The high, clear sky, the mirror-calm sea, and the colossal tower standing at the center of that mirror-like ocean—no matter how many times he saw it with his own eyes, Byron could not help but be deeply awed by this astonishing creation left behind by the Sailors.
Even though he commanded a War Machine as powerful as Winter's Wrath, even though he had an entire fleet under his command, he could not help but feel reverence when he arrived beneath the colossal tower.
Yet as that reverence rose within him, he could not help recalling what Gawain had once told him: one day, the civilization of this planet would also rise to the same heights as the Sailors. Mortals would build giant towers leading into space, erect Steel Megacities beyond the atmosphere, and the ships of the next generation would fly between the stars like light itself. What the Sailors could do, the countless living beings of this planet could do as well.
Winter's Wrath had already docked. Byron took a landing craft to the landing field on the southeastern side of the Steel Giant Island. Looking back toward the edge of the field, he saw large machinery extending from the engineering ships carrying out tense yet orderly loading and unloading operations. Elevating devices as tall as a castle's main keep stretched from the sides of the engineering ships to the shore. The Anti-gravity Runes beneath the transfer pallets gleamed under the sunlight as massive, heavy components were effortlessly moved ashore, quickly becoming part of the new docks or being preliminarily reassembled before being sent into the towering structure.
On the other side of the landing field stood numerous barracks and other base facilities constructed from prefabricated parts. A towering Magic Obelisk slowly rotated atop a platform at the center