Chapter 411

Complaining is complaining.

The three-sound assembly call had already sounded, and Gao De had already entered the city.

Not to mention anything else, just the identity of a Sea Hai Shao Bing mage destined him to be unable to stay out of it.

Otherwise, not to mention the subsequent accountability, he certainly wouldn't be able to mix in the Sea Hai Shao Bing afterward.

The Sea Hai Shao Bing is full of elite mages; a deserter will be looked down upon.

"Let's go over together." The guard mage said seriously.

"Okay, let's go together." Gao De nodded.

The Municipal Square of Auckland City is located in the center of Auckland City and can be reached directly via the Taiwa River.

The guard mage pulled Gao De onto a patrol boat dedicated to inland rivers.

This is a typical rowing sailboat; the hull is relatively long and narrow, and it can travel flexibly even in the narrower river channels of the Taiwa River; the power source is mainly sails and oars.

The bow and stern are relatively sharp, and the speed of traveling on inland rivers is also faster than Gao De's boat.

The assembly call was issued from the bell tower located in the center of the Municipal Square.

By the time Gao De and the guard mage arrived, the huge Municipal Square was already overcrowded.

Scanning over, the number of people definitely exceeded ten thousand.

This is the foundation of the Jin Jin Quehua Dynasty; the number of official mages in a city can reach tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.

However, although it was impossible to clearly see everyone's mage level, Gao De deployed the Mandora Magic Eye to scan it; through the slight energy flow, it could basically be determined that among so many people, more than two-thirds were first-circle mages.

The rain was still falling, and the bluestone slabs of the square were full of standing water, but there was no debris; obviously, it had already been cleared.

At the very front of the Municipal Square was the Auckland City Hall.

The white brick-and-stone City Hall felt cold in the cloudy sky, and the Jin Jin Quehua emblem at the very top was shining; it was made of pure gold.

Even after experiencing the attack of Catfish, this City Hall was safe and sound, without any signs of damage.

In front of the City Hall gate, Earl Roland, wearing a black rain-proof cloak with silver edges, stood on the steps.

Standing behind him were all famous great nobles and mages of Auckland City.

Gao De and the guard mage were considered the last batch to arrive.

After all, they had rushed from the city gate furthest from the city center.

So, only about two minutes after they arrived, Earl Roland spoke.

"Everyone should be here."

"Please, mages of the second circle and above, stand in the front row." With the help of the power of spells, Earl Roland's voice was not loud, but it was clearly transmitted to the ears of every mage present.

Thus, sparse mages in the crowd began to move forward, gathering in the front row.

Gao De and the guard mage both remained motionless.

However, he noticed that among the mages squeezing forward from the crowd, there was actually a mage also wearing a Sea Hai Shao Bing uniform.

Of course, the other party was wearing a warrant officer uniform.

"I am very happy to see that everyone can respond to the Mage Assembly Call and arrive to gather in such a short time."

Earl Roland scanned the second-circle and above mages in the front row, and then turned to the first-circle mages who stood in the back and were the most numerous, saying slowly in an extremely peaceful and heavy tone.

"It's just that I have a piece of bad news to tell you."

He paused, seemingly giving everyone time to build psychological preparation.

After stopping for about three seconds, Earl Roland continued: "The appearance and expansion of Catfish were too abnormal, and the three small cyclones that followed were unprecedented, so I invited our Auckland Chief Mage, Mage Xio Duo, to go out to sea to scout the situation."

After saying this, he turned slightly, and a silver-haired old man stepped forward; he wore a deep purple robe, had a hooked nose, and held a black obsidian staff in his right hand, looking extremely extraordinary in bearing.

He was Auckland's Chief Mage, Xio Duo.

For a city at the level of Auckland, the Chief Mage's level is at least a senior fourth-circle mage.

"I was ordered by the Earl to go out to sea to scout the situation and came to the starting place of the Catfish cyclone."

"There, I saw a space rift that was constantly expanding." Mage Xio Duo paused here; the rainwater dripping from the eaves of the City Hall fell, but before it touched his body, it was blocked by a transparent membrane.

"The other end of the space rift connects to an alien plane full of wind elements."

"There are intense wind elements and violent winds surging out from this space rift."

"That is to say, the appearance of Catfish this time is not a natural phenomenon, but completely originates from this space rift; it is an alien plane disaster."

The Municipal Square instantly fell into dead silence, with only the sound of rain hitting various clothes and even magic tools.

After reporting the situation, Mage Xio Duo retreated silently, letting the "stage" back to Earl Roland.

"Everyone should be very clear about the harm of an alien plane disaster; just like the appearance of earth veins, it often causes a prosperous city to collapse in an instant."

"Earth veins are space rifts connecting the earth-vein plane and our mage plane, and this space rift connecting our mage plane and the wind-element alien plane, let's temporarily call it Fengluo."

"The bad news is that this Fengluo is only 180 kilometers away from our Auckland City."

Speaking of 180 kilometers, Earl Roland's face became very solemn, and his tone even carried a bit of sighing.

"180 kilometers!"

"My god..."

And as his voice fell, the expressions of many mages in the Municipal Square changed, and they couldn't help but start discussing.

Nothing else, this distance was really too close.

"At a distance of 180 kilometers, plus this is a wind-element alien plane, once this Fengluo is completely stabilized..."

Not to mention anything else, in the future, cyclone invasions at the Catfish level will become a common occurrence for our Auckland City; it might happen once or twice a month.

Hearing this, Gao De also knew the seriousness of the matter.

If Catfish comes once or twice a month, it won't take a year for Auckland City to become a waste city.

However, the term wind-element alien plane still made him feel some doubts.

Before this, he had only heard of the earth-vein plane; of course, since there is an earth-vein plane, there must also be other alien planes; this is very reasonable.

However, Gao De was indeed hearing about alien planes other than the earth-vein plane for the first time.

It seems that the level of the earth-vein plane is relatively high, so it has many intersections with the mage plane; do earth veins cover the whole world?

He guessed in his heart.

And what Earl Roland said next also verified his guess.

"The good news is that this is just a secondary plane composed of pure elemental energy, not a stable material plane like the earth-vein plane."

"The size of a secondary plane is limited, and the energy is measurable; as long as we can scatter the elemental creatures in this secondary plane during the early stage of Fengluo's expansion, before it is fixed, it can make the energy of the secondary plane extremely consumed."

"And once the secondary plane falls into a situation of insufficient energy, our mage plane, as the main plane, possesses powerful self-healing ability, which will automatically repair the space rift that has not yet been fixed, thereby causing this Fengluo to dissipate."

"I issued the Mage Assembly Call this time to summon everyone to go out to sea together to wipe out the elemental creatures in this secondary plane."

"Mage Xio Duo has already preliminarily confirmed that based on the energy concentration of this secondary plane, the strongest elemental creatures are fifth-rank, mainly first to third-rank elemental creatures."

"Once fifth-rank elemental creatures appear, they will be dealt with by us, no need for you to worry; you only need to help wipe out these first to third-rank elemental creatures."

First to third-rank elemental creatures...

When the mages heard this level and this task, the tense atmosphere suddenly eased a lot, and one by one, they felt relieved.

Since they appeared here, whether they were truly willing or forced by the powerful effect of the Mage Assembly Call, as Auckland mages, they certainly didn't want Auckland City to be destroyed by Fengluo, and more or less had some thoughts of guarding Auckland City.

But if the task was too arduous, this thought would soon be dispelled by fear and timidity.

Fifth-rank elemental creatures, no matter how many of them there were, it would be useless.

The higher the level, the greater the gap; this is an eternal truth.

A heaven-defying elementary school student might not have less knowledge than some junior high school students, but a doctor is definitely far stronger than a graduate student.

However, no matter what, this task was still extremely dangerous.

After all, once a fight starts, it's still at sea, the situation is chaotic, and there are no rules to speak of.

It is very possible for a third-rank elemental creature to find a first-circle mage; although their own mages would certainly rush to help at the first opportunity, the risk is always extremely great.

It's just that, under the general trend, even if afraid, they couldn't avoid the battle.

"It only takes a few days for a space rift to go from appearance to fixation."

"So, there isn't much time left for us."

"The ships to go out to sea are already prepared; everyone act together now and set off for Fengluo immediately!" After briefly introducing the situation, Earl Roland gave the final order.

The specific deployment had already been arranged by Earl Roland and Mage Xio Duo.

These mages summoned by the assembly call were mainly acting as "NPCs," pawns, just waiting for arrangements.

Gao De knew clearly in his heart and also acted very honestly according to their arrangements.

In the final analysis, he was just a first-circle mage; being able to get on the chessboard as a pawn in this level of "big plot" was already remarkable, and he still wanted to have his own will?

Unless he was the protagonist...

To tell the truth, Gao De didn't like participating in wars, especially participating in wars as a small soldier.

Danger is secondary; more importantly, in war, unless one is a top-level mage like Mage Xio Duo, individual power seems too insignificant.

Not to mention being a first-circle mage, even if he were a third-circle mage now, he would estimate himself to be an insignificant character in this Fengluo "big plot."

In such a war, having one more of himself makes no difference, and having one less of himself makes no difference; victory won't be because of him, and defeat won't be because of him.

And whether it's victory or defeat, he has the possibility of dying in the war.

This feeling is not good.

But since there was no choice, Gao De quickly cast aside his rejection and put his mind into the upcoming war.

Following the order, led by Earl Roland and Mage Xio Duo, a crowd of mages surged from the Municipal Square toward the Auckland wharf like a tide.

On the wharf, dozens of warships were lined up, connecting into one piece.

These were official warships, using sturdy oak and teak as the main materials; the hull structure was huge, shining with an oily luster in the torrential rain.

All warships were multi-deck designs, and the largest even had three decks.

Dozens of flags embroidered with the Jin Jin Quehua emblem fluttered in the wind.

As warships, unlike ordinary passenger ships and cargo ships, their power systems, besides having dozens of sails, were also equipped with corresponding alchemy machines to provide additional magic power.

In addition, alchemy magic cannons were set up on both sides of the hull, distributed on the decks of each layer, which could provide additional fire support.

The leading warship, the "Thorn Crown," was even built entirely of metal, and the equipment was a classic weapon that was generally only set up in cities, which Gao De had often seen in Western fantasy novels: Magic Crystal Cannon.

Compared to cannons, the barrel of the Magic Crystal Cannon was cast from a whitish mithril, and the surface was covered with runes.

These runes wound on the metal surface like living things, and the length of the barrel reached more than six meters, with thick walls.

The breech part was the core of the Magic Crystal Cannon, adopting a design combining rune arrays and alchemy machines, with a huge diamond-shaped magic crystal slot in the center, used for placing energy sources.

Under the command and coordination of official mages, the non-official mages summoned were diverted in an orderly manner and boarded different warships one after another.

And when they got here, Gao De parted ways with the guard mage who had led him all the way.

Because the official mage responsible for boarding guidance, after seeing the Sea Hai Shao Bing uniform on Gao De and confirming his identity, arranged him to another warship that was obviously of a higher grade, and whispered to him: "This is a warship dedicated to noble mages."

Gao De understood instantly.

This was considered special treatment.

Under the Mage Assembly Call, any mage must respond to the call to go out to sea, and noble mages are no exception; on this point, they also have no privileges.

However, when arranging warships, they could arrange warships with more complete equipment and stronger defensive performance for them, thereby enhancing the survival rate.

In any circle, there are some unique rules that are not written on paper, but that everyone defaults to and follows.

But on this point, at least the Jin Jin Quehua Dynasty is considered good.

Because in the tradition of the Jin Jin Quehua Dynasty, nobles must lead by example in war.

In the Xi'en Principality where Gao De stayed before, the situation was very likely that noble mages stayed in the rear responsible for command, while they fought desperately on the front line.

Time was urgent, and the actions of the mages were very hurried and rapid, moving like ants on the deck.

Soon, a blue flag was raised on the Thorn Crown.

This was the departure signal flag.

Following closely, the other military ships sounded their whistles three times in succession, and the overlapping whistle sounds shook layers of ripples in the rain curtain.

They indicated that they were ready and ready to set off at any time.

The next moment, the Thorn Crown took the lead and sailed away from the port.

Gao De watched the huge figure of the Thorn Crown break through the rain curtain, and his heart was also settled.

There are many reasons why the Jin Jin Quehua Dynasty could become the oldest human dynasty in this plane, and the tradition that nobles must lead by example is one of them.

The remaining warships were like a well-trained wild goose formation, spreading out in a fan shape with the Thorn Crown as the arrowhead.

From a high-altitude perspective, the fleet was like a sharp blade inserted into the rain curtain.

The Jin Jin Quehua on the canvas flickered in the wind and rain.

(End of chapter)