End of the Magic Era

“Junior Uncle, you think we should prepare for the worst, and that we should seal the channel so that the undead creatures will be blocked in the worst-case scenario, right?”

Alonzo quickly nodded.

Lin Yun thought for a moment. Actually, both of their claims had their own merits.

In order to cut apart this channel and seal it, the Hexagonal Array had to be powerful enough. If it was incomplete, there might be cracks or weaknesses left.

Even if the Hexagonal Array separated and sealed the space, if it was incomplete, it would still be possible to enter this channel from the Plane of the Undead and the Leviathan Plane.

As time went by, if someone was to sabotage it purposefully, it wouldn’t take long before the seal collapsed. Since the space was never completely cut, when the seal collapsed, the channel would be permanently fixated, and it wouldn’t be so easy to cut it again with another Hexagonal Array. The two planes would be connected, and the Leviathan Plane would inevitably be swallowed.

However, it would be extremely challenging to postpone the activation of the Hexagonal Array until all the preparations were done. First, the undead creatures had to be driven out of the channel. When other fortresses were built, they had to be protected from being sabotaged by undead creatures. If any of them was destroyed, the Hexagonal Array would be incomplete.

In such a case, the further they went, the less power they would be able to make use of, and the stronger the resistance they would encounter. It would be impossible to accomplish the purpose in such a short amount of time.

When this channel completely stabilized, it would be impossible to cut apart the space, or to disconnect the Leviathan Plane from the Plane of the Undead. The Leviathan Plane would surely be swallowed by the Plane of the Undead.

So, this was too risky…

Alonzo’s plan was to activate the rear half of the Hexagonal Array, and block the path to the Leviathan Plane before they pushed forward so that it would be impossible to enter the Leviathan Plane even if they failed in the end. This part of the space would be completely blocked. It would essentially be independent, and it would be impossible to enter the Leviathan Plane from here.

The Plane of the Undead’s invasion of the Leviathan Plane would be forever stuck. Their connection couldn’t be cut off, but it would be impossible for the Plane of the Undead to further invade the Leviathan Plane. All they needed to do was resist undead creatures here in the fortresses, and fight a prolonged war.

In the worst-case scenario, there wouldn’t be greater losses than that. However, there was still a problem. It would be a lot more difficult to construct a Hexagonal Array, especially in the chaos of the war. Also, even if a Hexagonal Array was set up, it might not be as powerful as expected when activated.

After all, the construction of every fortress required time. It required at least a week for a fortress to be constructed and put to use. During the week, if any undead creatures attacked, the fortress would be wasted, and those which were connected to it would be wasted too. They had to be rebuilt elsewhere if so…

That would be even more challenging…

Alonzo and Agalon simply stared at Lin Yun quietly, and waited for him to choose. Lin Yun had cold sweat as they watched him.

One of them was an expert who had almost ignited the God Fire, and who had awakened his bloodline of the Third Dynasty.

The other was a terrifying man who was at the peak of the Heaven Rank, and who was virtually the founder of arcane magic tools. He might be slightly weaker than Agalon, but he could win if they were caught in a life-and-death battle…

When those two guys stared at him, Lin Yun had every reason to feel pressured.

“Sir Agalon, Junior Uncle Alonzo, I think you need to keep an open mind…”

Lin Yun considered for a moment, and suddenly had an inspiration. He didn’t specify whose side he was going to take.

Neither Alonzo nor Agalon said anything. They simply gazed at Lin Yun quietly. Lin Yun weighed his words, and continued, “I disagree and agree with your thoughts. Both of you have a point. But why don’t we make two plans?

“There’s a good chance that the Hexagonal Array won’t be as powerful as expected if a half of it is activated first. However, it’s also impossible to wait until all the fortresses are set up to activate the Hexagonal Array, considering how the undead creatures are attacking.

“So, let’s just activate half of the Hexagonal Array first. The most difficult part of the other half was the construction, right? When we figure out the location of a fortress, we need to design and build it over a week. This one week is very critical. If the construction is disrupted, all the fortress nodes on that layer must be redesigned and rebuilt.

“But if we can shorten the construction of fortresses from one week to an hour, or maybe even shorter, won’t all our problems be solved?

“We can push forward one step after another. When we built a layer of fortresses, we’ll activate it. We’ll conquer this channel bit by bit. As long as that layer is activated, there won’t be anything that the undead creatures can do. We’ll just assault and march a thousand kilometers. Then, we build all the fortresses necessary within an hour, and activate all of them, making them part of the Hexagonal Array. Won’t it be much simpler this way?”

Both Agalon and Alonzo looked at Lin Yun, stunned. Agalon furrowed his brows.

“That’s indeed ideal. However, it’s impossible to build a fortress within an hour. Besides, each layer requires at least 10 fortresses. We can deploy enough men to build them at the same time. Still, it’s impossible to build them within an hour…”

Alonzo glanced at Agalon coldly.

“Just admit your stupidity already. Now that Merlin has made the proposal, he’s definitely got a solution.

“Merlin, just continue. Ignore this old fool.”

Lin Yun’s expression didn’t change, and he simply ignored their argument.

“It’s indeed impossible to build the fortress directly on the ground within an hour. However, the fortresses we’re going to build don’t have to be real fortresses. They only need to serve as nodes of the Hexagonal Array.

“We can replace some of the materials and add metals. We can build the fortresses elsewhere as independent structures.

“Then, when we pick a location, we’ll just put down the corresponding fortress nodes that we’ve built in advance. In such a way, it will be possible to construct all the nodes in a layer of the Hexagonal Array within an hour or even half an hour. Then, we can activate it!”

Both Agalon and Alonzo were shocked to hear what Lin Yun said, not because his idea was difficult. It was not until this moment that they realized why Lin Yun asked them to keep an open mind.

This massive Hexagonal Array was essentially just an alchemy array. It was slightly different from normal alchemy arrays, but the difference wasn’t too significant, and the overall procedure was the same.

They both forgot that the seemingly enormous fortresses were just important parts of the alchemy arrays they usually made. When they set up other alchemy arrays, they never calculated where they should put the materials, and then made the materials there.

After Lin Yun pointed it out, both Agalon and Alonzo realized it. Their previous way of construction was not bad. However, adding more metals and making the fortresses integrate would be obviously better.

The most ordinary steel would be good enough. If magic iron or other materials were added, the fortress would be at least twice as effective even if the most common materials were used.

If all the fortresses were built in such a way, they would surely make the Hexagonal Array twice more effective than before!

Was steel costly? For mages, they wouldn’t even use it for the foundation of their houses. What about magic iron? It was the lowest magic metal, and had the greatest reserve in Noscent. Every Magic Apprentice could buy tons of purified magic iron easily.

For the Heaven Rank experts, it wouldn’t be difficult to build a city with highly purified magic iron. It was just too cheap…

Half of the price for a piece of purified magic iron was the cost of purification. As for the remaining half, the material itself took up 20% at most. The last 30% was the cost of excavation, shipment, etc.

Also, the fortresses didn’t need purified magic iron. Normal steel would be good enough. Only a small bit of magic iron was needed. Even the ores of magic iron could be used, and the result would be the same.

Even though more than 1,000 fortresses had to be built, their cost wouldn’t even amount to the Gilded Rose’s weekly profit…

It was possible, but unnecessary, to build the fortresses with pure magic iron, which would only increase the overall effect by 50%. The extra time wouldn’t be worth it.

All Heaven Rank mages had Demiplanes that could be used as space rings.. As for Agalon and Lin Yun who had Natural Demiplanes, they could build the factories in their Natural Demiplanes, and just throw out the fortresses in the places where they wanted them to be after the fortresses were made.