The autumn wind grew cooler, and the clouds hung low.
The Crimson Sun Guard's twenty constructs had been refitted, each with a heavy crossbow mounted on either shoulder and a hand-cranked gear assembly to draw the strings. They fired heavy bolts a meter long and four centimeters thick, capable of punching through three shields at once.
"Your glaive throwers could be towed by my constructs on the march." After inspecting the refitted constructs, Shane found Sylvanas and explained his idea for armored towing.
The elven woman folded her arms and considered it for a moment. "It wouldn't just improve our overall speed. There must be other uses, too. Rapid movement, for instance, followed by deployment along the flank. Yes, yes, that's it. Shane, are all mages as imaginative as you?"
She immediately took out pen and paper, recording the sparks of thought leaping through her mind in a more reliable form before her inspiration ran dry.
Shane left the elven woman to her furious scribbling and headed to the workshop, where he ordered the engineers to hurry with the modifications.
Operating a glaive thrower required five elves, and the towing assembly also had to accommodate those five crew members. After considering the problem for a day, an engineer came to Shane with a complaint. "I'm afraid we won't finish the modifications before the troops depart. Designing a load-bearing assembly for five additional people makes things much more complicated."
"Can't those five ride chocobos?"
The engineer withdrew, his face flushed red.
People capable of handling things independently were treasures wherever they went. As his forces expanded, Shane felt that his pool of talent was insufficient. Solarian was still learning and building experience, Firehawk could make a good instructor, and his two apprentices still had a long way to go. There was