Becoming a god starts with enhancing fire arrows.

"I'll explain this part to you later," Cassandra said, gesturing for Rhodes to ask another question.

"You can ask me anything else while I'm in a good mood."

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Rhodes asked a rather unexpected question.

"Actually, the only person I wanted to see today was you, Rhodes," Cassandra said with a hint of excitement.

"Because you fully demonstrated your talent for improving magic in this ambush, I feel much better having someone like you join my ranks."

"I'll tentatively agree with the second half of your statement. How do you think I can help you?"

"This part will also be discussed later."

"Okay." Rhodes, seemingly unconcerned, asked another question: "When did you find out about Avira's identity?"

When Avira noticed the conversation had turned to her, her expression became serious.

Cassandra stared at Avira and said, "She's been here for about a while, hasn't she?"

"Although the 'Black Hand' intelligence system is not capable of finding out about things inside the Elven race, I have at least met the other sons of the Elven King Galanord."

"They look very alike."

"So you sent her to the witch?" Rhodes kept asking questions.

"Yes, I wouldn't dare kill her."

Cassandra nodded: "If a drow kills an elf, he will suffer the boundless wrath of the elves."

"Moreover, she is an elf princess."

"I'm still young, and I don't want to face the Elf King directly like this."

"But I couldn't really accept an arrogant elf walking around my territory every day. I happened to have a deal with the witch, so I sent her over as a gift."

"Unfortunately, that witch was too incompetent and couldn't see the elf's strength at all. She just used magic to trap her and use her as a guard."

Cassandra sighed with some regret.

Rhodes patted Ivyra's shoulder armor, signaling her to calm down.

He could tell that the elven princess was about to begin her warm greeting.

"Are you done asking?" Cassandra looked at the two of them. "If you are, I'll take you to another place and answer your questions while I'm at it."

"Let's go then." Rhodes was still very interested in her true purpose.

I want to see just how much effort she put into this project was worth spending so much money on.

Cassandra stood up from her chair, slowly extinguished her torch, and walked to the door.

"It's a long way, so don't rush."

As he spoke, he opened the door and slowly walked down the path.

After leaving the house, Avira glanced around and, seeing that there were no guards, looked at Cassandra's unguarded back and then at Rhodes.

Rhodes shook his head.

Avira reluctantly looked away.

The underground network outside the door remained dark.

Rhodes pulled out a dark vision scroll to check the road conditions.

The winding passage continued downwards, like a bottomless pit with no end in sight.

Cassandra didn't say a word the rest of the way, but simply led the two of them at a leisurely pace.

I don't know how long I walked, but the road suddenly became steeper, and the unique damp smell from underground gradually faded.

Instead, there was a metallic, rusty smell in the air.

The temperature seems to have risen.

Rhodes looked at Avira, who also clearly sensed the change in her surroundings.

I thought the town's underground network was just extensive, but I didn't expect it to be so deep.

Finally, they arrived at a massive, iron-black gate at the very bottom, guarded by several lizardmen.

When they saw Cassandra, they bowed very respectfully.

Then the two lizardmen simultaneously pushed the door open and stepped aside to make way.

Inside was a huge factory, with all sorts of pipes and metal bridges intertwined in a dense network.

The pipes connect to oddly shaped furnaces of varying sizes. Some furnaces are wrapped in alchemical materials that resemble bandages, with white steam billowing from their ends, while others are engraved with intricate magic runes.

A pipe branches off from these furnaces and extends upwards, connecting to a brass sphere about half the height of a person.

The sphere appears to be supported by a dense network of pipes in the air.

A metal bridge, similarly intricate, extends from the sphere to various parts of the factory.

Various figures were moving back and forth on the bridge.

Cassandra seemed to be deliberately giving them time to observe, waiting in place for a while before walking up a metal bridge.

Rhodes and Avira exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.

Who would have thought that such a large factory was hidden in the underground network of "Black Hand"?

What exactly is this forged for?

Weapons and armor? Or materials?

They continued to follow Cassandra's footsteps onto the metal bridge, where their view gradually opened up.

Standing on the bridge, you can clearly see a group of dwarves gathered in the lowest area. They are shirtless and are hammering away with magical iron hammers, making muffled thuds.

The other half of the area below was a laborious job that didn't seem to require much skill. Some humans, goblins, and lizardmen were pushing carts carrying slag and dumping it into a giant barrel.

Whenever the bucket was almost full, the ogre next to it would lift it up with all its might and carry it to some unknown place.

Besides laborers transporting all sorts of materials, researchers wearing special protective suits also come and go on the metal bridge.

They would often gather around a stove, scooping up a spoonful of the silvery-white, shiny solution to examine it closely, while apprentices behind them would be taking notes.

Each time the record was completed, the apprentice would run with the report to an old man, who would quickly flip through the record and give him some instructions.

"Nathan," Rhodes said softly.

"What?" The noise in the factory was too loud, and Avira couldn't hear anything.

Rhodes nodded: "Nathan, a mid-level alchemist. No wonder he's always nowhere to be seen in town; turns out he's doing a side job here besides making petrification potions."

The three of them gradually walked up to a platform at the end of the platform, which was very empty and had nothing on it.

This is the highest point in the factory. The only thing worth noting is that brass-colored, half-person-high sphere not far from the edge of the platform, which you can reach out and touch.

Cassandra stepped onto the platform and finally spoke: "How is it? I built this factory all by myself. All the equipment and all the processes were meticulously calculated."

When the factory was mentioned, her face finally showed an expression, a faint sense of pride.

"So making money requires forging something?"

"That's right." Cassandra walked to the brass sphere and ran her hand across its smooth surface.

"The final product will appear here."

"In other words, this sphere is also the core of the entire factory."

Rhodes examined the sphere: "So you're so comfortable bringing two potential enemies right up to the heart of your factory?"

"They're that confident in their core defenses."

Cassandra didn't even turn her head, seemingly unwilling to waste words dealing with Rhodes's probing, simply repeating the same sentence indifferently: "You can try."

狂？

Is this a provocation?

Without any hesitation, Rhodes began chanting a sword song.