r18novel Chapter 71 Sage
Chapter 71 Sage
After waiting for nearly two months, Liu En spent most of his time in Garros.
Instead of spending an hour or two there each day, they would immerse themselves underground for days on end without returning. Marcus was keeping an eye on the Black Pearl; the aftermath of the gag order had subsided, and the ship was as quiet as a normal cruiser should be. Vitellius would visit every few days, bringing the latest developments in the Temple's high command's argument—the supporters and opponents were still bickering, but the allure of the Starfortress mechs was too great, and the opponents had softened their stance; the main point of contention had shifted to the allocation of the mechs.
Furnace No. 1 has been running stably for more than two months. The molten metal in the gold crucible is churning day and night, the waste slag treatment line is operating at full capacity, the chemical plant's storage tank area is piled high with industrial raw materials waiting to be transported, the plastic steel plant's production line is operating in three shifts, and concrete slabs are stacked into small mountains.
Construction of Domes No. 2 and No. 3 began simultaneously. The sites were chosen to be several hundred kilometers southeast and northwest of Dome No. 1, respectively. Construction machinery drove the first batch of piles into the wasteland, and the refined metal framework was erected one by one on the concrete foundation. The assembly of the walls and the laying of the transparent armor plates for the domes had not yet begun, but the outline of the foundations had already drawn two enormous circles on the wasteland.
The underground cavity of Furnace No. 2 has been excavated to 70% of its designed depth. The adamantite skeleton grows out of the rock strata, firmly locking the loose fracture zones. The excavating claws of the engineering machinery gnaw at the rock walls day and night at the end of the tunnel, while railcars shuttle through the tunnel, transporting rubble to the upward elevator.
The production line for mechs has exceeded two hundred. The hollowed-out ore veins have left enormous voids; a refined gold frame supports the roof, and ceramic steel linings line the walls. The production line is erected in layers in mid-air. The number of mechs rolling off the line each day is already a number he's too lazy to keep track of. Engineering type, transport type, combat patrol type, precision assembly type—the number of models is still increasing.
But Enpu's mind is not on the underground lately.
Garros was getting on track. The dome was expanding, the furnace was under construction, the mechs were being decommissioned, and the colony was increasing. But one thing made him slightly uneasy—Garros' orbit was empty, and the dozen or so macro cannons and dozens of floating cannons in the spaceport were practically useless in a real large-scale battle. The entire system lacked any decent defensive capabilities. A single pirate ship could do whatever it wanted in orbit, and his field abilities were powerless against this situation in the short term.
This isn't just needless worry. Nobody knows what might jump out of Mandeville Point or be thrown out of the warp in the next second.
So every day, Enpu would take the shuttle to fly to orbits further away from the spaceport.
The blueprint for the orbital defense platform had been in his mind for a long time, conceived since the Lucis era. During the voyage to the wrecked ship, he supplemented a large amount of information on the material composition of military defense arrays, and with the assistance of the computing hub, he completed the finalization. It's not a single system, but four layers.
The first layer is the long-range kill zone. Orbital missile arrays and torpedo arrays are deployed on the outermost orbits, with launch silos arranged in a ring. Each warhead is pre-programmed with a search and lock-on protocol. They are responsible for the first wave of long-range strikes, disrupting enemy fleet formations and eliminating high-value targets. Precision guidance is not required; disrupting enemy ships' formations before they enter effective range is sufficient.
The second layer is the mid-range elimination zone. Orbital defense laser platforms take over the firepower, deployed inside the missile array. Each platform is an independently operating laser turret, equipped with its own fusion battery and targeting array. The accuracy and penetration of the lasers begin to take effect at the capital ship's maximum range, firing one by one, eliminating targets one by one.
The third layer is the close-range crushing zone. The macro-cannon platforms are deployed at the innermost edge, unleashing a barrage of shells once the enemy ship enters near-Earth orbit. While the macro-cannon's accuracy is inferior to lasers, its projectile volume is astonishing; the weight of a single shell is equivalent to the energy of dozens of laser pulses. No need to aim for vital points; a hit is all it takes, and destruction is assured.
The fourth layer is the point defense layer. The floating gun clusters are scattered in the gaps between the three fire layers. They are miniaturized and mobile, responsible for intercepting penetrating torpedoes and assault boats, and can also carry out harassing fire from the flanks and rear after enemy ships break through the outer defense line.
This wasn't built in a day. Every day, Enpu would fly to the designated orbital coordinates in a shuttle, the field would unfold, atoms would be retrieved from the warehouse, and condense layer by layer in the void—casting the foundation, installing launch silos, and laying energy pipelines. A single platform required several days of continuous work to complete, and the entire defense network required dozens of platforms.
Progress was slow, but it was progressing every day. The shuttle's plasma nozzles trailed long, thin blue flames in the vacuum. Enp stood before the observation window, watching the newly formed defense platforms slowly rotate in the starlight in the distance. The platform's indicator lights weren't lit yet, and the Thinker cores inside weren't activated, but the skeleton was already in place. Once the computing hub completed the final scheduling protocol verification, these platforms would automatically be integrated into Garros' orbital defense network.
By then, anything that jumps out of Mandeville will first be hit by a volley of missiles, then a volley of lasers, and when it reaches near-Earth orbit, macro cannons will be waiting. Those that manage to get through these three layers of firepower will be taught a lesson by the floating cannons. Each defensive point will have multiple mechs on standby. Once the enemy manages to land on a defensive node, they will be met with intelligently controlled mechs controlled by the Thinker's mainframe.
The inner track of the defense node will house a shipyard and dock – this is in the planning stages and requires blueprints.
Enpu looked away and noted today's progress on the data board.
The document arrived on an ordinary morning.
It wasn't Vitellius who delivered it personally—his old friend happened to be attending a review meeting at the Temple that day and couldn't make it. Instead, a low-ranking deacon in a grey robe arrived, carrying a scroll with a fine gold cover, followed by two ceremonial servants. He stopped at the Black Pearl's gangway, announced his purpose using a binary pulse, and then waited in the reception room.
When Liu En entered the reception room, the deacon had been standing for almost fifteen minutes. He did not sit down, but stood ramrod straight beneath the imperial statue.
"Cohen Severus." The deacon unfurled the scroll, revealing ornate High Gothic lettering with gold trim on the parchment. "The Council of Sages of the Lucius Foundry World has resolved: In recognition of your outstanding contributions to technology recovery, alien technology archiving, and replenishment of the Foundry World's military assets, the Council of Sages hereby confers upon you the title of Fifth-Order Foundry Sage. This resolution has been submitted to the Martian Mechanical Order for record."
The deacon paused for a moment, then turned the page.
"This title grants the holder access to all technical data, temple facilities, and the right to advise on the deployment of dispatched fleets within the Lucis Foundry World and its affiliated territories, equivalent to a sage of the same rank. However, it does not grant voting rights in the Sage Council or administrative authority over the temple. Furthermore, according to Article 3, Section 7 of the 'Foundry World Autonomous Territory Regulations,' the Galos Star Series is hereby approved as your own autonomous territory. Internally, the territory enjoys complete autonomy; externally, it fulfills the Imperial tithe obligation as an affiliated territory of the Lucis Foundry World. The wartime conscription clause is revised as follows: only when the Lucis Foundry World enters a legally mandated total war state of the Empire will the lord and their military assets be obligated to respond to conscription. In other circumstances, the lord retains discretion."
Liu En took the scroll and signed his name on the deacon's registration board.
After the deacon left, he stood in the drawing room for a while. The Emperor's statue looked down from the dome, its peeling gold paint on the double-headed eagle gleaming dimly under the cold white light. He glanced down at the gilded inscription on the scroll—Fifth-Order Forging Sage, Cohen Severus.
He put the scroll into the inner pocket of his robe and left the reception room.
The news of the promotion to Sage caused quite a stir within the Lucius Forge world. Not because the title itself was particularly prestigious—fifth-tier Sages were not uncommon in Lucius—but because of the reason for the promotion: eleven complete Starfortress-type intelligent mechs from the Great Crusade era.
In the technological competition between forge worlds, Lucis has consistently been at a disadvantage. Agrippina possesses a more complete production line of light spears, Mars has an unshakeable religious authority, and even some smaller forge worlds have technological legacies in certain niche areas that Lucis cannot match. Lucis doesn't have much to offer—top-tier Titan legions, elite equipment for the Papacy, spaceport anchoring modules, and Space Marine equipment. The Casterian mechs could only be considered half-baked, as too many forge worlds could mass-produce them.
Eleven Starfortress mechs changed the landscape. Not merely because of their formidable combat power, but because of the technology sealed within them—the complete structure of the atomic deflection shield, physical samples of the multi-channel parallel data bus, and the standard cognitive core architecture of the intelligent legions from the Great Crusade era. Disassembling even one meant losing one; reverse engineering them was as difficult as excavating an STC from ruins. But eleven were there, meaning the Lucis's techpriests had ample samples for destructive analysis, significantly enhancing the value of the Casterland mechs. From then on, the technological sophistication of other forge worlds manufacturing Casterland mechs would remain unmatched.
After nearly two months of arguing, the Temple's high command finally gritted their teeth and approved the Sage title. It wasn't because they liked Cohen, the insignificant Level 3 Apprentice Technical Priest, but because the Starfortress mechs were already in the Temple's warehouses—if they didn't approve it, those machines would be a hot potato, and numerous envoys from other forge worlds were eyeing them like hungry wolves; they couldn't renege on their promise. They had no choice but to approve it. Besides, Lucis was merely gaining a Level 5 Sage—an outsider with no voting rights or administrative authority—so the impact wasn't significant, and the technology recovery could still be accounted for to the Martian expedition.