Chapter 224: The Silver Lining Amidst the Thunderstorm
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Unlike the chaos outside, the palace itself was quiet — quieter than usual, even.
Right from the corridor, Baiyi could hear a few whispers emanating from the banquet hall, but the noise was so much more controlled than what was going on outside.
Even the emcee, who was standing by the side of the banquet door, was calm. At that moment, he turned into the hall and declared loudly, "The Special Advisor, Master Hope, and his family, has arrived!"
Let's ignore the fact that he somehow managed to include Aya into "Master Hope's family". The man was responsible to a fault. His head was bandaged unskillfully, and blood still oozed from the wound that had been covered, yet the man was still ardent about his duty.
Hearing the emcee's announcement, the crowd shifted their attention to the Master and saw Baiyi and his avalanche-inspired outfit.
"Master Hope has arrived!" someone in the hall called out in joy, acting as if he had just seen their savior. He was probably one of those who knew that the gigantic levitation formation was Baiyi's idea.
"Hey, Master Hope? Are you alright? Were you caught in the avalanche?" Some of them were more concerned with his appearance.
"Master Hope! Was that Ice-styled Forbidden Technique your doing? I humbly thank you for your beautiful rescue, as without you..." some were even babbling unimportant drivels.
Baiyi had no time for them. He walked straight towards a middle-aged, chubby man in the most extravagant outfit, who was also the most central to the entire banquet — the King of Rodrithelia, Rowan Rodrithelia the 233rd*.
The King was looking at his direction expectantly as well.
The two had met in a few research meetings. They had good impressions of each other, as the King did not have the annoying habit of micromanagement.
"Master Hope." King Rowan nodded slightly. His gesture was humble. "Most fortunate that we had constructed the Levitation Formation as you suggested. Thanks to it, we survived."
"How much longer will it take?" Baiyi dismissed all forms of normal courtesies and went straight to the point.
"Um, that… Well, our Prime Coordinator, the Principal Sorcerer, Master Juan…" King Rowan hesitated.
"Ah, how's Master Juan?" Baiyi asked hurriedly.
He and Master Juan had interacted with each other before. The sorcerer was a very, very aged elderly who had been the vassal for all eight kings. He even possessed the power of a Holy-level fighter!
Aside from his slight tendency to be stubborn, and his old-fashioned ways of looking at things, the man was pretty much on good terms with Baiyi.
"Master Juan, ah… He… sacrificed himself to save all of us," someone spoke for the King.
"I'm sorry. This truly is a loss." Baiyi shook his head pitifully.
When he had felt that sudden jolt of mana vibration back then, he had guessed who that was. It seemed that the worn-out flesh of the great sorcerer had long exceeded its capacity in sustaining such an unbridled surge of mana. Thus, what if one was a
Holy-level fighter? The body would still be a victim of age and time.
If the great sorcerer had used his mana in a conventional way, he would still be alive, and his strength as the creme of all fighters in Gouve would have been pivotal in the aftermath of the crisis. Nevertheless, he had chosen to sacrifice himself in a very desperate moment. If it wasn't for his sacrifice, the others would not have that extra time to set up what was needed to save the city, and the ending may have been different.
"We'll never forget the action of Master Juan, but if we wish to make sure that his sacrifice was not in vain, we must act now. Master Hope! We sincerely request for your assistance," King Rowan said. He ignored the chilliness emanating from the Soul Armarture's body and held onto his arm, with a pleading look in his eyes.
At that very moment, a young lad in a servant's uniform dashed into the banquet hall. He panted heavily as he strode towards the King's side and whispered in his ear.
"With the number of mana crystals that we have in our reservoir — as well as those contributed by the organizations in our society and business associations — we estimate that we can keep the island afloat for about ten hours or so," the King spoke to Baiyi in a low voice. It seemed that the young lad had been sent to gather reports on their remaining time. "Even if we called in all sorcerers to provide that additional mana, we could still only hold it off for two more hours caps."
"We've got only half a day, huh…" Baiyi rapped his ice-encased hands together lightly. He continued, "How about that trans-realm transporter portal that I mentioned? Is it completed?"
If the Armageddon ever comes, that one existing transporter portal would not be enough to save as many lives as possible. That was why Baiyi had suggested building new, additional portals for emergency purposes. The problem was that building one portal itself was a costly project, so only the existing portal — the one made by The Association of Sorcerers, which was also the very same one Baiyi had crossed — had to be made due with. Hence, he wasn't sure if the idea was even taken seriously.
The messenger helped answer the question, "We were building one close to the capital city, Sir, but it wasn't completed. Now that it has suffered some damage, we've ordered every man we have to help repair it…"
This really was bad news!
A pan-realm transportal portal was no common formation spell. It was more complicated, requiring even more materials, and it consisted of just one formation. A portal was actually a series of connected formations arranged in a specific manner.
To make matter worse, the method of constructing a portal was still the antiquated way that had been passed down since the time of the Ancient Rohserlian Empire. No one had ever simplified it into runes yet. In other words, constructing it would need someone who was handy with the actual formations.
And those sort of sorcerers would be very difficult to find. Let alone finding one with enough skill to build a portal — preferably one that would be able to instantly transport a hundred million people to another realm altogether — in a short amount of time.
It sounded like an impossible mission. However, to a Voidwalker, there was still hope.
"You're familiar with this particular formation, yes?" Baiyi asked the Scholar inside the Void. In reality, he turned to Little Mia and said, "Pass me Sharkie."
Little Mia was bemused, but she obediently took out her hammerhead shark plushie and held it out to him.
Baiyi did not wait for the Scholar to come up with a loquacious answer. He shoved the woman's consciousness into the plushie crassly.
"Please, surely you are less odious than this?!" The Scholar's last word was her protest at his action, but she did not say she couldn't do it.
"Follow it — and help out with the repair. The knowledge you obtained from your Elementary Formation class now finally has a chance to shine," the Soul Armature said to his students. He grabbed the plushie, who was fanning itself with its fin, and shoved it to Little Mia's embrace.
"Go, take them to the portal quickly!" Baiyi turned to the messenger.
The lad looked at Little Mia and Tisdale doubtfully. Sure, they were pretty, but their eyes belied how young they were. One of them even carried a plushie with her; something only little girls would do 1 . 'Can these people really help in fixing the uber-complicated portal?'
"Y-your Highness…?" The lad waited for the King's approval hesitantly. Even Little Mia did not seem to agree, "Mr. Hope, how can we possibly... "
"It's going to be alright. Sharkie will teach you. Just listen and do as she says," Baiyi replied, rapping at the plushie with his frozen-into-rod-like hands.
"I…" The King was just as perplexed at the command. To have ordered two little girls to be responsible for the construction of the life-saving pan-realm transporter portal was weird enough, and now Master Hope was saying that a furry stuffed animal could save the world?
The Fifth Walker had no time to explain at length. He could only use his spherical snowball of a hand to grip the King's shoulder, before he said, "Please, believe in me."
He turned to the lad and added, "Go. Now!"
The King nodded his head in approval — albeit hesitantly.
That was how Little Mia and her merry band began their own adventure of saving the world…
The reason why Baiyi did not personally handle was because he knew he was still needed elsewhere. After watching Little Mia and the band lave, he asked, "How about the floating islands at higher altitudes? Can they possibly fall down on us somehow? Is it possible to solve this?"
"We, dragon knights, will take care of this," General Kandor, who had been listening nearby, spoke, "As you have known, there are no large islands above this one. Fragments of other islands may come hurtling towards us, but we will be able to knock them away."
Baiyi nodded. He wanted to flash the general a thumbs-up, but his hands had now been frozen into two white gigantic spheres — like a certain earless robot cat 2 , so he raised his hand instead.
"I hope no one is still on those islands." Baiyi sighed.
"The silver lining in all of this is that almost person of our nation gathered in the Capital City because of the Harvest Festival — even those who stay far from here. Those islands are most likely empty," a vassal who took care of social affairs answered.
A man who looked like a sorcerer also joined in the conversation, "Your attention, please. I have contacted our headquarter regarding the portal. They're going to help us build it from the other side, too. Our Emperor has gotten wind of your nation's plight. The Empire has begun her preparations for the refugees."
The speed of their response had been very satisfactory. It seemed that after Baiyi's unsettling prediction, their preparations for the Armageddon, while discarded, were still effective enough to help them right at this moment.
This made Baiyi feel quite happy.
"It was truly our luck to have you with us! You warned us about this. If you hadn't…" King Rowan said, pain evident in his voice. "It's just too bad that we didn't believe it to the end. Had we continued our preparations…"
"Your Highness, this wasn't something we could predict," Baiyi tried to comfort him. To have this level of control despite this unprecedented disaster was already good enough.
All they could do now was to protect this island until the portal was built. Then the entire populace of this kingdom could finally be sent to Isythre.
"How about the other nations…?" Baiyi asked.
The King could only answer, "All we have now, for them, is our prayers."