Meanwhile, with the inlaying of the Level 5 Marvel—the Earth Spirit Source Stone—the previously strained output of the iron mine exploded.

Large quantities of Iron Ingots, processed at the Lava Fortress, were being transported to the Yanwu Military Equipment Supervisor.

Long Spears, Javelins, Zha Armor, Car-Mounted Crossbows.

At the same time, inside the Divine Machine Workshop, Li Yue was deep in discussion with five other men.

All five were recent recruits to the Qin Alliance and were older than Li Yue.

Among them were professionals in mechanical design, manufacturing, and automation; another in materials engineering like Li Yue; and even a machinist. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The group was arguing heatedly, red in the face, over how to shrink the Car-Mounted Crossbow into a portable Arm Crossbow that could be used by a single person.

"That plan of yours won’t work. Sure, you’ve made it smaller and the accuracy is decent, but it doesn’t have enough power! You’ve all seen the Hunting Team’s Arrow Skill. Not a single one of them has poor aim. In the time it takes to reload one bolt on that Arm Crossbow, they could have fired several arrows!"

"Well, yours has problems too! It weighs fifty or sixty pounds! Who the hell can run around carrying a fifty or sixty-pound Arm Crossbow? You think they’re all supermen?!"

Someone sighed in disappointment. "It’s a shame we can’t figure out why we can’t make gunpowder. We purified some saltpeter and mixed it according to the ’one part sulfur, two parts saltpeter, three parts charcoal’ recipe, but it just won’t ignite."

"I don’t think that’s the main issue. The priority has to be power. They’re up against huge beasts now. If it’s not lethal enough, we’d just be tickling them."

"But that’s what the Car-Mounted Crossbow is for, isn’t it? The whole reason you wanted to make an Arm Crossbow was to have a portable, smaller version of the Car-Mounted Crossbow."

"Exactly! But the key is a *miniature Car-Mounted Crossbow*, not a *miniature tickling pin*!"

"But the problem is, with the strength of the metal we have now, this is as good as it gets. We have to make a trade-off between weight and killing power."

Li Yue spoke up. "I have an idea. I remember reading online about the Divine Arm Crossbow from the Song Dynasty. It was incredibly powerful and difficult to draw by hand. So, they used their feet to brace it and their core strength from their waist and abdomen to span the crossbow. We could consider something like that. Besides, some of our people have had their strength greatly increase after their Extraordinary breakthrough. I bet they could even draw it by hand without any issue."

"Is our metal strong enough for that?"

"It should be. I made a test prod and it fires just fine. The main issue is the overall stability of the frame."

As they were discussing, someone walked in through the door.

"Captain!" Li Yue’s eyes lit up as he exclaimed happily.

"President." "President." The others chimed in.

Qin Ziwen asked, "I was just outside and heard you talking about a Divine Arm Crossbow. Are you planning to make a new crossbow?"

Li Yue nodded. "Yes. We want to make a high-powered crossbow for individual use—one that can be operated by a single person, or maybe two—and is portable enough to be carried and used in the field."

"That’s a good idea. Power is the priority," Qin Ziwen said.

’The Car-Mounted Crossbow is good, but it has its limits. Even with wheels, it’s still inconvenient to transport over complex terrain.’

’A more portable crossbow would be an excellent alternative.’

As Qin Ziwen left the Divine Machine Workshop, he heard a commotion coming from the Home nearby.

The crowd was in a bit of a panic. From the other side of the Node, Red Hare emerged, leading eight mares with a triumphant air.

The mares were nervous in this unfamiliar place. The sight of humans milling about was particularly unsettling, causing them to pace back and forth and neigh incessantly.

Red Hare was doing his best to calm them, but it didn’t seem to be working.

Then, the Beaked Eagle, having heard the commotion, flew over with a flutter of its wings.

Silence fell instantly.

The mares huddled together, trying to hide behind Red Hare.

But there were so many of them that they ended up forming a circle with Red Hare trapped right in the middle.

Red Hare: ...

The Beaked Eagle gave the group of mares below a casual glance. Any mare that met its gaze immediately lowered her head.

After watching them silently for a moment, the Beaked Eagle flew off without a sound.

Only after it was gone did the mares relax, though they no longer made a ruckus as they had before.

Watching his good buddy’s retreating figure, Red Hare’s eyes went red with envy.

’I want to learn how to do that too!’

Qin Ziwen watched Red Hare, lost in thought.

’Right now, Red Hare is just a normal animal. Any foals he sires with these wild mares will also be just normal horses.’

’But if he becomes an Extraordinary Horse... will the foals he sires then still be ordinary?’

’That was a question worth pondering.’

’For the time being, neither he, Du Yu, nor the Beaked Eagle could test this theory.’

’Only Red Hare could potentially provide an answer.’

’Should I use these last two days to have Red Hare make a push for it?’

’The Gobi Map was pretty much conquered for now anyway.’

’But forcing Red Hare to fight seemed like asking a bit much of the horse.’

’I can’t exactly expect him to bite a Duck-billed Dragon to death.’

’Maybe the breakthrough missions for herbivores like him were different.’

After a moment of thought, Qin Ziwen took out the dark gold Breakthrough Card, aimed it at Red Hare, and selected "Use."

The Breakthrough Card dissolved into countless motes of dark gold light that enveloped the horse.

[Please select an Extraordinary path for the Recruiter · Ordinary · Mongolian Horse]

[First Gear: Wind Chaser (Run over 200 kilometers every day for the next seven days.)]

[Second Gear: Reproducer (Within the next three days, successfully mate with an Extraordinary Creature and impregnate it.)]

[Third Gear: Victory’s Foot (While carrying a Rider, jointly defeat an Extraordinary Creature weighing no less than your combined total. Both you and the Rider must sustain zero damage. Time limit: 15 days.)]

Second Gear and Third Gear...

’Second Gear was out of the question.’

’Finding a fertile female Extraordinary Creature for him in three days was practically impossible.’

’As for Third Gear...’ Qin Ziwen sighed. ’This mission came too late for Red Hare.’

’But on second thought, the description specified jointly defeating it with a Rider. The intervention of a third party might invalidate it.’

’So even the Giant Rock Dragon hunt might not have counted.’

Qin Ziwen stared at the word ’Rider,’ and a thought suddenly popped into his head.

’This ’Rider’... it doesn’t explicitly say it has to be human, does it?’

’What if I have the Beaked Eagle ride Red Hare? If the Beaked Eagle then hunted an Extraordinary Creature, could it ’carry’ Red Hare to mission completion?’

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

’As for the First Gear mission, with the Healing Spring to eliminate fatigue, it was practically a guaranteed success.’

’But First Gear gave the weakest enhancement.’

’He was reluctant to just settle for First Gear...’ Qin Ziwen looked at Red Hare.

’No, this is Red Hare’s breakthrough. I should let him decide for himself.’

After hearing the three options, Red Hare stood rooted to the spot, looking dazed.

It wasn’t until Qin Ziwen prompted him several times that he snapped out of it as if from a dream and let out three long neighs.

"Good! Ambitious!" Qin Ziwen praised loudly.

Only after his master was a good distance away did Red Hare turn his head in frustration. That damn eagle was a sneaky bastard; it had secretly pinched his rump three times!

...

...