The significance of the Mythril Core to a Floating City was somewhat akin to the significance of an engine and fuel tank to an aircraft.
Normally speaking.
Once both of those things developed problems at the same time, the only outcome for the aircraft would be a crash.
As for a Floating City, being an enormous Magic Facility, it possessed somewhat greater fault tolerance in this regard.
Its Mana Pool, which ordinarily stored vast quantities of magic power, could serve as a temporary backup in a critical moment, holding the fort long enough to prevent the Floating City from suffering the miserable fate of plummeting from the sky.
However, as something incomparably expensive.
The Mythril Core, a treasure that normally only Grand Arcanists possessed.
Once it developed a problem.
Repairing it back to perfect condition.
Would undoubtedly.
Be a massive undertaking as well!
The effort and materials it consumed would absolutely be astronomical figures, enough to make even a Grand Arcanist's heart ache...
Therefore.
Upon hearing that the problem did not lie with the Mythril Core itself, but that some special thing had secretly siphoned away the magic power it emitted.
Though Audral was somewhat surprised, he immediately let out a slight sigh of relief.
Unable to help himself, he secretly rejoiced at having escaped the fate of a massive hemorrhage of wealth!
Then.
With curiosity yet a touch of unhurried calm, he issued an order:
"Activate all Scrying Spells and conduct a comprehensive scan of the areas surrounding the City of Audraal!"
"I want to find out the truth of this matter as quickly as possible..."
The reason he behaved this way.
Was purely because the area he currently occupied lay within the Kingdom of Netheril, and not near its borders, but squarely in the heart of the nation's