Bernie explained, "Abel, these 8 ballistae are usually enough to scare away any enemy that dares to come. But if the enemy isn't scared away, you can open up the windows on both sides and display the full power of the Sky Ship!"
In the original design, the Skyships only had four ballistae at the front and back. It was he who suggested that the Skyships be retrofitted with the Bursting Ballistae. He even added twenty more Bursting Ballistae to the Skyships.
Abel walked into the command room. Half of the room was decorated into a luxurious command room, while the other half was sealed off by an iron door with a recognition circle.
Bernie walked up to the door and took out an identity card. He placed it on the circle, and the door opened.
He made an inviting gesture, and Abel walked into the room.
As soon as Abel walked in, he saw that the metallurgy materials he made had been turned into a circle board in the middle of the room. A cylinder shining with white light was placed in the center of the circle.
It was an ordinary spirit, but it wasn't cheap. Most people wouldn't be able to get their hands on one unless they became a wizard and had the right to buy a spirit as a tower spirit.
Bernie said to Abel as he held the identity card in his hand, "This spirit was arranged to learn how to control the Sky Ship before it was built. There are two ways to control the Sky Ship. One is to directly command the spirit to control the Sky Ship, and the other is to let the pilot learn how to control the Sky Ship on his own!"
Then he fiddled with the identity card for a bit and handed it to Abel.
The spirit in front of Abel was controlling the sound transmission circle in the room, "Sky Ship 01 Spirit wants to recognize you as its master!"
Bernie made a "please" gesture to Abel. Abel nodded and picked up the identity card. He then said, "Owner confirmed!"
"Master accepted!
Master, Sky Ship 01 awaits your command! "
Bernie said with a reluctant look on his face, "I really don't want to give this Sky Ship to you!"
"Hey, Bernie, don't you still have seven? You can get yourself a Sky Ship!" Abel said with a smile.
"That's impossible, but it's enough to satisfy my craving to be the captain. It's too expensive to keep this thing!" Bernie shook his head.
Abel also saw that there were many energy slots on the side of the room. Each slot had one intermediate gemstone. There were a total of 500 intermediate gemstones.
"How long can these gems last?" Abel asked.
Before Bernie could answer, the spirit of Skyship 01 answered, "We still have enough energy to sail for five days!"
"A hundred intermediate gemstones a day, that's not too expensive!" Abel was very satisfied with this consumption. It was probably because he used the airbag to lift off, which reduced the consumption of flying.
Bernie was speechless as he looked at Abel. 100 intermediate gemstones a day didn't seem expensive, but it was going to cost a lot in the long run.
One hundred intermediate gemstones was enough to pay for 20 wizards, and this was only the cost of one day of flying.
But then again, Abel was a Grandmaster Blacksmith and a Master Alchemist. No matter which one of his products he made, he could sell them for a sky-high price. This amount of gemstones was nothing to him.
But what he didn't know was what Abel was thinking. Abel was thinking about changing all 500 intermediate gemstones into top-level gemstones. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about the energy of the Sky Ship for at least 10 years.
On the other side of the room was a cabinet. There were a few pipes on the top of the cabinet that extended out of the room, all the way to the airbag.
The control circle drew energy from the energy slots and transferred it to the cabinet on the other side. There, the heat circle and cold circle would turn the energy into hot and cold air to control the ascent and descent of the Sky Ship.
There were also some circles engraved on the outside of the Sky Ship. There were defensive and repulsive circles. The defensive circle would protect the Sky Ship, and the repulsive circle would control the movement of the Sky Ship.
The material of the airbag was very special. It was a rare type of silk from earth silkworms. Once there was a hole in the airbag, it could be repaired with enough energy.
This series of measures made the Sky Ship a safe and reliable flying machine. On top of the dwarves' improvements, it was much more mature and suitable for the current situation.
"Abel, arrange people to get on board. The dwarves from my family can stay here for 3 days and help you train a group of pilots!" Bernie said after he finished showing Abel around and transferred the control of the other 2 Sky Ships to Abel.
Abel first thought about the old soldiers from Family Harry who used to follow Earl Marshall. They were only at the level of an official warrior, but their loyalty was not a problem. They could control the Sky Ship 2.
Family Bennett also had a few dozen old soldiers who used to follow Earl Bennett, so they could control the Sky Ship 3.
There was also a group of men of sacrifice in Abel's castle. They could control Sky Ship No.1, and there were also a few dozen crossbow operators on each of the ships. That way, the three Sky Ships would have the most reliable people to operate.
Three days later, because the Sky Ships had spirits, it wasn't difficult to pilot them. However, it would take a lot of time to learn how to pilot them manually. He could only slowly train in the future.
After Bernie and his dwarves left through the teleportation circle, Abel returned to the Sky Ship.
First, he entered the inner room of the command room. Only he could enter there. Even the captain he appointed could not. He had replaced all the intermediate gems in there with top-level gems.
There were 500 top-level gems in each Sky Ship. This number was enough to make anyone go crazy. Therefore, the inner room of the command room was sealed.
He did more than that, though. He installed ten lightning spirals on the body of each skyship and replaced all of them with top-level gems. Apart from having them recognize him as their master, he also gave the control of each skyship to the spirits of each skyship.
Each Sky Ship had 10 lightning spirals and 28 bursting crossbows. It didn't matter if it was physical or elemental attacks, they were all extremely powerful.
With the new energy source and the increased attack power, the sky ship was finally able to meet his expectations.
In the following days, the three Sky Ships began their crazy training in the sky above Harvest City. The Griffin Knight was also participating.
Sometimes, the Griffin Knight would train the Sky Ships as an imaginary enemy. Sometimes, the Griffin Knight would train with the Sky Ships to fight together.
Since the Sky Ships were new war machines, everything had to be studied from the beginning. This had nothing to do with Abel anymore. The captain and crew of the Sky Ships would train on their own to find the best way to fight.
…
In a small city near the Wizard Union of the Duchy of Keyen, the representatives of the other 5 Duchies of the Kingdom of Saint Ellis, other than the Duchy of Carmel and the dying Duchy of Keyen, were all gathered in this small city.
The representative of the Duchy of Tex, Head Knight Job, stood up and said loudly, "Everyone, I'm sure you all know why we are here today. Our Duchy has reached its most critical moment. Our citizens are starving. This winter, the Duchy of Tex has used up the last bit of our strategic reserves. We need a war to relieve the pressure on our food supply!"
The Duchy of Tex was the initiator of this meeting. Last time, when they attacked the Duchy of Keyen, they were about to receive the rewards of the war. However, the 20,000 knights led by Prince Derek took most of the rewards. Even the Duchy of Keyen was squeezed dry.
Since then, the Duchy of Tex had used all of their intelligence to buy information from the outside. The fact that Prince Derek had been to the Duchy of Carmel before the war was easily discovered.
The Duchy of Carmel had provided food to the Kingdom of Saint Ellis, so the 4 Duchies' war had become someone else's wedding dress. This made the 4 Duchies very angry, especially the Duchy of Tex.
However, they also knew how scary Guru Abel of the Duchy of Carmel was. Legend had it that he could fight with gods, but the 5 Duchies didn't believe it.
Plus, a single person's bravery was limited in a large-scale war. Many powerful people had been killed by the Knight Legion in history.
What they were most worried about was Abel's foreign aid. If the war dragged on, the dwarves and the elves' friendly city, Angstrom City, would most likely send reinforcements.
Therefore, the 4 Duchies decided to work together. In order to increase their strength, they pulled in the Duchy of Thunder. Ever since the Duchy of Thunder ceded Neking City to the Duchy of Carmel, its internal stability had been very unstable.
Neking City, which had been ceded to the Duchy of Carmel, received food support from the Duchy of Carmel. The food supply in the city was enough to feed the citizens of Neking City.
This made the duchy of Thunder want to submit to the duchy of Carmel. This was especially true for the citizens of the lower echelons.
No matter how much food they had, the nobles would never run out of food. In fact, they always had a lot of food.
The only ones who lacked food were the commoners. They made up the majority of the population, and they were the ones who went hungry every day. Therefore, the commoners began to have all kinds of ideas. These ideas quickly spread to more cities and more commoners.
The Duchy of Thunder did not dare to cause trouble for the Duchy of Carmel. At the very least, they were not strong enough to go against the Duchy of Carmel on their own.
Now, the Duchy of Thunder saw a glimmer of hope after receiving the invitations from the 4 Duchies. Although the combined strength of the 5 Duchies was not as strong as an empire, it was at least 10 times stronger than the Duchy of Carmel.
The Duchy of Carmel's strength was very clear to the other Duchies. Even if Abel became the king, this fact would not change in a short period of time.
"The Duchy of Larvid is the same. We need a victory with enough benefits to stabilize our duchy. We need a lot of food!" Grand Knight Armand of Larvid also stood up.
"The Duchy of Larvid also agrees to the war. If we work together, no other Duchy can beat us!" Grand Knight Gershwin of the Duchy of Larvid was very confident after the last war.
"The Duchy of Rohr of Rohr of the Duchy of Rohr will follow your lead. We will take up our responsibilities as allies!" Grand Knight Dobson of the Duchy of Rohr of the Duchy of Rohr lowered his voice.
"You all want to go against the Duchy of Carmel, but do you know how strong Abel is?" Grand Knight Ewell of the Duchy of Thunder said hesitantly.
As a Grand Knight of the Duchy of Thunder who had just had a conflict with the Duchy of Carmel, Grand Knight Ewell had seen Abel before. He had also seen Wizard Dunn and Wizard Lorenzo who were close friends with Abel.
"According to our analysis, Abel should be a beginner Knight with the fighting skills of a Grand Knight. He should have a giant contracted creature made out of steel or a puppet. I don't believe he can change the outcome of a war by himself!" Grand Knight Job lowered his voice.
As the commander of a powerful army of knights, he believed in the power of his army. One or a few Grand Knights fighting against an army of knights would only result in death. If a beginner wizard was to appear in a large scale war, it would be suicide.
A single contracted creature could change the outcome of a war. It had never happened in the history of the Holy Continent.
Head Commander Ewell reminded, "According to the report we got after the orc war, Abel was behind the orc army all by himself. He messed up the entire orc army and let the humans win in the end!"
Head Commander Job didn't believe it. He just didn't want to believe it. "Who saw it? Our Duchy of Tex's investigation system interviewed many knights who participated in that war, but none of them saw it. They only saw Abel after the human knights attacked. Who knows what happened?" Head Commander Job didn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it.
You can't wake someone who's pretending to be asleep!
The representatives of the 4 Duchies were the same. They didn't believe a single person could change the outcome of a war, and that person's power was too weak.
Of course, they didn't want to attack the Duchy of Carmel. It was too risky. The powerful Abel could become their nightmare.
However, some information made the Duchies too jealous, so they were willing to take a huge risk.
"Head Commander Ewell," Head Commander Dobson said as he handed a document to Head Commander Ewell. "This is the information that the investigation department of the Duchy of Koror has spent a lot of money on."
The Duchy of Rohr was located in the north of the Duchy of Carmel. The Duchy of Rohr's intelligence system had infiltrated many places in the Duchy of Carmel for countless years. However, ever since Abel became the king, he had invested a lot of resources into the Duchy of Carmel, so the other Duchies' intelligence system in the Duchy of Carmel had suffered a lot.
Especially in the Harvest City area. Since the nobles had left, almost any unfamiliar face would be discovered by the local people.
After sacrificing a lot of intelligence personnel, the Duchy of Rohr's intelligence system finally got an accurate report. It seemed like Harvest City was using a potion to help the crops grow.
Also, more than 10 giant granaries had appeared in Harvest City, and they were all full of food.
This information was the last straw that moved the 4 Duchies. Food had become the most important resource in the world. They were already at the end of their rope. If they couldn't replenish their food supply, the Duchies would cease to exist.
If the food shortage continued, the Knight legion would not have enough food to attack. They could only sit and wait for death.
Thousands of years ago, there were several crop failures, and countless people had died. How many people were the Duchies prepared to sacrifice this time? And this was without any external help.
Once the food supply reached a certain point, there were cases in history where the Empire used force to rob the Duchies of food. There were also cases where other powerful Duchies participated in the robbery.
Perhaps if they didn't take action, they would end up like the Duchy of Keyen. The Duchy of Carmel would become history.
Therefore, the 4 Duchies no longer cared about Abel's power. They didn't care about Abel's revenge. They didn't care about what the dwarves and elves would do.
The only thing they cared about now was food. The giant food warehouse in Harvest City was their target.
Head Knight Ewell looked at the information in his hand. He could already see that other than the Duchy of Thunder, the other 4 Duchies had already made up their minds. They probably only wanted to increase their chances of winning, which was why they brought the Duchy of Thunder.
Whether he agreed or not, this war was already inevitable. Once the 4 Duchies won, the Duchy of Thunder would be their next target.
The representatives of the 4 Duchies looked at Head Knight Ewell and waited for his decision. The reason they brought the Duchy of Thunder was to prevent the Kingdom of Saint Ellis from stealing the fruits of victory after they defeated the Duchy of Carmel.
If the 5 Duchies worked together, they would at least be able to fight against the Knight legion sent by the Kingdom of Saint Ellis. According to the 4 Duchies' estimation, the Kingdom of Saint Ellis would definitely not fight with them at this time. No matter if they won or lost, the Kingdom of Saint Ellis would suffer a great loss. If that happened, the other 2 Kingdoms would swallow the Kingdom of Saint Ellis whole.
The reason why the Kingdom of Saint Ellis didn't resist the first time was because their attack was sudden. The 4 Duchies were threatened without any cooperation.
However, this time was different. The 5 Duchies were going to form a legion of Knights. When the Knight legion of the Kingdom of Saint Ellis tried to attack them, they would have a hard time.
"How do we deal with the wizards of the Duchy of Carmel?" Head Knight Ewell asked in a deep voice.
His question made the representatives of the 4 Duchies sigh in relief. This meant that Head Knight Ewell had given in.
Before coming here, the king had given Head Knight Ewell enough power to start a war. As long as it was beneficial to the Duchy, he would participate in the war.
"All the wizards of the Duchy will participate in the war. This is a war for the fate of the Duchy. If we win, we will be able to continue the Duchy. If we lose …" Head Knight Job didn't finish his sentence.
All the representatives knew what he meant. If they lost, they would have to bear the crime of attacking the Grandmaster Blacksmith's Duchy. The dwarves would punish them, and Abel would make them suffer an unprecedented blow.
Thinking about the wizard circle that disappeared outside the Duchy of Keyen, if something like that happened in their Duchy, how terrible would it be?
"We can't afford to lose," Head Knight Armand said. "Once the war starts, all the intermediate wizards will move in a flash to kill Abel. As long as Abel is dead, the Duchy of Carmel will have nothing to fear!"
"Then can we lure Abel out, set up a trap to kill him, and then attack?" Head Knight Ewell's heart skipped a beat when he thought of Abel. A head knight like him was as helpless as a child in front of Abel.
"Don't even think about it. It's impossible. Do you know how long Abel hasn't been seen in public?" Head Knight Job looked up at Head Knight Ewell and said, "He hasn't been seen in public for two whole years. How long do we have to wait? One year? Two years?"
Head Knight Ewell didn't say anything. He still couldn't forget the way Abel looked at him. He felt like this attack was a nightmare, but if he didn't participate, the Duchy of Thunder would be destroyed by the four Duchies, just like how the Duchy of Keyen was destroyed.
Head Knight Job didn't understand why Head Knight Ewell was so afraid of the Duchy of Carmel. He just didn't want to encounter Abel.
Head Commander Job continued, "Let me tell you one last piece of news that will make you feel better. According to the news I've received, all elite wizards are not allowed to participate in the common world. At least during this period of crop failure, all elite wizards will be in retreat."
Next, they discussed how they should act as a team and how to avoid detection by the Duchy of Carmel's intelligence network.
It wasn't easy to mobilize five duchies. Although they were supposed to act as a team, the distance between each duchy was different. Therefore, there would be differences in the timing of the attack.
In the end, they decided to set off from the Duchy of Thunder and attack Neking City first. From there, they would only need to attack two smaller cities with weak defenses to reach Harvest City. This was already the fastest route they could take to reach Harvest City.
The Duchy of Thunder was very familiar with Neking City. It had been under their control for a long time and had just been handed over to the Duchy of Carmel. There were still many intelligence agents from the Duchy of Thunder in the city. If they attacked from there, it would be a piece of cake.
…
When the five duchies formed an alliance, their movements did not escape the attention of the Kingdom of Saint Ellis's intelligence network. When the Duchy of Tex, which was the furthest away, sent out three thousand Knights, Prince Derek had already received the most accurate information.
Because when it was time to mobilize the knights, it was impossible to keep the operation a secret no matter how much they tried to keep it a secret. Therefore, the 3,000 knights moved extremely quickly and the Larvid Duchy also mobilized 3,000 knights.
In the Duchy of Keyen, the two Knight Legions merged into one and became six thousand Knights. Then, the Duchy of Laka and the Duchy of Rohr also sent out six thousand Knights.
By the time they entered the Duchy of Thunder, this army of 12,000 knights had already displayed their terrifying might. By the time they entered the Duchy of Thunder, this army of knights had already grown to 14,000 knights.
There were fifteen Head Knight Captains, five intermediate wizards, and fifteen beginner wizards. This was a very powerful force.
When the Duchy of Tex sent out their troops, Prince Derek had already found Emperor Ambrose of the Kingdom of Saint Ellis and reported to him.
Prince Derek bowed, "Father, the Duchy of Tex, the Duchy of Larvid, the Duchy of Laka, the Duchy of Rohr, and the Duchy of Thunder are forming an alliance to attack the Duchy of Carmel. Should we send out messengers to persuade them?"
"Why do we need to persuade them? Besides, what's the point of persuading them? It's not like we haven't used this method before. If diplomatic words were useful, we wouldn't have had to send so many knights last time!" Emperor Ambrose said calmly.
Prince Derek continued, "Then we'll send out Knights to stop them. Abel did help us after all!"
His Majesty Ambrose said coldly, "Derek, you're going to be an emperor in the future. Don't let your feelings blind you. The Kingdom is very weak right now. The Duchy of Carmel has food, and that's what attracted the five Duchies. We can't send out any more troops. Did they not think about the possibility of us joining in this alliance?"
Prince Derek suggested, "Then we should inform the Duchy of Carmel and Abel first so they can prepare!"
His Majesty Ambrose stood up and yelled, "Idiot, if we inform the Duchy of Carmel now, it means we already know about this. Once the five Duchies know about this, how can we send out troops to steal the spoils of war?"
Prince Derek looked at His Majesty Ambrose. He realized that it wasn't that His Majesty Ambrose didn't want to send out troops. If the Duchy of Carmel lost, the five Duchies would also suffer losses.
From what he knew about Abel, the five Duchies would lose a lot. Once the Knight army of the Kingdom of Saint Ellis appeared, the spoils of war would be theirs.
This way, they wouldn't offend Abel, and they could use this as an excuse to avenge Abel. The food stolen by the five Duchies would also be theirs.
"Father, if the Duchy of Carmel wins, what should we do?" Prince Derek asked, still feeling that something wasn't right.
"Do you even need to ask? Of course, we'll help the Duchy of Carmel hunt down the invaders. Haven't we always been on good terms with the Duchy of Carmel?" His Majesty Ambrose replied naturally.
Prince Derek felt a chill run down his spine. He had a feeling that after this, the relationship between the Kingdom of Saint Ellis and the Duchy of Carmel would never return to how it used to be.
For the sake of some unknown benefits, he didn't want to help the duchy of Carmel, which he had a good relationship with.
However, no matter how much he thought about it, it was useless. He wasn't the emperor. The one who made the decision was His Majesty Ambrose.
At the border between the Duchy of Thunder and Neking City, a large army of Knight soldiers was marching towards the Duchy of Thunder. Behind them were wizards in carriages, followed by a long line of logistics.
This time, the Knight soldiers had to travel a long way, especially to the Duchy of Tex and the Duchy of Larvid. They were separated from the Duchy of Carmel by the Duchy of Keyen, the Duchy of Laka, and the Duchy of Rohr. Therefore, they had to bring a logistics team with them to the Duchy of Thunder.
Since there were adepts participating in the battle, the logistics team had to bring more supplies. They even had to bring a bathtub along. The adepts that were worshipped by the duchy were not the adepts that fought in Miracle City all year round. These adepts lived like nobles.
The five armies of Knight soldiers had merged into one, and there could only be one commander. Without a unified command, the Knight soldiers wouldn't be able to perform as well as they should.
After a discussion between the five duchies, Head Knight Captain Job of the Duchy of Tex was chosen to be the commander of this army of 14,000 knights. Due to his rich battle experience, he had never lost a single battle before.
Head Knight Job pulled out his knight's greatsword from his waist and waved it around. "Knights, I know your families are starving. Today, we have formed an army of Knight soldiers with the sole purpose of obtaining food. Our goal is Harvest City. There's a lot of food there, enough for our families to eat for years. I promise that the first batch of Knights who participate in the war will be the first to receive the food. Let's go! We are fighting for our duchies, for our families!"
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