Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1410: Northern Fortress

I discreetly approached Bingdisi, then suddenly remembered that it might be unnecessary to do so with a spiritual connection in place, so I directly opened the public channel in my mind and started discussing with her: "Forbidden books? What are those?"

"They appear to be ancient books left behind before the first Dark Moon war," Bingdisi replied while pretending to admire the roadside scenery, "I instructed the first group of Louse Spirits that arrived in the Imperial City to focus on searching places like churches and the Imperial Palace. One of them accidentally discovered a library underground, indicating that the Church didn’t completely destroy those ancient books from before the first war. It’s hard to tell why, but it’s certainly a big help left for us."

"Maybe it’s to protect intangible cultural heritage," I chuckled dryly, thankful the Iron Knight trio didn’t see this absurd silent laugh directed at the sky. Otherwise, they’d definitely think I was crazy. "Found any clues in the forbidden books?"

"Currently filtering them, the valuable ones should be pre-war chronicles, history, and cultural books. Others related to agronomy and geographic resources can be put aside for now," Bingdisi’s blood-red eyes had specks of golden light slowly moving, obviously, she was in sync with those Louse Spirits. I’m quite curious what the world looks like from a flying louse’s perspective, but Bingdisi herself definitely won’t answer that question. "Oh, found something useful, I’ve instructed the Louse Spirits to copy those things and teleport them over here. When time allows, we’ll study them together: pre-war history is more exciting than imagined, things weren’t as harmonious back then."

I responded with an "oh" and looked at the sky: one-third of the sun had set behind the mountain, yet no sign of the small transmission station mentioned by the Iron Knight trio. I didn’t bother scanning the surroundings with spiritual power for space collapse points, just followed along. In the end, my interest remained with the Louse Spirits Bingdisi sent out: "What about the other two groups? Are there secrets at the Earth-Moon Connection Bridge and Northern Fortress?"

"Hmm, the Earth-Moon Connection Bridge can indeed be confirmed as a large Teleportation Gate, very ingenious but not using Divine Race technology. Most likely, it’s an interstellar exploration facility left by the previous civilization on this world. However, its core is temporarily sealed, Louse Spirits can’t enter, so we can take a look ourselves," Bingdisi nodded, "There’s not much worth noting about the Northern Fortress itself, just a military base. However, there are already about a dozen new bases established around it, seems like the Gandor Empire is really going all out. Their Knight Order and General are no cowards. Most interestingly... I spotted the Pope of the Goddess Sect at the Northern Fortress."

I: "...The Pope?"

Bingdisi showed a playful expression: "Yes, didn’t expect this figure would personally come to the frontline. Initially, I speculated from an intrigue angle regarding this Human, so I thought he should stay in a safe place under these circumstances, watching others fight desperately worldwide, then await the Goddess’s arrival to consolidate his Church’s rule. But he came directly to the Northern Fortress, and now resides there with the title of Church Army frontline commander. If this isn’t a show, then... maybe we’ve overlooked something in our assumptions about the Goddess Sect."

I didn’t continue, but a more bizarre guess popped into my mind: there’s another possibility that the Dark Moon war might actually be a play controlled by the Church. In that case, the Pope naturally knows he won’t be in danger, hence leading the Church Army to garrison the Northern Fortress is easily understandable. Though this guess is also built on the Church conspiracy theory, I reckon Bingdisi picked up on this.

Not blaming us for keeping the Church conspiracy theory in mind, mainly because the Dark Moon war and Goddess Sect have way too many suspicious points. I’m increasingly feeling ambiguous "intonation" between the Dark Moon and the Goddess. In this scenario, it’s impossible not to associate church members with conspiracy, as the saying goes, encountering a pontiff governing the world under the guise of divine rights makes you wary, like guarding against a pyramid scheme...

If only Lilina were here, I have full confidence in that girl; she could infiltrate the Church in just a few days...

"Oh, we’re here, the transmission station is just ahead!"

Joseph’s booming voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up and indeed saw, beside the main road in the distance, a stone building resembling a watchtower. At this time, the sky had already darkened, yet above that "watchtower," a massive Light Ball was suspended, illuminating the surroundings as bright as day, making the tower itself resemble a conspicuous land-based lighthouse.

Foolish Big Guy had been silent the whole journey, seemed downcast after leaving the village, but upon seeing the mysterious tower, he finally grinned: "Hey, I’ve seen something like that while wandering outside before! Instantly sends people far away! I know that Light Ball above is used to dispel beasts!"

"Not only dispel beasts," Joseph waved to signify we quicken our pace, his mood seeming high after spotting the transmission station, "but also dispel Dark Moon People. The Light Ball atop the tower is made using Church Relics, containing the Goddess’s power, controlling the Transmission Array at the tower’s base so the Dark Moon People can’t use Surface People’s transmission stations. Otherwise, if they use these small stations to directly attack the fortress, wouldn’t it be disastrous?"

In conversation, we quickly arrived at the tower. Only then did I realize that this stone building was quite large; it’s built with gray-white rocks, resembling a rounded turret, approximately twenty meters tall. Its top features a metallic structure encircling like a Crown, which I guess is the "Church Relic," since it’s releasing a soft halo, providing energy replenishment for the Light Ball. The base of the tower had been carefully leveled, its ground inscribed with a series of deep ring-shaped marks, presumably Joseph mentioned Transmission Array: apparently, these aren’t set inside the tower. But unfamiliar with magic, I just found it novel; Qianqian examined those marks as if professionally and nodded like an expert: "Hmm, quite round."

At this moment, a small door at the tower’s base opened, two soldiers dressed similarly to Joseph’s trio but wearing grass-green war robes over their armor stepped out. One beckoned to the visitors: "Heading to the fortress? Horses can’t be teleported, they’re under control starting from midday."

Anna retrieved Foolish Big Guy’s bag from her saddle, handing it to its original owner. Pandora and Visca nimbly dismounted, while the Iron Knight trio carried their military pack and weapons on their backs. While hanging his shortsword on his belt, Joe inquired: "Why the sudden control? Wasn’t it supposed to wait longer?"

"A batch of monks was temporarily dispatched to the frontline from behind, due to heavy foot traffic recently, hence the control. Currently, the various transmission stations only allow human passage, livestock like horses must walk themselves," the transmission station soldier inspected the roster and pass provided by Joseph, nodding as he read, "Oh, these are Free Mercenaries, are you vouching for them? Fine, just happen to need more personnel ahead."

Joseph retrieved the pass marked with a certain code, patted his warhorse’s neck bidding a temporary farewell to his old partner before the transmission station soldier activated the Magic Array. He suddenly remembered something, and spoke to the two soldiers: "Right, the horses ran a whole day yet remain unfed, please assist and add thirty Copper Eagle Coins worth of No. Zero fodder, groom the red horses, monthly pass on the horse’s neck, kindly check it, sirs."

Both transmission station soldiers waved while leading the horses away from the Transmission Array: "Understood, understood, oh right, No. Zero fodder’s price just rose, it went up at half-past one in the afternoon, grooming horses remains free for now."

Just as Joseph opened his mouth to say something, the ring-shaped Array at our feet lit up rapidly, his unfinished sentence dissolved into the light.

A second later, the teleportation completed, in my ears Joseph’s lingering half-sentence echoed out of habit: "... How come last month rose again this month... oh, we’re here."

I regained composure from the instant weightlessness, slightly located myself, realizing the teleportation distance wasn’t actually far. The Northern Fortress and Pine Forest Village seemed only forty to fifty miles apart. But the surrounding scenery had drastically changed: we’ve completely left the wooded area, now in a rocky beach. In front loomed the majestic Long Bridge Mountain Range, sparse vegetation, and craggy rocky mountains slicing the horizon like a barrier. The Northern Fortress stretches impressively along this mountain, not erected on flat land, but vertically distributed across the entire mountain mass. Virtually all stone constructions are partially buried within the mountain rock, appearing as if carved directly from the mountain to form this stone fortress. Though it can’t compare with the Empire facilities covering the sky, knowing this stronghold was built by a feudal native civilization using manpower and wisdom to reshape nature is still quite commendable to me. Directly facing the Northern Fortress lies a vast plain, almost devoid of terrain undulation visible, even the forests abruptly end in the far distance.

Judging purely from the terrain, the Northern Fortress occupies a position easy to defend, hard to attack—at least for the native armies of this world, yet it’s uncertain whether these geographical advantages apply to the legendary soaring, earth-penetrating Dark Moon Demons.

The point where we were transmitted is also a "Transmission Station" similar to the previous one: the main structure is a stone high tower, on top of which is an "Artificial Little Sun" used to dispel the Dark Moon People. Below the tower is a rock base covered in Demon Runes. It seems this watchtower-like Transmission Station is a kind of "Standardized Facility." Bingdisi looked up at the tower and suddenly seemed to be deep in thought: "The energy operations of these transmission stations don’t seem very smooth. How long has it been since they were last maintained?"

Joseph was teaching the Foolish Big Guy how to take a deep breath to alleviate transmission dizziness and looked over when he heard this: "As expected of a Sorcerer, are you interested in transmission stations too? I heard this station hasn’t been repaired in twenty-five years. Well, all the transmission stations are relics left from before the third Dark Moon War, built with technology from that time. After the three wars, no one knows how to build new transmission stations. After the fifth war, even Magic Stone Cores became rare. It’s said that now all the transmission stations on the surface are maintained by the cores left over from those five wars. We use them one day at a time; if we can’t use them... perhaps the descendants will have to charge at the Dark Moon Demons on foot in the seventh war."

I silently noted down another new situation: the technology of the Surface People is gradually becoming obsolete!

When I saw the small transmission station earlier, I was still curious why the Surface People couldn’t understand the essence of the Heaven and Earth Bridge when they even have such Super Space Barracks. It turns out to be like this: the Teleportation Gates do exist, but they are all old relics from before the third war. With each Dark Moon War, these technologies are gradually being lost, and as of today, all the transmission towers still operating on the ground are run far beyond their intended period. Just like the one we see now—Bingdisi could see at a glance that its energy circuit was in poor condition, and even the ordinary soldiers around knew this point, but they just didn’t have new parts to maintain the tower.

Qianqian and Lin Xue didn’t voice any opinions; things like this are already routine for us. Long-lasting wars don’t always bring technological progress; often, they destroy the foundation of a civilization. Especially world wars like the Dark Moon War, no civilization can withstand five severances without technological obsolescence. The fact that the Surface People can still use weapons, armor, and magic to resist the Dark Moon People, and still utilize ancient facilities like transmission stations, is actually quite impressive: if we hadn’t come, they’d eventually have to charge at the Dark Moon Demons with clubs.

"Those camps over there don’t look like the Regular Army, right?" Qianqian looked into the distance under the night sky, at the lights stretching far on both sides of the Northern Fortress. Upon closer observation, it was apparent that they were temporary camps. Remembering the intel I had gathered earlier, I couldn’t help but blurt out: "Are those the Free Mercenaries?"

"Not all Free Mercenaries," Joseph gestured for us to follow while explaining from ahead, "because only the National Knights and the Imperial Church are stationed inside the fortress. So, aside from them, the Second-level Corps and other Church Armed Forces are camped outside the fortress. Those organized regular camps are usually these two. The Free Mercenaries’ camps are around these regular camps, and because they’re not controlled by anyone, you can only issue Free Missions to them, but essentially, they’re just a scattered force without organization, and they just camp freely as long as they don’t affect regular army operations. You can follow us into the fortress for registration and then find a place to camp outside. By the way, do you have a superior Mercenary Group, or do you have a team name yourselves? I can register you according to the team size, and then you can receive more supplies."

"We have..." I let slip a few words, then hesitated, looking at Bingdisi, "or do we not?"

No way around it; the Louse Spirits are all controlled by Bingdisi, this Female hooligan is actually the one among us most knowledgeable about the local situation. With those lice being all-pervasive, I suspect Bingdisi was already half a local...

"Alright, alright," Bingdisi waved a hand at Joseph, "I know how the Free Mercenaries register, you just have to report a name to show you’ve been here, the rest is just living on your own without troubling you. How can we anyway, who’ve traveled the world, not know how to take care of ourselves—just register us as a team."

Joseph nodded, and casually handed over an oval metal tag: "Oh, then I’ll register you as a team-type Free Mercenary. You camp outside yourselves and remember to place this tag in your main tent, so I know your location, and I’ll find you in the morning. Also, does your team have a name? I need to report it."

Bingdisi took the magic-type GPS tracker, rolled her eyes while thinking, saw the Pandora Sisters competing on who could make a rounder Fireball, and conjured up a big Fireball herself, seemingly resolved upon something: "I, along with those two, specialize in conjuring Fireballs, the three of us together are the Doomsday Great Red Lotus Intense Flame Judgment Spell Team, we worship fire, flame, and blaze; you can call me the fff Chief Judge..."

Me: "..."

Joseph, feeling slightly dizzy listening to Bingdisi pop out a bunch of strange terms but still paid attention to some details and then pointed at me, Qianqian, and Lin Xue: "Aren’t these three with you?"

"They are with us, but they betrayed my Doomsday Great Red Lotus Intense Flame Judgment Spell Team, so they’re responsible for being judged. If you keep nagging, I’ll smack you with a big Fireball."

Joseph, Anna, and Joe simultaneously shrank their necks, finally fully convinced that Bingdisi was a total middle-school syndrome girl. Then Joe nudged the silent Foolish Big Guy: "Big guy, come with us, you’re a new recruit for the Knight Order, you need to report in the fortress."

The Foolish Big Guy followed a few steps subconsciously, only then noticing that we weren’t coming along. He pointed at us and asked the Iron Knight trio in his slow way: "Are my friends just staying outside overnight?"

Joseph patiently explained once more to Foolish Big Guy: "They’re Free Mercenaries, so they camp outside and just register with the Mercenary camp leader tomorrow."

Qianqian and I vigorously waved to the Foolish Big Guy to assure him and let him leave with peace of mind, and Qianqian incredibly seriously promised: "You go ahead, Big Guy, we’ll find you inside the fortress tomorrow."

The simpleton finally left, looking back every few steps.

Watching the four of them and one cat disappear into the enormous gate of the Northern Fortress, Bingdisi exhaled a long breath: "Alright, now it’s finally just us. Chen, pick a nice spot and let’s set up camp."

I scanned the vast rocky plain, searching among the large open area outside the fortress for the tents of the Free Mercenaries distant from regular army camps, and quickly found a considerably large group among them.

According to Joseph’s hints, even though the Free Mercenaries’ camps are varied, they do have requirements, that is, they must not intersect with the regular army activity zones (this is to prevent disrupting order), so the place where Free Mercenaries cluster will certainly meet the requirements.

Looks like we’ll be spending the night over there, and Qianqian seems quite excited: this girl seems pretty keen on outdoor camping!

(Heading to Guangzhou on the 13th... should I take a few days off or what...) (To be continued. If you like this work, we warmly invite you to vote for recommendations, monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian.com), your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)