End of the Magic Era

Even a God Fire expert could only manage to defend himself when facing the pressure of an entire world. They might not even be capable of protecting themselves.

The Natural Demiplane was Lin Yun’s greatest source of confidence. As long as it developed well without any deviation, there shouldn’t be a problem.

The moment he left the Natural Demiplane, he felt that the magic power around him was violent. He flew to the heights and looked around, only to discover that everybody was moving quickly and landing in the fortresses. Some of them were flying out too. On the front line, the sky was a different color, and the black clouds turned into an enormous vortex.

The glow of magic was shining now and then, stretching almost 1,000 kilometers. It was impossible to tell what was really going on in the battlefield, but the rays of light indicated just how fierce the battles were.

The front line was almost 1,000 kilometers long, yet no magic waves could be detected here. There was even the feeling that the battlefield was far away. When he saw the glittering metal fortresses up ahead, Lin Yun understood everything.

Agalon and Alonzo had already carried out what they agreed upon. The new fortresses looked only half as big, but they were definitely more solid than those which magicians built with the help of spells.

The main parts of those fortresses were all made of steel and magic iron. Dense magic stripes and runes had been engraved on them, making the entire fortress a whole. Adding the magic crystals here, they were almost clumsy magic strongholds.

That was just the fortresses’ usage in war. At the same time, they were more effective as important nodes of the super massive Hexagonal Array than the previous fortresses.

No great magic waves could be detected here, because the sectioned array made of those fortresses had been activated bit by bit.

1,000 kilometers had been pushed forward over those days. The ocean of flames in the center of the channel was already dying out. Noscent’s troops had crossed the flames, and set up irregular iron fortresses where the ocean of flames used to be.

Lin Yun flew out of the fortress towards the front line. Before he reached it, he had seen six floating fortresses dragging an iron fortress towards the front line.

The iron fortress was only two kilometers in diameter, and looked like a hemisphere whose edge was missing. The bottom of the hemisphere was a flat surface, with six sharp stings 100 meters long.

Those stings were all made of magic iron along with other magic metals. Looking at the alchemy circuits on them, Lin Yun easily inferred what they were for.

When the iron fortress landed, the six 100-meter-long stings below the fortress would stab into the soil. After the fortress was stabilized, the alchemy arrays on the six stings would be activated and controlled by mages. Then, they would transform and let the fortress hold on to the soil at least in a radius of five kilometers. Nobody could make the fortress move again, or lift it from the earth.

On the flat surface at the bottom of the fortress, there were also a great number of alchemy patterns, circuits, glyphs, and runes…

Combined, they prevented the fortress from ever moving again when it touched the land. They would link the fortress to the pulse of the earth. Unless the earth completely collapsed, nothing would possibly happen to the fortress, as least not while it was a node of the Hexagonal Array.

By making use of the power of the earth itself, the defense of the fortress would be further improved…

Lin Yun was no in a rush to go to the front line anymore. He simply followed the transportation team onward.

There were at least five circles of defense within 100 kilometers of the fortress. It was impossible for the undead creatures to sabotage them, not to mention that the nearest small battlefield was 500 kilometers away.

The floating strongholds that were holding the iron fortress were probably the Sky City’s masterpiece. However, Lin Yun saw the traces of a handful of other forces on the fortress itself.

The fortress flew for 100 kilometers, and Gandaph was already waiting. Lin Yun didn’t disturb him. He simply watched quietly, and helped stay on guard.

The six floating strongholds slowly landed with the iron fortress. Gandaph personally adjusted the direction and location of the fortress.

An empty lot that was as smooth as a mirror had been prepared. There were even six special marks on it, representing the locations that the six iron stings should aim at.

The fortress slowly landed, and its stings were aimed at the six marks. As the floating strongholds descended, the six thick and heavy stings easily stabbed into the earth thanks to the weight of the fortress itself.

When the fortress was about to land, the six floating strongholds moved to the iron fortress’s sides, pulling it down slowly.

Accompanied by dull noises, the fortress completely landed. When it stabilized on the ground, the alchemy arrays on the fortress were activated, connecting the fortress to the earth, as if it had rooted.

Also, the connection spread a dozen kilometers in only a few seconds. As time went by, the coverage would even grow bigger and bigger. When other fortresses landed nearby, all of them would be connected to each other. Nobody would be able to pull any of them out.

Rock mages stepped up, and activated some arrays on the fortress. One of the steel mages of the Lodney Family also turned on the alchemy arrays that had been prepared in advance.

Countless runes appeared in Lin Yun’s eyes, which saw the six deeply-buried stings right through the soil.

Apart from those stings, there were also enormous cubes of iron that had been buried deep in the soil earlier. The magic circuits on the surface of the stings were activated, and small stings arose on the six stings like the spines of a hedgehog.

When those things touched the iron cubes that were deeply buried, the iron cubes seemed to be controlled, and began to transform. They were like metal trees that were growing deep inside the soil.

The six thickest iron stings were the trunks of the trees. The enormous iron cubes that were buried nearby were the nutrition for the trees to grow up. The trunk branched out, and the branches further branched out.

Very soon, all the iron tubes in the soil were gone. Under the fortress, the iron swept across a dozen kilometers like spreading roots, going almost 500 meters deep. The complicated iron roots swallowed all the iron elements in the soil.

Also, thanks to the other alchemy arrays, the soil became even harder than rocks. Furthermore, they were continuing to change. Lin Yun was shocked as he watched.

In the external war, the mages of Noscent finally showed the brilliance of their civilization. The cooperation of human beings and the wisdom of mages couldn’t have better manifested.

All kinds of alchemists were necessary for the creation and transportation of the iron fortress. Alchemy arrays and magic tools were necessary. Alchemy puppets were responsible for the manufacture of some important components too. Even alchemy potions weren’t as useless as they looked.

The alchemists who were good at making potions weren’t just capable of making potions. They had a lot of knowledge, and could construct magic circuits and runes. This iron fortress required alchemists to be integrated too.

Not all potions were prepared for mages. There were many potions that had special abilities. They could fuse metals, or work as catalysts…

Alchemy was science in the mage civilization. It was impossible to separate part of it from the others, even though people liked to distinguish an alchemist’s field of expertise by their final products.

Besides the necessary alchemists, fire mages and frost mages were necessary to help build the fortress too. Earth mages, rock mages, and the Lodney Family’s steel mages had to assist in activating it too.

Transportation was a major problem as well. A lot of forces, including the Sky City, were good at that. They were the transporters.

Earlier, Lin Yun had proposed that Agalon could throw the fortresses out of his Natural Demiplane, but he had just been talking. Agalon, Alonzo, Gandaph, and similar mages were all capable of doing that.

However, too many iron fortresses were needed here. They couldn’t transport each and every one of them. So, the teamwork of mages was needed. Their power as a team shocked Lin Yun.

When he read descriptions of the heyday, Lin Yun had felt that it was the mages’ industrial age when the efficiency was shockingly high.

When he saw this scene, Lin Yun finally realized that Noscent was already accelerating towards the peak without him knowing it. The influence he wanted to see had manifested. The unhurried mages were starting to pursue efficiency too.

As soon as they saw how rewarding this was, it would be impossible to talk them out of it…