Chapter 15
Within the fortifications lining the zone-wide array was a surveillance room, where holograms projecting various views from the nearby zones covered a wall. Yara and Markus, along with other leaders of the Innate Dimension, observed the entire encounter with Casadorn’s squad silently, and when he left, everyone visibly relaxed.
“Yo, that went well,” Frod chortled.
Markus shook his head and looked towards Fiona, a middle-aged elf with silver hair. “A small group could already break through your Skynet. What if more came?”
The Skynet was the brainchild of Fiona and her team, and while not as renowned as Frisk, she was considered one of the best scientists the Innate Dimension had to offer. Hearing Markus disapprove of the Skynet’s performance, she smiled sweetly, “Under an attack like before, indeed, the Skynet’s passive reinforcement process takes too long to respond. We’re still trying to improve this. However, if someone were to take active control, there’d be no way for that oversized fireball to make its way through.”
“That’s good to hear,” Markus nodded, satisfied.
“In addition,” Fiona continued, “the integrity of the Skynet depends on the quantity of Mana Reactors powering it. It was designed with scalability in mind. Even I don’t know its upper limit.”
Markus scoffed. “That’s easier said than done. You know better than I how many resources it takes to build those things.”
“If you cut the resources invested in the military by half, we’d have more than enough Mana Reactors to go around,” Fiona rebuked, aggrieved with the government’s recent allocation of assets.
Markus stood tall. “External strength is, in the end, unreliable. It is better to focus on improving ourselves.”
“Oh?” Fiona smirked. “Then why depend upon ‘unreliable’ strength like the Skynet?”
Markus didn’t waver and answered, “I have no problem with using external strength, so long as it remains a secondary priority. I will never confuse the order of the two.”
The officers around Markus were impassioned by his response, while the scientists near Fiona thought Markus was being hypocritical.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Just as Fiona was about to continue arguing, Yara spun around and snapped, “Cut it out, you two.”
Turning to Fiona, she said, “Have you forgotten how much we spent on R&D before the gateway to the Grandsky Realm opened?”
Fiona shrunk back.
Yara put her hands on her hips and stated, “Right now, what matters is to increase our overall strength as quickly as possible. The military can quadruple their power in a year, so we’re focusing on them. If your department could do the same or better, then we’d switch priorities. So tell me, are you capable of that?”
“Well,” Fiona lost her confidence and wilted. “No.”
Yara glanced around the room and stated, “I’ve calculated that it’ll take seven days before the Elemental Dimension returns with a larger force, including Torg Igneo, so over the next week, we need to take some risks. If, before, your subordinates opted not to hunt certain monsters in fear of casualties, that mindset needs to change. We cannot afford to hold back at this critical juncture.”
The military officers immediately frowned. Major General Luca stepped forward and asked, “Is that necessary?”
Yara sighed, “If Torg Igneo wasn’t appearing, then such a measure wouldn’t be necessary. However, he changes everything.”
Major General Luca didn’t believe it. “You are speaking like one person can sweep through our army.”
“Correct,” Yara confirmed. “You haven’t experienced it yet. On the battlefield, if no one counters someone like Torg, he can do whatever pleases. Without enough strength, no matter how we try to restrict him, he’ll simply break through and target our leaders. It’ll take a few minutes at most. After that, he’ll indiscriminately unleash area-of-effect attacks to wipe out our forces. If you think he’ll be similar to Elaine, you’re wrong. Compared to Elaine, who developed herself to be a support, Torg is a die-hard battle maniac. While it's hard to say who’s the strongest in the Grandsky Realm, Torg is definitely among the top 3. We cannot underestimate him.”
Yara feared her companions wouldn’t take Torg seriously, so she repeatedly stressed his importance. Thankfully, everyone present respected Yara to the point of worship. They all realized the gravity of the matter.
****
By the time Keith arrived at New Hope, everyone had long resumed their business. There was no sense of panic at all. Bewildered, he asked a soldier stationed nearby for information and found out exactly what happened. Keith’s heart clenched. The Elemental Dimension discovered them?
Stepping to the side of the street, Keith pulled out his magic tablet and sent a message to his mother inquiring for more details. She responded by the time he returned home, saying the Elemental Dimension would return in a week.
Keith fell into thought.
Yara frequently rambled to Keith about her strategies and plans, so he knew that the upcoming confrontation determined whether the Elemental Dimension would treat the Innate Nation as equals.
Feeling stressed, Keith sorted through his loot from the day and went to bed, but he struggled to fall asleep. An unbearable weight pressed down, suffocating him. Although he was growing quickly, there was too little time. Anxiety left him restless, and he tossed and turned until the sun rose over the horizon.
Rising an hour earlier than yesterday, he ate a quick breakfast and left for Mandara Desert. Today’s goal: reach level 650.