A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 645 Dimensional Shield Tunneling Machine

The Valois Empire's Maxim, a starship.

The emperor of the empire was showing signs of aging; he had spent most of his life achieving victories and planning for the next, leaving no time to hone his skills in other areas. Therefore, the longevity bestowed upon him by arcane arts was very limited, and wrinkles were re-sculpting his majestic face.

"Your Majesty, the restoration has failed, and a mage from the Tower of Stars has been detained by the Alliance." The minister carefully relayed this news, causing Paul to raise an eyebrow.

"I want to know the details."

The minister hurriedly handed over the firsthand information he had collected, while simultaneously dictating a summary. This was a habit His Majesty had brought from his military service—a need for both detail and brevity, ensuring both absolute access to information and efficiency.

After learning what had happened, the emperor shook his head: "It seems the alliance had long intended to wipe out the restorationists in one fell swoop, using a descendant of the imperial family as bait. Are those restorationists all idiots? Is this how they do things? I've spent a lot of money funding these people, but I haven't even seen a ripple!"

He originally wanted to take the opportunity to give the "Imperial Restoration Faction" in the alliance a push and create some trouble for his opponents when he needed it, but with the arrest of the Star Tower's foreign aid, he ended up having some trouble himself.

"You're right. Aren't those who still dream of restoring the old empire just idiots?"

Paul was speechless for a moment. On the one hand, he wanted to ask the minister what he was, having funded the stupid donkey. On the other hand, he was somewhat dazed because when he was young, the "old empire" and "empire" referred to completely differently than they do today. Now, the former is referred to as the "ancient empire" by historians in Valois.

It seems like everything is becoming distant.

After reloading the language module, the Emperor asked, "Do the Imperial High Court and the Executive Yuan know about this?"

"I don't know. Only a few of us Privy Council ministers know."

"Alright, then seal the files and let's leave it at that." After making the decision, Paul looked at the most important component of the Maxim. They were currently in the foremost section of the starship.

The bow of the ship was filled with huge machines, with complicated runes from ancient to new carved on various parts, connected by integrated magic circuits. In the middle was a large tapered disc inlaid with more than a hundred crystal cores, each about the size of a wheel hub. They were all salvaged from the water elemental plane, polished and engraved with the necessary patterns.

This machine resembles the giant machine that Rorschach called "Shield Tunneling Machine" in his previous life, and it also has similar functions, such as opening up new paths between planes.

As Paul gazed at the machine, Master Simon approached. He was the head of the Star Tower Alchemy Order and Paul's junior brother.

This religious leader displayed remarkable talent during Valois' most turbulent time, overseeing a large-scale starship manufacturing program at Kepler Space Station, laying a solid foundation for the new empire's march toward the astral plane.

Now he was going to introduce the Tower of Stars, or rather, the most cutting-edge achievement in the entire magical world, to his senior brother and the supreme ruler of the empire: "Your Majesty, would you like me to explain it to you?"

"Although I've already heard the report, I'd still prefer to hear you describe it in person." Paul looked at Simon's still-clean face, a hint of envy flashing in his eyes.

It is said that since the promotion of the spell cloud system, there has been a trend of younger mages being promoted. Someone like Simon, who can become a high-level spellcaster before the age of forty, may have a longer lifespan than the older generation of archmages.

Unaware of the Emperor's thoughts, Simon was immersed in the world of technology:

"As you know, interdimensional and long-distance teleportation are extremely difficult things. In the first phase of our past research, we searched for interdimensional teleportation magic in ancient texts, especially in extinct religious rituals."

"The introduction of the descriptor system marks the beginning of the second stage of the research:"

"We can finally abstract and analyze the steps related to locking the destination in the spellcasting process, and get the first question: Why must pointing to a specific target surface show specific spellcasting information, and almost strictly one-to-one correspondence?"

"After entering the astral plane, we became aware of a second problem:"

"Whether a teleportation array is unidirectional or not, whether its connection can be established depends on the origin. In the past, we basically projected outwards from the primary matter plane, so this problem was not prominent enough. When we want to move from other planes to another secondary plane or an unknown region, it becomes particularly difficult."

"So?" Paul hoped that a sensible minister would step forward and tell Master Simon that the emperor's time was precious.

"Therefore, we have the 'channel hypothesis'—the existence of existing interdimensional and long-distance teleportation arrays depends on the spatial channels opened up by divine power in the era of gods. Of course, it is a channel in an abstract sense and has no physical form in the material world."

"This hypothesis also explains why, when the transmutation dust flow completely envelops the prime plane, it is difficult for us to directly enter the astral plane, but we can teleport to other planes over long distances, even though they are separated by these fragments of the divine realm and the void."

"At the same time, theoretical models allow us to imagine the process of teleportation—in the material world, the planes are discrete in the void, and the distances between them are extremely far."

"In the symbolic realm, they are closely connected. The accumulation of subtle symbolic elements and the differences in dimensional laws create a thick transition layer between them, or even a solid spatial barrier."

"It is the passage left by the gods that allows us to cross the void of the material world, enter the astral plane leaning towards the symbolic plane, and then come out again, thus achieving interdimensional travel."

Simon had his apprentice unfold a diagram that caught Paul's eye: the diagram marked the existing discovered channels and the connected planes. For example, there was no channel between the fire elemental plane and the water elemental plane, but they were both connected to the prime plane and the air elemental plane.

For Paul, this is a map of great military strategic significance. The regions now marked are no longer scattered across the star system, but have a definite depth and geopolitical relationship.

Of course, the most important hub connecting the channels is still the main plane, and the Kepler station on it was not taken over by the Valuer Empire, but its independence was guaranteed by the Magic Guild and the Space Guild.

This left Paul deeply disappointed, and what saddened him even more was that the subsequent technology wasn't exclusive to the Tower of Stars. Simon then explained what the machines did:

"And it, the 'Penetrating Pioneer' developed by the Tower of Stars, the Tower of Myriad Arts, and the Tower of Arcane Arts—no, it is the 'Penetrating Pioneer' developed by the entire Magic Guild with all its efforts. It integrates almost all of our achievements in space, allowing us to break through interfaces like gods and gain the convenience of teleportation."

"You could even say that this is the preliminary technology for us to reach the end of the world and go to another universe."

"Moreover, the entire ship is equipped with state-of-the-art shields; just as its name suggests, it will be 'Unshakeable,' the only one capable of shaking the entire universe!"

Simon's voice trembled almost as he finished speaking, while Paul was not as agitated.

He was thinking about something else entirely: It's a pity, it's a pity the Alliance also has similar machines; everyone knows the Tower of Myriad Arts and the Tower of Arcane Arts are its backers. Not only that, there's also the Church of Order; for some reason, their "Holy Expedition" is progressing very smoothly, and it seems their ships also have these "tunnel boring machines." No, it's incredible that they have starships of such scale; those damned dwarves, they'll do any business if they have money.

Bringing his thoughts back, Paul asked seemingly casually, "Is the Senate of Arphax about to convene its 'Sixteenth Annual Meeting'?"

Simon was taken aback: "How did you know?" He quickly regained his composure in front of the emperor and confessed: "Oh, you are His Majesty the emperor of the greatest empire in human history, of course you have ways of knowing. Yes, I will be attending with Chief Snow."

The listener vaguely sensed that Simon was teasing or even sarcastic, but today was not the time to take it to heart.

"I want to go with you," the emperor said firmly, trying to leave no room for the master to object.

"How could I possibly know why?"

Paul put his hand in his pocket and stroked a faded Star Tower badge: "Because I need to see my senior and talk to Rorschach in person. This sixteenth annual meeting is my only chance."

(End of this chapter)