Only thirty minutes later, Lassim materialized outside the iron-walled compound of the hidden outpost where the Lightning Sect advanced and created their most advanced constructs. The stillness of the surroundings and forest area a stark contrast to the howling tempest he had just left behind.
The entire outpost looked to be in a different and more defensive setup, but that made sense to Lassim as both Rlyis and Eno had left the outpost to join him in the Tempest’s Cradle.
Approaching the entrance that was just before the giant array barrier, the guard constructs flanking the entrance stood immobile and sowhat hidden, their tallic forms blending with the iron walls.
As Lassim carefully neared, faint pulses of light traveled along the vein-like arrays of the barrier before passing through to the wall and then the constructs. One of the guard construct swiveled its head slightly, scanning him with a faint glow in one of its eyes. A soft chi signaled recognition before its head returned to face forward and resud its vigil.
"Well that’s good. Guess I’m free to enter," Lassim muttered under his breath, placing his hand against the rune-inscribed panel beside the gate that appeared after the chi. He sent a controlled pulse of his fused mana into the array. The glyphs absorbed the energy, flaring briefly before the chanism responded.
With a low hum, the heavy iron gates slid open and the barrier created a small hole for him to pass through, the sound of their movent echoing faintly in the quiet compound as he entered.
Ahead lay the familiar layout of the outpost that he spent several weeks at, beginning his Array Master training nearly 8 months ago now, but 6 months since he left.
The workshop’s tal garage door was rolled-down, while the residence building nearby stood dormant, its windows dark. The warehouse lood in the distance, its massive structure quiet without any of the sounds of operation.
As he approached the workshop, Lassim pressed a button near the entrance. The chanism groaned softly as the door rolled upward, revealing the workshop’s interior. The space greeted him with its familiar scents of treated tals, oil, and faint traces of charged lightning mana from past projects. The area was still fairly orderly however as Eno and Rlyis had left it, tools and components neatly arranged.
Satisfied, he moved to the cleared central space, where he planned to reassemble the gateway.
From his belt, he retrieved the specially prepared magic pouch. Lassim opened it carefully, reaching inside and withdrawing the first segnt of the gateway. Piece by piece, Lassim removed the components from the pouch, aligning each segnt with ticulous care.
He began with the base, securing it to the floor with reinforced bolts, then moved upward, attaching the curved segnts of the arch. Thankfully the workshop had the necessary lifts to help carefully place each section without damaging it.
He could physically lift each one with his high Spirit Ascension cultivation and ability to fly if he wanted, but just the additional care the lifting arms provided in lining up the array lines without damaging anything was too valuable—in his opinion—when the slightest issue might cause the entire gateway to fail.
Each piece clicked into place. Finally, he retrieved the keystone, its dormant surface cool under his touch as he passed it off to the lifting arm. He then directed it to be affixed to the apex of the arch, completing the structure.
The gateway now stood once more, towering in the center of the workshop, its intricate engravings shimring faintly under the room’s dim lighting. Lassim stepped back, double checking the structure to make sure everything was in place..
Moving to the control panel, he activated it with a pulse of his fused mana. The system humd to life, the keystone’s runes flaring briefly before settling into a steady glow that slowly began to fill the embellishnts and array lines. The storage device was already refilled in the short ti after the teleportation testing was finished due to the auto-refilling system they programd.
Lassim quickly keyed in the location identifier rune for the other gateway at the Tempest’s Cradle, but before he hit the activation sequence, he retrieved his communication disc from his regular magic pouch, the smooth surface glowing faintly as he tapped out a brief ssage:
Lassim: The gateway is reassembled. Activating in a few monts. See you on the other side!
After confirming the ssage was sent, Lassim replaced the disc and placed his hand on the activation rune. The gateway responded instantly, the event horizon bubbling into existence within in a much more smooth and less violent reaction than the first ti leading to Lassim comnting, "Seems like the runes Khaalseru added did a bit more than I thought. I’ll need to really make sure they’re added and that I understand what she did on the second version."
~~~
At the Tempest’s Cradle, Rlyis and Eno waited by the second gateway, their expressions focused as they observed its activation. It ca to life smoothly on this end as well, which both of them took note of.
"I’m really jealous of that movent technique of his. Oh well, at least we’ll have these gateways to get around in the future," Rlyis said, watching the shimring event horizon stabilize. She turned to Eno. "Alright, let’s hope it works."
Eno nodded, "Indeed. This is exactly what these things are ant for."
Rlyis stepped through first, her figure vanishing into the bubbling distortion. She erged in the outpost’s workshop a mont later, her stride unbroken. Her sharp eyes scanned the room briefly before she stepped aside to make space for Eno.
He followed close behind, appearing with a faint ripple of the event horizon. "Remarkable," Eno said, patting the gateway fra as he stepped clear. "Good to see it’s identical to the earlier testing."
Lassim greeted them with a smile. "The reassembly was smooth as well. I think I’ll want to borrow my own construct lifting arm whenever it cos ti to install these gateways in new locations, but I’ll just borrow one of them from here if you don’t mind. I’ve already gone ahead and run basic checks on everything I can. It’s running as smoothly as the test we just did. Do you think we’re ready to move this to the warehouse for the next phase?"
Rlyis glanced at the faint glow of the keystone. "Let’s not waste ti, then. Let’s get another one built and get it ready to send to headquarters next."
"Ah, well. We still have about a little less than 6 months before the Elder Summit and I was hoping to surprise Master with this completed project. Do you mind if… we sort of keep it a secret until then?" Lassim asked carefully.
Eno gave a curt nod and said, "Ah that’s easy enough. Right?" as he shared a look with Rlyis.
Rlyis replied with a cheeky smile, "Better yet, I’ve got a delivery waiting to head to the Headquarters anyways. What if—after we’ve finished the additional gateways—I take one with and install it as a surprise and just don’t tell that old coot anything until the Elder Summit? That way you can stay training there until the last second and just appear, giving him a huge shock?"
"That sounds great! Any extra ti training will an I might actually make it to Spirit Transcendence if we can finish everything quickly enough," said Lassim.
Eno added, "Well, sounds like a plan. Let’s get this disassembled again and move it to the warehouse."
The trio worked efficiently to disassemble the gateway. Lassim and Rlyis loosened the modular sections of the fra while Eno carefully inspected and set each piece aside as they worked.
Once the final piece was removed, Lassim reached for the empty magic pouch tied to his belt and he thodically stored each individual component one at a ti with his spirit sense and mana transferring them inside.
"That’s everything," he said simply before heading for the door. Eno and Rlyis followed and without further delay, the three crossed the compound over to the warehouse.
As they approached the warehouse, Rlyis reached the standard tal door at the entrance and placed her hand on the rune-marked panel beside it. A soft pulse of her lightning mana activated the chanism, and the door unlocked with a quiet click before sliding open.
Inside, the warehouse was exactly as Lassim rembered: a multi-tiered space filled with storage shelves, talwork stations, and rows of intricate machinery.
The production line, which dominated the center of the room, stood dormant, its interconnected belts and chanical arms waiting to spring into action. The silver arrays embedded into the walls and floors remained dim.
"Let’s move to the scanner," Rlyis said, gesturing toward the massive device near the start of the production line.
Lassim followed, retrieving the first segnt of the disassembled gateway from his magic pouch. He placed it carefully on the scanner’s platform. Rlyis moved to the console, her fingers tapping the controls with practiced ease. The scanner humd to life, its runes glowing faintly as the system initiated its analysis.
"Okay, it’s inputted. Swap it out with the next segnt," Rlyis said without looking up.
Lassim withdrew another piece from the pouch, replacing the base section with it on the platform as the scanner finished.
Before he could put it back into the pouch for storage, Eno gestured to a section of the warehouse floor where the completed guard constructs once stood in organized rows and columns after their creation. Eno stepped in to inspect each piece once scanned, his tallic mana faintly rippling as he ran his fingers along the intricate arrays to confirm everything was good.
Repeating the process, they loaded and scanned the components one by one. Each intricate piece, from the storage tank to the control panels, passed through the scanner with steady precision. The scanning system’s arrays pulsed as it recorded every rune, pathway, and structural detail.
Once the final component was scanned and confird, Rlyis reviewed the console. "Everything seems to match and nothing appears to have been missed," she comnted, "I’d say we’re ready for the test duplication. Though, Eno, how much Astrium Veinstone do we have left from what Lassim brought?"
Eno didn’t need to double check his magic pouch as he still rembered clearly, "By my estimates, and even if we need to recycle any mistakes, we can comfortably make 4 teleportation devices before we need to rely on the Duskvale Mining Company’s shipnt."
"Okay, we’ll start with just one and go from there. Please add the veinstone and we’ll get started." Rlyis input the data into the system while Eno walked over to the forge section to add the mineral to the assembly line. Seeing he was finished, Rlyis pushed a button and the production line’s dormant arrays then ca alive.
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