Chương 67: The Hero Party Arrives at the Magic Forest

As time passed day by day, Li Qinwu led the troops in several long-distance drills, running from Gob-Fort all the way to the Goblin tribe, and then back from the Goblin tribe to Gob-Fort. This was to train the officers' coordination in mobilizing troops, and also to kill the newly spawned skeleton soldiers near the Styx Tree to upgrade the Goblins into Hobgoblins. Now, all 900 Goblins in his 9 companies had become Hobgoblins, a very considerable armed force. This made Li Qinwu feel both proud and worried.

After months of high-intensity training, the Goblins had realized the status of the musket as the "equalizer of all beings." Li Qinwu was truly afraid that one day one of these bastards would suddenly think, "I reckon I can take down the Boss with one shot," and then fire at his back. It scared Li Qinwu so much that he went to Iron-Orc overnight to forge a set of bulletproof breastplate and helmet.

Iron-Orc said that muskets were too powerful; to resist bullets, the thickness of the armor needed to be increased, but doing so would make the armor very heavy. Li Qinwu was well aware of this; the muskets he designed used very solid materials, and hitting the plate armor of humans in this era would result in a through-and-through penetration with every shot. Fortunately, where quality was lacking, material could be stacked.

Li Qinwu felt that with his current physique, wearing 40 to 50 kg of armor was no problem at all, while a set of full-body armor weighed about 25 kg with a thickness of 1 to 2 mm. So, with 50 kg of material to protect only the chest and head, the thickness of the helmet and breastplate could be stacked to 10 mm. Such thickness should have no problem defending against muskets, right? Iron-Orc first forged a 10 mm thick iron plate and then conducted a test fire with a musket.

He finally concluded that it could resist musket ball shots from 70 meters away, barely meeting Li Qinwu's requirements. Li Qinwu had Iron-Orc measure his body and hurried the forging of the plate armor and helmet. In addition to increasing his own defense, he also wanted to design a weapon for the officers so they could kill rebellious soldiers at any time. The incident with the Captain of Company 8 was a knot in Li Qinwu's heart.

If the Goblins ever wanted to rebel and suddenly turned their muzzles toward him, several hundred muskets firing together—even a god couldn't withstand that! Li Qinwu thought of a 60 cm long hand-cannon with a 40 mm caliber, used for firing a large number of small steel balls. When the soldiers were lined up, the steel balls fired by this thing could take down four or five soldiers at once without a problem.

With the Captain and Deputy Captain firing together, they could instantly kill 10 soldiers with rebellious intentions, which would definitely suppress the remaining soldiers. This kind of hand-cannon also added considerable close-range output capability to the troops. Li Qinwu told Iron-Orc his idea and asked him to research and produce short-barreled hand-cannons. After arranging the production of the new weapons, the sky turned dark. Li Qinwu now only slept once every three days.

Having nothing to do in the dark night, he also picked up a hammer to forge iron. Over these days, he had gone to the blacksmith shop many times; many musket tools were hammered out by himself. For this, his forging proficiency rose to 52, unlocking the second "choose-one-of-two" forging skill. The two skills were: Steel processing. Attribute bestowal. The first one was that he could hammer out steel, making it easier for him to obtain steel, but couldn't the blacksmith shop already mass-produce it?

There was no shortage of it at all. The second one was awesome: adding attributes to forged items, equivalent to enchanting. Li Qinwu chose 2 without thinking. He couldn't wait to try the effect and immediately began forging. He wanted to forge a greatsword for himself. The previous sword had been returned to Knight Leo, and since his physical fitness had improved, he could use a heavier sword. He wanted to forge a two-handed greatsword weighing between 10 and 12 kg.

He placed the red-hot material on the anvil and threw a potato to Dang-Dang. Dang-Dang ate the potato like melon seeds and then swung the big hammer. Since he had a humanoid forging hammer, the steel blank was quickly shaped. Li Qinwu performed quenching and sharpening, and a very thick sword with a length of 1. 6 meters appeared in his hands. Name: Two-handed Sword with Exaggerated Weight Weight: 11. 5 kg Slashing Speed: 75 Slashing Damage: 130 Thrust Speed: 71 Thrust Damage: 63 Length: 1.

6 m Attribute: Sharpness +10 Intro: To call this a sword would be an understatement; it is far too large... Li Qinwu saw that it truly had a special attribute and immediately ran outside. He found a roof beam that required a person to wrap their arms around, took a horse stance, and swung the sword fiercely, cutting the beam directly in half. The strength he used to cut the beam this time was much smaller than last time.

With this divine weapon, the strength gap between him and the Hero had narrowed by another notch. Li Qinwu performed a sword flourish, happy as a child who had just received a toy. Regarding bestowing attributes on forged items, he had even more advanced uses. If he built a lathe in the future and wanted to make turning tool bits, and ordinary steel strength could not meet the requirements, would the turning tool bits he hand-forged with attribute bestowal be qualified? He was getting excited!

The Mount & Blade cheat had great potential; perhaps his power could soon enter the steam age? However, development would have to wait until after the Hero crisis was resolved. He prepared a steel blank and started forging other weapons. Before the whistle for military training at dawn, he had plenty of time; anyway, he wouldn't feel tired even if he didn't sleep for three days and three nights.

Li Qinwu heated a steel blank until it was red-hot, placed it on the anvil, and again took out a potato to throw to Dang-Dang. Dang-Dang finished charging; for every hundred swings of the big hammer, only one potato was consumed. The sound of dang-dang-dang echoed through the blacksmith shop. After a while, Li Qinwu finished the weapon he wanted. This was a special gun barrel—two meters long with thickened walls and a single barrel weight of 20 kg, a behemoth!

Li Qinwu wanted to see if he could stack materials, discard mobility, and create a sniper rifle version of a smoothbore musket. The chamber of this barrel was very large, able to hold three times the propellant of a conventional musket. To prevent a burst barrel, the chamber was very thick! After making the barrel, he didn't need to produce the other parts himself; he directly took them from other workers for modification and assembly. After a while, Li Qinwu assembled the various parts together, resulting in a 2.

3-meter ultra-long musket, and it even rolled an attribute! If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Name: Heavy Matchlock Smoothbore with Reinforced Barrel Weight: 24 kg Weapon Type: Crossbow Damage: 725 Piercing Missile Speed: 570 m/s Effective Range: 300–600 meters Attribute: Accuracy +10 Evaluation: This is a cannon, this is a cannon, this is a cannon!

"Wuhu, Accuracy +10!" Li Qinwu saw that an accuracy attribute had actually appeared, and his heart pounded wildly. Making a thing with such a long barrel was originally intended to create a sniper rifle, and to his surprise, an accuracy attribute even appeared. This was simply explosive luck!! At this time, it happened to be the time for early morning military training. Li Qinwu carried the gun to the barracks gate and blew the whistle. All the soldiers rushed out of the barracks to line up.

Li Qinwu shouted his orders: "All company commanders, lead your teams for orderly training! Gobu-Bow, step out! Come with me for a moment!" Gobu-Bow left the team excitedly and followed behind Li Qinwu. His two small eyes were staring fixedly at the big gun on Li Qinwu's shoulder; his face was flushed and his eyes were full of infatuation—he felt he had found his true soulmate! After arriving at the shooting range, Li Qinwu handed the big gun to Gobu-Bow and pointed at a scarecrow target 300 meters away.

"Can you see that target? Fire a shot and see if you can hit it!" Gobu-Bow was so excited he rubbed his hands together. He took the gun, lay on the ground, and began to aim into the distance. Because this gun was too long and heavy, there was a bipod at the front of the barrel. Gobu-Bow could aim relatively easily while lying down. Gobu-Bow aimed for quite a while.

The scarecrow target at 300 meters was about the size of a grain of rice, but he was a Level 5 Goblin Sniper after all, with a bow and crossbow proficiency of 350. Seeing 300 meters clearly was no problem. He fired. The match-cord struck the chamber, the gun boomed, and white smoke erupted. Gobu-Bow gave a tragic cry and wailed while clutching his shoulder. Li Qinwu went over to pull Gobu-Bow up. Gobu-Bow said: "Pain! It's too painful! If I fire a few more shots, my bones will break!"

Li Qinwu saw that this wouldn't work; the recoil was too great for Gobu-Bow to train.

"Hmm... later, go to Iron-Orc and have him forge an iron shoulder pauldron. Rest the buttstock against the pauldron, so the recoil can be dispersed a bit." Gobu-Bow said he understood. Li Qinwu looked at the target. With his vision—if he focused his attention—he could still see it clearly; the Mount & Blade system's fire-power allocation was an all-around improvement. The scarecrow's right arm was gone.

"Aha! You hit it on the first shot. Not bad!" Li Qinwu patted Gobu-Bow's shoulder, making him grimace in pain.

"No, Boss, I was aiming at the scarecrow's chest. This gun's trajectory leans to the left!" Li Qinwu's expression suddenly turned solemn, and he looked directly into Gobu-Bow's eyes.

"Gobu-Bow! You are now one of the smartest Goblins. I hope you understand that if we cannot overcome the Hero crisis, we will all die. We will lose everything we have now." He pointed at Gob-Fort, then at the barracks, the land, and the waterwheel by the big river. Gobu-Bow's expression turned serious.

"Boss, why does the Hero want to eliminate us?" Gobu-Bow raised a question. Although he had heard the talking points Li Qinwu gave to the Deputy Company Commanders—about how the Hero would burn their houses, destroy their crops, and kill everyone—these propaganda points didn't say why the Hero would do so. Li Qinwu put his hands behind his back and looked toward the west.

"Gobu-Bow, there are many races in this world, but the world's resources are limited. For each race to survive, they must occupy more resources. And killing the opponent so they cannot occupy resources is the most effective means." Gobu-Bow was thoughtful.

"Boss, like our war with Dragon-Fang, it was essentially a fight for resources." Li Qinwu nodded. There could only be one ruler in the Magic Forest; it could indeed be considered a struggle for resources.

"Gobu-Bow, our development has scared the Hero. He feels that in the future, we will compete for many resources and become enemies of mankind. For the interests of mankind, the Hero will kill us without any hesitation. He will not care if we are truly a threat, he will not care if he is killing adult Goblins or Goblin cubs, and he will not care if we feel pain when we are killed. He will casually swing a sword, chop you into mincemeat, and then laugh triumphantly amidst the compliments of human females.

This behavior is defined by me as anti-intellectual-species-ism. The Hero is an anti-intellectual-species element. Along with his partners, they are an anti-intellectual-species group." Gobu-Bow became more and more angry as Li Qinwu spoke. Finally, he gave a sudden roar, his eyes bloodshot.

"The Hero! He should die! Kill him!!" Li Qinwu's voice came slowly.

"But the Hero is very strong. His partners are also strong, terrifyingly strong." Gobu-Bow shouted angrily, "We have muskets! We have 9 companies! We also have Ogres!" Li Qinwu shook his head.

"The Hero is very strong! Very, very strong!! Even I, risking the entire tribe, have no certainty of eliminating him." Gobu-Bow was lost. In his view, the Boss was the most powerful being and super smart; the Boss was absolutely invincible. But how powerful must a Hero be if even the Boss had no certainty of eliminating him? Li Qinwu, seeing that the dampening effect was about enough, patted his shoulder and looked into his eyes.

"Gobu-Bow, it's not impossible to defeat the Hero, but I need your 100 percent cooperation!!" Gobu-Bow was confused at first, then his face filled with determination.

"Boss! What do you want me to do?" Li Qinwu lifted the ultra-long musket from the ground and slapped it against Gobu-Bow's chest.

"Gobu-Bow! I want you to become proficient in long-distance shooting as soon as possible! When the Hero Party comes, I will send people to fight them. What you must do is stay away from the battlefield, find a suitable location and a suitable timing, and shoot a man with short brown hair—he is the Hero! Remember, the Hero is very, very, very strong!! Until you have 100 percent certainty, you are absolutely not allowed to fire, even if all 9 companies die in battle! Even if I am chopped to death by the Hero!

You must wait!! Before you are certain you can fire, do not light the match-cord, do not aim the muzzle at the Hero, and do not look at him directly with your eyes. Clear your mind; it's best not to even have the thought of killing him. He is very alert; he might have a reaction the moment you even have the thought of killing him!!" Li Qinwu had seen many isekai works in his previous life. Generally, powerhouses like Heroes have a very strong sixth sense.

Just glancing at him might be detected, let alone pointing a muzzle at him. Saying all this to Gobu-Bow was to raise his attention to 120 percent. Now seeing his solemn expression, Li Qinwu knew he had succeeded... In the Kingdom of Thasos, there was a town bordering the Magic Forest called Boroya. This was a large town with a population of 150, 000 and 10, 000 professional soldiers, a major frontier fortress in the easternmost part of Thasos.

Since the Magic Forest produced many wild goods and the bodies of magic beasts were precious magical materials, Thasos's Adventurer's Guild was very developed. At this time, Hero Leon and his partners entered the Adventurer's Guild, causing bursts of exclamations along the way. The adventurers looked at Hero Leon with eyes full of admiration, constantly calling out "Lord Leon." Hero Leon smiled warmly and nodded politely to everyone.

He walked straight to the Adventurer's Guild reception window and placed two gold coins in front of the reception lady.

"Beautiful lady, I need a map of the Magic Forest. Are there any in stock?"

"Ah! Lord Leon!!" The reception lady gave a cry of surprise. She didn't expect to see the Hero, famous across four countries, at the border. For a moment, she was dazed by his look. Hero Leon just smiled, but the big-chested female mage beside him was dissatisfied.

"Hey!! Leon-卿 belongs to me!! You have no chance!!" She hugged Hero Leon's arm and began to perform upward and downward progressive mechanical repetitive friction movements using the Great Rift Valley of East Africa.

"Ah! Sor... Sorry!" The reception lady finally realized her rudeness and hurriedly apologized. Hero Leon smiled gently and patted the big-chested mage's shoulder.

"Alright, Julie, don't be impolite." He made an apologetic face to the reception lady.

"Miss, the map..."

"Ah? Oh! Okay, please wait a moment." The reception lady got up and went to the room behind, and after a while, she came back holding a parchment map, spreading it out in front of Hero Leon. Hero Leon scanned it and asked, "Miss, do you know the place of exile for the Kosovo family? Which road did they take to get there?" The reception lady didn't know why the Hero was asking this, but she still drew a circle on the map with her finger.

"The Kosovo family's place of exile is here, a barren land. Adventurers usually don't go there to hunt; it's too deep into the Magic Forest, very dangerous, and there are no roads. The route the Kosovo family took to the place of exile should be..." Her finger followed the big river marked as the Holy River.

"They should have followed the Holy River eastward. During the dry season of the Holy River, part of the riverbank is exposed, making the road much easier to walk." Hero Leon looked at the map and thought for a while, put away the map, thanked the reception lady, and led his partners out of the Adventurer's Guild. The four quickly left the town, found the Holy River, and ran along it into the Magic Forest.