Knight Lord: Start with Daily Intelligence.

Chapter 473 The Amethyst Ironclad Army Training Manual and the Legendary Warhammer - Engineer's Hammer
With Morkana's complete surrender, her last vestige of connection to this illusion was severed. Like a structure losing its most crucial support, Gorenson Anvil's legendary illusion, which had already begun to crumble, finally reached its end.

His massive, mobile fortress-like body became even more transparent, its edges beginning to uncontrollably dissipate into the purest primal magical particles. The terrifying phantom of the war machine let out a mournful, twisting metallic wail before crumbling into a shimmering cloud of energy dust.

Gorenson looked down at his dissipating iron gauntlet, covered in heavy adamantite plate armor, his movements still carrying the calm of an engineer inspecting a malfunctioning instrument.

“The energy structure is completely unstable… the core rune sequence has collapsed…” His deep voice rang out, without anger, without fear, and not even with Agrim’s sorrow, but only with an almost cruel, precise assessment of his own condition. “As expected… the 'fuel' to sustain my existence has run out. This clumsy trick is finally over.”

He raised his eyes, which burned with the cold flame of wisdom, and looked through the gradually thinning figure at Su Li, as if he could see through the imprisonment of ten thousand years.

“There’s no need to feel sorry, junior.” His voice had a metallic quality, yet it was unusually calm. “Grenson Anvil died ten thousand years ago. What remains here is nothing more than a distorted and solidified echo, twisted and solidified by elven magic and his own obsession, a malfunctioning projection stuck in a time rift.”

He paused, seemingly performing a final logical check.

“To recognize one’s own ‘mistake’ and, before it completely dissipates, to transform that erroneous data… into a valuable ‘result’—that aligns with the code of conduct of a runesmith.” His gaze swept over Morkana, who stood to the side, as if he were assessing a finished work. “This ‘masterpiece,’ and… this one.”

His figure, which had dissipated into his chest, suddenly regained its last bit of clarity, raising his almost completely transparent hand and pointing to his feet. The outline of a thick book, seemingly composed of dark metal and some kind of amethyst energy veins, slowly solidified at the spot he pointed to, its cover covered with complex and cold dwarven runes and unprecedented energy channeling designs.

“The Amethyst Ironclad Army Training Manual…” Gorenson’s voice grew increasingly ethereal, as if coming from the far reaches of the earth. “Being trapped in this place for ten thousand years… we have to find something to do. Those pointy-eared illusionary junk may be clumsy, but the death winds that have accumulated in this area… are a real ‘resource’.”

“I’ve improved the Silver Ironclad Army’s steam core and rune rifle design…abandoning the tedious process of requiring dwarven rune masters to personally enchant them…instead, I’m directly utilizing highly condensed death winds…to create ammunition with greater corrosiveness and penetrating power.” His words became extremely rapid, as if he were giving a final technical handover. “Theory…models…training methods…all recorded.”

His figure had faded so much that his outline was almost indistinguishable, with only his eyes, burning with the flames of wisdom, remaining clear for a moment before settling on Morkana.

“The key… lies in her. Her dragon breath… her essence… is the core of catalyzing the winds of death, stabilizing energy munitions… the ‘living furnace.’” His voice weakened, yet carried the certainty of final verification. “So… theoretically… as long as a Crimson Dragon exists… any race… can train this army… it’s… the last bit of… waste utilization for this old man…”

The heavy training manual, "The Amethyst Ironclad Army," solidified completely, landing with a soft "thud" on the scorched earth, the amethyst veins on the cover shimmering slightly.

Gorenson Anvil's final figure vanished like wisps of smoke scattered by the wind. No burst of light, no shower of essence, only a final, metallic, calm echo, fading completely into the wind:
"Troubleshooting... Project terminated... Gorenson Anvil... offline."

Left behind, only the heavy book, which contained all the cold wisdom and transformative thoughts he had accumulated during his ten thousand years of imprisonment, lay there quietly, waiting for someone who could use it.

Su Li stepped forward, the scorched earth cracking silently beneath his feet. He bent down and picked up the heavy metal tome. The book was extremely heavy, and beneath its cold touch, energy seemed to flow slowly within its amethyst veins.

He didn't look through it carefully, but his sharp gaze swept over the cold and complex runes and flow diagrams on the cover. Then he quickly flipped through a few more pages and what came into view were extremely rigorous dwarven engineering blueprints, energy matrix analysis, and a completely unfamiliar training program that exuded an aura of death.

In just a moment, a hint of undisguised surprise flashed across his eyes, which then turned into unparalleled fervor.

This is not an improvement at all; it's almost a subversion!
He closed the book, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force. In his mind, he had clearly sketched out the terrifying military unit known as the "Amethyst Ironclad Army"—

They are equipped with specially modified rifles featuring a death wind gathering device, eliminating the need for time-consuming individual enchantments by dwarven runesmiths. The ammunition is not solid metal, but rather highly compressed and condensed amethyst ammunition formed from death winds either released from the battlefield or pre-stored by Morkana's dragon breath.

This ammunition not only possesses terrifying impact, but it can also erode and disintegrate most magical and physical defenses, and inflict a terrible withering effect on living beings.

What's even more unsettling is its tactical characteristics:
[Mobile Shooting]: Soldiers and weapon systems achieve a symbiotic connection through amethyst energy, greatly simplifying or even omitting the reloading process, allowing them to maintain uninterrupted and fierce firepower while moving at high speed, like a moving storm of death.

[Armor-Piercing Projectile]: Amethyst ammunition has an inherently extreme penetrating and corrosive effect on energy barriers and heavy armor, and is specially designed to tear apart the most solid lines and the most difficult heavily armored targets.

【Rapid Fire】: Abandoning the constraints of traditional gunpowder, relying on energy convergence and compression, the rate of fire far exceeds any known dwarven firearm or human handgun, capable of unleashing a devastating barrage in an extremely short time.

This is a killing legion that uses death itself as a weapon and dragons as living ammunition factories. Its emergence will completely change the Blacksene army's long-range strike mode; its destructive power, sustainability, and adaptability far surpass any of his existing long-range units.

Su Li raised his head, his gaze sweeping over Morkana, who stood quietly to the side. Her burning crimson eyes were also looking back at him, containing the arrogance of a dragon and scrutiny of her new identity.

“A manual… enough to make every kingdom beyond these mountains tremble.” Su Li’s voice was deep, carrying a hint of cold satisfaction after discovering a true treasure. “Master Gorenson… even ten thousand years after your death, your creation remains awe-inspiring.”

He gripped the incredibly heavy "Amethyst Ironclad Army Training Manual" tightly in his hands. It was more than just a legacy; it was a key—a key that could unlock a nightmarish army. And now, that key, along with the "living furnace" necessary to catalyze this army, was in his grasp.

Su Li took a deep breath and carefully put away the metal tome containing terrifying power. The suffocating death energy in the air had largely dissipated with the complete severing of the connection between Gorenson and Morkana, but the scorched earth was still permeated with the sorrow and nothingness of ten thousand years of war.

“Clean up the battlefield and collect all valuable remains.” Su Li’s voice broke the silence, cold and hard as iron. “Then return to the end of the last path…and find Master Gorenson’s remains.”

The chosen knights sprang into action, beginning a meticulous search of the massive crater. Ariria's fingertips danced with emerald light as she sensed the lingering energy fluctuations beneath the earth. Morkana, meanwhile, stood silently, her burning crimson eyes indifferently surveying the scene, as if it were none of her concern.

The search didn't last long. After quickly collecting their spoils, the group returned to the end of the last path.

Here, the disguise could no longer be maintained, revealing a distorted truth. The air was thick with the smell of ozone and molten metal, mixed with a deeper, oppressive pressure—the forceful restraint of the deathly wind. The ground was no longer mud or scorched earth, but vast expanses of smooth, mirror-like vitrified surfaces, as if instantly melted by extreme heat and then cooled. Broken, unnaturally formed metal fragments and fractured crystal clusters shimmering with unstable energy were everywhere, piercing the ground or hovering in mid-air at angles that defied the laws of physics, forming a cold and dangerous steel jungle.

The sense of space here is extremely unstable, sometimes cramped and oppressive, sometimes unusually spacious, as if the entire area has been distorted by some powerful force. Occasionally, a silent arc of purplish-black electricity will burst in the air, or several fragmented phantoms of dwarven engineers will appear out of thin air, constantly repeating a certain forging or adjustment action, and then flicker and disappear as if there is a bad signal.

"Watch your step, avoid those energy fissures," Arielia warned, her senses severely impaired here, the chaotic energy flows causing her delicate brows to furrow. "The energy structure here... has been violently altered, like a blueprint that has been painted over beyond recognition, full of contradictions and... a tendency toward self-destruction."

The deeper they went, the stronger the feeling of being forcibly restrained and on the verge of collapse became. Finally, in the most chaotic core area, which looked as if it had just experienced a violent explosion, they saw their target.

The remains of Gorenson Anvil.

It wasn't a complete body, not even a complete arm. It was a right hand—a thick, adamantite gauntlet covered in intricate runes and amplification crystal interfaces, along with a small section of forearm. The gauntlet was unusually large, and the amplification crystals at the knuckles were an ominous, overcharged dark purple, with viscous liquid energy seemingly writhing slowly within them. The bones and muscles at the broken end of the arm exhibited a terrifying crystallization, like a purplish-black, low-quality glass, constantly radiating tiny, space-distorting energy ripples.

It wasn't bound by vines or magic, but rather... "nailed" there.

Seven or eight thick, dark purple energy prisms, highly compressed and condensed from pure death winds, pierced through the arm from different angles like spears of judgment, pinning it firmly to a huge, semi-molten black metal anvil! Those energy prisms seemed to pulsate slightly as if they were alive, constantly injecting violent death energy into the arm while simultaneously holding it firmly in place.

However, the energy infusion over ten thousand years and the extremely chaotic force field of this place caused the most terrible distortion to occur in this arm, which represents the highest level of dwarven engineering!

The runes on the iron gauntlet no longer flickered steadily, but instead flashed wildly and erratically, projecting chaotic light and shadow and distorted fragments of dwarven language. The dark purple amplification crystals at the knuckles occasionally burst into small, dangerous bolts of lightning, lashing the air. Most chillingly, the fingers of the iron gauntlet were bending, straightening, opening, and closing on their own with a slow, determined, and eerie rhythm, as if stubbornly attempting some unfinished adjustment or forging process! Each movement caused subtle distortions in the surrounding space and a piercing metallic scraping sound.

As Su Li and the others approached, the nailed arm suddenly trembled!
All the runes instantly erupted with a blinding purplish-black light! A mixture of the engineer's cold computing power, the obsession accumulated over millennia of solitude, the pollution of death energy, and some kind of... madness that was trying to fix all the mistakes but only caused greater chaos, crashed into everyone's consciousness like a tsunami!

"Error... Parameters... Calibration failed... Energy overload... Reboot... Must... Complete..." Fragments of thought, cold and broken, with a strong metallic friction, crashed directly into everyone's minds!

The death energy prism that pierced it trembled violently from the impact of this violent intent, flashing wildly! The iron gauntlet suddenly spread its five fingers, and a complex energy gathering rune in the palm suddenly lit up, frantically drawing in the chaotic energy around it and condensing it into an extremely unstable energy sphere that flickered with dangerous purple light, aimed at Su Li, who was at the head!

"Warning! It can still attack!" Orstein roared, and holy light shone on his warhammer.

“The Hammer of the Ancestral Ones…” Gerson Grayrock stared at the arm that was frantically calculating, trying to repair itself but only creating more chaos. His face was filled with the immense pain and anger of an engineer seeing his perfect creation desecrated in this way. “Master Gorenson… his wisdom… has been twisted into this… this nightmare!”

"It's trapped in its last obsession and the endless cycle of this distorted force field!" Hilde raised her shield to protect Su Li's side. "This cycle must be broken!"

"Suppress the energy source! Destroy the death prisms that sustain it! Purify the contamination!" Su Li gave the order without hesitation, and the light of "Kadrin's Calamity Flame" shone brightly on the crazed arm and the death prisms! "Beware of its counterattack! Morkana, can you absorb or interfere with that death energy?"

Morkana's burning eyes swept over the death prisms, a faint, indifferent smile curving her lips: "Same origin, but... less efficient and cruder." She raised her hand, palm facing the energy prisms, and a pure and domineering suction force was generated. The death energy flowing towards her arm immediately became chaotic, and some of it was even forcibly pulled away and devoured by her.

The battle has broken out again!

Upon receiving the order, the chosen knights immediately sprang into action. Orstein and Hilder stood at the forefront, blocking the chaotic yet powerful purplish-black energy rays and occasional bursts of lightning emanating from the arm. The other knights focused their attacks on the death energy prisms, their sacred weapons and energy slamming into them, creating bursts of purplish-black energy sparks.

Durmst's death sentence transformed into a storm, focusing its attack on the arm itself, attempting to annihilate the madness and corruption that was constantly growing within it. Dietrich's life light struggled to penetrate, trying to soothe the wounds at the crystallized fracture and calm the cold, tormented engineer's soul within.

Gerson and his dwarf engineers attempted to use runic tools to disrupt the out-of-control rune sequences on his arms, but this was extremely dangerous, and dwarves were frequently injured by the out-of-control energy bursts.

Su Li focused the power of "Kardrin's Calamity Fire," and the crimson-gold divine radiance, like a furnace fire, scorched the death prisms and arms themselves, forcibly purifying the death energy and suppressing its activity.

Morkana's presence played a crucial role; she acted like a highly efficient pump, constantly drawing energy from the Death Prism and greatly reducing the pressure on everyone.

This was a far more difficult and bizarre battle. The opponent was not a berserk war spirit, but a mad engineer's creation trapped in a logical loop, constantly self-destructing and attempting to rebuild. Its attacks were unpredictable, sometimes coldly calculating, sometimes erupting in a frenzy.

It took much longer than before. After Morkana had drained three Death Prisms and the remaining prisms had been shattered one by one by the Chosen Knights, the wildly moving arm finally began to slow down. The light of the runes dimmed and became chaotic, and the movements of its fingertips became stiff and sluggish. Finally, with the shattering of the last Death Prism, it twitched violently, and the energy sphere gathered in its palm silently dissipated, completely losing all power, and hung limply on the cold metal anvil.

The crystallized fractures no longer emitted energy ripples, but instead presented a deathly purplish-black color.

Su Li stepped forward and solemnly wrapped the right hand that belonged to Gorenson Anvil with a shroud once again.

Beneath the ruins, where the arm had been removed and the metal anvil had shattered, lay a warhammer, along with a mountain of dwarven Oathgold.

This warhammer has a very unique design. Rather than a battlefield weapon, it is more like a combination of a precision engineering tool and a destructive weapon. Its hammerhead is not a traditional square or spherical shape, but rather has a smooth, flat anvil surface on one side that gleams with calibration runes, and a wedge-shaped ramming head covered with sharp armor-piercing ridges and micro energy channels on the other side.

The hammer handle is crafted from a dark, extremely dense metal, with an insulating and non-slip material wrapped around the grip and inlaid with several small crystal connectors, seemingly for connecting to an external power source or for adjusting tools. The entire warhammer has a cold, hard line, full of the utilitarian aesthetics unique to dwarven craftsmen, and flows with a restrained, dark red aura, like that of a dormant volcano, containing a steady and immense power.

“This is…” Gerson Grayrock’s voice trembled again with excitement. He almost lunged forward, but stopped abruptly before touching it, as if facing a sacred object. “The Engineer’s Hammer! Master Gorenson’s legendary warhammer! It… it actually survived!”

He examined the incredibly fine runes and interfaces on the hammerhead with utmost care, his eyes filled with unparalleled fervor and awe.

“My lord,” Gerson turned to Su Li, his voice utterly solemn, “this warhammer… it is not merely a weapon, but an extension of Master Gorenson’s wisdom and skill! On the battlefield, it can unleash terrifying power capable of shattering fortresses, but its true value goes far beyond that!”

Gerson's fingers lightly traced the crystal interface on the hammer handle and the smooth anvil surface of the hammerhead.

"Look at the layout of these interfaces and runes! It can perfectly connect to the energy core and rune array of large war machines! When forging or repairing war machine fortifications, organ cannons, or even... even the rotor core of the legendary helicopter armor, the holder can use it to inject their own power and will more precisely and efficiently into the depths of the engineering structure, guide the flow of energy, strengthen the rune imprint, and make up for minor flaws and errors!"

His breathing quickened: "This means that when using this warhammer to forge or maintain large war machines, there is a high probability... no, an extremely high probability, that it can improve the overall quality of the final product! Making the creation more robust, the energy conduction smoother, and the power greater! It might even break through the limits of the materials themselves, achieving... a +1 effect! This is a treasure that countless rune blacksmiths and engineers have dreamed of!"

Su Li's gaze fell on this seemingly ancient warhammer, which contained the power to change the military industry. He could sense a different kind of power within it, different from pure destructive force—a creative and strengthening power that could give life to metal, guide the order of energy, and create works of art in war.

The significance of this "Engineer's Hammer" is no less than that of the "Amethyst Ironclad Army Training Manual." One provides the possibility of mass-producing elite ranged units, while the other can greatly enhance the quality and power of heavy infantry and large war machines!

He slowly reached out and grasped the handle of the Engineer's Hammer. The instant he touched it, a gentle yet immense power surged through him, along with countless subtle fragments of knowledge about structural mechanics, energy flow, and rune enhancement, flowing into his consciousness like a gentle stream—blurry, yet guiding him. The dark red aura on the warhammer glowed faintly, seemingly acknowledging the power of its new master.

Su Li held it tightly, feeling this heavy legacy that combined creation and destruction.

(End of this chapter)