The night over Elarion was alive with fire.

Snowstorms swept across the northern mountains while the massive fortress-city glowed beneath thousands of forge lights and mana lamps. Smoke rose endlessly into the freezing skies from newly expanded foundries while the sound of hammering echoed through the valleys like distant thunder.

Even at midnight—

The territory refused to sleep.

Workers transported steel through crowded streets. Engineers rushed between workshops carrying blueprints and mana crystals. Artillery crews tested fragmentation shells beyond the outer valleys while soldiers hauled ammunition crates toward underground depots.

The entire north felt like a giant machine slowly awakening.

And at the center of it all—

Stood Lucien Valcriox.

High above the fortress city, Lucien stood alone upon the upper battlements while cold winds swept through his black military coat.

Snowflakes drifted slowly around him.

Far below—

The engineering district burned brightly against the darkness.

The central workshop remained active despite the late hour, and even from this distance Lucien could hear dwarves screaming at each other over machinery.

Which honestly meant everything was functioning normally.

His gaze slowly moved toward the largest forge hall.

Inside rested Elarion’s newest creation.

The Warhound.

Unlike the massive landships, which resembled armored fortresses crawling across battlefields, the Warhound possessed an entirely different philosophy.

Everything about it emphasized mobility.

The armored hull sat lower to the ground with sharply sloped frontal plating designed to deflect incoming impacts rather than absorb them directly. Wide reinforced tracks wrapped around advanced suspension systems capable of traversing mud, trenches, snow, and broken terrain far more efficiently than older armored vehicles.

At its center rested the rotating turret.

And inside that turret— 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

A 57mm mana-assisted high-velocity cannon.

Not large enough to resemble siege artillery But terrifyingly efficient.

Armor-piercing shells. Fragmentation rounds. Mana-stabilized ammunition.

Combined with dual MG34 Stormhowl machine guns—

The machine had become a true battlefield predator.

Fast enough to maneuver. Armored enough to survive and Powerful enough to dominate infantry and cavalry alike.

The first true modern tank of this world.

Lucien quietly watched the workshop below.

Then slowly exhaled.

Even now—

Part of him still found this entire situation absurd.

Because none of this should exist at least not in this world

A memory surfaced briefly inside his mind.

Glass buildings,City lights,The sound of traffic.

Gunpowder documentaries. Military history books and warfare theories.

Another world.

Another life.

Lucien closed his eyes briefly.

He still remembered the moment clearly.

The crash followed by darkness.

Then waking inside the body of a dying noble child abandoned in the frozen north.

At first he had believed it was a dream.

Then madness.

Then fate.

But eventually—

Reality became impossible to deny.

He had transmigrated.

Reborn into another world carrying memories that never should have existed here.

And now—

Those memories had begun reshaping civilization itself.

The first rifle had changed infantry warfare.

Cannons had shattered medieval formations.

Machine guns had erased cavalry supremacy.

Landships had broken armies.

And now—

The Warhound would begin the age of mechanized warfare.

Sometimes—

Even Lucien wondered if he was turning this world into something monstrous.

Far below the battlements—

A gigantic golden dragon rested across several fortress towers like an oversized cat.

Aurethar.

The ancient golden dragon looked like a living mountain beneath the snowy skies while golden scales reflected forge fires brilliantly. His massive wings partially covered the battlements while smoke drifted lazily from his nostrils.

Without opening his eyes—

The dragon suddenly spoke.

"...You are thinking too loudly again."

Lucien glanced downward slightly.

"You can hear thoughts now?"

Aurethar opened one enormous golden eye lazily.

"No."

Smoke drifted upward slowly.

"But whenever you stare southward like that..."

The dragon’s eye narrowed slightly.

"...something unfortunate usually happens to kingdom."

Lucien almost smirked.

Footsteps echoed softly behind him.

Malen approached silently before stopping nearby.

"The royal messenger has retired for the night."

Lucien nodded slightly.

"And the workshops?"

"Still operational."

Malen hesitated briefly.

"The dwarves nearly killed three engineers during another argument regarding the mana drive."

"That means progress is being made."

"Yes."

Silence returned briefly as cold northern winds swept across the battlements.

Far below—

Another explosion echoed from the testing grounds.

Likely artillery Again.

Malen eventually spoke quietly.

"You’ve been thinking about the capital."

Lucien’s gaze remained fixed southward.

"Yes."

The royal invitation had changed everything.

Not because the king wanted to meet him.

That alone wasn’t surprising anymore.

After everything Elarion had accomplished—

Ignoring the north had become impossible.

What bothered Lucien was timing.

The crown had remained silent for years.

Even when Elarion suffered famine, northern territories nearly collapsed and Lucien himself had been exiled politically through noble maneuvering.

The capital had watched silently.

Yet now—

After:defeating the coalition army

The king suddenly extended an invitation.

That was not coincidence,it is a reaction like something you know only when you meet a set threshold.

Far below—

Aurethar slowly lifted his gigantic golden head.

"...The south smells rotten."

Malen visibly tensed slightly.

Lucien glanced downward.

"You can even smell politics now?"

The dragon rumbled softly.

"No."

Golden eyes narrowed slightly.

"I smell fear."

And that was the truth.

The capital feared Elarion.

Because the Warhound alone represented something horrifying.

A world where knights no longer ruled battlefields.

A world where steel and industry replaced bloodlines and noble prestige.

And Lucien—

A transmigrator carrying knowledge from another civilization—

Was accelerating that future faster than anyone realized.

His gaze slowly drifted toward the distant southern horizon again.

The capital.

The royal court.

The center of everything rotten within the kingdom.

Including—

Possibly—

The truth behind his mother’s death.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed slightly.

That matter had never truly disappeared from his thoughts.

Not after learning about the family elders ,discovering how Kassian had been maneuvered into the heir position and seeing the quiet hatred hidden beneath noble smiles.

Too many pieces didn’t fit together.

Too many coincidences existed.

And now—

The king himself suddenly summoned him southward.

Snow continued falling around the battlements.

Then suddenly—

DING.

Lucien’s eyes sharpened instantly.

The familiar sound echoed directly inside his mind.

A translucent blue screen appeared before him.

[Main Quest Generated]

[Go To The Capital]

[Quest Rank: Legendary]

Lucien’s gaze hardened immediately.

The system hasn’t issues main quest till now

and now it directly introduced a legendary one.

The screen shifted again.

[Objective:]

[Discover the hidden truth surrounding the royal court and the death of your mother.]

Cold winds swept across the battlements.

Lucien remained completely motionless.

The system continued.

[Description:]

[The royal invitation is not coincidence.]

[The hidden forces within the kingdom are beginning to move.]

[Someone in the capital knows the truth.]

[Find it.]

Lucien slowly narrowed his eyes.

Then—

The final lines appeared.

[Rewards Upon Completion:]

[???]

[Truth Authority Access]

[Special Civilization Unlock]

Silence returned.

Only the wind remained.

Malen immediately noticed the subtle change in Lucien’s expression.

"What happened?"

Lucien remained silent briefly.

Then finally answered:

"The capital just became unavoidable."

Malen frowned slightly.

"You already intended to go."

"Yes."

Lucien’s gaze darkened slightly.

"But now I know something is waiting for me there."

The system had confirmed it.

His mother’s death was not natural.

Someone had orchestrated it.

And someone within the capital knew why.

Aurethar slowly raised his gigantic golden head fully now.

Golden eyes studied Lucien carefully.

"...Interesting."

Lucien glanced downward.

"What."

The dragon’s deep voice rumbled softly.

"For the first time in a very long time..."

The dragon narrowed his eyes slightly.

"...you look angry."

Lucien did not answer immediately.

Because Aurethar was correct his suspicions had finally become certainty.

A memory surfaced briefly again.

A woman smiling gently.

Warm hands touching his hair.

A soft voice he barely remembered.

Not from his world.

From this body’s memories.

His mother.

Then another memory followed.

Blood,snow and silence

Lucien slowly closed his eyes briefly.

When he first transmigrated into this body—

He had not cared much about the original Lucien’s emotions.

Survival came first.

Understanding this world came first.

But over time—

The memories stopped feeling foreign.

The emotions stopped feeling artificial.

At some point—

The line between the original Lucien and himself had blurred completely.

And now—

Someone who had murdered his mother still lived comfortably within capital possibly.

Below the battlements—

The gigantic workshop gates slowly opened.

A low mechanical rumble echoed across the valley.

Then for the first time—

A partially completed Warhound tank rolled forward beneath its own power.

The sound of its tracks shook the snowy ground beneath it.

Workers immediately erupted into cheers.

Steam and mana exhaust rose from the rear engine vents while the turret rotated slowly for the first time beneath forge light.

Even unfinished—

The machine looked terrifying.

Malen stared downward quietly.

"...The world is changing too quickly."

Aurethar snorted smoke lazily.

"No."

The golden dragon’s eyes narrowed slightly toward the moving tank.

"It is changing exactly as quickly as he wants."

Lucien watched the Warhound silently.

The age of knights was ending.

And the age of industrial war had begun.

And somewhere far to the south—

The capital waited.

Alongside the truth buried beneath years of lies and now the perpetrators will pay for what they did....

Umm guys author here I was thinking that whenever the story takes a new turn i change the story cover according to it:)