"On behalf of Her Majesty Hilulele Evisista, Queen of the Elven Kingdom, I present the following war reparations to the Armed Empire Doragon."
"One, Doragon shall surrender unconditionally, completely withdraw from the Verdan Eternal Forest, not leave a single person behind, and establish a one-hundred-kilometer strategic buffer zone along Doragon's border."
"Two, Doragon shall compensate for all losses incurred by our side during its invasion of the Elven Kingdom and during the war with the Elven Kingdom, totaling fifty billion gold coins."
"Three, Doragon shall hand over all planners and executors of invasions and persecutions against the Elven Kingdom and its people over the past thirty years, and arrest all slave-hunting teams involving elves within its territory, to be dealt with by our side."
"Four, Doragon shall pay compensation in the form of various magic alchemy technologies."
"Five, Valentino Blare, King of Doragon, shall publicly apologize to the Elven Kingdom across the entire Aetheram Continent."
…The war had ended.
The numb Doragon soldiers were escorted away, awaiting Doragon to pay for their ransom.
Lop then read out the pre-drafted armistice treaty to the Doragon army's adjutant.
It was extensive, more brutal than a slave contract, and overflowing with humiliation, but this was reasonable; in war, the winner takes all.
The victorious nation was entitled to mock and unleash its full power on the defeated nation.
Even if Valentino were to be half-dead with rage upon seeing this treaty, he would still hold his nose and sign it.
Doragon could no longer fight the Elven Kingdom; even if it still had trump cards and the strength to fight, this defeat had already caused Doragon heavy losses, and they had to consider the domestic and international turmoil.
The Elven Kingdom not taking advantage of their misfortune was already a blessing.
In any case, even if everything was negotiable as per common sense, Doragon would have to bleed profusely this time.
What could not be gained on the battlefield should not be expected to be negotiated at the table.
Watching the Doragon adjutant leave with the wooden coffin containing Chris's body, Su Lin also smiled knowingly.
Hilulele was, after all, a person with a tough exterior but a soft heart.
She had constantly declared that she would turn all Doragon soldiers into fertilizer, but in the end, she still respected Chris's loyalty in fighting to the death for his country, even when knowing he was outmatched.
So many Doragon soldiers were buried there, and Hilulele had them directly buried and composted on the spot, but only Chris… Hilulele allowed him to fall gloriously after a fair duel with Lop, and had his body sent back to Doragon.
In any case, Chris's final desperate struggle still earned everyone's recognition.
Next, it was time to clear the battlefield and recover resources.
In this war, the Elven Kingdom suffered very few casualties, not even fifty people, yet Hilulele was still very dissatisfied.
After all, the resources of the MC Dungeon were so powerful; it should have been possible to achieve zero casualties.
Ultimately, it was due to the soldiers' lack of proficiency in utilizing MC Dungeon resources.
Enchanted arrows that were shot could be recovered, and iron ingots dropped by dead Iron Golems could also be collected.
With such a cleanup of the battlefield, a significant portion of the used resources was recovered.
After that, the storm brewed by today's war began to sweep across the entire Aetheram Continent, and the Elven Kingdom still needed to deal with the subsequent impacts.
However, this had nothing to do with Su Lin.
He instructed Hilulele and the others to return to the MC Dungeon as soon as possible to continue development, and Hilulele and the others readily agreed, not to mention Su Lin was taking them to the fourth floor of the MC Dungeon.
After this battle, Hilulele and the others more clearly realized that the MC Dungeon was the foundation of the Elven Kingdom.
In the future, they did not plan to stay on the Aetheram Continent for long unless absolutely necessary.
In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the post-war period would surely be very busy, Aelita would have wanted to drop everything and follow Su Lin to get an early look at the fourth floor.
---
Inside the MC Dungeon.
The increasingly perfected and vast town was now empty; the elves were either extensively collecting resources to make up for war losses or researching Redstone Technology.
The strategic importance demonstrated by Redstone Technology in this battle had already led Hilulele to order the Elven Kingdom to fully commit to researching Redstone Technology.
Su Lin took a quick tour and returned to the most central area of the town.
This was his and Hilulele's residential area, and according to the plan, even if the MC Dungeon were opened to more adventurers in the future, this area would remain restricted.
"Let's put the fourth-floor portal here for now," he muttered.
Su Lin opened the panel he hadn't looked at in a long time.
This thing couldn't really be called a system; it was similar to the interface for creating a world when playing a game, but much simpler.
Apart from the development progress bar at the bottom, there were only two simple boxes: Create World and Load Components.
Couldn't even enable advanced settings and cheat options, garbage!
This time, he received three mods: besides the core mod, there was a shader and a texture pack, both leaning towards realism.
Su Lin was quite satisfied; after all, staring at a blocky world for too long could get a bit tiresome.
Before long, a gate similar to the Elven Kingdom's portal rose from the ground, and the fourth floor of the MC Dungeon was opened!
But Su Lin was a bit awkward.
Through the vortex within the gate frame, a soul-stirring roar of some giant creature could faintly be heard.
"Did I open the door directly into a dragon's nest… It can't be that unlucky, can it?"
The roar continued to surge, wave after wave.
His survival instinct kicked in, and Su Lin's plan to go in and check beforehand vanished.
He stared at the portal for a long time, then still summoned a group of guards to seal off the area.
"Indeed, it's better to wait for the fighters; everyone has their own mission!"
Being afraid of death was not shameful.
His excellent MC Dungeon creator genes had not yet been passed down.
---
At the same time.
In the Kingdom of Lucania, a knightly nation adjacent to the Elven Kingdom, the office of the Lord Commander of the Lion Fang Knights, the highest authority in the kingdom, was shrouded in gloom.
Veronika Lucania, the current Lion Fang Knight, with a golden ponytail and an air of competence, was not as valiant as before.
Her brows were tightly furrowed as she stared at the intelligence report in her hand.
"Magic golems, alchemy cannons, floating fortresses, magic equipment… Where exactly did the Elven Kingdom get these things?"
Veronika was troubled.
To be honest, the Kingdom of Lucania and the Elven Kingdom had always been good neighbors, especially in recent years, with the rise of Doragon, the two nations had developed a comradeship of fighting side-by-side.
And she herself, as one of the few Lv92 Crusader Knights on the Aetheram Continent, had a very good personal relationship with Hilulele, who was also a Crusader Knight.
But with the Elven Kingdom's sudden change, she hadn't received any hint of it.
It was like they had agreed to go begging on the streets together, and then the Elven Kingdom suddenly became rich.
As a friend, Veronika didn't have the sentiment of "I'm afraid my friend is suffering, but also afraid my friend is driving a Range Rover."
But as the Lord Commander of the Lion Fang Knights, she was extremely worried.
The Elven Kingdom had suddenly become rich, acquiring the magic alchemy technology to defeat Doragon, and thus becoming great again, a shining star of the Aetheram Continent.
But the Kingdom of Lucania, which also bordered Doragon, did not!
Her people only saw Doragon's great defeat and celebrated joyfully, but she had to look further ahead.
Even though Doragon was defeated, the trump cards it displayed at the last moment still shocked the Aetheram Continent, and for the Kingdom of Lucania, that was also an insurmountable magic alchemy technology.
This time Doragon suffered a defeat, but its foundation built over thirty years of invasion was barely affected.
Admittedly, Doragon would be quiet for a while to deal with its domestic and international problems, but what about after some time?
Whether to prove to the Aetheram Continent that even after one defeat, it was still not a pushover.
Or to recover the exorbitant compensation paid to the Elven Kingdom.
With their bandit-like nature as an Armed Empire, they would most likely continue their aggression.
There were only a few kingdoms around Doragon; the Tri-En Alliance had the support of the Magic Dynasty and was already a tough nut to crack.
Although the Demi-human Alliance was constantly at war with the Orc Empire and not as strong as Doragon, if the Demi-human Alliance fell, Doragon would have to face the Impact of the Orc Empire directly.
Those barbarians of the Orc Empire were just as thuggish as Doragon.
Moreover, given the history between the Orc Empire and the Demi-human Alliance, the Orc Empire's attitude towards the Demi-human Alliance was purely, "I can hit them, but no one else can!"
They could no longer provoke the Elven Kingdom, let alone Dragon Island overseas.
Looking around… Hey!
What a coincidence!
There was a soft persimmon called the Kingdom of Lucania!
It was obvious who Doragon would target first, wasn't it?
The rise of the Elven Kingdom made Veronika happy as a friend, but as the Lord Commander of the Knight Order, Veronika truly only felt a headache.
Veronika could not be sure if the Elven Kingdom, having undergone such a drastic change, would still be friends with them as before.
Ultimately, no matter how good personal relationships were, they were useless on a national level.
More importantly, the Kingdom of Lucania was already flanked by the universally recognized bandit Armed Empire, and now the Elven Kingdom was rising strongly.
The Kingdom of Lucania was essentially caught between two behemoths; this situation seemed very unfavorable, no matter how one thought about it, didn't it?
Recently, there had also been reports of Shudrak remnants operating within the kingdom, possibly even infiltrating the Lion Fang Knights.
Veronika's mind was currently filled with two words: torment.
Internal and external troubles, the Kingdom of Lucania had them all… "Knock, knock, knock!"
The knocking at the door brought Veronika back to her thoughts; she composed herself, as the Lord Commander, she could not show weakness in front of others under any circumstances.
"Come in."
Entering was a bespectacled girl with a green bun.
She bowed, placing one hand on her chest.
"Lord Commander, may your knightly spirit always be noble."
"Likewise… Captain Meluti, any news?"
Meluti handed Veronika a thick stack of documents.
"Lord Commander, these are all communication documents and intelligence exchanges with the Elven Kingdom over the past month, as well as recent changes in the Elven Court."
"That's quite a lot," Veronika said with a wry smile, pointing to the mountain of documents.
Meluti replied expressionlessly:
"This is already a reduced amount; to be thorough, we should investigate all intelligence from the past year."
"Alright…"
"However, to simplify your workload, I have already highlighted some key information."
"Indeed, Captain Meluti is more reliable."
Veronika breathed a sigh of relief.
Following Meluti's guidance, she began to examine the anomalies she had highlighted.
As she read, Veronika's expression became somewhat subtle.
"Ancient Elven Tree suspected of rioting, Elven Kingdom deploying a large number of elite Dungeon explorers, Elven Court prohibiting humans from approaching?"
"These… are all things that happened in the last half month?"
Veronika looked up uncertainly.
"Yes, Lord Commander."
Meluti remained as expressionless as ever.
"From a rigorous perspective, I have reason to suspect that the Elven Kingdom has discovered a new high-level Dungeon, just like Doragon did."
"!"