Chapter 192: Chapter 89: Steam Realm, Construction Plan
"Of course, these are all secondary matters."
"The main reason I’ve invited you here this time is to discuss the upcoming founding ceremony. This is of the utmost importance."
"The founding ceremony of the Otan Grelle Steam Empire will carve an immortal National Steam Sacred Mark into the epic saga of the entire Northern Border Region."
"As long as the Steam Empire exists, it will be a continuous source of Sacred Marks for top-tier Transcendents like us."
"The benefits from the founding ceremony are immense."
"But... the founding ceremony will inevitably face an invasion by the national ritual power of Saintisman."
"All the different factions will want a piece of the pie."
"Currently, there are nine major factions and groups participating."
"This means a total of nine Steam Ceremony Towers must be built."
"You can come take a look at the core and basic framework for the nine ceremony towers."
As she spoke, Lady Sun unrolled an extremely complex ritual framework diagram on the table.
The framework for the nine Steam Ceremony Towers.
In the center was the core Steam Tower, featuring the totem of the Sun Goddess.
Surrounding it were those for Ogrande City, the Autanston Realm, the Saint Grelle Realm, the Ancient Porcelain Holy City faction, and other participating factions or groups.
Such as the Saint Grelle Traditionalist Faction, the High Mountain Witches, and the royalist faction to which Winnie Isaiah belongs.
Zorn had seen countless framework structures for founding ceremonies.
He could tell the quality of the framework and which faction’s hand was behind it with a single glance, grasping the general idea.
’The framework’s structure is a bit crude and simple. That’s understandable. After all, the actual Controllers of each faction’s Steam Ceremony Tower are of varying skill levels. A cruder, simpler design is actually a good thing.’
’If it were too refined, the operational requirements would be extremely high. It would just be a hassle if they couldn’t achieve a unified resonance with one another.’
’The energy resource conversion efficiency seems decent, but when paired with this crude framework, the outcome is... underwhelming.’
’Besides that, this ritual clearly has some small loopholes. Hmm... building backdoors for yourself this openly is just brazen!’
’But then again, this ritual is clearly the work of the Hidden Wilderness Sect. Has Lady Sun been cooperating with them?’
’Are these hidden factions also starting to get involved in the new era’s tide of steam?’
After carefully examining every aspect, Zorn had already committed the entire framework to memory.
Zorn didn’t care about the frameworks for the other factions’ Steam Ceremony Towers.
However, Zorn would follow the overall operational framework while redesigning and constructing a Steam Ceremony Tower unique to Ogrande City.
Others lacked the profound foundation in Extraordinary Studies needed to construct a Steam Ceremony Tower that perfectly suited them.
But for Zorn, that was his specialty.
From the massive assets invested by Ogrande City, Zorn was entitled to twenty percent of the National Steam Sacred Marks.
Therefore, in this founding ceremony, the more efficient the ritual he constructed, the more he would personally gain.
Not to mention, the national ritual initiated by the Steam Ceremony Tower would also provide Zorn with a continuous supply of Fighting Essence and Spiritual Essence.
This was one of the benefits that High Level Transcendents could gain by banding together to control major factions.
His inspection complete, Zorn slowly sat down on the sofa, sizing up Lady Sun with a faint, enigmatic smile.
"So..."
he began slowly.
"Our partner is the Hidden Wilderness Sect?"
Across the table, Lady Sun’s pupils contracted sharply, and she couldn’t help but hold her breath.
’True experts with accomplishments in national framework Ritualism can identify which faction is involved through the overall layout style, the trajectory of the lines, and the techniques used in the framework.’
This was what that Upper Rank Level master of Extraordinary ritualism had explained to her when he gave her the framework diagram for the Steam Empire’s ritual.
His earlier warning was now perfectly validated.
"Yes!"
Lady Sun sat down on the sofa opposite Zorn, her gaze landing on him with exceptional caution.
She knew Zorn was exceptionally skilled in this area, but she hadn’t expected him to identify their partner so easily.
"The Hidden Wilderness Sect is providing us with support."
"So... is there a problem with the national ritual framework?"
Zorn smiled.
"That depends on how you define ’problem,’ Lady Sun."
"If you and the other leaders of the Sun Church fully understand all the functions of this national framework ritual’s schematic, as well as its hidden implications..."
"then this schematic is merely a bit crude, but very suitable for the current situation."
"If you are not familiar with the true, hidden meaning within this schematic..."
Zorn paused here, then said seriously.
"Then... this will be a ’Book of Shame.’"
"A ’Book of Shame’ carved onto the forehead of the new Steam Empire."
"Book of Shame?"
Lady Sun frowned slightly, then said slowly.
"They said they would take one-tenth of the Sacred Marks at most."
"One-tenth?"
Zorn raised an eyebrow slightly.
"That’s just what’s on the surface. There’s another tenth taken in secret. So in reality, it’s—two-tenths!"
Two-tenths?
Even Lady Sun, who was known for her excellent temperament, now showed a hint of anger.
"How dare they?"
"Even if they are giving us tremendous help, taking two-tenths is going too far!"
With that, Lady Sun looked at Zorn and asked.
"How can the ritual be modified to prevent this secret theft?"
"That, I do not know."
Zorn shrugged helplessly.
’Feigning anger just to try and get free information from me.’
’As if that would work.’
Besides, Zorn knew the Sun Church had its own experts in this field.
It was impossible for them not to have seen the problem.
After her gaze lingered on Zorn for a moment, Lady Sun finally spoke slowly.
"Alright. To be honest, we also discovered the problem with the Steam Ceremony Tower’s structural framework."
"We also suspected they might secretly siphon off an additional share."
"But they provided the core, which we can’t alter. We can only make changes to the Steam Ceremony Towers we build ourselves."
"But... we don’t have a good solution at the moment."
"If you can solve the problem of our own Steam Towers being siphoned from..."
"we might be able to provide you with some additional resources."
’Additional resources?’
Zorn’s interest was immediately piqued.
He thought for a moment before speaking slowly.
"That Hidden Wilderness Sect just loves to pull these kinds of petty tricks."
"In my opinion, why should we let the Hidden Wilderness Sect take that one-tenth at all?"
"We don’t need to worry about what they take from others, but for our side, I can redesign it."
"I can guarantee they won’t be able to take a single sliver of the Sacred Marks. In fact, if you’re willing, Lady Sun, forget the Sacred Marks—they won’t be able to take any Steam Essence either."
Upon hearing this, a faint halo of sunlight bloomed in Lady Sun’s pupils.
"You can make it so the Hidden Wilderness Sect can’t draw anything?"
’Not only can I stop them from drawing anything, but if you let me redesign the core framework, I could even make them owe us instead.’
Of course, Zorn would never say this out loud.
"Of course I can,"
Zorn said seriously.
"I will present a plan within the next few days and then construct the Steam Ceremony Tower as quickly as possible."
"Also..."
He looked at Lady Sun thoughtfully and continued.
"This framework for confronting our enemies involves cooperation and interaction, but it’s all centered on interaction with the central Steam Tower."
"When it comes to resisting the invasion of steam power from the Saintisman Empire, it basically comes down to each faction’s own abilities, right?"
"Yes!"
Lady Sun nodded slightly.
"Although we share the same general goal, there are still many disputes among us."
"If we were to truly defend together, never mind those who would slack off, there would even be some who would actively sabotage our efforts."
"Each faction will construct its own Steam Tower and defend on its own. It will be a test of their true strength."
"If they can’t withstand the assault of the steam tide, they will be the only ones to suffer the losses."
Zorn looked at the numerous steamships in the bay outside and said slowly.
"In that case, we must build the levels of our Steam Ceremony Tower higher and make it more stable this time. Otherwise, when the great steam wave arrives, there’s a risk of the tower being destroyed and its people perishing."
"And once we withstand the attack of the great steam wave from Saintisman..."
"after the new Steam Empire’s ceremony towers are complete, we, the Tower Guardians, will also reap a bountiful harvest!"
"Yes!"
Lady Sun nodded lightly.
"When the new Steam Empire is established, we, its founders, will be the greatest beneficiaries!"
