Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 128 The Legendary Spellcaster's Trial
Vaughn was in the officers' dormitory of the Northern Army camp, humming a weird tune and brushing his military boots, when Duff pushed open the door and walked in.

"Today is a public holiday. Don't you want to go out and relax?" The half-orc officer rubbed his hands and looked at his brother with longing. "I heard that those processed food stores in the market area have come up with a lot of new flavors..."

Vaughn continued working without even looking up. "Can't you just stay quietly in the camp for a day? Pay more attention to the soldiers under you and read the tactical manuals issued by the higher-ups..."

He raised his head and pointed at the swollen wound on Dave's head that was next to his left ear. "And the wound on your head, remember to go to the field hospital to remove the stitches. The military doctor has warned you that if you don't remove the stitches on time, they will grow into the wound, and you will suffer the consequences."

Dave touched the still red and swollen wound and grinned, "It's nothing serious, just a scratch on my scalp."

He hesitated for a moment before asking, "I heard the garrison at the valley outpost... will be cut in half, leaving only the most basic guard and patrol forces... So, what missions do we have left?"

As spring approached and the weather warmed up, the large and small evil orc tribes scattered in the glacial valley area began to drive their slaves and herds of cattle and horses back to their homes deep in the wilderness.

Vaughn and his companions had heard from the refugees who had fled back from the north that after the demons swept through the evil orcs' royal court at lightning speed, they withdrew quietly. These evil orcs who were forced to migrate in the winter could return to their homeland safely.

This means that the Northern Army, which accounts for two-thirds of the total number of troops, will immediately lose its biggest combat target, and will probably have to sit idle in the barracks for a long time.

"If you don't have any missions to go out and fight, then just stay in the barracks and train. What's the problem?"

"But without a combat mission, we, as an attacking force, will be ridden over by those wimps of the defense force hiding in their territory!" Wayne also rushed into the officers' barracks at this time and came up to Vaughn and Duff to discuss.

Vaughn gave Wayne a warning glare, stopping him from discussing the hidden conflict between the two teams. "Commander Pierce said that the lord's army must be united. Don't shout things that are detrimental to unity, or I'll whip you both..."

Wayne's eyes rolled, and he immediately changed the subject. "I heard that the survey team that roams the wasteland with alchemical beasts all day long has discovered another natural mineral vein on the edge of the swamp west of the territory..."

He approached mysteriously and whispered, "There seems to be traces of a demon army stationed in that vein. I suspect..."

Dave immediately interrupted him with a look of surprise, "Demons? Does that mean... we're likely to start our battle plan against the demons next? I've never fought these giants covered in scales before, so I wonder how many rounds of magic gunfire their bodies can withstand."

Vaughn quickly waved his hand to stop them from discussing the topic, saying urgently, "Don't shout about combat orders that haven't been publicly released yet. Do you want to go into solitary confinement?"

……

More than a week has passed since Harvey was accidentally pulled into the magic network space.

According to the recollections of Asdalen and others, he was unconscious for about half an hour. During this time, Reiner and others tried various ways to wake him up, but none of them worked.

Harvey himself knew very well that after he was forced to devour the last demon slayer who invaded his mental anchor in such an extremely horrible and disgusting way, he immediately lost all perception, and when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to the real world.

This sudden and unexpected attack forced him to pay attention to the mutated magic pattern and the beach in the spiritual anchor again.

Whether the beach, a clear simulation of his past life's memories, was a natural quality possessed by those who traveled through time, Harvey still didn't know. But why had he suddenly undergone such a terrifying physical transformation there, with countless strange cracks appearing on his torso, devouring the three intruding demon slayers alive?

He must find the exact answer and clues to this question as soon as possible, and the only way to seek help is the Magic Network Forum which is full of high-level spellcasters.

Asdalen mentioned that when he fell into a coma, the Magic Network Forum also simultaneously disconnected from the energy gathering array, and it was not until Harvey woke up that it was successfully restarted.

This was completely different from the last outage caused by the experiment. Although it happened late at night, there were still many members actively communicating in the forum at that time. This disconnection lasted for nearly an hour, which made them talk a lot.

When Harvey logged into the forum using the administrator Turing's codename, he immediately received several polite inquiries from more prestigious members.

[Scorching Overlord: Dear Mr. Turing, regarding the forum's sudden disconnection a few days ago, all the spellcaster members have expressed concern. Could you please share some of the reasons? If you require any cooperation from members... could you please convene a discussion meeting as soon as possible?]

Mr. Legendary Spellcaster always spoke in such an official and respectful manner. Harvey actually understood the deeper meaning of his message. It was probably that they believed that the root cause of the Internet outage was some trouble they had encountered, and wanted to ask whether the trouble had been resolved and whether it would affect the stability of the forum. He also stated that all the founding members would unconditionally support the forum, and that if they needed their help, they could just ask.

The subsequent inquiries sent by "Elemental Hand" and "Ghost Captain" and others were similar, but the tone and wording were more respectful and polite. After all, their spellcaster levels and ranks could not reach the level of "Scorching Lord", so naturally they did not dare to communicate with Harvey on an equal footing.

Harvey sat in front of the "magic brain" and thought for a moment before raising his hand to reply to the legendary spellcaster who was closely following the developments.

[Administrator Turing: Thank you, Mr. Scorching Lord, for your close attention. A few days ago, there were indeed some minor incidents on the Spellcaster Forum. To be more precise, I encountered a minor problem, but the problem has been resolved. The forum is currently running smoothly, so there's no need to worry too much.]

Just a few minutes after the message was replied, the other party immediately sent another reply, as if this legendary spellcaster had been waiting for him in front of the "Magic Brain".

[Scorching Overlord: If Mr. Turing doesn't mind my intrusion, I'd like to inquire about the specifics of the accident. Please forgive my directness. After all, everyone values the opportunity and qualifications to join the forum. We are willing to voluntarily make a certain contribution to the forum's security and stability...]

Harvey looked at the message he sent and keenly noticed that the other party had made a slight tentative move.

Since troubles encountered by the administrator would trigger a chain reaction of forum collapse, it meant that the administrator himself was not as mysteriously powerful as they expected, far beyond ordinary people, at least not as omnipotent as gods and ancient divine creatures.

However, in the end, he still expressed that the caster and he were on the same front and were on a cooperative stance to jointly safeguard the interests of the forum, which was also a disguised expression of loyalty.

This is also the main purpose of Harvey's words to hint to the other party and correct his previous cognition.

It’s okay to pretend to be cool, but don’t do it too much. Otherwise, the longer you come into contact with these high-level spellcasters with extraordinary IQs, the greater the risk of exposing your true nature.

"Mr. Turing is indeed a mysterious and powerful being, but he is not an omniscient and omnipotent god with divine authority. He will occasionally encounter troubles that need to be solved." Harvey chuckled and muttered to himself. His next role seemed very reasonable.

[Administrator Turing: Haha, don't worry too much, they're just a few insignificant bugs—I often fall into hibernation, and it seems that Pope XIII of the Church of Light saw this as a rare opportunity, so they sent demon slayers to invade the forum, hoping to seize the opportunity to destroy this paradise where spellcasters can freely communicate...]

(End of this chapter)