Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 422: The Oath of War
After learning the exact location of the beacon stone tower on the top of the snow-capped mountain, Duncan immediately wanted to fly there with his two students, but was stopped by the refugee elder Uli.

"I know you're all sky mages. Please take me with you to the stone tower atop the mountain," Uli pleaded earnestly. "I can help you find the way. I'm old... I can no longer climb the mountain on my own. Let me take one last look."

Duncan pondered for a moment, then nodded to the Eye of Illusion and the Astrologer. The two immediately walked to Elder Uli's side, each stretched out a hand to lift him up, and then cast a flying spell to fly straight towards the snow-capped mountains behind the settlement.

When combat spellcasters don't care about the consumption of magic power at all, the flying speed can often be increased several times. Even if they carry one person, it only takes less than an hour to reach the beacon stone tower on the top of the mountain.

The stone tower in front of him was indeed exactly the same as the one depicted on the animal skin scroll - it was built entirely of huge snow-capped mountain rocks, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. The spiral stairs were not inside the stone tower, but were directly suspended on the outer wall of the tower. If a mortal who could not fly accidentally fell from the stairs, he would probably fall directly off the high cliff and be smashed to pieces.

"This tower... is it really thousands of years old?" The Eye of Illusion said in disbelief. "After so much time, it should have collapsed from the wind and rain, right?"

Elder Wu Li looked a little confused. "Anyway, we don't have the ability to renovate it. It seems to have been like this since it was first built."

Duncan nodded and pointed at the spiral stone steps built on the outside of the tower. He speculated, "Building stairs to climb the stone tower on the outside is obviously not common sense... I suspect there must be a special magic array set up by ancient wizards inside the stone tower to ensure its long-term stability and withstand the test of time."

However, common protective arrays require the consumption of magic power to maintain, just like a fire requires a constant supply of firewood to keep it burning. Once the magic power is exhausted over time and no one replenishes it, the array will naturally lose its effect.

"But how has the stone tower's protective formation been able to maintain operation over such a long period of time?" The Eye of Illusion revealed a curious look, rubbing his hands and unable to contain his excitement, "Teacher, how about... breaking a hole in the tower's base so we can go inside and take a look!"

"No!" Elder Wuli quickly opened his arms to stop them. "This is the mission our tribe has guarded and followed for thousands of years. What if the day ever comes when we need to set it on fire? If you want to damage it, you might as well kill me first!"

The Eye of Illusion couldn't help but hold his forehead. The magical fluctuations emanating from the old wizard's body were extremely weak, not even as strong as those of the students around him in the tribe at the foot of the mountain. He was just a mid-level wizard with weak flesh and blood and exhausted magic power. He didn't have much combat power. It was completely possible to subdue him and forcibly destroy the tower.

Duncan shook his head gently at him, "Don't be reckless. This isn't an ordinary beacon stone tower. If you damage the internal magic array structure and it becomes impossible to ignite..."

The astrologer, receiving a glance from his teacher, quickly stepped forward to ease the atmosphere. He gently asked the enraged Elder Wuli, "Elder, when we were at the foot of the mountain, I heard you say... you seemed to come here often when you were young. Do you need to be stationed here constantly, ready to ignite it at any moment? How exactly do you ignite it?"

Elder Wuli rolled his eyes and snorted, "Humph! Of course there's no need to guard it all the time. Every full moon, we send warriors from the tribe to climb up. We just need to guard it overnight and observe if there are any unusual changes in the sky. I've been here many times in my youth."

He pointed to the beacon platform atop the tower and explained, "It's called a beacon tower, but it doesn't actually rely on burning wood or kerosene... Instead, it relies on a huge crystal stone at the top. By moving it at a certain angle, it reflects a brilliant light that shimmers across the entire sky... Ahem, of course, I only heard the previous tribal elder describe it verbally; I didn't have the opportunity to see it myself."

This description naturally piqued the curiosity of the three, who immediately pulled him up to the top of the beacon tower, which was less than thirty square meters. Sure enough, they saw the enormous crystal stone, securely fixed in the central stone socket. The astrologer stepped forward to examine it carefully, then pulled out his ever-present crystal ball from his pocket and exclaimed in amazement, "It's actually a complete meteorite crystal! The secret is in the end! This is the main material used to make a planetarium. The one I hold was passed down in my family for generations, and it's only the size of a fist..."

The Eye of Illusion couldn't help but chuckle in a low voice, "Luckily, those old guys from your Astrologers' Association didn't see it, otherwise they would have had to snatch it away from these refugees..."

Those ancient wizards were truly extravagant. Just for an observation and warning beacon tower, they generously used such rare magic crystals - and such huge raw stones at that.

Duncan's mind wasn't on this at all. Instead, he continued to question Elder Wuli, "You will send your people up to guard the full moon... Tell me what the strange changes in the sky are?"

Seeing that the three men showed no signs of greed for the crystal stone, Elder Wuli nodded in satisfaction. He then looked up at the sun, which had already set below the horizon, and said with a smile, "Wait a moment. You've arrived at a perfect time... Tonight is the night of the full moon."

He cautiously stood on tiptoe to look down at the stone tower and found that there was indeed a group of people in the settlement at the foot of the mountain who had lit torches in advance and were slowly heading up the mountain. "Looking down the mountain, I think it must be the group that Bear Mane sent up to keep watch."

Duncan nodded, and no longer anxiously asked questions about the astronomical phenomena. He called on his students to sit cross-legged on the top of the beacon tower where the cold wind was blowing, and waited quietly for the night to come completely.

……

Not long after the sunset completely fell below the horizon, the silvery full moon slowly climbed up the sky from the western hilltop. The temperature on the snow-capped mountains was getting lower and lower. Elder Uli, who was originally wearing a thick fur robe, was too cold to sit still. He was about to urge them to return to the bottom of the tower to find a sheltered place to wait.

"Look! Quick... look, what is that!" The Eye of Illusion, which had been lingering beside the meteorite crystal stone, suddenly screamed and raised his hand to point straight to the sky.

Duncan raised his head suddenly. Apart from the full moon in the sky, there was nothing unusual. He was about to frown and scold the student for his prank when the astrologer who walked to the side of the Eye of Illusion began to tremble slightly all over.

They saw something through the crystal stone!
Duncan reacted immediately, took two steps to the crystal stone, and then was also stunned with surprise.

Through the crystal stone, he suddenly saw a huge city emerging in the northern horizon!
The night sky in the distance was gloomy and dark. Under the shining silver moon, the edges of the clouds reflected mottled light and shadows. The outline of the city was looming in the clouds, as if it was floating in the sky.

(End of this chapter)