In truth, Li De greatly underestimated the intimidation he held over Valen.
As the one known as Your Majesty Iro, leader of the Dark Pact, and very likely a Transcendent level terrifying existence.
Moreover, as the Vampire Patriarch, ruler of a vast city, and one who possessed the skill to make Vampires and Humans, once mortal enemies, coexist peacefully.
All of this combined, Li De’s status in Valen’s heart had grown immensely.
Not only was he unfathomably powerful, but also wise and cunning with formidable means.
Even if Valen had confidence in the Dwarven Clan, facing such a mighty dark boss still made him feel uneasy.
This Vampire was simply too powerful. Even his subordinates alone could annihilate the dwarves. He had to leave a path of survival for his people.
Though the Dwarven Clan had not yet been discovered, Valen couldn’t shake the feeling that for these Vampires, locating the Dwarven Clan might not be an impossible task.
His initial resistance and refusal to cooperate had all been attempts to stall for time, so that after losing contact, the clan would dispatch a second rescue party to resolve the current crisis as soon as possible.
Otherwise, if this Vampire truly found the Dwarven Clan, it was hard to say what might happen.
As for those tens of thousands of Beastmen troops, the opponent that was an insurmountable threat to the Dwarves seemed like no great matter in the hands of the powerful and mysterious Lord Kachar.
"Lord Kachar, I only ask for your promise. I believe that with your greatness, you would never break your word."
Hearing this, Li De couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation. Where did this dwarf get so much confidence in him?
But even impulsive and reckless Beastmen knew to enslave dwarves for weapon forging, so how could he not consider the same?
In fact, from Li De's perspective, if he really could discover the Dwarven Clan, their skills might be no less valuable than the Mithril Vein.
"Very well, Lord Valen, I promise you. If one day I discover the Dwarven Clan, unless they harbor hostility toward the Vampires and initiate an attack, I will not harm them."
Valen visibly breathed a sigh of relief and immediately nodded. "Lord Kachar, I trust in your promise.
To forge the metal unique to the Dark Elves requires a very complicated process, and a large amount of precious ores is also necessary."
Valen then proceeded to directly reveal the formula for Shadow Metal, holding nothing back.
As a grandmaster blacksmith of the dwarves, Valen possessed many valuable formulas far superior to Shadow Metal, but those were dwarven secrets and could not be leaked. Therefore, he did not feel any real loss.
Golddig and several other blacksmiths listened with extreme focus, eager to memorize every single word.
Li De, however, had no interest in this. Blacksmithing was simply too boring.
However, forging Shadow Metal required the purchase of a large amount of rare metals.
For example, Adamantine from volcanic craters, Deepiron from the snow-covered regions, and so on. Currently, Dawn City had very little stock of such materials, and they would need to be purchased from Green City.
Naturally, Li De agreed. As long as the desired result could be achieved, spending some Gold Pucks meant nothing to him.
At his instruction, Harrison immediately sent people to Green City to notify Stanley to search for and purchase the necessary rare ores.
Ever since the Dark Pact became one of Li De’s subordinate forces, the old model of Li De being the sole link to Green City was a thing of the past.
Now, there were Vampires specifically responsible for liaising with the Dark Pact.
Due to the Dark Pact’s unique nature, they were even able to obtain rare resources that the Crimson Mage Tower could not acquire.
Thus, Dawn City increasingly relied on the Dark Pact for such matters.
Of course, this also greatly reduced Li De’s burden and freed up his time to attend to other affairs.
The purchasing process took a full three days to acquire the necessary materials for Kosso and Castro.
Li De spent a total of 100,000 Gold Pucks. That’s right, 100,000!!
This completely drained the Crimson Mage Tower’s profits for the month, causing Spark, who had originally planned to accelerate the construction of the Ancient Alchemical Magic Array, to grumble endlessly.
If Li De weren’t away from Green City, that Grand Mage would have likely come storming in to yell at him.
Li De personally participated in nearly the entire forging process for the armor.
He watched with his own eyes as Kosso's enormous armor slowly took shape step by step.
Although the blacksmiths had previous experience making armor for Kosso, the products they produced were undoubtedly substandard industrial rejects.
Valen scoffed at their work and completely redesigned the entire forging process.
There was no denying that a grandmaster blacksmith was truly in a class of his own. With the same iron, the same time, and even the same hammering technique, the results were worlds apart.
The massive frames of Kosso and Castro posed many problems throughout the manufacturing process, but with Valen present, every issue was resolved one by one.
It seemed as though only one more person had joined the smithy, yet the entire workshop had improved by several levels.
For the first time, Li De realized just how massive an impact a grandmaster level life-class professional could have on their field.
One day, two days, three days passed. On the tenth day since the forging plan began, the two sets of armor, which cost 100,000 Gold Pucks, were finally completed.
Li De stood excitedly in front of the smithy. The enormous Kosso stood beside him, while Castro soared through the sky, flapping his dark red bat wings.
The massive body, with a wingspan of sixteen blades, drew countless astonished gazes from the surrounding residents.
Even a dragon was nothing compared to this.
The smithy was a large area consisting of more than ten two-story buildings serving as workshops.
At this moment, the hammering, which had tormented nearby residents for days and continued deep into the night, had finally ceased.
Not only Li De, but also Harrison, Emi, Nilo, Niko, and even Fred, who had been guarding the Holy Land, had gathered in the small square in front of the smithy.
The square was packed with Dawn City’s residents. The news that the smithy was forging weapons for the Cyclops had already been publicly announced by the Propaganda Department.
Everyone was eager to see what kind of weapons and armor would be made for these giants.
Upon hearing that the forging was completed today, a huge crowd had quickly gathered.
"I heard this is a divine artifact personally forged by Lord Kachar for Lord Kosso. I really want to see it."
"Did you see that giant beast flying in the sky? The patrol said it’s called Castro, a divine beast created by Lord Kachar’s divine power, said to rival dragons!"
"Hiss... If Lord Kosso wears such sturdy armor, who could possibly stand against him? Lord Kachar is truly wise and mighty!"
"I can't wait to see what kind of armor Lord Kachar has forged."
Though the Propaganda Department credited the dwarves for forging the armor, the residents instinctively attributed all the credit to Li De.
Because the Propaganda Department had also stated that the dwarves were not yet allies, since they had refused to cooperate with the Saintlight Vampires.
As a result, Valen had been receiving a lot of scornful looks from the residents lately.
Many times, Valen felt quite frustrated because out of nowhere, an aunt would suddenly jump out from a street corner to mock him, and he had no idea what he had done wrong.
"They're coming! Look, it’s Lord Golddig! Look behind him!!"
"Quick, don’t block me! Let me see! Let me see!"
"Hiss... What is that?! So terrifying!!"
A heated buzz instantly erupted from the crowd, as though boiling oil had been dropped into a hot pan.
In the center area of the smithy’s ten buildings, a tall warehouse slowly opened.
Li De and everyone around him lit up with anticipation.
Although he had participated in most of the process, Valen had not allowed him to take part in the final stage, as it involved the dwarves’ most secret forging techniques.
Therefore, even Li De did not know what the final result of the two suits of armor, which cost him 100,000 Gold Pucks, would be.
As everyone eagerly awaited, Valen, with his black beard and bound by anti-magic chains, walked out of the warehouse proudly. Behind him, dozens of blacksmiths pushed something forward, and the entire scene fell into a hushed silence.