Chapter 414: A Groundbreaking Breakthrough

To be honest, although it was surprising to see Kamail suddenly appear outside the window ledge, the moment Highlord saw the deep azure arcane glow radiating from him, he immediately guessed that this ancient archmage’s latest achievement must be extraordinary. Otherwise, Kamail wouldn’t have lost his usual composure like this. Kamail was always a steady, reserved man—except when it came to his research projects. Then, he seemed like a completely different person. Highlord had even overheard technicians from the Rune Research Institute and the Arcane Technology Lab talking about Kamail’s work habits. Sometimes, when he made an inspiring breakthrough, the ancient mage would light up like a neon sign, wildly shifting colors…

Of course, the technicians didn’t know what neon lights were. The first time they saw Kamail playing with lighting effects in the lab, they thought he was about to self-destruct.

“What have you come up with?” Highlord didn’t bother with formalities and spoke directly to Kamail at the window. “Have you finally figured out the laws governing the fluctuations of the mana field?”

“Ah… not quite,” Kamail’s bright blue arcane glow flickered briefly before shining steadily again. “But it’s still an exciting result. Please come with me—the device is still at the research institute.”

Highlord sensed Kamail was teasing him a bit, but he happily played along and called out to Hetty, “You should come too. Let’s see what Kamail has made.”

The three of them left the lord’s manor and headed to a laboratory inside the Arcane Technology Research Institute.

Originally a member of the Rune Research Institute, Kamail was not only a scholar of vast knowledge and a participant in the Rebellion Project, but also gifted in practical technologies. After quickly familiarizing himself with arcane industrial techniques, he established a lab within the Arcane Technology Institute focused on applied research, transferring some of his projects there.

Inside the clean, well-lit lab, Highlord saw numerous half-finished or dismantled devices—arcane energy obelisks, orbital accelerators, next-generation mana capacitors—all neatly arranged in different testing zones. But none of these were the exciting breakthrough Kamail had mentioned. That was placed on a central platform, and its appearance was unlike anything Highlord had ever seen.

There was a triangular base—a shape commonly used in many arcane devices from the ancient Gondor Empire, a style Kamail favored in his creations. The base was made of common purple copper, possibly mixed with trace amounts of crystal dust or blue steel, giving it a beautiful, mysterious bluish-purple sheen. Rising from the center was the main body of the device, embedded with a clear, flawless artificial crystal. The crystal’s near-transparent color suggested it wasn’t a rare mana material, but rather a simple mana conduit. The true secret of the device was likely hidden within the triangular base itself.

The entire apparatus was compact, with its longest side about half a meter. The ancient Gondor design gave it perfect symmetry, and combined with the raised metal mount and crystal centerpiece, it looked more like an ornamental art piece than a machine.

“Time to reveal the secret, right?” Highlord asked with keen interest, already guessing at its possible function. “What is it?”

“Please wait a moment. I’ll activate it now—if the other device is working properly, you should see it soon…” Kamail said as he floated over and sparked a tiny burst of energy to power up the base.

A faint hum began as the runes on the base lit up one by one. The crystal glowed softly with a white light. Moments later, the air above the crystal shimmered and warped, and a blurry image appeared before Highlord’s eyes.

His breath quickened. Even Hetty beside him let out a quiet gasp.

The image stabilized, revealing his ever-energetic little granddaughter moving her head back and forth within the frame. She seemed to be operating or observing something near another device. After a few seconds, she suddenly noticed Highlord and excitedly waved at the camera. From the base came a clear, joyful voice: “Ancestor! Ancestor! Look what we’ve made!”

“I see it! I see it!” Highlord exclaimed, barely able to contain his excitement. Usually, he maintained a dignified composure befitting his status as an ancestor, but now he was genuinely thrilled. He knew exactly what this meant for Kamail and Rebecca’s work. “You’ve finally succeeded! Rebecca, where are you now? How far can the communication reach?”

“I’m at the Northern Shore Development Zone!” Rebecca replied cheerfully, then moved aside. Highlord saw a wide, open landscape outside the window in the projection—the freshly leveled foundation of the Northern Shore area. “It’s still very clear here! Can you see me? Can you see me? I can see you! Oh! I even see Aunt Hetty! Auntie, your dark circles look so real today!”

“Calm down, she’s always like this,” Highlord said, casually placing a hand on Hetty’s shoulder. “So those dark circles really are painted on?”

“Of course not!” Hetty was a little exasperated. She could never understand how Rebecca managed to twist every conversation into some wild tangent, even though she had raised the girl herself. “I’m just… But you actually made this thing!”

Despite wanting to give Rebecca a good scolding, Hetty’s attention was ultimately captured by the significance of the device. She circled it several times, trying to deduce its magical principles and manufacturing difficulty. But she already knew the answer: if this device relied on traditional communication spell models, Kamail wouldn’t have presented it as such a monumental breakthrough.

In this world of supernatural power, long-distance communication spells were not unheard of—they were just high-level, costly magic. Because of these limitations, their use was confined to narrow fields: emergency channels held by monarchs, or mid-to-high-level professionals communicating over short distances. The only large-scale, practical long-range communication network was the Grant Wall built by the elves—an immense structure erected seven centuries ago by nearly half the continent’s intelligent races. Its cost was so astronomical that even today, no nation had the resources to rebuild another. Moreover, its communication range was limited to the area near the wall.

Kamail certainly knew these facts. His excitement could only mean one thing: he had, as Highlord requested, successfully broken through the traditional limitations of communication spells and devices.

While Hetty’s mind raced with possibilities, Highlord was overwhelmed with emotion. His first surprise was that Kamail had created a device capable of visual intercom communication.

His original expectation was only audio communication, or at worst, a telegraph-like system. But this device leapfrogged all that, and he was genuinely amazed.

Yet after a moment, he realized this was only natural. In this world, sound-reproducing spells and near-holographic illusions were not complex. Before simplification, their magic circles were only low-high or mid-low level. After Jenny reconstructed and simplified most basic runes, these spells’ magic circles had become low-mid level.

The real challenge was always “how to transmit signals stably over long distances.”

Because of mana’s unique properties, it could only be conducted through symbols on magic circles, not through “wires.” Wired communication was extremely difficult here, and wireless communication faced the problem that communication spell models couldn’t be simplified and were a technical black box. In this world’s strange physical laws, achieving stable long-distance signal transmission was far harder than converting signals into sound and images.

This was the world that never ceased to surprise Highlord, yet often left him at a loss—his workers used laser welders and anti-gravity lifters, but he still couldn’t build a working steam cylinder.

“Excellent… excellent…” After calming his initial shock, Highlord couldn’t help but repeat the words with a broad smile. “Transportation and communication… half the problem solved, half the problem solved…”

“What?” Kamail asked curiously. As a pure researcher, he had been fully immersed in his project and was unaware of political affairs.

“Nothing,” Highlord waved it off, then looked back at the device. “Is it made using basic rune sets?”

“Ninety percent basic runes, but for controlling mana oscillation frequencies, we used some more complex rune structures,” Kamail explained. “These runes need to be inscribed on silver substrates, but fortunately, only a few are required. We recently discovered that an alloy of silver and blue steel also has good mana stability. Using this alloy for the substrate keeps costs within expected limits.”

“Is it easy for ordinary people to use?” Highlord asked.

“As convenient as other arcane machines in the territory—just trigger the control runes.”

Highlord continued, “Good. I have more questions…”

Kamail floated slightly higher, his tone confident, radiating restrained pride with a slow, steady glow. “Of course. I’m ready to answer them.”

(End of chapter)