Chapter 575 — Forward Base
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
After deciding to build the wall, Gao Yang had considered two plans for opening the road. The first was to go straight from the South Gate Fortress through the mountains, build a forward base before the fortress, and cut a path violently through the Black Forest in a straight line to the wasteland. The second was to bypass the entire Fortress of Defiance, exit through the mountain pass west of Xuanyao City, and finally cut through the Black Forest as well to build a road.
The first plan was plainly the saving of time and effort, but the second existed to preserve the secret of the Fortress of Defiance and the South Gate Fortress — he did not want too many outsiders to know that Cecil held such a special portal, such an intact ancient fortress. Though there was no shortage of rumors that "the Duke of Cecil holds relics of Gondor," within the Fortress of Defiance there were... simply too many secrets.
Yet now Gao Yang had chosen the first plan after all, because he had confirmed that neither the royal house nor the Eastern Marches would send anyone to take part in the project — they wished to conserve their strength for continued resistance, but as far as Gao Yang was concerned, he was quite content to keep the whole project under his own control.
Letting a pack of northern nobles as overseers and slave artisans get involved would only drag down the Cecil engineering corps.
Thanks to the convenient elemental manipulation spells, laying a simple road was no difficult matter in this world; from the South Gate Fortress to the Black Forest's edge, a broad road temporarily hardened with "Stone to Mud" had already connected the Fortress of Defiance to the forward base. Not long after setting out by carriage, Gao Yang saw the towering mana relay tower and the spiraling column of smoke and dust — the temporary base built by the "Pathbreakers" lay ahead.
A dozen or so prefab buildings of various sizes had been erected at the Black Forest's edge, ringed by a defensive barrier built of a mix of wooden palisade, wire fencing, chest-high low walls, and watchtowers. Guards tasked with protecting the forward base watched the Black Forest warily from the watchtowers, and before the main gate of the base stood two powerfully built White Knights, immovable as iron towers.
Just as Gao Yang had emphasized before — beyond the borders of civilization, danger lurked everywhere; this forward base marching toward the wasteland naturally required stringent security.
"Salute!"
The two White Knights noticed Gao Yang sitting in the carriage; they straightened at once, and from beneath their fully enclosed steel helms came deep, powerful voices, while the base gate swung open to either side and the arcane carriage bearing Gao Yang and his two companions rolled smoothly into the forward base.
The moment he stepped down from the carriage, Gao Yang saw a burly figure striding quickly toward him.
Wright Evican — leader of the White Knights and High Pontiff of the New Church.
This pontiff, who had become a "great personage," had not stayed in his church; upon hearing of the march to the wasteland, he had volunteered to come to the front, where he now commanded the Pathbreakers' guard force. Since the White Knights were naturally suited to guard duty and the power of Holy Light was convenient for healing corruption and repelling monsters, Gao Yang had approved his request.
And behind Wright, Gao Yang saw several distinctive figures —
Soyu Frostleaf, and the several elven messengers she had brought with her.
These elves were plainly especially attentive to the matter of repairing the barrier; though the bustling, novel Xuanyao City had indeed aroused their great curiosity and interest, they were more concerned with the progress of the project in the southern Dark Mountains. In recent days, Soyu and her companions had spent only a third of their time in Xuanyao City, devoting nearly all the rest to the Black Forest.