Chapter 381 - 372: Core Activation

Chapter 381: Chapter 372: Core Activation

In the fields outside Minas Tirith Port, a magnificent carriage approached on the road from the Newly Cultivated Land.

Unlike the deathly stillness in other parts of the Duchy, the spring planting here had not been halted by the plague.

Between neatly planned rows of fields, farmers toiled with their heads down, burying sprouted sea-salt potatoes in the soil.

On the main road, cavalry patrols passed by from time to time, strictly inspecting the citizens’ identification papers of all who came and went. These scenes combined to form a picture that, while different from the springs of years past, was no less full of life.

The carriage drove past the farmland. The Golden Sail Commerce Association’s emblem on its side was striking and conspicuous, a stark contrast to the plainly dressed, laboring folk around. As it neared the checkpoint at the gates of Minas Tirith, it gradually slowed.

Before the coachman could bring it to a complete stop, the door was thrown open from the inside with a BANG, and a foot clad in a silk boot stepped onto the cobblestone road.

Caroline Channing all but leaped from the carriage.

For some reason, she was wearing a finely tailored, lavender long dress—clearly unsuitable for long-distance travel.

Her silver-gray hair was slightly disheveled, but her eyes, which usually held a hint of arrogance, were now astonishingly bright.

Not far past the gate was the Municipal Square, and the Lord’s Mansion was just a short distance away.

Ignoring the coachman’s cry of alarm, she lifted the hem of her dress and broke into a run, dashing toward the building that had become the heart of the entire fiefdom.

Just then, Velin was walking out from within the mansion gates. He seemed to be headed somewhere, with no attendants by his side, his steps hurried.

"Velin!"

Caroline’s voice was clear and loud, completely heedless of the surprised stares she attracted from those around her.

The next second, like a cannonball fired from a barrel, she charged in front of Velin, threw her arms wide, and hugged him tightly with all her might.

A scent mingling perfume and that of a young woman enveloped Velin completely.

The soft touch and the force of the impact made his brain short-circuit for a moment. His hands hovered in mid-air, completely unsure of where to put them.

"Caroline, you..."

"Thank you!" Caroline’s voice was tinged with a sob, and her whole body was trembling slightly.

She buried her face in Velin’s chest and said in a muffled voice, "One hundred and twenty vials! The one hundred and twenty vials of potions you sent! They saved the Channing Fief! My father’s domain... is safe!"

For the first time, she had been able to hold her head high in her father’s castle.

Those vassals who had once disdained her, those nobles who had gossiped behind her back about the "bloodless one," had nothing but awe and sycophancy on their faces when they saw the crates of potions that could reverse life and death.

She suddenly lifted her head. Her face was streaked with tears, yet her smile was incredibly radiant.

Velin finally found an appropriate gesture.

He reached out and gently wiped the tearstains from the young woman’s cheeks, his tone softening.

"Calm down, Caroline. A lot of people are watching."

His words had the opposite effect.

A trace of defiance and stubbornness appeared on Caroline’s face.

"Let them watch! I’m not afraid. Are you?"

Velin gave up struggling.

He waited for her to calm down a little before saying softly, "We can talk on the way. We’re running out of time over there."

"On the way?"

"I’m on my way somewhere. If you don’t mind, we can walk and talk."

"Where to?"

"You’ll see in a moment."

Velin turned and walked toward the other end of the Municipal Square.

Caroline followed at once, without hesitation.

As they rounded the square and walked a short distance, a construction site suddenly appeared before them, and Caroline’s steps involuntarily slowed.

A colossal, grayish-white tower stood there silently.

It was about twenty meters tall. Its body was not built of brick and stone, but rather woven from countless thick Stone Skin Soft Vines, forming strange patterns that pulsed with a sense of life.

A few metal structures were embedded among the vines, like the skeleton of a giant beast supporting the behemoth.

Even though only the main structure was complete, an overwhelming sense of grandeur and mystery was already palpable.

Caroline’s commercial instincts sent her mind racing. The manpower, resources, and finances required to build such a marvel would be astronomical.

"The Ethereum Tower, the new landmark of Mi Port. A large-scale energy concentration and conversion device."

He led Caroline forward. Passing through a corridor guarded by soldiers, the two of them entered the tower’s ground floor.

Inside the tower, Ryo and Master Valerius were already waiting.

The young Mage seemed a bit nervous, constantly wiping the sweat from his palms with his sleeve. The old Alchemist, however, wore a look of complete confidence.

"My Lord." Ryo bowed immediately upon seeing Velin.

Velin nodded and led Caroline toward the center of the room.

There was a massive circular device, and the floor was inscribed with an Array so complex it was dizzying. In the center, a bottomless vertical shaft led straight into the earth. On the inner walls of the shaft, countless smaller Runes shimmered in and out of view in the faint light.

"An energy-directing circuit." Velin pointed to the Array on the floor and explained, "It took Ryo twenty days to complete. It will guide the raw energy from the subterranean ore veins and perform a preliminary filtration."

He turned to a Magic consultant.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," the Mage consultant from the Royal Capital replied solemnly.

Ryo also nodded emphatically. He walked over to a control node beside the core Array and pressed his palm onto a fist-sized crystal. The Mage consultant on the other side made the same preparations.

"They are the ’valves’," Velin explained to Caroline. "The key to guiding the first wave of the energy torrent is to control the initial flow and prevent the entire system from overloading."

Caroline held her breath. She finally understood just how important a moment she was about to witness.

Velin scanned the room, confirming that there were no problems with any part of the process.

"Activate."

He gave the command.

Ryo gritted his teeth and slowly poured his own Magic Power into the control crystal before him!

VMMMM—

The Array on the floor of the core chamber suddenly lit up! A pale red light, like a living thing, spread rapidly along the complex patterns, illuminating the entire room bit by bit!

Immediately after, a low RUMBLE emanated from deep underground.

The sound came directly from the earth beneath their feet, vibrating through everyone’s bones!

The next second!

From within the deep shaft, a torrent of energy so immense it defied description came roaring up!

A torrent of pure, almost tangible, pale red energy filled the entire shaft!

BOOM!

The entire Ethereum Tower began to tremble slightly.

Caroline stumbled, instinctively grabbing the nearby wall for support, her face a mask of shock.

In the space of a few breaths, the light had already shot to the top of the tower. A thick pillar of red light erupted from the spire, tearing through the heavy clouds and soaring toward the heavens!

The radiance then exploded outward like a firework, spreading in a hemispherical wave that dyed the sky for miles around a fantastical rose-red.

Inside and outside Minas Tirith Port, in the fields, on the docks, in the camps, countless people stopped their work and stared in joyful surprise at the spectacle connecting heaven and earth, as if witnessing a divine blessing.

「Meanwhile, on the first subterranean level of the tower’s base.」

This area had been converted into a massive greenhouse. Under the effect of the "Ether Fusion Core," a diverted stream of Ether was being continuously transformed into pure Shadow Energy.

Elvin the Mage was pacing back and forth anxiously, muttering to himself.

In the planter boxes, a new batch of "Shadow Graveyard Grass" seedlings had just been planted. Lacking the nourishment of Shadow Energy, their leaves drooped, looking frail and weak.

But the moment the "Ether Fusion Core" activated, the entire atmosphere of the greenhouse changed abruptly.

A cold, deathly, and gloomy negative energy slowly descended from small openings in the ceiling. It was oppressive to living things, but it was the most essential food for the "Shadow Graveyard Grass."

Elvin stopped dead in his tracks. He saw the once-listless seedlings slowly unfurling their curled leaves.

Unlike the effect of the Spring Messenger, this was a sturdiness born from rich nourishment. The grayish-green of the leaves rapidly faded, transforming into a deeper, ink-like green.

"It’s a success..." Elvin whispered, gently touching a leaf. A trace of coldness spread from his fingertip—a "vitality" that belonged to death and silence.

He strode over to a corner where an inconspicuous earthenware vat sat—the very one Old Farmer Tom used to brew his "secret-recipe fertilizer."

Under the wash of the dense Shadow Energy, the surface of the black, viscous substance inside the vat began to emit a faint, purple glow.

Elvin looked up, his gaze seeming to pierce through the ceiling to the powerful core at the top of the tower, which was now pulsing with endless light.

Deep beneath the city, in a high-grade Ether enrichment zone that had lain dormant for over a hundred years, the vast energy had finally found an outlet, surging ceaselessly toward the Ethereum Tower.

After being integrated, amplified, and distributed by the Ethereum Tower, it transformed into torrents of power that surged in all directions.

One of these energy streams flowed through pre-installed pipes cast from Mithril and orichalcum, passed over the city walls, and poured into the Alchemy Workshop standing in the wilderness.

VMMMM—!

Inside the workshop, the massive alchemy crucibles that had just been installed suddenly erupted with countless silver-blue Magic Patterns across their once-cold metal surfaces!

The Runes on the inner walls of the crucibles lit up one by one, resonating in harmony. Pure Ether Energy swirled and churned within, forming miniature energy vortexes.

A young alchemy apprentice was so startled by the sight that he fell on his rear, pointing at the crucible with his jaw dropped wide enough to fit an egg.

"What are you standing there gawking for!"

The old Alchemist yanked him aside and lunged toward the new alchemy apparatus, his own eyes gleaming.

The crystal on the device pulsed with light, and its intricate, spiderweb-like conduits emitted a pleasant hum.

"Listen... just listen to that sound! So pleasant, so perfect!" he murmured, caressing the metal casing obsessively. "As expected of the Royal Capital’s Alchemy Association’s latest model—the ’Morningstar III’! This energy conversion rate! This parameter stability!"

The old Alchemist let out a satisfied groan. Turning around, he saw the young alchemy apprentice still standing there dumbfounded, and he kicked him with a frown.

"Quick! Record the data! All parameters need to be recalibrated! Heavens... our production efficiency... no, our total output! It can increase by at least fifty percent! Did you hear me? Fifty percent!"

... 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

「At the spire of the Ethereum Tower, in the core turbine assembly.」

The initial energy surge had stabilized, transitioning into a continuous and steady output.

The energy concentration in the entire room had increased by more than a hundredfold. The air grew thick, and with every breath, one could feel the dense Ether particles flooding their lungs.

Velin stood amidst the light of the energy core, his expression serene.

He reached out his hand, feeling the raw power he had awakened from the depths of the earth.

Caroline stared blankly at everything before her—at the pillar of light that pierced the heavens, and at the man standing in the center of the light, who had become one with this miracle.

His silhouette, illuminated by the rose-red energy, looked both familiar and strange.