Chapter 752 Torch Tree

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As more mages gather in the Magic Guild, experimental teams can recruit numerous participants, dramatically speeding up progress.

However, the communication magic array remains highly confidential—only a handful of trusted mages have access to its core construction. Among them, only Acheronides and Cris understand the binary and octal encoding systems.

After all, this technology serves both civilian and military purposes. Should foreign powers like the Kingdom of the Eagle master it, Dragon Knights could reinforce any border skirmish in an instant, eliminating the delays of manual messaging.

"Your Highness, here are the four prototype core units," Cris reported daily to Liszt.

Two featured cube-shaped casings. Lifting their lids revealed intricate magical structures—like multi-tiered 3D compasses with eight stacked discs, each embedded with different crystals. The crystals harness their magic-sensitive properties to relay magical signals.

These octal units could encode messages through the compass mechanisms' responses, though manual input was required—like sending a magical telegram.

Beside them sat two flatter units with similar two-layered compass structures. These binary cores operated on comparable principles but proved slower due to lengthy encoding sequences.

Liszt personally tested the system, operating one unit to communicate with another.

The process proved cumbersome, reminiscent of rotary dial telephones—each code required waiting for the compass to reset. Even a simple "hello" took Liszt a full minute. A full sentence could take half an hour!

"You must prioritize convenience," he advised. "Consider adding transmission rods to the compass and designing an external keyboard. A single keystroke could position the compass directly—this would revolutionize efficiency."

Truly, Liszt's computer-era insights gleamed with the brilliance of progress.

Acheronides and Cris felt as if the clouds had parted,

unveiling a vast new world before them.

"Your Highness, I will begin improving the core units immediately," Cris said eagerly.

"No need to rush. Secrecy must be strictly maintained. Also, Acheronides and I are about to embark on a long journey, which will be a good opportunity to test the performance of these two core units."

Upon hearing this, Cris replied, "Then, Your Highness, please give the communication magic array a more mundane name."

"A name? Let’s call it the Wireless Magic Communicator, or Magic Terminal for short," Liszt said offhandedly.

He was mimicking the concept of a radio station—where "radio" stands for wireless radio station, using electromagnetic signals. Here, they used magic signals, hence it could be called a Magic Terminal.

The name was thus decided.

Liszt and Acheronides also prepared to set off for the Fire Mountain in the Kingdom of the Eagle, searching for the Wyvern Phoenix while testing the transmission range of the Magic Terminal.

...

Out at sea.

The pearl-white ship cut through the waves, while Liszt adjusted the binary core unit of the Magic Terminal, manipulating the compass needle, which in turn rotated continuously, feeding back information.

Acheronides, meanwhile, calibrated the octal core unit: "Brother, the current distance has reached about 800 kilometers, and the signal transmission remains stable with no signs of attenuation. It can be inferred that the Magic Web’s coverage is extremely vast, allowing uninterrupted long-range communication."

"How is the response speed on your end?"

"The response speed remains consistent. Distance doesn’t affect signal speed."

Here’s the refined translation incorporating the expert suggestions:

"Hmm, it seems the magic web is truly marvelous," Liszt marveled.

The transmission speed of the magic web might be similar to that of electromagnetic waves, just under light speed. Based on previous conjectures, the magic web functions as a field, just as electromagnetic waves are a field—though one operates on a physical level and the other on a magical level, their principles are quite similar.

However, there is one key difference: electromagnetic waves experience attenuation, becoming weaker over distance.

But the magic web doesn’t seem to suffer from such attenuation. Even at 800 kilometers, the magic web's signal quality remains stable.

Thinking about it, this actually makes sense. Legends say that during the Moon Empire era, the mages who ruled the world could establish moon-bound teleportation arrays.

If the magic web can facilitate planetary teleportation, sending messages is child's play in comparison.

Soon after arriving at a desolate stretch of shoreline in the Kingdom of the Eagle, Liszt stowed away the seashell and summoned the Fire Drake Rio, carrying them both and the two magic web devices into the high clouds. Concealed by the cloud cover, they began flying toward Blazing Mountain. The Blood Servants had drawn maps, so they already knew the general location.

Even with the map’s guidance, they had to intermittently descend to ask locals for directions, adding three full days to their journey before reaching the wilderness surrounding Blazing Mountain.

The forest was called the Twilight Plains, the fiefdom of a certain Marquis.

But Liszt had no interest in contacting this Marquis. After locating the general area marked by the Blood Servants, he quickly used his heart-link to summon the vampire stationed there. Under the vampire’s guidance, they arrived at Blazing Mountain, said to be the habitat of the Wyvern Phoenix.

After dismissing the vampire, Liszt and Acheronides began searching the forest directly.

A Dragon Knight and an Archmage had no reason to fear the forest's dangers. If they encountered a hostile dragon, they could simply pummel it into obedience and claim it as a mount.

Activating his Magic Eye, Liszt constantly sought out traces of magical feedback.

"It’s a shame we couldn’t bring Loki. If we had, we could ride him freely through the forest," he mused. Without Loki as a mount and with Rio being unsuitable for forest riding, Liszt had to carry Acheronides while flying around aimlessly, searching for possible Wyvern Phoenix habitats.

The search lasted five days.

They didn’t find the Wyvern Phoenix, but they did hunt quite a few magical beasts. Most were spiced up, grilled, and served to Rio. They even encountered two high-level magical beasts, which they slaughtered and dismembered, storing the meat and materials in Liszt’s dimensional ring.

During this time, they successfully tamed a mid-level magical beast as a mount.

It was a Cleft-Footed Behemoth Lizard, an earth-attribute mid-level beast. Though somewhat ugly, it was quite docile and suitable for riding. After Liszt unleashed his draconic aura, the beast submitted readily to its new riders. It was fast and moved effortlessly through the forest.

"After we return, let’s gift the Cleft-Footed Behemoth Lizard to Marquis Niuwei. He lacks a proper mount," Liszt thought. Given the lizard’s broad back—wider than an elephant’s—it could easily carry a large basket seating an entire group, making it perfect for the Marquis’ family outings.

Aside from magical beasts, Acheronides collected numerous plant specimens in the forest for future cultivation.

Meanwhile, Liszt, using his Magic Eye, unexpectedly discovered two spirit bugs.

One was a pitcher plant spirit bug, a carnivorous plant that trapped insects. Its value was similar to the Venus flytrap spirit bug Liszt had owned before—both were ornamental plants. The other was an unidentified spirit bug whose host plant was a small red tree with fiery-red leaves and fruit, resembling clusters of torches from a distance.

The fruit was edible but mediocre at best.

"Judging by its magical attributes, this plant leans toward fire. Let’s call it the Torchwood Tree," Liszt quickly named it. "Acheronides, do you think the Torchwood Tree has any connection to the Wyvern Phoenix? There are so many of them around here. Though they’re not magical herbs, they look like clusters of flames burning."

Acheronides answered earnestly, "I don’t know."