Above the mage

Chapter 428 Minister Pierre

The commute time between Vallar Bay and Phoenix remains a day and a half.

Before the construction of the Vallar Tunnel or the change of "mode of transportation," this timeframe will not change significantly.

A biting wind, carrying ice crystals, swept across the silvery-gray Valar Mountains, adding a touch of desolation to the land.

Just a month and a half later, when Gao De returned to the Valar Mountains near Phoenix, he could see a newly appeared, dark, bottomless cave entrance with faint light emanating from it.

This is the Valar Tunnel, which is currently under construction.

On both sides of the cave entrance, there are piles of ice and rock fragments up to half a person's height, which are waste generated during the excavation process.

Since they were already there, and it was on their way, Gaode immediately stopped and made their way to find out about the current construction progress and specific situation of the Walar Tunnel.

Firstly, he was curious; secondly, as the king, he certainly needed to pay attention to and inspect the Vallar Tunnel, which is one of Phoenix's key projects at this stage.

Upon seeing Gao De arrive, the Northerner at the cave entrance, clad in a thick animal skin coat, immediately knelt on one knee and bowed, saying, "My King!"

His voice carried the ruggedness characteristic of the North, mixed with a tremor caused by excitement.

This was his first time meeting face-to-face with the new king of the North.

Gao De helped him up with the touch of a mage, saying, "No need for formalities."

He pointed to the inside of the tunnel, "I just happened to be passing by, so I thought I'd come and see how the tunnel project is progressing."

"Your Majesty, I will inform Minister Pierre immediately!" the man said hastily, a hint of nervousness flashing in his eyes.

Gao De nodded slightly.

He wasn't there incognito; if he wanted to understand the specifics of the tunnel project, he would definitely need to contact the "project manager" directly.

Gaode only noticed the title "Minister".

When he last left the North, Phoenix had only four departments: the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Education, the Sheriff's Office, and the Office of the Governor.

The Minister of Agriculture is Flora, the Minister of Education is himself, the Security Bureau currently has only two deputy directors, and the Chief of Staff is Elsa.

This new minister, whom he had never heard of before, must be the newly formed Minister of Construction after his departure.

This piqued Gao De's interest.

In the North, besides him, the only person who can directly appoint a department head is Warmother Sunefa.

Gaining Sunefa's approval is no easy feat.

As Gao De was lost in thought, a series of hurried footsteps sounded, approaching from afar.

Then a stocky man strode out of the shadows of the tunnel.

This person was surprisingly young, looking to be only in his early twenties. He had thick apple cheeks, small eyes that were narrowed into two curved slits, and fine wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes when he smiled, making him look like he was always smiling.

His brown hair looked unusually messy, with some dust on it and a few strands hanging down in front of his forehead.

He wore a fur coat covered in gravel and grayish-white dust, and flashed a set of not-so-perfect white teeth at God, saying breathlessly, "Bierd greets Your Highness."

Your Highness... Gao De smiled slightly.

In the North, the Zhenbing people call him King, and only outsiders usually address him as Your Highness.

In other words, the person in front of us who looks extremely young but has been appointed as the Minister of Construction is not actually a member of the Zhenbing tribe.

What outstanding talent does this guy possess that would make Sunefa promote him so exceptionally?

Gao De's curiosity grew even stronger.

"Are you the new Minister of Construction?" he asked first.

"No, no," Peter quickly shook his head and said with a simple smile, "It's just temporary."

"Selecting the right people is quite troublesome, but the Ministry of Construction's affairs are very urgent, so they put me in charge for now. That's what I did before."

I've built quite a few houses, so I have some experience..."

"Oh?" Gao De raised an eyebrow, not asking any further questions, but instead gesturing with his eyes, "Take me to see the situation in the Valar Tunnel first."

"Yes, Your Highness, please follow me." Pierre was not intimidated and led God into the tunnel.

As soon as we entered the tunnel, a gust of cold wind carrying ice shards hit us, feeling like countless tiny silver needles pricking our faces.

Every so often, a flash of light would appear, like a light bulb, illuminating the interior of the tunnel and casting long shadows of the two people on the ice wall.

It's not some kind of high-tech magic; it's just a simple trick called "light magic."

Purely natural and pollution-free.

As they walked, Peter explained the details to Gao De: "The Valar Tunnel has been under construction for 29 days, and the completed section is about 250 meters long."

However, this was because they were unfamiliar with the process at the beginning and encountered many problems that needed to be solved. Now that they are more proficient, the construction speed is gradually increasing.

Tunnels are usually built and excavated simultaneously. This allows for timely support to ensure safety and also avoids soil weathering and loosening caused by prolonged exposure of the tunnel after excavation.

Of course, Gao De didn't know much about these things. In his previous life, he was just a senior mathematics student, and had nothing to do with civil engineering.

Gao De activated Mandora's Eye, glanced at it briefly, and obtained another precise data.

The tunnel is 12.5 meters wide and 6 meters high, which in the previous life would barely qualify as a three-lane road.

However, in the North, it can only be used as a two-lane road.

The reason is simple: the carriages here are larger.

The tunnel construction process is actually quite technically demanding; at least in the case of the North, which is almost a primitive tribe, it would be impossible to complete such a high-tech project.

Fortunately, this is a world with extraordinary powers.

Therefore, many technical difficulties can be overcome simply by using supernatural power to crush them with brute force.

For example, in environmental surveying, although the North lacks sophisticated geological survey instruments, it has detection magic. During the excavation stage, "rapid excavation" can completely replace sophisticated excavation equipment and blasting techniques.

"What is that?"

Gao De looked up and noticed that the top and all around the rock wall were covered with a layer of grayish-white vines.

The vines twined around the crevices of the ice and rock as if they were alive, and the ice crystals on their surface reflected a cold light. At intervals, pale blue light spots flowed through the veins of the vines.

"Permafrost vines used for reinforcement and support..." Pierre rubbed his hands together and said, "After the tunnel is completed, the biggest challenge is how to support and reinforce the tunnel walls to prevent deformation and collapse later..."

My initial idea was to cover it with a layer of extreme ice... However, the drawbacks were also obvious: if someone cast fire magic in the tunnel, melting the extreme ice would cause immense damage to the tunnel...

"Let's use timber. First, the North doesn't produce timber resources, and second, ordinary timber easily becomes brittle in such extreme cold conditions and can't withstand the cold for long. Using special timber is too expensive..."

Pierre seemed to be quite talkative. As soon as Gao De asked the question, he began to recount the entire construction process in detail. "Finally, I thought of the permafrost vine. In cold environments, it secretes a sticky ice crystal that is very cumbersome. However, the vine itself is very tough. So we used it as scrap material for bundling firewood or for weaving baskets. But our hands would get sore from the stickiness every time, so it was often disliked."

"But these characteristics are essential for tunnels."

"The sticky ice crystals allow it to bind the rocks together tightly. What's even better is that it becomes stronger as it gets colder and is extremely resilient. If you plant it, the entire tunnel will only become stronger over time."

Even if someone attacks with fire elemental magic, the ice crystals on the surface of the vines will insulate against most of the heat, at most scorching the outer layer.

It will not affect the internal structure at all and will not cause any damage to the tunnel.

"All we need to do is periodically prune the overgrown permafrost vines."

"Now, every five meters I dig, I have people plant permafrost vines, and then have mages skilled in nature magic accelerate their growth."

Within a few days, it will grow into a natural, reinforced net.

Pierd walked to a rock wall and pulled hard on the vines that were wrapped around it. The sound of ice crystals colliding was crisp. "Look, this permafrost vine was planted only half a month ago, and now it has grown into the rock wall."

Gao De's heart skipped a beat.

He noticed that when Bilder was describing the tunnel's progress, he used the unit "meter".

Putting everything else aside, the fact that Pierre, as a foreigner, could so quickly accept and use the system of weights and measures he established is enough to show that he was a person with extremely strong learning ability and adaptability.

But this is not his greatest strength.

"Did you come up with the idea of ​​using permafrost vines to reinforce the tunnel? And did you design the tunnel?" Gao De further confirmed.

His gaze swept over the tangled vines on the tunnel ceiling and landed on the trenches dug down on both sides of the road.

The ditches had neat edges and were paved with stones at the bottom.

Based on his experience, he could naturally tell that this was a drainage facility.

The problem is that this is the far north, a region of extreme cold, and most people would never imagine the necessity of drainage pipes.

Peter scratched his head, tiny shards of ice still clinging to his brown hair. He pulled a rolled-up parchment from his pocket, on which was a copy of Phoenix's road grid, and then honestly said:

"No, the tunnel design is based on the Phoenix expansion plan you drew, Your Highness, which contains detailed road design structures. I think it can be used here."

"And what were you thinking about these ditches?" Gao De pointed to the ditches on the rock wall that were much smaller than the drainage pipes.

"There are some strange lines in the Phoenix expansion plan drawn by Your Highness. I consulted the War Mother, who said that these are some necessary designs that Your Highness envisioned, but the conditions are not yet ripe, so they cannot be implemented for the time being."

Pierre gestured along the ditch with his finger: "I observed that these lines exist on all roads."

"Although we don't know the purpose of these lines yet, I think that as an important thoroughfare between the two places, the tunnel must also need these lines, so we reserved the corresponding ditches."

Gao De's eyes lit up as he listened.

He now understood why Sunaifa had chosen such a young-looking foreigner to temporarily serve as Minister of Construction.

Whether it's being willing to work alongside the construction team, being familiar with the project, or developing solutions and responses based on the actual situation during construction without any prior experience to refer to, it all demonstrates that this is a thoughtful and logically sound multi-talented individual.

In particular, their insight into transforming abstract concepts on blueprints into actual engineering projects, as well as their logical reasoning ability, are rare, not only in the North but also across the entire Nolan continent.

This is truly a treasure trove!

As they were talking, the two had already reached the innermost part of the tunnel.

Here, the twenty Iceborn mages who had mastered the [Rapid Digging] spell were working hard to dig a tunnel.

Naturally, they are now the backbone of the Ministry of Construction.

Upon seeing Gaode arrive, they quickly turned around and bowed.

Gao De waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to be polite, and then gave everyone some encouragement.

Digging tunnels is an extremely arduous task.

After checking everything, Gaode Maps has become much more reassured.

This sense of reassurance mainly stems from the capabilities demonstrated by Beard.

After completing his inspection, he mounted the snow wolf again and set off for Phoenix once more.

Pierre watched Gaudí leave from the cave entrance, only turning around after his figure had completely disappeared from sight.

He turned to his trusted subordinates, whom he had chosen from his tribe, and said, "Quickly clean up this filth for me!"

The subordinate hurriedly stepped forward to help brush the dust and gravel off Pild's animal hide clothing, complaining as he cleaned, "Young Chieftain, we Northerners don't do things as fussy as you!"

Peter slapped his confidant on the head: "You talk too much."

"Your Highness's arrival was too unexpected, giving me little time to prepare. I think I looked alright when I came out, right?" He thought for a moment and then confirmed with his confidant.

"That's great, young clan leader. You're covered in dust and dirt; you must be working so hard that you forget to eat and sleep." The confidant nodded repeatedly in affirmation.

"That's good." Peter gave a signature "cheeky smile."

"But young clan leader, your abilities are undeniable, and you have indeed been very dutiful; it's just that you like to be clean."

Is it really necessary to go to such lengths for appearances?

"Ability is one thing, attitude is another. Your Highness did not know me before and does not understand me. If you see me clean and tidy, you will inevitably think that I am all talk and no action."

"His Highness must be exceptionally capable and refined to become the new King of the North. Even if he thinks this way, he certainly won't say it out loud, since I was appointed by the War Mother and he has to give her face."

"In this situation, wouldn't I have no way to explain myself, and end up leaving a bad impression on Your Highness for no reason...?"

He patted his trusted aide on the shoulder, his expression still honest and simple, and said earnestly, "In this business, having ability alone isn't enough; you also need a 'reputation' to get by."

After a day and a half of travel, just before sunrise on the second day, as the sky began to lighten, Gao De finally saw the faint outline of Phoenix under the morning glow, like a sleeping behemoth lying across the flat snowfield.

The wheat fields on the snow-covered plains have expanded considerably since a month and a half ago, stretching as far as the eye can see.

The wind blows through the wheat fields, and the surging waves of wheat seem to be the breath of the earth.

The fresh aroma of wheat, carrying a hint of chill, wafts over, bringing a sense of joy.

Gao De rode his snow wolf into the city, passed through quiet streets, and headed straight for his residence, which was also the core spiritual place of Phoenix.

Upon entering the residence, Gao De took a deep breath, feeling the rich and powerful magic of the high-level spiritual land. Without lingering, he eagerly entered the cultivation room.

Gao De sat down cross-legged and took out a wooden box containing the Dragon Bird Blood Fungus from his bosom.

He wants to take the Dragon Bird Blood Bacteria first to break through to the first level of perfection.