"And it should be done now!" an enthusiastic Alan shouts as he shoves a cable in the specially prepared housing for the last Magicite pillar. Those last two days have been hectic, and a typical afternoon was filled with shouts and small explosions. I, with the help of the Rewinder, sometimes helped the Fabricators when they made a big blunder. After all, I didn't want my Shard to be the home of a massive crater.
Tensions are high as the last tweaks are made. All the materials had to be shipped into the Shard separately since the finished Station would've been too big to transport.
"Prometheus, if you would do the honors." Alan gestures towards one of the myriads of computers hooked to the Station. I sit down and observe the screen; it displays a simple terminal with a command line already entered.
Now, this is something I haven't seen in a while. I can't even recall the last time I looked at a terminal.
It isn't the time to be nostalgic about my normal life. I threw it away the moment I invented the Rewinder and became a part of the Hidden World. I press Enter, and a faint hum reaches my hears.
"Everything looks normal so far!" Philip, who is looking at another console, shouts. I anxiously look at the Station and take a deep breath. If this doesn't work, then we'll be back to square one. Indeed, if this contraption fails, then it would mean that most of the assumptions we made were wrong and that Philip's Improbability Factor theory is false.
It wouldn't be good for me. All the new weapons I want to make will only work if Philip's hypothesis is correct.
Every pair of eyes is fixated on the Station as the surrounding server racks come to life.
A second pass, and another one.
Is this supposed to happen?
My skepticism is blown out of the water when a pair of blue portals appear near the machine. Holy shit, it actually worked! I had faith in the Fabricators, but I never thought they would make a functioning device in such a short delay. It makes me feel a bit inadequate considering that my original equipment took years and hundreds of failures to develop. And even then, I only managed to make something halfway decent...
But let's not dwell on that fact. Instead, I focus my attention on the Fabricator grabbing a small steel cube. We need to see if the portals function so we'll throw various things into the portals to see if they work properly.
"I'm beginning the first test!" the Fabricator shouts before throwing the cube. I follow the steel piece coming out of the other side with my eyes.
To my relief, it's intact.
"The first test is a success!" Cheers erupt as soon as the middle-aged Fabricator announces the results of the test. "Next up is the second test!" he announces after grabbing a small Magicite crystal.
According to Alan, magical signatures can affect certain teleportation methods. The Portal Gun is immune to it, but better be safe than sorry.
I already saw what a teleportation incident could do, and I don't want my men to suffer such a horrible fate.
Another round of enthusiastic cheers echoes when the crystal comes out unscathed.
Good, so we won't have any problems transferring cErTaIn PaYlOaDs!
Of course, I plan to deliver magical weapons with the help of the Portal Station. It also means that the soldiers, who can use mana and are carrying mana-infused equipment aren't at risk when going through a portal.
"The second test is a success! Now for the third test!" the tester announces before throwing a frightened mouse through the portal. To my relief, it comes out intact. I don't want to see another one of the slimy abominations caused by a failed teleportation.
This time, everyone is silent since we know what the last test is; the tester will now go through the portal. I salute the Fabricator who nods and takes a deep breath before jumping into the portal. I hold my breath and wait for his return. I fully intend to Rewind if anything bad happens to him.
"I announce that the last test is a success! The Portal Station is now operational!" the smiling tester shouts when he takes a step out of the other portal, and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
"This thing is a fucking miracle..." Philip whispers and Alan smacks him in the back.
"This isn't a mere miracle, it's the power of Prometheus!" the enthusiastic Fabricator says before laughing. I stay impassible, but I almost want to ask what did I exactly do. I did not contribute anything to this project outside of my interventions that only quickened the building process.
A command line prompts me to press the enter key again to launch the next phase of the test, so I obey the screen. A flurry of hundreds of portals of varying sizes materialize at once, and a lot of lines appear on the screen until a portal fizzles out with a loud popping noise.
I raise an eyebrow and look at Philip, "It was a test to see how the program would handle a lot of activations at once. The data we gathered also taught us how big of a portal we can hope to generate. Sadly, the portals aren't going to allow large vehicles like tanks to pass through."
"Don't worry; it's already enough," I say with a grin. Not being able to send large vehicles through is a bit of a downside, but I already have ideas on how to compensate for this weakness.
After all, I doubt a car-sized BoMb won't be able to handle our current enemies.
"All right, we're done with the first phase of testing!" I declare, and Alan nods before gesturing towards a Legionary holding a rifle. His gun is equipped with the new Portal Attachment, as the troops are calling it. The soldier presses a secondary trigger located near the main trigger and generates two portals, which is a good sign. It means that our transmission protocols work, and they are fast enough to allow the instant creation of portals.
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The Legionary steps through the generated portal without any issues and he then flips a selector on his Portal Attachment. The Portal Attachments have the same modes as my Portal Gun, and each test proves that the Attachment is working correctly.
"Good job soldier, now please try again!" Alan orders before raising a barrier around the Legionary. We need to know if various types of restrictions can counter the teleportation capabilities of our soldiers.
Ten minutes pass and the barrier tests are done. The results of this experiment are better than I anticipated, and it's all thanks to the Adaptive Secure Protocol that the Order developed. From what I understand, the transmission protocol we use is a mix of magical and normal methods of communications. And it happens that most barriers don't care about radio waves or other mundane signals, so they freely flow through the defenses before turning magical again and reaching the Station.
But what really makes me smile is the way the protocol handles the better barriers, the ones that restrict teleportation. From our tests, we discovered that as long as a receiver is present inside the boundary, then the Station can communicate with it.
I don't know why it's the case. Alan theorized that it's maybe due to the nature of the barriers since they allow things to go out, but not in.
But the ASP isn't omnipotent. With Mary's help, we confirmed that the higher tiers of barriers are still as airtight as ever. It means that we'll need to break through them if we want a signal to reach inside.
"Now for another test! Prometheus, if you would bring it here." Alan asks, and I nod. The Spell Jammer has been kept secret so far, and it hasn't been deployed yet since we still don't have a way to store and shape Starmetal. It would be a disaster if it were damaged during a battle.
But we need to see if the Jammer can interfere with a portal, and I feel like revealing the Jammer would increase the faith of all our soldiers.
I use my Portal Gun's third mode to teleport the device near me.
"This is a device capable of stopping spells from being cast. It's one of our secret weapons!" I declare before a brief burst of golden aura. Shocked gasps spread through the ranks, and the gaze of everyone is focused on the device.
"What the hell..." Philip can't believe what he's seeing, and he rubs his eyes multiple times. I can see from his expression that he doesn't believe me, so I activate the device and order the Legionary to proceed.
The soldier nods and activates his Portal Attachment. A few seconds pass before a portal is generated.
"It looks like the signal took more time than usual to reach the Station." Alan explains, "The Jammer is probably responsible for the delay. Now let's do the other test."
I nod, a slight delay in portal creation is a low price to pay if it means that our enemies are unable to use their spells. I reactivate the artifact to see if the Jammer will cancel the portals, and to my relief, it doesn't.
"There are fluctuations in the spell structure, but the data says that the portal is robust, so there won't be a problem." Alan declares after taking a glance at one of the screens displaying an array of various numbers.
Philip clears his throat, "Prometheus, pardon me but is this thing really able to jam spells?"
I stifle a smirk, "I can understand your skepticism, so why don't you try to cast something?"
Philip nods before raising a finger, the magic circle that was beginning to appear at the tip of his index shatters. The old man's jaw drops open, and he looks at me before looking at his finger again. "T-This is impossible... The spell shattered in an instant! H-How is this possible?!"
I smile before focusing on the Portal Station, "I'm Prometheus, that's all there is to say."
Of course, I'm not mentioning that this was all the work of an old Goblin hiding in a Shard. Or that my involvement in the project was limited to delivering the raw materials.
"Now Mr.Carter, we need to do the last test," I order before turning towards the smiling Fabricator, who nods.
"Of course, it's the final and arguably the most important test." He replies before typing something on his keyboard.
The final test aims to check if the Portal Station works across dimensions. Considering our situation, it's something that we desperately need.
"All right, the coordinates are loaded!" the Chief Fabricator declares. I copied all the maps and waypoints I gathered during my travels into the Station's database, so Alan loaded the one leading to the center of our compound back on Earth.
"Come on..." Alan mutters before slamming his desk, "WE HAVE A CONNECTION!" he shouts as loudly as he can just as a portal appears.
The cheering crowd is so loud that I'm almost sure that the walls are trembling.
"It's the moment of truth!" Philip, who finally recovered from his shock, exclaims as a brave Legionary step into the portal.
"The other side confirms that he safely arrived!" the Chief Fabricator declares. I refrain from joining the joyous crowd. The Station works as intended, and it means a lot for our future.
For instance, the Shard is no longer dependent on me to get all the supplies it needs, they can get anything they need themselves. Furthermore, the added mobility of the Portal Attachment isn't something to scoff at even if it can't compare to the advanced teleportation techniques of our enemies.
A portal emerges nearby, and the Legionary reappears with a big smile on his face.
I take a deep breath and watch over the crowd of enthusiastic soldiers who are wanting to try out the new Portal Attachment. I won't say anything about it since I can understand how they are feeling right now. I remember that I acted similarly when I first made the Portal Gun.
But who can blame me, it's such an awesome thing.
Sadly, I can't waste more time standing here while sharing the joy of the Fabricators. I need to see Terrence; we have to discuss the next steps of the Shard campaign. The emergence of the Stonecrusher Empire is a serious threat to our existence. Evacuation efforts will have to be swift since there may be a massive Strategic spell heading towards our base right now.
And it's not even the full list.
I sigh, there's also the matter of the massive amounts of signatures we detected from the Wolfheart residence, which is their main base of operation. According to our sensors, there was an enormous amount of mana released two days ago. I know the Wolfheart leader, and she must not be planning anything good. Maybe she's experimenting with something they found in the Scalebound vault?
It isn't like the Scalebound already indirectly resurrected a giant demon, but I know that common sense is not something that the Enforcers care about. I bet she thinks that this time it will be different, that she'll have taken the proper precautions...
If it were up to me, we would destroy those ancient relics capable of resurrecting giant demons. It's too much of a threat to be left alone, and I don't trust the Enforcers to not try anything incredibly stupid when they feel threatened.
Or it could be a secret super-weapon? Either way, I bet that whatever the Wolfheart are doing can't be good for us. I'm confident that whatever they are planning will be used against us if we don't stop them. I could contact Riley or Steve for more information but, from what I know of their current situation, they will not answer my messages.
And, as much as it pains me, I sincerely doubt that they will not participate in the upcoming war between our two groups. I know the two brothers, and they would never attack their own Family.
The threat of the Stonecrusher Empire is also there, and the mercenaries after my head are also something I should deal with at some point. But they shouldn't be able to reach me in my Shard. Furthermore, the Portal Station is complete so we have good ways to receive them PrOpErLy.
I interrupt my train of thought when I realize that I arrived in front of Terrence's tent, so I open the flap and take a step inside.
The Commander of the Legion raises his head and makes a tired smile when he sees me. The campaign has taken a toll on his health, he looks paler and has bags under his eyes. I feel a bit guilty since I'm responsible for his state, but I didn't and still don't have a choice but to dump all the military matters on the poor Commander.
After all, my first campaign got our helicopters shot down and killed some of our men. Of course, I Rewound time to fix the consequences of my incompetence. But I will not be able to do this forever since we are going to have a lot of operations running at the same time in the future.
So I better get more experience fast, then I may become a half-decent leader.
"Prometheus, what do you require of me?" he asks.
"I have news for you, some are good, and some are bad. Let see-" I sit down and spend the next ten minutes explaining what has happened in the last couple of days. Terrence had a bright smile when I mentioned the Portal Station. But his expression turned grim when I mentioned the Stonecrusher Empire and the mysterious disturbances at the Wolfheart residence.
"I see." Terrence nods after listening to my explanation. "It's just like you said; it's bad news for us. I'm glad that you had the foresight to order us to take this Shard, at least we should be safe from retaliation here."
"Let's not dwell on that, what about the Shard campaign, how is it progressing?" I ask.
Terrence relaxes, "It's been going well. We successfully removed the Green Ones from the Shard, and the surviving slaves are in our care. The surroundings are also getting cleaned up. The local population is still wary of us, but I plan to use the same technique we used with the Ilffs to convince them to join our ranks. The Remnants are still holed in their corner of the Shard, but we should deal with them shortly. From what you told me, the plan for the Coalition that the Administration devised isn't necessary anymore."
I make a wry smile, "It seems like it, we need to secure the entirety of the Shard as soon as possible. So it looks like we have to remove all of them and hope that the survivors won't hate us too much."
"All right, I'll make the necessary changes to our plans. I have to admit that I did not expect the appearance of the Stonecrusher Empire. It looks like the target of our next campaign is already decided." Terrence declares with a wry smile.
Great, we are going to wage yet another war. Not to mention that I also have other things to do on my own besides managing the conflicts. I have to find a way to force Krognar to reveal the secrets of Starmetal manipulation and steal his machine if he doesn't want to talk. We must build more Spell Jammers. We need all the advantages we can get if we are going to wipe the Stonecrusher Empire off the map.