It was during the time when the Central Continent was shaken by the appearance of a spokesperson.
Amamiya Tower, or rather Kousuke, was also troubled by another problem.
It was discovered two days after Kouhi made her presence known in the city of Sajival.
While grappling with the problem Kouhi had caused, Kousuke was, as usual, checking the tower on the control panel.
And, unusually of late, he noticed that the logs had been updated.
Upon seeing the logs, Kousuke couldn’t help but do a double-take.
All towers on the continent have exceeded Tower LV4.
The Amamiya Tower’s dominance over all towers on the continent activates the Hexagonal Array System.
Please refer to the new menu for details on each system.
After seeing that message, Kousuke froze for a moment before immediately checking the new menu.
He looked, but quickly decided to pretend he hadn’t seen it.
He felt that with the Sajival problem, he wouldn’t be able to think calmly for a while.
He decided to lock that menu for the time being, so that no one could see it.
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With the Sajival problem temporarily resolved, Kousuke let out a sigh of relief.
That said, Kousuke had hardly been directly involved in this particular issue.
As a result, it was turning out to be a good direction for the tower, so he decided to refrain from further interference.
Around Mikusen’s shrine, it seemed that those who wished for Kouhi’s appearance were gathering, but he had no intention of responding to their demands.
Rather, if he were to entertain such people one by one, there wouldn’t be enough time in the world.
Kouhi and Mitsuki would likely head to the scene if Kousuke told them to, but they weren’t so eccentric as to go on their own.
Kousuke couldn’t help but feel that things tended to go better when he wasn’t directly involved, but he decided to dismiss it as his imagination.
Finally, with the management layer having regained some calm, Kousuke decided to finally check the new menu he had sealed away.
To avoid the hassle of explaining things twice, he had gathered all the members from the beginning.
Regarding the matter of all towers on the continent reaching LV4, which was the origin of the message, he had already received an explanation from Haku.
Haku had apparently confirmed that the towers reached LV4 the day before Kousuke saw the message.
However, given the circumstances, he had refrained from mentioning it.
Indeed, in the situation at the time, it was highly likely that Kousuke would have just brushed it off, so Kousuke praised Haku’s judgment.
Unfortunately, that judgment led to the message the next day becoming meaningless.
“So? What is this Hexagonal Array System? Well, I can kind of guess.”
“I think everyone’s guess is probably right. If you connect this Amamiya Tower as the center with the six surrounding towers, it forms one of the hexagonal arrays of a magic circle.”
“…I think that’s quite a large-scale magic circle, though?”
Kousuke replied to Floria’s interjection with a wry smile.
“Well, yes. I don’t know the exact details of how it’s made, though. I can vaguely imagine it.”
Everyone present thought he could imagine it, but no one commented.
Kousuke had already reached a level where he could be called the foremost authority on magic circles.
More than that, with the Divine Power Summon and the transfer circles to the divine realm, he was at a level that could be called superhuman.
“Well, regardless of that, it seems the Hexagonal Array System allows us to do various things using this hexagonal array.”
“Heh~. With that kind of scale, it seems like you could do a lot of things~.”
Kousuke gave a wry smile to Peach’s remark.
“However, it doesn’t work that way. The things we can do are limited to some extent.”
“Eh? Really?”
“Yes. Well, as the Tower LV increases in the future, more things might become available. But judging from the structure of the magic circle, I don’t think we can do that many things.”
Kousuke’s explanation brought a somewhat dejected atmosphere.
However, with Kousuke’s subsequent words, everyone’s expression became dumbfounded.
“However, the effects were truly tremendous. For example, we can erect a barrier that surrounds this continent.”
Even Kouhi and Mitsuki, usually unflappable, were surprised to hear about the effect.
A barrier large enough to encompass the entire continent would surely incur an enormous operational cost.
“Even when I say surround, it’s like a curtain of sorts, draped around somewhere a little distance from the continent. However, if ships were to travel and this barrier were in use, any ship other than those permitted would be repelled.”
This was the kind of news that would make the maritime industry turn pale.
“Even so, it must consume a considerable amount of power, what about that aspect?”
“It’s about one million Divine Power points on a daily basis.”
Everyone who heard that groaned.
Currently, with the combined Divine Power earnings of all the towers, it was not an unaffordable cost.
Conversely, compared to the costs of installations within the towers we’ve had so far, it could be considered a remarkably low operational cost.
“Compared to Layer Exchange, it feels very cheap, but do you know the reason for that?”
“If you look at the positional relationship between this tower and the other six towers, you can understand. The maintenance of the magic circle itself seems to be using the power that already exists on this continent.”
“Ah, I see. The cost paid at the tower is merely the cost to activate the magic circle, isn’t it?”
Mitsuki, unusually, interjected.
Mitsuki also seemed interested in a system that maintained such a massive magic circle.
Further investigation would likely reveal it, but the locations of each tower were on strategically important spots on the Central Continent.
They were built on convergence points of ley lines, and various other things, essentially power spots.
The magic circle is maintained by utilizing the power collected there.
“Hearing all this, I feel a bit uneasy about using this power, don’t you think?”
It was Colette who said this.
As a member of the clan that managed the World Tree, which grew using the power of ley lines, it was a natural opinion.
“No, no. Rather than that, its role is similar to that of the World Tree!”
“Eh!? Is that so?”
“Yes. And it’s the same as the buildings found in sacred places around the world. In short, it’s a continental version of the Lily Shrine.”
Everyone nodded in understanding at Kousuke’s explanation.
“From here on, it’s speculation, but it seems that the existence of this tower also serves to dissipate various things.”
“For example, what kind of things?”
Floria, who was curious, latched onto the topic.
“If it weren’t here, the power would accumulate, and eventually, a large outburst would occur.”
The members who heard this turned pale.
“…Magic Power rampage.”
“Oh? Does that remind you of something?”
“There are tales of countries being destroyed by it several times in the past. Some even claim a civilization was wiped out, though it’s hard to say if it’s true.”
That was already a scale that could more aptly be called a disaster than an outburst.
“Ah, I see.”
Kousuke agreed, as it was plausible for such an outburst to occur on the scale of a natural disaster.
“By the way, if this hexagonal array here didn’t exist, about how large of an outburst, or rather, disaster would occur?”
“Ah~. Well. This is also speculation, okay?”
Kousuke confirmed, emphasizing his point.
Then, seeing everyone nod, he emphasized again.
“Probably. Probably, but, okay?”
As Kousuke hesitated, Shurein tilted his head.
“What is it? Is it that much of a scale?”
“Yes. Well, yeah.”
With Kousuke being unusually cautious, everyone braced themselves.
“…It would probably blow away this continent, I guess?”
At Kousuke’s answer, everyone fell silent.
Their hard-won resolve crumbled in an instant.
“No, no. The reason such a thing won’t happen is because this hexagonal array exists. It’s alright.”
He hurriedly tried to reassure them, but it was too late.
The members resolved that they would absolutely not allow the towers on this continent to be destroyed as they were.
And thus, these are the reasons for the existence of towers on the Central Continent.
If the towers were destroyed, the continent could be blown away, but the towers themselves cannot be destroyed.
Next time, we will explain what has become possible with the Hexagonal Array System.
