Chapter 54: The Rising of the Floating Tower!
March 29, 2016
Author: Author (诸生浮屠)
Near a concealed valley.
Victo was nervously crawling on the ground, blending into the darkness, carefully lurking in the bushes.
“May My Lord Soren protect me!”
Victo kissed his badge and then stealthily circled around the valley ahead. During this time, the Half-Elf Church’s confrontations with the Shadow Thieves had never stopped, and many excellent Wanderers had fallen as a result. The command from above was to find the lair of the Shadow Thieves and trace it back to the headquarters of the Church of Shadows. This valley was one of the most likely targets, and several skilled operatives had already fallen here while trying to infiltrate the church.
Three top-tier Wanderers had already gone missing here before Victo.
“The terrain here is very concealed.”
“From the nearby traces, it should have been artificially arranged.”
Victo carefully avoided a triggered trap and then climbed up the side wall like a gecko. Before he advanced as a higher-level Wanderer, he was an acrobat and possessed some unique skills that other Wanderers did not. Sometimes, those like him who had mastered special specialties could be quite effective in such tasks.
Someone was approaching!
Victo immediately held his breath; he had already cast a night vision spell and could clearly see that someone was getting closer.
“Shadow Thieves!”
“Who’s the one in the middle? A Shadow Wizard!”
“Indeed.”
“This place is not only likely their base but also one of their outposts!”
Victo’s figure crawled along the wall, hesitating whether he should continue to advance and investigate. After much thought, he ultimately decided to retreat. If this really was the Shadow Thieves’ base, recklessly entering would likely lead to a mysterious disappearance like the earlier three. It would be better to send the information back to Modo and see what arrangements were made.
Under the pitch-black night.
Victo cautiously retreated. Before leaving, he also left a special mark nearby.
………………
Modo City. Shadow Plane.
After expending vast amounts of manpower and resources, the Floating Tower project in Modo City had finally reached its final stages.
At this moment, all the high-level officials of Modo City, including Soren, had gathered here. In front were Gloria and the Fallen Witch, who were in charge of overseeing this experiment, while the High Priest maintained the connection to the mental power field to avoid accidents. After all, such an experiment was somewhat troublesome; elevating a floating tower required a tremendous amount of energy. If it failed, it might just result in a small mushroom cloud.
The Fallen Witch wore an expression of excitement mixed with tension.
For a long time, she had devoted most of her energy to researching the Floating City.
Raising a floating tower was just the first step.
As long as this step was completed, it would mean that her plan to establish a Floating City had received a good start.
“Commence energy transfer!”
The voice of the Tower Spirit experimental subject rang out as the Elemental Furnace started to operate wildly, temporarily cutting off energy supply to Modo City. A cold mechanical voice echoed: “Floating Ring No. 1 activated!”
“Floating Ring No. 2 activated!”
“Floating Ring No. 3 activated!”
“Activating separation device!… Floating Tower preparing to rise!…”
The ground began to tremble.
Everyone nervously watched as the massive energy supply from the Elemental Furnace illuminated the floating rings buried beneath the Arcane Tower one after another. The radiance of magical energy lit up on countless dense runes, and accompanied by intense trembling, the Arcane Tower began to lift slowly from the ground, eventually a piece of land with a diameter of approximately three kilometers rose to about twenty meters above the ground. A giant pit appeared on the surface below. Gloria and the Fallen Witch had made a lot of preparations to separate this piece of land.
This not only required vast amounts of material resources but also needed the 【Mud to Stone】 spell to fix the entire foundation.
The original progress did not move so fast at all.
However!
The emergence of 【Simulation Technique】 greatly improved this efficiency.
As mentioned earlier, the Simulation Technique could preserve eighty percent of the host’s memory strength. During the entire foundation transformation process, Gloria and the Fallen Witch exchanged all their spells for 【Mud to Stone】. Then they continually remembered the Simulation Technique, using the spell slots of the Avatar to complete the whole process. They managed to finish the entire underground layout of the Floating Tower in just two days.
The land below was not just simple rock.
It contained an Element Pool, a large magical circuit layout, three underground laboratories, and an energy balancing device, along with numerous arranged spell circuit nodes.
The entire Arcane Tower was just the portion above ground; a large number of floating rings and other spell devices were buried underground.
“Lifting completed!”
“Activate energy shield!”
The prompt sound from the Tower Spirit experimental subject rang out again, accompanied by a strange glow of spells. A beam of light rose from the highest level of the Arcane Tower, followed by corresponding beams of light appearing on the surrounding ground, ultimately forming a node in midair. The entire floating tower was enveloped by an oval-shaped shield from all sides.
The strong winds from the Shadow Plane disappeared.
The shield was not only meant for protection but also balanced the internal environment of the floating tower.
“Activate spell propulsion device!”
“Begin testing!”
A floating tower not only needed to float but also to fly, and its flying speed could not be too slow.
The brilliance of the arcane emerged.
A light appeared on the first floor of the Wizard Tower, and then the entire floating tower slightly trembled. It began to move slowly to the right, gradually increasing speed to a rate comparable to that of a Bipedal Dragon.
“This should be the limit.”
“After all, the volume of the Floating Island is just too large! If the flying speed is too fast, the energy shield consumption will be even greater!”
Gloria’s voice rang out, saying, “Everything is currently very stable.”
“Energy consumption is about ten percent.”
“With the function of the Elemental Furnace, it should be able to withstand it.”
Although it seemed that only ten percent of the consumption was used, this was just ordinary operation. If it entered combat status, the energy load would increase dramatically. Normally requiring ten percent of the energy consumption, in combat status, it would need at least sixty percent. It appeared that the Elemental Furnace’s maximum capacity could only support a floating tower. To achieve the standard for a Floating City, they still needed to figure out the mysteries of 【Elemental Fission】, as only that could bear the burdens of a larger Floating City.
“Should we teleport back to Modo City?”
Soren’s voice echoed in the mental power field: “The Shadow Plane is not a long-term place; being able to move back to the Material Plane is the best option.”
The Fallen Witch’s voice responded: “Not yet.”
“This is only the first floating test; we need further tests on the stability of the floating tower.”
“And,”
“The foundation of this floating tower has not been adjusted. If we teleport to the Material Plane, the landing may cause internal damage.”
Upon hearing Corinna’s words, Soren also glanced at the bottom of the floating tower.
Indeed, it hadn’t been adjusted and was simply separated directly from the ground. If it was to land, it would have to be redesigned underneath to ensure that the floating tower could land on most geographical environments.
It was not realistic to remain floating.
Because the energy consumed was enormous, the weight of the lifted portion had already exceeded dozens of aircraft carriers.
“Hmm.”
“You all can handle this aspect.”
Soren seemed to recall something, saying: “How is the research on the Magical Energy Superconducting Pulsar going? Can it be replicated and moved to other places?”
The answer came from Gloria, who shook her head: “Not yet.”
“We simply do not have enough manpower.”
“We lack enough legendary-level spellcasters! Relying solely on my and my mother’s abilities cannot finish so many tasks!”
This was unavoidable.
Any research during the Arcane Empire era required high standards; only legendary-level spellcasters could meet the requirements.
Currently, only three individuals in Modo City were qualified to conduct research, one was Gloria, one was the Fallen Witch, and one was the Legendary Puppeteer, Alice.
Even Soren himself was a bit underqualified for this.
He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
His alchemy skills were too low!
As a true god and the master of Modo City, Soren had too many things to deal with daily. Additionally, there was a Lord of Shadows to confront, and alchemy, which required a significant amount of time to cultivate, was something he had no time to practice. Moreover, such foundational skills would not directly enhance his strength; he would have to wait until he found free time later for research.
“Commence the final step of testing!”
At this point, the Fallen Witch’s voice began to sound somewhat tense as she slowly said: “Activate the 【Maze】 device!”
Buzz.
The Elemental Furnace suddenly trembled, then emitted dazzling light.
This signified a significant boost in energy operation, while at the same time, the surrounding geophysical magnetic fields began to become chaotic.
【Maze】 activated!
As one of the core constructs of the Floating Tower and Floating City, relying solely on an energy shield was not sufficient; it was merely a huge target. If the Floating Tower wanted to possess sufficient combat strength, 【Maze】 was one of the essential components.
A force of the field spread.
When the Maze of the Floating Tower was activated, Soren suddenly felt a sense of breathlessness and a feeling of rejection throughout his body.
This was the energy field of the Maze.
When the Maze reached a certain strength, it could even cover the Magic Network, causing those within to be unable to cast spells at all.
The Maze of the Floating Tower was not that strong yet.
However, forming an energy field was inevitable. As long as it was within this Maze, any enemy’s spellcasting ability would be greatly reduced, by at least three percent. If the Maze of the Floating Tower could be enhanced a bit more, then it could directly seal the ability of all enemies to cast low-level spells from levels 1 to 3.
In other words.
Once the Maze was activated and sealed, mid-level spellcasters would directly become useless!
………………
(PS: If you like this book, you can follow the official WeChat account of the Floating Tower.) (To be continued ~^~)
