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A huge black star sank from the halo like the tip of an iceberg. It was so big that the densely packed crowd below was not even as big as ants.
But under the pressure of the layers of space, every time it sank, its volume shrank a little. When it finally sank more than half of its body, although it looked huge, it had shrunk by a factor of 100,000. When it was fully revealed, the reduction would probably be close to a million times.
The black hole-like mass also made everyone below feel a sense of heaviness and a tearing sensation. This was the aftermath of the weakening of the spatial barriers in the teleportation hall.
Fortunately, those below were not ordinary humans. Whether they were dwarves, workers from the Nine Realms, or alien tribes and demons who had changed jobs or were sent abroad, they could all withstand the aftermath.
The energy furnace in the Silent City was roaring, supplying surging and powerful energy. The various equipment and facilities used for transmission were squandering the huge amount of energy input without hesitation, gradually compressing and weakening the threat and destructiveness of the objects being transmitted.
Dense magical characters and runes gushed out from all directions. The power of technology and magic fused together in this moment, perfectly merging together like two arms, supporting the space and stabilizing the sealed object.
Silent City didn't need blazing light most of the time, but the magnificent spectacle of the entire city shrouded in the gloom of night, as it was now, was extremely rare. In an instant, the entire city's energy was practically drained away, converging into the teleportation hall. The energy there was so abundant it seemed substantial, even hinting at an unprecedented overload.
Yet, everything ultimately held up smoothly. Darkness was no problem for the residents of Silent City. Many of their races even disliked light, preferring to remain in the dark. Most of the indifferent residents, however, were still quite amazed by this rare and unusual sight. After an unknown amount of time, the roaring Silent City finally returned to normal. Energy distribution to various areas also resumed as normal. In the core teleportation hall, enthusiastic cheers rang out.
One after another, the dwarves came in various ways and under various pretexts, their eyes gazing wildly at the black object above them, which looked like a satellite of the moon, and they were eager to go up and study it carefully. Even if it couldn't be used for the time being, it would be good to touch it more.
No one could understand the dwarves' love for the furnace, just as they couldn't understand the strange hobbies of other races. If it weren't for furthering their forging skills and upgrading their beloved furnaces, why would they so resolutely settle down in the Silent City, painstakingly contributing all their knowledge and strength to this magical city?
It's like a lustful ghost who sees a stunning beauty in front of him but is frozen in place, or a starving gourmet who sees a table full of fragrant delicacies in front of him but cannot eat. The feeling of torture makes their eyes a little red.
But what could they do? They couldn't even get close to the star, and even beneath it, a circle of uninhabited space had spontaneously formed. No one could withstand the pressure of that aftermath. This was true even though it had been weakened several more times by various new means.
"How beautiful! The World Crucible is actually such a beautiful celestial body? It is much more domineering than the stars in our furnace." A three-meter-tall dwarf looked at the black, star-shimmering, and shining gorgeous celestial body above with intoxicated eyes, and said to the dwarf king Ai Cui beside him.
The former dwarf king Aitri did not answer his dwarf companions. He also looked up at the sky with his neck tilted back fanatically, his expression full of intoxication and joy.
Of course, the dwarf beside him didn't seem to expect a response from Etri, or rather, he didn't need one. He simply gazed greedily at the star, knowing that if he didn't take a closer look now, it would be difficult to see it later. By the time his furnace was upgraded to a world forge, that would likely be even less likely.
While the dwarves were extremely confident in their smithing talents and skills, the dwarves living in the Silent City each had their own mental boundaries. Due to frequent exchanges and regular meetings with various thresholds and levels of forging, they had a good idea of who had the best overall skills, where they were inferior, who was the fastest learner, who had a natural talent for using a new furnace and was more likely to master it, and so on.
For example, he? He hadn't yet passed the qualification exam for the Forge of Origin, his scores being quite lopsided. He wasn't alone; many dwarven mastersmiths shared the same fate. They were considered among the most skilled forging masters in the dwarven race, possessing exceptional knowledge and experience.
Thousands of years ago, they were able to forge artifacts like Gungnir and Thor's Hammer for Asgard. Now, after collaborating with Hyperion, they have not been complacent and their forging skills will only be stronger, involving more types of forged equipment. Similarly, a large amount of knowledge will be spontaneously mastered and learned during this period.
Who among the top dwarf master craftsmen who have now gained a foothold in the Silent City and are so highly sought after doesn't have a few unique skills of their own? They had already agreed to each choose a preferred path in the vast sea of new knowledge and master it, thus gaining a firm foothold in the market.
Being able to do this, and even being able to compete with Heberon's manufacturing department in equipment manufacturing, of course it cannot be said that these top dwarf craftsmen have low skills and little knowledge, but the fact is that the only one who has passed the furnace upgrade qualification test is Ai Cui.
In the future, Aitri will likely be the only one who has the opportunity to touch and forge something using the World Forge. This will certainly be the case for at least the next ten thousand years. This is even taking into account their use of Heibollen's various equipment to aid their studies and focus on potential exam questions.
The celestial body was finally fully revealed. Under the compression and folding of space, the celestial body floated quietly in the air, but there were spatial folds like flowing water ripples in the air from time to time.
The rotating dimensional rainbow bridge gradually slowed down from its rapid rotation in the dazzling light. As the energy input decreased, it began to shrink and calm down with a series of slight buzzing sounds.
Even though the size of the celestial body had been folded and shrunk by who knows how many millions of times, it was still surprisingly large in the eyes of everyone. The dwarfs who were over three meters tall and the giants of the Nine Realms who were more than ten meters tall were only like ants to the earth under the shadow of the celestial body.
They were clearly in the same hall as the planet, but the narrowness and vastness of the space, the long-term and short-sightedness of their vision were strangely indistinguishable, creating an inexplicable sense of unity.
Even though they could only see a dark half sphere with starlight flowing like the night sky below, it did not prevent them from having extra [perspectives]. It was like looking at the moon from the earth, and they had a whole in their hearts.
"That's not a furnace!" Ai Cui only felt that his sight, spirit, and soul were forcibly captured by some kind of energy emitted from the star. He even felt that if he continued to look, his spiritual consciousness would completely leave his body, and under the attraction and capture of that energy, he would be devoured by it and become its nutrients and food.
At that moment, a roar resonated through the hearts of everyone in the hall, jarring them from their trance. This saved many of the audience whose minds had been scattered and confused. In an instant, a large number of confused people collapsed in the hall.
"This is not a stove." Ai Cui lowered his head and answered his companion's previous words.
"What?" The dwarf beside Ai Cui, startled by his sudden words, turned his head blankly and looked at him. His eyes and consciousness gradually regained clarity, and he asked absentmindedly, a little confused by Ai Cui's words. He seemed to have heard Ai Cui's words clearly, but in his trance, he was a little unsure.
"This is not a stove!" Ai Cui repeated his words, and his tone was much firmer.
"This isn't a furnace? Then what is this? Some kind of lethal weapon that was teleported here? I don't think they need weapons." This time the dwarf Monk heard what Aicui said clearly, and he asked back in shock.
He could sense a certain familiarity with the astral object. This familiarity might be absurd and self-centered, but he simply felt that it was similar to his stove in some way. This similarity wasn't about form or substance. It was the feeling you get when you see a stove: Oh, this is a stove!
He was convinced of this in his heart, and then Ai Cui told him, this is not a stove?
"Some kind of packaging box." Ai Cui looked up again. But this time, he didn't stare at it for too long. Before he could feel that familiar feeling of fascination and absorption of his full attention and mind, he forcibly controlled his body and pulled his gaze and thoughts away from the astral body.
"A packing box? This thing?" Mang Ke looked up at the star in astonishment. The shock in his heart even made him temporarily ignore the star's compelling attraction to him. He turned his head to look at Ai Cui, and pointed his thick fingers at the magnificent and dangerous giant above, which looked full of mystery. He wondered if Ai Cui was confused.
If this thing fell, it would instantly wipe out every life in this hall! It didn't matter what race you were—a fire giant, a frost giant, a demonic dwarf, or something else—not even a trace of your blood and genes would remain. The surge of energy, even after layers of weakening seals, still left a numbing and shocking feeling.
It was precisely because he sensed a similarity between the energy fluctuations and the energy of the furnace that Mank felt an intuitive sense of familiarity.
"It's obvious that this is a device used to bind and seal something. I've seen those runes and patterns." Ai Cui said with certainty.
"Where have you seen those runes and patterns? In Odin's treasury?" Of course, Munch was no stranger to runes and magical writings. How could he not see anything special about them? And the patterns? Those starry skies?
"Of course it's not Odin's treasury! What good things could there be in his treasury? Half of the collection inside was made by us! The other half is also spoils of war from his youth. But at least nearly one-third of it was made by our dwarven master craftsmen! So tell me, what is there to see in his treasury?
"It's the energy room! The energy room in Silent City! I've been there before! The energy patterns and nodes there are very similar to those here. Don't doubt my memory! Although I only remember the node patterns in a certain area, I've been constantly using various methods to deepen my memory of that part, fearing I'll forget!" Ai Cui said in a low voice, somewhat annoyed.
Monk was momentarily stunned again. The Silent City's energy chamber was said to be the city's greatest core. It was also the pinnacle of Heberon's energy technology! Although the dwarves had contributed to the construction of the Silent City, Luke still personally handled crucial core work like the energy chamber. And it had already undergone at least three generations of upgrades.
What dwarf wouldn't want to take a look at the energy room's construction and technology? Perhaps they'd discover something that would spark a flash of inspiration and be applied to their own furnaces? After all, the custom-made furnaces were closely related to Heberon's energy sources.
"So, the real furnace is inside this star? Its core?" Mang Ke shuddered. A star that could even destroy Silent City if released without protection was just a shell?
But soon, thinking of the World Crucible itself, Mang Ke easily accepted this idea. Only a packaging box comparable to a divine artifact could be used as the shell of the World Crucible.
Several figures suddenly appeared in the empty space at the center of the sphere: Luke, Stephen, Bruce, and a blue giant with a terrifying aura, towering over Luke and the others.
"Is this your world? It's peaceful!" A thunderous roar sounded in Luke's ears, and the speaker was the blue giant.
"Trust me, you're at least safe here. You don't have to worry about the destruction of the multiverse." Luke glanced at the stars spinning in the air and nodded with satisfaction. This time, the harvest was not bad. In addition to obtaining the furnace they had originally sought, they also brought back a World Forger.
Although there may be some troubles to be solved later, with the help of the World Forger, he can save a lot of time and effort to analyze the World Furnace and teach the researchers in Hebolun step by step.
Even Alpheus could serve as a teacher to the dwarves, elevating their forging skills to a higher level. After all, the dwarves had diligently contributed to the development of Silent City and deserved some reward.
Luke's gaze shifted from World Forger Alpheus to the dwarves on the other side.