#73 - Chapter 73 War and Technology

Several days ago, in Goldstream Valley.

“Lord, the Great Academy of Sciences and the Engineering Academy are about to be completed.”

Upon hearing this news, Lord Li Qi immediately put down all the work at hand and quickly passed through the portal to return to his initial plane.

Because Li Qi had chosen goblins as his first race and the initial environment was a desert, the system gave him an initial plane similar to a desert planet.

In this plane, the number of plants and animals was extraordinarily small.

But in contrast, the mineral resources in this plane were very rich, even to the point of being ubiquitous.

Many rare metals were as common as pebbles in an ordinary world.

Logically speaking, with such a bountiful plane as his base, Li Qi could completely avoid plundering resources in the Trial Continent and fighting other lords to the death, right?

But the reality was not so simple.

Although the resources in these planes were abundant, they also concealed great dangers.

In fact, many lords participating in the lord trials, including Li Qi, had homeworlds that were much more dangerous than the Trial Continent.

For example, in the desert planet where Li Qi was located, there were giant scorpions with deadly venom, native trolls more dangerous than orcs, and desert storms that occurred every day, among other threats.

So, under such perilous circumstances, Li Qi's operational strategy as a new lord was somewhat different.

Other lords often chose to expand their territory first, extract resources, and then gradually accumulate strength, eventually going to the Trial Continent to plunder resources.

But Li Qi was different; he chose to directly advance in “technology.”

Watching the Great Academy of Sciences and the Engineering Academy being established one after another, Li Qi's eyes couldn't help but light up.

Because with the establishment of the two major epoch-making buildings, the gnomes and goblins under his command simultaneously received corresponding BUFF bonuses.

First, all the goblins' creations would receive a 5% damage bonus under the blessing of the Engineering Academy, and the instability of goblin technology would also be reduced, preventing frequent self-destruction.

Secondly, the gnomes would receive an intelligence bonus under the enhancement of the Great Academy of Sciences, and unlock more technological creations.

But none of these were the most important.

What Li Qi really wanted was the new technology routes he could unlock after building these two major buildings.

“System, build new buildings: Goblin Factory, Gnome Laboratory, and Assembly Workshop!”

Li Qi said to his system, looking at the open space that had been reserved.

“Boom!” “Boom!”

As tens of thousands of resource points vanished, with the help of the system, two buildings far grander than the Academy of Sciences and the Engineering Academy rose from the surface of this desert planet.

And countless gnomes and goblins, as if they had agreed in advance, quickly split into two groups and entered these two equally magnificent buildings.

Before long, clanging sounds and some not-so-slight explosions came from these two buildings.

Then, through the joint efforts of these two buildings, countless parts of different specifications were produced.

Finally, these parts were sent to the assembly workshop under Li Qi's gaze and assembled into some kind of peculiar new creation.

[Steam Tank A-Type]!

A steam-powered war machine, filled with steampunk style, carrying goblins and gnomes, and spewing black-gray steam, appeared in front of Li Qi.

And its attribute values ​​made Li Qi extremely satisfied.

[Steam Tank A-Type.]

[Mechanical creation, non-living.]

[Construction requirements: Goblin Factory X1, Gnome Laboratory X1, Assembly Workshop X1!]

[Armor value: 1200 points.]

[Attack damage: 80.]

[Attack range: 120 meters.]

[Usage requirements: Goblin X2, Gnome X1!]

[Evaluation: A crude but effective weapon of mass destruction, if it doesn't self-destruct.]

.....

Watching one steam tank after another appear in the assembly workshop, Li Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Because he knew that once this batch of steam tanks really appeared on the Trial Continent, the entire格局 (ge ju - situation/pattern) of the Trial Continent would be completely changed.

Before, whether it was Wu Wei, Su Yingxue, or even Gu Changqing and Li Mengmeng, they were all frantically seizing territory and plundering resources on the Trial Continent.

Almost everyone ignored Li Qi and overlooked this lord who was good at developing technology.

“And now, it’s time to let those barbarians taste the power of technology.”

Thinking of the dwarf army that was blown up by Wu Wei before, Li Qi couldn't help but sneer.

“The so-called war is not just a struggle between cold weapons and magic.”

“The real war depends on whose technology is higher!”

“Now let me see who will be the lucky one whose territory gate will be blown open by my tanks first?”

Looking at the Heavenly Dao System's map, Li Qi began to think.

To the west of Goldstream Valley is Su Yingxue's human territory, and to the south is the former dwarf kingdom that has fallen into the hands of Gu Changqing and others.

To the southwest of Goldstream Valley is the Bitter Sea Desert controlled by Wu Wei.

As for the north and northeast, there are hundreds of lords intertwined, each occupying a part of the resource production areas, forming dozens of alliances of various sizes.

After seeing this situation, Li Qi made a decision without thinking too much.

That is, he decided to first attack south, first occupy the former dwarf kingdom, drive out the forces of Gu Changqing and others, and then advance southwest to drive out Wu Wei's forces as well.

Then, after his power stabilized, he could take action to eliminate the others.

The reason why Li Qi thought this way was because, on the surface, Wu Wei and Gu Changqing seemed to be the weakest.

However, these were all wishful thinking.

Because when Li Qi finally drove his army to the entrance of the underground kingdom, what awaited him was not the alliance army of Gu Changqing.

What awaited him was actually the group of demon armies he was extremely familiar with.

This time, not only was Li Qi a little confused.

Even Wu Wei himself was a little confused when he saw this group of chariots forming a square formation really entering the kingdom passage.

“This is... a chariot?”

And Li Qi couldn't help but wonder as he looked at the group of orcs controlled by the parasite demons in front of him.

“This is... a combination of orcs and demons?”

The two groups of people collided in the same area in such a strange way.