Chapter 013: The Manufacturing Abilities of the Dwarves

“This is where you’ll live. Just call me if you need anything.” Haina looked at Du Fan and the others calmly at this moment. Only after seeing no reaction from them did she say helplessly, “I know it’s small, but please bear with it. After all, our people aren’t as tall as you are.”
Hearing Haina’s words, Du Fan and the others nodded reluctantly.
In front of them were several mounds over a meter tall. Although these were ordinary dwellings for the dwarves, they seemed far too cramped for Du Fan and his group.
After all, even Basha from the dwarf race was over a meter tall, and even he shook his head in frustration at these mounds that were less than a meter high.
“Let’s discuss this first,” Du Fan said, pulling Basha and the others to sit on the ground. He added helplessly, “What do you think of those three elders of the dwarf race? Anyway, I don’t think they’re good people.”
“Mm, right. I agree,” Rob nodded at Du Fan and continued, “I’m sure they’re itching to hate you right now. Your presence must be hindering their attempts to seize the position of regent of the dwarf race.”
“Mm,” Basha also nodded and said to Du Fan, “The current clan leader, Lumba, clearly favors you. But those three elders still hold significant influence within the dwarf race. If a fight really breaks out, what do you think are our chances of winning?”
“Less than 10%.” Du Fan shook his head helplessly before adding, “The dwarves’ magic cannons have long surpassed the limits of the continent. Who knows what strange inventions they’ve come up with over the years? I wonder why the dwarf race doesn’t focus on inventing things too?”
Du Fan’s last remark made Basha choke almost to the point of spitting out water. His face turned red as he said, “The dwarf race is naturally suited for forging weapons and armor, while the dwarves are naturally inclined toward inventing such energy-based devices. Their roles are different. If you tried to force dwarves to make armor, I don’t think they could create anything useful.”

“Right.” Du Fan nodded at that moment and whispered to the five people beside him, “Compared to the military forces of the Holy Church and Count Wadeber, the current dwarves are far inferior. So if we can seize the position of Regent, our strength will undoubtedly increase significantly. If the dwarves and elves work together to create more aggressive weapons, our combat power will definitely rise greatly.”
“Du Fan, but don’t forget,” Nayxiu reminded him upon hearing his assumptions, “We’re not very clear about the current strength of the dwarves. If anything goes wrong, not only will the forces in the underground world be affected, but we might even lose our strength on the surface as well. So instead of focusing on boosting our combat power now, it’s more practical to think about how to release the Earth Tiger clan and form an Earth Dragon Army.”
“Sister-in-law, that’s wrong,” Basa interjected on Du Fan’s behalf, “Chieftain Lumba also said before that creating an instrument to help a race emerge from the underground world requires an enormous amount of resources. Plus, with those three old guys sabotaging us, if Du Fan can’t get the position of Regent, all our talk will be in vain. What’s really important is whether we can secure that position.”
……
“Bang!” Or slammed his hand hard on the coffee table, his expression cold. “I think that dwarf and human boy came here just to steal our position as Regent.”
“Exactly,” Dubai added angrily, fueling Or’s anger. “I think Lumba has gone blind—allowing a human to take part in our Regent selection is clearly showing disregard for our three families. If that’s the case, it might be better to let them have an accident during the selection and die at the hands of our dwarves. Even then, Lumba probably won’t have anything to say.”
“Sigh,” Jones said helplessly after hearing the two of them, shaking his head. “I think we’d better not underestimate Lumba. He managed to become chieftain despite strong resistance from all three of our families—he’s definitely a genius. If anything really happens, Lumba will surely know it was us.”

“What does that matter?” Hearing Jones’s words, Or spoke with utter disdain at that moment. “Even if that old guy finds out it was us, what can he do? Right now, the dwarf tribe has barely over five thousand members, of which three thousand are from our three families. Of the remaining two thousand, aside from a few hundred who support Rumba, the rest just watch from the sidelines. If anything really happens, with each member of our families having a magic cannon, I don’t believe Rumba can do anything. By then, I’ll definitely make him step down from his position as clan leader.”
“Or, you want to rebel!”
Hearing Or’s words, Dubai and Jones both looked at him in shock. They never expected an elder to want to force the clan leader to step down. Just this alone made these two elders admire him.
……
“Make me step down?” Rumba glared at the mirror in front of him, then snorted and said to the boy behind him, “Go call Haina over.”
After Rumba left, the boy rushed outside. Soon, Haina slowly approached Rumba and whispered, “I wonder why the clan leader wants to see me?”
Hearing Haina’s words, Rumba smiled slightly and said slowly, “You are the most talented person in our dwarf tribe who is qualified to inherit the clan leader’s position. I’m sure you understand my decision well. But now, that old fool Or wants to play dirty. What do you think we should do to deal with him?”
“Clan leader, I think this is not easy to handle,” Haina said, biting her lower lip before whispering after a while, “All three elders currently have strong military forces. Although supporting Du Fan would be a good choice for us, we can’t rule out any possibilities. If Or rebels at that time, it will be beyond our control.”
“Good.” Rumba took out a small magic cannon from his pocket and said to Haina, “I wonder if we can transform this magic cannon into a weapon that’s easier to carry and use in attacks, while using fewer magic cores. We should also change its attack mode to a point-to-point attack. You know how old people are—they don’t like to use their brains much anymore.”
“It seems like a very complicated task,” Haina said, picking up the magic robe from Rumba’s hands with excitement. “But the more complicated the task, the more like a challenge it is for me. Don’t worry, clan leader.”
“How much time do you need?” Hearing Haina’s reply, Rumba nodded in great satisfaction and asked.

Haina thought for a moment before slowly saying, “If the clan leader trusts me, give me half a month. By then, I will definitely bring you the latest weapon that will satisfy you. But as you know, I’ve been conducting too many experiments lately. All the materials you assigned to me…”
“Never mind,” Rumba said helplessly, taking out a storage ring from his pocket and handing it to Haina. With some reluctance, he added, “Those three old guys are also restricting my usage, fearing I might create something to eliminate them. But you can use these.”
“Thank you, clan leader.” Haina took the storage ring from Rumba and then happily skipped away.
Watching Haina’s retreating figure, Rumba frowned and murmured to Du Fan and the others in the mirror, “Human boy, don’t disappoint me. I’ve placed all my bets on you.”
…
“Wrong, try again!” Du Fan shouted, throwing a punch at Rob in front of him.
Feeling Du Fan’s incoming punch, Rob screamed and countered with his right foot at the same time.
“Bang!” Both Du Fan and Rob groaned in pain before reluctantly stopping and sitting down to recover their strength.
Living in the territory of the dwarf tribe these days wasn’t very long, but it wasn’t short either. Meanwhile, watching the strengthening punches practiced by the dwarves gave Du Fan and the others a glimmer of hope.
Although these strengthening punches were specifically designed for the dwarves to strengthen their bodies—given that their lifespan was generally not very long—it was unknown which generation of clan leader invented them. From then on, any dwarf who practiced these punches daily lived much longer than ordinary dwarves.
However, Du Fan noticed something strange about these punches: almost every time one was thrown, it carried a strange type of energy. This energy wasn’t domain power, nor was it divine power—it even went beyond the realm of energy on the continent. But that wasn’t the key point. The real point was that these strengthening punches were more powerful than the military boxing techniques used in the army.

Not everyone in the army is a magician or a knight; the proportion of such people is quite high. If the Strength-Punch technique could be spread among the troops, Du Fan’s army’s strength would undoubtedly improve significantly in a short time. Even without relying on the Black Panther Knights, the Blue Blood Legion, or the Elf Griffon Corps, these soldiers trained in the Strength-Punch technique could still play a vital role.

“Third brother, stop practicing for now,” said Basha, walking over and addressing Du Fan. “The time for the dwarves to elect a regent is almost here. I think we should prepare in advance to avoid panic later.”

“Mm,” Du Fan stood up and nodded at Basha. “By the way, why haven’t I seen Chief Ramba or Haina these past few days? Those three old guys from Orn also seem to have disappeared; they haven’t shown up yet.”

“Hehe, they must be preparing for the race to become regent,” Basha said helplessly, looking at Du Fan. “If things really get out of control, we can declare a military conflict. I doubt any dwarf can defeat you.”

“I advise you not to use force—it’s not allowed among the elves.”

At that moment, Haina and Ramba, disheveled and dirty, walked over to Du Fan and the others. If those with domain strength couldn’t sense their auras, they might have mistaken them for two beggars.

“Du Fan, I’ve seen your improved Strength-Punch technique. It’s great,” Ramba said with a slight smile, then threw a golden object at Du Fan. “This is our dwarves’ latest creation. Well, you can call it a Magic Cone.”