To the east of the Bloodhill forest, a 932,566 sq. km of area separates the Phoenix Empire in the south and the Leon Empire in the central region of the Eastern Continent.
This mountainous range at the equator was inhabited by one of the six intelligent humanoid creatures known as Dwarves. The other five are the elves, werewolves, vampires, dragons, and humans.
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, before the age of ether, back when humans were nothing but cavemen who are the bottom of the food chain, beasts would be seen everywhere on the midelleas (earth).
The dragons are the overlord of the world but they don't meddle with anyone unless they were hungry. The majority of the time, they will just sleep. But, when they wake up, they cause nothing but destruction. That's why ancients probably say, "Never tickle a sleeping dragon."
The vampire and werewolves were the mutated race, which evolved from primitive humans.
The vampires look tall and skinny; have long white hair, pale skin, amber eyes, fangs, and bat-like wings. Their appearance was quite elegant when compared to the rest of the creatures, back then.
The werewolves, on the other hand, looked like furred humans but with buffed bodies and enhanced physical abilities.
Both of them were vastly at odds with each other from the beginning as if they were natural enemies. Maybe, it's due to the fact that they have particularly long life spans. One can even say they are like immortals when compared to the other creatures.
With the intelligence of humans and the power of beasts, both of them are the perfect sentient beings on the planet, according to their beliefs. Naturally, they sought lordship, the authority to rule.
However, there's but one slight problem to their conquest. Two other races formed their own kingdoms long ago.
Being one with nature and able to use natural energy, the Elves built their villages in forests while being constantly alert against predators.
The dwarves, on the other hand, didn't have enough combat ability to face the wild beasts. So, they put their focus on building fortress cities around the mines. The mountains act as their natural defense.
With their manufacturing ability, the dwarves made bows and swords for the elves while the latter swore that they will protect them from any invasion.
But, due to one attack from a dragon on one fortress, everything changed.
The dragons love gold and treasures and the dwarves have loads of them. The nearby elves couldn't face them. So, they backed out.
The twenty or so dwarves became homeless and wandered around to find a new home. In the end, they encountered a village full of humans.
The dwarves got shelter and food. They decided to live for a while. Eventually, they found out that humans are weak in combat, have low longevity,and low intelligence but have two amazing capabilities.
One is that they can reproduce at an alarming rate for they don't have any mating season like the beasts. The other is that they can somehow absorb the energy present in the Spirit Beasts, although nine out of ten times, they will fail to become stronger due to not knowing how to refine that energy.
The dwarves gave weapons to humans to empower their defense.
Slowly, the time changed. The intelligence of humans grew leaps of bounds as their brains developed due to evolution. Once they grasped the power of ether, they became far stronger than others.
They grew so strong that the 20-odd dwarves even got back their kingdom after the dragon was slewed and the term dragon slayer emerged.
Over time, the relations between the race of dwarves and humans improved on a worldwide scale.
The Vampires, werewolves, and the elves were forced to flee the eastern continent; the pure dragons became extinct; the wild beasts were either destroyed or imprisoned; while the dwarves were allotted a piece of land to comfortably rule until the end of time.
A sacred pact was made between the human rulers and the dwarven rulers more than 10 thousand years ago where no human emperor or king can ever set to conquer the land of dwarves.
In return, the dwarves cannot deny the requests to make weapons for the humans as long as they were paid proper compensation for the task. The dwarves cannot also side with any human empire and will continue to stay neutral.
The region is peaceful for the past ten millennia no matter which dynasty rules what land.
At the dwarven fortress city of Bernladur, a carriage pulled by two rhinos of 4-circle realm slowly entered through the east gate and was escorted by an official of the city.
Upon reaching the duke's residence, the vehicle stopped and two men stepped down from it.
The official took them inside and let them meet the duke who rules the city and the surrounding areas. There were a total of 9 regions present in the land of dwarves, each one ruled by a duke. All of them in turn were vassals for the King.
"Welcome to Bernladur, Lord Nie." Duke Rundrok greeted the two guests from the Nie clan.
As everyone took a seat and the guests were served wine, the duke asked the reason for their visit.
The revenue minister Nie Rougang and his brother, Nie Hong looked at each other before the latter took out a revolver from his storage card and handed it to his elder brother.
Nie Rougang handed it to the duke, "Lord Rundrok, we want to know about this."
"Hmm?" The Dwarf observed the pistol curiously. As he caressed it, he spoke in admiration, "the craftsmanship is marvelous. The one who made it must be atleast a master blacksmith. I have never seen a weapon like this in my life. What is this called?"
A trace of surprise appeared on Nie Rougang and Nie Hong for they didn't expect this master blacksmith had never seen it.
Nie Rougang cleared his throat and answered, "This is called revolver. It is one of the models of a weapon known as firearm. They are recently sold in a weapon store. We don't know who the manufacturer is and neither can we afford to offend that weapon seller. So, we came here if you can shed some light on us."
As the revenue minister of Phoenix Empire turned towards his brother, the latter proceeded to take out a 9mm bullet.
Nie Rougang took back the revolver and opened the cylindrical chamber. He gave a demonstration by putting a bullet, then, dragging back the hammer before clicking the trigger while aiming upwards.
*bang*
The sound of the gunshot reverberated across the hall, making a few dwarves outside flinch in surprise.
Meanwhile, the Duke's eyes are widened. Realization dawned upon him. He glanced at the bullet case in Nie Rougang's hand as the latter opened the cylindrical chamber and removed the cartridge.
"That thing you put inside this weapon, do you have more?" He suddenly asked Nie Rougang.
Nie Rougang handed a bullet to the dwarf, who then crushed it with his fingers, revealing a brown-colored smokeless powder. "Hmm, I see…" He mumbled.
The two guests of the Nie Clan realized that this dwarf was familiar with the powder.
Nie Rougang asked him, "Do you know what that powder is?"
