

"Five gold coins, five gold coins, five gold coins..."

Nini stood behind Romon, counting aloud. With every Magitech Drone that exploded, she tallied another five gold coins.

Talia, on the other hand, saw things differently.

At first, she couldn’t understand why Romon would spend so much money on something like this. The machines were so easy to damage, difficult to control, and expensive to produce. With all three of those flaws, what was the point of making them at all?

But now, as she watched the web of firepower weaving across the sky, she finally understood their purpose.

Every magic bullet fired by a Magitech Drone was, in essence, the core of her own rapid-fire magic—no chanting required, extremely fast firing, and strong penetration. As long as ten of these drones formed a squad and focused fire on a single target, they could match her own combat level from just a month ago!

Even if each one cost fifty gold coins, that was barely more than her own worth a month ago. The real advantage, though, was that the drones had no fear of death. If they were blown up, there was no sense of loss; you just built more.

If ten drones working together were this effective, what about a hundred? Or a thousand?

"Rumble—"

Another twenty drones from both sides were quickly shot down by the web of firepower above.

The remaining operators on each team were clearly the more talented ones, but by now, they’d become so caught up in the battle that they’d thrown all caution to the wind, breaking formation and maneuvering their Magitech Drones wildly across the battlefield.

The enemy’s fire net was drawn in, sometimes shooting wildly into the sky like meteors flying in reverse, sometimes sweeping the earth as if the gods themselves were scouring the land.

The ground rumbled, the noise echoing into the distance.

The dwarven factory was situated south of Stone Town, not far away. At this moment, the townspeople of Stone Town all looked up toward the south, thinking a thunderstorm was rolling in.

But the southern sky was clear, even as the rumbling continued without pause.

Some of the local officials, thinking the town was under attack, rushed up to the city walls to investigate.

"What’s that?!" Centaur Pito, with his keen eyesight, immediately spotted the Magitech Drones circling above the dwarven factory.

It was the first time in his life he’d ever seen such a creature—if you could even call it a creature. Pito wasn’t so sure.

He could only see a strange flock of objects, and from the direction of their firepower, he could roughly tell they were divided into two sides, attacking each other instead of moving to invade Stone Town.

"What kind of monsters are those?" Pir didn’t have Pito’s sharp eyesight, so he couldn’t make out the Magitech Drones—he could only see a blurry scene of battle.

Mayus, who had broken through to Knight of Honor, saw the same details as Pito. Staring at the Magitech Drones, he quickly picked up on something.

"Pito, does that kind of magic look familiar to you?" Mayus asked.

Pito turned his head, instantly alert. He replied, "That’s Talia’s rapid-fire magic? I see..."

"What do you see?" Pir scratched his head, puzzled.

"A few days ago, Lord Romon had a huge shipment of materials moved out." Pito gazed toward the dwarven factory area, speaking slowly. "The Poison Swamp, once a forbidden zone of death, has now become a pure land. Lord Romon must have discovered something there. He’s used some sort of technology to replicate the essence of Talia’s magic onto machines."

Hearing this, both Pir and Golden Stone were shocked.

Talia’s magic, once scorned and now revered, had become a unique ace in the Thune territory. Everyone present knew just how powerful her magic was—and now, with hundreds of copies unleashed, the destructive power would be truly terrifying.

"Lord Romon is incredible. From the first time I met him, I knew he wasn’t an ordinary human," Pir sighed.

"Our lord must have found the dwarves over there," Golden Stone added. "So much material, transformed in such a short time into machines ready for use—only the dwarves could work with such efficiency."

"So, the lord commissioned the dwarves to clear the Poison Swamp and turn it into fertile land?" said High Priestess Janice.

Hearing this, Mayus gave a cold chuckle. "Hah, if the dwarves could handle the Poison Swamp, someone in Stone Town would have done it over the past hundred years. Unless Lord Thune performed some kind of miracle, I can’t think of any other explanation."

"I wish I could see it up close—pity I still have training," Golden Stone said, rubbing his bald head. Living off public funds, with no real work other than training and occasionally guiding his subordinates, life had become almost too leisurely. He was even starting to feel guilty about collecting his pay.

At this moment, the ever-accurate centaur Pito glanced over at Knight of Honor Mayus and asked, "Mayus, if you had to face those machines in the sky, could you win?"

Mayus chuckled, raising an eyebrow as he shot back, "Depends on what you mean by winning—do you mean escaping?"

"No, not escaping. I mean a fight to the death."

"If there were only a hundred, I’d be completely confident I could destroy them all. But if you increased that to two hundred, I’d have to avoid a direct confrontation for now." As soon as he finished, Mayus seemed to think that sounded a bit unflattering, so he quickly added, "Of course, I’m just a knight. If I were a mage or an archer, things would look very different."

Currently, his rank was Knight of Honor, which was equivalent to an Archmage for mages or a Swiftshot Archer among bowmen. He was a whole level above the others present, so naturally he felt entitled to show off a bit.

The archer ranks, from lowest to highest, went: Bowman Apprentice, Novice Archer, Archer, Swiftshot Archer, Volleyshot Archer, Dawnstrider Archer, King of Archers, Saint of the Bow, Emperor of the Bow, God of the Bow...

"So what if there were three hundred?" Pito caught the implication in Mayus’s words and pressed further.

Mayus snorted. "Heh, Pito, why don’t you try it yourself? Once you break through to Swiftshot Archer, I’ll personally ask Lord Thune to let you have a go—see what it feels like to face three hundred of them at once."

Pito shook his head and dropped the subject. Continuing the discussion would only risk stirring up trouble; as a veteran figure in the Thune Lord’s domain, there was no need for him to clash with a newly arrived elite.