Chapter 155: The Iron Factory of Despair

Chapter 155: The Iron Factory of DespairIn the world of Glory Lords X, the Tower faction’s unit system is broadly divided into three main types. First up, we’ve got the Construct Class—these are the mechanical golems, like the Tier 13 Arcane Colossus and the Tier 14 Titan Giant. This class forms the backbone of the Tower faction, both in terms of numbers and raw power. The flagship force behind this class is the Silver Empire, which basically serves as the Tower’s military powerhouse in the Glory Lords X universe. Next, there’s the Summoning Class—units like the Tier 13 Arcane Eagle and the Tier 14 Heavencall Eagle. These are magical creatures conjured into battle, and while they’re not quite as dominant as the constructs, they’re still a major force. The Seven Cities Alliance represents this class within the Tower faction. To put it bluntly, the Construct and Summoning classes make up about 90% of the Tower’s entire army composition. And that last 10%? That’s where the Beastkin Class comes in. This group includes units like the Tier 12 Naga Queen and Rakshasa Kshatra, as well as Tier 11 units like the Naga Siren and Rakshasa Raja. But here’s the catch: the Tower’s Beastkin units don’t include any Legendary or Mythic-tier units. So compared to the other two classes, they’re definitely the underdogs. But that doesn’t mean Beastkin units don’t have Legendary or Mythic forms in the Glory Lords X world—it’s just that the Tower faction doesn’t have access to them. The real heavy-hitters in the Beastkin line are the Behemoths. Behemoth – Tier 13 Legendary Unit Ancient Behemoth – Tier 14 Mythic Unit But wait—aren’t those Stronghold faction units? What do they have to do with the Tower? Actually, quite a bit. See, in the lore of Glory Lords X, the Beastkin were originally created by the Tower’s archmages. But eventually, the Beastkin rebelled, broke away from the Tower, and formed their own faction—what we now know as the Stronghold. That said, not all Beastkin left. Some stayed loyal to the Tower, and they became the Tower’s third unit class—the Tower Beastkin. Now, let’s talk about the Diamond Golem. This unit belongs to a sub-branch of the Construct Class known as the Metal Golem Line. The Tower’s Construct Class is mainly centered around puppet-like golems—your classic magical automatons. The most iconic examples, like the Arcane Colossus and Titan Giant, fall under this puppet golem category. Think of them as Arcane Automatons—intricate machines powered by arcane energy, filled with gears and magical circuitry. Metal Golems, on the other hand, are built entirely from solid metal. No gears, no arcane internals—just brute force and heavy plating. This line includes units like: Tier 5 Stone Golem Tier 6 Iron Golem Tier 10 Gold Golem Tier 11 Diamond Golem While both Arcane Automatons and Metal Golems are technically constructs, they’re built on completely different principles. Two separate systems, really. Metal Golems have some very clear strengths and weaknesses. On the plus side, they’re absolute tanks—tough as hell and hit like a freight train. But they’re also slow, not particularly bright, and have a massive weakness to fire. To put it in numbers, fire-based magic deals at least 200% damage to Metal Golems. And the lower the unit’s tier, the more devastating the effect. Still, despite their flaws, you can’t ignore what Metal Golems bring to the table. They’ve got insane health pools. And their damage output? Brutal. No exaggeration—Tier 12 Diamond Golems are so tanky and hit so hard, they can almost go toe-to-toe with the Tier 13 Bone Dragon! And sure, the Bone Dragon from the Necropolis faction has a bit of a reputation—it’s often called the "shame of the Legendary Units"—but hey, it’s still a legit Legendary Unit. So the fact that a Diamond Golem can match it in both health and damage? That’s seriously insane. Which is exactly why, the moment Cicero brought it up, Ethan’s interest was piqued. He leaned in and asked, "Alright, spill it. What’s the story?" Cicero took a moment to flip through the orange-covered tome, The Iron Factory of Despair, scanning its pages before finally speaking. "Thousands of years ago, during that massive war between the Inferno and Tower factions, the Inferno Devils were on a rampage—crushing everything in their path. They pushed deep into Tower territory, laying waste to everything they touched. One of the places they hit was the homeland of the Diamond Golem hero—a fortress belonging to one of the Tower’s archmages." "That battle was a disaster. Practically a total wipeout. And just before the city fell, the archmages, desperate to protect their life’s work from being destroyed by the Inferno Devils, cast a massive spatial spell. They sacrificed their lives to teleport all the Golem Foundries out of the fortress..." Cicero paused here, his expression turning a little strange. "...But it seems their luck ran out." "Ran out?" Ethan blinked. "How so?" "Well..." "The spatial magic sent the Golem Foundries to another dimension. But not just any dimension—it was a world made entirely of fire. Like, literally. The whole place was just endless flames." "..." Ethan was speechless. Yeah, that’s not just bad luck—that’s catastrophic. As everyone knows, fire is the ultimate nemesis of Metal Golems—like, seriously, it’s their worst nightmare. And that goes for Metal Golem unit heroes too. No exceptions. So yeah, it’s not even an exaggeration to say that in a world built entirely out of fire, Metal Golem units and their heroes are basically screwed. It’s even worse than Inferno’s own hellish domain. Brutal doesn’t even begin to cover it... "So what’s the point of this ’The Iron Factory of Despair’ then?" Ethan asked, raising an eyebrow. "To save themselves," Cicero said slowly, his eyes narrowing. "That Diamond Golem hero gave up his Crimson Ultimate power and forcefully shattered the dimensional barrier to send this book—imbued with the soul of a unit hero—back to the main world. He was hoping someone would find it... and come rescue them." "Rescue them?" Ethan blinked, then narrowed his eyes, murmuring, "Wait... you mean this book can help us locate the alternate world they’re trapped in? But even if we could find it, there’s no way we could break through the dimensional barrier with our current strength, right?" In the world of Glory Lords X, there’s the main world—and then countless alternate dimensions. Between them lies an incredibly tough, nearly impenetrable spatial barrier. It keeps the worlds sealed off from each other, making travel or communication between them nearly impossible. Unless you’ve got a top-tier Tier-4 Strategic Artifact, or the power of a Crimson Ultimate hero who’s undergone a second awakening, there’s no way to break through. That’s the kind of power it takes to cross between worlds. And yeah, Ethan and his crew were nowhere near that level yet. "You’re right—we can’t break the barrier ourselves," Cicero said, his eyes gleaming as he looked at Ethan. "But that Diamond Golem hero already did it. He gave up his Crimson Ultimate power and tore open a rift between the alternate world and the main world. If we can find that rift, we can summon them back—bring them into our world." "Seriously?" Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. "But how the hell are we supposed to find that rift?" If what Cicero was saying was true—if they could actually recruit that Diamond Golem hero and the entire Golem Foundry unit system—it’d be like scoring a Legendary-tier Creature Dwelling. Maybe even better. First off, even if the hero lost his Crimson Ultimate power, he should still be at least at the Legendary (orange) level. That’s huge. Legendary heroes are rare even among major factions—let alone for a mid-tier force like Emerald Castle. Second, the so-called Golem Foundry probably isn’t just one Creature Dwelling. It’s more like a whole network of Metal Golem production facilities—covering everything from Basic Units to Elite, Champion, and even Royal Units. If they could get their hands on that entire production line, Emerald Castle would instantly leap forward in power—something that would normally take them years of grinding to achieve. Who wouldn’t want that? "I can sense the general direction through the soul of the unit hero inside the book..." Cicero said, holding up The Iron Factory of Despair and giving it a little shake. Then he looked up, eyes fixed toward the south. "It’s that way. But it’s far. Really far." "South, and far..." Ethan muttered, gazing off in that direction. "Could it be out at sea?" South of Sylvanwood was the Unicorn Duchy. And south of the Unicorn Duchy... was the ocean. If the rift really was somewhere out there on the open sea, then yeah—he’d definitely have to make time to check it out. He’d already been planning to head that way soon anyway. His second base—his dual-development strategy—was going to be set up on the coast. Maybe even on an island. "Alright, let’s head back and call a meeting," Ethan said, making up his mind. "Mm." Cicero nodded. At the same time, Ethan summoned the Ancient War Tree, Oakenmaw, back into his system space. ... Before long, the council chamber of Emerald Castle was filled with the hum of quiet anticipation. Ethan sat at the center throne, his posture relaxed but commanding. To his left and right were the seven pillars of Emerald Castle’s might: Elynn, Cicero, Seraphina, Elyra, Eldorin, Bromir, and Lilith. These were the castle’s seven unit heroes—two Crimson Ultimates, three Legendary (orange-tier), and two Epic (purple-tier). Every single one of them was present. No absentees. No excuses. Ethan didn’t waste time with pleasantries. "I called you all back for one reason," he said, voice steady and direct. "I want your input on the next phase of Emerald Castle’s development." He glanced at Cicero, then continued, "Also, Cicero and I stumbled onto something big. I want you to hear it and weigh in." Without further delay, Ethan laid it all out—the story of the Diamond Golem hero, the mysterious book The Iron Factory of Despair, and the potential existence of the Golem Foundry hidden in another world. As soon as he finished, Eldorin leaned forward, eyes gleaming with excitement. "My lord," he said without hesitation, "if we can get our hands on that Metal Golem factory, it would be a massive boost to Emerald Castle’s strength!" He paused, then added with a confident nod, "Let’s be honest—when it comes to unit heroes, we’re not lacking. Elyra, Elynn, Lilith, Bromir, and myself—we’re more than enough to hold up an entire kingdom on our own." "And that’s not even counting Cicero and Seraphina—two Crimson Ultimates. Outside of the major factions, even some of the top-tier nations can’t match that." "But our weakness," Eldorin said, his tone sharpening, "is in our unit diversity. We don’t have enough troops. Not enough Creature Dwellings. That’s our bottleneck."