CHAPTER 628

[T.L: punisher87]

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"The fact that you've already built the airship exceeds my expectations."

"You will take the first flight except for the few test flights that I had done with Valeria. Take pride in it, I have created something that no one else can even imagine! I will come after inspecting the airship, so please wait while talking about back stories."

 "All right."

Originally, the fastest way to reach the ghost castle was to use the transfer gateway.

The ghost castle was located in the Vermont Empire, and the Vermont Empire had the most transfer gateways in the world.

Besides, since the current ruler of Vermont was Regent Dante, there were no procedural problems.

However, in the three years since Jin left, a lot had changed in the world.

"By the way, wouldn't it be faster to use the transfer gate?"

At Jin's words, Valkas shook his head. First of all, all transfer gateways in the world have been disabled.

"It is because of the chaos that has spread all over the world, Lord Jin. Originally, the transfer gates became extremely dangerous only during heavy snow and rain, but now the omnipresent Chaos Particles play that role."

"In addition, all factions entered a cold war called a ceasefire and closed all connecting points. They can't use it anyway because of the chaos particles."

Also, battleships, which were considered exclusive to Zipfel until Grenil appeared, are now quite common.

Not to mention Zipfel and Kinzelo, even the imperial family (they were incorporated into Zipfel along with the eastern part of the Empire, as Jin predicted) received blueprints from them and operated a number of battleships.

"If Dr. Qwaul hadn't completed the flying ship, we would have had to use land and sea routes to the ghost castle."

"He has completed more than ten flying ships so far, my lord. He just smashed all of them, saying that this kind of thing is trash. If it hadn't been for the Gold snow tribe's merchants, Tikan would have gone bankrupt already."

"In any case, geniuses are known to be eccentric, aren't they?"

In addition, there has been a rapid development in Zipfel's living golem, the imperial family's Majins, and Kinzelo's Plutonian-type golems.

The subjects that Jin saw in the Great Desert were engulfed in chaos, and there were certain codes.

At that time, as Jin predicted, each force was strengthening the test subjects through their own 'chaos control'.

Kinzelo had the highest Chaos Control, followed by Zipfel and the Imperial Family.

However, each faction did not exactly know each other's technological prowess.

Valkas and Gilly took turns explaining these things.

"By the way, the things that I was worried about when I saw the Zipfel fleet in the Sota Desert happened exactly the same. I think it's fortunate that the enemies haven't added a few Kozec or Grenil-class battleships yet."

Unlike other factions, Runcandel only captured a few battleships.

Although seven colored peacock confirmed that Runcandel had kidnapped the ship builders, they were not able to secure key personnel. 

Even if they secured key personnel and all blueprints, finding an engineer to produce them would be another matter.

Runcandel made no progress at all in chaos control either. 

It was, of course, praiseworthy to train only pure knights in the midst of horrific living golems and modified humans, but it was undeniable that Runcandel was falling behind the times.

'But there must be some things that the Prophet has arranged. If my clan is already under the control of the Prophet, they must be just hiding it...….'

The blueprints and parts of the spatial-time device obtained from the Sota Desert were still in Tikan's possession, as they were three years ago.

And while Jin was away, Runcandel never targeted Tikan.

'If the technological gap is really severe, mother would have interrogated my companions even if she had broken her promise with me.'

Jin said that he would complete both the blueprints and the machine through the brethren of the Plutonian tribe, but it was not difficult for Rosa to notice as long as Qwaul's research materials were continuously being supplied to Tikan.

'But the reason my mother never pressured Tikan is because she judged it is okay. Or... it's the prophet, not my mother.'

After the rapid development of each faction's technology, Runcandel's external status had fallen to third place after Zipfel and Kinzelo.

The perception of the people was definitely like that. Some even commented that Runcandel was a clan with only limited time left until it perished.

"If that assessment is true, it seems that Zipfel would have put more pressure on Runcandel whether it was a ceasefire or not."

"Yes, young master. The major factions still avoid serious conflict with our clan."

"Because they are conscious of the existence of my father and the Prophet."

There was still no news of Chiron's expedition.

At least, as far as Tikan was aware.

"Didn't you say it was half a year ago that the Garden of Swords started controlling news about me?"

"Yes, young master. Until then, articles were periodically published about your achievements and the progress of your closed door training. It felt like imprinting the status of the next patriarch on both the clan members and the public. Now even newsletters that don't belong to the clan don't publish an article about you, young master."

It was the reason why Jin's companions were worried about the possibility of Runcandel threatening Jin right before he came to Tikan.

It wasn't just media control. Half a year ago, Runcandel had completely hidden all the activities of the clan's leadership, and sealed off the entire city of "Kalon," where the garden of the sword was located.

So, rumors were circulating that the fallen Joshua Runcandel had been reinstated, or that Rosa had usurped the throne while Chiron was absent.

"As far as we know, my lord, there have been a total of seven explosions and earthquakes detected near Kalon since you left. We couldn't confirm if it was a civil war or caused by something else."

"There's a high possibility it was caused by Mother's rampage. If Tikan detected seven, there must have been many more."

It was difficult to guess the current state of the Garden of Swords just by hearing the story.

If Rosa went on a rampage and command of the clan was in jeopardy, or if civil war spread, other factions wouldn't have stood idly by. If the gap in technology was serious, they would have attacked Tikan, and if Joshua had been reinstated, it should have already been revealed to the front.

None of those scenarios were happening. That made Jin even more uneasy.

The worst-case scenario is this:

The Prophet has already taken control of the clan, and its power is enough to make other factions fear. Runcandel has protected and left Tikan alone so far only to confirm and incorporate the "new information" Jin would bring.

"... I'm sorry. We should have gathered more information before you came, my lord."

"The world has changed much faster than I thought. I am more than grateful that all of you endured it without any deaths or serious injuries. Don't talk like that, Sir Valkas. Everyone did better than expected."

Indeed, Jin felt like it was a miracle that all his companions remained unharmed amidst the upheavals of the world.

"Anyway, it's better to reserve all judgments about my clan until I visit it myself. Depending on the situation, I'll have to either make more progress during the remaining six months promised by my mother, or go back right away. Dealing with urgent matters like Smarion Proch is important for now."

As the conversation continued until there, Qwaul reported that the inspection of the flying ship had been completed.

Following him to the ship building area prepared in Tikan's middle layer, Jin couldn't help but marvel.

'The scale is not comparable to the construction site of the Sota Desert, but anyone will be able to recognize it at a glance that Dr. Qwaul's ships building is far surpassed Zipfel's technological prowess at the time.'

Tens of thousands of cogwheels, machines that operate so elaborately that they look beautiful. In the middle of it, in a spacious space prepared like an altar, the first masterpiece that Qwaul didn't smash was showing off its elegant figure.

It was not a large ship known to the world like Kozec, Grenil, and other mass-produced battleships.

"It's small."

"Yes. It can board five people, and the mounted firearm is only one main cannon, which is an improved version of the imperial family's mass-produced dragon lance."

Because of this, Qwaul said that the firepower of the flying ship was poor, but the dragon lance was the strongest war weapon in the Empire until before the Sword Emperor Castle War.

Downsizing the mass-produced version of the dragon lance without deteriorating performance and installing it on a small ship was something only Qwaul could do in the world.

In the first place, only Qwaul is able to produce a 'small battleship'.

"However, the performance of the built-in protection artifact is comparable to Enya's dragon fire shield. It is an artifact created by Valeria and me, akin to a definitive example of magic and magical engineering at this point in time."

Qwaul's eyes turned red as he explained.

How many walls of magic and magical engineering have they broken before making this...…. At the moment of completion, even Valeria seemed to be in tears.

"You have worked hard, Dr. Qwaul. Here's a handkerchief...…."

"Hey, fuck it. There's just a speck of sawdust in my eye. Anyway, the official name of this battleship is wavelength-tracking synchronous spatial-jump ship. If I can easily define it in one word."

"... Are you saying it's a ship capable of instantaneous teleportation?"

"Yes. Also this ship overcomes all the shortcomings of the transfer gates, which has now become a symbol of the ancient era. But, it requires immense power, which is a challenge we'll need to address."

Despite Qwaul's credibility, it was hard to believe until experienced firsthand. It was just that shocking.

"The name Valeria and I gave to this ship is Red Owl."

It seemed like Valeria came up with the name alone.

"It is not going to happen, but the manual is inside, so check it out in case of an emergency situation. Now, give it a try!"

Jin, Gilly, and Valkas went up to the Red Owl's cabin with bewildered faces.

"Do we not need to operate it separately?"

"The arrival and return coordinates were set to ghost castle and Tikan. When the launch bay opens, just press the button in the center of the cabin. In the blink of an eye, you'll be in front of the ghost castle. Also, cloaking is still under development, so when you arrive there, pay attention to exposure first."

"Cloaking?"

"I don't know when it will be developed. Anyway, keep in mind that on the day the Red Owl is damaged, Valeria and I will kill you no matter what."

Creak...…!

When Qwaul opened the launch bat, Jin could see the endless sky and sea.

Then, when Jin carefully pressed the button in the center of the cabin, the red owl was enveloped in mana and vibrated for a moment, and the red owl began to rush with explosive acceleration.

Just like the ship of the Pirate King Cosmos when he was a reserve flagbearer, or faster than that.

Jin and his companions were stunned by the absurd acceleration, and in an instant, they felt their heads go blank and their vision darkened.

When they opened their eyes a few seconds later...

Jin and his companions blinked at the bleak scenery of the Ghost Castle beyond the window of the cabin.

"... Is this really happening? Is this real?"

Even after seeing it with their own eyes and experiencing it firsthand, it was still hard to believe it was real.

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