Motivated by the fresh meat, the dwarven workers burst with unprecedented enthusiasm.
They ran like the wind while carrying stone slabs.
Their bricklaying movements were so fast that they left afterimages.
Even Grom, who knew them well, couldn't help but marvel,
“These guys are way more energetic now than when they're drinking.”
The post office rose at a pace visible to the naked eye. The walls quickly took shape, and the roof began to be laid.
Grom knew that trying to use this to delay them would no longer work.
He stroked his beard, racking his brain for a way to keep Lin Gui around,
when Lin Gui proactively walked over to him.
“Captain, I heard from Captain Freya—”
“that their Wheelless Train was modified here?”
Grom snapped out of his thoughts and nodded.
“Freya? Oh, you mean that little girl with the terrifying tolerance for alcohol.”
“Her Wheelless Train was indeed modified here.”
“They added wings and concealment runes to it.”
He looked at Lin Gui and asked, “Why? Do you have a vehicle you want to modify too?”
Lin Gui nodded.
“As you know, I am a messenger.”
“My job is to travel across the wilderness and between city-states to deliver letters.”
“My raft can no longer keep up with me.”
“I need a vehicle that truly fits my needs.”
Hearing his request, Grom's eyes suddenly lit up.
With a chuckle, he slapped his thigh.
“Hey! I know a master!”
“When it comes to this sort of thing, he's top-notch!”
Without giving Lin Gui a chance to argue, he threw an arm around his shoulder and led him inside.
“Come, I'll take you to see him!”
“His workshop is in the upper tier, near the City Lord's manor.”
Grom introduced him as they walked, his tone warm and enthusiastic, as if he were merely recommending an ordinary craftsman.
The group walked through winding tunnels, going deeper and deeper.
The guards along the way saluted and made way upon seeing Grom.
Finally, they stopped in front of a heavy, forged iron door.
From behind the door came faint, rhythmic, and heavy hammering sounds.
Grom pushed open the iron door.
A wave of heat mixed with the smell of metal rushed over them.
In the center of the workshop, a dwarf stood with his back to the door.
He wore blacksmith attire covered in coal dust, his muscles solid,
holding a heavy hammer and striking a glowing-red piece of iron beat by beat.
Sparks flew in all directions.
Hearing the noise, he stopped his movements and slowly turned around,
revealing a chiseled, angular face.
His beard was short and neat, and his eyes were calm.
The moment Theia saw him, her hand instinctively darted toward her lower back,
only to stop abruptly halfway.
She leaned close to Lin Gui's ear and whispered in an extremely low voice:
“Lin Gui... this guy's strength is terrifying.”
Grom glanced at Theia in surprise.
Epic Rank experts had reached perfection in controlling their own energy;
ordinary people couldn't sense anything at all.
Yet this long-eared girl could actually sense the danger purely through intuition?
What Grom didn't know was that Lin Gui had sensed it even faster than Theia.
The moment he stepped into the room, his foot had already instinctively retreated half a step.
Around the dwarf in front of him lingered an invisible pressure as heavy as a mountain.
Though it wasn't leaking outward, it was very real.
To Lin Gui, this feeling was no less than that of the Epic Queen of the banshees he had seen at Eagle Fortress.
Calm, heavy, and massive as a mountain.
In Shield City, there was only one person who could reach this level...
Only one.
Lin Gui bowed slightly, performing a standard mage's salute. His voice was respectful but not submissive,
“Lord of Shield City, Guardian of the Fortress.”
“I am Lin Gui. It is an honor to meet you.”
Balin, the Fortress Lord, raised an eyebrow slightly.
He glanced at Grom with an inquiring look.
Grom was also completely bewildered. He lowered his voice and asked Lin Gui,
“How did you know he is the Fortress Lord?”
Lin Gui's expression remained calm.
He didn't mention that it was an intuition forged through countless dangerous situations,
but simply replied,
“To be able to prevent my Transcendent companion from discerning your exact rank,”
“aside from powerless commoners, there are only Epic Rank experts.”
“And in Shield City, who else could an Epic Rank expert be?”
Balin took a deep look at Lin Gui and suddenly burst into laughter.
“Not bad. Very sharp.”
“As expected of the human praised by that girl Freya.”
He set down his hammer and wiped his hands.
“Now then, my friend who brought us news of our distant kin.”
“What brings you to me?”
Grom hurriedly stepped forward.
Standing on his tiptoes, he leaned in close to Balin's ear and began to whisper rapidly.
He even deliberately used a secret dwarven technique, causing a faint, imperceptible ripple of energy to envelop the two of them,
isolating their voices from the outside.
During this, he occasionally cast stealthy glances at Lin Gui.
This comical attempt at secrecy made Lin Gui smile helplessly.
Even without listening, he could guess the content of their conversation.
It was nothing more than wanting to tamper with the vehicle modification process,
dragging out the time to keep him in Shield City.
However, Grom was likely to be disappointed.
Once Lin Gui finished explaining his vehicle requirements, he intended to take his leave.
He was in no rush to have his vehicle modified.
As for the construction of the post office and accepting weekly commissions,
he had already pried information out of Grom during their drinking game last night.
Regarding Avalon, this dwarven leader knew absolutely nothing,
knowing even less than Elvia.
Elvia had at least heard nursery rhymes about it, whereas Grom had never even heard of the name.
If even the powerful figure managing Shield City's affairs didn't know, it was even more impossible for the other dwarves to have any clues.
Naturally, there would be no letters bound for Avalon.
He had previously asked the system.
To trigger a Weekly Commission now, he needed at least a hundred letters.
This meant that for his next destination, Avalon, Lin Gui would only be able to obtain the long-term commission reward for escorting Theia.
As for information on the Wall of Sighs,
if the dwarves really possessed a safe route, why would they commission the North Wind caravan to make a detour of ten thousand miles?
Wouldn't it be much closer to cross the Wall of Sighs directly from the dwarven royal capital?
After all, the dwarven royal capital lay directly north of Shield City.
They were separated only by the Wall of Sighs.
It was precisely because the dwarves could not cross the Wall of Sighs that they had to use the city-state network to transport supplies.
Thus, Lin Gui held no hope.
Instead of asking around in Shield City, it would be better to go directly to the periphery of the Wall of Sighs.
To forge a path through the Wall of Sighs, the dwarves had posted unimaginably high bounties.
Because of this, many bounty hunters were active at the peripheral outposts of the Wall of Sighs.
This information had been told to him by the scholar Eli.
Compared to Shield City in the rear, the intelligence provided by the bounty hunters on the front lines was clearly far more valuable.
Therefore, for Lin Gui, only two reasons remained to stay in Shield City:
building the post office and modifying his vehicle.
And neither of these two things was absolutely mandatory.
Having finished listening to Grom's whispered message, Balin, the Fortress Lord, turned to Lin Gui and asked,
“Do you also want to build a Wheelless Train?”
Lin Gui shook his head and waved his hand.
The oak staff behind him floated into his hand. He held up three fingers and spoke calmly,
“The vehicle I want to modify only needs to meet three requirements:”
“small, fast, and agile.”
“And if possible, it needs to be equipped with—”
“a device that can convert mana into a stable wind force.”
“A wind pressure cannon.”
Hearing those last three words, Balin and Grom both froze.
Balin let out a sharp breath, set down his hammer, and said,
“Little fellow, that is a wind pressure cannon.”
“There are only three of them in the entire Shield City.”
“Its value... is inestimable.”
Lin Gui was naturally aware of how precious the wind pressure cannon was.
If not for its forging materials being far too rare,
the wind pressure cannon would have been enough to spark an industrial revolution in this apocalyptic world.
It was a device capable of replacing mages to convert ambient mana into wind force.
He looked up at Balin.
“A wind pressure cannon is indeed precious.”
“But for Shield City, its utility—”
“is probably no greater than that of a demi-artifact.”
Just as Lin Gui finished speaking, a staff floated out from his wooden crate.
Its body was sleek and streamlined, its shaft embedded with azure runes.
It was indeed the demi-artifact—the Staff of the Windwhisperer.
Lin Gui gripped the staff and handed it to Balin.
“I am willing to trade this for it.”
“A demi-artifact?!” Grom cried out in shock.
He snatched the staff away, holding it up before his eyes.
Balin also leaned in close, his eyes widening.
The two of them carefully scrutinized every inch of the patterns on the staff, their breathing gradually growing heavy.
A demi-artifact.
That was the supreme glory that all master artisans pursued throughout their lives.
It was the absolute pinnacle of creation for all living beings on the Akara Continent,
a masterpiece where craftsmanship and magic blended in perfect harmony.
For the entire dwarven race, they might not produce a single one even in fifty years.
It wasn't that Shield City lacked masters capable of forging a demi-artifact,
but those masters had all gone out to make money for Shield City.
He seemed to recall that one had gone to the Carter Royal Capital to forge a bow.
The way they looked at the staff was like pilgrims looking at a holy relic.
Their fingertips lightly brushed against the runes, trembling slightly.
A warm and majestic pulse of energy radiated from the staff's body,
absolutely genuine.
Standing to the side, Theia couldn't help but speak up,
“Hey, Lin Gui, are you really going to trade it?”
“That's a demi-artifact!”
Her voice was laced with heartache.
Lin Gui turned his head, his expression calm.
“With this staff in my hands,”
“it cannot display the utility it is meant to have.”
“To wield it properly...”
He paused for a moment.
“one would need to reach at least Freya's rank.”
“I cannot wait that long.”
For Lin Gui, trading a demi-artifact that might only shine in the distant future for a vehicle that could accelerate his mail delivery speed right now
was by no means a bad deal.
Although a demi-artifact was precious, if Lin Gui could truly survive and advance to the Legendary Rank,
obtaining one wouldn't be difficult at all.
If all else failed, he could just go to the City of a Thousand Towers and steal one.
Rate on N.U.
