Although Ed's Root Network is still a great distance from the Graycast Corridor, he is no longer the same person who was shielded from signals by the Grand Foundry Master just a few months ago.
The Stability Anchor repeatedly laid by the players have allowed Ed's roots to extend into the heart of the Wilderness of Chaos.
With the players along the way acting as relays and the five people in the Great Labyrinth City acting as terminals, Ed could actually watch the live broadcast of the Grand Foundry Master election.
Such a rare and significant event should naturally be edited into an official promotional video and released afterwards.
Ed, not forgetting the elites (descendants) of various races he had painstakingly recruited, organized this live stream to bring everyone some joy.
Although she said she wasn't interested, when Ed actually projected the image in front of everyone, even Seraphina quickly became engrossed.
The art style of the Graycast Corridor is actually quite different from that of this world.
Regardless of the Skeleton Alliance, which has never had contact with the Second Holy See, the remaining three major powers (the Empire, the Theocracy, and the Eternal Domain ) are all depicted in a uniformly magical medieval style.
The style of the Graycast Corridor leans more towards mechanical punk, referencing most similar works from another world. In this case, there always needs to be a groundbreaking invention to power these machines.
Normally, such inventions involve steam engines, but the Great Labyrinth City found an alternative energy source— Blood Corpse.
On the surface, the Graycast Corridor appears to be a purely Mechanical Compatibility force, but in reality, the Blood Corpse can be extracted not only of their power but also of a large amount of Psionic Energy.
However, applying these Psionic Energy is not easy, and that's why the engravers of the Great Labyrinth City were born for this purpose.
"I can sense that those buildings contain a large number of Psionic Energy Circuit."
"I am watching the election with utmost care," said the Blue Dragon Noya suddenly.
Ed nodded and said:
"Yes, that's the significance of those seal engravers. Any large building, especially the Graycast Corridor, simply cannot function without them."
"... But all of that will become history."
The one who said this was neither Noya nor Ed, but Rein Hansen, the first candidate on the high platform of the Great Labyrinth City in the picture.
With Gray's arrival, the Grand Foundry Master Election officially began.
Before voting begins, all candidates have one last opportunity to share their vision with everyone in the Great Labyrinth City.
The first to speak was the inventor, Rein, who displayed an aggressiveness quite unlike that of a researcher, and unabashedly pointed his finger at a high-ranking group in the Great Labyrinth City —the engravers.
His speech quickly garnered a lot of cheers. In fact, it wasn't just the prosthetic businessmen who supported Rein; many other people from other industries who had a real need for engraved circuits also developed a liking for him.
Moreover, objectively speaking, Rein's invention was not simply about taking away the livelihoods of seal engravers.
Modularizing Psionic Energy Circuit means that as long as a person has strong enough logical thinking, they can almost assemble any circuit they want using those components.
The possibilities contained within are endless!
After finishing his explanation, Rein took out a small object that resembled a Rubik's Cube and began to twist it in front of everyone.
Each face and each piece of that "Rubik's Cube" was engraved with a different circuit. With just a few manipulations, Rein made it display several completely different functions, as if it were a universal component that could be integrated into all circuits.
Cheers rose again, then faded, and the adventurer Suolaer stepped forward to explain his ideas to the crowd:
"The opening of sea routes is the inevitable future of the Graycast Corridor. Now, it is difficult for the Graycast Corridor to expand further in the east, west and north. Only the south can allow us to continue to develop."
"This journey across the Floating Corpse Sea has given me a deeper understanding of the Skeleton Alliance. They are not like the Blood Corpse, who are on the verge of death, but rather a new life form that has evolved under the influence of the Demonic Tide."
"They are rational, capable of communication, and won't attack us unprovoked. If Graycast Corridor can cooperate with the Skeleton Alliance, the two sides can share a large number of sea charts, and Graycast Corridor will become a true commercial empire!"
"Hmm, a business empire?"
Seraphina, sitting on the long wicker sofa, pouted and said to Ed sitting next to her:
"If he's elected, I'll burn the Great Labyrinth City down."
Ed: "?"
The dragon girl gave a soft hum and said in an extremely calm tone:
"Only I can build this business empire."
Wow, impressive, turns out he's quite competitive.
Ed muttered to himself, thinking that Seraphina seemed to be slacking off lately, and that there was still a considerable gap between her and achieving her dreams.
But when Ed thought about the average lifespan of dragons, Ed immediately felt relieved.
To Seraphina, this period of rest was probably no different from a short nap, and perhaps even less than the time she spent sleeping in the cave.
In contrast, the other dragon was noticeably more relaxed at this point.
As a soul, Noya had fully accepted the fact that she was now a dead dragon. If it weren't for Ed's Psionic Energy keeping her alive, she probably would have already given up and given up long ago.
The candidates in the video continued to deliver their manifestos. After the adventurer Suolaer finished speaking, he retreated back into the crowd with a satisfied expression, followed by another round of applause.
Suolaer's declaration had been rehearsed many times before, and its core precisely addressed the biggest current problem in the Graycast Corridor: how to continue expanding the territory.
Thunderous applause erupted in the square of the Great Labyrinth City, but some people's thoughts were quite different from the others.
Some people who had already activated their Machine Spirit weren't really clapping; they just joined in because everyone around them was clapping.
What they were really thinking about at that moment was something that Gray's men had repeatedly emphasized in the past two days—
Could it be that Suolaer has secretly defected to the Skeleton Alliance and become a traitor to the Graycast Corridor?
While what he just said made sense, one can still find some oversights if one approaches it with this mindset.
Before they could think it over, the third candidate stepped forward.
"I quite like this guy."
Nearly a thousand miles away in Valhalla, a great demon with four arms and four eyes pointed at the figure projected by Psionic Energy and spoke.
Luke Aoziben's speech was already halfway through, and judging from what he had just said, he was a thoroughly hardline and ruthless man.
If Luke becomes the next Grand Foundry Master, Ed has no doubt that all of the Great Labyrinth City's production capacity will be poured into the construction of war fortresses, and after mass-producing a large wave of troops, they will first rush into the Demon Realm and then the Eternal Domain.