From a bird's view, the shipyard was built in a way that would look like a giant 'T'. The left side of the shipyard had a frigate almost finished being built, and the other side had a man o war. The dwarves were building these ships under the king's order. Although Han Torum was one of the great eight clans, their leader was the king himself, unlike the Guardian Guild, where the leader was no king but was called Supreme Guardian, who answered to no king. Meanwhile, the straight platform stretching toward the ocean contained materials needed to build the ships. It had a warehouse and a giant forge that fumed heat and ash. Noah could hear the dwarves hitting metal with their hammers. Thanks to his senses, he located six dwarves on guard. Two dwarves stood on the shipyard's edge, looking at the ocean. Two more dwarves patrolled the forge while another two dwarves stood on either side of the roof with their crossbows.

Noah swam toward a cargo ship docked at the shipyard and slowly emerged from the water. Luckily, the cargo ship was the size of a small fishing ship and had no dwarves on board. It was empty as far as Noah could see.

" I count six dwarves, Supreme Guardian," Neela whispered after emerging from the water.

"No more calling me by my rank or name," Noah said to Neela and the others.

"Position yourself to take out the dwarves at the same time. Wait for my signal,"

"As you wish," Neela said before merging into the water once again. His team was competent, and he didn't need to micro-manage them every single time. They coordinated among themselves and positioned them from where they could take out the dwarves with blow darts. These darts were laced with Noah's own concoction, a powerful knockout serum. Since all these dwarves were at the Body Strengthening stage, they only had to use a small dosage.

"Is it true the dwarf king is only a Core Formation warrior? How could they be one of the great eight clans when their leader is just a Core Formation warrior?" Norvin asked Noah.

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"Don't underestimate the dwarves by their weak cultivation power. They substitute that with connections, wealth, and their superior dwarven engineering. Also, have you heard of Mogels, the mercenary guild? The dwarves in there aren't weak. They use some kind of blood ritual to boost their cultivation," while the team was taking their position, Noah discussed the dwarves with Norvin. When it came to what was happening in Awor, Norvin pretty much had no idea. He was learning the power dynamics and the other racers in Awor little by little. So Norvin seemed a little ignorant to some in the guild.

Noah noticed Neela and his team raising their thumbs, indicating they were in position. They waited for his signal as Noah leaned to the side, taking another look at the dwarves. Then, he snapped his fingers, creating a quick flash of light. This flash was the signal. And the moment the team saw it, they raised their blowguns, blew into it, and sent a dart soaring through the air.

"Ouch.Blimey!" One of the dwarves slapped his neck as he felt a sting. But there was something between his hand and neck. The dwarf pulled it out to see a tiny town-inch arrow made of what seemed to be silver.

In a blink of an eye, the serum kicked in as the dwarves rolled their eyes upwards before collapsing down.

"Move," Noah ordered the team as he leaped out of the water and dashed into the shipyard. Although the shipyard where the dwarves build secret weapons, they didn't put too many dwarves to guard. They believed too many guards would draw unwanted attention to the place. Hence, they had few guards, and they never opened their mouths about the underground facility, even when they were drunk. Their secrecy worked in Noah's favor. Inside the shipyard, he saw countless ship parts and giant chains hanging from the ceiling. Everywhere he turned, he saw nothing but metal, ship parts, wood, and empty mugs.

Norvin leaped onto a chain above and looked around the shipyard to locate the underground passage. The dwarves might be drunk and hot-headed but not stupid enough to keep the weapon in plain sight. Norvin's eyes glistened like rubies as he used magical perception to see through the shipyard. Everything seemed normal and not out of place until his gaze fell on a golden train running down from a lever hidden behind a stack of wooden crates.

"There," Norvin pointed his finger at the wood crates as Noah and the team slowly sneaked toward it. Meanwhile, they noticed a couple of dwarves walking toward them. They fell down as fast as they entered the room. Noah turned and saw Neela with the blowgun. Her reaction was too fast to the point none of her teammates realized that she had just fired two blow darts.

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Noah gave a nod of approval before turning his gaze back to Norvin.

"Knock out everyone and meet me down," said Noah. Since Norvin's true form was small and he could move around the shipyard without getting detected, Noah tasked Norvin with knocking out the dwarves. Even if he somehow got caught, the dwarves wouldn't connect this to the guardians. After all, all they saw was a monkey. Speaking of being a monkey, Norvin took out a brown pill from his space ring and tossed it into his mouth. As soon as the pill melted down, his golden fur turned mud brown. Without the shiny golden fur, he looked like a regular monkey.

"Go ahead," Norvin whispered, turned around, and leaped toward the shipyard's left side, where they were building a frigate.

"Follow me," Noah said to his team as they slowly sneaked toward the crates. When they reached the stack of crates neatly placed on top of each, Noah slightly moved the stacks. The wooden crates were surprisingly heavy, which made Noah wonder what was inside of them. The crates moved, making a creaking sound. Then the lever was exposed. However, it was not the typical lever that, when pulled down, would open a door. Instead, this lever made of thick, black metal had numerous tiny gears, nuts, and bolts. On top of that, there were six keyholes beside the lever.

"Should we search those dwarves? They might have the keys," said Neela. Noah nodded as the team swiftly moved away from Noah to search the dwarves. A few minutes later, Neela and the others returned to Noah. Unfortunately, they came empty-handed.

"We found no keys, Supreme Guardian. All they had was their swords and mugs," Neela creased her sword-sharp brows.

They thought coming here empty-handed would disappoint Noah. On the contrary, he just smiled. Honestly, he expected the dwarves to have some kind of mechanism to protect the entrance. Otherwise, it would be too easy for anyone to enter their secret lair. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for the dwarves, Noah possessed a primordial flame. Neela's face brightened with the blue flames dancing above Noah's hands. No matter how many times they had witnessed the blue flames, they still had the same dumbfounded look on their faces when Noah conjured the flames for the zillionth time. The flame had a certain effect on the guardians. The heavenly flames had a radiant energy that made them calm, courageous, and fearless.

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Under their gazes, Noah moved the ball of heavenly flames toward the lever and let the heat creep into the keyholes. The metal slowly turned blue to the color of the flame. Inch by inch, the heavenly flames melted down the lock, and then, the lock clicked. Noah pushed open the door, revealing a dimly lit staircase that led to the dwarven secret lair.

But the opening came with a catch. They weren't built with humans and long-legged species in mind. Instead, it was meant for the dwarves to use. Hence, the doorway was only four feet tall. Noah crouched down and entered the doorway, followed by his team. They were careful not to make any sounds until they could locate the weapon and the dwarves guarding it. After climbing down almost fifty steep steps, everyone, including Noah, felt a chill running down their spines. Hammond wasn't kidding when he said the weapon was massive in size. It was almost the size of a frigate. Compared to it, the prototype was just a baby. The weapon didn't even need to be powered up, but if someone simply blew into one end, the bell-shaped mouth would amplify the volume loud enough to kill several commoners.

"Put on your masks," Noah ordered the team. He saw several dwarves and no way of knocking them out without getting caught. One by one, Noah's team put on a porcelain mask resembling the face of a mannequin. When they wore the masks, their ears grew a few inches outwards, making them look pointy and elven-like. Those who look at Noah's team would immediately believe they were elves wearing masks.

The dwarves and elves hated each other for all reasons, and Noah didn't think adding one more to the pile wouldn't make much of a difference. Initially, he considered using black skull masks to portray themselves as the Dark Lord's army. But after thinking of the dwarves' nature of hot-headedness, he immediately removed that idea from his head. Because if the dwarves went against the Dark Lord, he would kill them, and he would reduce their entire clan to the ground without a shred of mercy.

Noah slowly walked forward, stretching his arms and neck.

"Stop what you're doing ya filthy animals," Noah's thunderous voice swept across the yard. He was quite good at the way elves would speak to the dwarves in a situation like this. The dwarves almost jumped from their feet when they heard the sudden voice. They immediately jumped down from the weapon, rushed out from the corners, and climbed down through the chains with their battle axes in hand.

"Bloody elves," the dwarves were more furious than they were shocked. Just the sight of pointy ears made their blood boil. The dwarves didn't even mind the huge cultivation gap between them. That was why the dwarves were often called hot-blooded and borderline stupid when it came to a battle.

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"Kill those fucking pointy-eared fucks!" one of the dwarves raised his battle ax, crying out loud.