Watchtower Mutation

Inside the Strategist Pavilion.

The Level-1 Sky-Piercing Pillar had yet to plunge into the sea and explode. Long Live and the others were still trying to control it.

Before long.

They discovered something even more outrageous.

Until now.

Every Sky-Piercing Pillar the Mortal Domain had used had struck targets within 20,000 kilometers. But this pillar's listed effective range was actually one million kilometers, equal to the Signal Tower's communication range.

What they found in practice was another matter.

After flying 100,000 kilometers, the Level-1 Sky-Piercing Pillar ran out of propulsion energy and fell into the sea. The flight had consumed so much energy that its explosion was almost powerless—no louder than a fart.

"Looks like the effective range of a Level-1 Sky-Piercing Pillar is 100,000 kilometers."

Long Live spoke thoughtfully.

"Then what's the effective range of a Level-20 Sky-Piercing Pillar carrying a nuclear warhead?"

"Let's ask the Domain Lord again."

They could make fine adjustments to a Sky-Piercing Pillar in flight, but they couldn't make them quickly. If it was only 1,000 meters from its target, for instance, they couldn't suddenly turn it around to bombard a point 10,000 meters west of the original target.

That was impossible.

They had to adjust it in advance, introducing changes gradually.

Before long.

The Domain Lord replied and rejected his request.

"No!"

Long Live rose and strode out of the Strategist Pavilion. "I'll ask the Domain Lord in person."

The Domain Lord was probably reluctant to spend the Eerie Stones.

A Level-20 Sky-Piercing Pillar carrying a nuclear warhead cost 500 million Eerie Stones per shot, all told. Using one for an experiment was certainly wasteful, but the test had to be done. Without concrete data, what would they do if they needed to bombard a target at extreme range someday?

A test detonation