Chapter 1374: Chapter 1373: The Arrival of the Turning Point

The expeditionary army from the deep sea would become the turning point in this long war on the Loren Continent—Silver Empress Belsetia firmly believed so.

After going through localized routs in the early phase of the war due to insufficient preparation, the long stalemate that followed the stabilization of the front lines, and the current stage of probing counteroffensives, the Wasteland Legion’s sheer scale and ferocity of assault remained undiminished, yet the shadow shrouding the warriors’ hearts was no longer as heavy as before. Those monsters could be slain, their main forces could be annihilated, and their commanders would sooner or later be exposed to the cutting edge of the alliance. Once they realized that the enemy was not invincible, the soldiers of the civilized world found greater courage to withstand this arduous period, and the people gained enough confidence to await the turning point of it all.

An overwhelmingly powerful external support force could, without doubt, break the balance currently on the battlefield, and even tilt the scales of victory sharply toward mortals—the day of a full-scale counteroffensive against the wasteland was within sight. Belsetia hoped her soldiers were already prepared for this.

"Our industrial system is running at full capacity. The ancient foundries and the craftsmen magic servants that have slumbered for centuries are working day and night to produce all kinds of components for the Purification Devices. As long as the front line can advance, the raw materials required for the Barrier Wall will flow in without end," Handmaiden Elaine’s voice sounded in the night, calm and reassuring. "We even have spare capacity to transport redundant Purification Cores to the Typhon Empire. The legion led by General Shana has cleared out the aberration Legion occupying the Blue Rock Hills just yesterday. Right now the craftsmen are racing to repair the railway line in the Blue Rock Hills that was sabotaged by the enemy. Once the tracks are clear, the trains carrying Purification Cores will depart for the eastern front.

"The enemy’s earlier assault on the Forward Base was successfully repelled. Now the Sorin Guard and the Thousand Years Legion have reinforced the northern defenses of the Sacred Stars Temple. With the crisis at Fort Greta resolved, we can now concentrate all our strength on the advancing operations within the wasteland. At present, the first Purification Device has begun operating. General Romar will personally lead the Thousand Years Legion deep into the wasteland to construct the second facility under the coverage of Purification Tower One.

"Our communication with the north has been restored. According to the latest reports, construction of the Barrier Wall on the northern line is proceeding smoothly—there, the enemy’s counterattacks are as fierce as on our side, but the Cecil Clan have built their defense line with a storm of artillery fire and living flames that can incinerate entire plains. Their Barrier Wall has already pushed two hundred kilometers into the wasteland and is still advancing at tremendous speed toward the heart of the Gondor Empire, toward the Well of Deep Blue.

"On the western front, Duke Baldwin Franklin and Commander Jinna have assisted the reorganized Augari Tribal Coalition Army in sweeping away all enemies within their borders. The Sky Fortress known as ’Dawn of the mortal world’ will begin moving east in the near future. Although Augari’s homeland does not have the conditions to produce Purification Facilities, it is said that those flying fortresses come equipped with large-scale war factories. While advancing, they will continually manufacture Purification Devices and airdrop them into the wasteland—a rather astonishing ’construction scheme’, said to have been proposed and executed personally by Princess Rebecca. If this scheme truly proves effective, then the western Barrier Wall, which is the last to begin construction, may instead progress faster than the other three lines..."

Listening to Elaine’s steady report, Belsetia could not help but feel a measure of calm settle over her mood. Her gaze turned to the distance, extending far into the dark night—that was the direction of the Gondor wasteland, the remnants of the human empire shrouded by murky, dense clouds, its soil foul and corrupted. For seven hundred years, that land had been bereft of life, never illuminated by even a glimmer of civilization’s light, yet now the situation had undergone a subtle change. She saw a line of lights stretching from beneath her feet all the way into that deep darkness; at the end of her sight, a larger cluster of lights converged, where a vague mass of structures and a radiant tower stood at the center of the illumination, "shining" like a lighthouse over a vast surrounding area.

In the vision of a powerful Order Supernatural, one could see that the chaotic energy field around that high tower was clearly in the process of gradually restoring order. The tranquil magic-pervasive environment stood in sharp contrast to the wasteland region further away, and even the clouds and airflows above the tower seemed to be affected: the foul, dense clouds were slowly dispersing, and the energy sparks continuously discharging in the upper sky were several times fewer than in other areas.

That was Purification Base One, the first step of the Barrier Wall extending into the wasteland. Over the past two days, the aberrations had attacked that base and the "Sacred Stars Temple Fortress" beneath Belsetia’s feet like madmen, trying to strangle the Purification Devices before they could "ignite", but the loyal Thousand Years Legion and the Sorin Guard brought by that little elf "Belna" had withstood all assaults. Now the tower’s radiance was lit, and the main combat units of the Wasteland Legion—the aberrations—would quickly weaken and collapse as soon as they approached that tower. The dark priests had at last given up their futile offensive.

Thus, man-made lights once more flared in this dark, fallen wasteland, and the pioneers from the civilized world had finally, for the first time, established a genuine "Safe Zone".

Next, these "Safe Zones" would connect into a long wall, completing the junction with the Barrier Wall extending south from the north, while the Typhon Empire and the tribal country of Augari would also erect a bulwark spanning east to west. The intersecting field formed by the two Barrier Walls would thoroughly sever the energy cycle within the wasteland, "adjusting" this land, which had become utterly "otherworldly", back to a normal state.

Elaine noticed the Silver Empress’s gaze and could not help but turn her own eyes to the same place. After several seconds of silence, this handmaiden who had followed the Silver Empress the longest finally broke the quiet: "Seven hundred years... Never had anyone imagined that this wasteland could truly be ’cured’, and that the key technology needed to cure it would be lying in our blueprint archives... Even when we first shared the core technology of the Purification Devices with the various nations of the continent, we never thought it could be used to sever the energy cycle within the wasteland."

"The scholars’ elucidation of the Essence of Magic has dispelled the fog before the eyes of the world. The facts have proven that only the pursuit of truth can truly solve problems—without this step, no matter how much wealth we excavate from our ancestors’ legacy, we would merely be treading in place, or even squandering that legacy in vain," Belsetia sighed softly. "So in a certain sense... the fall of the Sacred Stars Temple was indeed a good thing."

"Some of the ’old men’ in the Association of Astrologers will not appreciate those words from you," Elaine laughed. "Getting them to admit that the Silver Empire has already begun to fall behind in this era was difficult enough; now you are striking at the belief they have upheld all this time."

"Their attitude is of no consequence. Though I acknowledge their past achievements and glory, the Empire’s operation does not require components that have consciously chosen stagnation," Belsetia said coolly, lowering her eyes. "The temple has fallen... We can finally free those clever minds who used to spend their days buried in the Sacred Stars Temple, excavating knowledge and tinkering with decaying ancient machines. I only hope they can emerge from the shadow cast by the fall of the Sacred Stars Temple as soon as possible, and like those other elves who have chosen to move forward, devote the knowledge and wisdom they have amassed over their lifetimes to the next ’Sacred Stars Temple’."

"The next Sacred Stars Temple..." Elaine’s eyes widened slightly. "You have already decided to build a new Sky Fortress?"

"Perhaps it is not yet the right time, but that does not prevent Master Vilanya and me from drafting some preliminary plans," Belsetia nodded slightly. "In the process of jointly constructing the ’Dawn of the mortal world’ with the Cecil Empire, we ourselves have gained extremely valuable experience. Large anti-gravity engine arrays and parallel power spines can resolve over eighty percent of the problems that engineers have long faced when attempting to restore the Sacred Stars Temple’s power system, and for the Silver Empire’s current industrial base, large deck-sealing techniques and keel forging techniques are not difficult in themselves. What remains is only the control core... Cecil’s large-scale Servo Brains and neural networks are on their foreign trade list."

Elaine was immediately taken aback: "They sell even those?!"

"Because they can build better ones, and they need every country in the world to use data processing and transmission formats that conform to ’Cecil standards’," Belsetia glanced at her personal handmaiden with a smile. "Purchasing their Servo Brains and neural network components means the buyer must construct their own ’modern industrial system’ according to their technical standards. Whether it be factories, ships, Anti-Gravity Fortresses, or the domestic communications network and public administration systems, Servo Brains and neural networks are indispensable links within these ’modern technologies’. And when the whole world is using the same ’standard specifications’, if you do not wish to be excluded by the entire world, you will have no choice but to adopt the same things. So of course the Cecil Clan will sell them—and sell them on a massive scale."

Elaine seemed to have never thought about these things before; now she looked quite surprised. "Then we..."

"This isn’t a conspiracy, it’s an open exchange of interests. When we purchase the Cecil Empire’s Servo Brains and neural network components, we are also exporting our own anti-gravity technology and casting standards. It’s just like how Typhon has recently been working on their ’International Crystal Standard Library’ and ’Modern Spell Registration System’. Whether for Typhon, for the Cecil Clan, or for us, the ’price’ in these exchanges is acceptable—and for the other Alliance Member States... all of this is equally worthwhile. At the same time, these exchanges will quite literally push our world forward—and as for whether the direction of that advance is correct, that will have to be left to history to judge."

Speaking to this point, Queen Belsetia suddenly smiled. "This war has truly united all the nations of the Loren Continent into a single ’alliance’, more united than the 112 Council ever was, and the tentacles of the great powers will rapidly spread in the process. A new order and configuration will be formed and solidified in this process, until the next reshuffle—Elaine, this process is neither bright nor dark, because this is simply how this world develops."

"...I understand," Elaine thought for a moment, then let out a small breath. "It just feels a bit complicated—I can’t help feeling that Uncle Gawain’s image right now is a little scary."

Belsetia’s gaze fell on Elaine. After watching her for several seconds, she suddenly laughed and said softly, "Don’t worry, Uncle Gawain is still our Uncle Gawain—only, at the same time, he is also the leader of the Cecil Empire."

...

"Achoo—"

Gawain let out a solid sneeze that startled Heidi, Amber, and Duke Baldwin Franklin’s holographic projection in the office. Sitting beside him, Heidi immediately looked over with concern. "Ancestor, are you alright?"

"I’m fine, my nose suddenly felt a bit itchy," Gawain rubbed his nose. "Probably someone’s talking about me behind my back..."

"Someone talking about... you, behind your back?" Heidi looked a little dazed. "What inevitable connection does that have with sneezing?"

Gawain’s mouth twitched; he suddenly found it impossible to explain what this mysterious saying from his home planet meant, so he could only wave his hand and stiffly divert the topic. "It’s nothing, I was just talking offhand—Duke Baldwin, tell us about your situation over there. The situations on the northern, eastern, and southern fronts have already begun to rapidly improve; we’re just waiting for your news now."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Duke Baldwin Franklin’s half-body image floated above the Magic Web Terminal. Compared with last year, this scholarly, refined Mage now seemed to have gained a touch of a commander’s sharpness on his face, but his voice remained calm and restrained. "All along, the situation on the western front has been more complicated than in other regions: large-scale occupation and destruction, disaster victims, and aberrations rampaging out of control have held back our pace. But now all these conditions have been brought under全面 control.

"The various tribes of Augari have reorganized their forces and set up the Allied Army’s general headquarters in Ruby City. After the issues of medical supplies and weapons and equipment were resolved, the local forces have already gained the ability to handle domestic disaster control and aberration problems on their own, and they have reestablished control over all the defensive lines of the mountain great barrier. Next, Commander Jinna and I will begin moving toward the wasteland, repairing the Wasteland Outpost fortress cluster and using it as the starting point of the Barrier Wall.

"Princess Rebecca’s ’Justice from the Sky’ plan has completed theoretical verification and gone through several tests. Under the condition that we secure air superiority and carry out advance ’clearing’ of the surface, the construction method of airdropping components and rapidly assembling them on the ground is feasible. The only problem is that we are limited by the performance of the temporary anti-gravity framework. In order to find the optimal balance between safety and deployment efficiency, all airdropped components must undergo secondary disassembly and lightening treatment. This means that the Purification Devices we ultimately assemble will be... somewhat lacking in lifespan, not as ’sturdy’ as those ground stations with solid foundations on the other fronts."

"The lifespan is affected... to what extent?"

"In the harsh environment of the wasteland, they can only operate steadily for about half a year—the Purification Core is under too much pressure. After the core is cut down for weight reduction, it will gradually melt under its own energy shocks. Since once the device’s core is turned on it cannot be shut down, we cannot extend its lifespan by replacing cores or strengthening it through shutdown and maintenance."

"Then if we use the normal approach and build on the ground?" Hearing that under the new plan the Purification Devices would only last a mere half year, Heidi couldn’t help speaking up. "On the other fronts..."

"We don’t have enough troops, Crown Princess," Baldwin regretfully shook his head. "And ground construction costs are extremely high. After being severely damaged, Augari cannot provide sufficient logistical support. If we force ourselves to do it that way, I fear we won’t be able to merge the Barrier Wall with the three other fronts in time."

"...In that case, ending the war within half a year will suffice," Gawain said, meeting Baldwin’s eyes. "Complete the construction of the Barrier Wall within half a year, activate it, and then heal that wasteland. As long as the energy cycle within the wasteland is cut off, we will no longer need the Barrier Wall—a shorter lifespan is acceptable as well."

"I understand, Your Majesty."

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