"Despite energy shields and defense spells?" asked Noah.
"Yes. Nothing would save you. Those energy waves go through anything, including your shields, spells, and anything for that matter,"
Hammond's answer stunned Noah. If what Hammond said was true, which Noah believed to be true, the harm the device could do was unimaginable. Because of the spells and cultivation stages, a group of people in the lower stages of the cultivation wouldn't go to war against stronger cultivators. At the end of the day, these cultivation stages kept the world peace in a delicate balance. However, this device would change it forever. Suppose soone had mass-produced this device and sold it like typical swords and weapons, cultivation stages wouldn't stop people from going to war against the strong. While the strong could retaliate against and when powerful cultivators fought, it was the commoners and the world that suffers the most damage.
"The dwarves finished building the device a month ago and forced to build a prototype to show others what it could do," said Hammond.
"Where is this device of yours?"
"It's not mine. Not anymore. Mine doesn't kill people. They forced to change my device to sothing else. Noah…I an Supre Guardians, once the dwarves sell it to the highest bidder, there is no stopping them from mass producing it. I designed it to be built with common materials and easy to produce for the sake of the poor,"
Noah rubbed his temples as it turned out to be a bigger problem than he initially thought. He couldn't help imagining the device in the hands of the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord was already rapidly growing in terms of power, influence, and number of soldiers in his army. Once the Dark Lord got hold of the weapon, the advantage the great eight clans had would beco a thing of the past.
"Tell Hammond," Noah leaned forward,
"Do you think your device could kill a Half Immortal or people above it?"
Hammond went silent for a mont to think about Noah's question. To be honest, Hammond didn't think who was the strongest his device could kill as much as he thought how far his device could send ssages.
"Theoretically, it's possible. You know, after you reach the Half Immortal stage, your body goes through changes both physically and ntally. I haven't seen the dwarves putting a Half Immortal against their weapon. But with enough resources, ti, and talent, they could modify it to be effective against Half Immortals too. It is possible. Oh god, what have I done?" Hammond gasped and stuttered, realizing the potential threat his invention could cause.
"Ti, resources, and talent are what the dwarves have in abundance," Noah sighed.
"Listen to , Supre Guardian. You have to find it and destroy it. Don't think of using it against the Dark Lord or his army. Nothing good will co from that,"
Noah wasn't sure of that, but he made no promise to Hammond. Instead, he questioned Hammond,
"Let's just say I find it and destroy it as you said. What's stopping the dwarves from building the weapon again from scratch?" asked Noah. The dwarves may haven't designed the weapon, but they built it with their own hands. If Noah's experience with dwarves was anything, he knew they could build the weapon later on.
"My blueprints. They have them in a secured safe with the weapon itself. If you destroy those, the dwarves won't be able to build it again. It's too complex for them to build it again using guesswork,"
"Where is it?" asked Noah, to see Hammond shake his head.
"I only knew it was sowhere in Dalgarum. They didn't give a room with windows to see what was going on outside. I was a prisoner to them,"
A few minutes later, Alicia and Norvin entered the room with the map of Dalgarum. They placed the map on the table between Noah and Hammond.
"Hammond, you are going to help us locate the weapon and the blueprints. Let's begin with the size of the weapon," said Noah.
"How big is it? Can you fit in a room?"
Hammond shook his head,
"More like you need a hall, a specious one at that. Like a throne hall," said Hammond.
Noah picked up the quill, drenched it in ink, and circled a few areas in the map. They all had paces which had halls big enough like a typical throne hall. Norvin's brows arched up, seeing Noah had actually circled the dwarven king's palace itself.
"What's the size of the prototype you ntioned that the dwarves built?"
"It's smaller compared to the real thing. The last ti I saw it, it was the size of a carriage,"
"Hmm," Noah rubbed his clean-shaven chin.
"They couldn't have openly transported through the stress. Our n would have noticed it. They must have used the underground tunnels,"
Dalgarum had more underground tunnels than the hairs in Norvin's true form. When the dwarves were at war with the elves several hundred of years ago, they built these tunnels to transport weapons and n, avoiding the elven eyes. Then after the war ended, they used these tunnels to transport goods throughout the kingdom. With ti, many of the underground passages got forgotten, and their maps just disappeared. However, the rumor was the Han Torum still possessed the full map of the underground passage.
With a flick of his wrist, Noah took out a translucent parchnt and placed it above the Dalgarum map. The candlelight illuminated the various webs of lines running throughout the kingdom.
"Is that what I think it is?" Norvin's eyes widened in shock.
"Yes. Every dwarf indeed has a price," said Noah. Obviously, he was not proud of bribing a dwarf, but he had no choice. Unfortunately, it wasn't gold coins he used to bribe the dwarf but a favor. So when the ti ca, Noah had to repay the favor. Noah felt the price was worth it if he could stop a mass destruction weapon from falling into the wrong hands.
After Noah placed the underground tunnel map on the Dalgarum map, he noticed several tunnels running beneath the area he had circled previously. A smile rged with Noah's smile as he figured out the place where the dwarves were holding the weapon. He knew the dwarves were holding an auction in the entertainnt district in Embercrest. Since the prototype was the size of a carriage, he established that they had to move it through the tunnels. And only one circled place was connected to the theatre through a tunnel, the shipyard.
"You said your room had no windows, right? Have you noticed tal rust quickly in your room?" asked Noah, although he knew what would be Hammond's answer.
"Bow that you ask , yes. The dwarves mostly used wood, but when my inventions required the iron, and they indeed rusted a bit sooner than I used to,"
"That was because you were close to the ocean," said Noah.
Realization hit Hammond as he figured out why the dwarves were so adamant about moving the weapon to a safer environnt. As much as Hammond knew his inventions, he lacked the people skills to read people and predict their behavior like Noah.
"Norvin, gather the team and tell them we are moving out in ten minutes," Noah ordered Norvin.
He then turned his gaze toward Alicia,
"Keep him safe. As far as the dwarves are concerned, Hammond died in the accident. To the rest, Hammond doesn't exist. No matter what, the Dark Lord or his army cannot learn we have him,"
The mont Hammond heard Noah ntion the Dark Lord, he shuddered.
"You think the Dark Lord might target ? Why? Oh my god…what did I do? Shit shit shit," Hammond collapsed on the chair behind him. He sweated bullets as his entire body trembled uncontrollably.
"Shit, he is having a panic attack," Alicia coldly said. Norvin was actually surprised that even a hostage like Hammond had heard about the Dark Lord enough to have a panic attack when he learned the Dark Lord might target him. It was quite shocking for Norvin to see people pissing their pants just by the re ntion of the Dark Lord's na. After Ghost revealed himself as the Dark Lord and destroyed the entire island of Itholan, so people refused even to address him by his na, 'Ghost'. More and more people were joining in this fear parade and addressing him only as the Dark Lord. Even so of the guardians weren't an exception to this.
Noah imdiately tossed the pill into Hammond's mouth and cald his nerves. Three pills, Noah used three pills, and they were quite powerful. Still, Hammond took them like candies.
"Relax, take a deep breath," Noah slowly said to Hammond.
"We will keep you safe. He won't get to you because he doesn't know you exist. Besides, he is in the demons grave. So you are safe here," Noah's words sohow cald Hammond. He had that certain effect on people since he was the god of light. His aura could bring hope and calmness to everyone, just like Michael's aura could bring our fear and hopelessness.
"You will soon be relocated to one of our safe houses, and no one will ever bother you again. You will be able to work on your inventions that make the world a better place, not weapons to do the opposite. You have my word," Noah promised Hammond.
Alicia knew most of the guardians, and even Andreas would disagree with Noah. Instead of wasting Hammond's talents inventing things that helps the commoners, they would prefer building new, more powerful weapons that could give them an edge in the fight against the Dark Lord. A world without the Dark Lord was a better world for everyone, including commoners.
But Noah did not think like that. He knew any weapon they created with Hammond's talents would eventually land in the wrong hands, especially when people were so easy to bribe and blackmail. Noah did not want to take that chance. After calming down Hammond and leaving him with Alicia, Noah, and Norvin left the room and returned to Noah's room.
"Next stop, the shipyard in Dalgarum," said Noah before activating the teleporter array in his room.
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