Chapter 429 - 422: Rapid Preparations, Rapid Convening

Chapter 429: Chapter 422: Rapid Preparations, Rapid Convening

Just over ten minutes later, all relevant branches received the latest directive. They were to dispatch personnel to the core member nations of the World Alliance to inform them of Master Sage’s request for a meeting.

The fact that the Dawn Sage was using a projection to observe the Otherworld was no longer a secret among the upper echelons of the World Alliance’s core member nations.

While the major powers were still employing their own methods to find lower-altitude, invasive points of contact with the Otherworld, they suddenly received the Dawn Sage’s request for a meeting.

Aside from his sudden visit on the eve of the last Dark Tide, this was the first time the Dawn Sage had notified the major powers with such urgency.

The Dawn Association never joked about such matters. Considering several days had passed, the Sage must have discovered some critical information in the Otherworld.

The field of quantum communication had already been proven a massive success. While a few days was not enough time for widespread adoption, Hua Country had long since prepared plans for mass production, and there were already quite a few experimental prototypes.

However, the key "White Crystal Components" could only be provided by the Dawn Association, which limited production capacity.

It wasn’t that the Dawn Association didn’t want to make more, but that they simply couldn’t.

Some Magic Controllers specializing in Magic Pattern Arrays had previously visited a Hua Country research base to give a live demonstration.

The soul is an exceedingly complex thing, even a simple one. Using the soul-state of a Sound Transmission Flower to assist the quantum devices required a Magic Controller to possess an extremely high degree of control precision.

Engraving thousands of fine Magic Patterns onto a palm-sized White Crystal was a major challenge. Forming them into a complete Technique Array was even more difficult, and they also had to reserve power nodes for the Magic Energy Crystal Fragments.

The consumption of mental energy and Magic Power was considerable. The slightest mistake meant failure, and the previously inscribed Magic Patterns couldn’t just be erased and redone; the entire piece would be ruined.

After observing the process twice, the scientists concluded that this task was "not something a normal person could do."

Moreover, watching a treasure like the Philosopher’s Stone get crushed and used for this purpose made many scientists in the field want to scream in anguish, ’Noooo!’

After all, there weren’t many Magic Controllers in Dawn who specialized in Magic Pattern Arrays. Even including the existing stock, they couldn’t produce very many in total.

Even so, they had still managed to accumulate an output of several dozen.

Everyone knew how precious the White Crystal Components were. Setting aside the labor and expended Magic Power of the Magic Controllers, the use of the Philosopher’s Stone alone was enough to indicate their exorbitant cost.

To be honest, Hua Country’s Academy of Sciences really wanted to keep more of these devices for themselves, but it couldn’t be helped. Although the main research was based in Hua Country due to its leading position in Quantum Technology and its experience with practical application, scientists from all over the world were involved in the research.

Furthermore, Dawn had shouldered the bulk of the cost. With the greater good of humanity at stake, sharing them became inevitable.

So, over the past few days, most of the World Alliance’s core member nations had received quantum communication facilities that maintained a state of Quantum Entanglement with each other—the so-called "Quantum Black Boxes."

This finally allowed the nations to maintain smooth, delay-free communication with one another, unlike the previous few months when they often had to rely on aircraft to deliver intelligence.

The major powers were still buzzing with excitement over the success of this super-sci-fi-level quantum communication technology when the Dawn Sage’s urgent message arrived, dousing them like a bucket of cold water.

The first official, large-scale conference call was held to decide on the format, location, and preparations for the upcoming meeting.

With the support of the latest Quantum Technology, the meeting would follow the World Alliance’s most common format: sending representatives to attend in person while transmitting the proceedings back to their leadership in real-time.

Due to the time constraints, the meeting was set to be held in Mos City, the capital of Russia. This location allowed the official planes from most of the World Alliance’s core member nations to arrive within a few hours, and the advanced high-performance aircraft of the major powers could get there even faster.

The flight time would allow the representatives to review relevant materials, give the Russians time to make conference preparations, and let the leadership of the major powers get ready.

This was destined to be the fastest international conference in history to be organized from conception to convocation, and its critical nature also guaranteed it a place in the history books.

Excluding travel and other miscellaneous tasks, the countries had at most two or three hours to prepare. And yet, everyone knew this meeting would be of monumental importance.

...

Kolinsky was a low-ranking officer in Russia’s Guardian force.

It was dawn, and the sun had just begun to rise.

He had been on night duty all night at the Mos City Guardian Base. The robust physique of modern soldiers meant they no longer needed to rotate shifts for night duty. Kolinsky yawned, feeling a little drowsy.

As he waited for the relief soldiers to arrive, preparing to leave the hangar he’d been assigned to, the sudden sound of a large detachment of soldiers marching in unison echoed out.

A large detachment of soldiers ran toward the hangar, led by a female officer. The leader’s looks were only slightly above average, but her figure, accentuated by her military uniform, was stunning.

"Move, move, move!! Clear the hangar! Move all the large transport planes! Check the ground vehicles, check the equipment... Hurry up, Kolinsky!"

"Here!"

"Forget about sleep! You and your men, help out! Move it, we’re on a tight schedule! The first foreign plane is expected to land within an hour and a half!"

The commander was Kolinsky’s former superior, Colonel Irinova. Her meticulous nature was why she was often assigned to oversee these foundational tasks.

"Also! Check the fighter jets! Refuel any that are empty and arm any that are unarmed! The pilots will be here soon. We’re taking off to escort the foreign planes!"

Even now, with the exception of the powerless smaller nations, humanity’s core powers still took pride in their airspace. Although each representative’s plane would have its own fighter escort for the entire journey, the Russian military would also scramble its own jets to perform escort duties upon their arrival.

Aside from receiving the foreign dignitaries’ planes, this base naturally had to scramble its own aircraft for the escort mission.

The moment the order was given, Kolinsky was instantly alert and energized. He and the dozens of soldiers under his command sprang into action.

After half an hour of frantic work, he finally found a moment to approach his superior and ask what was going on.

"Colonel, what in the world is going on? Are foreign representatives coming here?"

Irinova didn’t have the full picture, but she knew the critical details.

"You should already know that quantum communication technology has had a breakthrough. But what you don’t know is that during a secret experiment a few days ago, Hua Country’s satellite launch didn’t fail because of a technical problem or operational error. It fell into the Otherworld."

"The Otherworld!! So does that mean we’ve finally found a way to get to the Otherworld?"

"Yes, but the point of contact is outside the atmosphere. Apparently, the Dawn Sage immediately used a projection to enter that point and begin scouting the Otherworld."

"What? A projection? That... sounds like the power of a god..."

Irinova recalled the Dawn Members who had visited before. That meeting was still unforgettable.

"They are figures of myth! Who knows how many legends I once thought were fictional were actually based on them. So, it’s not surprising that the Dawn Sage has this kind of ability."

"A little over an hour ago, the Dawn Sage sent a request to convene an emergency meeting. He made a crucial discovery in the Otherworld, one that forced him to cut his projection short."

"All the core member nations of the World Alliance, and any other capable nations, will be sending their official planes here. They will arrive within three hours at most. This upcoming meeting..."

Just thinking about it made Irinova’s blood boil with excitement.

"It will determine the fundamental strategy for humanity’s—for our world’s—war against the Otherworld. I really wish we could just drop a Big Ivan on their heads right now!"

While Kolinsky was swept up in his superior’s passion, he couldn’t help but think to himself, ’A violent woman who’s thirty-five and still unmarried!’

PS: Second Chapter for Wednesday.

Still updating even while on a business trip. I even caught someone slipping one of those little advertisement cards under the hotel room door! Wild!