If anything represented the pinnacle of human civilization, it was the Floating City.
Ever since the Arcanists of the Elf Calendar built the first Floating City, it had been humanity's ultimate weapon. It could ignore threats on the ground, move from place to place, and serve as a paradise in the sky... Apart from its staggering cost, the Floating City had no flaws.
How staggering? Building a Floating City cost enough gold coins to build a Floating City out of them, and maintaining one was just as ruinously expensive. Take the silhouette visible across the Strait from Siltovis... Would the fewer than twenty thousand gold coins Annan had earned today cover even a few days of its expenses?
Right now, Annan was like a child clutching a copper coin and hoping to buy a City-State. But he had to dream. He did not expect to acquire an entire Floating City outright, complete with Mage Towers, Arcane Towers, and infrastructure... His first goal was to make a lump of mud float.
Once that floating lump of mud became a village, Annan could boast to everyone: I, Annan, am lord of a Floating City.
As for how to make it float... Since coming to Middle Earth, Annan had increasingly found his knowledge lacking. It was time to visit the Library.
If only I had that ability to print knowledge onto bread and learn it by eating the bread...
"You've got what you wanted. When are you letting us go?"
The future lord of a Floating City, Annan, came back to himself and asked the captive who had spoken, "Are you sure you want to leave?"
"As long as you let us go..." the young man said through gritted teeth.
Annan waved his hand, and the Elementals released them.
The freed students worked