Chapter 1246 — The Second Journey North

Near the portal hall, a separate laboratory was brightly lit. Mary stood at an observation window facing the hall, her gaze passing through the thickened, reinforced crystal glass with its double energy barrier, fixed on the portal at the center of the hall.

The immense magical power transmitted from the three energy hubs around Covenant Castle had been gathered together. At several energy-rail junctions inside the hall, vivid blue flames burned, surging and ebbing within crystal tubular vessels as they were fed continuously into the portal's components. Technicians in the differing uniforms of Typhon and Cecil moved ceaselessly among those complex, massive facilities, refining the gate's auxiliary structures and adjusting every parameter of the precision equipment.

Master Kaimar and Master Windsor Mabel stood beside the portal, apparently discussing something. They shook hands and seemed to be conversing happily.

"How long do you intend to stand in front of that window?" her mentor's voice came suddenly from behind, jolting Mary awake. "Come here. Break ended long ago, and you still have plenty of work unfinished."

Mary hurriedly turned, walking quickly back to her post while glancing at the old mage seated at the calculation desk not far away. "Sorry. I was a little distracted just now."

Her mentor's voice followed, tinged with reproach: "Don't let your mind wander while working on a project. It's a bad habit, and sometimes it can kill you."

Nodding, Mary came to the energy conduits set into the wall and the silver-white alloy rails, then began observing the blue-white streams of light within the conduits and the shifting runes and luminous curves that appeared on the alloy rails. These conduits were "analysis ducts" branched off from the main energy pipeline, while the alloy rails connected to the vast magical nexus underground, which the Cecil called the "Power Spine." The states they displayed helped analyze the portal's real-time load.

Of course, there was another monitoring system in the hall that let the front-line operators grasp the portal's condition. The monitoring points in this laboratory were mainly meant to collect data before the portal's official activation, so that the senior technical officers could keep abreast of the whole project at any moment, and those senior technical officers naturally included her own mentor.

Daniel, clad in a black robe, lifted his head. The runes surrounding him gradually dimmed as he emerged from immense data calculations and looked toward his most satisfactory apprentice. "How is the third energy tower group? Are the Power Spine readings normal now?"

"The third energy tower group came online smoothly after the adjustment, and the magical supply has stabilized. The Power Spine readings are currently within the normal range," Mary said, deftly confirming those dazzling raw readings. As one of the designers of this subsystem, she could confirm whether these analysis nodes were functioning properly without calculation. "The readings at checkpoints C7 and C16 in the portal's secondary confinement section are a little low. I suspect it's because the newly installed components aren't fully resonating. I'll arrange for the mages of the engineering team to inspect them later."

"The secondary confinement section..." Daniel nodded slightly. "Now only this last link remains. Once all the confinement sections are complete, the portal can undergo its first 'ignition.' This project is progressing faster than I imagined."

"After all, it's gathered the most advanced technical talent of two empires and an almost unlimited supply of materials, plus the manpower and resources dozens of countries across the alliance have desperately crammed in. Even the silver elves far at the southernmost end of the continent forced themselves to send over a dozen high-ranking astromancers riding giant eagles," Mary said with a smile. "I heard from Lady Windsor that the last time the countries of this continent cooperated so wholeheartedly was several years ago, when the Great Wall was repaired..."

"Repairing the Great Wall several years ago? Hah, that can't compare with today," Daniel snorted with considerable disdain. "It was a vast operation, yes, but the participants schemed against one another, every country guarded against every other, and voices questioning the Silver Empire never ceased. The great chaos in old Ansu broke out not long after that. People back then hadn't been taught a lesson by the Divine Calamity, so how could they know how dangerous this world could become?"

"You're right. There was no 'alliance' like today's back then," Mary said at once with a nod. But then, as if something else occurred to her, her expression turned hesitant. She closed her mouth and turned back to her post, yet her voice reached Daniel's mind directly through their mental link. "Do you think... now that relations between Cecil and Typhon have changed so much, one day our value..."

"We will 'exist' as always, and continue to exist," Daniel's voice sounded in Mary's mind, without the slightest confusion or hesitation. "Remember, no matter how close Typhon and Cecil become, as long as they remain two nations, as long as there is still a distinction between the two groups, we 'eyes' will always have value."

"Yes. I understand."

Hearing his apprentice's response, Daniel merely nodded slightly and returned his gaze to the unfinished work before him.

Relations between Typhon and Cecil were indeed changing now. The two nations, once wary of and even hostile to each other, were being drawn together by shared interests, and every day they drew a little closer. But Daniel knew very well that no matter how close they became, two nations were still two nations, and necessary intelligence work... would never end.

The eyes fixed on a neighboring country would not close. At most, the specifics of the work would change slightly. The Master admired Luoyan Augustus's talent, but that did not mean the rulers of the two national powers were truly "intimate." After all, even between the Silver Empire and the Highland Kingdom, whose relations were the closest, there were countless spies and intelligence agents planted in each other's lands. For centuries, even millennia, mortal civilization had operated in exactly this way.

It was just as the Master had once said: the essence of an alliance was a herd of porcupines huddling together for warmth, and in a sense, was that not also the essence of civilization?

Daniel shook his head. The runes around him gradually brightened again, and he resumed work on those vast model constructions and data projections. The artificial nerve cords slowly writhed behind him. At the same time, he glanced casually in Mary's direction and sighed inwardly. His apprentice was still young, after all, and he did not know when she would be able to stand on her own. It seemed his old bones would have to live a few more years...

...

In the royal district of Xuanyao City, on the great landing platform reserved for the empire's high-level official business, which Amber had named the "Dragoness Pad," Gao Yang, Amber, Maggie, and several dragon envoys were making their final preparations before departure. Hedy and Rebecca had come to see them off.

Looking at Gao Yang, already prepared and relaxed in expression, Hedy could not help but feel some worry. She stepped up beside the landing platform and, still uneasy, cautioned him again: "Ancestor, you must be extremely careful on this journey to Talrond. This time is different from last time, after all. The Dragon God and the dragon race were at least acting out of goodwill back then, but that tower... it is not an easy thing to deal with. And Talrond itself is not safe now."