Pillars of Ita

The Seven Seas Storm lowered a small boat, and when it reached the other side of the Pivotal Flame Oath Court ship, everyone discovered the real reason why it ran aground:

The ship had a hole in its belly, and its sides were covered with scars from shelling. Some of its ribs were broken, the portholes were pierced, and the outward-turned planks had exploded with countless wooden spikes that looked like sharp gashes.

The clockwork fairy in Alice's hand was rotating its perspective, and Fang He watched the scene thoughtfully with the help of the video crystal embedded in it.

The ship had evidently been in some great battle—pirates? Or something else?

When the boat approached, Daliel was the first to jump off. The wind element flooded over her ankles like a tide, and she nimbly stepped on the rocks on the shore to the edge of the boat.

Miss Catman put down the sword in her hand and looked up at the giant ship.

It lay on the beach like a dying beast, with its whalebone keel tilted high, its tall stern leaning to one side, its mainmast tilted at 45 degrees and broken, and the remaining half of the mast hung with scattered sails.

On the ebony scale-like outer panel, there was a three-meter-long crack, and it was pitch black behind the crack.

She walked forward, and a snake-like object suddenly shot out from the darkness, but Daryl reacted faster and grabbed the thing suddenly, only to find that it was actually a vine.

The vine spread and struggled in her hands as if it had life, but Daryl pulled it down from the hanging ceiling with just one strong pull. The vine trembled for a moment, and then became motionless between the cat lady's claws.

"Snake weed," Alice said as she came over to take a look. "Sailors also call it the hair of the siren. It grows and spreads in the sea like Sargassum, dragging whatever it grabs to the bottom of the sea, whether it's a ship or a sailor who accidentally falls into the sea of ​​clouds."

"This kind of thing doesn't usually grow in ships. How strange." She also looked up at the ship. "It looks like this ship hasn't been stranded for too long. The snake algae wouldn't grow so big in such a short time."

The two of them noticed something unusual at the same time, and at this time the others pushed the boat ashore and gathered around.

Alice and Daryl looked at each other and decided to split up, each leading a team to check what happened on the ship and whether there were any survivors.

"Alice, go to the upper deck." When Miss Nightingale entered the cabin, the voice of Fang He came from the clockwork fairy in her hand.

Alice nodded, understanding that the place Fang He really wanted to go was the chart room - if the ship's previous route was still there, they would be able to figure out why the ship of the Shuyan Oath Court appeared in this place.

They landed to provide rescue to the survivors, but the premise was that the ship was really just a merchant ship that had accidentally run aground there.

But its appearance in this place itself is full of weirdness. Generally speaking, the ships of the Court of the Oath of the Flame will not appear in the south of the bay area, let alone near the turbulent zone.

Considering the intelligence the pirates had, they had to find out whether anyone from the Court of the Oath of the Pivot Flame was involved in the ambush.

But the scene we have seen so far is full of doubts. With whom did the people of the Pivot Flame Oath Court have a conflict? Who was the other party that bombarded the ship?

The aisle was also full of snake algae, and everyone had to cut them with swords while clearing the way, and progress was very slow.

Fang He watched this scene through the Clockwork Fairy's video crystal. Judging from the erosion of the wooden boards in the cabin by the elemental tides, the ship would not be stranded for more than a day, but where did these thriving snake algae come from?

By this time, Alice had someone break open the door of the chart room, but to her great disappointment, it was empty. It seemed that the people on board had left calmly after the ship ran aground, and had taken away all the clues.

Alice checked and found that only a few spare maps were left in the cabinet, and most of them were soaked in water, probably affected by the previous storm surge.

All the marked maps were taken away, including the logbook and its backup. It seemed that the ship was stranded here after being attacked, and the people on it took away everything of value before the storm came.

However, this itself is also a clue, which shows that the ship of the Pivot Flame Court was not stranded here because of the storm. It had a conflict with others before the storm came, and had to be stranded in Sandestadel due to loss of power.

But normally, the people of the Court of the Oath of the Flame should stay on the ship and wait for rescue, instead of rushing away with all their belongings.

Their act of taking away the nautical charts actually proves that they are covering up something.

"Is there no one on the boat?" Fang He asked again.

Confirmatory information came back from all over. Not only were there no people, but not even a corpse, to be found on the ship of the Pivot Flame Oath Court.

Theoretically, with such a serious battle taking place, there must have been heavy casualties on board, or have all these people been resurrected through the icons on board?

But the Shuyan Oath Court had obviously taken this into consideration. Outsiders could confirm the information by checking the records in the crystal array under the statue over a period of time. They even dismantled the statue and took it away.

Alice walked out of the prayer room with an incredible look on her face. "These Lotao people must be hiding something, otherwise there would be no need to be so cautious."

But at this time, the clockwork fairy vision device in her hand turned to one side, and Fang He suddenly asked, "Miss Olivia, what are you checking?"

The blind girl turned around. She had her hands on a wooden sculpture of a two-headed siren, groping for something. When she heard Fang He's question, she put her hands down and answered calmly:

"Nothing, I just think this statue is a little strange."

"strange?"

"The two-headed siren is an image of a sea monster worshipped by sailors on the sky sea. This image is very popular in the Gulf region, but the people of Lotao do not worship it."

"Do you think there's something wrong with it?" Alice asked, narrowing her eyes.

Olivia shook her head. The reason she was able to join this search team was because she was the person on the ship who was most familiar with the Court of the Oath of the Central Flame.

Although her origins and purpose are somewhat of a mystery, Fang He still decides to let Alice take her with her. No matter what, as long as she can offer some meaningful opinions, they will always be of reference value.

Even if she said nothing, they wouldn't lose anything anyway.

"That's what I thought," Olivia said, "but I just checked and there's no magic on it."

Alice obviously didn't believe her.

She personally walked over and carefully examined the two-headed siren wooden sculpture. The left head of the sculpture had a single eye inlaid with sapphire, and the right side of the face was carbonized into a hole by lightning.

But as Olivia said, it was just an ordinary statue and there was no magic left on it.

She pondered for a moment before realizing that she had fallen into a misunderstanding. The people from the Pivot Flame Oath Court had even taken away the holy statue on the ship. If there was really something wrong with this wooden sculpture, how could it have stayed here?

She looked at Olivia who was quietly standing beside her, thought for a moment and did not ask the question in her mind. At least so far, she could not trust the other party.

Olivia obviously realized something, but she just smiled with her eyelids drooped and didn't say anything.

However, the clockwork fairy in Alice's hand had turned off its visual device at some point.

On the Seven Seas Storm, Fang He took off his goggles and said to Alyssa, "Miss Alyssa, please help me get through to Luo Hao."

"What's wrong?" Miss Nightingale, who was leaning against the window and keeping an eye on the situation on the sea, turned around and looked at him.

Fang He walked to the side of the captain's room and took out a book from the bookcase. It was labeled "Gulf Folklore" and answered:

"There are some things I would like Miss May to help me investigate."

Alisa nodded and did as she was told.

Although Alice and Olivia did not gain anything, there was news from Daryl. When Fang He was reading the chapter on sailor worship in the book "Gulf Folklore", the anxious voice of Miss Catman came from the communication crystal hanging on his chest:

"Ed, I found something."

Fang He folded up a corner of the page in his hand, then closed the book, pressed his hand on the communication crystal, and said, "Dariel, what's wrong?"

"I am currently in the warehouse on the lower level of this ship. There are two air combat constructs here."

Another air combat construct?

Fang He was puzzled. It was not a tradition to carry air combat equipment on a sailboat. As mentioned earlier, it was subject to considerable restrictions in the air and sea environment.

"Let me see." Fang He said.

Daliel immediately sent a video through the team channel. The two air combat structures in the picture were a bit too obvious, but it was obvious that they were not cutting-edge styles.

It is probably a type of air combat construct modified from the "Starry" series of constructs. The Rotao people don't pay much attention to air combat constructs, but their heavy constructs are very famous.

This is accomplished through this type of construction modification, with the rough addition of wind element repulsion thrusters, but the technical style of Lotao can still be seen in the details.

But what are the people of Lotao doing?

Fang He couldn't help but frowned, carefully looking at the situation in the picture - like the Imperials, the Rotao people also chose to carry these two constructs as spare parts, assembled them before the battle, and then put them into use. In the case of not being able to use large information crystals, this can also be regarded as a means.

But the difference is that, according to the pirates, the Imperials complete the assembly of the constructs on the flagship, then distribute them to different ships, fixing them on the deck with slide rails so they can be put into combat at any time.

The two constructs of the Pivot Flame Oath Court are not so much complete machines as they are parts of two constructs that have not yet been assembled.

Presumably because the battle broke out so suddenly, the Rotao people on board might not have had time to complete the assembly, and the sailboat was fatally damaged and lost power.

Just like in the chart room, the people from the Pivot Flame Oath Court took away the remaining parts of the two constructs, leaving only these two remnants.

Fang He made an estimate and found that even if the remaining parts of the two constructs were disassembled and assembled together, it would be difficult to exchange them for a complete construct.

What's more, the people from the Pivot Flame Oath Court still had time to completely destroy them before leaving, so these two constructs basically lost their value of repair.

But Fang He suddenly thought of a possibility.

He took a breath and quickly said to Miss Catman: "Dariel, have you checked the area? Have you found anything else?"

Daryl shook her head. "We just got here. What's going on?"

"If the people of the Pivotal Flame Oath Court want to assemble these two constructs on the ship, they can't rely on manpower alone. I suspect there is at least an assembly workshop there."

"You mean there's a magic workshop on the ship?"

Fang Plover nodded.

"Then I'll go and take a look." Daryl replied immediately and led his men to explore deeper.

When Fang He closed the screen, more questions arose in his mind.

The people from the Pivot Flame Oath Court came prepared. The origins of these air combat constructs were suspicious, and although they were obviously outdated models, this made people question their purpose even more.

If the Empire came here to experiment with cutting-edge constructs, then what was the purpose of the Rotao people transforming these old constructs?

They are not very useful in fleet combat, but if they are used like the Oshurians, then all problems will become clear.

But it would be fine if the imperial people did it to deal with him, but why did the Shuyan Oath Court do it?

A trace of doubt arose in his mind - is it possible that both parties have the same reason?

He couldn't help but think of the pirates' confessions. If it was really the people from the Court of the Oath of the Central Flame who were providing information to the Imperials behind the scenes, then were the two of them already on the same side?

Fang He's mind couldn't help but once again emerge the merchant ship of the Shuyan Oath Court that they had seen in Qianzhu Port.

If all these speculations are confirmed, it is quite suspicious that the ship would appear there - but the question is why would the Court of the Oath of the Central Flame want to target him?

How did they know he was here?

While he was thinking, Daryl's surprised voice soon came from the other side, "Ed, you guessed it right, guess what I found!"

Fang He didn't care about the suspense that Miss Catman was keeping, because a new picture had been coming from the other side, and what appeared in his eyes was a huge machine.

The machine was placed at the rear of the sailboat, in an obviously remodeled cabin. It was not quite what he had imagined. The people of the Court of the Oath of the Pivot Flame did not set up a magic workshop on the ship, but simply placed a planetary furnace in this place.

Gravitational Dominance magic furnace. Fang He took a breath of cold air. This is the standard planetary furnace in the Mir Luo Temple workshops above level V.

Although a complete alchemy workshop often does not have just one planetary furnace, having such a planetary furnace would save a lot of trouble.

He could bypass the planetary furnace through the means of ancient alchemy, but that was only for emergency situations. When designing and manufacturing large equipment and precision magical equipment, he still had to rely on the alchemy workshop. Otherwise, he would not have planned to build a level IV or above workshop on the Seven Seas Traveler.

This planetary furnace may not be worth much to the people of Rotao, but if it can be repaired and shipped back, it can at least save him more than half of the money.

This kind of standard equipment in alchemy laboratories above level V is much more heavyweight than an ordinary magic furnace. Although some other equipment is also needed in the workshop, they are minor problems compared to this.

After a brief moment of astonishment, there was ecstasy. The people of Rotao really did not take money seriously. They were worthy of being the wealthy Pivot of the Flame.

It’s happening now!

Fang He even couldn't help feeling dizzy. He had never picked up such a big bargain before. If you look at it from this perspective, their trip was really right.

Two of the Empire's latest air combat structures, plus a gravity series planetary furnace, and judging from the models, they seem to be relatively advanced.

Although the craftsmen on the ship damaged the core of the planetary furnace before leaving, the core of the planetary furnace is nothing more than a large crystal device, and he knows this too well.

This is somewhat different from the Xs-1 left behind by the Imperials. It's not that he can't repair the core of the Xs-1, but he just doesn't have the time.

But this planetary furnace is different. If it can be repaired, then any amount of time they spend will be worth it. That means the concept of the magic workshop on the Seven Seas Traveler is half completed.

However, Fang He suddenly closed his mouth and a thought flashed through his mind.

“Darlil,” he said immediately, “check its core.”

"Wait, Ed, didn't we just check it?" Daryl was stunned.

"No," Fang He shook his head. He calmed down at this time. "I just thought of a possibility and I need you to check it."

Because he suddenly remembered a detail. There is also a backup system in the core crystal of the planetary furnace to record the ether concentration at different times.

The starlight configuration is closely related to ether. Its essence is to transform ether into elements, record its information with starlight, and then create matter from the elements.

In this process, the concentration of ambient ether is a factor that has a great influence. Craftsmen need to record it at all times to prevent any measurement from exceeding the standard during the use of the planetary furnace.

But the record reveals much more.

Because the distribution of ether above the empty sea is not uniform, the proximity to ether veins and nodes, the size of ether branches, and even storms above the empty sea will change the ambient concentration of ether around them.

The average value in the records may allow them to determine where this planetary furnace has been before.

In short, this planetary furnace on the ship allows them to reverse the route of this ship of the Pivotal Flame Oath Court.

This detail was so subtle that ordinary people would rarely do such a thing, so Fang He guessed that the craftsmen on the ship might have overlooked it in their rush.

Because the backup system was irrelevant to the planetary furnace itself, if the craftsmen of the Pivot of the Flame Oath Court did not realize this, they would most likely not have destroyed it before leaving.

After hearing Fang He's words, Daryl immediately dismantled the outer shell of the planetary furnace.

After some investigation, she indeed found tiny crystals embedded under a row of pipes, sealed in a box.

"Ed," she said, a little excitedly, "They didn't take the crystal."

"That's normal," Fang He replied. "It's hard for ordinary people to realize this. Besides, the ship should have been in chaos when they left. Someone ordered the core of the planetary furnace to be dismantled, but there are countless subsystems related to it, so it's impossible to cover them all."

But he was also a little fortunate. Although a planetary furnace has countless subsystems, this is the only system that can truly record information.

But the other craftsman happened to miss it.

"Ed," said Daryl, "we must take it back to the ship immediately. This kind of crystal may be corroded if exposed to the open sea environment."

But she paused, "But now there is a problem, what should we do with this planetary furnace?"

The ship of the Pivotal Flame Oath Court is much larger than the Seven Seas Storm. It is impossible for them to dismantle this planetary reactor and install it back on the Seven Seas Storm in a short period of time.

What's more, the Seven Seas Storm itself was seriously damaged and it is likely that it will not be able to descend to this altitude.

"Tear it down first and hide it somewhere," Fang He made a prompt decision. "When we have a chance to leave this place, we will find a way to take it away and repair it."

Daryl nodded.

This is also the best solution at the moment.

...(End of chapter)