Section 1 selection

At dusk, the "Furniture and Tomahawk" tavern was overcrowded.

At this moment, the tavern with the golden sign "Furniture and Battle Axe" was filled with noisy crowds. The singing, shouting, clinking glasses, applause, and cheering merged into a deafening noise. The drinkers shouted in unison from time to time, "Haha" and the slogan "For the health of the Supreme King", poured cups of drinks into their throats. This was the habit of the dwarves saying that they were extremely happy.

This "Furn and Tomahawk" is not the nameless hotel on the street. It is located in the great city of Karaz, Karak. It is the greatest and most glorious fortress city of the Dwarves, and countless dwarves live. According to humans, this is the capital of the Dwarves and the royal city of the Supreme King. This tavern is located at the door of the Society of Engineers.

The "Engineering Society" is an extremely famous organizational group in the dwarves. They are usually considered the most mysterious organization in the dwarves world. This is because they are constantly improving and developing various engineering construction and mechanical technologies. The second is that they are one of the most famous organizations among the dwarves' guild organizations.

In modern times, no one has explored why the Engineers Association has such a high status. Other guilds of dwarves, such as the Rune Guild, have given up their efforts to challenge the Engineers Association. Whether in war or life, dwarves are always unable to escape the influence of the Engineers Association. Since that is the case, then accept it. Today's dwarves have regarded everything as natural, and many young dwarves even regard the highest honorary title of the Engineers Association - the Great Founder - as the ideal they pursue throughout their lives.

Today, the five-year "Great Founder Selection" is being held. The initial review has been completed before dusk today. After the busy and intense selection work, a large group of members of the Engineers Association (including many judges and more selected persons) took it as a matter of course to enter the "Furn and Tomahawk" opposite the association's headquarters so that their nervous nerves can have a chance to relax.

There is no banquet without alcohol, especially for dwarves who like to drink. Therefore, the members of the association filled all the large beer glasses, ale glasses, and sipped delicious new beer and special ale. Everyone was smoking pipes, and the long pipes kept spitting out choking smoke, making the entire hotel lobby dark. However, although the members could not see each other through the smoke, they could still hear each other's voices, unless they were deaf.

Dwarf engineers who hold drawing design or construction work are calm and silent when working. But once they put down their work, they become the most talkative group in the world. When talking about the various novel designs that emerge today, the members are excited as if they were full of hunters. This is by no means false. The final is tomorrow, and maybe they can choose a great caster tomorrow. Each member of the association (even those dwarves who have nothing to do with the Engineers Association) knows that the title of the great caster has been vacant for many years. According to tradition, the Engineers Association should have a total of ten great casters, and now there are only nine dwarves who enjoy this title. Such selections have been held many times, but due to the meticulous nature of the dwarves, they have set up strict selection conditions and strict evaluation systems, which has never been able to prove that they are worthy of this honorary title.

"Cheers to our boss, Mr. Ashu Rufate's health! Thank you for bringing us such delicious wine!" someone shouted. It was not the drinker who called out, but the clerk serving at the bar. As a demonstration, he was the first to raise his glass and drank the drinks inside.

"I wish him good health forever!" Many drinkers cheered in unison. Everyone knew that this generous dinner was sponsored by Ashu Rufat, the owner of the "Furn and Tomahawk", for free. Because he himself is a member of the Engineers Association, he is also a contestant in this selection.

As for this Ashurufate, it is really a bit legendary. Ashurufate comes from the lava tribe. As we all know, this tribe has very little contact with the dwarf main society because it migrated too far to the north. After coming to the south, Ashurufate first removed a giant dragon and completely erased a record in the "Book of Great Hate". In the battle of slaying the dragon, he was injured and had to recover from the human world. But he was

When he was recovering from his injuries, he made a fortune by relying on his keen mind to do business. After returning to Karaz-Karak, he bought the "Furn and Tomahawk". This was originally just an insignificant business act. But then Ashu Rufate did something unexpected - it turned out that he invented the formula of new beer and special ale in the human world. Soon, Ashu Rufate became Karaz-Karak's wine merchant, and gold rolled in.

He completed so many achievements in such a short time, which made Eshu Rufate not only earn a lot of wealth, but also gained great fame. But it is obvious that these are not enough for him. His ambition (actually, this is also the ambition of many young dwarves) is to reach a higher level, and he wants to become a great caster. This time, there are rumors that he is engaged in a big campaign and strives to provide support and sponsorship for the union so as to get a better impression on himself. However, this may actually come from the mouths of those jealous competitors. Because every dwarf knows that the selection of the great caster is extremely strict and meticulous. The judges would rather let this position remain vacant than allow a person who does not match this position to enjoy this honor.

This sumptuous dinner is coming to an end. The hundreds of guests sitting around the banquet are all members of the Engineers Association (because "The Furnace and the Tomahawk" do not accept foreign guests today). Each visitor is still enthusiastic about the works of the contestants who passed the pre-selected. After a full day of detailed discussion, their throats must be thirsty. Look at the bottles between the leftovers, and the number of empty barrels in the corner of the hotel wall can tell this. The main meal has ended, and according to the requirements of these engineers, all kinds of sweet wines are now served. The dwarfs usually think that sweet wine cannot be placed on the table, but they like to have a few drinks in their spare time.

The bell rang the signal of night, and the guests who were getting drunk had just gotten up and left the seat. To be honest, many dwarves were already drunk and staggering. However, most of the judges stood firmly. They were tough and brave heroes, and they were used to such grand banquets that lasted for a long time. As long as the quota of the Grand Founders of the Engineers Association was still open, this grand event would be held every five years.

The lively selections made this event a grand event in Karaz-Karak. Not only the Engineers Association itself, but also the residents of Karaz-Karak. It is said that the Supreme King was also very interested in this and sent someone to inquire about the progress.

By the way, although the selection of the Great Founder was held in Karaz-Karak City, it is not only the residents of this city that came here to participate in the selection. In fact, the contestants came from various fortress cities in the dwarf world, large and small, and in all kinds of small. At this time, countless young dwarves (and some not-young dwarves) who were holding the dream of becoming the Great Founder would come here to participate in the selection.

The selection of the Great Founders has a long history. Under the proper management of the Engineers Association, it is developing thriving. The increasing funding sources allow the association to organize large-scale display activities and award considerable bonuses to all works that are "full of creativity and wisdom", regardless of whether they are ultimately recognized by everyone. But from another perspective, the selection of the Great Founders is very strict. There are three conditions for participating in the selection: first, you must be a member of the Engineers Association - this is simple, because the Engineers Association always opens its doors to welcome those who are interested. Secondly, the contestants must make outstanding achievements. This "achievement" includes erasing the record of a book of hatred to obtaining the recognized contributions of everyone - this alone blocks the path of 90% of the dwarves trying to win this honorary title. The last thing is that he must make an excellent invention and pass the selection.

"I have a suggestion!" In the short time when the guests were about to leave, a respected engineer with special beards, one of the judges selected this time, suddenly came to the center of the lobby and shouted loudly. In order to speak better, he quickly jumped onto a table.

"Dear friends and colleagues." The respectable judge held the wine glass in his hand and combed his messy beard while drinking. "I have a suggestion that tomorrow night, we should hold our final selection in this hotel. There is enough space to accommodate more audiences. At the same time, there is also a hospitality host! We need more audiences to be witnesses of this trial."

"Ash Rufate probably won't agree." someone shouted.

"Of course he agreed," replied the old dwarf. "As a member of the Society of Engineers, he had already taken the initiative to make this suggestion. What he told me in person was an honor for him."

"Agree!" someone shouted in the audience, holding up the empty cup.

"Agree!", "Agree!", "I support!" and so on sounded everywhere. Everyone thought this was just a statement from Ashu Rufate. Since that's the case, why not accept it? They have been enjoying the free meal provided by Ashu Rufate for several days. It would be a bit too much to refuse this reasonable (and win-win) proposal at this time. The Engineers Association will get a more spacious and free selection venue, and Ashu Rufate can record this glorious scene in the history of the hotel.

The last part of the selection began at the prescribed time. The bells in the early morning just rang, and the contestants and judges of the Association of Engineers were in place in the tavern. Everyone tried their best to dress themselves neatly and put on the most exquisite and beautiful clothes. The elderly dwarves braided their beards and sprinkled them with gold powder to make themselves look noble and elegant. The young dwarves (whose beards are not long enough) used another way to use the beards into various neat shapes, such as squares, rounds, wavy or some other shapes to show their uniqueness.

The selection process is as precise and accurate as the engineers made their machinery. First, several inventions that were "not atmospheric enough" were excluded. Then several inventions with very clever designs but lack practical results were eliminated. These included a new type of bomb. Although all the people present agreed that the bomb was designed very well, it had to withdraw regretfully because it had not been put into actual combat and lacked actual results.

After the invention was declared to be failed, a great founder (of course, he was a judge) made a brief speech, indicating that it had no problems in itself and was simply not in line with the principle of "invention and creation must be tested in practice". He comforted the failed contestant and stated that the Engineers Association was willing to promote the invention. After it participated in actual combat and achieved results, it could participate in the next selection of great founders.
Chapter completed!