Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 568 - 567: Tower Guardian, Visitor

After the start of summer, the weather became hotter by the day.

Even though Anzu as a whole belongs to a northern region, the southern borders of Anzu still experience scorching summers. This year, it seems summer has arrived even earlier than usual.

The Flowing Fire Constellation has become a regular visitor in the night sky, and the giant sun lingers longer each day. The sky, which would still be pitch black at four or five o’clock, is now already filled with the glow of the morning sun at the same time.

In the wilderness at the northwest border of Lu’an City, a tall tower quietly stands on the plains. The base of the tower flickers with a faint magical brilliance through its crevices, with occasional streams of light gliding across its outer walls. A large crystal floats at the top of the tower, and several oddly shaped metal brackets extend outward from the top. The rune devices at the ends of these brackets slowly rotate in the gentle morning breeze, facing the radiant dawn.

It was a beautiful and clear summer morning.

Ge Lin, the Tower Guardian, woke from his dreams and, after a simple wash, dressed in a thin shirt and shorts, he went to the upper level of the tower.

The increasingly bright sunlight streamed through the crystal window of the workspace into the room as a flock of wild pigeons flapped through the sky outside.

"...These silly pigeons... Hopefully, they haven’t pooped on the signal amplifier..."

Ge Lin muttered, casually tossing an uneaten pastry from the previous night onto the heating table. Then he inserted the Frost Rune Trigger into the energy slot on the wall and opened the ventilation ducts in the studio.

Fresh cool air blew into the room through the ventilation ducts, dispersing the heat that was gradually rising and refreshing Ge Lin, who still felt a bit drowsy.

The Tower Guardian let out a satisfied sigh— the new system that the city sent people to install last month was indeed handy.

He couldn’t help but recall the "advertisements" he had seen on the Magic Web Terminal before, the Kode Household Service Company slogan —

Magic, bringing convenience to life.

When this concept was first introduced, most people were bewildered and astonished. Even Tower Guardian Ge Lin, who interacted with Mage devices daily, had never envisioned what life would be like once magic became an integral part of everyday life. But it happened just like that, in a dazzling manner.

Mage devices are not just the leader’s private property, nor merely state-owned industries. Low-cost, convenient civil mage devices are entering the public sphere. Although slowly and currently only a privilege of wealthier residents in large cities, they are truly becoming a part of ordinary people’s lives.

And they really have brought convenience.

The metal devices outside the window moved slowly, and the Tower Guardian stepped into the observation area, watching the large steel bracket gradually rise into the sky. The runic structure at the end of the bracket seemed to point towards the sky filled with morning glow, like a sharp angle. Then he returned to the workstation, casually activating the Magic Web Terminal on the desk, and took out his notebook, carefully writing the day’s first monitoring record:

"...Fire Moon 30th, clear skies, gentle breeze, Lu’an Magic Web Nexus, first monitoring record, signal amplifier operating normally, magic crystal functioning normally, Magic Web transmission signal..."

Ge Lin looked up and saw the pre-set signal screen floating above the activated Magic Web Terminal, displaying the identification marks and signals from the Hosman Hub Tower and subordinate relay towers one by one.

"Magic Web transmission signal normal, strength excellent..."

Ge Lin recorded meticulously, without a hint of carelessness.

He is an especially diligent and careful person, which is precisely why he secured this "Tower Guardian" job— simple and monotonous, yet requiring significant knowledge of mage devices, but highly lucrative, perfectly suiting Ge Lin, who needed this job to support his five children.

This Magic Web Nexus is one of the three hub towers in the entire northwest region of the Cecil Principality, crucial for maintaining magic web transmission from Lu’an Area to the Hosman Region. Relying on the enormous magic crystal and amplification device at the top of the tower, it provides signal transmission and reinforcement for over a dozen unmanned small relay towers in the plains region, and supplies energy to the southern area of Lu’an City, proving extremely important.

Besides Ge Lin himself, there are two other tower guardians working with him here, one of whom is responsible for the night shift, while the other has gone out to inspect the unmanned relay towers on the plains.

Apart from the three technologically focused Tower Guardians, there is also a small garrison at the lower level of the tower, with ten fully armed "Tower Keepers" tasked with guarding the place. The tower itself is also equipped with a magic shield— all to ensure the security of the magic web in the northwest border region.

From what Ge Lin knows, more personnel will be added to this tower soon, making the place even livelier.

"People skilled in operating these mage devices are really hard to find..." the Tower Guardian grumbled, as he pressed the maintenance confirmation button on the Magic Web Terminal, sending a safety signal back to the Magic Web control center, shaking his head, "Hopefully they’re graduates from the Cecil Academy..."

The sweet aroma of baked pastry gradually wafted over, making Ge Lin’s stomach rumble. He stood up and walked towards the heating table.

As someone not particularly fond of social interactions, he always handled breakfast alone. Only during dinner, when all three tower guardians were inside the tower, did he join them downstairs to dine with the garrison’s Tower Keepers.

Yet, just as he got up, a shadow suddenly flashed outside the window, catching the Tower Guardian’s attention.

Goddess of Magic!! Could a whole bunch of pigeons have come to poop on the amplifier?!

Ge Lin hurriedly strode to the window, craning his neck to peer into the distant sky. He didn’t see the pigeons that habitually troubled him but did catch sight of several enormous, eagle-like raptors soaring higher in the rising sun, flying eastward.

And on the backs of those eagle-like raptors, faint outlines of humanoid figures could be seen.

Stunned for several seconds, the Tower Guardian realized what those unprecedented raptors were— they were the Elven Great Eagles mentioned in a notice he had received some time ago, creatures he had only heard about in stories until then.

After a brief moment of shock, Ge Lin immediately ran to the workbench and called the highest control center using the Magic Web Terminal. With the internal communication channel activated, the call was almost immediately connected, and a young lady with flaxen hair appeared in the holographic projection.

Ge Lin quickly said, "This is the Lu’an Hub Tower — an Elven Great Eagle was just spotted entering the area, please notify the leader."

"Received, thank you for your report."

After hanging up, Ge Lin let out a long sigh of relief. Luckily, he did not miss this sighting—even though he knew there would also be sentry towers nearby paying attention to the Elven Great Eagle, he still did not want any errors in his work.

The Tower Guardian returned to the window and took another look at the sky where the Great Eagle had flown. The Elven Great Eagles were exceedingly fast; in just a few minutes those massive figures had become tiny dots in the distance and quickly vanished in the backlight of the rising sun.

Ge Lin withdrew his gaze, but his eyes suddenly caught the gently moving ancient magical device outside the window, and his expression froze.

...Indeed, these Great Eagles have more "weight" than pigeons!!

The Tower Guardian stared in astonishment at the "remains" left by the Great Eagle on the frame of the augmentation device and suddenly felt that this bright summer morning didn’t seem so beautiful anymore.

He returned to his workbench and took out a letterhead to quickly write down—unlike the keyboard of the Magic Web Terminal, this copyist-turned-Tower Guardian still preferred the traditional writing tools:

"To Cecil Academy’s Magic Guide Technology Research Institute and the Bureau of Magic Application Design:

"...It is recommended to add a protective cover to high-altitude outdoor magical devices, or install a full-area shield on top of high-altitude facilities. Bird interference is quite bothersome, especially their droppings..."

The smell of burnt food wafted into Ge Lin’s nostrils, causing the Tower Guardian to jump in surprise: "Oh no—my breakfast!!"

Now, this bright summer morning truly wasn’t pleasant at all.

...

The vast plains and forests below swiftly passed by, with rivers and lakes scattered like jewels across the endless land. Cities and villages were interspersed among the rivers and mountains, and the broad roads connected all settlements like arteries—the entire southern region was like a canvas shining brilliantly in the sunlight, with every inch of color on the canvas bursting forth with limitless vitality in the height of summer.

The Great Eagle flew across the sky, and everything on the ground below was captured in its gaze.

And with the effect of Druid spells, the eagle’s vision was shared with the Children of the Forest seated on its back.

"That Mage tower we just passed looked strange," an elf ranger turned to the nearest companion and said. The unique elf spells were channeling the high-altitude airflow, ensuring they weren’t buffeted by strong winds or affected by the sound of the wind while talking, "It doesn’t look like the style of the four kingdoms—or the Mage towers of the Violet Kingdom. And I have no idea what the crystal on that tower top is for. It seems to be constantly releasing energy, but no specific spell effects can be sensed."

"Duchess Victoria mentioned that there are a lot of odd things on this southern land," another elf ranger shouted on the other side, "They are all reportedly brought by Duke Gawain Cecil."

A messenger, guarded by the rangers, couldn’t help but sigh, "Speaking of which, I haven’t met that renowned human duke yet—even when he ’died in battle’, I was still with my mentor."

"I did see him once, from a distance when I was an Honor Guard at the pledge of the great walls by national leaders, but I assume he wouldn’t remember me."

"No doubt about it, he definitely doesn’t remember you. Your face isn’t particularly distinctive anyway..."

Sonia Frostleaf listened to her companions’ conversation but kept her focus on the land below.

Her eyes glimmered slightly with white light, and with the spell effect of shared vision, everything the eagle could see, she could see as well.

"A lot of new roads being built... numerous city expansions... and strange machines among the fields, unbelievable, unbelievable," Sonia marveled, "The human aristocrats from Silver Castle say the southern borders have been desolate for a century... but now it seems to be reviving with astonishing speed."

Nearby, a ranger guard asked with concern, "High-ranked Order Messenger, how’s your eagle doing?"

Sonia Frostleaf gently stroked the feathers of the Great Eagle beneath her, nodding, "Gu Gu is doing well; it says it feels much better now."

"Gu Gu might be experiencing some acclimatization issues," another messenger commented, "After all, this is the northern region, and the Great Eagle isn’t used to it here—occasional indigestion is normal. In fact, things are already quite well; at least we didn’t come here during the coldest part of winter."

"A climate even Great Eagles can’t adjust to..." Sonia shook her head, "I really wonder what’s so good about the north..."

Just then, the elf ranger flying at the front of the formation suddenly shouted, "High-ranked Order Messenger, we should head south now!"

Under the commands of their masters, each Great Eagle let out a loud call, and the entire formation pivoted neatly towards the south.

It was Anzu year 737, Fire Moon 30th.

The elven messengers have arrived at the southern borders.