Star Forge Titan

Information kept popping up in Ivan's mind. By the time he realized that he had gone off topic, he had already finished the entire plate of Ismailia candies like a locomotive that was eating crazily and consuming a lot of coal.

It seemed to be Heidi's habit to eat sweets with wine, so before Ivan came, in addition to a bottle of good wine, she also ordered a lot of snacks, including two local specialties: Ismailia fudge and spice cookies.

The former is a square piece of rose-red candy that looks a bit like jelly. It is also known as desert candy and is a very distinctive local snack. Its surface is sprinkled with fine white sugar powder like frost and snow, and beige coconut kernels that are finely crushed and emit a rich aroma. At first glance, it looks like a piece of solidified sand.

Ismailia fudge is made with a lot of sugar and starch, and is also infused with local spices like frankincense and rosewater, a byproduct of making rose essential oil.

"Have you come up with any interesting conclusions?" Heidi looked at Ivan as if she was used to it.

When she was studying in the City of a Thousand Towers, both her teachers and classmates had similar behaviors, often when they were immersed in thinking about a problem.

After all, a full brain consumes a lot of sugar, so much so that even among the most powerful archmages in the City of Thousand Towers are some devout sweet lovers. Heidi's Golden Sands Merchants have a very lucrative route: supplying 100% locally produced, authentic (presumably) Ismailian candies to the City of Thousand Towers.

"Thank you. This is very useful information for me." Alvin closed his eyes and let out a long breath, determined to obtain this secret.

"I see you can't use up a whole plate of desert fudge just thinking about ordinary problems," Heidi quipped, half-jokingly.

"Huh?" Alvin was stunned for a moment, then he saw that the wooden plate in front of him used to hold snacks was completely empty, and he couldn't help showing a slightly embarrassed expression.

"As a businessman, I shouldn't advise you to get too close to the brave men of Freedom Fist, but their beliefs and ideals are like candles in the dark night, small yet bright." Heidi sighed and her expression became serious.

"But you must understand that any Witch King's attitude towards the Fist of Freedom is to suppress it with all his might. At least before I get that thing, I don't want my collaborator to disappear inexplicably."

The tall female mage approached Ivan while speaking, lowering her voice to reveal her seriousness.

"I understand." Ivan leaned back subconsciously. Under the majesty of the older sister, the taller, dark-haired young man felt a sense of oppression.

Afterwards, the two exchanged a few messages and left the tavern one after the other at different times.

Ivan, who temporarily returned to his identity as a sandworm hunter, decided to go back to the Rogilus. He missed those overly capable catworms.

However, after entering the land port, Alvin met an unexpected visitor.

Looking at the orc Gaoshan who was waving at him with a silly smile, and the farm boy beside him with a healthy wheat-colored skin and a slightly shy expression, Alvin immediately smiled brightly.

At the same time, another possibility came to his mind.

The Freedom Fist's backup has arrived!

Chapter 46 Short-term Goals

Although we were apart for a short time, the reunion with friends still made us feel genuinely happy.

In the disguised cabin on the upper deck of the Rogilas, Alvin was entertaining the orc Gaoshan and his apprentice Lucas.

The so-called camouflaged cabin is actually a wooden shell built by Catworm and Alvin. It is like a layer of outer packaging nested on the surface of the Rogilas.

Although the cabin on the upper level is not very spacious, it does have the functions of a normal cabin. Even the decoration is very sophisticated, so that visitors will not feel confused.

Gao Shan naturally knew about this, but he didn't reveal the information to his young apprentice without his friend's consent. Noticing this, Ivan's smile deepened.

Because the truth about the Rogillas involved the Giant Kingdom and the Sandworm King, it was best to keep it within the confines of the small group for the time being. After all, he wasn't confident enough to directly engage in battle with the Witch Kings right now.

The cats and bugs enthusiastically brought midnight snacks and drinks, which made the two people who came from afar very happy.

The long dining table was filled with a variety of food, and in the center was a carefully prepared spice platter, which was not a dish, but a special dipping sauce platter. The different dipping sauces made from a variety of colorful spices could give the food a very rich flavor.

In addition, there are various well-cooked desert dishes, including many barbecues that are grilled to perfection.

As a city-state famous for its commerce, Ismailia's prosperous market has enough excellent food ingredients, and the cats and bugs have done considerable research on this.

Obviously, after leaving the Sandworm King, with the safe environment of the Rogilus and the protection of a captain who particularly likes cats, the catworms quickly adapted to life in the outside world. In addition, the large amount of knowledge instilled by the learning device made them even more adept at various daily tasks that they were already good at.

Seeing the sumptuous food, Lucas was a little embarrassed, but Gaoshan, who had become familiar with the little ones during the previous trip, expressed his sincere gratitude and began to eat with relish.

Long-term tribal life has made the orcs' heroic eating habits seem rather rude, but this makes the cats and bugs who cook the food very happy. They are so simple in nature that when they see that the guests like the food they cook, they will immediately meow and show a standard cat smile with their three-petal mouths.

After quickly finishing his own food, Gao Shan wiped his mouth and began to talk to Alvin about his experiences after they separated.

"So you have joined the Free Fist? That's great." Alvin raised his glass and toasted Gao Shan from afar.

Although he was holding a wine glass, the rose-red liquid inside was actually half-melted plum juice made from fruits and smoothies.

"Indeed, this makes people feel like a dream coming true." Gao Shan sighed with emotion, then drank the beer in the glass in a very heroic manner.

"Since you've already joined the Fist of Freedom, why are you coming back here?" Ivan asked casually.

Hearing his words, Gao Shan paused, and then the seemingly rough orc put down the oak wine glass, and a serious expression appeared on his face, which was inconsistent with his temperament.

"Well, although I can't go into too much detail, as a friend, I still suggest that you find a reason to leave Ismailia for a while in the near future."

"..." Lucas looked up at his master. He didn't say much, but nodded to Ivan seriously with the same suggestion.

"Interesting, it looks like the Fist of Freedom is going to make a big move soon." Combining this with other information he knew, Alvin immediately came to this conclusion.

"I didn't say anything." Gao Shan shrugged, and a subtle smile appeared on his seemingly rough face.

"Of course, this is just a gathering among friends." Alvin also smiled and raised his glass again.

The two clinked their glasses, and everything was said without words.

Even a new member like Gao Shan was sent to Ismailia, clearly indicating that the Freedom Fists were fully committed to their upcoming plans. They clearly intended to mobilize all their available forces to seize the legendary secrets of the Sorcerer King.

This attitude alone revealed a lot of information, and Alvin became increasingly curious about the truly astonishing effects of the Witch King's secret technique. Even the Fist of Freedom, having just achieved a temporary victory, would adopt such a determined attitude.

Or……

A possibility that he had vaguely guessed before emerged in Ivan's mind.

Speaking of extraordinary combat skills alone, among the three extraordinary combat skills mastered by the Northern Demon Kingdom Elrond, Blood Armament is a specialized technology created after the Blood Dragon Grand Duke's lineage used their own special arcane abilities for a long time, summarizing them and targeting the battlefield environment where blood and flesh were flying everywhere.

The Bone Sword Armor is also a special combat skill developed by generations of necromancers and high-level undead with self-awareness after the Undead Faction has controlled undead puppets for hundreds of years to fight.

As for the Moonlight Secret Sword, which is unique to the royal family of Gusmith, it is a powerful fighting skill that has been continuously deduced and developed since the founding of Elrond.

In other words, no extraordinary combat skill can appear out of thin air.

Even though the flourishing boxing style can only be considered a prototype now, its broad development prospects and obvious huge possibilities are by no means an ordinary simple reason that the rebels developed boxing because they could not obtain sufficient weapons, which seems reasonable but is actually completely untenable.

Considering the Fist of Freedom's determination to obtain the Sorcerer King's secrets, it's hard for him not to connect the two...

What is this? Are we enemies of the same origin?

Perhaps, he could use the identity of 'Walker' to ask Master Bretton or Master Rigor indirectly.

At the same time, Alvin was also thinking about his future promotion path.

For most ordinary combat professionals, being a boxer is a good choice, whether it is the improvement of physical fitness or the diversified increase of the entire power system by the embryonic stage extraordinary combat skills of boxing, not to mention the all-round improvement brought by the subsequent secret meaning of "Fighting Steel Armor", all of this can well meet the promotion goals of most combat professionals.

But Alvin was not satisfied with being an ordinary fist fighter. He vaguely sensed a secret connection between the Witch King's secret technique and boxing, and became more and more curious about what the so-called Fist of the Sky was.

After seeing Gao Shan and Lucas off, Alvin looked at the stars dotted in the sky and made a decision calmly.

So, set a small goal for yourself in the short term.

For example - becoming the Fist of the Sky!

Chapter 47: Transformation into a Beetle

If you want to become the Fist of Heaven, you must of course occupy a high enough position among the Fists of Freedom.

The way to quickly integrate into an organization and gain its trust and attention is to demonstrate one's own potential value or bring enough new benefits to the organization.

The former is what Alvin is doing. Ever since he was accepted as an apprentice by Elder Rigor, he has already occupied a seat on the candidate list for the Fist of the Sky.

As for the latter, I think the Witch King's secret method should definitely be considered a huge benefit that impresses the entire organization.

Even though he himself had his own ideas about the secret technique, it did not prevent Alvin from showing his own value in the battle for the secret technique, making those realists in the Fist of Freedom think that if they gained his support, they would have a greater chance of winning the secret technique of the Witch King.

If done right, it might just kill two birds with one stone.

Just as he was thinking about it, Alvin suddenly saw his personally appointed adjutant, White Mipa Three Wrench V, abbreviated as 'White V', a white cat and cat worm, meowing excitedly.

Excluding the length of the tail, the little guy, who was less than one meter tall, was holding a familiar cracked large flower pot in his hand. The soil inside had obvious dents left by digging.

But after looking carefully, Alvin immediately overturned his first judgment. To be precise, it looked more like something was breaking out of the ground from the inside out.

"Meow-pa, meow-pa, meow-pa, meow-pa!"

White V was obviously too excited and for a moment he even forgot that he had learned Old Norse long ago and that during the time he left the Sandworm King Ruins, he had mastered the Huma language, which is currently used by all countries, through self-study.

It's not clear what exactly happened. This cat-like creature, which was smart enough to master the human-like walking method, was now so anxious that it could only meow.

"What's going on?" As he spoke, Alvin glanced at the flower disk that seemed to have a sense of déjà vu, and then realized what had happened.

"What about Hercules? I remember before I left that it had just...sprouted." At the end of his words, he couldn't help but pause for a moment, thinking for a while before finding a relatively appropriate adjective.

Indeed, after being severely injured, the core seed of Ghost in the Shell Hercules was planted in a flowerpot. After a period of patient watering and loosening of the soil by Catworm White, it finally began to move. However, from the perspective of an onlooker observing the entire process, it didn't resemble insect reproduction at all. Instead, it looked more like cat grass growing in a flowerpot.

Besides, how long had that accident happened? How did it suddenly come out of nowhere (literally)?

Ivan still remembered that the core cocoon looked like an exceptionally clean, diamond-shaped lump, somewhat like a fragment of armor. It was so small that even a small creature like a cat-worm could hold it in its hand, making it difficult to associate it with the powerful swarm of Ghost in the Shell.

"Don't be in a hurry." Ivan held the furry cat's head and tried his best to comfort the panicked 'Sir' White V.

He is obviously an excellent cat who is extremely serious about his work and very smart, otherwise I would not have promoted him to adjutant. But when faced with such a big thing as a friend's disappearance, he still looks so anxious and helpless.

"Try to recall where you put this flower pot before?" Ivan patiently guided White V to recall the memories related to the Hercules Core.

"Hmm--" White raised his two front legs with pink pads and pressed his head down hard. A difficult expression of thinking hard appeared on his furry round face.

"I can't remember, meow. It seems like, as soon as I turned around, it disappeared." White tried to answer in his still somewhat halting Huma language.

"Smell, don't forget, your sense of smell is very..." Ivan was suddenly stunned halfway through his words. Although they look very much like cats, these little guys are actually magical creatures. They have two pairs of auxiliary hands hidden in their furry bellies.

"Yes, Meow! Meow's nose is great!" White immediately became excited and jumped to a height that was twice his own height stacked together.

It seems that some of the personality traits of cats can be directly applied to Catworm. Alvin secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then handed back the cracked flowerpot that White had just handed to him.

Catworm White immediately came over and took a deep breath, which made all the white hair on his body spread out interestingly, just like a long-haired cat that was forced to become fluffy due to excessive static electricity in winter.

It's just that the process of him puffing up only took a short second. Perhaps after the whole process was animated, he would look more like a balloon that was blown up quickly, or a white-haired pufferfish that was extremely frightened for a short period of time. Oh, no, pufferfish don't have hair.

In short, after confirming the residual aura of Hercules on the flowerpot, White's entire body pressed to the ground, looking like a flattened cat cake. However, this cake was able to maintain its rapid movement while being flattened.

This looked a bit scary, and reminded Alvin of some of the huge differences between the north and the south, so much so that his southern counterparts even had black shelled creatures that could fly.

However, the cat bug's sense of smell was obviously better than expected. It explored forward almost non-stop, capturing the faint odor signals entirely through its moist nasal cavity, but it never paused for more than thirty seconds.

Finally, after passing through a series of cabins with different purposes, Ivan and White V found the Hercules core seed that had been missing for up to fifteen minutes in the supply storage cabin near the thick part of the middle section of the Rogilus.

However, the core seed, which originally had only a crack, has now completely changed its appearance.

A large number of roots extended from the other end of the seed, entwining the various food reserves and fresh water in the cabin, and continuously sending the absorbed water and nutrients into a young seedling growing from the crack.

Its high efficiency and rapid growth were both astonishing. Its appearance, however, reminded one of a Fatty who seemed to be growing on a sofa, consuming endless LeO potato chips and large cups of Chili Ice Coke.

"He is going to..." In addition, Alvin also felt the increasingly rich free magic power in the surrounding environment, which was also being absorbed by the diamond-shaped cocoon-shaped core seed.

"Blooming meow!?!" White exclaimed immediately after his words.

At this moment, both Maomao and Ivan saw very clearly that the originally tiny seedling was growing rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, until a spherical flower bud appeared on the top.

Then, the pure white flower bud with a hint of pink gradually bloomed, and the scene that followed caught the eyes of the man and the cat left them dumbfounded.

What emerges from the open flower is a slender and graceful figure...

What the hell is that?! It's clearly a perfectly round, spherical figure! It's a fat rhinoceros beetle!

“…” Alvin.

“…” White V.

Hercules scratched the blackened shell that had just emerged but had not yet completely hardened.

"……grumble?"

Chapter 48: Insect Armor

After consuming half a month's worth of food reserves from the entire ship, this thing grew?

Or is skipping the grub (larva) stage actually good news?

Ivan's eyelids twitched as he looked at the fat beetle in front of him. It was more than 30 centimeters long, dark red in color and had golden patterns. He finally suppressed the urge to take out the insect net.

Indeed, as a man who is always young at heart and still very young, thinking back to childhood, who wouldn't want to catch a big beetle that other kids haven't seen?

You have to know that at that time, if you caught a big grasshopper, you could show off for two days. If you caught a mantis, you would be eager to raise it, not to mention the big creatures like rhinoceros beetles and catalpa insects that were rarely seen in the city.

However, this is not the same as the expected combat capability that can be added to one's own side.

Looking at the youth version of Ghost in the Shell Hercules, which is round from body to limbs, or maybe a baby version, although unlike the long larvae, it has a similar adult structure, but this guy looks like a small animal doll no matter how you look at it, so much so that Alvin couldn't help but hold his forehead with a speechless expression.