Arnold, it should be noted, didn’t actually care very much about shops or houses or balconies or anything of that sort. “Pillars.” He said straight out as soon as they met. “We need solid steel pillars reaching up from twenty feet underground all the way to the ceiling. On top of that, let’s put on these antennae.” “Antannae? I thought they were fishing rods.” George squinted at Arnold’s drawing. “Actually, they’re there to catch lightning, not fish.” “Lightning? You want to catch lightning?” “Jim does. We can’t catch all of it, but what we can catch can be converted into either mana or electricity. He’s not good with mana conversion, but he has this way of storing electricity in these little canisters…” “What about what we can’t catch?” “That goes into the ground. That’s why these pillars need to go all the way down… oh, and we need to wrap them in something that prevents people from getting zapped if they step too close.”

Days since last Beast Tide: 9. Current Kill Count: 209 (18 since yesterday). Location: Red Fang, six hours out from Dragon Lake, en route to Three Pines Peak and Kara-Goth. Mindy sat back, dropping her pencil in satisfaction. There it was. The design for the new Wasp class Patrol Boat. It was a single-gun corvette, similar to the Foresight, but unlike the Foresight, the Wasp was built for speed and maneuverability. Most especially, the ability for sideways movements; there was a reason why it had two main thrusters split between the left and right sides. They could be turned to the rear for forward propulsion, or they could be turned sideways for quick movements to either side. In other words, the Wasp was an airship that could dodge. Admittedly, it used quite a bit of power, but a skilled pilot should be able to go up against a flying Wild and still stand a chance of surviving. It was also a bit queer in that the gun could not fire forward. N

Early the next morning, a terrible shadow fell over Kara-Goth. A loud roar shook the mines and the tunnels, causing many yells and a whole lot of people jumping out of bed in a panic. Again the roar sounded out as an unmistakable shape descended from the clouds. Shadows took shape in solid glistening brown form, as down from the skies came the creature everybody had hoped would never cross their paths… “D-dragon…!” Aren’s voice, and hands shook. The sinuous form emerged, scales like stone and wings stretching farther than an entire Sky Barge’s length. Fire leaked out from its mouth as it breathed, staring down at the hapless people below with wide, cart-sized eyes. “Battle stations!” Aren shouted. “Man the ballistae! Quadruple crews, maximum reload speeds!” But then, from afar came a psionic shout. Remian’s voice echoed in everyone’s mind. [Black alert!] Black alert was the highest level of alert and the one intending the highest level of safety. Don’t cause a ruckus, shoot, don’

George had his own way of ranking the importance of the news he received. For instance, “The Red Fang is back!” was ranked lower in importance to “Darian came back on a dragon!” But even “The dragon seems to be on our side!” was ranked lower in his mind than “Remian exhausted himself and is now ill in bed!” Faced with that dire top-ranking news, George called Taj. “How’s our secret project?” “The herb farm?” Taj blinked. “It’s just getting started. It seems secure, and there’s been no signals or reports of attacks, but you have to understand, herbs take time to grow, even with life magic, water magic, and earth magic treasures and the most skilled mages of my clan on it.” “Is there anything we can do to…” “We’re already giving it all our best. The herbs will thrive, I guarantee it, but we need time!” “How much time?” “A week at least for even the quickest-growing herbs. That is, assuming you want quality.” “Abso

“Here they come!” “Ranged units, fire at will!” Song Chen gripped the hilt of his sword, the strongest bladed weapon ever produced by the Burning Steel Forge. Designed for battling massive Wilds the likes of Spike and DD, it was a massive ruler, five feet in length, five inches broad and weighing almost 15 kg. Made out of Tier 5 bone (DD lost a tooth when he fell in the Pit way back then) it was not usually a weapon one carried around to a battle, completely unsuited for complex swinging, much less for prolonged combat… Heck, it wasn’t even sharpened. But when you had to deal with oversized, heavily armored targets, blunt force trauma and sheer mass worked better than sharp edges. Besides, this battle was turning out to be a challenge of pushing heavy Wilds into the Pit, not actually trying to kill them with weaponry. At least, not for the FDF. The Sky Fortresses had the advantage of height and heavier weapons, but down here, all the FDF had to rely o