Release that Witch

“Your Majesty, can I give it a try?” Kyle Sichi asked impatiently.

“Of course,” Roland smiled and nodded, “You can be the one sending the message this time.”

The Chief Alchemist pondered for a moment, then picked up a chalk and wrote down a string of characters of varying lengths which went up to more than 20 odd patterns. If the three horizontal lines and two dots were a coincidence, this long message basically eliminated the factor of luck

Barov remained as the receiver.

It was clear that he did not wish for the rare experience to end—without even waiting for Roland’s order, he rushed to blindfold himself.

Electric arcs jumped within the circuit once again.

This time, the old director took a longer time as he listened attentively.

When his answer emerged on the piece of paper in front of everybody, they erupted into an enthusiastic round of applause!

There were two mistakes in the long line of 20 over characters, but there were no mistake in the numbers and was identical to Kyle’s message!

It was impossible for this coincidence to be attributed to luck.

This meant that in those few seconds, information had been communicated between Neverwinter and Silver City—which explained why the old director knew the message Kyle sent.

“Your Majesty, what is the furthest distance the Iron Tower can send?” Barov asked excitedly.

“Theoretically, so long as you increase the output, even a few thousand kilometers wouldn’t be a problem.

“You mean it can cover the entire territory of the Four Kingdoms?”

Hearing that, everyone could not help but engage in whispers.

“It isn’t limited to that, it can even cover the entire Fertile Plains.”

“For Graycastle to know of anything that occurs in Neverwinter in a second, this notion is truly inconceivable!”

“Indeed, if it weren’t for the opportunity to witness this miracle, I will never dare believe that this is something achievable by Man…”

Barov was already pondering over questions at a deeper level.

“Your Majesty, if we are able to assign specific meanings to these codes, maybe we are able to achieve more complicated content, for example giving out instructions or a government decree…”

Upon witnessing the new invention, he immediately reflected on its utilization, it had to be said that Barov’s knowledge and ideas were more advanced and extensive compared to his peers. Even at his old age, he was capable of keeping up with the rapidly rising Kingdom. Roland gave him a commending smile, “You are in the right direction, but my plan is to advance further from your idea.”

“Are you saying that…”

“We will not be assigning symbols with specific connotations, but to effectively assign our current written language with corresponding symbols. This way, even if we can’t hear human voice, we can still engage in real-time conversations.”

After considering Roland’s words, Barov’s eyes lit up.

Obviously, he realized the enormous significance in the “new language”.

As the world’s language adopted a completely different phonetic system, it was impossible for Roland to completely copy the telegraphic codes from his world. However, the principle stayed the same, and they simply needed to spare some effort in formulating suitable code tables. With the code tables, any textual information could be transformed into its corresponding code and broadcast at the speed of light over the continent.

Roland already had plans as to the person responsible for creating the telegraph messages.

As the person responsible for recording information from both worlds, no one was more suitable than Scroll.

“Your Majesty…” Sirius Daly raised his hands eagerly, “Can I try this tele… graph machine?”

“Of course.” Roland looked at the crowd. “If anyone else is interested, feel free to experience it yourself.”

The higher-ups of Neverwinter immediately burst into a commotion. All of them lunged forward and the table with the equipment was soon surrounded.

Upon taking in this scene, Anna walked over to Roland and shook her head in amusement.

Roland naturally understood the meaning behind her smile. The spark-gap transmitter and galena receiver were merely the lowest tier of technology in the technological tree for wireless communications. The former was capable of sending messages over radio frequencies, while the latter could receive all sorts of information. The two appeared like a match made in heaven, but could only send and receive a set of information at any one point in time in the same region. In fact, after the spark-gap transmitter was superseded with the more advanced vacuum tube wireless equipment, its few unique features caused quite a momentary stir due to disruption in radio reception. As such, its effects could only be considered average.

Furthermore, the system required a large number of counterpoise wires and transmission power; therefore the space it occupied and weight were difficult to reduce. The system was destined to only be set up in a small number of important cities.

By the time the vacuum tube prototypes were ready, they would be capable of directly disseminating voice messages without disrupting broadcast and transmission-receiving. That will be when wireless communications truly reached its peak.

Who knew what kind of surprised expressions they would reveal when the time came.

He knew that Anna was anticipating that.

It had to be said that the two of them were extremely similar based on this point.

While everyone were testing and “conversing” with Silver City in zest, Roland suddenly felt an intense dizzy spell affecting his mind.

It came so abruptly that everything inside the room became double in his eyes. He subconsciously closed his eyes in an attempt to suppress the spreading of the dizzy spell, but his body seemed to have lost its center of mass.

Anna was the first to sense the change in him. She extended her hand out and grabbed his arm. “Roland, are you alright?”

I’m fine… Roland wanted to give that reply, but a violent fit of coughing came out when he opened his mouth. He closed his mouth and swallowed the pungent yet sweet taste in his throat.

Hell, what is going on?

His eyelids closed quickly, as though their weighed a hundredweight. His palms were covered with bright red specks which stood out as highly disparate from his surroundings. Despite trying his best to remain clear-headed, his consciousness was quickly slipping away from him. Anna seemed to be crying out something, but aside from the hubbub of noises, he could not hear anything.

He lost control over his body and fell backwards. The last scene that entered his vision was Nightingale’s silhouette and the Mist that quickly extended outwards.

…

When Roland opened his eyes, he realized that he was back in his bedroom.

“His Majesty is awake!”

Even before he got up, Scroll who was by his side had already alerted the others.

A series of rushed footsteps followed and, in a blink of an eye, Anna appeared by the bed. Clearly, she had been in the room all this time and had not gone far from him.

“How do you feel?” She leaned over and placed her hand over his forehead and asked gently, “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

“Hmm…” Roland focused on taking in everything for a moment. “No. I feel extremely light, as though I have just taken a long nap. My mind feels much better than usual.”

Seeing the two doubtful gazes fixated on him, he spread out his hands helplessly. “It’s true, except…”

“Except what?” Anna and Scroll questioned him in unison.

“Except that I’m slightly hungry…” Roland rubbed his tummy. “How long have I been asleep for?”

Anna’s expression finally relaxed. “About six hours. It is the shortest coma you’ve had. I’ll inform the kitchen to prepare something. But… are you truly alright?”

“I couldn’t feel better.” Roland shrugged his shoulders. “Right, where’s Nightingale, she can immediately determine if I am speaking the truth or consoling you.”

Just as he finished his sentence, Nightingale appeared from shadows. She did not approach the bed, nor did she reply immediately. She remained silent for a long while before nodding her head, “… His Majesty is speaking the truth.”

“See?” Roland smiled. Indeed, he did not feel out of sorts, and what he said was the truth, but Nightingale’s reply was much slower compared to ordinary days. Although he felt something off about it, he did not probe further. “As to why I fainted, maybe it’s simply because I didn’t have sufficient rest?”