Chapter 1177: Before the Storm

"Well..." The ancient witches exchanged looks, bemused and lost.

At long last, Pasha broke the silence. "Yes, there might be."

"Can I ask a question? How did you find G.o.d's Stone mines in the past?" Roland asked.

"I can't remember the method used 1,000 years ago, but I believe it was by pure coincidence," Celine replied. "After the establishment of the Union and the Quest Society, looking for G.o.d's Stone mines became our main job."

Roland thought of the map that marked Taquila, the Misty Forest and the North Slope Mine, through which Lightning had located Agatha and thereby uncovered the old history that had once been shrouded in secrecy.

"As G.o.d's Stones can block power, we started to search for them based on this feature. Witches like Sylvie, Nightingale, Lightning and Isabella could all become researchers 600 or 700 years ago. In peacetime, there were nearly 100 witches in the search team. We found six mines in total, three of which were suitable to build a large city around." Celine went on, "Later, we discovered the technologies of the underground civilization and started using the magic core to conduct the search. Once the core generates power, the sensor could cover an area with a radius of 100 kilometers. It actually helped us find the southern end of the Misty Forest and Hermes Plateau. Unfortunately, by the time we found them, the b.l.o.o.d.y Moon had appeared, and the demons destroyed everything."

"In other words, there was no point in the Union searching the mountain ridge," Roland said slowly. "It's inaccessible for common people, and even witches would find it hard to get there. So, it should be very inconvenient for the demons to build an Obelisk there."

"That's right," Edith said as she gave a nod of approval. "It isn't likely that they'll send all their forces, but this area is large enough to replace Taquila as their stronghold to exterminate humans. Besides, the number of the troops they could send to the mountains also depends on their preparation time. If the 'Western Front Plan Ursrook referred to included many contingency plans..."

"The demons would have been preparing for this operation for over half a year," Iron Axe supplied the answer heavily. "Your Majesty..."

"I see," Roland said as he threw his eyes over the others. Whether or not Edith's deduction was correct, he had to confirm this intelligence first. After all, it concerned the other three kingdoms as well as the future of the human race in the next hundred years. If the demons did plan to invade men's territories via the mountain ridge as speculated, it would be a total disaster if Neverwinter continued to direct all the resources to the development of the Fertile Plains. Roland straightened up and said solemnly, "Now, hear my orders!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" shouted the witches and officials together.

"Wendy, bring Lightning and Maggie back to Neverwinter immediately."

"Got it. I'll go right away."

"Iron Axe, implement the migration policy as soon as possible. I don't mind resorting to force."

"As you command!"

"Finally, I need the Taquila witches to provide another magic core," Roland said as he turned to Pasha. "Considering air reconnaissance alone may miss something, I need your a.s.sistance to make sure that we discover everything."

"As you wish, Your Majesty."

As the crowd was dispersed, Celine stopped Roland.

"I want to show you something, Your Majesty."

Roland thus followed Celine into the underground laboratory. To his surprise, he saw four yellowish brown stones almost identical to the Magic Ceremony Cube on the desk.

"You've already created four replicates?"

Roland went up to the workstation in earnest and fiddled one of the stones. Compared to the real Magic Cube, the replicate looked sharper, newer, with clearer patterns on it.

"Yes, but they functioned a little differently. I reckon it has something to do with their raw materials. Perhaps, the radiation race put something else in it when they made the Cube. Nevertheless, I tested them on chickens already and confirmed those tiny differences don't affect its use."

"That's even better," Roland said while he lamented the poor chickens within himself. "We need its power to last longer. I don't care about its lethality to be honest. Keep up the good work."

"No problem. Do you still need these prototypes?"

"Of course. You discovered a new energy source!" Roland praised ardently. "You can't imagine how important your research actually is. You made such a great contribution to the development of the human race that you've certainly carved a glorious place in human history!"

The next step was to design a device to convert the thermal energy released by the Magic Cube into kinetic energy. If this attempt was successful, there would soon be another industrial revolution in Neverwinter!

At these thoughts, Roland contemplated Celine's blob-like body with mournful presentiment and said, "You should be receiving a Special Award for Services to Neverwinter and congratulated by the public on the stage on the central square..."

"That's nothing, Your Majesty. I knew this kind of honor wouldn't be available to me when I decided to transfer my soul," Celine said smilingly. "I'm just doing my job. Plus, you've already fulfilled my dream in the Dream World."

Roland's orders were immediately spread throughout the entire kingdom.

Every day, a dozen birds rose into the air from the top of the castle and brought encrypted messages to the northeast. Every port and every fleet were making their contributions to this great relocation.

The First Army departed for the Port of Clearwater, Seawinds.h.i.+re, and other port cities on paddle steamers. From there, they took another s.h.i.+p before heading to the north.

Although the details of the operation plan had not been disclosed to soldiers and the soldiers had no idea what exactly their mission was, they immediately a.s.sembled and commenced their journey to another country without the slightest hesitation after receiving the order.

In the City of Glow, the Kingdom of Dawn.

After Horford Quinn received Hill Fawkes' letter, he summoned his son at once and said to him, "Go to the Beach Bay and Dragon Castle to let the local lords know that they should prioritize the s.h.i.+ps from Graycastle over all other s.h.i.+ps. Make sure they leave a docking area specifically for Graycastle. The royal family will bear all the necessary expenses!"

"Father, are you sure?" Hawn asked, frowning. "That'll cost a large sum of money and will also affect the businesses of other merchant vessels..."

"Enough!" Horford interposed irritably. "Just do what I said!"

Hawn bit his lip, his head bowed, and conceded, "Yes, father."

He turned around again and said reluctantly, "At least you should tell me what Graycastle is up to."

But Horford remained silent.

He heaved a deep sigh after Hawn withdrew and closed the door.

Horford walked up to the window and gazed upon his neighbor, muttering, "Everything's going to... change now."

In the meantime, in an underground limestone cave in the suburb of the City of Glow.

Banach Lothar settled himself into his wheelchair while studying the 200 "Unspeakable" who stood erect next to him and his 20 masked managers coldly. For years, he had relied on these followers to operate "Black Money".

"You made a lot of investments in the Kingdom of Wolfheart and the Kingdom of Everwinter in the past few years. Now it's time to reap your profits." After gazing at his followers for quite a while, Banach croaked, "I've received information from a reliable source that Graycastle's troops will soon enter the Kingdom of Everwinter and the Kingdom of Wolfheart. No matter what they're doing, your mission is to provide as much a.s.sistance as you can, including money, food and intelligence. 'Black Money' shall do its best to meet their needs. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Very well. Off you go."

Everyone immediately obeyed and trooped out of the underground hall.

Banach produced an empty vial from his inner pocket. This had been the fifth vial of liquid medicine since the Oracle had killed Appen Moya.

One more vial... He just needed one more vial to reach immortality!

Banach's hand trembled as he held up the little bottle.

"Rest a.s.sured, Oracle. I'll not let you down."