Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1170: Chapter 1169: The Grand Plan

Southwest of Cecil Castle, a large facility is nestled in the connecting area between the Dark Mountain Range and the forest. Heavy tall walls separate the entire facility from the outside world. At each node of the walls, tall Magic Obelisks can be seen along with sentry posts and firepower platforms guarding nearby. Soldiers patrol back and forth on the high walls, armed to the teeth, and a road extends from the rear of the base into the Dark Mountain Range, pointing in the distant direction of the defied Fortress. Another road extends from the side of the base toward the western forest, where the No. 1 Dragon Cavalry Training Base is located.

This large facility is one of several experimental and processing bases under the Magical Technology Department.

In the depths of the facility, the independent office building stands in a giant cave carved out with the help of the natural mountain terrain. Along the mountain wall, the flags of the Cecil Empire hang from the high dome to the ground. A middle-aged male researcher walks through the isolation checkpoint and the mechanical connecting bridge between the office area, stepping into the building under the watchful gaze of the Empire’s Flag.

Compared to the relatively stern and oppressive environment of the base, the interior of the building is bright and has a soothing color scheme. In the long main corridor, the gentle light emitted by magic crystal lamps falls from above, casting a soft glow on the shoulders of the middle-aged researcher and creating a bright reflection on his head.

A young female researcher approaches from the opposite direction, stopping in front of the middle-aged man and giving a polite greeting: "Good day, Leslie Think Tank."

"Miss Fannie," said Marin Leslie, who had been promoted from Senior Researcher to "Think Tank," nodding to the young lady in front of him, who had only recently graduated from the Imperial Academy and was assigned here. "I just received a message that the large anti-gravity unit sent from the Pompeii area has already passed through the rocky ridges port checkpoint and should soon arrive at White River Port. Take the documents over tomorrow to handle the handover—you should be familiar with the relevant procedures by now, right?"

"Yes, Leslie Think Tank," the young assistant researcher nodded vigorously, with the unique vigor of youth and the anticipation of performing an important task. "Don’t worry, I’ve followed my mentors for several handovers already, there won’t be any problems."

"Hmm," Marin Leslie replied, then casually asked, "Is the Minister in the office today?"

"Yes, the Minister arrived here early today to personally handle several technological processes related to engine linkage—right now in the office on the second floor."

"Alright, I’ll head over there now—Miss Fannie, don’t forget the tasks assigned to you."

After this brief interlude, Marin Leslie bade farewell to the young assistant researcher and headed directly to the second floor of the office area, stopping at the end of the spacious and bright corridor—up ahead was the office of the head of the Magical Technology Department, a respected member of the royal family. Although in this era, almost everyone consciously weakens many of the rules and customs of the old aristocratic times, Marin, from the Leslie Clan, still retains certain "principles" he has adhered to for decades. He paused before this door, quickly tidying up every detail of his attire and adjusting his expression before stepping forward to knock on the door.

But just before his fingers touched the door, a voice from the office halted his motion. He heard two voices, one of which was clearly his superior, and the other was the Empire’s Grand Governor—

"You have exceeded the budget for the third time, Rebecca! Although your project has a high priority now, you also need to consider our finances—why not conduct several more simulation experiments in the Origin Laboratory?!"

"I did, Aunt... but the Origin Laboratory isn’t omnipotent, who knew that multiple Anti-Gravity Rings synchronizing would cause an additional magic tremor... But don’t worry! We’ve found a way to promptly divert that magic tremor! Just add a layer of Mithril Plating between the primary and secondary power spines. Oh, let me tell you, Aunt, Pompeii’s side..."

"How many times have I told you, address me as Grand Governor during work communication!"

"Oh, okay, Aunt Grand Governor—the factory newly built on Pompeii’s side has already shipped out! In these couple of days, we’ll find out if the anti-gravity units coming off the production line meet the standards. If they do, the cost can be halved..."

"Hopefully, things are as you said, otherwise, by the next fiscal settlement, I might have to account for you in front of our ancestors!"

"Hey, hey, don’t worry, Aunt Grand Governor, I’m confident on my side, there’s definitely no question—"

"Stop—that’s it, just call me Aunt. Damn it, I really should have found you a well-rounded etiquette instructor back in the day..."

"Oh, Aunt, you’re being too harsh. Actually, Sir Bob was quite adept at the time; although his boxing was not refined, his agility was commendable..."

Marin Leslie, a member of the Leslie Clan, well-educated and actively embracing the reforms of the Empire’s new order, is one of the most senior technicians in the Magical Technology Department, and the current "Think Tank" with the least hair, faces the greatest middle-aged workplace crisis of his life today outside his superior’s door.

Knowing that his superior is being scolded by the superior’s superior in the room, and judging from the conversation that his superior seems to be acting foolish, while he is standing outside the office door right now, where the soundproofing is poor and everyone working here knows it, the question is: if he pushes the door open now, how much of next month’s bonus will remain?

The voices in the room had quieted down. Marin Leslie swallowed with a somewhat complicated expression. He knew that Princess Rebecca is not a person who pays much attention to details and probably wouldn’t be angry at him for stumbling into an awkward situation, but he couldn’t help hesitating—after all, even if the person involved wasn’t embarrassed, he felt rather awkward listening from outside.

He decided to stand at the door for another two minutes, wait for the awkwardness to pass, and then knock on the door, pretending he just arrived and didn’t hear anything...

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Marin suddenly heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Miss Fannie heading to a nearby office—she was coming to retrieve some documents.

"Leslie Think Tank?" Fannie saw Marin standing at the Minister’s office door and immediately exclaimed in surprise, "Haven’t you met the Minister yet? She’s right inside the office..."

Marin stiffened his neck, hesitated for a long time, and could only utter: "...Thank you for the reminder."

"You’re welcome~~" The young assistant researcher smiled happily, turned, and walked into the room, leaving the awkward Marin Leslie standing at the entrance of the Minister’s office. Moments later, Marin, often feeling workplace pressure, sighed and scratched his head, noticing his scant circle of hair seemed a bit looser—he then reached out to knock on the door and soon heard the familiar female voice from inside: "Come in, the door isn’t locked."

Marin pushed the door open to enter the office, seeing Rebecca sitting behind the large desk, seemingly lost in thought. The Magic Web Terminal beside her appeared to have just shut down, with the magic symbols around the Projection Crystal still glowing faintly.

"Uh... Minister," Marin braced himself and greeted, "I’m here to report on the situation..."

"Marin," Rebecca said absentmindedly while maintaining her trance-like state, "I suddenly have a question..."

Marin Leslie immediately adjusted his expression, setting his report aside for the moment: "Ah, please ask."

"Do older women generally have worse tempers than when they’re younger?" Rebecca looked seriously at her old subordinate in front of her, "I always feel my aunt has been increasingly irritable these past two years..."

Cold sweat broke out on Marin at once—this was a life-or-death question!

But fortunately, Rebecca didn’t expect the middle-aged bachelor who hadn’t married to answer such a specialized question; she merely muttered to herself, shifting the topic to another direction: "Oh well, next time I meet Pittman, I’ll ask him to help prepare some calming and nurturing potions. Maybe if Aunt is happy, she won’t fuss over the budget..."

Marin’s cold sweat hadn’t stopped since earlier, and now he watched helplessly as his superior raced towards a new, reckless direction. He wanted to voice a reminder but didn’t know how to broach the topic—and before he could figure out how to start, Rebecca’s voice came again: "Forget it, let’s not think about this now. Marin, what are you here to report?"

This sentence was heavenly music, and fresh air instantly surged back into Marin’s airways. He couldn’t help but exhale in relief, hurriedly steering the conversation back on track: "Yes, Minister. Firstly, regarding the anti-gravity unit that just came offline at the Pompeii Factory, a message from rocky ridges Port just came in that the rapid cargo ship has already passed the checkpoint. It should arrive at White River Port tomorrow or the day after, and I’ve arranged for someone to handle the handover."

"Oh? Already passed rocky ridges Port? That’s really fast," Rebecca showed a joyful expression and swayed cheerfully in her chair, "That’s great; we can soon install the new Anti-Gravity Ring onto the test framework, and the series of projects in the testing field won’t have to pause and wait... Any other good news?"

"Node Scholar Lady Selena sent a message that the Gran Heavy Industries’ No. 1 Experimental Workshop has successfully started up," Marin nodded, "According to her assessment, the neural network under wetware host control performs as expected in practical environments, with all parameters meeting or approaching the conclusions deduced in laboratory settings—she described that ’the entire factory has come alive, with every machine operating as flexibly and smoothly as humans controlling their limbs, completely unlike the stiff levers and buttons of old-fashioned manual operations.’"

"Such high praise?" Rebecca raised her eyebrows immediately, then showed a hint of regret, "Oh, it’s really a shame I wasn’t on site; I’d love to see how the first ’intelligent workshop’ in human history started up and operated..."

Then she shook her head and refocused on the matters at hand, her gaze settling on the documents on the desk. Among the papers and rulers lay a large blueprint spread out on the desktop, outlining something that could be described as peculiar to the uninformed—

It resembled an extraordinarily oddly-shaped ship, or perhaps a "building" capable of moving like a vehicle, with the sentinel towers used for scale showing this odd-shaped object had a massive size. Yet on this strange and huge "ship," there were none of the sails, paddles, or other structures typical of a normal ship; instead, it featured large magical devices distributed throughout its hull, including numerous Anti-Gravity Rings over ten meters in diameter, energy release grates nearly a hundred meters long, sequentially arranged Magic Capacitors, and even more, dizzying magic mechanisms.

At the bottom of the blueprint, hard and clear printed characters marked a code representing top-secret: Project 115.

This was merely a sketch, far removed in detail from the actual engineering blueprints, yet it was complex enough to leave young technicians who had just been introduced to Magic Guide Technology dizzy.

Of course, this wasn’t solely designed by Rebecca—although she’s indeed a gifted magic expert, true cutting-edge magic guide technology has developed beyond the realm reached by personal talent. This sketch and the entire design project associated with it is the achievement of hundreds of experts from the Magical Technology Department, plus collaborative scholars from several other research departments, who worked day and night, including extensive validation and calculation in the real world, and countless derivations and simulations under accelerated time in the Origin Laboratory.

The project behind this blueprint represents the Empire’s most ambitious plan in this exciting new era.

"Anti-Gravity Devices... Ancestors once said this is one of the most convenient technologies in this world, convenient to the point of being almost like cheating—and such an important technology shouldn’t be limited to creating ’small gadgets’ like Dragon Cavalry or Cloud Bottom," Rebecca said thoughtfully, looking at the object on the blueprint, "Sometimes even I can’t comprehend how the ancestors came up with those incredible ideas. Honestly, when he put forward the ’Sky Sanctuary of Magic’ plan, I was shocked..."

"The King once said his inspiration came from the elves’ Sacred Stars Temple," Marin Leslie’s tone carried admiration, and upon seeing the blueprint on the desk, his eyes showed a hint of pride, "But I still have to say... The Sacred Stars Temple has operated in the skies of this world for so many years, everyone naturally assumes it to be an ’undeniable miracle,’ only our King could envision using human power to replicate such a miracle—such vision is unparalleled."

"Ancestors said, don’t disdain the ancient people’s vision because of our achievements today—the people of the past didn’t lack the will but were constrained by technology and the times. If the elves attempted for so many years to repair their Sacred Stars Temple, wouldn’t they want to create a new one if they had the means?" Rebecca shook her head, remarkably speaking sensibly, "Moreover, what we’re building can’t compare to the Sacred Stars Temple, whether in scale or internal parameters; today’s technology can’t replicate the Sacred Stars Temple’s massive sky fortress. But we can try to build a downgraded version."

Marin Leslie listened to Princess Veronica’s words, his face gradually showing a smile: "If we can build one, we can build ten."

"Yes," Rebecca also smiled, her smile full of confidence, "If we can build one, we can build ten."