Beneath the Red Dragon

In this way, within the major cities of the Golden Empire, shrouded under the shadow of the black claws of the Steel Dragon Midir and the Ocean Dragon Naxson, inspired by the vampire species, the empire’s tax laws have been supplemented with some provisions.

And the White Dragon Camid, this usually idle Giant Dragon Lord, also manages the work of the Supervision Department due to its serious nature.

The Supervision Department is located within a towering mountain outside the newly established city of the empire—Ginkgo City.

This place is full of ginkgo trees, attracting many birds and beasts to feed when they mature.

But this is also the place detected by the empire as the most stable site for channeling earth core energy and molten fire.

Thus, the empire’s Infrastructure Construction Division dispatched artisans to blast a pit into this massive mountain using high-energy propellants, then dig along the pit to hollow out the entire mountain, creating it as the forging workshop of the Supervision Department.

In the empire, which has developed technologically for over a decade, there’s no longer the need to rely on the mighty power of giant dragons; these ordinary craftsmen can complete the project with tools.

Dwarf Craftsman Official Clagon and the other dwarf blacksmiths gather here because, although the Supervision Department’s project seems simple, it requires extremely skilled forging techniques.

Most importantly, this project requires extreme secrecy, so only advanced artisans whose status has reached a certain level can undertake this work.

The molten lava, constrained and driven by the casters, becomes the fuel for the workshop’s furnaces.

If more firepower is needed, not only do the furnaces crafted by the dwarves have switches to raise the temperature scale, they can also extract more core molten fire as a supplement at any time.

If a higher temperature is necessary, the fire elemental energy bricks extracted by the empire’s small sub-plane Pioneer Corps are the prepared high-grade energy source.

These dwarves wore soft gloves woven from fire-scouring cloth, their bare upper bodies muscled and covered with scars, their dark faces flushed red in the heat from the furnaces.

The heavy hammers in their hands swing, striking and shaping the special metal materials on the anvils, with sparks flying.

The dwarves shout loudly, occasionally joined by advanced artisans of other races, causing the entire space to resound with clanking noises.

There are also the sizzling sounds of quenching vapors and the roar of the magic engines, like a chaotic yet exhilarating symphony.

The White Dragon Camid, with its two heads nodding, follows beside the workshop supervisor, listening to the explanations of the fire dwarf sage who, along with all his kin, relocated into the empire’s territory due to their development of a fire elemental plane.

Of course, the entirety of their kin consists of just over ten fire dwarves. These usually unfriendly fire dwarves are dwarf-like creatures born from the fire elemental plane and are accustomed to orderly habits.

Before the empire’s ’Deep Red Roar’ Kaidelos, these fire dwarves wisely chose another pile of gems as compensation for moving.

Upon arriving in the empire, these fire dwarves saw the Ancestral Red Dragon—Karon Gogomola, and began to worship the Ancestral Red Dragon as the embodiment of fire, thus becoming part of the Golden Empire’s multicultural society.

It is worth mentioning that this group of fire dwarves, skilled in management, have now been entrusted by the Ancestral Red Dragon to manage their Fire Peak Nest.

Some rare metal minerals, influenced by the Ancestral Red Dragon, are also being excavated and mined by these fire dwarves, filling the empire’s reserves and the Ancestral Red Dragon’s treasure vault.

"Stos, exactly how many artisans are there here?" the White Dragon Camid asked curiously.

At a glance, the gigantic forging units that even a dragon could not see the end of, with scorching heat waves rushing at them, seemed to have no effect on this White Dragon.

On its frost-like scales, a flowing white mist acted like an attached energy armor, isolating the high temperatures that the White Dragon disliked.

The fire dwarf named Stos, also skilled in forging and a loyal steward to the Ancestral Red Dragon, was appointed as the chief officer of the Supervision Department’s forging workshop.

"There are a total of three thousand advanced artisans registered here, but in fact, many more artisans who have obtained the intermediate artisan certification are on a shift system. So, there are about three thousand five hundred artisans currently in the forging workshop," shouted Stos, who, despite being a dwarf-like creature, had a naturally loud voice similar to that of dwarves.

"Hmm, very good, the state of the empire, truly, truly," the White Dragon Camid shook its head, finally finding the words: "Vigorous and full of life, everything is flourishing."

The fire dwarf Stos, although recognizing the White Dragon Lord’s words as a compliment, could not shake an inexplicable feeling that surfaced, causing him to merely respond with an "uh."

The White Dragon Camid didn’t mind these details and strolled through the wide passage, watching the artisans repeatedly forge, refine, and shape block after block of metal materials. He wasn’t surprised by the frames of semi-finished products accumulating around the artisans’ feet.

Because the Golden Empire’s assembly line production had long expanded to every industry capable of mass production. Even in the realm of magic, concerning magical instruments and magic items, the system of assembly line production was already applied.

Only at the final few units’ forging platforms did the distinction begin, assembling and branding different categories.

The White Dragon Camid observed the special magic metals being forged by the artisans, specifically used to carry the arrays of the imperial stronghold domain, requiring extremely high magical compatibility and spiritual accommodation capacity.