Pillars of Ita

"What do you think, Mr. Ed?" Melfina asked as she watched him take the crystal bridge.

Fang He shook his head slightly and replied, "The distance between schools is as great as the sea. The technology of the White Tree Academy was derived from the Crystal School, but it is actually related to the Ether Link, which is a field where war weapons and fairy masters intersect. Compared to me, Miss Cui Xisi in my team may be better at this field."

"Is this lady here?" the Elf Princess asked again.

"She's here, but..."

"But I also don't understand this crystal bridge. Alchemists' knowledge does not necessarily mean they are proficient in the field they are in. The part of this crystal bridge that connects the links is almost entirely unfamiliar to me, and it happens to be extremely important," Cui Xisi said from behind Fang He. "To understand this part of knowledge, unless you are from the White Tree Society, you have to reshape it from the bottom-level logic, but that takes a lot of time and requires samples for experiments."

She didn't say the rest of the sentence because there was no room for either the former or the latter.

Melfina looked at the two of them and said, "Does that mean there's nothing we can do about it?"

Although she said this, there was no regret in her tone, as if even if the crystal tower could not function, she did not really take it to heart.

Fang He knew why. He held the crystal bridge in one hand and gently traced the lines of the bridge with the other hand, as if trying to understand the complex design.

At that moment, the genius ideas of the predecessors were reflected in the complex magic arrays. It seemed that just by looking at those crystals and textures, he could have a conversation with the craftsmen of an era ago.

Of course, that is just an illusion. Dead things cannot speak, they just tell history silently.

Fang He quickly came to his senses, put his hand on the crystal bridge, and said to the female knight beside him: "No, not all of them. But I have a question, Ms. Melfina."

Melfina was slightly startled.

Then she smiled softly and nodded politely to Fang He: "Please ask, Mr. Ed."

At this moment, everyone had already moved away from the crystal tower and walked to a place where the craftsmen could not hear them. Fang Yu spoke: "I heard you say that you have no reinforcements, so the crystal tower is not important. Why do you value this crystal bridge so much?"

Melfina glanced at him silently and said, "I can tell you that this is for the sake of prudence. As a commander, I have to make preparations for both scenarios. The construction of the fortress was not originally in the plan, but if it can be realized, I will certainly pay attention to it."

"But it's just a lie."

She spoke softly, as if she was talking about something insignificant. The Elf Princess gathered her emotions and spoke more solemnly, "I prefer to tell you the truth because of the evidence - I want you to help me find the hands and feet left by these people in this crystal bridge and point out the evidence of the crime hidden in it."

Fang He seemed to understand something, but he had more questions in his mind. He loosened his hand, took a look at the crystal bridge in his hand, and asked again: "But if it is just evidence of a crime, Ms. Melfina only needs to hand over the crystal bridge to the Elven Court to get the result. There will be craftsmen among the Holy Whites who are better than me and can find out the strangeness. Some of them even come from the White Tree Society. Isn't that the case with Master Ailin Ironheart?"

He looked at the elven female knight with suspicion.

But Melfina shook her head naturally. "Don't worry, I don't doubt that there are traitors among the upper echelons of the Elven Court. Master Ailin Ironheart is absolutely reliable. It's just that I have my own ideas. Don't you want to know what those people did?"

Although she was only a fairy user, Tracis was a craftsman after all. She immediately understood the other party's implication and could not help but look at this bold elf lady in surprise:
"Wait, you mean?"

Fang He's mind moved, and he immediately understood what the other party wanted to do. The Crystal Bridge would amplify its signal through the Crystal Tower, and then link this signal to the etheric veins that are everywhere under the Giant Tree Hill. This etheric vein flow goes deep into the center of the Gus Disaster Area. The elves built a crystal network here to investigate the abnormal flow of etheric veins in its gray area.

And if those people want to do something with it, where will they place this signal? Will the signal mixed in it flow along the etheric pulse to the source of the confluence?

He raised his head and asked Melfina: "What is the source?"

"Mr. Ed is indeed a man of insight. He immediately understood our idea."

But after saying this, Melfina shook her head with some regret, "Unfortunately, I don't know either. This is exactly why the Sons of Light built a number of crystal towers here. We have long found out that the etheric pulses in this area abnormally converge towards the center of the Gus disaster area, but we can't find out what is in the center."

"That is to say, you have actually discovered the abnormality of the etheric pulse flow a long time ago, but why did you delay taking action?" Fang He asked, "I mean, you have never made this discovery public."

Fang He couldn't help but recall that before they arrived in this gray area, the general view of the outside world on the Scar of Yasa and the Gus Disaster Area was that there was no connection between the two.

The guild's adventurers went and returned, and the people from the Geological Society did not come to any conclusion, but it was impossible that such a simple anomaly could not have been discovered by their predecessors. The only possibility was that the elves had hidden a lot of things from them.

But why? The Death Plague is a disaster faced by the entire Giant Tree Hill. Logically speaking, the Holy Whites who are more closely related to the Holy Tree Terraka should pay more attention to it than ordinary people.

What made them so slow to act and choose to hide the truth from the outside world?

"There are two reasons," Melfina stopped and said, "First, when the 'Death Plague' began to spread, people generally did not realize that it was a disaster closely related to aether and starlight. We just thought that the sacred tree Terraka was suffering from a strange disease, but our druids and the unicorn girl of the Temple of Nature were helpless."

She looked far away at the crystalized crystal, and the dim starlight was reflected in her deep eyes, as if flickering slightly. "Later, various rumors spread, and some people deliberately pointed the finger at Her Majesty the Saint who had left the Giant Tree Hill for a long time. People from the Shadow Tree Temple began to walk around, and rumors about Jiangsheng's death also appeared in this land."

"It was the Silver Wind Watchers," Tianlan interrupted indignantly, not caring at all that her brother and the Twelve-Colored Iris were also members of the Watchers. "They were the ones who spread the rumors about Sister Attila. These damn guys."

Fang He also frowned. The Super Athletic League was everywhere. If it weren't for them, the Seven Seas Brigade wouldn't have to go to so much trouble to get involved in the complicated political struggle of Giant Tree Hill.

But he also understood that the Elf Court was not a pushover either, so he could only believe half of what this lady said, including the fact that they would not disclose the truth to the public. There were certainly reasons mentioned above, but there was also an element of competing with Silver Wind Harbor for the right to speak.

Otherwise, in the several months from finding out the truth to mobilizing the army, they would not have had any spare time to make the news public. He didn't believe it.

The elf princess seemed to see what Fang He was thinking from the expression on his face, but she didn't care too much. She just smiled and continued:

"That's why we didn't really start investigating the Ether veins of this land until recently, and we got some results. We found that the Ether veins were gathering in the Scar of Yasha in a strange pattern, including the place where we are now."

"Strange," Fang Yu said, "Normally, the Craftsmen's Guild would regularly check the flow of the etheric veins of a floating continent. Logically, they would not have missed any abnormalities here since they control the Crystal Tower network."

"This is the foot of the sacred tree," Melfina said, "It is a restricted area for the elves. Even the Craftsmen's Guild cannot explore the etheric veins beneath Terraka's roots. This is an agreement between us and mortals."

"And this is only one of the reasons. The second reason is..." She turned around and looked at Fang He and the others, "Among these phenomena, there are actually human factors."

"Human factors?"

"Yes," the Elf Princess nodded gently, "Not long ago, our patrol team caught some sneaky people in this area. We found that they built small crystal towers in the forest and were guiding the etheric veins -"

"Wait," Fang He stopped her, "You mean, someone is directing the etheric flow to the central area of ​​the Yasha Scar, and the etheric flow in this area has only started to change recently?"

Melfina replied: "That may be the case, which is why we have not noticed any strange changes here."

"That's impossible," Fang He shook his head. "Let's not talk about the time mismatch. When did you discover all this? As far as I know, the 'death plague' in Giant Tree Hill began to spread a year ago, but it has only spread rapidly in the past six months. If the ether pulse flow has only started to change direction recently, then it should have nothing to do with the origin of the Gray Region."

"I never said that they are related, Mr. Ed," Melfina shook her head, "but you should know that the redirection of ether cannot be achieved by human power alone, otherwise the White Tree Society would have already begun to sort out the flow of ether in the Giant Tree Hill. The human factor is at best to take advantage of the situation, and the redirection of the ether veins shows that there is something deep in the Scar of Yasha, the center of the Gus Disaster, that can receive their convergence-"

Fang He was silent for a while before he spoke: "So what you mean is that those cultists know what is at the center?"

"At least they have a purpose," Melfina smiled. "Part of the plan is to lure these people in. As you can see, they moved at the news like flies smelling eggs. We actually leaked this information. As I told you, these people are already under our control."

"This is one of the reasons why we deliberately limited the scope of the news. If too many people are attracted, it will not only be difficult for us to identify the real target, but it will also be easier to alert the enemy."

Melfina looked at them and said, "How about this, Mr. Ed? Does this explanation satisfy you?"

This is indeed a very convincing reason, and the facts are in front of them, so they can't help but believe it. However, Fang He still has a layer of caution. It is hard to say that they have no selfish motives in the relationship between the Elf Court and Silver Wind Harbor. Moreover, if they are really as selfless as this elf lady said, they should have stood up to dispel the rumors for Miss Attila. Even if they had doubts at the beginning, the truth should have been revealed by now.

But the Elf Court allowed this matter to ferment, or to put it bluntly, they wanted to reap the benefits. This is why they were secretly accelerating their exploration of the Gus Grey Region.

Fang Heke remembered very clearly that when they accepted the mission from the Adventurer's Association, the mission said that they should participate in the elimination of the outer gray area of ​​the abnormally expanding Gus Gray Area.

"So," he began, "this is what Master Arryn told us, that if we want to know the truth, we must go to the center of the forest? So the elves don't actually know what's there, but they just think the source must be closely related to the changes in the Guth Disaster Domain."

"Don't forget the Ninimere Grey Region, Mr. Ed. It is also a man-made disaster area. I guess these people must have information that we don't know. They will not do useless work. Since they spent so much money, they must have their demands." Melfina answered calmly, "Master Ailin will not lie. He will definitely fulfill his promise. He led the Son of Light to launch a general attack on the disaster area. He paid such a huge price just to get closer to the center of the disaster area."

"Now that this passage has been opened, we only need to go a little further to find out the truth," she smiled again, "Aren't you interested in this?"

"But the disaster area is right there, and the Gus disaster branch won't move on its own. Why do we have to use this crystal bridge? Can't we just go there directly?"

"That's different," Melfina shook her head. "Mr. Ed is a craftsman himself. He certainly knows that the flow of ether is only a broad range. If it were so easy to determine its location, we wouldn't have to build so many crystal tower networks, let alone postpone the offensive until today."

"Even so," she said, "we have to advance in multiple directions and get as close to the center of the disaster area as possible. However, this is a very risky thing to do. Mr. Ed has experienced the danger before. So every step of our plan is just a backup, including this crystal."

"And every step forward we take," Melfina sighed, "will require a huge price. Although these prices are meaningful, just as each of us may die in this war, but if we have such a shortcut in our hands, why shouldn't we use it?"

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Fang He looked at the crystal bridge in his hand. He was sure that the elf lady in front of him had not told him the complete truth, including her identity. Would an ordinary elf commander have such authority?
"In order to determine what has been done to this crystal bridge and where the cultists are sending the information, we must place it intact in the crystal tower and use a signal amplifier to transmit it into the crystal network," Fang He held up the crystal bridge and deliberately asked the latter, "Ms. Melfina, do you know what this means?"

"This means that their plan may succeed, because everything we do is just to reproduce their original purpose exactly," the Elf Princess smiled. "Of course I know the risks, but Mr. Ed is here, so what do you think about this?"

Fang He once again put his hand on the crystal. The bold idea of ​​the elf lady made his heart beat fast. Of course he had ideas, and in fact, since the other party mentioned this possibility, he actually had a whole plan.

"But I need a helper," he suddenly said, "and this helper cannot be one of my own, because Miss Tracis and my people must assist me in controlling the crystal network."

Fang He picked up the crystal and looked at the elven female knight: "I need someone to place this crystal bridge in the crystal tower and activate it to ensure that it is transmitted into the Ethernet vein."

Fang He continued, "Then, I will find a way to control it, and after determining its direction, I will retrieve it from the Ethernet to prevent the other party's plan from coming true."

Melfina looked at the young human alchemist who exuded strong confidence with shining eyes, although she didn't know how much ability was needed to block a signal from the Ethernet.

But simply locating a tiny signal from the Ethernet, confirming its direction, and limiting its range of movement was unheard of.

At least Master Ailin certainly couldn't do it himself, otherwise they would have done it long ago.

"I agree," the princess said firmly, "I will be fully responsible for all accidents and possible responsibilities of the entire plan, but I have a small request."

Fang He looked at the other party.

"I'll act with you guys later," she said.

"Wait," Fang He choked and almost didn't react, "Ms. Melfina, what do you mean by acting together?"

"Of course, I mean that after you confirm the signal, you will set off for the disaster area. I want to travel with you during this journey. This is my only request."

"But you are the commander," Fang He couldn't help but said, "Ms. Melfina, didn't you say that the mission here is so important? Do you really want to join us?"

"I mean, what does this mean to you?"

"My mission is over," Melfina shook her head. "How long I stay here won't affect the plan. My deputy is fully capable of doing it. As for my identity, that's not important. Nothing is more important than confirming this plan."

Fang He looked at the other person silently. How could a front-line commander have such great power to change the action plan so hastily?

But that was actually not important to them. That was the elves' problem. He thought about it and felt that the other party's request was not difficult to accept for the Seven Seas Brigade, so after a moment's silence, he nodded slightly.

"It's settled then," Melfina smiled. "Go and get ready, Mr. Ed. I'll have my men cooperate with you."

……

But apparently, the so-called cooperation of the Elf Lady was not so smooth.

"This is impossible," the craftsman who had raised the question earlier asked loudly, "I have never heard of intercepting information from the Ethernet vein."

His loud voice attracted everyone's attention, making Fang He a little embarrassed for a moment.

He coughed lightly, which made the craftsman opposite him wake up and realize that he was talking to a craftsman who was much more skilled than himself.

But even though he clearly recognized the difference between himself and a Hailin Morning Star winner, he still couldn't help but question his own professionalism:

"Mr. Ed, you should know that this is just a fantasy."

"No, it's actually possible," Cui Xisi, who got the hint from Fang He, came up and explained, "As long as we calculate the possible links that the signal may use in advance and use multiple parallel techniques to block all its possibilities in advance, it may be possible to intercept it before it goes deeper into the Ethernet."

"Multiple parallels?"

The craftsman thought about it for a moment. He had indeed not thought of this possibility, but multiple parallel operations were not a skill that ordinary people could use, let alone one or two.

And there is another more realistic problem here. He said with difficulty: "In theory, this is true, but how much computing power does it require?"

"The Ether is different from the creation networks we usually see. The craftsman's planetary furnace is just a simulation of its underlying logic. It has been simplified to an almost infinite degree. In front of the real Ether, mortals' calculations will never work."

"It is possible if its scope is limited." Fang He said - but in fact it is of course impossible, including him and Miss Tata can't do it, that is the underlying logic of the world, unless they are at the level of the creator.

But he can cheat. It is difficult to intercept information, but it is very easy to find someone who can travel freely in the sea of ​​light. All he needs is a dragon knight.

At least it sounds much simpler than the former, doesn't it?
But the craftsman misunderstood. He looked at Fang He and Cui Xisi and suddenly remembered something, "Wait, I remember, this lady is a fairy master. If all of us gather our computing power together like we did on the battlefield..."

Traci’s face turned pale.

That feeling was not pleasant at all, and she never wanted to experience it again.

But Fang He winked at the fairy lady. No matter whether she was right or not, it would be best if they could convince themselves.

We can only make our fairy maid suffer a little longer.

After all, they really need these craftsmen to activate the crystal tower together and place the signal in the crystal bridge into the crystal network to amplify it exponentially.

...(End of chapter)