C16 Calculation

Only half an hour had passed, yet all the Giant Iron Men had regained their mobility by consuming the scattered metal debris on the battlefield. Their astonishing resilience had once again left Wang Changqing in awe.

"What's your name?" Wang Changqing asked, his curiosity piqued by the Giant Iron Man who had miraculously survived a direct hit from a Level-7 Destroyer's missile—a weapon not to be taken lightly.

"Reporting to my lord, I am called Tieh Gu," came the reply.

Tieh Gu was now significantly smaller than before, having shrunk from a towering five or six meters to just over two meters. Standing among his fellow Giant Iron Men, he appeared quite "petite," yet his Level-7 status remained unchanged.

"Tieh Gu, are you Giant Iron Men indestructible?" Wang Changqing inquired.

Tieh Gu hesitated, but driven by a loyalty score of 60, he candidly responded, "Sir, we too can perish. However, we possess a steel core within us that can shift its position. As long as the core remains intact, we can consume metal to rapidly heal our wounds."

Upon hearing this, Wang Changqing noticed Tieh Gu's loyalty had decreased by two points. Clearly, such probing questions were not to Tieh Gu's liking.

"How long has your kind existed, Tieh Gu?"

As their conversation unfolded, time swiftly marched on, and soon it was midday.

The Giant Iron Men were a genderless race. To increase their numbers, they simply needed to offer enough iron ore and freshly slain prey to the summoning pool, which would then birth a new tribe member.

A newly created Giant Iron Man would possess the strength of Level 5, and by feasting on copious amounts of iron ore, they could quickly ascend to Level 7.

The scouting machines reported a vast ore vein beneath the Giant Iron Men's domain, the precise reserves of which required assessment by specialized prospecting machinery. However, Rafe, the Mechanical Butler, estimated that the vein held at least ten million units of ore.

Having instructed the bulk of the Mechanical Legion to continue their hunt in the wilderness, Wang Changqing, flanked by 20 Level-7 Defenders, led 68 Giant Iron Men back to his lands. His immediate plan was to construct the summoning pool for the Giant Iron Men.

Constructing the Giant Iron Man Summoning Pool requires 10,000 units each of iron, wood, stone, and energy. Proceed with construction?

Upon confirmation, a beam of light cascaded from the heavens, enveloping the summoning pool's core on the ground and erupting in a dazzling radiance.

Minutes later, the glow faded, unveiling a well-like structure about two meters in diameter, filled with a silver liquid.

The rim of the well stood a meter above the earth, its iron walls gleaming with a metallic sheen, adorned with an image of a Giant Iron Man bellowing skyward.

[Giant Iron Man Summoning Pool]

Level: 1

Summonable Arm: Giant Iron Man

Summonable Quantity: 20

Summoning Requirements: 10 gold coins, 10 units of iron, 10 energy crystals, 10 soul units

Upgrade Requirements: 100 gold coins, 100 units of iron, 100 energy crystals

Note: Lord Hall must be at Level 2

Without a moment's hesitation, he upgraded the pool—once, twice, thrice—until the Giant Iron Man Summoning Pool reached Level 7 in a single go.

Wang Changqing had spent the last few days hunting an abundance of creatures in the wilderness, amassing a significant stockpile of resources through the Lord's Exchange Market, fueling his bold moves.

The Level 7 pool now boasted a diameter exceeding five meters, a substantial increase from the original one meter at Level 1.

Post-upgrade, the resource cost for summoning had surged, but so had the combat capabilities.

A Level 1 Giant Iron Man required 40 units of resources to summon, whereas a single Level 7 Giant Iron Man demanded 2,560 units.

Yet, thanks to his recent hunts and trades of Magic Beast Meat for resources at the Lord's market, coupled with his ample Soul Crystal reserves, summoning twenty Level-7 Giant Iron Men was a mere drop in the bucket for Wang Changqing, consuming just over 50,000 units of resources. To him, it was hardly a concern.

Compared to his peers, Wang Changqing's standout advantage was his ability to endlessly construct production lines. He wasn't constrained by the daily soldier summoning cap; as long as resources were plentiful, he could summon an unlimited number of troops.

With a gleeful rub of his hands, he opted for a full summoning.

Immediately, his personal resource panel dipped by over 60,000 units as the silver liquid in the Giant Iron Man summoning pool began to ripple. Abruptly, a massive iron hand emerged, gripping the well's edge, followed by a colossal figure leaping from the pool.

The Giant Iron Man landed with a resounding clang, their enormous frames hitting the ground with a deep thud. One after another, they emerged from the pool until all 20 Level-7 Giant Iron Men were assembled.

"Thank you, our lord, for rousing us from our eternal rest. We pledge our lives to uphold your honor," they boomed in unison, half-kneeling before Wang Changqing.

Wang Changqing envisioned the Giant Iron Men as the vanguard of his Mechanical Legion, a necessary addition to his forces, which were predominantly long-range units with glaring vulnerabilities. Should the enemy penetrate the Defenders' Energy Shields and breach his ranks, it would spell catastrophe.

The arrival of the Giant Iron Men sealed this critical gap, forming an impenetrable bulwark at the forefront of his Mechanical Legion.

Now on his fourth day on the Initial Continent, with just three days until the territory's protective barrier shattered, Wang Changqing's gains had been substantial. His experience points were nearing Level 8, but he faced a new challenge: the high-level creatures near his territory were nearly exterminated. To hunt more formidable beasts, he'd need to delve deeper into the perilous wilderness.

Yuh Chengye of the Black Rock Chamber of Commerce had warned him of the dangers lurking there. It was a valid concern; the Huorong Principality, with its formidable Level 60 Lords, only dared to skirt the wilderness's edges, hesitant to venture further. Clearly, the wilderness harbored threats that even the most powerful dared not confront.

Therefore, Wang Changqing recalled the Nano Reconnaissance Robots that he had previously deployed without restraint to gather intelligence in the wilderness—an entity that even Level 60 powerhouses were hesitant to provoke. If he, in his ignorance, inadvertently enraged the other party and ended up being swatted to death with a mere slap, it would be a genuine injustice.

Now, the Nano Reconnaissance Robots are programmed to scout the periphery of the Dawn Territory, seeking out wild creature groups that Wang Changqing's Mechanical Legion can hunt, all according to his specific requirements.