Chapter 504

Chapter 504

The dwarves have mobilized their entire clan with full force to produce the materials needed for Blue Star's fortresses.

Countless volcanic craters are spewing flames day and night.

The high-temperature flames, capable of instantly vaporizing the hardest metals, continuously melt the expensive materials, which then solidify under the dwarves' hammers.

In this regard, Blue Star did not form any additional cooperation with the dwarves.

Building a single entrance to the Lopulo Mountains inherently requires the united efforts of all races. From the start, building the mountain fortresses was not solely Blue Star's responsibility.

If Lorant hadn't used Manny's connections to strike a deal with the goblins, the Watcher Council would have recommended appropriate fortress builders to Blue Star, ensuring they did not act recklessly.

Perhaps the fortress wouldn't have been built exactly to Lorant's taste, but it would have been sufficiently secure.

After all, the sole practical purpose of the Lopulo Mountains is to block the invasion of countless frenzied beasts from outside the mountains into the civilized world.

From this point of view, the goblins and dwarves helping Blue Star also helps themselves.

The principle that "when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact" is clear to everyone.

If any Lopulo Mountain pass is breached, the whole world will suffer. This is why Lorant often relaxes some requirements and increases quotas when selling beast companions at Blue Star's passes.

"How's the fortress construction coming along?" Lorant stood at the tunnel entrance, turning to look at the distant camp and the faintly visible massive steel fortress behind him, suddenly showing interest in the matter.

Clayley's legion is in charge of reconnaissance and information gathering, essentially acting as Blue Star's eyes on the outside.

Before joining Blue Star, he managed a small intelligence organization, a minor leader who later joined Blue Star during their recruitment phase.

Here, he not only investigates and reports on the dimensional hole beasts inside the tunnel, but Lorant also requires him to be involved in all ongoing information within Blue Star.

Clayley is the only legion commander in Blue Star who frequently needs to communicate directly with Lorant.

To make a comparison, Clayley's legion is somewhat like the emperor's direct intelligence department in the past, established solely to gather various information and intelligence for Lorant to aid his decision-making.

Even when advancing on the Black Forest front, the Thunder Bat Legion did not hold a position alone like other legions. They drifted like invisible shadows, silently gathering intelligence, enabling Lorant to grasp everything from thousands of miles away.

Areas that Silem might not have considered, the intelligence team would help fill the gaps. They even secretly recorded Silem's actions and decisions, acting as overseers.

Although Lorant didn't want these people to monitor Silem's every move, the necessary training had to be done so they could be useful when needed.

Lorant, of course, does not fully trust Clayley and his team. With Fa Meng around, if they were to harbor disloyal thoughts, Lorant would know immediately.

Clayley glanced sideways at the steel fortress surrounded by busy goblins and confidently replied, "The construction of the tunnel fortress is progressing smoothly. The goblins have taken your provided blueprints and desired outcomes very seriously. Mr. Qiao recently coordinated with the goblin chieftain, and our project is also under simultaneous construction within the goblin community, so these guys are quite diligent here."

"Compared to the goblins I've encountered before, they are incredibly dedicated."

Clayley's words carried an implied meaning.

The goblins are a relatively lazy and cunning race compared to others.

Or rather, they are a race that appears lazy on the outside but is exceptionally shrewd. Anyone who has collaborated with goblins knows how troublesome they can be.

Cutting corners, delaying deadlines, mixing materials, price gouging... every unscrupulous act you can think of, and even those you can't, these guys can perform without batting an eye.

Being two-faced is the norm for goblins.

The goblins will try to gain benefits, whether theirs or not, in every conceivable or inconceivable way.

They would stop at nothing, shameless...

This is also the main reason why the orcs have a poor reputation outside.

When Joe was cooperating with the orcs, he was already mentally prepared. It was nearly impossible to expect the orcs to work seriously out of mutual goodwill.

For these guys, only profit matters, so Joe had the Blue Star Pet Shop's project with the orcs begin simultaneously with the construction of the mountain pass fortress.

If the orcs caused any trouble, Blue Star could immediately take countermeasures.

In this matter, Lorant believed that the butler's most correct and outstanding move was to appoint an orc supervisor for the construction of the farm and pasture within the orc territory.

When faced with enough monetary incentive, the orcs can exert more than double their usual effort.

Even when dealing with their own kind, they can unhesitatingly adopt a very troublesome attitude.

In fact, in some ways, when dealing with their own kind, the orcs can even perform several times better than usual.

With such a person in charge, it has caused the orcs a lot of headaches.

To ensure the smooth progress of the farm and pasture project without being hindered by Blue Star, the orcs had to repeatedly instruct their craftsmen to work diligently and even sent supervisors to ensure everything went smoothly.

Simply put, if the orcs on Blue Star's side slacked off today, the farm and pasture construction project inside the orc territory might declare a strike tomorrow.

This is something all orcs can clearly anticipate.

After all, they know their own kind's behavior best; strikes and such are too common and can easily happen.

If things really got serious, even worse situations than strikes could definitely arise.

Those guys could do anything without surprising the orcs, and even the already constructed farm and pasture infrastructure could be completely dismantled overnight by these unscrupulous individuals...

Because of this, all the orc craftsmen on the Black Forest front were forced to summon almost all of their professional spirit.

Their selfless work ethic almost made people forget their race, thinking they were a group of dedicated orc craftsmen.

Lorant looked at the arched steel structure from afar. Although curious, he didn't impulsively head over there.

Fa Meng's temporary domain had already firmly encompassed the camp here.

Everything that happened here was within Lorant's sight.

To understand the construction status of the fortress, he just needed to have the little fat dragon build a castle model, and everything would become clear.

"Good, continue to monitor the situation there. The tunnel clearing might seem a bit stagnant now, but once it gets on track, everything will wrap up quickly."

"By then, what we need is for this steel fortress to be the first to take action." Lorant glanced at the fortress he had once sketched on paper, now being built bit by bit, his eyes filled with eagerness: "If possible, it's best to speed up their work to avoid the fortress not being ready when the clearing is done."

"After all, clearing the tunnel is no simple task. If we can't position the fortress correctly this time, it might be many years before we can clear the tunnel again and move the fortress."

After personally witnessing the frontline mountain pass fortress move forward and the scene of clearing the entire mountain pass, Lorant revised some of his initial ideas about his Blue Star fortress.

He once thought that moving the fortress would be as easy as a train, even something that could be used routinely.

But now it seems, this is completely impossible.

However, Lorant believes his fortress also has advantages that other mountain passes do not.

First, because the mountain passes are quite narrow, they are easier to defend compared to other Lopulo mountain passes. But from another perspective, it's also difficult to bring in a large number of professionals at once to forcefully clear the mountain pass and push the front line, like in Pokara.

In such narrow places, only a small number of combatants are needed to block the cave entrance, but the skill level of the specialists needed to push back the beast tide must be significantly higher.

Unlike One-Line Sky, Blue Star doesn’t have an open gap above, so the movement speed and stability of the fortress will be better—a fact the goblins have already confirmed.

However, once the fortress is set down, it becomes difficult to move again.

Therefore, Lorant plans to take this chance to move the fortress as far into the tunnel as possible, placing it in the optimal position at once.

Otherwise, it is uncertain when the fortress will be activated next.

Of course, the suitable position is not necessarily the deeper, the better.

If desired, Lorant could completely have Fa Meng or Xiao Lan clear the entire tunnel.

Then quickly block the other end of the tunnel with his fortress, like a cork tightly sealing the hole in the Lopulo Mountains.

But doing so would completely negate the unique defensive terrain advantage of the Blue Star tunnel.

The beast tide is not only a threat but also a resource. Blue Star’s initial investment in developing this cave depends on recouping costs through the beast tide later on.

Lorant's current plan is to place the fortress one-third of the way along the tunnel near the human territory, leaving enough distance to guard against potential threats while also leaving sufficient space in front of the fortress for hunting.