Star Forge Titan

Then he saw the dwarf holding a whiskey bottle that had been emptied at some point.

Rolling his eyes, Alvin uttered some very powerful lines speechlessly.

"Yeah, looking down from this height, the people on the ground will become as insignificant as garbage."

"Your speech is like that of a typical villain in some heroic epic!" Even though there was too much alcohol in his head, Thorin couldn't help but make a complaint. Heidi beside him also gave him a surprised look.

"You guessed it right. I was indeed repeating the famous lines of a villain in a children's story." Alvin let go of his hand with emotion and let the aircraft move forward on its own, but in his heart he lamented that most people would not be able to understand the meaning of his words.

I feel a little lonely...

"Poets, you can discuss literary works in your free time. We've arrived now." Heidi suddenly interrupted their idle chat. She held up a crocodile doll with its mouth wide open in front of her. This thing could amplify the sorceress's voice several times.

Not far ahead, in the desert, a low mountain rose upward, not completely buried by the sand. This was a rare feature in the Silent Desert, and could only be seen in the mining areas ruled by the Witch King, Seened.

"Is that Howling Wind Mountain?" Ivan felt that a 'mountain' of this height could only be considered a hill at best?

"This is a quiet desert. Do you think there will be such exaggerated mountains as those in my hometown?" Heidi asked angrily.

The hometown mentioned by the female mage is naturally the northern ice field, which not only has an extremely harsh cold climate, but also has the highest and longest mountain range in the world of Palladio - the strong terrain, the Akkad Mountains.

"Wait for the Rogilus to come over? Or should we go and take a look first?" Ivan asked after coming to his senses.

"I suggest landing first." Thorin's seemingly calm voice came from under the aircraft, but his shaking short legs told it all.

There has to be a limit to collapse therapy. Alvin and Heidi exchanged glances silently, then nodded to each other.

So, the three of them landed in an open area on top of Howling Wind Mountain.

Little did they know that this scene was being watched from afar by another pair of eyes.

Chapter 17: Treasure Hunting Tips

"Thorin, if you say we encounter enemies at the treasure hiding place, won't you be able to stand at all since you are so afraid of heights?" Before landing, Alvin suddenly asked a soul-searching question.

"What a joke! Even if we're friends, I won't allow you to underestimate the courage and honor of a dwarf warrior." Thorin shouted excitedly:

"Okay, then I think you can try 'one last scare' to end the first phase of treatment." Ivan smiled and gave a 'cruel' suggestion that was completely inconsistent with his expression.

"...What is that?" Thorin instinctively felt that something was wrong, but he had just boasted so much that it was too embarrassing for a young dwarf to retreat immediately.

What's more, he just drank a whole bottle of whiskey. The alcohol accelerated the blood circulation and made the brain more excited than usual. Although it was not good for the body, it also made Thorin enter the most "brave" state of courage made by alcohol. It can be said that he was braver than ever.

"In short, it is a kind of training that will be of great benefit to your illness. Explaining it in too much detail will affect the efficacy." Ivan's smile remained unchanged, but the gradually rising sun cast a faint shadow on the handsome and sunny face of the black-haired boy.

Heidi next to her seemed to realize something and slowly raised the big-mouthed crocodile doll in her hand to cover the smile that was about to appear on her face.

On the other side, perhaps due to the effect of alcohol or excessive self-esteem, Thorin's face flushed red as he gritted his teeth and made a decision that made him regret and feel extremely fortunate for the next few hours.

"Come... come! Dwarf warriors are not afraid of any challenge!"

"Okay, that's what you said. Pay attention to how you land and get your feet back." Ivan said this in a normal tone, which made Thorin's face change drastically.

"Wait! Are you going to! Oh, my friend you can't do this! Damn it, you northerner, you can't do this! Tall man! Tall man! Don't! Don't ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!"

Ivan, who had turned a deaf ear to the dwarf, completed the "bomb" with one click amid the dwarf's curses.

Accompanied by screams with a strong Doppler effect, the sturdy dwarf bullet covered with a layer of full-body plate armor fell in a straight line. He fell all the way until he crashed into the center of the open space on the top of the mountain, raising a cloud of dust that was visible to the naked eye from more than ten meters away.

"What? I'm pretty accurate at shooting. My experience playing War Thunder isn't that incompatible with Paladin." Ivan said in a relaxed tone.

To be honest, this height of just over ten meters is nothing for a fully armed transcendent. He can land unscathed without even needing to perform a cushioning maneuver.

But for a dwarf who suffers from dwarf-specific complex fear of heights, this is torture like throwing a person with hay fever into a flower greenhouse, real torture, no quotation marks.

After Thorin landed silently, Alvin also landed his powered hang glider on a flatter area nearby.

After the lowered landing gear touches the ground, under the remote control of the pilot, two 30-centimeter-long steel nails in the front and back, a total of four, are driven into the ground one by one to fix it. Then the wings of the glider automatically fold upwards and rise, like two thin sails hanging high.

Jumping off the powered hang glider, which originally looked like a manta ray and looked like a small single-person sailboat when parked, Alvin noticed that the dwarf still didn't make any sound when he crashed into the ground, which made him feel something was wrong.

Is it true that collapse therapy is overdose?

With a little nervousness, Alvin took two steps at a time and came to the vicinity of the dwarf bomb crater.

Thorin's eyes widened, and he lay sprawled at the bottom of the pit, mumbling something. As Ivan took two steps closer, he finally understood what he was saying.

"The sky, the sky is so blue..."

Did he fall and become stupid? Ivan was stunned for a moment, and then saw Thorin suddenly sit up, and then walked past him without saying a word, straight to the edge of the clearing on the top of the mountain.

Looking down at the foot of the mountain, the stiff expression on the dwarf's face gradually relaxed, his cheeks twitched slightly, and he revealed a very forced smile.

"It's...it's quite useful. This...this is the bravery of a dwarf warrior!"

It would certainly make this statement more convincing if your feet weren't trembling like a newborn deer.

Ivan resisted the urge to complain, but nodded sincerely, then began to loudly praise the dwarf warrior's courage, and Thorin's legs stopped shaking after hearing it.

Heidi, who also landed smoothly next to him, couldn't help rolling her eyes, and sighed in her heart that there is indeed a little boy who has not grown up in every man's heart, always playing hide-and-seek adventure.

"What should we do next? Can you determine the exact location of the treasure?" Heidi coughed lightly, indicating to the other two guys that they were not out for a picnic this time, but had serious things to do.

"No problem. Thorin Armitage, who has overcome his fear of the sky and heights, can definitely recall it..." As he spoke, the young dwarf warrior and bard's face suddenly turned pale.

"What's wrong?" Alvin asked while being alert, but he still didn't feel any threat around him.

"I, I remember now." Thorin stammered, pointing to a protruding rock on the east side of the mountaintop platform.

"That old bastard kicked me down from here ten times! Damn it, I was only fifteen years old at that time, still a child!" The dwarf made a gritting sound, and at the same time seemed a little melancholy and nostalgic.

"In other words, the treasure is most likely hidden on this cliff?" Alvin walked to the edge of the clearing and looked at the hillside below with a scrutinizing look.

This is a very steep hillside, which fully matches the cliff described on the treasure map, but there is no trace of artificial excavation on the entire hillside. It is as if no one has been to an uninhabited area for more than ten years, presenting a pure natural landscape.

If it was someone else who left the treasure map, Alvin would probably doubt whether they really left the treasure here. But when he thought about the fact that it was a dwarf who left the treasure map, he felt that this appearance of nothingness was normal.

With the dwarves' exquisite excavation skills, they could certainly have concealed the cave leading to the treasure. Furthermore, since no one had been here for many years, the few traces left behind were likely obscured by naturally occurring vegetation, wind, and sun.

However, this disguise might be able to stop others, but Alvin has a special trick to find the entrance. This is one of the thousands of adventure and exploration tips that many advanced players in the virtual Palladia world have redeveloped after their strength has increased.

"Step back a little." Alvin clenched his fists and began to warm up his hands and feet on the spot.

"..." The dwarf and the female wizard looked at each other. After working together for a period of time, they had begun to become familiar with the style of the black-haired boy in front of them.

He said that everyone should step back, so he must be doing something big.

They both retreated a dozen feet away, and then they saw Ivan bend his knees and raise his legs. Magical power surged rapidly within his tall body, and his muscles contracted and expanded at the same time...

Ivan stomped his foot hard on the ground, and before his boots touched the ground, the air exploded into a circular air wave. The dust was blown up directly by the air wave, followed by countless stones that bounced up.

After a brief moment, when the black-haired boy's right foot actually landed on the ground, it was not just the knuckle-sized stones that bounced up, but all kinds of large rocks also began to bounce violently.

The earth even cracked into a clearly visible crack, a crack that spread rapidly from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain.

What is the power of stepping into the realm of perfection?

This is the power of stepping into the realm of perfection!

The power to change the terrain with just a gesture!

Chapter 18: Memory Chest

The mountains are shaking and the ground is cracking.

Ivan's increasingly proficient use of the force string, combined with his already superior strength to that of other transcendents of the same level, revealed an exaggerated performance where even ordinary movements could shake mountains.

Well, although this mountain is relatively small, at best it is probably closer to a hill.

Even so, the peeper in the distance was stunned and almost dropped the precious spyglass with the Eagle Eye function in his hand to the ground.

He gritted his teeth and waved his hand vigorously. Immediately, the originally calm sand around him began to tremble, and more than a hundred low sand dunes quickly rose up.

Soon, these sand dunes were destroyed from the inside by dark shadows. The flowing sand rolled down along their bodies of varying heights, accompanied by a light "rustling" sound like rain, and merged with each other like flowing springs.

On the other side, Alvin nimbly jumped to the side and focused his attention, listening to the sounds of cracking rocks and splashing soil.

Not long after, his eyebrows raised, as if he had caught some expected sound, and then he jumped directly from the top of the mountain. Gravity dragged the tall and slender figure of the black-haired boy down, and he fell quickly like an eagle swooping down on its prey.

After flying straight down thirty meters, Alvin suddenly reached out and grabbed the rock wall beside him.

The body has been strengthened many times, and every corner is as strong as steel that has been tempered a thousand times, including the fingers which are originally fragile.

Coupled with the "force string control" that was almost memorized by his muscles, this risky action that would have pushed Ivan outward not only did not bounce him away from the mountain wall, but was instead transformed into another force that allowed him to hold on to the mountain tightly.

The black-haired boy's outstretched fingers, like five fine steel daggers forged from steel, effortlessly sank deep into the mountain wall. Gravel flew, carving a long gully downwards, which then fully halted Ivan's descent.

Looking at the crack in the mountain, the empty area that was completely different from the surrounding area, the black-haired boy couldn't help but smile with joy on his face.

"Found it, come down." He shouted to the two people who were still on the top of the mountain:

Heidi waved her hand, causing the bull doll that she had not retracted just now to start inhaling and expanding again, and then floated away from the ground little by little.

The dwarf on the other side began to sweat on his forehead. Big drops of cold sweat kept flowing down his cheeks. He looked very nervous.

"Do you need help?" Heidi stroked her forehead. As a mature woman, she naturally would not help her friends overcome their shortcomings as directly as Alvin did. Instead, she knew when to save face for others.

"Thank you very much!" Thorin wiped the sweat off his forehead and expressed his gratitude in a low but sincere voice.

"It's just a small matter." Heidi waved her hand to indicate that it was nothing.

With the help of the inflated bull-shaped beast-fiber war doll, the two also reached the height of the mountain wall where Alvin was.

"See that passage inside? That should lead to the treasure trove." Alvin kicked the mountain wall and used the force to jump onto the shoulder of the Blade Beast Slim War Doll.

Due to its living metal skeleton, the Titan's bloodline weighs much heavier than its body size appears, and the bull doll was forced to take several breaths before floating to the previous height.

Heidi glared at Ivan unhappily, then controlled the Bull Doll to move along the crack toward the passage. Since it was essentially a doll, the Beast Fiber Doll could change its size to a certain extent.

Therefore, the narrow gap did not cause it much trouble, and it soon brought the three people to the vicinity of the passage that showed no signs of collapse.

"Aren't you afraid that the treasure hiding place will also be caught up in the aftermath of the terrain change?" Heidi asked seriously.

"Don't worry, that's an underground structure built by the dwarves. It can't be destroyed so easily." Recalling some things, Alvin said this in a rather emotional tone, which attracted a surprised look from the female mage.

"That's right. Although the old bastard is an alcoholic, he is still a real dwarf after all." Thorin nodded in affirmation.

The three of them chatted casually while jumping off the cow-shaped animal-fiber war dolls.

Fallen rubble could still be seen within the passage, but the overall structure remained intact and appeared remarkably stable. This fully confirmed Ivan's judgment and demonstrated the dwarves' true skill in architecture, especially underground architecture.

Even a decadent dwarf who has been drinking heavily for many years can carve out a very stable hidden building inside the mountain.

"The trap has been triggered. Was this within your expectations?" Noticing the arrows scattered in the passage and the spears sticking out of the ground, Thorin couldn't help but look at Ivan in surprise.

"Well, how could a treasure trove like this not have traps? But at the same time, there probably won't be any guards here, and the automatically triggered traps can most likely be triggered in advance by shaking the terrain." The black-haired boy shrugged.

"This is just a risky little trick, and it's quite useful."

Ordinary people, or even most low-level transcendents, wouldn't be able to make the terrain vibrate...

Thorin took a deep breath and swallowed back the roar that almost burst out of his lungs. He didn't want to let this hateful Northern boy get any more proud, even though the latter actually didn't seem to care about it. Instead, he had a kind of relaxed and carefree attitude.

"Oh, facing away from the arrow trap, a very standard dwarf dungeon door-opening kill, and this triggered staggered strangulation spear array, really makes me miss it." Pulling out the sturdy spear from the trap mechanism casually, Ivan looked at Heidi and Thorin with a smile on his face.

Looking at the pure steel spear that was squeezed and deformed in the hands of the black-haired boy, the female wizard and the dwarf twitched their cheeks at the same time, and seemed to have the same complaints about to burst out in their hearts.

"Be careful, there may be traps that haven't been triggered yet." Thorin frowned and warned:

"Yeah, I see." Alvin said as he stretched out a foot and stepped lightly on a brick that looked normal.

The next second, several spears shot past him. The blue tips were clearly coated in some dangerous and highly toxic agent. Most likely, they were alchemical poisons made from metal; ordinary biological poisons didn't have such a long shelf life.

"Another spear trap? No way! The maker is a wizard king after all, how could they all be purely mechanical traps?" Alvin muttered in surprise.

Hearing his sigh, Thorin's expression suddenly froze. He sighed and said hesitantly:

"...When I was little, I drove away three magic teachers in a row. Maybe this is why?"

Hearing this, Alvin and Heidi couldn't help but look at the expressionless dwarf, whose cheeks began to turn red at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if he had drunk another whole bottle of whiskey.

So this is indeed the treasure that the Witch King Seened left for his nominal nephew? Otherwise, he wouldn't have considered his nephew's poor magical knowledge and only laid purely mechanical traps in the passage.

There were no accidents on the rest of the journey. Alvin skillfully triggered several mechanisms, and Thorin, who had come to his senses, also helped to crack the remaining dwarf-style secret mechanisms.

In this way, the three of them arrived at the real treasure room at the end of the passage very smoothly.

This is a very ordinary square stone chamber. Apart from a few metal rods with lighting magic attached, there is a bronze box placed in the center of the room.

The Dwarven smelting technology was excellent, but it couldn't withstand the erosion of time. Due to the passage of several years, the box, which should have been golden, was now covered with a layer of green copper rust.

The keyhole was completely rusted shut, and even with a key, it couldn't be opened. It would probably require brute force. Then, Alvin saw a plain-looking, crudely crafted hand axe lying next to the box.

Although the hand axe was placed in a very exquisite glass-sealed box, it did not look like it was made by a skilled dwarf craftsman.