829 Strongest Guild
“You cannot just say I did and expect to be like, ‘oh good job,"” Julia said with her mouth still agape before licking her lips and taking a deep breath. “There must be some limitations, right? For example, it can properly create one artifact a day.”
“Of course, there are limitations,” nodded Arthur in all seriousness before walking toward a giant cone-shaped machine connected to the a.s.sembly line. “Here, we check the design and the weapon’s quality. I had to preset the design, and you had to ask the goblins to make the exact measurements. All of them are long swords, of course.”
“Oh, good, and what is the production limit?” Julia asked with relief, and if Arthur didn’t know her better, he would have a.s.sumed she wanted him to fail this. As if picking on his glare, she corrected herself. “It just gets easier to accept once we know the limits. You made it absurd.”
“Aha,” nodded Arthur, “well, after doing some calculations, I expect a hundred weapons. But, of course, not all of them would be pure profit since they consume a lot of energy, and their rank would be high-tier weapons.”
“A hundred high-tier weapons per month? That’s a blessing on its own since you are so busy,” said Julia with a smile. Arthur paused and shook his head, making her pause. “A hundred per week?” He shook his head again, and she was speechless.
“This can finish a weapon in fifteen minutes or so, which would total a hundred or less per day,” said Arthur with a smile. “I will work on increasing its rank, so expect True-tier ma.s.s production in the future.”
“Arthur, this is…” said Yuran with shock. “It can alter the power balance of the world. If one of the nations gets their hands on this, they would have armies that far outdoes the others.”
“I made sure the fortress kills any strangers entering this room, so don’t go around showing this to visitors. We don’t want our hosting reputation tarnished.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
All three stood there silently, staring at Arthur like some exotic lizard. Even as much as he changed, Arthur found the silence heavy, so he coughed and took out a weapon. Then, a demonstration began.
“The machine starts working as soon as it has a weapon over it. This is the original sword I created based on the design I’ll be testing now.”
As the three stood there rooted, Arthur placed the weapon on the belt. It lit up with runic light and began to move, taking the blade toward the first machine, where the inspection would happen.
“This machine has three purposes. The first one is design inspection, material, and then teleportation if the weapon is unfit to be inscribed. It would teleport three meters to the left into this box labeled defectives.”
As the sword entered the inspection machine, lights shone from within it, showing the magic in the making. Then, after a minute or so, the belt started moving again.
“The next phase is tr.i.m.m.i.n.g. This will outline the runic lines beforehand and then line them with liquid mana. This is where the mana stones need to go,” said Arthur while opening a lid like a furnace. “The mana will be used for the inscription.”
Arthur placed a stone there, and the weapon took a few moments before it appeared on the other side with bright lines covering it. Then, under the amazed eyes of the three, the weapon entered the giant inscription machine.
“I spent most of the day designing and creating this,” said Arthur as he walked toward the screen on the side and infused mana into it. “Since I’m no engineer, I had to rely on runes to do the job. This screen changes the rune inscribed. I got creative and created different plates with different runes, and this machine rotates them.”
“Are you saying we can decide what runes are inscribed?” asked Julia as she stepped closer to the machine, touching it with reverence. “What runes are stored inside?”
“Glad to see someone decided to accept reality. The machine only has four elements: fire, wind, water, and earth. Activating them would generate a basic elemental attack based on the environment and the user’s will.”
“I should have thrown away common sense the moment I decided to follow you,” said Julia as she stared at the machine. “This will drastically improve our fighting capabilities. Our skirmishes with Thiria will be tipped in our favor.”
“There is more, but I’ll wait until we have trustworthy guildsmen until I announce them. However, this is the tip of the iceberg. We are going to build the strongest guild in the world.”
“This will be no ordinary guild but a full army,” said Alan with dread. “Power corrupts people, Guild Master. If we give these guilds this power, they can turn against us or, even worse, harm the citizens in their delusions.”
“I understand that much, so their Guild Masters will be the founding members. You and Yuran will each lead a guild in whatever nation you desire and lead with our ideologies. We are not anarchists, nor are we rebels.”
“Then, what are we?”
“We are Ascent, the strongest guild humanity will have against calamities and outside threats. When the rulers fail to protect the citizens, like in Kera, we will step up.”
“What happened about your desire to dethrone the rulers?”
“Ascent has no such responsibilities, but I do,” smiled Arthur as he stared at the sword finishing the Inscription process and entering the testing.
After the final phase, the machine teleported the weapon to a crater on the side. Arthur walked toward it and picked up the sword, activating it. Fire lined its surface, casting the three’s shadows over the machine.
“These ten guilds will be the beginning of change.”
“And, who is going to lead them? After Oren left, the founding members, the human ones at least, have dwindled to four: Alan, Yuran, Maryam, and me.”
“I plan on inviting people I trust to this guild, and they will lead on my behalf,” said Arthur with a smile. “It would be a reunion of old friends.”
***
Right across the Great Blood Ocean from Ilios, the last east country of Anera Continent was the west of Akrena Continent, where the Theocracy of Shon resided. On the world’s map, these two were the farthest from each other, one being the east and the other the west.
Since the Great Blood Ocean separated the two nations, very little communication happened between them. Thus, their cultures grew to be different. However, the invention of flying vessels allowed important cargo and people to go back and forth.
Therefore, while Ilios and Shon were not allies, their relationship was quite close. In fact, the two shared similar religions. Ilios worshiped the G.o.d of Light and bringer of elements, while Shon worshiped the Great White Deity.
In the Grand Church of Shon, where the Father of Shon resided, the events of Ilios were closely monitored. As a result, the four cardinals decreed that the matter should be closely regulated not to affect the people’s opinion of religion.
“…they want us to hide such news from the public?” asked a slim figure sitting atop a balcony with a newspaper in her hand. On its front cover was the picture of the world’s most famous criminal, Arthur Silvera. “Those old farts are overthinking it.”
“Please refrain from saying that as the Saint of Shon. Instead, the Father wants you to address the matter in the morning prayer tomorrow, ensuring that Arthur Silvera is not a threat to our great theocracy.”
As she heard the words Saint of Shon, Rae frowned. She took pride in that t.i.tle as her father’s inheritor once he pa.s.sed. However, now, it felt like a burdensome responsibility.
“This is counterintuitive,” said Rae after a moment of thought. “Arthur Silvera is the enemy of the seven families, not our theocracy. If anything, we are expected to help him.”
“At that moment, that would be too dangerous. All families are eyeing him, and some are even plotting his a.s.sa.s.sination. We’ll be crushed if we align ourselves with him when he cannot even fight a single family.”
“If so, we would have been crushed long ago. A nation as big as ours insults those sons and daughters of heaven. Father made sure all of them knew what they had coming.”
“The Draconic Blessing is not omnipotent,” said the priest as he handed her a basin of water to wash her face. “Father cannot fight the families for much longer. Therefore, you have to take your duties as his heir.”
Rae was silent as she placed the papers down and started washing her face. Her reflection in the mirror, with white hair and red eyes, was far from holy. However, it is the closest she would be to the Great White Dragon.
Although she owed everything to her father and her awakening, she still couldn’t forget the memories she had awakened after meeting Alexie in Jerano.