Exploring Technology in a Wizard World-Chapter 1436 - 1434: Ais No. 4728 High-Energy Experiment
One week later.
"Creak," Su walked into the top-floor office of the City Hall.
Inside the office, Marigold was still buried in handling documents, and only after a while did she look up at Su and ask, "What’s up, has that person from the reception sent someone to urge us again? Didn’t we tell him that he has to keep waiting, and we’ll arrange something when we’re free."
"Princess, this time the person is a bit different," Su said.
"How different? Have they sent someone to say they’re ready to leave Atlantis again? This isn’t new, is it? How many times has it been now? Last time, they said they met Lord Richard in the morning and left in the afternoon. This time, it should be they met Lord Richard in the morning and left by noon, right?" Marigold asked, and without waiting for Su’s answer, she bowed her head and picked up a quill to start writing on a document.
"No, Princess." Su shook his head and said, "This time, the individual did not send someone else but came directly in person. Right now, they’re sitting in the City Hall lobby, stating they absolutely won’t leave today without seeing either you or Lord Richard."
Marigold’s hand stopped writing, and she put down the quill, expressing her faint surprise.
"Oh—, looking at it this way, this person really can’t hold it in anymore."
"I think so too. So, Princess, what do you think we should do?"
"Well..." Marigold began to ponder.
...
While Marigold was thinking, in Atlantis City, at the 362 Research Institute.
The four-story stone building stood as usual in the unremarkable little courtyard, with no movement from anyone inside, making it appear extremely quiet. In stark contrast, however, the twenty-seventh underground floor of the stone building was bustling with activity.
Down on the twenty-seventh floor, one could see a vast space with a height of several dozen meters, equivalent to a five-story building above ground.
This space had a main color scheme of silver, with walls made of thick steel plates, their surfaces shining with a metallic, cold light. In some areas, the steel plates were replaced with special alloys, the surfaces engraved with intricate magic runes that occasionally sparked with brilliant energy lights, used to guard against potential dangerous situations. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
Above, rows of electric crystal lamps cast a bright but not blinding white light, illuminating every corner. Amid the lighting, many people were running through the twenty-seventh-floor corridors, seemingly preparing for something, and eventually, everyone gathered in the central command hall, standing ready in front of the densely packed control instruments.
One wall of the command hall was transparent, made of special materials similar to glass, its surface engraved with extremely complex magic runes, providing strong defensive capabilities.
Through this wall, one could see that adjacent to the command hall was a pit that plunged over forty meters deep downward, surrounded by hundreds of red metallic pillars, thin at the top and thick at the bottom, resembling needles magnified dozens of times.
Following the edge of the pit, looking into its depths, all walls were specially solidified, covered with silvery-gray metal plates.
At the bottom of the pit, it had been transformed into a relatively flat area spanning over a hundred meters across, with a metal platform weighing tens of tons standing in the center, surrounded by a dozen mechanical arms. Additionally, dozens of wires and pipes as thick as a baby’s arm were hung from the metal platform, piercing into the depths of the soil, leading who-knew-where.
Twelve wizards in robes of varying colors were busy around the metal platform, continuously pulling levers to make tiny adjustments to the positions of the mechanical arms. Some wizards were loading canisters of liquid into a semi-transparent container on the metal platform, whose purpose was unknown.
Upon careful observation, nearly each of the twelve wizards possessed the level of a Third-level Wizard, and the blue-robed witch known as the "Poison Heart Queen," Nora, was among them. The most powerful among them, however, was a warlock named Emerson, who was evidently a Level 4 Wizard.
Emerson himself appeared to be around forty, with a serious expression, dressed in a slightly wrinkled black robe, his hair greasy and eyes bloodshot, suggesting an extended lack of rest. As the team’s leader, once the other wizards finished their tasks and paused, he performed a thorough check, confirming that all instruments on the metal platform were ready, then turned to look towards the command hall.
He slowly raised his hand, waggling his index finger.
This indicated "Level One readiness."
"Command post received, please verify once again," a voice quickly responded from the command hall, not loud, yet it filled the entire twenty-seventh floor.
Upon hearing it, Emerson wasted no time, meticulously inspecting the metal platform again.
After completing the check, he raised his hand, waggling both his index and middle fingers.
Level Two readiness.
"Command post received, please perform the final check," the voice echoed again, perfectly controlling its range to the twenty-seventh floor, filling every corner while neither going up nor down a single bit. This was a display of extremely high skill, achievable only by a few wizards adept in wind-elemental sound magic. The curious aspect was that during sound transmission, there was no energy fluctuation, leaving one unable to discern whether it was a spell effect or a real voice, elevating the speaker’s capability to an unfathomable level.
Upon hearing this, Emerson showed no irritation, meticulously inspecting the metal platform for a third time, then raised his hand, waggling three fingers—index, middle, and ring.
Level Three readiness.
"Command post received, authorization granted to commence ’Ais 4728 High-Energy Experiment’ and ’High Spirit Capture Plan.’ All systems are requested to cooperate, and experimental personnel are urged to proceed cautiously following the established protocol."
Upon hearing this, Emerson nodded slightly, extended his right hand, making a grasping gesture towards the command post, indicating understanding, then turned to face the eleven wizards standing on the metal platform, swiftly issuing a series of commands.
"Initiate energy transmission," Emerson said firmly.
"Clack!"
A gray-robed wizard stepped forward and forcefully pulled down a thick, black lever on the metal platform.
"Buzz!"
The metal platform vibrated, like a dead beast given life again.
"Preheat the high-energy particle generator," Emerson said with an unchanged expression.
"Click-click-click-click-click!"
A green-robed wizard stepped forward, extending his hand repeatedly, pulling down six silver levers in one go.
The sound emanated from inside the six fixed mechanical arms on the metal platform, swiftly heating up, with a faint heat reaching the outside.
"Report core temperature," Emerson inquired.
"1,800 degrees," the third wizard replied.
"Temperature surpassed the threshold, initiate coolant valve opening, inject cooling fluid," Emerson quickly followed up.
The fourth wizard waved his hand, and a nearby wheel spun rapidly, with the sound of liquid rushing, slowly cooling the metal platform.
...
Simultaneously, voices continuously echoed in the command hall, issuing instructions for various operations to coordinate with the experimenters in the pit.
"Activate the energy center, connect the transmission lines..."
"Click, click, energy center successfully activated, transmission line connected, click, status normal, energy level currently at one."
"Inject high-energy particles..."
"Click-click-click, click-click, high-energy particles injected, status normal, activity level good."
"Extract coolant, fill into pipeline one..."
"Click-click, coolant successfully extracted, filling complete, pipeline one is operational."
"Start coolant circulation system..."
"Click-click, coolant circulation system successfully started."
"..."
...
