The Natural Empire of the Oceanic Dragon

Attilan simply smiled faintly.

“Obsidian, after refinement, has stronger defensive capabilities than its natural state. When crafted into a construct, the energy pathways will also form a transparent energy shield. The defense isn't strong, but it's enough to weaken attacks.”

“After penetrating three layers of defense and causing sufficient damage to the construct, even if the obsidian is lost and only the oak body remains, how much stamina do you think the opponent will have left?”

“Of course, this is only the first step. When designing the Type II, I plan to add a magic array that absorbs the obsidian and reforms the surface armor. Naturally, it won't have the defensive power of being integrated with the oak.”

“It might be able to reuse the fallen obsidian, which also aligns with the characteristics of the construct I designed: continuous regeneration. Because this construct is used for training, we'll temporarily skip the toxin release aspect.”

Taishan raised his head, his eyes full of doubt.

“Training? The purpose of constructs is for guarding and attacking. It's the first time I've heard of someone using constructs for training. Most constructs lack intelligence. At least, we can't create very smart constructs.”

“Fighting a construct is no different from hitting a wooden stake, right?”

The bear-man, listening from the side, was practically drooling. He had also seen the design of this Type I construct. The cost wasn't high, and its tall and imposing appearance captivated him.

Attilan said with a smile:

“That's right, but we can install a simple control system in the construct's head, allowing small-sized intelligent lifeforms like halflings or kobolds, who aren't strong in combat, to control it.”

“Wouldn't it then have intelligence?”

Taishan still frowned:

“Wouldn't the construct's head become its biggest weakness then?”

“As long as it's not visible from the outside, and we set the energy core in the chest, with some guiding designs, wouldn't everyone see the chest as the construct's weakness and make it their primary target?”

“This also means that whoever controls the construct in battle must not be afraid to die. At most, this design will only be used on training machines. For combat machines, we should still focus on how to improve the construct's intelligence.”

Taishan asked a crucial question.

“But you've said so much, and none of it is reflected in this blueprint. Also, I don't think oak can bear such a powerful and complete energy pathway. Forcing it to run will only result in the construct collapsing on its own.”

“This energy pathway, you directly copied it from a powerful construct, didn't you?”

Attilan's eyes widened upon hearing this. When did Taishan become so smart? Could it be because he absorbed starlight energy?

“How did you know?”

“Because I've seen the same energy pathway before. The first druid mentor I followed lived in the forest inhabited by forest gnomes. He was quite fond of gnome technology.”

“That blueprint of the Titan construct was something I saw when he was chatting with a gnome engineer. At the time, I could barely understand it at all. I was just attracted by the construct's imposing appearance.”

“After all, who wouldn't be captivated by a steel golem made of starmetal, shimmering with golden light? By the way, can we make the obsidian surface a bit smoother?”

“If it can't shimmer with golden light, it should at least be reflective, so that enemies fighting the obsidian-oak heart construct in brightly lit areas will also suffer eye damage from the strong light.”

Seeing the two of them getting more and more excited in their discussion, the bear-man had no choice but to wave his hand to interrupt them.

“Guys, is there a possibility that there's still a group of monkey children being held captive by the tiger-men, waiting for us to rescue them?”

“No rush. Let them suffer a little. That way, they'll know what to do and what not to do. Besides, the energy pathways need to be adjusted, or else the construct can't be made.”

“Then what are we going to use to apologize?”

Casually dismissing the bear-man, Attilan pointed to the energy pathways and asked:

“Which pathways do you think should be removed?”

Taishan picked up a pen and constantly crossed out lines on the blueprint.

“These all need to be removed. Just maintain the basic operation. Also, it's best to add some internal steel gear drives and make the body a bit smaller. It's for the tiger-men's training anyway.”

“Let me see… A height of two and a half meters is enough. Any smaller and we won't be able to make it.”

The construct wasn't made too big because their resources were limited, and they were afraid of wasting materials. It wasn't made too small because Taishan and Attilan didn't have the technology.

Most things are easier to make bigger, while making them smaller is difficult.

“Isn't two and a half meters a bit too close to the limit? How about two meters eight? It's a little easier, and it won't look too unimpressive for a construct, right?”

Taishan nodded in agreement with Attilan's idea.

“Then let's start. I'll polish the obsidian, blend it with the wood, and then assemble the main body. We'll work on the energy pathways together. Have you finished the energy core?”

“It's almost done. Let's use this one for now. When the tiger-men break it, I'll secretly replace the energy core during the repairs.”

As he spoke, Attilan took out a dim, green crystal. The crystal was a crystallization of natural magic, the result of Attilan's hard work in cultivation for so long.

However, a crystal of this quality was clearly not qualified to serve as the energy core of a construct. Taishan looked at Attilan with a complicated expression.

“Are you sure that engraving runes and connecting the pathways won't cause it to explode directly?”

Attilan directly slapped the ground with his claw.

“What are you talking about! I've been polishing this natural crystal for a whole month. As long as the output power is small enough, the crystal won't break. This crystal will last for two months, and then I'll be able to condense a more solid natural crystal.”

“The longer the time, the more familiar I become with natural magic. In half a year, the crystal I take out will last for two years.”

“When the time comes, I'll engrave a magic array that absorbs natural magic to allow the core to absorb energy and repair itself, and there will be no more problems with core damage.”

Taishan silently gave Attilan a thumbs up.

“It has to be you! Let's start making it.”

During the production process, they encountered many small problems, but Attilan and Taishan overcame them one by one. The result was that, with Attilan and Taishan's repeated compression, the actual performance of this construct was estimated to be only one-tenth of what Attilan and the bear-man had boasted about.

Anyway, the bear-man had watched the entire production process and even helped polish the obsidian. He had no thoughts about this prototype at all.

How heavy were the tiger-men's fists? Having personally experienced it, he couldn't be clearer?

“This construct of yours, it can't block her full-force punch that carries wind and thunder. I think we should add a shield.”

Attilan and Taishan exchanged a glance and said tacitly:

“Good idea.”

Not just one shield, the construct had a shield on each of its two arms, and there were also two spare shields thoughtfully hanging on its back.

The inside of the shields was covered with runes of sturdiness and energy resistance. The bear-man realized for the first time that Attilan's rune engraving skills were so strong!

He had heard that dragons had an advanced profession called Scaled Rune Dragon, which could engrave magic arrays on dragon scales to enhance various abilities. Could Attilan be planning to advance to this profession?

Dragons already had the strongest talent in the world, and Attilan was still constantly getting stronger. What qualifications did he have to slack off? He had decided that he would start cultivating seriously from tomorrow!

In addition to the training construct, Attilan also made a training wooden dummy out of oak and iron sheets. Along with the slowly advancing prototype obsidian-oak heart construct Type I, the three of them slowly arrived at the tiger-men's training ground.

The bear-man scratched his hair and said somewhat irritably:

“We're finally here. We walked from the afternoon until the sun went down. Next time, can you guys slightly strengthen the construct's mobility, or just transport it to the destination and then activate it?”

Attilan smiled calmly and unhurriedly:

“Aren't we doing testing? I can't possibly give the tiger-men a construct that can't be used.”

The tiger-man leaped up, stepping on wind and thunder to fly onto the treetop, and looked at Attilan and the other two on the path with a sneer:

“You finally came after waiting for a day. I thought you didn't want these children anymore.”

“How could we not want them? They're just a little too naughty, so we'll let you help us educate them a bit. Didn't I have the fish-men send some food over to apologize first?”

As he spoke, Attilan patted the construct next to him.

“This is the prepared apology gift, but if you want to get it, you need to compete with me first, or else you'll only get this iron-sheet wooden dummy.”

The tiger-man narrowed his eyes slightly, revealing boundless fighting spirit.

“Compete in what?”

“Energy field. We two will stand one hundred meters apart and release our energy fields outwards to see whose energy field can cover the other. Your White Tiger Law Avatar also has an energy field, and it accounts for a large proportion.”

“This competition is about energy control. I won't take advantage of you. I won't use my life energy field. I'll use my water element energy field!”

The bear-man widened his eyes and bumped Taishan's shoulder.

“Water element energy field! When did he master this skill? Taishan, do you know?”

Taishan shook his head.

“I'm not sure. Anyway, he's been sealing his ocean wyvern bloodline and training his water element control this month. He probably mastered it during this process.”

The tiger-man clenched his fist and jumped directly to the center of the training ground.

“No problem!”

Attilan and the tiger-man stood one hundred meters apart in the center of the training ground. Attilan deliberately chose the side away from the lake to fully demonstrate his confidence and asked lazily:

“Are you ready?”

The tiger-man directly summoned wind and thunder wings.

“Let's begin!”

Attilan's dragon body lit up with a shimmering green light. Natural magic drew water elements towards his body, quickly forming a blue vortex that advanced towards the tiger-man.

The tiger-man's wind and thunder wings attracted wind and thunder elements from the sky. Cyan wind elements and silver-white lightning elements intertwined to form a vortex, crackling as they approached Attilan.

Judging from the speed of energy propulsion, Attilan was temporarily better.

The bear-man said seriously:

“Propelling energy beyond a hundred meters is already a difficult task. The two of them still have to compete. Judging from the speed of the water element energy field, Attilan is indeed powerful.”

“The ocean wyvern is really not simple. In less than a minute, he has propelled it twenty meters. I can already faintly hear the sound of the tide.”