Chapter 214: Launch
When the three men left Romon’s villa, one middle-aged man bowed and whispered to Dean: “Lord Dean, I am a bit worried. If Her Highness the Crown Princess wakes up, won’t she blame us for doing this?”
Dean pulled back his hood, revealing his sky-blue hair and handsome face. He smiled at the other two and said: “Because my name is Dean Medea, and I am also a descendant of the Goddess of Elegance.”
After that, he said no more and walked slowly. The other two Citizens looked at each other, daring not to make a sound, and followed.
They entered a prosperous mansion not far from the Royal Palace. Samus Medea, father of Dean Medea and brother of King Tedus, was sitting in the main seat of the mansion hall.
Samus waved for the others to leave and said to Dean: “My son, how did it go?”
Dean bowed elegantly to Samus and replied: “This matter is very simple. But Father, haven’t you always taught us to hide our wings and observe carefully? Why make such a big fuss over this small matter? Even if the Ace Estate is relatively wealthy, it is just a slave estate.”
Samus looked kindly at his son and said gently: “It is good that you remember to hide your wings. However, now is not the time to hide. You know the situation of Her Highness the Crown Princess. She has been placed in an ice coffin and may not wake up for the next fifty or even a hundred years.”
He walked closer to his son step by step and whispered:
“Now is the time for us to contend. My brother, King Tedus, has no other descendants. Any fourth-generation descendant of Medea will have a chance to compete for the throne! Devouring the Ace Estate protected by the Crown Princess is just a small probe.”
“I understand, Father,” Dean replied.
“A mortal family obtained Citizenship without following the procedures of city-state law, simply because of the Crown Princess’s protection. They possess a large number of slaves and an independent estate, privileges reserved only for Citizens. This itself is unlawful.
We use this matter to probe the King’s attitude. It is neither too big nor too small, hitting the nail on the head.”
Samus smiled with satisfaction and said to Dean: “My son, you have indeed grown. It is just a wealthy estate; only a declining Noble would care so much. What we need to do is use this flawed matter to figure out the King’s attitude. As for the estate, it doesn’t matter!
Whether we obtain it or destroy it, what does it have to do with its current owner?”
While Romon and Marina were sighing and lamenting, the first brig built by the apprentices was launched in the harbor district of the High Tower Territory.
This ship was 20 meters long. Most of the hull was made of wood, with a small part of key positions made of iron. It was equipped with side cannon ports and a front cannon platform. It had an extremely shallow draft and a wide deck, possessing strong windward sailing capability. It would be the flagship of the future fleet.
The subsequent four ships were slightly smaller than the flagship, equipped only with side cannon ports, to facilitate entry and exit from the ports of the Northern City-States. The sailing ships were entirely in the style of Medimus City-State and even flew the Thistle Flower flag of the city-state.
The flagship was equipped with 13 cannons, and each of the other ships was equipped with eight cannons. A total of 35 cannons were still missing.
While the apprentices cheered for this brig, Ace led a group of Mid-level Apprentices and finally assembled the activated integral keel.
The keel was composed entirely of activated wood. On the basis of initial magification, it underwent secondary magification. Even from a distance, one could feel the Mana contained within it.
Ace performed limited activation on the entire keel, giving it a certain self-recovery and adjustment ability.
The keel was densely inscribed with mysterious patterns. That was a comprehensive Lesser Fortification Rune Array specifically designed for the keel, greatly enhancing the rigidity, toughness, strength, and elemental resistance of the wooden keel.
The entire keel was 30 meters long. Several Wizard Apprentices were testing the keel with Lesser Fire Missiles.
“It can fully withstand continuous attacks from 20 Lesser Fire Missiles.”
“Under continuous attacks from 30 Lesser Fire Missiles, black spots appear. The activation effect appears, and the keel begins to absorb stored nutrients and Mana from the Mana Stones to recover quickly.”
“Under continuous attacks from 40 Lesser Fire Missiles, the speed of activation recovery can no longer keep up.”
The final test result showed that this activated keel, densely covered with rune arrays, could withstand a barrage of about 35 Lesser Fire Missiles. Other elements were similar.
Ace was quite satisfied with this result. After all, this was just the keel. The external hull, deck, and other assembly had not yet been carried out. Stronger Mana-Crystal Protection Rune Arrays would certainly be densely distributed on the hull.
In the following week, Ace and the mirror image led eleven Mid-level Wizard Apprentices to complete the assembly and activation of the entire hull in full swing.
After the entire sailing ship completed magification, overall assembly, and integration, Ace decided to cast a spell on the entire ship. For such a large sailing ship, relying solely on Lesser Activation spells would probably yield unsatisfactory activation results.
Ace decided to use an activation spell at the Soul Spell level composed of Soul Runes. This created another problem: although the relevant runes had been reverse-engineered, Ace’s Soul Sanctuary space was limited, and he was reluctant to add these four runes as Root Runes.
After thinking for a while, Ace made up his mind, saying to himself: “To achieve good results, we still need to construct an Activation Magic Array and an Activation Ritual in the form of a ritual.”
Subsequently, Ace and the mirror image began constructing the Activation Magic Array on a piece of wasteland outside the harbor district. The mirror image went to the Magic Castle and used the spatial stomach pouch to bring the corresponding magical materials and Mana Stones converted at the bottom of the castle.
Stone slabs made of a material similar to magical paper, capable of inscribing Soul Runes, were laid flat on the wasteland by the mirror image.
Ace began to trace a gigantic Life Activation Magic Array on the wasteland. A Magic Array consists of a Rune Array and magical patterns. The entire Magic Array is essentially an enhanced version of the Inanimate Object Activation Soul Spell.
However, a single Magic Array was not enough to achieve Ace’s goal. Ace compared and deleted runes from the Thought Activation series of Soul Runes. With the help of the Spirit of the Book and the deduction effect of the mental network, he deduced a new Soul Rune.
The meaning expressed by this rune was to grant higher thinking and intelligence. Ace called it the Enlightenment Rune. Its effect is to enlighten activated magical creatures and ordinary animals (including Monsters) with low intelligence, giving them a certain thinking ability. According to current effects, it can grant a life form the intelligence level of a seven-to-ten-year-old child, with the specific effect being random.
The entire composite Magic Array consisted of three parts: the Life Activation Magic Array, the Enlightenment Magic Array, and the Covenant Magic Array. The group used Mana Hands and Spell Hands to pull the embryonic Magic Ship to the center of the Magic Array.
Ace directed the group to begin the corresponding rites necessary for the ritual. They activated the entire Magic Array with Mana and danced to the rhythm of Mana.
Activating such a huge inanimate object, granting it the thinking power of a seven-to-ten-year-old child, and forging a Familiar Covenant with it—even Ace could not guarantee success on the first try.
Standing in the center of the Covenant Magic Array, Ace felt a mix of excitement and anxiety. Would the Magic Ship he envisioned appear?
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