novelraw #224 - Section 224
#224 - Section 224
If it weren't for passion, who could have honed their current skills through the monotonous magical research?
However, with the empire's productivity and research capabilities increasing dramatically, Frankenstein's occasional siphoning turned into a constant, addictive habit.
Consequently, the research focus of the Chapter of Imbalance shifted, and some discerning individuals noticed this and reported it to the Eternal Night Empress.
The Chapter of Imbalance gathered a large group of geniuses, and there were those who coveted Frankenstein's position. However, the Night Watch couldn't supervise such matters because it was a specialized field, and only researchers with comparable skills could detect subtle clues.
The Eternal Night Empress confirmed the problem, but according to the regulations, Frankenstein hadn't done anything wrong.
As long as it didn't affect the original assessment timeline, the Empress had no reason to interfere with her operation of the Chapter of Imbalance.
It's like a child who always ranks first in their grade, spending their days playing Genshin Impact and reading novels at internet cafes. Parents and teachers would find it hard to criticize them for indulging in distractions, right?
This was quite vexing.
Frankenstein's willful actions were unacceptable. The Eternal Night Empress wanted to transition from rabbit harvesting machines and mining spiders to hand-held holy lance-wielding decisive battle robots as soon as possible.
But how could she manage it? The Eternal Night Empress was also worried that it might backfire.
Frankenstein's ability to secure her position as the head of the Chapter of Imbalance wasn't just about her alchemy skills; more importantly, it was her project comprehensive planning and management abilities, which were unmatched in the empire.
It must be acknowledged that there was an element of talent and intuition involved, or perhaps it was related to the mechanical modifications she had made to herself.
The operation of all projects, large and small, within the Chapter of Imbalance was stored in her mind, proceeding in an orderly manner.
If it weren't for this, Frankenstein wouldn't have had the capital to conduct such extreme personnel transfers, super-accelerating her own projects while super-slacking on national projects...
The Eternal Night Empress worried that if Frankenstein was managed too strictly, she would lose her enthusiasm and feign compliance, putting on a flowery facade while actually hindering progress, which would be truly difficult to handle.
After all, she was currently unguarded, which was why she was caught with a minor offense.
If this person deliberately concealed her actions and engaged in secret maneuvers, the Eternal Night Empress wouldn't be able to detect her problems until the very last moment.
Reaching the limit in any field meant that even the Eternal Night Empress, a level fifty-plus expert, could only claim to have a slight understanding, rather than complete mastery.
Don't ask how the Eternal Night Empress knew; just know that a certain mechanical girl was beaten very badly that one time, with gears, screws, and various magic array foundations flying several floors high.
Since then, the Eternal Night Empress also understood that Frankenstein couldn't be used as an ordinary cog in the machine.
The Eternal Night Empress had secretly complained to Roger about this issue, but she couldn't handle it directly or indirectly.
Following formal procedures, she had just delivered a speech supporting mages' independent ventures and encouraging everyone to dive into business, only to turn around and actively interfere with the specific management of the Chapter of Imbalance. Wouldn't that be a slap in her own face?
Roger told the Eternal Night Empress not to worry.
Before long, he sent a magic projection of a prohibited weapon exploding on their own territory.
Instantly, the Eternal Night Empress's headache disappeared, her eyesight cleared, and she had energy in her steps.
The problem that had been troubling her was solved!
Thanks, J-Bao, for handing her the knife!
The Eternal Night Empress didn't need to explain everything clearly this time. She just needed to tell Frankenstein that she knew about her little tricks and that if she dared to do it again, she wouldn't punish her but would arrange Lydia to manage her.
Frankenstein had said that Lydia wasn't capable, but right now, was Her Majesty's intention to remove her a matter of ability?
It was a matter of attitude!
It was her own careless actions, which she thought wouldn't cause trouble, that triggered a butterfly effect. Her Majesty believed she had made a big mistake.
Frankenstein's head, though truly made of iron, couldn't withstand the Eternal Night Empress's overloaded firepower.
When she realized her mistake, she would naturally restrain herself and then think of ways to compensate in order to regain favor...
And the way to make the Eternal Night Empress happy was very simple: complete the projects she wanted to see ahead of schedule, as quickly as possible, immediately, and create new big booms for her to see!
Mechanical girls have all sorts of quirks and bad habits, but in the end, their loyalty to the empire is guaranteed.
Otherwise, the Eternal Night Empress wouldn't let her mess around.
It's just that these research-oriented talents, who shut themselves off and delve deeper into their own fields of research, have increasingly high IQs, but their EQs inexplicably become lower and lower, simplifying their thinking.
Especially in research, mages are often like big children.
Their own projects are their favorite games, while the projects stipulated by the state are exam papers.
Their subjective initiative is completely different.
The difference is that Frankenstein is a genius student who can pass the exam even with her eyes closed.
She also thought that no one would see her secretly playing games during self-study, which led to the current situation.
Fortunately, the consequences weren't serious, and it was corrected in time. The Eternal Night Empress didn't have to wait five years.
After being threatened by the Eternal Night Empress with her dark history, Frankenstein switched from being in a superior state to wanting to regain favor.
The most direct way was to find a way to improve her exam scores in order to be praised by the Eternal Night Empress and consolidate her position.
Looking at it closely, this was still a child-level reaction, not exceeding that of a ten-year-old.
And Lydia's problem was relatively simple.
Her ideal after graduation was to surpass Frankenstein, and she finally achieved it on the Hai Country battlefield.
Satisfied, comfortable, she just lay down.
Her current state of the Lifesong Rite can be described as unprecedentedly good!
Lydia not only achieved great success in the field of auxiliary potions, but also held countless patents for various other magic potions, chemical agents, and so on.
The Lifesong Rite was frantically absorbing private capital, and with the continuous addition of national investment, it successfully entered an era where it couldn't spend all its budget.
Compared to Lydia's life as a salesperson promising immortality to various nobles and big merchants to attract investment, this was completely like paradise!
She could carry out the projects she liked to her heart's content, and every day she had a little discovery that made her happy. Unconsciously, Lydia lay down even flatter...
And in the Eternal Night Empress's view, Lydia could do so much more!
Don't stop, Little Lydia!
Without dreams, what's the difference between you and a salted fish?
But Lydia was too rich now and didn't want to be a Minister of Health. She just wanted to guard her projects, watch those strange tentacle creatures and hideous bugs grow up happily and joyfully, and she felt super satisfied.
In the Eternal Night Empress's view, well, this was another Little Roger, and one who couldn't be motivated by national righteousness...
Lydia, the gods are about to attack, and the empire is in its most dangerous moment!
Gods? Sounds like a good thigh to cut off for research!
The above is the true dialogue between the Eternal Night Empress and her personal physician.
In this situation, the Eternal Night Empress felt that it was really too difficult to lead this team of her empire well.
If they were all ambitious individuals, that would be fine, but now they were all big children, and she, the dignified Empress of the Empire, was living as a kindergarten aunt...
Too hard! I'm going to find Afu to have some fun!
Leaving the Lifesong Rite, the Eternal Night Empress teleported to the Astral Realm, to the divine kingdom that Afu was secretly building.
These days, she had been playing the role of an omnipotent system, the best backer for those Sons of the System, witnessing their passionate and legendary growth stories...
Compared to those salted fish in the empire, our rising Sons of the System are much more diligent!
After carefully designing several more mission routines, the Eternal Night Empress suddenly had a flash of inspiration and, recalling what she had been doing these days, couldn't help but sigh:
Isn't what I'm doing for them, providing anti-god enlightenment, still being a kindergarten aunt..."
Afu stretched out his chubby little hand, patted the Eternal Night Empress's shoulder, and also sighed: "Your Majesty, you finally understand the pain in my uncle's heart."
The Eternal Night Empress looked at him suspiciously, at his cherry-pink little skirt and black and white silk stockings, and always felt that his self-description was somehow wrong.
Alas, there aren't many normal kids in this empire. My J-Bao is the cutest!
...
...
Three days later, underwater, the besieged Black Shark Fortress.
The Naga Expeditionary Force's military power had basically been fully deployed. All tentative measures on both sides had been exhausted, and magical power and long-range strike ammunition were almost depleted.
Now, the main force was engaged in a life-for-life battle to seize the city.
The Cordyceps also shone on the main battlefield, but magic can create destructive power equivalent to a nuclear explosion, and it can naturally create defensive power equivalent to it.
This was completely different from the situation on Earth, where offense was strong and defense was weak, with a huge disparity.
So even if a nuclear bomb with a yield of hundreds of thousands of tons hit head-on, it wouldn't be able to blast open the Black Shark Fortress's defenses.
Through powerful purification divine arts, the residual radiation effects could also be dispelled in a short period of time.
Because the tactical nuclear weapon card had already been exposed on the blockade line, the Black Shark Fortress received a reminder, sufficient vigilance, and rehearsed corresponding countermeasures. In the end, the damage caused by the Cordyceps was much smaller than theoretically.
In the end, the Naga Expeditionary Force used all sorts of methods, but they still had to rely on the most primitive melee troops, fighting around the city walls, engaging in a meat grinder battle of contention.
Doyle believed that the balance of victory was leaning towards his side.
The battle for the Black Shark Fortress was very tragic. He himself had led his guards to the city walls to plug loopholes, but the Naga Expeditionary Force's combat losses were far higher than his.
Defending the city, after all, was more advantageous.
Moreover, Doyle contacted Shaq's unit every day. Although the base coral couldn't get too close to the battlefield of war under the threat of Cordyceps and specialized killing weapons targeting biochemical fish schools, the breakthrough progress was behind schedule.
But because there had been enough time to deploy in advance, the production speed of biochemical fish schools increased rather than decreased after the clusters of coral reefs turned to plunder-style mining.
Further away, new bases were being developed.
So, as time went by, the total frequency and quantity of attacks were gradually exceeding the combat power limit of Nicole's unit.
What made Roger quite uneasy was that even the most rookie officers could see that victory would belong to the Hai Country side if this continued, but Nicole hadn't ordered the use of those two five-million-ton-level Overlord Cordyceps.
So those two strategic weapons had never entered the category that could bring fatal losses to the Nagas.
Even with the advantage of having a full map, Roger couldn't see through Nicole's thoughts and didn't know what she was waiting for.
Clearly holding a trump card, but seemingly determined to win with conventional methods, like a barbarian.
But fanatics have always used any means necessary.
Margaret and Little Joey also couldn't see through the Naga's intentions.
If this were the empire's war, they would definitely use thunderous means to kill Nicole, who was playing psychological games, so that her conspiracy couldn't be used.
But this was the Hai Country's war, and the empire shouldn't put more resources into it, and the Hai Country wouldn't accept it.
So all Roger could do was wait, be vigilant, and wait for the changes on the battlefield.
At the same time.
Inside the Black Shark Fortress, subtle streams of water gathered from all directions, eventually turning into a water elemental whose body flickered with starlight.
This was the hidden figure, Collins, the ascetic monk, transformed into a magical lifeform.
He had been waiting near the Black Shark Fortress for three days. Because Doyle's defenses were quite tight, even with various stealth and counter-reconnaissance methods, he didn't act rashly.
He only had one chance to strike, and he wouldn't waste the opportunity to enter the city that countless compatriots had sacrificed their lives to create for him.
So, wait, and wait again.
His patience had always been sufficient.
Finally, the state of the fortress's defenders reached its limit, and loopholes appeared. Collins didn't alarm anyone, not even Nicole knew where he was, and successfully infiltrated the Black Shark Fortress.
Chapter 201 Fortress Explosion, Black Shark Falls!
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Yes, the city-seizing battle in which the expeditionary force on the front line died more than 100,000 people, the battle in which mages emptied their mana countless times, and the battle in which a large number of arrows and magic equipment were bombarded against each other were all feints.
They were all feints to create an opportunity for the hidden figure, Collins.
Nicole never expected to rely on the soldiers in her hands to break through the Black Shark Fortress head-on.
What believers trust most is not comrades, but the Lord.
The main force of the expeditionary force pressed on, raising the blood-colored flag of slaughtering the city, and even exposing the Cordyceps card in advance, all to show their determination to attack and attract Doyle's attention.
If there is no magical defense, the destructive power of Cordyceps can directly break through the walls of the Black Shark Fortress.
Therefore, Doyle and the court mage group under his command had to concentrate on the Cordyceps launched at all times, and reserve enough blue energy to prevent the sudden attacks of the Nagas.