AK - The Alchemy Kingdom

Chapter 129: The magic repeater II

Johann now looked more confused.

Do you see this Alchemy mark in the tool? Is the same mark I drew in the tunnel. The connection between Alchemy marks with the same concept is done in another dimension, which neither can be seen nor touched by us, but where spiritual energy can freely move connecting everything and everyone. So it might look far, but their connection is actually strong and close

Wow Does that mean you could send magic anywhere in the world? That cant be right, cant it?

Technically, yes. However, the mark only provides a position, the magic effect still needs to physically reach that position. For example, if we try to use our position as the limit for the barrier in the city, it wouldnt work because once the barrier passed the five or six kilometers mark, it would crumble, not even using all the energy in the vein can make this possible. The same way if you launch a magic attack from the city using this position, the attack would come straight towards here but would probably disappear in a few kilometers

I see Youre using the mark to point to the position, not actually connect the two points And how will you dig through the mountain?

By using this small excavator Its sides are imprinted with earth affinity movers, just like the normal excavator, and Im using three Manipulation Arrays, one to move the tool towards the mark in the tunnel, and two to make the tool rotate fast Its like using a rope tied to a place to pull ourselves there. The Alchemy part was actually easy, the difficulty came when designing the tip of the tool to go through rocks and other obstacles. Arnold has been working on it for three weeks

Johann picked the tool and carefully analyzed its exquisite metal tip, which was formed by spiraling blades. They walked for another hour or so before the tool started to react, pulling diagonally downwards. They followed the tools direction until it was finally pointing straight down. Karl looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a tall tree that could allow signals from both sides of the mountain. Fortunately, the tree didnt need to be tallest, it just needed to provide a clear view from both sides, if they could see, the signal would be able to reach it.

The digging part ended up being less fantastical than Johann was expecting, they just stood there waiting for the tool to go through the ground and hoped it wouldnt meet something too hard that it couldnt dig through it. Almost two hours later, the crystal that was powering the tool finally stop supplying energy, which meant the tool either broke or was deactivated by Oliver. Karl held his breath and stared at the crystal. Not ten seconds later, the crystal glowed three times before dimming again.

Karls cheerful expression told the wind Mage they had been successful. Next, the Alchemist measured the energy coming from the hole to check if they had successfully guided the high-density energy through it. After he identified a stronger reading, he took out a wooden Array and placed it at top of the hole before connecting the cable to it. The Array shined, and soon, a blue-ish barrier coated the hole. The barrier inside the newly opened channel would offer protection against earth digger beasts and preserve the cable while also guiding the energy upwards without allowing it to sip through the earth.

The next couple of hours was spent placing the metal pole on the tree, adjusting the repeater, and burying the rest of the cable. He checked the path from the hole to the tree one more time to see if any part was sticking out or if he could hide the cable better. Using such fragile and exposed arrangement was far from ideal, but they would come back later with the crafters to build a better structure and use the barrier effect to keep it protected.

Now was time to test the repeater and try to contact the long-distance communication center (CC). The repeater was very similar to the receptor in the CC. It would also use the attract lightning property to receive signals in the area, but instead of transmitting the signal to an operator, it would forward it to the communication center. So, the repeater was actually formed by a receptor and a long-distance communicator that could send signals to the CC.

The repeating effect was easily implemented, a Signature Absorbtion A. connected to the receptor part would identify the signal and power the communicator to send a signal to the CC. Unfortunately, a few effects couldnt be easily repeated, like the two-way communication and the selection of lightning concentration. So, the CC had to reserve a receptor just for the repeater and they would have to avoid using many communicators from this side of the mountain unless they could send an operator to the tunnel. Later, this problem could be solved, but again, time was a rare resource.

Karl took out his communicator and sent a signal. The repeater's Arrays shined and he saw the metal part responsible for forwarding the signal emit sparks. Then, he sent a few more signals to inform the CC the repeater was working. After the end-message signal, he quickly shifted the repeater to manual and sent a continuous signal to receive the reply. In a few seconds, a good luck message arrived. Although they couldnt mimic the reply part automatically with the repeater, an operator in the tunnel would be able to do it.

***

On the way back, Karl didnt stop searching for threats around them, neither Samia relaxed her guard, it wouldnt be good to be caught by surprise after completing such a difficult task. Half of their trip back was uneventful but then, the locator found something. The reader indicated a plant crystal 200 meters to the northwest of their position. He asked the others to stop while he confirmed the reading, he couldnt understand how the locator only pointed the target at 200 meters. Was the target so fast that it covered the 800 kilometers in two minutes?

This didnt look correct since plant beings shouldnt move fast at all. However, instead of clarifying the situation, the next reading only made matters worse as it confirmed the target and even found another plant crystal close to the first. The readings could only mean two things, either the locator wasnt working properly or the plant beings were somehow hidden, like earth digger beasts.

Either way, the team could only move hasty and try to leave the mountains as fast as possible. They ran through the same path they came and Karl didnt dare to stop to use the locator again. Samia kept her concealment going and carefully observed their surroundings, ready to attack anything that appeared with her throwing knives. Johann also started to circle large amounts of wind energy around him, so he could cast a Wind Shield at any time.

Judging by their hiking time, they would spend at least 20 minutes before leaving the mountains, even though they could already see the plains below the cliff at their side. Unfortunately, they had to descend using the downhills and couldnt just jump down the cliff, or they could, but that would probably lead to some fractures, if not death.

Suddenly, the ground below them shook and roots surfaced striking the air furiously. Samia, who was moving through the branches wasnt affected by the murdering roots, but Johann was struck directly by a root and launched down the cliff while Karl activated a personal barrier just in time to block a strike.

Through the dense dark-green foliage, a two meters tall tree-like figure emerged. Its feet were formed by roots that extended into the ground, something that resembled a face was carved into the trunk. The being made a creaking sound, like wood bending but richer in terms of sound and tone. Then, without notice, all the roots rose before converging to attack Karl.

The Alchemist wasnt ready to risk his barrier against the attack, so he tried to dodge the roots sideways, but they were alive and followed him until they crashed against the bubble wall. The barrier dimmed before disappearing, but the roots remaining momentum was stopped by the strong wind that raged around Karl, he hadnt hesitated to activate the emergency effect on his coat.

Using the pause in the attacks, Karl ran downhill and reactivated the bubble barrier. The sound of roots raging behind him gave him a psychological boost and made him run even faster. Fortunately, the Treant was slow and they soon left its domain. They could only hope Johann had survived the fall.