Early the next morning, Cheng Yu looked at the main city, which had grown another level taller, and opened the interface to see what good stuff the system had recommended.
RXT Destroyer Command Interface Building: Steel Main City (Level 4) Function: Core of the legion; core component of the Titan command vehicle Production: Basic Unit (50 kilograms of steel, 1 unit of energy); production can be doubled Configuration: Six defensive 60 mm energy autocannons, defensive energy shield, Anti-Gravity Suspension Device (adjustable altitude) Facilities unlocked: Titan Assembly Plant, Metal Transmuter
Cheng Yu's eyes lit up.
Holy shit! A Titan! Is that the kind of Titan I'm thinking of?
"Yes, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that even if you recycled all our current ground forces, you still couldn't afford to build one Titan." ┐(─__─)┌
Then don't tell me the good stuff you mentioned was that Metal Transmuter thing. What's the difference between that and the Resource Converter? (‧_‧?)
"Judging by their names, you'd actually get the two mixed up, but the Metal Transmuter is a little more technologically absurd."
"The Metal Transmuter can turn any substance into any metal you specify. Note that I said metal, not alloy. Still, that's already absurd enough." (¬◡¬)✧
It really is. That's ridiculously advanced. Doesn't that mean we'll never lack steel again? Woohoo! We're taking off! ㄟ(≧◇≦)ㄏ
"Sorry, but I have to throw cold water on that idea. Although the Metal Transmuter can transmute metal, its daily output is very limited. Note that I said very limited." ( ¬､¬)
How limited? (¬д¬.)
"So limited that one unit's daily output isn't enough to build a single 0-3."
Hmm, with our current numbers, that really wouldn't make much difference. Sigh. Couldn't we make up for it with quantity? We could just build ten thousand of them, right? One 一✧
"Heh. Provided we have enough steel stockpiled to build ten thousand of them." (￢‸￢)
Sigh... True. We've still got that army of salted fish coming at who knows what time. Fuck, this feels awful. (＃￣~￣＃)
"Nothing we can do. Let's just keep building up slowly for now." ╮(﹀_﹀")╭
True.
Kadrian held the battle report, utterly astonished. The scale of this sea folk deployment and the number of elite troops involved had been enough to warrant even his serious attention, yet they had been wiped out in just two days.
Looks like this Northern Borderlands faction is no easy nut to crack. What will my good neighbors from the deep sea do next?
At that thought, Kadrian considered the matter briefly and made a decision: release the news about this Northern Borderlands faction and muddy the waters a little more.
The royal palace of the Kurland United Kingdom.
A decrepit old man in an ornate robe slowly read an intelligence report. Then he set it aside and picked up the cup beside him. It contained pale blue-green water, which he drained in one gulp.
Immediately, more color returned to the old man's face. He rested a hand against his forehead as he pondered his elder brother's intentions. Indeed, this old man was the reigning king of the Kurland United Kingdom.
He was Kadrian's younger brother, Red Black Forest. Unlike his exceptionally gifted elder brother, he had failed to enter the demigod realm and could only endure the ravages of time.
He truly could not understand why his brother had released the news about the Northern Borderlands. The Northern Borderlands lay directly north of the Kurland United Kingdom, and eighty percent of its border adjoined Kurland. The rest bordered partly on the Orc Empire and partly on the Naga Empire.
Yet the Northern Borderlands' only exit, Twilight Gorge, lay within the Kurland Kingdom. Once news of the Northern Borderlands' unification spread, the greatest pressure would fall not on the Northern Borderlands, but on Kurland.
But his elder brother had never been wrong. Whether relinquishing the throne back then or volunteering to guard Twilight Fortress, his brother had always been exceptionally rational and strategic.
He would never forget what his brother had told him back then.
"I have no intention of ruling a country. If you insist on making me king, this country will soon be finished. Red, you're different. You're mature and steady. In your hands, this country might not become exceptionally powerful, but it will never decline."
"I can serve as the family's deterrent. After all, our circumstances differ from the empire's. You'll need to keep the noble houses, large and small, under control. I only need to intimidate them from a key position."
And just as his brother had said, the nobles' power in the present-day Kurland United Kingdom had been weakened to the utmost, while the Black Forest Family's prestige had reached unprecedented heights.
So he decided to trust his brother.
Soon, every faction knew that the Northern Borderlands had been unified, and that the Deep Sea Empire had already suffered a considerable setback at the hands of that mysterious faction.
The Karen Empire.
Karen VI handed the latest intelligence to his son and asked,
"What do you think?"
Help skimmed through the contents of the paper and said with a smile,
"Is His Highness the prince making a friendly gesture toward us, or throwing up a smokescreen?"
Karen VI raised an eyebrow.
"How so?"
Help smiled.
"Father, why tease your son?"
Karen VI laughed heartily.
"Hahaha! Help, my son, you truly are the future star of our Karen Empire. I honestly can't imagine anything that could stump you."
Help smiled wryly.
"Father, don't think you can use this method to make me take the throne early again."
Karen VI shook his head with a chuckle.
"Ah, back then, I had to defeat all your uncles to claim this seat. Yet you keep trying to push it away."
Help merely spread his hands.
"To each their own ambitions."
Karen VI said no more. Father and son exchanged smiles, as though they had reached some unspoken understanding.
The assembly hall of the Xipu Federal Joint Council.
A beautiful white-haired woman with a cool expression, dressed in an ornate pure-white robe, tossed the intelligence report onto the table before her.
She spoke.
"What do you all make of His Highness the prince's intentions?"
Everyone present fell silent. The woman continued,
"Are we really not going to take any stance at all?"
"Perhaps taking no stance would be perfectly fine."
The woman looked toward the speaker. A young man in ornate crimson armor sat rocking back and forth in his chair, his hands behind his head.
"What do you mean, Rust?"
The man, Rust, stood and placed a hand over his chest when the white-haired woman called his name.
"Chairwoman, my meaning is quite clear. We should carry on as usual. Kadrian sent this ambiguous intelligence to every faction for only two reasons.
"He's letting any faction that wants to investigate do so themselves; he won't stop them. Secondly, he has no desire to upset the current balance.
"Whoever wants to make the first move can do so, but they would effectively be declaring war on the entire continent."
The white-haired woman nodded, then continued,
"But if Kurland joins forces with the Northern Borderlands..."
The elderly vice chairman, Lendo Tarn, said,
"Chairwoman, there's no need to worry about that."
The woman gave the old man a questioning look.
Lendo Tarn stroked his white beard and said,
"Chairwoman, you spend most of your time in your mage tower, so you may not know this, but His Highness Kadrian is the continent's largest trader in sea folk slaves."
Seeing that the white-haired woman was still frowning, Lundo continued,
"With the Northern Borderlands unified, Twilight Fortress will no longer be the Deep Sea Empire's first target. His Highness Kadrian's slave trade will be cut off."
"As for His Highness Kadrian's standing in the Kurland Kingdom, I'm sure you understand without my explanation. The title of Undying Prince refers less to Twilight Fortress than to the Kurland Kingdom itself. As long as His Highness lives, Kurland will never fall."
Silence settled over the Council Hall, and the white-haired woman said no more.
Kadrian Blackforest, that chubby man who looked like a harmless nice guy, was a miracle of the continent.
The white-haired woman had once been Kadrian's classmate in the Mage Class at the Xipu Federation Academy of Magic. The man had always ranked somewhere in the middle at everything and had never stood out.
Later, after joining the Xipu Federation Department of Magical Research, she returned to the Academy of Magic to teach and discovered that he was studying in the Knight Class.
Just as when he had studied magic alongside her, he ranked somewhere in the middle at everything in the Knight Class, practically invisible. Everyone's impression of him had always been that he was a decent fellow, but a pity, because he lacked talent.
Yet when she next saw him, he was already a legendary knight. But that was not the most frightening part. At the time, that perpetually smiling man was not only a legendary knight, but also a legendary mage and a legendary summoner.
The next time she heard of him, he was a demigod knight, a demigod mage, and a demigod summoner. He had no weaknesses whatsoever, and no one could defeat him. To this day, only the leaders of the major factions knew that fact.
He had proposed building Twilight Fortress and consolidated the entire Kurland United Kingdom.
If Help Golden was heaven's favored child, then Kadrian was heaven's eldest son.
The chairwoman sighed and set the matter aside.
The Jebel Theocracy Central Cathedral.
A child dressed in elaborate, ornate clothing tossed a board onto the floor and said,
"Leave him alone. Just send a few people to go through the motions and make a cursory investigation. First, see what's happening with the Naga."
The child's voice sounded ancient.
Lanchi Lubel, dressed in an ornate red robe, bowed deeply with a hand over his chest.
"Everything shall be done according to your will, Your Eminence."
After Lanchi withdrew, the Abyssal Pope murmured to himself,
"How could such an unforeseen factor appear? Constantine, the abyssal noble who governs wrath-why is he here?"
"Perhaps it's a coincidence."
"Who's there?!"
The sudden voice interrupted the pope's thoughts. Without hesitation, he hurled a blast of Hellfire toward its source.
But the Hellfire vanished. Only then did he clearly see the speaker.
A man. Ordinary, utterly ordinary. Even after looking at him, he could not recall what he looked like.
No! That's wrong! How could I possibly fail to remember someone's appearance?!
Mana surged through his small body. If he unleashed that power, the entire cathedral would likely vanish.
Snap. At the sound of snapping fingers, the pope discovered that the mana within him had fallen still. It was as though all his mana no longer belonged to him, but to the entire world. Clearly, he could not move the world.
The man slowly approached him. The Abyssal Pope discovered that he could not even move. Slowly, a finger pressed against his forehead, and then it seemed he gradually could not remember anything at all.
A short while later, the Abyssal Pope stared at the board on the floor, lost in thought, and murmured,
"How could such an unforeseen factor appear? Constantine, the abyssal noble who governs wrath-why is he here?"
Before you continue