Blacksmith vs. the System-Chapter 215

I closed it and dismissed the metal dome before I went down the mountain, repeating the same trick at the halfway point between the mountain and the mountain peak. The main gate’s intake dipped once again, but this time, the dip was considerably lesser, and the gate I opened took more energy.

“Alright, that’s one theory validated,” I said to myself. “Each gate has a catchment area, and overlapping them carries no benefits,” I said. The next step was the other effects. A few choice tests confirmed two more theories. General elevation had a significant impact, so much so that the mountaintop almost doubled the energy intake from the town gates, which turned out to be less about its function as the prime gate, and more about its location at the mountaintop.

Meanwhile, the ground was an excellent insulator for that energy. All it took was about a hundred yards to completely cut that energy completely, and even smaller depths still ruined absorption efficiency.

“That explains the relative lack of underground monsters,” I said, happy with it. The world would have been even more dangerous if we were dealing with constant giant worms or equivalent monsters.

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With that, the plan was easy. I built three domes with gates hidden inside at the halfway point of the mountain, equidistant to each other, and opened gates inside. Their presence affected the intake from the other gates slightly, but not as much as it would have had I tried to add them in two layers.

In a pinch, they would work well for emergency deployments and evacuations as well.

When I returned to the gate, Harold was waiting for me, a tense expression on his face. I put a silencing field around us. “We need to talk about the dungeon gates, sir,” he said.

“I know they make vulnerable targets, but the advantages are worth the deployment effort...” I started, only to fall silent when I saw a lack of comprehension on Harold’s face. “But, you’re not talking about that,” I completed.

“It’s the gate from the lizard dungeon, sir,” Harold said. “It’s gone.”

“What do you mean gone,” I replied.

“During the test runs for the new scouting planes, we sent several scouts there, to see if there was any sign of a new monster wave. They failed to catch any monster waves, and they failed to find the gates either.”

I frowned. “That’s bad news,” I said. “I’m going to go so far as to call it terrible,” I replied.

“Why, sir? We already knew they could move the dungeon away, just like how they brought it here in the first place.”

“It’s bad because it means another expert had been deployed to move the gates away. It means that not only Thomas’ superiors are likely aware of what happened —”

“But they also intend to continue their aggression,” he completed.

“Most likely,” I replied. “Or, they would have closed the breach in the dungeon as well,” I added.

“Doesn’t that assume that they could close that breach, sir,” Harold asked.

“A good question, but if they couldn’t, they would have left the dungeon here rather than bringing it back with a giant vulnerability, especially since it has a connection strong enough to support the passage of boss monsters. It means people could as well,” I said.

“An expedition…”

“Is naturally out of the question under the current circumstances,” I replied. “It might have been different if the alliance with Asterion was real. Punishing heretics looks like something they would love to do, but I’m not going to throw lives through it.”

And, it went without saying that I couldn’t walk through it. Not just due to my position, but my link with the dungeon would already be strained when I moved too far away. I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if I entered another dungeon.

“Then, what are we going to do about it?” he asked.

“Nothing, other than keeping an elite team armed with the best anti-lizard equipment I could create on standby just in case there is a bad invasion. Maybe even assign Logan to it. He’s a good kid, and you can teach him a lot.”

“As you wish, sir,” Harold declared dutifully, but I could see his excitement at the prospect of an apprentice.

“There’s a more important issue,” I said. “I need to open more gates, and those gates need to be not too close to the other gates.”

“Why, sir?” he asked. “An escapee route?”

“No. It’ll help strengthen the dungeon,” I said as I gave him a rough outline of my latest findings.

“So, we need to open several gates around the towns, and the taller they are, the better,” he commented as he frowned, then looked toward the towns. “What about a giant wall surrounding the mountains, two or three miles further than the towns,” he said. “We can disguise its general function as an artillery deployment platform. We can even build some tall towers, and fill them with anti-air weaponry.”

”“Not yet, “I said. “It’s tempting to maximize the gains, but such a tower will have to be at least a mile tall to make a difference. Even with mana alloys, it’s not a simple construction act, and it’ll be too vulnerable to enemy actions. Maybe in the future,” I said. “Do you think that also applies to the new defensive wall outside?” I asked.

“I don’t believe it does, sir,” Harold said. “We’re not hurting for material, and as long as we lay railroads to each small fort, deploying and retreating will be easier. While we don’t have the numbers to man the wall with soldiers in the traditional sense, we don’t have to do that in the first place. As long as we put some steam-powered launchers in every point, we should be able to deal with any beast attacks with relative ease, the trains helping to deploy forces to critical locations or evacuate in ease.”

“And, we always have gates for emergencies,” I said. He nodded. “How many gates do you think are viable?” I asked.

“Based on your distance requirements, we should be able to build nine forts with hidden gates for the first wall. If all goes well, we might even expand to a second layer, with twelve gates.”

That was an impressive number. The first wall alone would nearly double my intake, which would be quite beneficial for my mana needs. Not only that, more energy output meant more monsters to kill, which would give our farmers a chance to level up further.

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I would feel far more comfortable if we had a few squads of soldiers with another class upgrade. “Good, check with Rosie before building it, though. She might catch something that we missed.”

“And, what will you do, sir?”

“I will be forging,” I replied, a vicious smile on my face. “Enough to bury Drakka under an avalanche of metal, if necessary...”

An idea that was far more viable than before thanks to the increased mana output of the dungeon. All that remained was to wait for Drakka’s next move.