Chapter 376: Mechanical Ascension
[To be honest, you've been preparing for this war for a long time. You've mobilized every force available — including the Bronzebeard clan and the Wildhammer tribe — while you yourself sit astride the fire dragon Smaug, its mighty wings beating as it soars through the sky.]
[This war began when an arrow shot from the wood elves' side served as the spark. Like a lit fuse, it ignited a conflict that saw over a hundred thousand orcs and half-orcs riding wargs in a massive charge toward the dwarven army, an endless, thundering tide of steel and fury. The human and elven armies were equally formidable; arrows rained down like a storm. You noticed that Thorin, the dwarven prince you had once released, was among their ranks.]
[In terms of sheer numbers, your dwarven army held no advantage. Though your enemies schemed and bore grudges among themselves, they all shared the same goal — you. That at least spared you the trouble of hunting them down one by one. You could simply annihilate them all together.]
[Countless dwarven siege tanks surged forward, while behind them, rows upon rows of dwarven musketeers raised their guns. Further back, mortar batteries thundered, lobbing explosive shells toward the enemy lines. Overhead, Smaug flapped his massive wings and spewed torrents of fire, while flocks of griffin riders and gyrocopters dropped incendiary bombs, feeding the inferno.]
[From Smaug's back, you unleashed one Lightning Strike after another, bolts of thunderous destruction chaining across the battlefield. The Arkenstone embedded in your staff blazed with dazzling light.]
[Soon, technology — centuries or even millennia ahead of this world — became the deciding factor. In the blink of an eye, the battlefield was swallowed by flames and storms of lightning. Finally, when Madoran Bronzebeard and Khardros Wildhammer led their dwarven champions into the fray, it became the last straw that broke the camel's back. Madoran and Khardros, legendary faction leaders even in the World of Warcraft, had no equals in this realm except perhaps some of the mightiest Maiar and Valar. With Brann Bronzebeard and Bix assisting them, the other four armies collapsed completely.]
[In the end, the orc chieftain Azog fell by your hand. King Thranduil of the elves surrendered. Thorin, the dwarven prince, failed to earn the title of Thorin Oakenshield and perished on the battlefield. From his corpse, you recovered a crystalline ring. Thus ended the Battle of the Five Armies — with your resounding victory.
(You have obtained the Achievement: Battle of the Five Armies.)
(You have obtained the Dungeon Summoning Stone: Battle of the Five Armies.)
(You have obtained the Epic Item: Thror's Ring.)]
[This ring, known as Thror's Ring, was said to be one of the seven dwarven rings forged with Sauron's involvement. It stirs in its wearer an insatiable greed for gold and precious things — yet paradoxically aids in amassing wealth, slowly driving its bearer mad. Fascinating. You threw it into your laboratory, intent on analyzing the cause of its effects.]
[In August of 2785, after your victory, you and your Pineapple Kingdom had become a force to be reckoned with across Middle-earth. Everyone was forced to acknowledge your power. The result of the war was clear: the last elven king of the Third Age became history. Thranduil and his elven subjects were now yours. In Middle-earth, the elves' craftsmanship and mastery of magical weapons were unrivaled, second only to their longevity. The Pineapple Kingdom's strength grew dramatically.]
[At first, King Thranduil was reluctant to join the Pineapple Kingdom. But after experiencing the convenience brought by electricity and modern technology, he had nothing more to say. His only request was to serve as the director of the Pineapple Kingdom Television Station — because the station's endless broadcast of "dwarven bikini programs" had caused him severe psychological trauma.]
[Though his attitude bordered on racial prejudice, you could understand his feelings. After all, more than seventy percent of dwarven women preferred to keep long beards. After some thought, you granted his request, since elven aesthetics and artistic sensibilities had always been impeccable.]
[Meanwhile, with the development of industry and metallurgy, smelting metals with higher melting points became possible. Working together, elven and dwarven craftsmen forged many extraordinary weapons. The finest two were presented to their king — to you: a sword and a gun. The sword was modeled after Orcrist, the fabled blade of the First Age, and surpassed even the original.
(You have obtained the Epic Firearm: Dwarven Hand Cannon.)
(You have obtained the Epic Weapon: Enemy-Slayer Sword, Glamre.)]
[Beyond that, the most exciting news came from Azeroth. An expedition led by Tomli Megillas discovered a Titan ruin in the southern deserts of Tanaris — the Halls of Origination. According to Tomli, this ruin might be tied to the very origin of Azeroth itself, perhaps one of the most important Titan constructs ever found.]
[In February of 2786, you and your subordinates arrived at the Halls of Origination. The exploration was perilous — priceless relics and deadly automated defenses were everywhere. In a chamber adorned with relics of ancient civilizations stood two massive arks, each capable of carrying tens of thousands. Activating them would allow immediate flight.]
[In the deepest part of the ruins, you discovered countless priceless Titan artifacts, as well as four living Titan constructs: Setesh the Construct of Magic, Ammunae the Construct of Life, Osiris the Construct of Darkness, and Ra the Construct of Light. As a Yu-Gi-Oh! fan, you immediately recognized them — except for Ammunae, they were the prototypes of the three Egyptian gods! To find them here as Titan creations was beyond belief.]
[After a fierce battle, you defeated the four constructs and decided to take their remains, along with the wealth of Titan data, back to Iron Mountain City, where you devoted all your energy to research.]
[By July of 2792, after six long years of study, you finally mastered all the Titan technology from the Halls of Origination. From it, you gained the knowledge of physical mechanization — the means to abandon the weakness of flesh and achieve true mechanical ascension.]
[It didn't take you long to decide. In January of 2793, you began your transformation. You abandoned your dwarven body, transferring your consciousness into a mechanical shell resembling your former human self. Within this form, you possessed the powers of Magic, Life, Darkness, and Light — and that was only the first step.]
[To further enhance your power — to surpass the Maiar, surpass the Valar, surpass Ilúvatar Himself, even surpass the Old Gods of Azeroth — you continued expanding your body to contain greater divine might. Two years later, your holy mechanical form had reached over thirty meters in height, capable of freely changing size, flying through the air, reigning supreme over all creation.
(You have obtained the Achievement: Mechanical Apotheosis.)]
[It was only after you attained your mechanical divine body that your followers truly understood the creed of the Church of the Machine Dao: Flesh is frail; only through mechanical ascension can one reach godhood. They prayed day and night, worshiping you as the one true god.]
[Then, leveraging your overwhelming technological superiority, in February of 2794 you led your armies toward Mordor — the domain of the Dark Lord Sauron, a land of orcs, trolls, Nazgûl, and other vile beings, rugged and treacherous.]