Chapter 2255: Creation Advantage, Sudden War

"Try it out, can it still be used normally?" Niya asked curiously.

Xia Duo held the Puppet Amulet in his palm, feeling somewhat anxious about gain and loss, yet hoping for a new situation that would adjust his inherent understanding, while also worrying that he might break the perfectly fine puppet.

He rubbed the back of the amulet hard, and the armor puppet immediately began to disassemble and surge toward him, reassembling into a complete suit of armor on his body, while also disguising Xia Duo as a Cormanthyr Warrior.

"It actually works!"

There was no need to continue testing the rest; being able to attach to the main body already indicated that at least this part of the function was not missing, and even if all other functions were gone, it was still a huge improvement compared to common Magic Items.

Generally speaking, Magic Items under the Netheril Magic System or the Elven Magic System are a single whole; once disassembled, even if restored to their initial state, they no longer possess their original magical functions.

Because the essence of a Magic Item is the connection state of the Magic Net String, once this state disappears, it does not automatically recover, and wanting to rebuild this state is basically equivalent to creating a new one.

But this is exactly where the magic of the Imaskar Secret Device lies! Even if taken apart, as long as it is reassembled, it can still possess its original functions!

From this characteristic, Xia Duo boldly proposed a conjecture—the Imaskar Secret Device likely possesses mass-production attributes by nature!

It is somewhat similar to machines producing machines on Earth, and a hint of this could be glimpsed from the words of Tax Official Jiamu earlier—

There are artisan puppets that can produce puppets; although they require various types of cooperation, in reality, it is using machines to produce machines, breaking free from human labor constraints!

If machines can do it, then materials and such can do it even more!

From this perspective, the cost of various Imaskar goods might be far lower than the Elves imagine! Of course, it certainly still cannot compare to Arcane Crystals flowing out like a gushing stream.

Even if it were truly cheaper than Arcane Crystals, Xia Duo would not feel resentful; after all, gaining a cost advantage through advanced technology or craftsmanship was one of his goals, and he could not blame others just because they did the same.

After being motivated, striving to improve oneself is the right path.

Of course, Xia Duo actually believes that Imaskar has not yet reached the level of universal automated production, but merely has this potential, and the threshold for achieving it is far lower than in Daxia Territory.

This made Xia Duo envious, and very naturally, he wanted to understand the mystery within; if it could provide inspiration for the industrialization of the Arcane Magic System, that would be even better.

……

Xia Duo ultimately did not completely disassemble that suit of armor puppet; he decided to start from the materials, because he felt that the essence of the Imaskar Creation Magic System very likely lay in the materials.

However, to study the materials, some experiments were not very convenient to conduct inside the Tower of Time, so Xia Duo chose to carry them out in the Laboratory of the Floating City Research Zone.

Of course, before that, some matters outside the Floating City still needed to be handled properly.

……

Central Imaskar, Zhanjite City.

When Xia Duo and the Elves like Poche arrived here by Magic Ship, everything was still quite normal—normal negotiations, normal transactions—but just as they were preparing to leave, Jiamu told them:

"You can't leave for the time being; the outside is surrounded by rebel forces!"

Regarding this, Xia Duo immediately raised a different opinion, "We flew here; surely we can't fly away?"

"It is possible, but the methods of the rebel forces are hard to predict. If any of you get hurt, how am I supposed to answer to His Majesty Omanode!"

Seemingly to verify Jiamu's words, just as his voice fell, a long series of sharp alarms rang out in the city, followed by violent explosions.

This explosion was so intense that it caused ripples in the Magic Net, throwing the three Magic Ships into a state of chaos.

This chaotic moment instead highlighted the peculiarity of the Floating City; Jiamu almost immediately noticed the ship-head ornament he had previously ignored, as that obvious bubble was very unusual.

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However, his good upbringing did not let him ask on the spot, and instead, he continued to suggest, "If you must leave right now, I can help you apply for a Special Teleportation Channel."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Duo immediately became interested. He guessed that the Special Teleportation Channel Jiamu mentioned was by means of that Purple Star in the sky, and perhaps it could even allow them to take a tour of the Teleportation Hub located in the Ether Interlayer!

So he hurriedly hinted to Poche, but Poche, who had always been "submissive," hesitated for a few seconds this time, and then sent a message to Xia Duo:

"The Special Teleportation Channel is designed for large-scale troop deployment, and the cost to open it once is not cheap. Once opened, the rebel forces outside will be nothing to worry about; perhaps they are just waiting for us to pay for their military expenses!"

"This—"

Opening the teleportation meant having reinforcements, and with reinforcements, the rebel forces outside could be dealt with. Without the rebels, they could continue to fly away on the Magic Ships.

If the teleportation had to be opened like this, Xia Duo felt somewhat uncomfortable!

However, if he could take the opportunity to visit the Teleportation Hub in the Ether Interlayer, that wouldn't be a big loss!

Thinking of this, Xia Duo asked Poche again: "What is the cost to open a Special Teleportation Channel once?"

"I don't know what price they have to pay, but for our three Magic Ships, we would need to pay at least 300,000 Makala, and passengers are calculated separately."

So that's how it is!

No wonder Poche hesitated; it turns out the bulk of the cost was on his side. It was fortunate that the Floating City changed its form; otherwise, with the size of the Floating City, this fee would likely have bankrupted Xia Duo.

Clearly, a Teleportation Spell could not possibly have such a high cost, so there was only one explanation—Imaskar also needs to make money!

……

And just during the secret discussion between Xia Duo and Poche, the situation of the rebel forces outside the city changed again, and the sound of explosions from far to near had already moved closer and closer to the Wonder Twin Spires here.

Clearly, the rebels also knew which facility in a city was the most important; of course, it was the Twin-Spire that could summon reinforcements to annihilate them at any time!

Now Xia Duo had a few choices—the first was the simplest: reveal the Floating City. He did not believe that the few rebel forces outside could breach the Floating City.

The second was to bet that the Imaskar side would not sit idly by while the Twin-Spire was destroyed, and then borrow the channel when they opened the teleportation on the other side, or wait until they finished suppressing the rebellion before leaving by flying the Magic Ships.

The third, of course, was to voluntarily bear the cost of opening the Special Teleportation Channel, let the reinforcements for suppressing the rebellion come quickly, and perhaps get a chance to sneak into the Teleportation Hub in the Ether Interlayer for a look.

How should he choose?

Actually, Xia Duo highly suspected that the Imaskar side was deliberately setting a trap. Although the explosions and even the killings outside were real, for a country that often treats war as a game, isn't this commonplace?

In any case, it wasn't the upper class that was dying, but mostly the lowest-level Slaves. If it weren't for the connivance of the upper class, how could those so-called rebels have obtained various weapons, or even invaded this city?