socalfunplaces Page 80
Page 80
"Yuanlue Fortress has fallen; the garrison has been completely wiped out!"
9. Rebel Army
The knights of Farrak were the first. In the following short period, 23 knights returned to Tunaras to pay homage to Queen Vairakis and died at her feet, bringing news of the fall of a total of 24 Githyanki astral fortresses.
"Anymore?"
Velakis's withered face remained expressionless, and then waves of icy, tangible mental power swept across the palace. This time, no one dared to respond, not even those who could take the blame.
Twenty-four fortresses fell, and twenty-four messenger knights died at the Queen's feet. This was a blatant provocation, a declaration of war against all the Githyanki!
No words could quell the Queen's rage. Only war, a full-scale war, could brutally destroy the unknown enemy, burn their world to ashes with the flames of the red dragon, and abduct all their people back to the Astral Plane for eternal enslavement and torment. Only then could the Queen's anger be slightly appeased.
"Yedaka, declare the Great City to be in a state of war and issue a mobilization order to everyone; Zekiel, put your army on the highest level of combat readiness and summon all centurions and knights to convene the war council; Zamkaras, assign positions to every Kra. I want every squad and every officer in my soon-to-be-assembled army to have a Kra by their side to ensure their loyalty!"
Vellakis no longer expected his "ministers" to offer any useful advice. Under his rule, the "democracy" of the Githyanki had always been a facade. Now was not the time to watch a court drama. His enemies were clearly serious. The ability to capture 24 astral fortresses so precisely and quickly and to "release" the knights only to have them die tragically at his feet could only be attributed to either the traitorous Zera or the return of the Githyanki's eternal nemesis, the Mind Flayers.
Whoever it is, will be reduced to ashes under the wrath of me, the one true god of the Gith Yankees!
Casalos, the mastermind behind this war and the capture of 24 Gith Yankee fortresses, was now leisurely strolling through the streets of Tunaras, wearing a Gith Yankee skin, watching with great interest as the Gith Yankees of the city began to stir up a frenzy under the orders of Queen Vyrakis.
"The knights and the army have all rushed to the military zone, making our operation safer."
The Githyanki who was speaking to Casaloz was named Na'Pekka, a "ground guide" developed by the agents of Charson who infiltrated Tunaras. He was a member of the Shashakhokhod—Shashakhokhod were radicals among the Githyanki who were dedicated to promoting the unification of the Githyanki and Githzerai and restoring the original glory of the Gith... To put it bluntly, they were a group of rebels who wanted to overthrow the dictatorship of Velakis.
Under the protection of War Lord Zechl, Shashahawk established a sizable enclave within the city of Tunaras as a command center for his underground activities, and they maintained good diplomatic relations with all the resistance forces in Tunaras.
Casaloz's disguised identity is that of a wealthy Gith Yankee from the City of Sigil, willing to unconditionally fund a "potential" rebellion in Tunaras to overthrow the rule of Vairakis, in order to obtain a legitimate Gith noble status after the deed is done. Napeka is the biggest intermediary and representative of the second party in this deal.
"Finally, I have the opportunity to meet the other 'leaders'."
Napeka observed the movements of the city's residents before leading Casalos into a gaudy building whose walls were covered in unfinished graffiti and sculptures. He exchanged a secret message with the homeowner, who was scribbling something on the floor. Having confirmed the exchange, the homeowner, his previously颓废 (颓废 is a difficult word to translate directly, but it implies a state of dejection or decay) demeanor vanished, and stood up to open a hidden door for Casalos and Napeka.
“Stay close to me. Beneath this city built on the corpses of the Voidwalkers lies a vast and complex labyrinthine city, through which you can reach any corner of the city. But this underground city is too large and complex, and full of unknown dangers. Even we haven’t explored many safe passages. If you get separated from me, you may never come out.”
Casalos said nothing, only silently nodded and followed. In fact, its interest in the Tunaras dungeon surpassed even that in Vairakis. The red-robed mages of Sael had discovered a massive, pulsating vessel brimming with divine power within, but had returned empty-handed without a way to activate the artifact. But it wasn't in a hurry. It could explore Tunaras at its leisure after conquering the city; for now, getting to know the rebels within Tunaras with Napeka was the priority.
The Dragonflight's military strength is formidable, perhaps even dominating the entire Faerûn. However, this is the Astral Plane, and the entire Dragonflight army cannot enter. Furthermore, the city of Tunaras boasts 100,000 Githyanki, a nation where every citizen is a soldier, and Vairakis still harbors suspicions...
Chapter 252
It seems that Tiamat possesses some kind of weak god-like power and several artifacts. Tiamat's consort, Ephilomon, and that mysterious legendary mind sorcerer are also not to be underestimated.
To conquer this fortress, attacking from its unstable interior might be the best option. Fortunately, Charson's spies had already extended their reach into the city. Zorlon is a capable lad, truly worthy of Casalos's meticulous "cultivation".
The underground passages were winding but not long. Soon Casalos followed Napeka back to the surface and entered a place filled with all sorts of garbage.
"As you can see, this is the city's garbage dump. We don't have garbage disposal facilities like the City of Imprints. We dump all our garbage here—including those discarded slaves. Isn't that a pathetic way of dealing with garbage?"
However, there are advantages. Aside from fools looking to strike gold in the garbage dump, almost no one else will willingly enter, making it the perfect location for the resistance to establish a stronghold. The first person we'll meet is the most powerful and prestigious among the city's elf, human, dwarf, and other alien resistance fighters.
During their conversation, Napeka led Casalos through several hidden checkpoints and into the base of a garbage mountain via a vine-covered cave. Casalos then discovered that this garbage mountain was actually supported by several enormous oak trees. Elves, humans, and dwarves in simple clothing moved between treehouses via suspension bridges.
With a lookout tipping him off, Casalos soon met the person in charge.
Huh? If emoticons were allowed, Casalos would definitely be wondering: the most powerful and prestigious leader of the alien rebellion that Shashahawk mentioned was her, an elven girl slave who was only thirteen or fourteen years old?
10. Great Elf
It's not that Casalos is prejudiced against age; it's just a young dragon itself. If it were a metal dragon, or even a colored dragon from the Order side, it would still be a little kid hanging around in its dragon parents' territory, yet it still has the strength to go head-to-head with an ancient dragon.
This damned world has too many strange things that diminish the reference value of age. Even the dragons' own standard of defining status by age cannot be applied arbitrarily, let alone short-lived species—yes, in the eyes of dragons, elves are also pitiful short-lived species.
Furthermore, in the astral plane, a realm of idealism, the natural growth and aging of life forms are completely static. Who knows how long this seemingly twelve or thirteen-year-old elven girl has actually been in the astral plane? Perhaps her actual age is even greater than that of the lich Vyrakis? With the equivalent of tens of millions of years of experience, it's perfectly normal for her to gain the recognition of Shashahawk as the strongest.
Casalos was surprised mainly because it had not yet made contact with Napeka and had just seen the slave girl on a street while wandering around the city of Tunaras alone.
Similar to the fate of most female elves in the city, this elven girl's Githyanki master took her out for a "stroll," and then had a minor conflict with several other Githyanki men who also had female slaves. In the ensuing competition, they forced their slaves to put on an impromptu performance. The frail elven girl and several other slaves were positioned head down and buttocks up, their legs bent forward in an A-shape to support their weight on the ground. Their undeveloped breasts were locked together by shackles, and their hands were wrapped around their buttocks from behind, with two fingers hooked into their openings and pulled wide.
The other Githyanki men on the street, their servants laughing, drove their slaves to take turns or cooperate in firing at her wide-open entrance. At the most extreme moment, three black goblin dragons managed to squeeze into the small hole protected by the petals, nearly tearing her apart. After hundreds of slaves had served, the overflowing mixed fluids flowed onto the ground. She held on to the end, winning a magnificent victory for her masters. The Githyanki men, chuckling, plugged her overflowing lower opening with two plugs and dragged her away…
This scene was far too impactful for the young dragon, whose adolescence was just beginning to stir—or so it seemed. Not only had Casalos seen it all in his past life's films, but it was just a mix of popular anime, Ura Bukkake, and legal porn, perhaps with a few elements of anime-style elves and beasts. What was so special about it? Besides, Casalos wasn't even humanoid; this kind of thing was just beginner-level for some dragons. Take, for example, the old man who constantly watched Waterdeep, who had spawned an entire army of half-dragons, her lovers ranging from two-headed giants to goblins. Imagine the size difference between this green dragon and a goblin; if it weren't for its shapeshifting ability, it would probably have burrowed straight into a cave. Then there was the red dragon who had a half-dragon offspring with a centipede, and the dragon with a Balrog, and the dragon with a gel monster—their species' reproduction relied solely on a grand silver party every thousand years…
It is mainly admiration for the girl's resilience, both in terms of willpower and physical strength.
The shackles remained on the elf's arms, connected by iron chains to the cast-iron buckles that stretched the small bun into a ring. The plow-shaped plug, perhaps imbued with psionic energy, was still there, and the open retaining flaps tightly clamped the inner and outer walls, sealing the pool of viscous fluid—of unknown race and quantity—within the two cavities. As a divinely created species, elves possessed some physiological oddities comparable to dragons. They shared no reproductive isolation with most humanoid races. Had it not been for the strange rules of the astral plane that froze the physiological development of mortals, who knows what bizarre half-elf species she might have produced from such a performance.
Or a noble golden elf or half-elf.
Judging from the behavior and conversations of the onlookers, it was clear that this wasn't the first time she had won a similar "match" for her master. Thanks to the rules of the Astral Plane, if Avandor had known about the elves' experiences here, some elven chauvinistic terrorist organization would probably have already sent their fleets to the top of Thunaras.
"I'm sorry, the situation was sudden and time was of the essence. I haven't had time to deal with these things on me yet, please excuse my poor appearance... But these are necessary sacrifices that must be made to lead the resistance cause, and I believe you will understand."
"Huh, you noticed me?" Casaroz was even more surprised. It thought it was hiding well. In any case, no one in the city of Githyanki noticed its abnormality. How could this elf, who couldn't even control his body at the time, have noticed it in the crowd of people on the street?
“There are some things that the Githyanki people can’t notice, but they are very obvious to the elves. I originally thought you were a rare high-level sorcerer.”
The sorcerer the elf spoke of was certainly not the sorcerer as referred to in the material world. The Githyanki called all arcane spellcasters sorcerers, and the elf adopted this term, which clearly shows that she had indeed been in Thunaras for a very, very long time.
Her self-introduction continued, and for the first time, she used honorifics: "I didn't expect you to be from Sigil City. I sincerely thank you for your support of our cause. We will definitely make your 'investment' pay off. Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Valeries Taziko, and everyone calls me 'Queen Bloodblade'!"
The Queen's Bloodblade is not the Queen's bloodblade, but the bloodblade that killed the Queen. Interestingly, this isn't an arrogant title from the Golden Elf; it's simply stating a fact.
As everyone knows, the current Lich Queen of Vairakis is the seventh Vairakis since the founding of Thunaras. However, in the strange rules of the astral plane, mortals also have infinite lifespans. The other six Vairakis queens certainly couldn't have died of old age; at least two queens have been confirmed to have died at the hands of the queen herself… That's right, the golden elf "child" resembling a star slave before Casalos has personally killed two Vairakis, and her history in Thunaras is far longer than that of the Lich Queen!
"It was only after killing two queens that I realized the decline of the Gisyanki did not stem from the dictatorship of Vellaski. The fall of a Vellaki..."
Chapter 253
"And many more Vairakis have stepped forward. The Vairakis are merely a symbol, a product of a contract. To truly save the Githyanki, we must go among them, understand their lives, their society, their souls, find the root of everything, and then fundamentally change them…"
I've met a perfect idealist with great ambition, perseverance, and wisdom!
Casalos muttered "Holy crap" to himself, then waved his hand and declared, "I, Kadofish, will invest in this project!"
11. Common goals
Casalos is not an idealist, but he is willing to respect every idealist who is willing to risk his life to fight for his ideals. This is not the nature of the Iron Dragon, but only a residual instinct from his past life experience.
Its dragon nature, however, made it slightly suspicious: could the dream of fundamentally saving other corrupt races truly belong to a Gold Elf, known for its extreme narrow-mindedness, rigidity, and arrogant egoism? Well, the thoughts of pseudo-social intelligent beings originate from a chaotic system, so it's normal for all sorts of oddities to emerge. Succubi can become paladins, and drow have their own masters; no matter how bad the Gold Elf's character and reputation are, they are still a race leaning towards the benevolent side, so it's not too surprising that an idealist would emerge from them.
Importantly, considering the history of the Githyanki, Valeris has already lived up to at least several thousand toriel years, making her worthy of Casalos's substantial investment. The Gold Elf's long speech was not idle chatter; Casalos grasped the key point in her words: "Verakis is merely a symbol, a product of a contract."
Clearly, Valeries has discovered the true root of the Gith Yankees' corruption: the "gift" of a dark and evil god. As long as Tiamat's pact with the Gith Yankees remains unbroken, the Gith Yankees can never escape evil—Velakis, this "queen," is merely an agent appointed by Tiamat through her lover Ephromon in the name of Gith. Even if the Velakis lineage becomes extinct, Ephromon can simply step in and appoint another at will.
As long as Valeries continues to fight for her liberation cause, her ultimate goal is the same as Casalos's, so why should Casalos care about anything else? It doesn't even look down on these mutated humans who have been bio-engineered by mind flayers.
However, regardless of the circumstances, the biggest obstacle to "saving" the Gith Yankees remains the Lich Queen Vairakis.
In truth, Valeries didn't want to kill the Lich Queen; she simply couldn't win, so there was no point in saying anything. Don't let the young and delicate appearance of the Gold Elf fool you; she's actually a level 16 monk, advanced to level 5 Zeth's monk—no wonder she withstood a horde of hundreds of monsters without a scratch—beating an ordinary lich would be a piece of cake. Crucially, the current Lich Queen's arcane power far surpasses that of her predecessors, Vyrakis, and she's also a high-level warrior, possesses numerous artifacts, and is surrounded by a red dragon—she's no ordinary, run-of-the-mill lich.
Let alone a petite monk who has risen to legendary status through advancement, Casalos felt that even putting Veraski on his own was a bit risky. After all, this one also claimed to be a demigod. Judging from her appearance, Veraski should not have become a demigod lich yet. Her actual power was far less than that of a true demigod. The origin of some of her godlike power characteristics was very suspicious. But since she dared to call herself a demigod and had not been bothered by any beings, she must have something to offer.
It wasn't Valeris's resistance, Sasha Hawke's, or other resistance groups that were working so hard, but Tunaras had a demigod!
This time it's different. The Dragon Territory's army is launching a frontal assault, and the Githyanki will inevitably have to send a large number of troops to the front to fight back. Tunaras's rear is left vulnerable, so as long as Casalos is generous enough, the various resistance organizations will have a strong advantage.
Warlord Zechil sent word that, under the Queen's orders, he and eight centurions had boarded a magic ship with their army and were to set sail immediately, joining 200 red dragon knights to cross the starry sea and reclaim lost territory. Accompanying them were countless Krat agents who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, as well as the Queen's personal guard, the Duskargis forces.
The latter are half-dragons, a hybrid of red dragons and Githyanki. It is said that they were originally created by the Lich Queen using magic, but now they can reproduce in the Material Plane like ordinary Githyanki. Moreover, the red dragon bloodline of their offspring does not fade into dragon blood with each generation, and they always retain the most primitive half-dragon power. Casalos has no doubt that this is also Tiamat's masterpiece. They are probably the prototype of a species that will appear on the continent of Faerûn and devour other dragon-origin species to become a huge population in the future.
With such a rare opportunity, Sasha Hawke and Valeries decided to launch their uprising immediately, and Casalos, of course, wouldn't make any excuses to delay their grand plan.
He pretended to take out a psionic item and fiddled with it, consuming most of the mana he could use in human form. With increasing skill, the astral-specific "Wish Fulfillment" spell took shape, and a portal to the floating islands of the unknown galaxy was successfully opened.
"It would be best to bring more strong men over, the supplies I'm donating to you are quite heavy."
Casalos said as he stepped into the portal first. Napeka and Valeris exchanged a glance. Perhaps feeling that their dimensional bags were enough to hold the donation from this "tycoon" of Sigil City, and also wary of any trickery, they ignored Casalos's advice and simply followed him into the portal.
They immediately regretted it.
Staring at the "walls" built from giant iron boxes that could be used as houses, the radical Githyanki rebels and the Gold Elves were momentarily stunned. This was probably megalophobia; Casalos hadn't fared much better when the Grey Dwarves first recreated the container shipping terminal they'd described as a cargo port. Magic—including psionic magic and other forms of magic in a broader sense—was indeed an incredible miracle.
"What...is this?" The Gold Elf monk, with his superior mental fortitude, was the first to regain his senses.
"Oh, you mean these boxes? They're just containers. The supplies are all inside. Packing them like this makes transportation and distribution very convenient." It's just a small boat full of unloaded supplies, nothing compared to a port.
"What kind of supplies are in there?" Napeka, having recovered from the conversation, asked a more practical question than the shocking scene.
"We have everything: astral spell scrolls, magical equipment and items, all kinds of combat potions and medicines... Ah, here's a list. You can take your time to look through it and check it carefully, just in case any Vyracius lackeys sneak in and do something sabotage." Casalos pulled a stack of parchment from his robes and handed it to the two righteous warriors who had rebelled against the Lich Queen, continuing to introduce his strong support: "It's so great that the astral plane doesn't have to worry about basic necessities like food, drink, and shelter. When I trade with those material beings, the vast majority of my resources are used to ensure the army's food, drink, and supplies. But with you, I can focus entirely on enhancing your combat power as much as possible, such as this newly developed psionic-enhanced individual tactical armor and mobility gear!"
As it spoke, it waved its hand and shook open an armored container with a reinforced frame and thick outer walls, revealing the contents inside.
12. Ling Shu Armor
Inside the armored container were two rows of rugged, fully enclosed "armor," neatly fixed to the truss in a kneeling, palm-supported position. The armor plates, so thick that only high-ranking barbarians or half-dragons could barely wear them on their vital parts, almost completely covered the entire body. The plates were engraved with fragments of the Vyrakis statue, symbolizing the end of the Lich Queen's reign.
Beneath the gaps in the armor plates, a peculiar starlight, belonging to the stellar quality, shone, revealing the high compatibility between these "armor" pieces and psychic energy.
The armored figure, standing upright, was over two meters tall, significantly taller than even the tallest Gith Yankee, not to mention the large number of "short" humanoid races in the resistance—but that wasn't a problem, as magical or psionic equipment could mostly adjust automatically to fit.
Chapter 254
The armor fits perfectly as long as the wearer's body structure isn't too different or the size difference isn't too great. However, the unique aura of "life" emanating from the armor left Napeka and Valeris somewhat bewildered.
"Is this... an activated psionic construct or a golem?"
"Both, and neither. Now, please allow me to proudly introduce to you the latest masterpiece of my artisans and spellcasting team, the ultimate individual combat equipment that combines psionic energy, arcane magic, life-giving energy, and mechanical engineering: the Spirit Core Armor."
As Casalosz began his introduction, the eyes of the two rows of armored warriors lit up, and they stood up one by one, lined up, walked out of the container, and formed four columns behind Casalosz.
"The Spirit Pivot Armor possesses a three-in-one drive system. The Psionic Engine draws upon the surging psionic energy of the astral plane to power the armor, converting it into magic, magnetism, and electricity through a dynamic conversion matrix to supply the various functional modules of the armor;
Miniaturized activated constructs are embedded in various nodes of the armor to act as sensors, connecting with the independent mental network within the armor to form a distributed intelligent control network. This provides instant power feedback and mental manipulation support, enabling swift and intuitive responses. Furthermore, it can form a self-repair protocol with the armor's built-in repair technology, allowing the armor to repair itself from damage.
The carbon-material bionic exoskeleton support structure and hydraulic transmission mechanism make the armor agile and incredibly powerful; the comfortable fur lining, carbon fiber inner armor, star-like frame, and external composite armor provide top-level physical defense while ensuring smooth spellcasting and energy manifestation.
The modular mounting system, with standardized interfaces, can seamlessly connect to our standard melee/psychic/magical components, while offering a variety of functions for you to choose from.
The excessive technical terms left the Gold Elves and Gith Yankees bewildered, but no worries, the upcoming live combat demonstration would allow them to witness the power of the Spirit Armor in the most direct way.
Four half-dragon sorcerers, disguised as Gith Yankees from the City of Sigil, emerged from behind the containers. At Casalos's signal, each donned a ring-shaped device on their head and then remotely activated the four Nexus Armor units in their respective queues. With the assistance of the astral tentacles that emerged from the armor, they completed their armoring within two seconds, and the appearance of the four armor units changed accordingly.
Etched, glowing psionic patterns emerge from the armor plates, and rings of runes shimmer with magical light float at the joints. Flowing astral energy moves the equipment kits inside the backpacks to their corresponding interfaces, and the four suits of armor display four different forms.
The most rugged aspect of the armor, its joints, is encased in additional reinforced components, making it appear even more robust. It wields a heavy two-handed lance with one hand, resembling a proud knight.
"Wrath of the Abyss, a specialized kit for combat professionals, is designed for melee burst damage and mobile assault. In addition to the standard configuration, it is equipped with a psionic overload joint that can increase the power of the core, leg and arm movement systems by 300% for a short period of time. This allows the wearer to unleash a charge similar to a combination of Berserk and Haste spells in a short time. The heat sink inside the joint will splash boiling astral matter during the charge, creating psionic rifts in the path that cause area damage."
Its main weapon, the "Boundary-Severing Axe," can be switched between three forms: a greatsword, a battle axe, and a spear. The greatsword spirit can unleash a shockwave slash, suitable for close-range area damage; the battle axe is equipped with the Evil-Slaying Dragon Slash, specifically designed to slay evil dragons; and the spear mode features a permanent penetrating mental spike, causing both physical and mental damage, while also making up for the melee combat class's lack of efficient ranged attack methods.
Concealed on its back are activated magical blades that, once thrown, are remotely controlled by a network of small, activated constructs to launch spinning attacks. These blades can also act as spies to aid in three-dimensional situational awareness.
The second one floated in mid-air with its arms slightly outward, surrounded by four spindle-shaped crystals about the size of a person. The armor released a tangible spiritual pressure that washed over the ground, stirring up layers of dust.
"The Spellweaver Core, a spellcaster kit, is positioned as a long-range spell turret and area-of-effect control machine. The core combat system is the Spirit Crystal Resonance Amplifier, with multiple replaceable spirit crystals embedded in the back to correspond to different schools of magic. In addition to manifesting supermagic, it also allows the conversion of psionic points into corresponding school spell slots or vice versa, and the enhancement of the Static Spell Shaping supermagic feat."
Its primary weapon is an arcane funnel array. Four animated magical funnels, hovering around the armor, can automatically unleash low-level spells to attack designated targets, or form a combined casting matrix to unleash mid- to high-level spells. Equipped with a psionic siphon device, it has a very high chance of extracting the residual mental energy of targets with sufficiently strong psychic power and converting it into psionic points stored in the armor, extending its continuous combat capability.
The third suit of armor is accompanied by more various types of levitation devices, with the huge box-shaped objects on both sides and the psionic crystal on the back being the most prominent.
"Eternal Harmony, an auxiliary battlesuit responsible for team support and battlefield control, periodically releases psionic sound waves from harmonic field generators on both sides, stacking resonant armor on designated friendly units and providing group healing for minor injuries. Holographic tactical command markers are projected on the shoulders, and enhanced small constructs activate a magical network that can take over friendly non-intelligent equipment. The carried psionic relay station expands the range of the battlesuit's psionic engine, allowing friendly spellcasters within 50 meters to use its psionic core to restore psionic energy or mana."
"As for the last one, which looks the heaviest, it is of course the meat shield that every team needs, the Unremovable Barrier."
This armor is further reinforced with activated alloy plates that automatically harden and deflect attacks upon impact, much like a shield fixed to a deflecting force field. Its legs have been replaced with fixed psionic anchors, reducing mobility, but once activated on the ground, they effectively transfer the force of impacts to the ground, significantly reducing damage – a trade-off of mobility for absolute defense. The retractable pulleys on its feet compensate for its mid-to-long-range mobility.
It can unleash psionic pulses, stinging the minds of enemies within range and inducing hostility. The armor's Persistent Damage Transfer ability can transfer a portion of the damage received to a nearby, designated target for them to share the burden. Without disarming, it can also throw psionic beacons to create temporary cover, constructing a persistent force field wall of ice as a barrier, effectively defending against the red dragon's breath…
13. Uprising
Casaloz's marketing was a success—well, it was a donation, not a sale, so this marketing show didn't seem to make much of a difference...
After inventorying the goods, Valeries and Napeka finally summoned some "very strong" members to move the supplies. They imbued each container with levitation spells or psionic energy, and then had the massive, orcish giants drag them through the portal. Svent, disguised as a Gith Yankee, quietly asked Casalos behind him, "My lord, are we really going to give away these valuable prototypes for free so they can just squander them?"
“A waste? How could it be a waste?” Casalos scoffed, explaining to his guards, “Although these prototypes passed all the tests in the testing range, the testing range is only a simulation. Simulations can never truly recreate the real combat environment. The real battlefield is ever-changing; any small problem overlooked can turn into a fatal flaw. Only by putting them into the battlefield for a long period of testing, and listening to every user's feedback, can we find the details of the armor that truly need improvement and adjustment…”
On the surface, this was a donation, my support for their fight against the Lich Queen. In reality, we also used their power to weaken the Lich Queen and to test the actual combat effectiveness of the Spirit Armor in the war they were about to wage, gathering invaluable real-world combat information. This information might have been earned with our lives; it's the most precious thing to us. The purpose of the demonstration just now was to eliminate their unfamiliarity with the Spirit Armor and make a sufficient impression so that we could deploy it to the most intense battlefields as soon as possible.
Sven, you must remember, what's free is often the most expensive.
The half-dragon kobold seemed to understand, though not entirely; it was far more obtuse than Eisen in this regard, but it would firmly remember and strictly follow its dragon lord's maxims.
Chapter 255
This is the inherent loyalty of kobolds to dragons.
"Are the observers ready?"
"Everything is ready. They'll use shapeshifting to change their form, then don the living Githyanki skin, and use a double layer of psychic detection and prophecy spells to conceal their identities. Edgeworth said that even if the Lich Queen herself inspects them, she won't be able to detect the grey dwarves' identities."