Chapter 419 — Behold This City, Impregnable as Iron

"...That is so. It was we who struck first," a look of pain crossed Viscount Carroll's face. "But now I tell you, it was a trap from the very beginning! We were lured into it! Duke Cecil had been preparing for war all along; his被动 posture was nothing but a blind. He has been aggressive from the first—sir, do not be deceived by the illusion that he has not yet attacked Stonehold. He will come!"

"I shall weigh your warning carefully, my lord viscount," Sir Maqi said, fixing Viscount Carroll with a deep look. "And I shall report what has befallen you to... the royal capital with all speed. But frankly, the help you can expect is likely to be limited. Even Stonehold can offer you no more than a place to shelter."

"Sir, the Cecil family has returned! They mean to take back everything they lost in these hundred years! Have you forgotten the purpose for which Stonehold Fortress was founded..."

"My lord viscount, of course I remember the purpose for which Stonehold was founded. But remember this: the men who betrayed the Cecil family and carved up Cecil's lands were you, not us—not a single name on the Sanctus Plain," Maqi raised his hand slightly to cut Carroll short, then sighed softly. "And it is not that I fail to see the crisis in the south; I can read the threat of the Cecil family plainly enough in your own faces. But what I can do is very limited."

Seeing the complicated expression on Sir Maqi's face, Carroll and the several nobles about him at last sensed that something was amiss. Viscount Consco could not help asking hesitantly: "Sir, what has happened?"

"You have not heard?" Sir Maqi shook his head and said quietly, "The king is dead."

......

Cecil Territory, the commercial district, "Balance Plaza," where a great new structure was being raised.

An alloy tower frame stood in the center of the plaza like some strange monument. The outer cladding—ornamental, and meant to give light at night—had been treated with a weight-reduction spell and was being fitted over the tower's surface lightly and precisely. Magitech technicians, using hoists and safety lines, climbed to the key points of the tower and welded cladding and frame firmly together with searing beams of energy. And at the very top of the tower floated a great obelisk suspended in midair, glowing with a soft radiance.

The structure was nearly complete; only the final touches remained. The mana obelisk at the summit was the heart of the installation and was at the same time supplying power to the various magitech devices on site. Beneath the obelisk, the alloy column linking it to the subterranean mana net was being covered little by little by the tower's cladding; the glittering magical runes were drawing surging energy up out of the mana net and pouring it into the base of the obelisk above, whence it was released outward to form a field of magic broad enough to blanket the entire district.

Gaoyang stood near the work site, watching the runes along the tower's flanks and the mana crystal lamps light up and go dark one after another as the technicians ran their tests, and a faint emotion stirred in his heart.

Once this tower was finished, the westernmost block of the commercial district and the newly built West District would lie entirely within the coverage of the new mana net.

It also meant that Xuanyao City would be wholly within the signal range of "mana net communication." A little while longer, and once the several mana obelisk relay towers along the North-South Avenue were complete, one would be able to speak with Condé Territory from any corner of Xuanyao City.

Provided, of course, that production of the communication devices could keep pace.

Gaoyang glanced not far off, where several soldiers stood guard beside a great wagon. On it were loaded a number of large devices with triangular bases and crystal structures—these were the "public mana net communication terminals" that Nikoshi "Egg-Boss" had made with his own hands while the production line was not yet running. Now they were waiting to be installed.

Rebecca stood at Gaoyang's side, her face full of pride, for the notion of mounting the mana obelisk atop a tower had been hers—born of her continuous tracking and monitoring of how every mana obelisk in the territory actually performed: "Mounting a mana obelisk on a special 'tower' can effectively improve the stability and the range of signal transmission. Of course, it also makes it conspicuous, and easy to turn into a live target for long-range spell attacks, so I set a rune array for a mana shield inside the tower body—there is plenty of surplus energy in a mana obelisk anyway, more than enough to carry a shield array."

"Just one shield array?" Gaoyang tilted his head and glanced at the girl. "And what is this I hear about you wanting to bury three hundred catties of mana crystal bombs under the tower?"

"Uh... wasn't it you who said we should put relay towers out in the wilds too, to guarantee full signal coverage?" Rebecca scratched the back of her head, a little embarrassed. "The wilds are dangerous. What if the enemy comes to sabotage them..."

"These are energy broadcast towers and signal relay towers, not frontline blockhouses," Gaoyang rapped her on the head. "Sturdy enough is sturdy enough. Do you expect a signal tower to annihilate eight thousand enemies in wartime?"

Rebecca gave a sheepish grin, hoping cuteness would carry her through, while Gaoyang, having administered the scolding, could not help stroking his chin and sinking into thought.

Rebecca's notion of burying bombs beneath the mana obelisk relay towers really was a poor one—dangerous and hardly worth the cost—but part of her reasoning did hold: this world was not a peaceful place.

The wilds of this world were fraught with peril at every turn; mankind had hardly planted the light of civilization across the wilderness, and these were years of war besides. The ability of those relay towers set outside the major cities to defend themselves really did warrant some consideration...

Self-destruction was out of the question—but an Arcane Blast might do...

Seeing the Xuanmai Sect Master suddenly sink into a brooding silence, Rebecca could not help but pluck up her courage, rise on tiptoe, and wave a hand before Gaoyang's face. "Ancestral Inkstone, why do I get the feeling you are beginning to agree with me?"

"I was merely considering the defense of the various field installations..." Gaoyang brushed her hand aside and was about to say something more when, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Amber sprinting toward them.

When Amber had come to a stop before him, he asked with some curiosity, "What has happened?"

"Wright is back!" Amber gulped down two breaths. "It seems he went through something out there... he has regained the Holy Light!"