In the imperial chambers, Emperor Ar’den Gel Sol’aris held a letter, his ethereal eyes narrowing.
"Have you seen this?" he asked Third Imperial Commander Kiol Malakar.
"Yes, Your Highness," Kiol replied, his voice steady.
"And what do you think?"
"I simply don’t understand," Kiol admitted.
The emperor chuckled. "The day has co when the empire’s strategist is stumped." Truthfully, Ar’den was equally baffled. Lots of traps had been set for Baines at Pollum Village, yet he hadn’t gone. That wasn’t all, he didn’t react to ’Jin Malakar’s’ death. There was also the fact that he lingered on the Sun Tower’s lower floors, then suddenly sought to learn magic engineering in the Moon Tower.
"Haa, seems nothing can be done about it—" He coughed.
"Your Highness!" Kiol stepped closer, concern etching his face.
"It’s fine," Ar’den waved him off, his thoughts darkening. ’Ha, I don’t have much ti left.’ He looked up.
"It seems it was true." Kiol handed over another letter. Ar’den’s eyes scanned it: ’The disappearance of the wind god.’ Ever since they heard of it, they hadn’t stopped looking for clues; however, their spies from the vodal just sent this letter. The wind god had truly vanished. However, that wasn’t all.
’The storms have moved.’ This made the claim stronger. The fact that the storms moved, the certainty beca stronger.
’It seems a war would soon begin,’ From the palace’s highest spire, Ar’den gazed over his empire, its fate uncertain.
***
Baines’s need for Wick surged, a rare intensity.
’This bastard will betray ,’ he thought, his expression placid. Aside from Wick’s presence, attacking Shurphen was risky. Tower mages would intervene, aning exposing his identity and triggering procedures even his One Sun rank couldn’t waive.
Ralph’s Heartfla infiltration could take months, leaving Baines to navigate this alone.
’So is my only choice to work with a traitor?’
This was uncharted territory. He usually just killed when there was a reason or chained them; he had never had to speak to a traitor after concluding his training.
’He doesn’t look like one to sche his way through. Soone must be backing him,’ Baines’ mind began spinning. Eye even went ahead and sorted out information in a holographic form on his face. ’Or, organization.’
He didn’t put any underground organization in the picture at all. He didn’t deem them that intelligent, even the black sun.
’So, he is in a sort of organization where the mbers are free to pursue their goals.’ Baines cald and mused on which organization it might be.
’I should see where this leads to.’ He cald his raging mind and spoke,
"Alright," Baines agreed.
Shurphen, pleased, spoke eagerly, "In the valley between Darkan and the Vodal Kingdom, deep within, it is said to lie the relics of an absolute being of the past, the Naless King."
Boom!
Baines’s mind reeled. The Naless Martial Arts, which was the technique he’d yet to get the faintest clue of.
[TRUTH DETECTION: 90%]
"Oh, you know sothing? Yes, you must’ve been there during that war. Anyways, in there, there is said to be sothing left behind by him, and a ship blueprint was said to be among. But, the wind pressure down there is so much, only a saint can withstand it." He shook his head in regret.
Once again, the truth detection ca out positive
’Why is he telling this?’ Baines wondered. ’I’m sure it must be important information to them.’ His mind wandered over various scenarios, ’Or, could it be like a ruin, and because I am the only one to have cleared a ruin?’ The possibility wasn’t off.
’But this guy must be smart. To make secret information look like a public story, this isn’t his first ti.’
"In the anti, I have another blueprint. In terms of power, I think it might rival Sun Destroyer. That was all that was left for , and that beca my inspiration for this city." Once again, he pointed at the city.
[TRUTH DETECTION: 100%]
’Hmm...’ "What do you need to start?" Baines asked.
"T-That’s..." Shurphen stamred.
"Look, I don’t have ti for this, speak." Baines pressed.
"Ha, do you have over a million gold? Without it, we can’t begin."
"I do," Baines said flatly.
"What?"
"If you make repeat myself, I’ll chain you," Baines warned, his eyes glinting.
Shurphen trembled; he didn’t know what chaining him ant, but he knew it wasn’t good.
A boy his age with a million gold was unthinkable, yet he continued. "We need a hangar proportional to the project’s scale," he said, unfolding a large blueprint over his city model.
It was the blueprint for the ship, better than the Sun Destroyer. The blueprint dwarfed their beds, yet it even seed insufficient.
"How big is this?" Baines asked.
"It is two hundred ters long, and is detachable in three parts. We nad it Sky Destroyer." Shurphen said, grinning childlike, proud of surpassing the Sun Destroyer. Just like the sun, they made a better version and nad it the sky.
"We need quality steel, preferably elental steels, in vast quantities. eting the Ironborn is out of the question. After all, they built the sun destroyer." He muttered, "But that is as far as my clue ends for steel."
"We’ll need a balancer for the energy system..."
After a four-hour conclusion of the materials they needed, Baines suddenly understood why they were only five of them in the empire. They were simply that difficult to produce.
But another thing nagged at him. ’Could it be that his role in that organization is to produce a ship?’ He didn’t want to believe anyone would give such an important project to just him. ’Or, is there sothing else to it?’ He placed his hand on the blueprint.
[SCANNING...]
After two minutes, Eye rendered it in 3D. Eye showed him how it would look when it was complete with the materials and marking visible around it. For one, it was larger than the Sun Destroyer.
’Eye, is it really better than the Sun Destroyer we scanned?’
[CORRECT, BUT BLUEPRINT IS INCOMPLETE]
’Incomplete?’ Baines frowned, then said, ’Overlap it with the Sun Destroyer and tell what’s missing?’
[DENSITY OF TAL USED IS INAPPROPRIATE, CORE REACTOR IS IRRESPONSIVE, AND LIMITING OF SHIP’S FIREPOWER]
’What?’ These were the most parts of the ship. Basically, what Eye was saying was, the whole ship was faulty. Then it hit him like a hamr.
’The reason this boy is here, in this tower, is to complete this blueprint.’ The realization fit together. ’So, I am a test subject for him to see what he can change.’ Baines stared at the innocent-looking boy for a long ti.
If Wick were here, he would’ve chained him without question; however, he thought maybe, just maybe, chaining and killing people every ti didn’t always produce the best rewards.
Sotis, moving with the flow could produce the best result. He smirked at the lesson and told him, "Write down the things you need. I’ll see what I can do."
’Oh, is he so secret rich kid?’ Shuphern thought in excitent, unknown he had been seen through.
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