Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 415 - 414: Epoch-Making Progress

To be honest, although it was quite surprising to see Kamel appear outside the window, Gawain had guessed that this ancient Master Mage must have accomplished something extraordinary after seeing the arcane light emanating from him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have lost his composure like this: Kamel was always a very composed person, but he turned into a different person when it came to his research projects. Gawain had personally heard the technicians from the Rune Research Center and the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute discussing Kamel’s demeanor at work. Sometimes when he encountered inspiring results, this ancient Master Mage would even change colors like a neon light...

Of course, the researchers at the institute didn’t know what a neon light was. The first time they saw Kamel using light effects in the laboratory, they thought the master was about to self-destruct...

”What did you come up with?” Gawain didn’t stand on ceremony with Kamel and directly engaged in conversation with him at the window ledge, ”Have you finally summarized the change patterns in the magical power field?”

”Ah... not yet,” Kamel’s body emitted a flicker of bright azure arcane light, which then returned to its full brilliance, ”But it’s still an exciting breakthrough—please come with me, the equipment is temporarily in the institute.”

Gawain noticed Kamel wished to keep him in suspense but cooperated gladly. He turned his head and called for Aunt Heidi, ”You should come too. Let’s see what Kamel has made.”

The three of them then left the feudal lord’s mansion and arrived at a laboratory in the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute.

Kamel was initially a member of the Rune Research Center, but this ancient Master Mage, rich in knowledge and who participated in the defied Plan, not only possessed formidable theoretical acumen but also had remarkable talent in various practical technical fields. After getting acquainted and quickly familiarizing himself with the myriad technologies of magical industry, he established a laboratory at the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute specializing in practical technology, where he led and relocated some projects there.

In this clean and bright laboratory, Gawain saw numerous items in a semi-finished or dismantled state—including the Magic Obelisk, Orbital Acceleration Device, and New Generation Mana Capacitor, all neatly categorized into different test areas. But these were evidently not the exciting breakthrough Kamel mentioned. The true result was placed on a central platform in the laboratory, its form... entirely unprecedented.

Gawain saw a triangular base—this shape was commonly adopted in many magical devices by the Gondor Empire, and Kamel also preferred to incorporate this style into his many creations. The triangular base was made of common purple copper and possibly mixed with small amounts of purple-crystal dust or crystal-blue steel, giving it a beautifully mysterious bluish-purple tint. At the center of the base, the primary structure of the device rose, embedded with a clear man-made crystal. The crystal was of very high purity, but nearly transparent, indicating it was not an extremely expensive magical material but rather an ordinary magic release medium. The true mystical elements of the device were most likely hidden within that triangular base.

The entire apparatus was not large, with the longest side less than half a meter. Its design by the Gondor Empire gave it a perfect symmetrical appearance, and combined with the raised metallic holder in the center and that crystal, its placement on the lab bench made it resemble more of an ornamental artwork.

”Now can we unveil it?” Gawain asked with keen interest as he eyed the object on the experiment table, vaguely speculating on its possible function, ”What is this?”

”Please hold on, I’ll activate it now—if another device is also functioning correctly, you should see it soon...”

As Kamel spoke, he floated over to the device and used a small spark of energy to activate the base of the contraption.

Accompanied by a faint hum, the exquisite device came to life. One by one, the runes on the base lit up, and the crystal embedded centrally emitted a faint white glow. Moments later, the air above the crystal began to shimmer and distort, and amidst the distortions, hazy images appeared before Gawain.

Gawain’s breathing involuntarily quickened—even Aunt Heidi beside him couldn’t help but take a light breath.

The image finally stabilized, and Gawain saw his ever-energetic little granddaughter within the view, shaking her head around, seemingly operating or observing something around a certain device on the other side. She fiddled with it for a few seconds before she seemed to finally notice Gawain, immediately and excitedly waving hard in this direction. A clear and cheerful voice came from the base of the device, ”Ancestor! Ancestor!! Look at what we’ve achieved!!”

”I saw it, I saw it!” Gawain exclaimed excitedly—for the sake of maintaining the dignity of his ancestor role, he rarely exhibited such obvious and excited emotions, but at this moment, he really couldn’t help himself because he knew all too well what Kamel and Rebecca’s creation signified, ”You’ve finally succeeded! Rebecca, where are you right now? How far is the communication range?”

”I’m at the northern banks Development Zone!” Rebecca replied joyfully, then stepped aside. Gawain then saw in the projection the extensive, newly flattened foundation of the north area, ”It’s still very clear here! Can you see me? Can you see me? I can see you! Ah! I can see Aunt Heidi too! Auntie, your dark circles look really authentic today!”

”Calm down, this child is always like this,” Gawain placed a hand on Aunt Heidi’s shoulder, ”Are those dark circles painted on again?”

”Of course not!” Aunt Heidi was a bit exasperated. She could never understand how Rebecca could always steer the conversation in some whimsical direction, even though that silly girl was raised by her own hands. ”I’m really... but you actually managed to make this thing!”

Although her mind was filled with thoughts of giving Rebecca a good scolding, the significant device before her eyes eventually captured Aunt Heidi’s attention. She circled around it several times, attempting to discern the magical principles and manufacturing difficulty of the device, but in reality, she already knew the answer: if this device had been made relying on traditional communication spell moulds, Kamel wouldn’t be presenting it as a groundbreaking achievement to report to Gawain!

In this world of extraordinary power, remote communication is not unheard of; it’s just associated with higher-level spells and exorbitant costs. Because of these two limitations, its application has always been confined to narrow fields—such as the few emergency communication channels controlled by kings of various nations, or the smaller range communications required by some middle or powerful professionals. Currently, the only remote communication channel on the continent that is deemed practical and applied on a large scale is the great walls built by the elves—but those walls were constructed with the national efforts of nearly half the intelligent beings on the continent seven hundred years ago, and their costs are so astronomical that even today, seven hundred years later, no country has managed to gather enough resources to build another. Furthermore, the communication range of the great walls is limited to just the area surrounding the walls...

Kamel certainly knew these facts, which is why he was so excited to present this achievement. The only explanation is that he has successfully broken through the various limitations of traditional communication spells or devices as Gawain demanded.

And as Aunt Heidi was lost in thought, Gawain, too, was filled with immense emotion. His first surprise was that Kamel had directly created something at the level of a visual intercom...

His initial target expectation was merely audio calls, and even if that failed, they could at least send telegraphs... but the extent to which this thing exceeded his expectations was startling.

However, after the brief surprise, he came to his senses, realizing that this was as it should be—in this world, sound-reproducing sonic-type spells and illusion-type spells almost akin to holographic projections are not really complex. Simplifying them, their magic circles are only at the low-tier advanced and middle-tier primary levels. After Jenni reconstructed and simplified most of the basic magic symbols, the magic circles for these two types of spells have even become entirely low-tier intermediate things...

The real challenge has always only been ”transmitting signals stably over long distances.”

Due to the special properties of Magic Power, it can only be conducted through symbols on a magic circle and cannot be transmitted through ”wires,” so implementing wired communication in this world is extremely difficult. Meanwhile, wireless communication has always faced the problem of communication spell models being unsimplifiable and numerous technical black boxes. In this world with peculiar physical rules, achieving the goal of ”stably transmitting signals over long distances” is far more difficult than converting signals into sound and images.

This is the world, a world that can always surprise Gawain and also make him feel at a loss—workers in his domain all use laser welders and anti-gravity lifts, yet he couldn’t produce a functioning steam cylinder.

”Very good... very good...” After the momentary surprise subsided, Gawain couldn’t help but repeatedly utter these words with an exceedingly cheerful smile, ”Transportation and communication... half-solved, half-solved...”

”What?” Kamel curiously asked from the side—he was a pure researcher and had been entirely engrossed in his project recently, unaware of governmental affairs.

”No, nothing,” Gawain waved it off, then looked toward the device, ”Was it made using basic symbol groups?”

”Ninety percent basic symbol groups, but for the function of controlling the Magic Shock frequency, we used some more complex symbol structures,” Kamel explained. ”This part of the symbol structure needs to be etched onto a silver substrate, but fortunately, the quantity needed is small, and we recently discovered that making an alloy of silver and crystal-blue steel also has good magical stability. With this alloy to make the substrate, costs remain within expectations.”

”Is it easy for ordinary people to use?” Gawain continued to ask.

”As convenient as other magical machineries in the domain—just activate the Rune Trigger.”

Gawain continued, ”Very good, I have more questions...”

Kamel floated slightly into mid-air, a tone full of confidence, his entire being emanating reserved and proud slow flashes: ”Of course, I am ready to answer.”