Star Forge Titan

"It's not easy for you either." The card players said one by one.

At the same time, they seemed to recall their past experiences, and inevitably revealed expressions that were somewhat sad.

In today's Linde, although the entire society often undergoes various unexpected changes due to the deepening of the magic industrial revolution, people from all walks of life occasionally leap into the upper class.

But in general, the lives of most people at the bottom of society are still not much better than a hundred years ago. At best, apart from farming, they have the option of going to the city to work.

Even so, among the huge number of people at the bottom of society, there are still some who are not willing to be humble until death, and always want to try their best based on some possibilities.

Although I was born surrounded by cheap dust, it doesn't mean that I am willing to spend my life like that.

Holding the cards tightly in his hand, Joseph, wearing glasses and old clothes, had eyes shining with a light as bright as a burning flame.

That is the flickering flame of ambition, a terrifying poisonous fire that can burn its owner and other innocent people to ashes!

Chapter 126 Card Game

Although the third-class seats on ordinary civilian trains are not as bad as the lower cabins of passenger ships, the environment is indeed not very good.

The interior of the magic train is naturally much more spacious than the public carriages that have been used for many years, but the total number of trains is much less than that of carriages. In addition, due to the change in operating rights caused by the Linde Court's encouragement of private capital to invest in railways, a train often sells more than twice the number of tickets for its seats.

The packed crowds were packed into carriages designed to accommodate only about half the number of seats, forcing most people to squeeze onto benches, with many also sitting on the floor in the corridors. During the heaviest hours, some even had to stand on the small open-air platform connecting the carriages.

Because it is open air, as long as it doesn't rain, in a sense the environment there is even better than inside the car.

In short, considering the relatively low ticket price, most financially strapped passengers had no choice but to accept this ride. After all, in this era, the Magic Train was the safest way for ordinary people to travel long distances.

As for using magic to teleport, since it involves the concept of space, this kind of thing is extremely expensive and difficult.

Didn't you see Christina, the Crown Mage, also choose to take the magic train back to Lutetia? While there were other considerations involved, it still indirectly illustrates the scarcity of teleportation magic and the extraordinary people who can use it.

Apart from the fifth-order perfectors, only some special professions and innate magical creatures can use magic or spell-like abilities involving long-distance space transmission before completing the sublimation of life essence.

Of course, these are not things that ordinary passengers sitting in third-class carriages need to consider.

While waiting for the special magic train belonging to the military to pass, the ordinary trains that were forced to stay on the platform also slowly began to resume operation under the command of the platform.

In the noisy aisle of the train, a round of card games had already concluded. After losing eight copper écues and one small silver écue, the young man with thick glasses stood up with a pained look on his face and said goodbye to his fellow card players. He said he was going to the connecting carriage to get some fresh air to soothe his wounded heart.

As soon as the young man stood up, his seat was taken by another passenger. Apparently, the boring and long journey made everyone very idle, so playing cards became a rare pastime. Anyway, they would not gamble too much, at most a few copper écu, which was a cheap chip that most people could accept.

The young man who called himself Joseph walked through the crowded aisle with one foot deep and one foot shallow, and reached the connection between the carriages with difficulty as if he was cutting through thorns.

There was limited space so there were only a few people smoking.

As the train moved forward, the pungent smoke from the cheap cigarettes was quickly blown away by the wind, so it did not affect other people.

The young man with thick-framed glasses stood in an empty corner by himself. After the other passengers finished smoking and went back, he raised his left hand with a finger wrapped in a bandage, and slowly unwound the bandage to reveal the quaint gem ring underneath.

Unlike the patched shirt and work pants he was wearing, the jeweled ring was an adornment that was totally inconsistent with his status.

Although the gemstones on the ring were a little gray and looked like a glass that had been left for a long time, a ring was still a ring. On the black market in Lutetia, a ring of this quality could be sold for several gold ecu.

This is also the reason why the young man wrapped the ring with a bandage. All the passengers knew that there was a thief in the third-class carriage.

Even if he didn't have to worry about thieves, he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention beyond his plan because of such a small matter.

After all, what the young man is going to do next is something that will have a very, very huge impact.

This is true both for himself and for other beings.

"Hehe, how does it feel to lose to a mortal bug?" A whisper suddenly came from the ring that only the young man could hear.

"It's very interesting. A card game is one of the most suitable scenarios for observing humans. Every card you play may cause your opponent to react differently. It's like another kind of society, full of interactions and variables." The young man didn't care about the sarcasm in the other person's words at all. He just felt the breeze blowing around him and spoke softly.

He had his usual gentle smile on his face, which made most people feel good about him.

However, the speaking being in the ring was clearly not among them. After listening to the young man's narration, it continued to laugh in that irritating tone and said:

"But this might not be a good omen. After all, what you are about to do is an interesting card game for those great beings~"

"Games? I like playing games very much. Humans all like playing games very much. I just didn't expect..." The young man paused and looked up at the sky silently.

The gray-white smoke coming out of the magic locomotive cast a layer of cloud over the originally blue sky, making it seem as if the sky had turned gray.

The young man sighed, pushed up the sliding glasses, chuckled softly, and continued:

"Those kinds of people also like to play games."

After a pause, the young man spoke again:

"But, in the eyes of those beings, are the chips used to participate in this game as cheap as copper ducats that rust and turn green to us humans?"

Upon hearing this question, the being in the ring fell silent, and the surrounding atmosphere seemed to become darker. Something that humans could not see but could feel slowly emerged like a big fish swimming underwater.

"Human, watch your attitude." The voice of the being in the ring became extremely cold.

"Even if you are sealed in a ring, I, Gil Jaden the Deceiver, can make you jump off this train and be crushed into slag finer than ground meat by the wheels!"

"Really? Then I'm really scared." The young man lowered his eyes, but still said with a smile:

Silence fell on both sides.

After a long while, the being in the ring finally couldn't help but make a gritting sound.

"Joseph Kerr, you're a nuisance."

"Okay, put away these boring temptations and let's talk business."

Hearing this, the corners of the young man's mouth curled up slightly.

"Then let's talk it over."

"Let's talk about the next card game we're going to play."

Chapter 127 Returning Again

Woo-woo-woo

With the roar of the whistle, the magic train, which was so wide that it occupied two railways, slowly drove into the military station.

Although most of the railway branches were contracted out to various private chambers of commerce, Linde officials also had their own road construction plans.

At the same time, the military is also involved. After all, the railway is a strategic existence that can quickly deploy a large number of troops, and they cannot not be involved.

Therefore, somewhere not far from the capital Lutetia, there is a special military station, and its surrounding area has been built into a large military base with complete functions.

Furthermore, this was also the temporary base for the various armies that would be participating in the upcoming military parade. Over tens of thousands of soldiers and their equipment were temporarily housed within this military base, centered around the station.

The arrival of the New Era Institute attracted a lot of attention.

This is quite normal. After all, whether it is the magic mecha or other new weapons that have not yet been mass-produced, they all have many eye-catching elements.

Soldiers from different legions who did not need to train for the time being or had already completed training gathered in groups of three or four outside the cordon, discussing while gazing at the steel giants that were more than ten meters tall, their expressions showing excitement and curiosity.

The cadets who were assigned to the 1st Armored Training Battalion after receiving a temporary designation began to transport equipment in their Iron Cavalry 1886 and Iron Cavalry 1886·Rev.

In addition to their combat functions, these tall magical mechas can also perform some logistical work with high efficiency.

"Are these big guys just used to carry supplies?" One of the soldiers watching couldn't help but ask with a hint of sarcasm:

"Are you an idiot?" A familiar colleague raised his hand and nudged him.

"What?" The person who spoke earlier showed a puzzled expression.

"Let me ask you, how much does a box of ammunition weigh?" My colleague suppressed his laughter and continued to ask:

"That depends on the caliber and type. Why are you asking this?" The man was probably a little stunned and hadn't reacted yet, but the other soldiers around him were already laughing secretly.

"Although I don't know what this new equipment is used for, they can use their two iron arms to pick up several boxes of shells at a time. If they use this strength to hit you..." Although his colleague didn't continue speaking, all the soldiers understood what he meant.

What kind of wonderful changes would happen to a person if he were hit with that kind of force?

When they thought of this question, the crowd immediately became strangely quiet. The smiles on their faces slowly disappeared, replaced by expressions of thought and even awe.

"Fortunately, this thing is on our side." The soldier who had laughed before said palely:

"Uh-huh."

"You're right, luckily we're all in the same gang!"

"I thought the new tanks distributed to the Magical Mechanical Brigade this year were already quite impressive, but I didn't expect the New Era Research Institute would have something this good!"

The soldiers' discussion became more and more heated, and finally someone even shouted:

"My Great Linde Empire's magic technology is the best in the world!"

"Long live my emperor!"

"Long live Lind!"

"Oh oh oh!"

The inexplicable cheers left the trainees who were helping to transport supplies confused.

However, seeing the soldiers waving vigorously or throwing their hats high in the air, they still very friendly controlled the magic mechas to wave back, which immediately made the cheers of the soldiers even louder.

"This generation of young people is very energetic, aren't they?" Christina, who was floating in mid-air overseeing the transport of the Colossus, said with a hint of surprise.

Below her, the special transport carriage that carried the Giant God was equipped with a different type of wheels for moving on non-railway tracks. This was a feature that was taken into consideration during the design.

After the replacement is completed, the carrier vehicle with more than thirty-six tires will be towed by a high-power tractor and moved to a dedicated large hangar built a month in advance in the base.

In another week, the Giant God Soldiers will set out from here and join this unprecedented grand military parade.

According to the opportunity, Unit 3 Bekas will carry the Spear of Destruction to the parade ground on its own, while Unit 1 Disgulan and Unit 2 Langley will continue to use the carrier and cross the entire route in transport mode.

At this thought, Christina couldn't help but look away. The Rod of Destruction, wrapped in a tarp, had been lifted from the transport carriage by a large crane stationed near the station. It would then be temporarily stored in another warehouse.

The researchers did not intend to waste this week; they wanted to continue improving and optimizing the structure of the Rod of Destruction, while also ensuring that it would not suddenly launch during a military parade.

To this end, the researchers planned to temporarily disconnect the energy pipeline and completely shut down the energy storage device's input port. In short, they had to avoid the worst-case scenario.

If something like that were to happen, it definitely wouldn't be solved by just putting him in jail.

Maybe it would be more satisfying to just give yourself a big fireball...

Just as she was thinking about it, Christina suddenly hugged her head and turned over on the spot.

"Wow, wow, even though I'm the elder, I have to keep working here, while all those younger ones are running back to Lutetia. It's so good to be young. I don't have to deal with so much mess."

As for the younger generations she had complained about, they were now boarding the magic car and heading to Lutetia.

The car was a magic vehicle borrowed from the military base. If someone else had gone to borrow it, they would probably have gotten at most a half-track detection vehicle with one wheel in the front and two tracks in the back. But Catherine, the Duchess, immediately borrowed a light magic vehicle that could carry five people.

Although the car was boxy and, in Catherine's words, "not elegant at all," it actually performed quite well and had a spacious interior. Besides Diana, who volunteered to be the driver, there was plenty of room for three people and a dog.

However, because the "dog" is an important asset within the institute, it is temporarily not allowed to leave the military base.

So, the scorching hound, which was fully armored and could release flames and control strong winds, had no choice but to squat at the gate of the base like an abandoned pet dog, wagging its tail in disappointment as it watched the few people go away.

"Hey, Xiao Q will probably be very sad." A necromancer who had not appeared for a long time said sadly:

"Really? How come I didn't know your relationship had become so good?" Ivan glanced at Ka Yang and said in a calm tone:

"I really like small animals." Ka Yang also rolled his eyes at him and retorted unhappily.

"Oh?" Ivan raised his eyebrows and couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth slightly.

A necromancer who likes small animals. This prefix adjective combined with the following noun makes people laugh inexplicably.

However, when he saw the guy carefully feeding the flying squirrel pet with peanuts, Alvin couldn't help but believe that the other party was not habitually telling lies just now.

This was completely different from the terrifying dead iron lich with a steel skeleton in his memory.

The time traveler was amazed at the power of the butterfly effect, even though he himself was no longer suitable to be compared to a mere "butterfly", both in terms of size and influence.

The conversation between Catherine and Diana could be heard from the front row. Although it was mainly the former who was talking and the latter who was listening, Ivan's attention was also attracted by the white city gate that was gradually getting bigger in front of him.

That is the main gate of this huge city, a huge gate known as the 'Gate of Heaven'.

After several months of absence, Ivan Elian once again arrived in Lutetia, the capital of Linde.

Considering the length of time, it wouldn't be called a lightning-fast return...

Chapter 128 The Eve of the Military Parade (Part 1)

"It feels so good to be back." Catherine said happily while supporting her chin in the passenger seat.

The pair of curled golden diamond-shaped ponytails seemed to echo the owner's good mood, bouncing up and down.

As the Duke of Loire, Catherine's fiefdom wasn't far from Lutetia. Furthermore, she had grown up in Lutetia. Therefore, compared to the ducal fiefdom, this city, nicknamed the "Perfect City," was more like the Duchess's hometown.