Clang, clang, clang — three resonant bell tolls rang out in succession. The dwarves outside the "God of Craftsmen" temple all froze in place, clenching their right fists in a striking gesture as they prayed in unison:
"Great God of Steam, you are the master of machinery, the keeper of the art of forging — grant us strength and courage..."
"Though this 'God of Steam' seems different from the 'God of Steam' worshipped by the alchemical dwarves in Lontart — there are notable differences in both the prayer gestures and the prayer words." When Katrina and her friends
She glanced around and saw that the humans, werewolves, elves, and other non-dwarven races walking the streets had all stopped as well. Though they didn't join in the prayer, they seemed unwilling to interfere with the dwarves' noon prayer ritual, so they had similarly halted. Katrina thought to herself: "Judging by how familiar and natural their behavior is, the God of Craftsmen's transformation into the God of Steam must have been going on for some time."
The gradually unifying prayer voices created a strange resonance, making even those who weren't praying sense something grand and sacred. The air was thick with the rich aroma of wine, intoxicating enough to make one drunk.
This was the most distinctive feature of the Doomt Dwarven Kingdom — dwarves didn't just love ale; every variety of fine liquor fell within their range of interests. A large portion of the merchants who came and went were there to sell fine wines in exchange for ore and dwarven alchemical products.
Dwarves whose bloodlines had been modified by wizards possessed basic spiritual power. Combined with their practiced skill and natural talent, they could readily produce apprentice-level alchemical items, while low-tier and mid-tier items required dwarves who had awakened their bloodline power — the whole point of ancient high-tier wizards modifying them in the first place was to have them handle mid-tier, low-tier, and apprentice-level alchemical work, so as not to waste their own time.
As for high-tier alchemical items, very few dwarves could forge them, and their success rate was far lower than that of wizards. As for legendary-grade items, currently only the "God of Craftsmen" Heit could manage it through the use of Divine Arts combined with his own talent — even the "God of Valor" Oken couldn't do it.
Different areas gave off different aromas of wine, and when mingled together they could apparently make lightweights pass out entirely or feel rather uncomfortable. But born in the Shahlan Empire, Katrina had an extraordinary tolerance for alcohol. Rather than feeling repulsed, she took a deep breath and squinted her eyes in appreciation.
The noon prayer concluded. Katrina followed the tide of people back to the inn where she was staying, shut the windows, and began to Meditate, conserving her energy for tonight's operation — although dwarves were themselves limited in height, with "Steam Civilization" blood flowing through their veins they genuinely loved architecture that was both elegant and grand. So as long as you weren't a giant visiting Doomt, you wouldn't feel overly cramped. The average interior height of the stone houses here was four meters.
Time quickly passed to the middle of the night. On the streets, patrol squads of dwarven soldiers moved along faithfully and vigilantly. Because of the God of Craftsmen suddenly becoming the God of Steam and the "God of Valor" submitting to Him, among other things, the Doomt Kingdom was in a rather unstable state — sudden incidents would frequently erupt, with "cultists" opposing the great God of Steam stirring up various troubles. So while Hamina City appeared no less prosperous than before, it was actually in a state of outward ease but inward tension.
Katrina first set up a formation to dispel arcane fluctuations, then cast Greater Invisibility and other spells upon herself — though the Doomt Kingdom held no prejudice against wizards and even showed considerable reverence toward spellcasters, what she was about to do concerned their supreme spiritual leader, the "God of Craftsmen." A measure of caution was necessary.
She drifted to the ground as lightly as a feather, then began to sneak toward the "God of Steam" temple while looking up to observe the stars and the surrounding environment, calculating the position where the statue should be placed according to the coordinate variation pattern her teacher had given her.
"Why does this formula still need the specific coordinates of the major temples, plus the types and coordinates of the surrounding buildings..." Katrina silently recited the numerous parameters required, her expression quite puzzled. She truly couldn't grasp this coordinate variation pattern — what exactly was it trying to calculate, and why did it need so many bizarre parameters?
But these were her teacher's instructions, so she didn't dwell on it. After spending a good deal of time circling around, she finally calculated the specific coordinates. Then she quietly made her way toward a white stone sculpture to the southeast of the "God of Steam" temple.
"Is this Heit's statue?" Katrina examined it carefully.
The dwarven statue wore armor engraved with sacred patterns, held a massive hammer in its hands, its beard dragging down to its chest and concealing its face. In its eye sockets were two radiant sunstones.
"In comparison, the statue Teacher gave me is really ugly..." Katrina took out the small statue Lucian had handed her and shook her head with a rueful laugh. "Teacher's sense of aesthetics always seems to swing wildly up and down."
No one could deny Lucian's aesthetic sense when it came to music, magic tower construction, and the lunar chronometer, and the numerous ideas he'd proposed for "Voice of Mystery" had been eye-opening as well. But very often, the ideas he came up with and the things he created had such uniquely peculiar taste that they were hard for anyone else to accept — like this dwarven statue assembled from numerous metal parts. Originally it radiated an air of cold, icy detachment that looked quite impressive, but then he had given it a completely bald head covered in eerie dark-green illustrations, giving anyone who looked at it a disconcerting sense of their mind wavering.
Suppressing her smile, Katrina focused her attention and, following Lucian's instructions, made the bald dwarven statue float over to the heart area of the "God of Craftsmen" Heit's statue. Then she began to chant the lengthy and complex incantation in a low voice.
Though the incantation was written in the ancient Arcane Empire's script, it carried a strange sense of divine ethereality. Gradually, silver-white rays of light emerged from the bald dwarven statue, extending outward in all directions like a vast net designed to seize control of the heart.
"You are the dominion of the mind, the emperor among gods — you are the great God of Steam. Permit me to call upon your name, the supreme and peerless Yuri — grant me the power to command all..."
Amid the chanting, portions of those silver-white light strands extended into the heart area of Heit's statue, while others merged with the surrounding void, triggering waves upon waves of tremors.
Within the tremors, specks of pure, holy light appeared, like tiny angels — they issued ethereal and wondrous hymns, praises, and prayers, dancing above and below Yuri's statue.