The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend-Chapter 397 - Uprising of the Mine
Han Wu ran and reached the mine within half a day. The human slaves guarding the entrance spotted the golem and immediately sounded the alarm. Others rushed to their posts, ready for battle, and only stood down after confirming that Han Wu was the one piloting the golem.
After returning to the mine, Han Wu’s first order was to release the captured gnome noble. Since the gnomes had been generous enough to give him the golem, he decided to return the favor by releasing their kin.
The gnome noble knew nothing of what Han Wu had done in his kingdom. He strutted out of the prison with arrogance, thinking that Han Wu’s fate was sealed. Naturally, the sight of the Transmutation Golem beside Han Wu stunned him.
As one of the gnome nobles, he possessed all of the qualifications to know of the golem’s existence. Did the Gnome Lord surrender to him because he has the golem?
Han Wu wasn’t going to answer any questions and ordered his men to chase him out of the cave. He then piloted the golem in a mine rich in ore to start his experiment. Stepping into a huge pile of ore, he felt a surge of energy flow from the ore into the golem. As the energy poured in, the golem started to grow.
It expanded from five meters to six, then seven, eight, and finally ten before a loud rumble echoed from within. Han Wu then noticed that the golem gained a new ability called Manufacture, which allowed it to absorb energy from metals and create a lesser version of itself. The weaker golem stood five meters tall and matched the original’s defense and strength, but it lacked the ability to absorb energy from metals.
Han Wu was eager to test it and fed the golem a vast amount of ore to create the first lesser golem. He jumped into the lesser golem and confirmed his expectations—it possessed the same strength and defenses but couldn’t grow through metal absorption. It was a fixed product that wouldn’t change over time.
Even so, it was immensely powerful. It could destroy 1,000 units before falling. With the mine’s abundant ore, he continued to pilot the main golem and create more lesser golems. He intended to form the first golem army and use it to expand his influence.
Back in the outside world, the gnomes had spread word of Han Wu’s possession of the Transmutation Golem to every major faction in the Middle Realm. Before long, the various factions and species learned of what had transpired.
Most of the major factions had records of the Transmutation Golem. They feared it but coveted its power no less. The gnomes’ reports also described Han Wu’s current forces, revealing that he commanded only a few thousand human slaves and lacked any powerful combatants.
The various factions started to move and scheme. For someone weak, possessing such a treasure was a death sentence. The elves, humans, dwarves, and demihumans all readied their elite troops to march into the deep mountains. They would eradicate the mine and seize the golem for themselves.
Word of the situation soon reached the students of Imperial College as well. Qin Shuang, Jing Jing, and Sun Qingnian dropped what they were doing and rushed to Han Wu’s side to help him.
Several merchants also set their sights on the golem but didn’t want to offend Han Wu. Instead, they attempted to purchase it from him with extravagant sums.
Han Wu wouldn’t sell the golem, though he had no qualms about selling the lesser golems. He contacted some of the richer merchants and demonstrated their strength.
The merchants tested the lesser golems and were all shocked by their durability. Ordinary weapons couldn’t even scratch them. Only the dwarven master forgers, who had spent years crafting a single blade, could hope to leave the faintest mark on them. Yet even that was the limit of their sharpness. To truly destroy one required both a powerful weapon and a formidable warrior of exceptional skill.
The merchants immediately recognized their value and started calling out prices to purchase them. Han Wu had no interest in coin. He would be there temporarily, and their currency held no real worth for him. Its only purpose was to purchase more ores and slaves. The ores would let him manufacture additional golems, while the slaves would further increase his Faith Points.
When Qin Shuang, Jing Jing, and Sun Qingnian reached his base, they joined his work. Under his guidance, Qin Shuang and Sun Qingnian selected the Nine Martial Castes as their second Divine Power. Through it, they could obtain a portion of the Faith Points from Han Wu’s followers, which helped them turn their clones into Demigods.
Meanwhile, Jing Jing took over the skeleton production from Han Wu. Under her nurturing, the once-fragile skeletons grew ten times stronger and the spiritual flames within their skulls burned brighter.
As the four of them worked together, the mine’s influence steadily grew. However, before they could even expand further, the various factions’ elite forces arrived. They surrounded the mine and sent an envoy to issue their ultimatum: Han Wu was to surrender the Transmutation Golem or die.
Han Wu wasn’t going to be intimidated by them. He had wrested the Transmutation Golem from the gnomes with his own hands and would never yield it.
Seeing that Han Wu was adamant in his decision, the factions decided to destroy the mine. They would eliminate Han Wu and his human slaves first, then decide who would claim the Transmutation Golem.
A huge war erupted, and the area around the mine turned into a battlefield. Han Wu wouldn’t retreat before the elite troops and sent out his lesser golem army. A hundred of them surged from the mine to attack the first advancing wave.
Although they were facing the various factions’ elites, the lesser golems’ absurd defenses made them impervious to damage. None of the invaders could harm them.
Within two days, the allied forces had lost 3,000 soldiers, while Han Wu had only lost one lesser golem. He retrieved it from the battlefield, brought it back to the mine, and used the Transmutation Golem to absorb its energy, which he then used to create a new one.
At the same time, Jing Jing raised the various corpses into skeletons to fight against the allied army. After that battle, the various factions finally understood that Han Wu’s faction wasn’t as weak as they had imagined.
