Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 576 - 575: Forward Base

High-power magic crystal lamps illuminated the vast cavern as bright as daylight. The sounds of mixers, lifts, and various magic matrices running intertwined, and workers and technical personnel in uniforms busily moved between machines and support frames. The Southgate Fortress construction site was bustling.

Gawain, Aunt Heidi, and Amber arrived at this former shadow testing grounds, and in the center of the cavern, they found the person in charge here, Gordon.

"Leader, the support structures and foundation have been laid, the main wall construction is more than halfway complete, the southern gate, wall barriers, outer wall armoring, and extended firepower platforms are sixty percent done," Gordon reported on the progress of the fortress construction, "The barracks and energy station are operational, and as of yesterday, we have some basic defensive capabilities here."

"Not bad, very well done." Gawain was pleased with the progress achieved by Gordon’s engineering team. He noticed the workers reinforcing the walls at the cavern’s boundary, while between the southern gate and the inner cavern, an extra layer of cement-steel armor was taking shape. Giant support frames stretched across the cavern, with lifting devices powered by magic engine fixed atop the frames—winches pulling cables were hoisting large cargo pallets to the second floor of the fortress, while around each cargo pallet, faint rune glows could be seen—the Weight Reduction Rune Matrix was taking effect.

At this stage, the Weight-Reduction Spell was still a spell that hadn’t been fully unraveled. Runemasters had yet to solve the interference problems when multiple weight-reduction effects act on a single target, thus it’s difficult to use on larger objects (such as large vehicles), but when handling smaller items, the Weight-Reduction Spell has always been a useful tool for transportation.

At the cavern’s edge, technicians carrying magic transmission terminals could be seen using the Stone-to-Mud Spell and Mud-to-Stone Spell to quickly adjust the rock wall in preparation for installing wall armoring plates later on, while another engineering team not far away was embedding Magic Web Units on the already installed wall plates; the plasma welding beam (heat fusion welding gun) flashed nonstop, showcasing each team’s efficiency and coordination abilities.

Using supernatural powers as productivity rather than simply as weaponry for the "strong" results in this incredible efficiency.

Of course, Gordon’s proper command was also a key factor in the project’s rapid progress.

Gawain withdrew his gaze and looked at the round depression on the floor in the cavern center, observed the ancient and mysterious rune array at the bottom of the pit and the ring-arranged ancient devices, casually asked, "Has this shadow portal reacted abnormally recently?"

Gordon shook his head: "No—We’ve set up magic power sensing devices around, and found no signs of this magic door being activated."

"Great," Gawain nodded, then looked at the new gate at the cavern’s end, "Open the gate, I want to check out the Forward Base."

"Yes—Open the gate!!"

The rune array hummed, gears and winch heads simultaneously squeaked, steel chains and bearings drawn the heavy steel gate, accompanied by vibrations that even made the floor tremble a bit, the gate of Southgate Fortress slowly opened before Gawain...

To begin the wall-building project on the wasteland border, one must first clear a path from the civilized world to the wasteland, and this path was obstructed by the entire Black Forest—a forest that humans hadn’t set foot in for hundreds of years.

After deciding on the wall-building, Gawain considered two plans to open this path—one plan was to directly pierce through the mountains from Southgate Fortress, then build a Forward Base before the fortress, blazing a straight path through the Black Forest to the wasteland; the second plan was to bypass the entire Defied Fortress, exit from the mountain pass west of Cecil Castle, and finally also pierce through the Black Forest to build a road.

The first plan was evidently more time-saving and effortless, but the second plan was to safeguard the secrets of Defied Fortress and Southgate Fortress—he didn’t want too many outsiders to know that Cecil had such a special gate in hand, such an intact ancient fortress. Although rumors about "Duke Cecil having Gondor Relics" weren’t scarce, within the Defied Fortress... there were indeed too many secrets.

But now Gawain still chose the first plan, because he had confirmed neither the royal family nor the Duke of the East would send personnel to join the project—they were preserving their forces for continued resistance, but for Gawain, he was happy to keep the entire project under his control.

Having a bunch of northern aristocrats and slave craftsmen mixed in would only hold back Cecil’s engineering team.

Thanks to convenient elemental control magic, laying a temporary road wasn’t difficult in this world, a broad road hardened temporarily with the Mud-to-Stone Spell had already linked the Defied Fortress to the Forward Base from Southgate Fortress to the Black Forest boundary. After setting off in the magic-guided vehicle, it wasn’t long before Gawain saw the towering magic transmission tower and the dust rising—Pathfinders had built the temporary base ahead.

A dozen or so panels built houses at the edge of the Black Forest, surrounded by a mixed circle of wooden fencing, steel wire barricades, chest-high walls, and sentinel towers as protective barriers. Guards responsible for safeguarding the Forward Base watched the Black Forest direction vigilantly from the sentinel towers, and at the base entrance gate stood two iron-tower-like strong White Knights.

Just as Gawain had emphasized before—ahead of the civilized border lay dangers everywhere, naturally, the Forward Base marching towards the wasteland needed strict vigilance.

"Salute!!"

The two White Knights noticed Gawain sitting in the vehicle, they immediately stood upright, a deep and strong voice came from beneath the fully-covered steel helmet, while the base gate then opened to both sides, the magic-guided vehicle with Gawain and the two others smoothly drove into the Forward Base.

Getting out of the vehicle, Gawain immediately saw a large figure briskly approaching him.

Wright Awiken, the White Knight Commander and New Church’s Grand Shepherd.

This Grand Shepherd who had turned into a "big shot" didn’t stay in his church, but upon hearing the march to the wasteland, he actively requested to come to the front line, commanding the protection forces of "Pathfinders" here. Since the White Knights are skilled in security roles, and Holy Light Power provides the convenience of healing pollution and expelling non-human monsters, Gawain agreed to his application.

Behind Wright, Gawain noticed some special figures—

That was Sonia Frostleaf and the few elven messengers she brought with her.

These elves were clearly very concerned about the barrier repair. Although the bustling and novel Cecil Castle did pique their great curiosity and interest, they were more focused on the engineering progress south of the Dark Mountain Range. These days, Sonia and her companions spent only a third of their time at Cecil Castle. Almost all the rest of their time was dedicated to the Black Forest area.

"I’m here to check the progress," Gawain first greeted Wright and then looked at Sonia, "You’ve come here again today?"

"Watching the progress makes us feel more at ease," Sonia smiled and said candidly, "And not staying in the city also helps avoid some awkward... mother-son conflicts."

What Sonia said was apparently a joke. In reality, her relationship with Soldrin seemed fine in Gawain’s view, but Gawain couldn’t help but understand the conflicting mindset of this elven mother upon seeing Soldrin—

Honestly, if he too had a son who didn’t come home for seven hundred years, had no partner, didn’t write letters, was bald, wore a wig, and liked women’s clothing...

He didn’t dare continue the thought halfway through.

He thought he might choose to lie back into the coffin and ask someone to nail the lid shut.

"...As you can see, we are doing our utmost to speed up the road construction effort, striving to complete the road to the Rotting Plains before the Harvest Festival," Gawain shifted the topic to cover his momentary awkwardness, "For now, as long as there are no major incidents, the project can be completed on schedule."

"We’ve noticed this—it does reassure me a lot," Sonia gently exhaled, "To be honest, I never expected you to be this fast. In such a short time, you’ve actually started paving the roads in the Black Forest. I can see how much manpower and resources you’ve invested in this—but if you compare, your royal family hasn’t even sent the first batch of supplies yet! If I may be blunt, as Anzu people, how can there be such a huge efficiency difference?"

"Not everyone knows how to turn magic into productivity," Gawain said with a helpless shake of his head, "Moreover, the northern aristocrats may not all realize how terrifying the threat of the wastelands is. Seven hundred years ago, the chaotic wave might still be a vivid event for elves, but for humans... it’s ancient legend, several generations ago."

Sonia was not new to dealing with humans, so she certainly knew Gawain was making a valid point. She did not say much more but looked towards the direction of the Dark Mountain Range, and towards Southgate Fortress, sighing lightly: "A fort from Gondor’s time... Seven hundred years ago, I heard that the northern pioneers discovered an ancient ruin while crossing the Dark Mountain Range, but I never expected that seven hundred years later, it would play such a role in your hands."

"We didn’t expect it either back then," Gawain said with a smile, "Just like I never expected to see the great walls being built before I fell, only to wake up from eternal sleep and have to rebuild them—fate has never been reasonable."

"You really got the short end of the stick," Sonia couldn’t help but shake her head, "You fell during the most difficult period, only to wake in another challenging era. It seems fate deliberately arranges for you to fight against disaster, without giving you a moment of rest. We had seven whole centuries of peace, but you didn’t enjoy a single day of it."

Gawain didn’t say anything, because he wasn’t truly Gawain Cecil, so he felt no regret. But beside him, Aunt Heidi suddenly raised her head, as if Sonia’s words had deeply moved this Cecil’s Great Steward. She looked at her ancestor with fixed eyes, suddenly feeling greatly ashamed of her usual smoky makeup.

Gawain had no idea why Aunt Heidi suddenly blushed.

...

At the same time, in the north of Cecil Principality, at the rocky ridges Town port square.

Commander of the rocky ridges Wald Peric stood with his guards and honor guard on the square, preparing to bid farewell to the messengers from the royal capital. These messengers had only stayed for half a day in this gateway city. Now, they were about to board a ship heading to Cecil Castle.

"This city is quite impressive, Sir," said Cohen Loland, Vice Commander of the Anzu Royal Knights and leader of the delegation, acknowledging Wald with full admiration, "I visited this land two years ago, but it was nothing like this. I must admit, it’s truly incredible here."

Sir Wald looked at the Vice Commander in front of him—this Vice Commander had the special surname "Loland," yet was a member of the royal faction. His delegation included messengers from both the Duke of the East and special envoys from the royal capital. The implications of this made one think deeply, but Wald himself was not interested in court intrigue or aristocratic balance. He only smiled and shook his head, "rocky ridges Town is just a gateway; you haven’t seen the truly incredible side of this land."

"Oh, I’m quite a calm person," Cohen Loland smiled politely, "I’ll look at these novel things with an appreciative eye, because no matter how magical they are, they’re all man-made."

"Then please," Wald gestured towards the docks, and almost simultaneously, the melodious whistle of a ship echoed from the bay.

A large ship, astonishingly sail-less and oar-less, advanced towards the port from the river, accompanied by waves breaking and the rumble of machinery, leaving Cohen Loland amazed.

It looked as if the ship was made entirely of metal.

"To ensure efficiency, the leader instructed the Inland Express Passenger Ship ’Wavewalker’ to pick up the envoys," Wald Peric said with a cheerful smile, "Please, board the ship."