Forests Don't Support Idle Goblins

Chapter 411 Visitors from the Machinery City

Charles still remembered the first time he activated [Whispers of the Forest], and the words he heard: "They saw you."

.

Could it be that "them" also includes the little tin soldier in front of us?

"You're looking for me again?" Charles leaned back cautiously, reaching for his pouch behind him with one hand, ready to defend against any sudden attack.

"You—" The little tin soldier's jaw opened and closed a few times, looking somewhat rusty and not very fluent. "You are the city lord."

"City lord?" Charles was somewhat puzzled, but he dared not let his guard down. "The Forest City isn't even finished yet; it's not even a prototype. What kind of city lord am I?"

"Machinery City awaits your return," the little tin soldier said slowly, his voice sounding like the clattering of metal.

Machine Factory City? Charles was taken aback. He had heard Spencer mention this city before, but it was just a casual remark. After all, he was more concerned about the floating city of Avalon. Now that the little tin soldier had brought up Machine Factory City again, could it be that there was another ancient city waiting for him?

Recalling the previous drawings on the wall of the Runeword Material Warehouse, there were four cities in total: a "City of All Races" in the forest, a floating city called Avalon, a city that seemed to be underwater, and the last city, which had towering furnaces and many mechanical components on the relief, and even several large mechanical creations carved on the corners of the relief.

"Could the fourth city be the Machinery City?"

Sharmo stroked his chin, taking another look at the little tin soldier in front of him.

It must be said that this "toy" is very well made. Now that a low-level beast core has been placed on its back, it can even move on its own.

"Can you tell me your name?" Charles crouched down, picked up the little tin soldier with both hands, and placed it on the table.

"Name? My number is Furnace 1-112," the little tin soldier said mechanically, explaining his situation.

"Uh," upon hearing the other party's words, Charles tilted his head slightly. What does Furnace 1 mean? Could it be Furnace Number One?

And 112 is a number, right? Does that mean the little tin soldier in front of us is the 112th little tin soldier in furnace number one?

How many furnaces does this machine shop have? Are there many little tin soldiers inside?

"Then, furnace 1-112," Charles tried to call out the little tin soldier's number, but as soon as he uttered the number, he saw the soldier's red eyes flicker a few times, causing Charles to hesitate for a couple of seconds before continuing, "Can you tell me where the Machine Factory City is?"

"The city of machine tools is here—" the little tin soldier said, and began to make movements, as if it was trying to distinguish something. Then, it stretched out its palm and pounded its chest hard.

After a few "clicks," the tin shell on the little tin soldier's chest opened, revealing the internal mechanical mechanism and a small compass.

After glancing down at the compass, it pointed directly east, indicating, "It's to the east."

"East?" After watching the little tin soldier close the outer shell on his chest, Charles was a little confused about what the answer meant. Did it mean heading east, or that it was in the eastern part of the forest?

With that in mind, Charles decided to ask someone first, so he said hello and ran out of the stone house.

"Machinery City?" Spencer, who was sorting through goblin bones in an underground cave, looked at Charles with some surprise. "Why are you asking about it?"

"Just asking casually, where is that machine shop city?" Charles waved his hand and asked in a casual tone.

"As for the address," Spencer tapped his temple, and after a few seconds replied, "it's also in the Nightmare Forest, and not far from the City of All Races."

"So, the Machine Factory City isn't too far from here?" Charles raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the answer.

"Yes, and the Machine Factory City is a very large city, no smaller than the City of Ten Thousand Races. It's full of all kinds of blast furnaces and mechanical parts," Spencer smiled, as if recalling something. "Back then, many residents of the City of Ten Thousand Races would go to work in the Machine Factory City. Of course, there were also other mechanical colossi there, which kept the Machine Factory City running every day."

"There's a mechanical colossus?" Charles was taken aback. The little tin soldier on his desk seemed to be very different from the mechanical colossus.

-

“Yes,” Spencer nodded. “The Machine City undertakes many of the Holy Kingdom’s material processing and component manufacturing functions, and it does not require external power to drive it. The power tower in the center of the city provides all the power for the entire city.”

"You mean, this city operates non-stop all day long, and those processing machines are powered and never stop?" Charles stared wide-eyed in shock.

This statement is quite surprising. In the past, those machines relied on electricity or steam power to operate all day long, and the consumption in the process was astronomical. Now, the lizardman lich says that a city that has been around for thousands of years is also constantly processing various parts. What is its power source?

Could it be that they're cutting down trees in the forest?

"I'd like to ask," Charles quickly waved his hand, "what is the source of power for this city, this machine-working city?"

"You mean the central power tower?" Spencer put down the bone fragments in his hand, stood up straight, and then spread his hands. A pile of bone fragments around him floated up, constantly flying, crossing, and combining in the air, eventually forming a circular "model" on Charles's head.

In this model, the "buildings" constructed from broken bones vary in height, with the tallest being the central round tower, which looks like a solid chimney with a huge diameter.

"That's the Central Power Tower," Spencer said, pointing to the "building" in the middle. "Of course, this is just a rough reconstruction based on my memory, and there are many inaccuracies. Also, I haven't been to all of the Machine Factory City."

"A power tower?" Charles looked up at the skeleton model above him. "What powers this power tower? I mean, is it magic, coal, or something else?"

"Magic? Burning coal?" Spencer laughed a few times. "No, neither. It seems that even if you are the heir to the Holy Kingdom, there are still many things you don't know."

Charles just smiled helplessly. Deep in his soul was only a silent obelisk, with no other useful reading materials or information.

"The power tower isn't powered by these things," Spencer shook his head. "Its power source is something you can't even imagine."

"What is it? Isn't it magic?" Charles frowned. He knew that many high-level mages in this world used magic to maintain the operation of their magic towers. For example, Vivian's teacher, that high-level archmage, built his magic tower on the seabed and used a large number of magic crystals to provide magic power, thereby controlling the seawater outside the tower and ensuring the safety of the magic tower.

However, this will consume a lot of magic crystals, and at the same time, it requires a dedicated person to maintain it, which is a significant expense.

These high-ranking mages didn't care. To them, it meant nothing. They could easily earn a lot of money by accepting commissions from nobles, and an unimaginable magic tower was the symbol of their status.

Of course, this commission also included turning a baron’s son into a goblin.

"Of course it's not magic. For the Holy Kingdom, magic is not a cheap source of power." Spencer waved his hand and smiled mysteriously. "Back then, I heard many people say that just building Avalon would require a lot of stone, and all of that stone was processed in the Machine Factory City. If we used magic, we probably wouldn't be able to build the floating city at all."

"What is that?" Sharl pressed, already somewhat bewildered. Could it be that the high elves had already been using electricity thousands of years ago? But he had never heard of any power plants or similar structures.

"They used a dark power," Spencer said with a smile and a nod.

"Nightmare power?" Charles looked up blankly at the skeletal "model" in mid-air. "You mean, that central power tower—"

He pointed to the center of the model, "Is it constantly drawing upon evil energy?"

"Yes," Spencer nodded heavily, "You didn't expect that, did you? When I first heard it, I was just as shocked as you, so shocked that I couldn't even walk straight."

"Is it that malevolent force I know about?" Charles stepped forward. "The one that can mutate animals into monsters, the legendary, ineradicable dark side of the creator god?"

"Yes." Spencer reached out and patted Charles on the shoulder, calming him down. "Before the construction of the Machine Factory City, the Nightmare Forest was often flooded with evil energy, and sometimes there would even be monster tides. I heard that the Holy Kingdom would organize an army to fight against the monster tides to protect the residents' strongholds and cities."

"I do know about the monster tide." Xia Er nodded. The skeleton warrior, Mr. Elton, had mentioned before that their Seventh Field Army was severely damaged in the battle against the monster tide. When did that happen?

He lowered his head and thought carefully, finally remembering the time Elton had mentioned—December of the year 374 in the Holy Calendar.

"Later, in order to eradicate the monster tide," Spencer raised his head and looked at the model in the air, "those guys designed and built this Machine City. It constantly draws evil energy from underground to maintain the operation of the entire city. The evil energy never stops, and the city never stops either."

"I heard from the inhabitants of the Holy Kingdom that when the Power Tower emitted a dazzling red light, the entire earth seemed to tremble, and after that, there was never another monster horde in the Nightmare Forest."

After Spencer finished speaking, he sighed softly, "Now this city has also disappeared."

"In other words, the Machine Factory City is constantly drawing out the evil power." Xia Er's lips twitched. What kind of genius idea was this? Since you, the Creator God, are constantly emitting evil power, then I might as well just attach a tube to your body and draw it out directly. It even solved the monster tide.

However, the city has now disappeared.

He then let out a soft sigh.

But immediately, Xia Er blinked, something seemed wrong. If the Machine Factory City had disappeared, then the evil power should have continued to spread, and the monster tide should have returned.

However, at present, some monsters only appear in winter, but it is far from reaching the level of a monster tide.

He suddenly looked up at the huge circular model in the air.

Round?

Could it be that the machine factory city didn't disappear, but was just hidden, perhaps shrouded in an illusion, or perhaps sunk underground?

After all, the little tin soldier said "it came from the Machine Factory City", and there has been no news of a monster tide in the entire Nightmare Forest.

"What did you say?" Spencer looked down at Charles, his expression somewhat surprised. "The Machine Factory is still there?"

"Yes," Charles nodded heavily, "There are no more monster tides now, which means that the evil power is still being extracted, but there's been a slight problem, which is why a few monsters are appearing sporadically in the forest."

"This," Spencer pointed to his temple, "does make some sense, but it still lacks evidence that Machine Factory City still exists."

"Yes, I have evidence." Charles smiled broadly. "I have a guest there."

"A guest?"

"Yes, a guest from the Machinery City."

Upon hearing Charles's answer, Spencer's eyes widened in disbelief. "From the City of Machinesmiths? Who are you? A resident of the Holy Kingdom five thousand years ago? Or, like me, someone who has traveled directly through time?"

"Uh, neither." Charles smiled awkwardly. He knew that Spencer wanted to find out about Avalon, but the "guest" didn't seem to know anything about the floating city.

"He is," he held out his hand and gestured in front of Spencer, "a little tin soldier."

"A tin soldier?" Spencer was taken aback, then lowered his head and fell silent.

Seeing the lizardman lich fall silent, Sharl didn't disturb him. Instead, he looked up again at the circular model in the air. "Circular... which means that the semicircle we saw on the map earlier was very likely part of the Machine Factory City?"

"But what about the other part?" He examined the enormous bone model, scrutinizing each building several times. "Is it simply not shown on the map, or has it already—"

Charles dared not imagine what it would be like if only half of the Machine Factory City remained; that would be an absolute disaster.

His goblin tribe was lacking such mechanical processing tools. If this machine shop were here, they could at least make some use of it, and at the very least, they could cut some planks.

If the Machine Factory City were still operating, the various materials it processed would greatly promote the construction of the Forest City and allow its own forces to take shape more quickly.

However, it now appears that the gnoll stronghold is located right on the way to the Machine Factory City, and the Feathered Serpent God is hiding there.

"It seems we have no choice but to send troops to eliminate them." Charles pursed his lips. He had originally planned to wait until the tribe's strength had developed further, but now, upon learning of the existence of the Machine Factory City, he didn't want to wait a moment longer.

"I remember now," Spencer exclaimed suddenly, even disregarding his usual polite demeanor.

"That's not some little tin soldier, it's a Colossus pilot."