A brand new tower-like building stands tall on the high ground to the west of Winter Keep. The snow-capped peaks in the north that remain unchanged all year round form an undulating curtain, becoming the background of this tall tower.
The tower is made of steel and cement, with a hexagonal base and simple straight lines. The dense stream of light wanders between the rune lines and the magic-guiding metal at the lower part of the tower, as if With surging vitality, there are large-scale support devices with mechanical structures and crystal arrays formed by multiple crystals fixed on the top of the tower. In the cold wind of this far north, a layer of translucent The magic shield blocks the erosion of wind and frost, and the crystal array on the top of the tower continuously fine-tunes its structure and angle within the shield.
It has not yet been activated. At this moment, the crystal array is further adapting to the magical environment near Winterhold.
In a gust of wind and snow, Victoria and several high-level mages slowly descended from the air and arrived at this highland that was tightly protected by several military towers and a circle of walls. She raised her head. , seeing the tall tower shining brightly in his sight, piercing the sky like a sharp sword, he couldn't help but have a smile in his eyes.
This is probably the most beautiful of all the magic network main hubs in the entire empire - the white color scheme and simple and powerful lines may look simple, but they perfectly complement the surrounding environment. In terms of design When building this tower, Victoria even personally participated in some steps to synchronize the style of the main hub in the north with the similarly white Winter Castle next to it. Now, she is very satisfied with the final appearance of this tower. satisfy.
And the connection between this tower and Winterfort goes beyond that.
Under the high ground next to the main building of the castle, in a series of magic network relay devices extending along the mountain, there is surging magic flowing day and night - this main hub. , is connected to the magic of Winter Castle.
The Wilder family in the north has been the most outstanding magic family in this country for hundreds of years. Winter Castle has accumulated the family’s heritage for centuries. Victoria did not waste the ready-made and excellent magic foundation here. ——After carefully studying the knowledge about rune logic and magic technology, she and the technical consultants from the imperial capital jointly designed a huge system. This system used the magic network as the "base" to cover the cold winter. The magic structure of the castle itself and the entire city around the castle simultaneously solve the problems of urban energy supply, magic network hub energy supply, strengthening the stability of the magic network, and upgrading of the castle's own facilities.
Now, this system is in operation. It has gathered surging and stable energy and injected it into the tower in front of Victoria. Soon, it will pass through the crystal array on the top of the tower. , broadcasting the further stabilized and adjusted energy to the entire area, and establishing stable connections with the magic network hubs in other nearby towns.
"After completing the last stage of the stress test, the news will be sent to the imperial capital." The duchess restrained her careless expression and said calmly to the person next to her, "YouWe can start preparing for the final grid connection. "
The mage next to her immediately took the order and left. Victoria looked at the tower quietly for a moment, then lowered her head and chanted softly: "Myrmena, the goddess of magic... wishes You watch all this..."
In fact, she rarely prays to the goddess of magic. After learning many truths about gods in recent years, and even witnessing two "divine disasters" in person, she prays even less The number of times the name "Myrmina" has been mentioned, but in the final analysis, she is still a mage. There are some things rooted in habits that are not easy to change. Even if it is just for pure spiritual sustenance, she still maintains it. Respect for the legendary "Source of All Laws" and "Lord of Magic"
The prayer did not receive any reply, but a vague concern and psychological response could be felt - expected. Within, it makes sense.
...
With a slight hum and the click of the mechanical device, a document slowly came out of the printing device next to the desk. After spitting it out, Gawain took the document and took a look at it, and couldn't help but smile.
"Byron's contact with the gray elves and dwarf representatives at White Feather Port was very smooth, 'Curiosity'. "This first voyage has been a success beyond expectations," he said with a smile to Hetty, who was standing aside and had just finished reporting her work. "It seems that the dwarves living in the far west of the continent are very interested in Cecil's foreign trade machinery." Very interested, and very interested in magic technology - they may offer a very high price. "
"Really? Ah...I have been waiting for this good news for several days," Hetty blinked and her tone became very happy, "The dwarves have always had no shortage of gold, silver and magic materials, but the bow-shaped mountains facing the inland of the dwarf kingdom have long been All are affecting their trade with mainland countries. If a maritime trade route could be opened from North Port to Forge City, although the distance may seem longer, the cost would definitely be countless times more cost-effective than land transportation. ”
“I have long heard that the dwarf kingdom is rich in minerals. To be honest, most of the reasons why I restarted the northern circumcontinental route are to open up trade routes with the dwarves—to pass through the border of the dwarf kingdom. It is too difficult to establish a trade line with a series of high mountains and mountains in the Augu Lei Tribal Nation," Gawain said with a smile, with undisguised happiness and relaxation on his face, "That's good... Although the 'Curiosity' This time we only opened the route from Beigang to Baiyu Port, but this is at least a good start, showing that our entire plan is feasible. ”
As he spoke, he sketched a map of the coastline of the northwest part of the continent in his mind, and matched the navigation data returned by Curiosity with the details on the map.
< p>He could clearly "see" the positions of North Port and White Feather Port, as well as the bow-shaped mountains of the Dwarf Kingdom and several natural ports facing the sea - frankly speaking, for those who have opened up land trade routes and For the gray elves who are geographically adjacent to the Cecil Empire, the line from White Feather Port to North Port is not of great significance, but as long as the route continuesBy extension, merchant ships connect White Feather Port and Forge City, and Gray Elf merchants will immediately be able to gain huge benefits from it - that short maritime trade route is definitely easier than crossing the Bow Mountains.I believe that the keen-eyed Ms. Wenna Bai Zhi can also see this, otherwise she would not be so proactive in cooperating with the Cecil Empire's route resumption plan and agree to transfer Moss Mulin's only seaport is open to Beigang ships.
With the further support of the Gray Elf, his route resumption plan will undoubtedly become smoother...
At this moment, the hum of the machine and the printing device The clicking sound suddenly sounded again, interrupting Gawain's thinking.
He looked at the printing device connected to the Magic Network terminal with some surprise, and saw another document slowly spit out from the paper outlet - on the half page of paper that had been exposed, it could See the snowflake emblem representing House Wilder.
The paper fell into the tray and Gawain reached out to pick it up. Hetty looked at him curiously: "Where is the report?"
Can it be sent directly to this room? The documents in the study are usually very unusual, and it is rare for two reports to come in such a short period of time.
At this time, Gawain had already glanced at the main part of the document. The short words were not very long, but the content was full of big news.
“The main hub in the North is ready, one day earlier than expected!” He said with great joy, even happier than when he received the good news from Byron, “from Victoria. Report - The hub has completed all acceptance procedures and final stress tests, and can now be integrated into the backbone network at any time - just waiting for an order from the Imperial Capital."
Hetty's eyes widened immediately at this news. She has also been waiting for a long time, especially as the expected acceptance date is approaching recently, her expectations are also growing day by day. As one of the people who has watched the development of magic technology, she is particularly clear about what the integration of the magic network across the empire means - After staying for less than a second, she showed a particularly happy expression: "Great! We have finally waited for this day!"
"How are the preparations going?" Gao Wen spoke quickly asked.
"The preparation work of all departments was completed the day before yesterday. Most of the staff are on standby at the moment. We have been waiting for news from the north," Hetty said immediately, "Start now to enter the grid connection preparation process If so, the first main hub can be officially launched in about four hours—starting from the hub in Shilin City.”
“Then go,” Gawain nodded to Hetty, “ The next few hours will be a big event."
This is definitely a big event, and he is extremely sure of it - just like the launch of the first magic network prototype, just like the civil war in Ansu. , just like the establishment of an empire, what will happen in the next few hours will be enough to leave a mark on the times. He can even foresee now that this event will be undisputedly printed in the textbooks of future students. and test papersYes, you have to study history classes, politics classes, and even magic technology classes.
Liberal arts must be memorized, and science must also be compulsory.
Thinking of this, Gawain couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth, showing a strange expression.
The ancestor suddenly showed a strange smile. The eldest princess of the empire was a little confused about this, but Hetty soon threw the doubts in her mind behind - such a happy moment, the ancestor must have I also have ups and downs in my heart, and it is understandable that my smile is more complicated.
She explained to herself in this way, then turned and left Gawain's study. She came to the corridor, looked at the magic crystal lamps neatly arranged on both sides of the corridor, exhaled softly, then lowered her head, put her hands on her chest and said a short prayer that she had not said for a long time: "Goddess of Magic" Myrmena...are you willing to witness everything..."
The prayer did not receive any reply, but I could feel a vague concern and a psychological response - as expected, It makes sense.
......
In a brand-new classroom at Imperial College, senior students of the Magic Department are sitting neatly behind their desks, listening to the new semester's new lectures. Added "Neural Network Concepts Course".
Elaven, who was wearing a magician uniform, was looking intently in the direction of the podium, and beside him, a big boy with short brown hair and a few freckles on his face was working hard with his head lowered. The pen is written quickly.
"Storm," Eleven couldn't help but gently touched his new classmate and reminded him in a low voice, "Don't just write notes - the teacher is talking about key theories. Knowledge."
The big boy named Storm seemed to be startled, and the pen tip left a crooked ink mark on the paper. He raised his head and glanced at Elaine quickly, with a look on his face. A little nervous and a little timid: "I...Okay, okay..."
Seeing the other party's reaction, Elaine wanted to say another word, but the next second a thunderous voice came out Then suddenly came from the direction of the podium: "No talking in the classroom! Mr. Eleven Franklin!"
This loud voice swept through the classroom like a storm, and all the students were instantly shocked. Eleven Franklin was so excited that he broke into a thin sweat: Even if he was the son of a Duke, he would be extremely nervous when facing such a loud voice. In fact, even in the entire Imperial Academy, there was no student. I'm not afraid of this loud voice.
He immediately sat up straight, as if he had realized his mistake, and carefully glanced at the figure on the podium.
A middle-aged man with short stature and hair that stood up like exploding stood there. He was floating in the air. There was a set of magic network projection crystals under his feet, which was making a very slight buzzing sound.
After Magnum finished training the students, he shook his head, turned around and looked at the schematic diagram he had just sketched in mid-air, and prepared to continue the next lesson: "Okay, everyone is energetic. , we continue to the next part, multiple brain wave signals are transmitted into aHow to ensure that nodes will not interfere with each other in the future. You should all listen carefully, because the pioneers who summarized this part of knowledge spent ten years solving this problem, and you lucky guys now only need less than half a class! First of all..."
Magnum's voice suddenly stopped in the middle of speaking.
During the brief silence, the students inevitably made a little commotion. Levin heard someone whispering behind him:
"Why did Mr. Magnum suddenly stop talking? "
"Could it be that Ms. Selina turned off the talker again..."
"Shh - Ms. Selina might be watching from the classroom. "
"Quiet! ! "Suddenly, Magnum's loud voice burst out again. He glanced at the classroom, and then waved his hand, "Okay, it seems that today's class will end early. There is a task over there at the neural network. I need to pay attention to it. Shift your focus to other tasks and save the rest of this lesson for next time. "
Then he added in a loud voice: "But don't think about being lazy - I have already prepared the test papers for the previous part of the course for you! A teaching assistant will be sent here soon, and I will stay here to write papers for the remaining half of the class and the next self-study class! ”
As soon as he finished speaking, Magnum’s figure disappeared from the podium in an instant, leaving only a bunch of formula symbols and schematic diagrams floating in the air, and only a group of students looking at each other in the classroom. .