NOVPUBJust like that, a vast wave of public opinion quickly spread across the Northern Territory.
It was like a tide, spreading from one city to another.
Most of the races, holding the mentality of "having a look won’t cost anything," began gathering manpower and marching towards Green Grass City.
"Will the Dwarf Clan get angry?" This was a common concern among various large races.
But upon careful reflection, "Even if the Dwarf Clan gets angry, they will only go towards Green Grass City. What does it have to do with us small fry?"
"At that time, follow whoever wins!"
The exchange ratio of 1:50 was indeed shocking.
Even some races that had previously benefited from the Dwarf Clan now wanted to visit because of the new trading market.
Shaking the soul is easy, shaking interests is hard. It’s not that I don’t want to refuse, but because what they offer is too much!
Of course, these races were not easily convinced; they only brought a small amount of resources and dispatched teams, remaining in a state of observation.
...
...
In the southern part of the Northern Territory, there stood a towering active volcano, emitting endless heat, with sulfur and thick smoke constantly pouring out from the mouth.
Near the volcano, there was a massive engraving array, like a cage trapping the wild beasts of nature.
The Dwarf Clan, utilizing the "Volcano Harmony Rune Combination," continuously extracted geothermal energy from the volcano, ensuring their own energy supply while maintaining the volcano in a long-term stable state.
This is a magnificent Third-level Civilization Technology!
However, at this moment, the Dwarf Clan was not calm internally; a competitor had suddenly appeared, and its immense influence even affected their vassal civilizations.
"Many vassal civilizations are in a state of unrest."
"Should we mobilize the army for suppression?"
"No... you can suppress for a while, but not forever. Do you plan to annihilate all the civilizations that want to have a look?"
Many dwarves looked at the data in their hands, feeling angry.
Opening a trading market is acceptable and can be tolerated—many strong clans have small trading markets; this is very normal.
But the large-scale acquisition of Civilization Points is like picking the fruits of their years of effort!
Incredibly infuriating!
"Council President, we should directly go to war with that damn Green Grass City, use blood and warfire to intimidate the surrounding races!"
"The soldiers have heard this news and are already high-spirited and eager for battle. With just one order, we will go afar and bring destruction!"
This bearded humanoid creature is only about 1.5 meters tall, with a width of 1.5 meters as well, muscular and looking like clumps of muscle.
The Dwarf Clan has two branches.
One part is short-tempered, incredibly strong, good at mining and forging, named "Copperbeard Dwarf," with little patience.
The other part are the dwarven nobles, good at rune engraving, design, and other meticulous work, called "Storm Dwarf," with more patience and better temper.
"Alas, don’t make reckless suggestions, always wanting to fight, it’s practically self-destruction." The leading Storm Dwarf, the current Council President, stroked his beard and said helplessly, "First of all, this suddenly appearing Green Grass City is not weak, they focus mainly on pure materialism civilization, don’t you know this type of civilization is best at large-scale hot weapons?"
The current technologies Humans display are indeed primarily materialistic.
Generally speaking, the number of talents in a civilization is limited, making it difficult to balance both materialism and idealism paths.
The Council President continued: "Secondly, declaring war without any reason will only make other civilizations feel uneasy."
"They would be even less inclined to come to our trading market, after all, who would want to interact with a civilization that enjoys massacring?"
"Fifty years ago, we made a huge mistake! Back then, we were too impatient, for a slight gain, we bought Civilization Points from a small city at a low price. As a result, the news spread everywhere, damaging our reputation."
"There are rumors outside that we were scammers, saying we seized others’ Qi Fortune to develop so well, it’s truly... nonsense!"
Many council members recalled that incident and felt deeply resonant.
Each one looking dejected and dusty.
Public opinion in the Northern Territory is truly uncontrollable, the saying "extracting Civilization Points harms one’s Qi Fortune," this mystical remark, they explained a million times yet no one believed.
Misunderstood for a full 50 years.
In the end, as more and more documents were unearthed, misunderstandings were clarified, and the reputation of their city slowly recovered.
"Therefore, we absolutely cannot rashly go to war with Green Grass City!"
"Unless we find a reasonable excuse, otherwise it will only disrupt the current order. Our reputation cannot suffer even the slightest loss!"
The room fell into silence.
"You’re a smart person, listening to you." The Copperbeard Dwarf heavily patted the table, calming his mind.
"For now, we can only use the traditional method of the Northern Territory, gambling!"
"Hit the opponent’s reputation in all aspects!" the Council President murmured, "As long as we win the gamble, we can take back everything!"
"But, since they are vigorously collecting Civilization Points, obviously they are also a Third-level Civilization. And setting a 1:50 exchange ratio, how strong must their productivity be?"
1:50 is indeed exaggerated, the Dwarf Clan who prefers Ideal Technology cannot offer this price at all. Although they have entered the electricity era and have mechanical puppets, these puppets are based on Idealism Technology development and cannot be scaled up massively.
