Chapter 242: Marshal Roger of the Second Fleet
While other gods celebrated their victories, Taibera was plagued by worries.
It seemed that the joys and sorrows of gods were not easily shared.
She had tried to deal with the Azurevine Empire several times, but each attempt ended in failure.
A mere mortal nation had managed to tie down the demigods she had nurtured, a feat that Taibera found utterly incomprehensible.
Following this, many of the planes under her control were attacked, and the local church organizations collapsed directly, meaning she would no longer receive Faith Power from those Worlds.
Even now, as other gods rejoiced in victory, her Believers were still desperately calling for divine aid against powerful enemies they couldn’t defeat.
These enemies were not hiding their identities; they openly displayed the banners of the expeditionary fleets established by the Azurevine Empire.
Alongside the imperial and military flags, there was a flag with a cute pig’s head, bearing the words in small print:
Specially sponsored by the God of War’s Pig Farm.
This was a clear mockery of her Incarnation’s accidental downfall!
The only good news was that the God of Nature, the only one who understood the joke, couldn’t speak and thus couldn’t spread the word about her embarrassment.
Furthermore, she had learned from Yavanna that the Azurevine Empire had tricked the Elven Empire into expelling the God of Nature’s church. She felt she could use this as an excuse to rally an ally.
However, the God of Nature completely ignored her, even refusing to communicate.
“I apologize, my Lord’s throat is not well. Please try again another time,” the elven priestess accompanying the God of Nature, responsible for translation, directly replied to Taibera.
With Taibera’s vast experience in deceit, she understood the elven priestess’s expression perfectly.
“We only lost one country in one World; you, the War Goddess, have had plane after plane fall. We may have suffered losses, but seeing you suffer even more and more miserably brings us great joy.”
“Damn that stoic wood! Not united at all!”
Realizing this, Taibera gnashed her teeth in anger, completely forgetting that when she exploited others, she hadn’t considered unity or facing external threats together.
Therefore, she would have to face the troubles brought by the Azurevine Empire alone.
This was because the initiator of this exchange, the God of Knowledge, had provided new information:
“The next round of war has begun. I will cover half of everyone’s Faith Power consumption.”
The other gods erupted in cheers. They were all shrewd and miserly; they would invest one part to gain at least two. But if the consumption was halved, wouldn’t that mean gaining four times?
With such returns, they had hope of repaying their debts to Naliniel within a hundred thousand years!
The gods cheered, but Taibera’s smile was expressionless; she only felt immense frustration and gloom.
For reasons she couldn’t fathom, the God of Knowledge was accelerating the war, leaving her no time to deal with the Azurevine Empire, protect her raided home, or receive aid from other gods.
“We can only hope that the Angels and Holy Spirits can withstand the pressure. If we continue to lose income, my front-line combat will become strained.”
Taibera made a difficult decision. Unable to provide direct support herself, she could only have the strong men in Conqueror’s Canyon provide preliminary support to the planes targeted by the Azurevine Empire.
“Just you wait. When I have time, I won’t let you continue being so arrogant. You’ll pay back everything you’ve taken from me!”
At this moment, the War Goddess was unaware of the enemy she faced, believing the Empire’s victories to be mere luck.
Her counterattack would surely crumble like fragile pottery.
So, she was restless and furious, yet still full of ambition, viewing thousands of troops as insignificant!
***
Life Ritual. The Empress of Eternal Night and Roger jointly inspected the completion of the Godly Sin.
“Greetings, Your Majesty. Greetings, Master Roger.”
Dao’er had now completely merged with the Godly Sin’s body, and under the Empress of Eternal Night’s strict orders, Lydia hadn’t dared to let the warship’s appearance grow wild.
Considering its size and the Godly Sin’s form, she had incorporated features of whales from nature, modifying its appearance to be at least symmetrical, with a single mouth and nose and two eyes, conforming to normal human aesthetics.
Fins and tails, which made the silhouette more coordinated, were crucial for Astral Plane travel and provided no propulsion in the Main Plane’s atmosphere or oceans. Initially, they were merely decorative, following common sense.
Later, to avoid wasting space, they were transformed into large missile launch bays, and extra engines were added to the tail, enhancing its mystical maneuverability.
Thus, although these parts could be seen to sway like a fish’s, they actually swayed to resemble a fish.
Human fears, besides peculiar appendages, fuzziness, and bloodiness, also included creatures with abnormal appearances. A giant, smooth whale fell into this category.
Despite her reluctance, Lydia finally succeeded in making the Godly Sin look majestic and imposing. With a length two kilometers greater than the Eternal Night, it possessed immense visual impact.
The Empress of Eternal Night was very pleased with Lydia’s final success, proving she wasn’t abnormal. Her previous sanity-eroding creations were merely due to laziness.
It was easy to understand that this kind of inspiration-driven, impulsive researcher would initially be enthusiastic and meticulous, but as they worked, new ideas would emerge, and they would be eager to pursue new projects, dedicating less time to their original endeavors.
Completing the main objective was enough; as for appearance… there was simply no time for refinement!
“Heh, fickle and easily bored. It’s human nature!”
“The new body is nice.”
Roger greeted Dao’er. They had cooperated extensively in battles over the past few years. Seeing the general now possess a Leviathan-like colossal body…
He had almost forgotten that he was once a handsome merman!
Dao’er bowed with a smile and guided them through the internal structure.
Lydia was comforted by the maturity of the warship, now capable of leading her superiors in accepting the results.
Since she was also undertaking the design and manufacturing tasks for some supporting ship classes of the Second Fleet, she stayed for a while before excusing herself.
Still in the excitement phase of her new project, she didn’t want to be separated from it for even a moment!
The living quarters and combat readiness zones within the fortress inherited much of the Eternal Night’s design philosophy. This would later become the standard overall design for the Empire’s strategic fortresses, facilitating troop rotations and the addition of new Equipment.
As the Empire’s national strength expanded and the front lines lengthened, such core fleets might eventually number over ten, allowing all regular troops and newly formed legions the opportunity to campaign in other Planes.
Better universality and ease of operation, reducing the break-in period, was something that wasted time during construction but brought immense convenience in actual combat.
During moments of intense warfare, humans might revert to instinctual actions. If the ship’s crew had previously worked on other warships, they might encounter unnecessary trouble in a new environment.
Repetitive training was intended solely for the body to react correctly before the mind when only instinct remained.
In terms of combat, the Godly Sin was equipped not only with the Empire’s most advanced weapon, defense, repair, communication, and command modules but also two massive incubation areas.
The Biochemical Fish, which had shone brightly on the seabed previously, had been enhanced with genes for creatures that could move freely in the Astral Plane, granting them land, sea, and air combat capabilities, along with a series of specially modified organisms.
“After this vessel achieves combat effectiveness, its assault capability and defensive limit will be slightly inferior to the Eternal Night, but its endurance and self-sufficiency will far surpass it.”
Dao’er rationally summarized its strengths and weaknesses, without any concealment.
An excellent general must know themselves and their opponents; there was no need to pursue proficiency in everything for the sake of pride. Every weapon and every person had a more suitable battlefield.
The internal reaction limit of biological organisms was naturally far inferior to steel, but they also had faster synthesis and processing speeds and the ability to self-replicate.
As long as sufficient organic matter could be obtained on the battlefield, the Godly Sin could self-repair and endlessly corrupt and modify creatures.
This was similar to the Zerg’s characteristic of infiltrating enemy territory. As long as they weren’t instantly annihilated, they could create endless trouble for the enemy.
The Eternal Night’s repairs required materials, and its weapons and Equipment also suffered wear and tear. Even with its vast size, it couldn’t carry an entire production line, thus inevitably facing limitations in endurance and resupply cycles.
Fleets oriented towards mechanical and biological approaches each had their advantages and disadvantages. How to utilize their respective characteristics for better deployment was what strategists like the Empress of Eternal Night needed to consider, rather than blindly pursuing comprehensiveness and having the two types of fleets compensate for each other’s flaws.
The three discussed the battlefields and tactics best suited for the Godly Sin. Roger also accepted the position of General Commander of the Second Fleet, earning the rank of Marshal.
The pressure facing Taibera was about to become even greater.
After concluding their tour of the Godly Sin, Roger and the Empress of Eternal Night returned to the City of Mysteries. They didn’t go to the palace but instead headed to the dock area they had visited before.
This area had now become a “Comprehensive Logistics Zone.”
Construction here was progressing rapidly; the daily throughput of materials equaled that of the entire previous year. The super-giant transportation hub was a three-layered, three-dimensional structure unimaginable before:
The lowest layer was the port docks, the middle layer connected to the Empire’s high-speed rail network, and the top layer was the airport hub.
The Rose River had been artificially widened threefold and deepened to accommodate larger cargo ships.
Railways and airports had also been built, connecting the entire Empire.
Magic iron furnaces, a concept proposed during the early stages of magitech, offered fast and convenient transportation far superior to even the strongest magical beasts.
The transport aircraft were also mostly vertical takeoff and landing types, not requiring long runways or complex air traffic control.
After all, strategic fortresses tens of kilometers long could fly in the sky. The immense power output from magitech and Divine Power, combined with superior material science, gave the Eternal Night World a significant advantage over Earth.
The small tavern that the Empress and Roger had visited, whose owner had received compensation for relocation and was now enjoying the burgeoning prosperity of the area, had been expanded into a business hotel and a simply decorated small bar next door.
It still focused on being affordable and accessible, but the renovation workers on the docks were no longer burly men relying on their physical strength but magitech pilots wearing the new Soul-binding Bracers.
While full automation had not yet been achieved, the power and efficiency of machinery, hundreds and thousands of times greater than that of humans, were driving the Empire’s rapid advancement.
Across the river, mirroring the City of Mysteries, was a newly built industrial city and research center.
Relying on the developed transportation network and lower land prices than the City of Mysteries, yet benefiting from its abundant talent pool, it was one of the Empire’s most important industrial zones, primarily focused on the research and manufacturing of advanced magical technology.
The two then went to the bar. It was still evening, with only a few scattered patrons.
“Still the cheapest ale, but I can finally drink it.”
The Empress of Eternal Night, seemingly nostalgic, chose the cheapest drink on the menu. The price, converted to Azurevine Coins, was even a few cents cheaper than before.
“This is the benefit of industrialization and standardization.”
Roger also felt gratified. The taste of the Empire’s beer now was no worse than the industrial lagers he used to drink on Earth, and in some aspects, it was even better.
He no longer had to feign embarrassment at being unable to swallow it.
When it came to fighting and drinking, the people of the Empire were experts. Furthermore, the Empire’s market was not overly competitive; merchants didn’t need to haggle over every detail and cut costs just to survive.
And with Azurevine Coins as the world’s common currency, the Azurevine Empire, like the US dollar’s hegemony, had established its own core financial system, raking in profits from the booming development of this World.
The Empire’s factory owners procured various raw materials from other countries at extremely favorable prices, allowing even industrial beer to acquire high-quality ingredients when needed.
Of course, the most important factor was conscience. Many of the Empire’s major beer manufacturers were successful traditional brewing families who had transformed their businesses. They didn’t want to dishonor their ancestors and aimed to build enterprises that would last centuries, unlike domestic sweatshops that only cared about quick profits and export subsidies.
There was a vast difference between capitalists. Some domestically were merely landlords disguised as capitalists, with unchanged production methods and efficiency for decades, exploiting workers’ surplus value and then going on to buy rampant amounts of real estate.
In this regard, the Empire’s merchants were somewhat different. They invested a certain percentage of their capital in technology annually. Because of the Empire’s substantial subsidies and support in this area, even for the most basic aspects of people’s livelihoods.
With a few cups of light wine, as the night deepened, while the macroscopic numbers looked beautiful each year, it was by observing the lives of ordinary people in the Empire that they truly saw the immense value of their endeavors.
“This glass is for you. Without you, I would have only turned them into a bunch of battle-crazed lunatics, and they wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the life they have now.” The Empress of Eternal Night’s eyes sparkled, once again recognizing how rare the man opposite her was.
After a series of incredibly easy victories, she clearly understood that this nation was fundamentally different from the Azurevine of the past.
Compare the people of other worlds to the Empire.
“To Your Majesty. Without your support, I couldn’t have accomplished anything.”
The fact that this nation could achieve such a massive transformation in such a short time was solely due to the invincible Empress, the bedrock who suppressed all dissenting voices.
The glasses clinked in the air, and both said in unison, “Long live the Empire.”
