Chapter 1441 — The Joint Engineering Corps

And as Ashalena and Belanta turned their gaze toward these "engineer troops" from the Deep Blue Well, a tall female Iron One soldier strode toward them.

This female Iron One wore a mage's combat suit in the style of the ancient Gondor Empire, black hair cropped neatly at her ears, and beneath her bangs, a pair of slightly cold, mechanical eyes and a doll-like, flawless face. She saluted Belanta and spoke in a flat, methodical tone: "Once again, thank you for your assistance with the journey."

"Think nothing of it—carrying you through the storm was the most sensible arrangement by far," Belanta said with a smile, then her expression turned a little awkward. "Uh... Alice... what was it again?"

"Alice-rs6 Advanced Special Operations Tactical Iron One," the expressionless soldier answered at once. "Equipped with tier-three autonomous learning and technical analysis capabilities, and command capability in off-network conditions."

"Ah—then we'll just call you Miss Alice... Sorry, we can't quite keep the Iron One classifications straight," Belanta said, waving a hand, then looked with some curiosity toward the area where the Iron One soldiers were assembling. "Strange... where's the engineering commander Cecil's side sent? He should be with you..."

"The engineering commander is adjusting his condition. He is unwell," Alice-rs6 replied. "Temporarily unable to move."

At that, Belanta's face filled with alarm. "Is he all right?! Let's go take a look!"

With that she was already striding toward the Iron One assembly area, Ashalena hurrying after her.

The two crossed the increasingly lively shore, past the sirens and dragons and Iron One teams assembling and calibrating their various equipment, and finally reached the edge of the earlier landing field. No sooner had they arrived than they heard a voice tinged with metallic vibration and humming echo loudly complaining: "How was I supposed to know I'd get airsick! I haven't been airsick since I was a little sphere... All right, I can't remember either, but I don't think I've ever been airsick... Must've been magnetic interference when we passed through that cloud layer earlier..."

Following the sound, Ashalena spotted at a glance the highly conspicuous silvery-white metal sphere lying on the ground—the resentful complaining was issuing from inside it.

Beside her, the red dragon Belanta wore a rather peculiar expression—though they had met and gone through basic introductions and briefings before setting out, seeing this "sphere" even now inevitably stirred a sense of strangeness in her heart.

Frankly, as a dragon who had lived long ages, she was reasonably worldly. Even if she had not seen the world's strange races with her own eyes, she had seen plenty of them on the Omega Network—but she truly had never imagined that the engineering commander Cecil's side would send would turn out to be a sphere...

And a sphere that could talk and float about.

And whose name was Saint Nicolaix Eggsworth.

At the thought of having to try to work alongside such an odd sphere in the days to come, the red dragon lady felt her entire worldview teetering.

But in the end she pressed all these strange thoughts deep down—the Skyreach Station restoration project had been initiated by Cecil's side, and the only passage to Skyreach Station and the permissions required to move about the station were entirely controlled by that human emperor. Though ninety-nine percent of the project's actual execution team consisted of sirens, dragons, and Iron Ones, in that most critical one-percent seat, Cecil's side of course had the right to appoint an engineering commander to coordinate the whole effort.

And considering the legendary aura of that "Emperor Gaoyang Cecil" and his now-undisputed achievements, along with his extremely high personal prestige in dragon society, Belanta was also willing to believe that this Mr. Egg, handpicked by "Emperor Cecil," had sufficient ability to see the work done.

"Are you all right?" Ashalena had come up to Eggsworth, looking with some concern at the "engineering commander" before her—he appeared a perfectly round, hard metal sphere, giving an impression of extreme solidity, but now it seemed... this metallic creature had an unexpectedly fragile side within?

"Fine, fine, just a bit dizzy—probably magnetic interference from passing through the clouds earlier," came the somewhat muffled voice from within the engineering commander's round body. "But more than that, I'd like to say—you went and knocked me over..."

"Knocked you over?"

Belanta blinked in confusion—and the next second she saw the metal sphere before her suddenly wobble, then slowly, unsteadily drift upward. With a somewhat laborious rotation, a faintly comical smiling face on the sphere's surface gradually turned from below to face the two dragons.

Ashalena: "..."

Belranta: "..."

"Much more comfortable this time." At last the egg managed to recover a semblance of his floating ability, and a pleasant hum resonated from within his spherical body before he slowly turned toward the direction of that magnificent tower.

The towering spire gleamed with a metallic luster under the sunlight, casting an enormous shadow across the distant sea. Within the compass of that shadow, it was as though an artificial dusk had fallen.

"Well now... this is rather interesting," the metal sphere hummed softly. "Perfect—a change of pace for work, I suppose."

Within his three-hundred-sixty-degree field of view, the sirens, dragons, and iron soldiers had each completed their inspections and preparations. The vast engineering corps had split into several detachments: some began setting up temporary bases in place upon the "Island of Steel" according to plan, while others made their way toward the entrance at the base of the great tower.

...

That "joint engineering corps" had already reached the foundation of the orbital elevator.

Gao You, who had been closely monitoring the situation, confirmed this at the first opportunity through the sensors attached to the orbital elevator.

Now, with Nikuxi Egg serving as engineering commander, the engineering corps—composed of three entirely different species—was establishing a surface research station on that Island of Steel, while the first batch of teams slated to ascend and carry out their mission had already entered the great tower's hall and stood ready before the lifts.

Far away in his study at Cecil Palace, Gao Yun, who had also been watching the situation unfold, let out a soft breath. An indescribable sense of relief and emotion welled up in his heart despite himself.

After waiting so long, he could finally begin the work of repairing Sky Vault Station.