Chapter 682: Eleanor’s talent (Part 1)

“That was a great speech!” Nicholas exclaimed. He was afraid to appear suspicious, so he did not dare give any suggestions to Saleen. Upon hearing Eleanor’s plan Nicholas could not contain his excitement any longer. Such an arrangement would allow Saleen to wield all the power in his hands. Unless all the armies ganged up to rebel against Saleen these armies would only be his warring tools.

Eleanor smiled, then continued, “Ten main camps might seem extravagant. Metatrin City will have sixty-thousand troops, while the western and eastern towns will each get twenty-thousand troops. No one will be guarding the broken-edged pass or controlling the northern lands.”

“The main camps are used for campaigns, we cannot only rely on the demons. The demons are going to occupy the enemy’s city and if demons are stationed there as well, then this city will turn into hell already. This is just an expedient plan. Eventually, Metatrin City will have to be defended by the palace’s swordsmen camp and the temple army. Now, I will talk about the military plan for the short term…”

Speaking, Eleanor took out a magic map, laying it on the table.

“The west of Metatrin City can definitely control the broken-edged barrier. After the broken-edged barrier is constructed, its defense won’t be lower than that of Metatrin City. In the future, if people want to attack us, they will have to do so via the northern face or the sea. If there are more than two magical towers at the broken-edged barrier, then twenty-thousand soldiers will be required. Including twenty-thousand auxiliary troops, the broken-edged barrier can surely be defended properly.”

“But I feel that, since the broken-edged barrier and western town are about one-hundred miles from each other, they can reinforce each other. Why don’t we withdraw the main army and let the spirit army take its place? We can make use of the fact that spirits wouldn’t get fatigued, they can defend the barrier all the way. If we are in a war of attrition, who will possess more magic nuclei than us?” Eleanor explained calmly, then she pointed to the northern part of the map and said, “There are many rivers in the north which will freeze during winter. It will not be possible for the enemy to use the water potential to build coastal castles during winter though. It will be impossible for the enemy to charge directly into Metatrin City. Be that as it may, the northern area is relatively wider. We should station our main forces one-thousand miles away and build a larger city there. This city will be used to refine metals and protect the neighboring mines.”

Eleanor swiftly pointed out some locations which could accommodate a city. In the blink of an eye she had separated the lands belonging to Saleen’s nobles into many parts. Eleanor’s plan to allocate the military forces was very logical, it had quickly assigned all the forces which could be assembled to a few vital defensive sites. Eleanor had even drafted a plan to organize the defenses within Metatrin City.

Towards the later part of the discussion, Eleanor began talking about the issue of equipment after she finished delegating missions to the army.

Eleanor took out a few hundred drawings, placed them on the table, then said, “These are the military equipment which I can come up with. Sir has a certain quantity of purplish-gold sea urchins, these urchins are natural space equipment and they do not require a mage’s control. The smallest urchin has a volume of about five cubic yards, while the largest has a volume of a few dozen cubic yards. Other than these special materials, we can also imitate the magic crates used in transportation. Our army’s demand for logistical support will be the smallest ever.”

Eleanor began elaborating on the weapons she had designed, some weapons were unique to the elvish plane.

“Eleanor, do you wish to lead some troops?” Saleen could not help but ask, he had fully recognized Eleanor’s capabilities.

“No way,” Eleanor refused.

Saleen did not wish to force her, so he said, “Then you shall be my minister for military affairs. I will assign sufficient assistants to you, you won’t have to do many things personally. Most of the time, you will study magic with me.”

“Okay then.” Eleanor nodded her head helplessly, she knew that Saleen would surely delegate more tasks to her after she had provided so many useful suggestions. “Luckily I am an elf. Even though I am not a sorcerer, I will have a long life. Maybe it’s because of this reason that elves will never be more passionate and crazier than humans towards the cultivation of magic.”

Everyone joined in the discussion to consider the conceivability of Eleanor’s drawings.

A replica of a magic war chariot was a conceivable goal. In an army, if there were no magic war chariots, a mage’s battle duration would be greatly shortened. A mage’s effect on an army would be extraordinary only when they could cast spells from a magic war chariot. Mages could be easily assaulted by the enemy otherwise. A long range bow could easily kill a low grade mage.

If a low grade mage was hidden in a magic war chariot, the magic war chariot could not be destroyed by trebuchets, unless it was struck by an ancient magic cannon.

Everyone was very interested in the human-carrying fly puppet designed by Eleanor.

At the moment, even Alchemy City did not possess very good human-carrying flying puppets. Saleen had seen those puppets before, they were huge and could be brought down easily. They could hardly fly in harsh environments.

The flying puppet designed by Eleanor only had a length of eight yards, while its wingspan was around six yards. One puppet could carry one heavy infantryman. For the time being, only Saleen could mass produce such a puppet because its material was thundercloud wood.

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The winged skeleton had hauled up a large quantity of this material. This plant grown in the giant plane was harder than the best steel. It was tough and was unafraid of water, fire, or lightning. This plant could grow into the clouds back in the giant plane, it was a very common species.

Since this flying puppet could transport heavy infantrymen, it also meant that it could be used as an offensive weapon, besides being used for reconnaissance. If loaded with an alchemical crossbow, a soldier would be able to fire at the enemies scaling the city entrance.

Due to its immunity to lightning, this flying puppet could fly in rain. If loaded with oil or similar items, it would be a good option to toss these things into the enemy’s city and set their houses ablaze. Other than requiring a huge quantity of intermediate level magic nuclei during the flight, this puppet did not have any other flaws.

The flying puppet designed by Eleanor was beautiful, it was like a gigantic piece of art. Within the patterns on the flying puppet, Saleen noticed the traces of elvish magic. Even if this puppet was not made from thundercloud wood, its defensive power would not be too low either.

“The human-carrying flying puppet was definitely a concept from the elvish plane, Eleanor has finally regarded Metatrin City as her home.” Saleen knew that it was more challenging getting an elf to reveal their secrets compared to making a mage renege on their promises.

Following this, Eleanor took out another drawing, which reinforced Saleen’s belief. It was a drawing of an elvish alchemical crossbow. In comparison, an elvish alchemical crossbow might not be stronger than the human version, but it firing speed was way higher. Since Saleen possessed the divinecherry wood, he could enable the elvish alchemical crossbow’s firing speed, lethality, and range to be increased many times.

Although this item required a lot more gold coins, Saleen farmed and used divinecherry wood for himself, he never sold it to outsiders. He could totally equip the elites of the main army with this elvish equipment.

Even the elvish alchemical crossbow was displayed. The discerning people would surely have a different impression of Eleanor.

Eleanor had straightened her thoughts, she had even imparted the Life Archery to Nailisi, so why would she still bother about the elvish alchemical crossbow?

Saleen surveilled each and every drawing and he realized that almost every piece of equipment contained remnants of elvish magic. The magic had been improved, an elemental mage could use it to make magic arrays. long ago humans had once ruled over the elves and the magic coordination between both parties took effect during the battle with the gods. Even though that was only a brief period, priceless and astonishing skills had been left behind.

After seeing an elvish armor which had been woven using plants, Saleen was no longer astounded. Eleanor had specially indicated on the drawing that this armor enabled a soldier to float in water even if this soldier did not know how to swim. The whole set of armor was woven from vine-type plants before magic was attached onto it. Its physical defense power had surpassed that of light metal armor.

Such an elvish armor had slightly lower defense against fire magic, but was fully immune towards normal flames.

Basically, a holy master did not possess the ability to burn things, so the effect of this armor would be greater when used to resist the Holy See’s army. If soldiers wore this armor to invade Alchemy City, the entire army could be eradicated by a few mages who were proficient in fire magic.

Other than the armor’s ability to float on water, it was also extremely lightweight and its interior lining was comfortable. A soldier did not need to remove this armor, he could keep it on his body.

When it comes to resisting fire magic, a soldier’s armor was never great. Even heavy armor could be instantly penetrated by intermediate level magic. Only magic armor could resist magic attacks. Even though this vine-type armor had to be crafted by a mage, no magic nuclei were required during battle. It was considered to be an equipment which was somewhere between magic armor and heavy armor.

Up next were the sieging puppets, cannon crossbows, cavalry war flag, and elvish metal arrows. These items were taken out one by one, Saleen could not even believe his eyes. “Didn’t the legends say that the elvish race didn’t like to war? Why did all these warring artworks originate from the hands of the elves?”

The drawings of this equipment were very professional, they could not be designed by Eleanor herself. Even a person who knew nothing about magic would know that.

The area which made Saleen realize the capability of Eleanor was that her drawings were all related to the reorganization of the army. With these appliances, the offensive power of Saleen’s army would increase several folds. If the soldiers trained harder, their offensive power would not be inferior to any of Qin’s main armies.

Seeing Eleanor contribute all these resources, Nicholas was not hesitant anymore. He told Saleen, “I can recall a number of equipment unique to the Holy See. The expeditionary army left in such a hurry the previous time, there was no time to prepare all these appliances, otherwise…”

“You still wouldn’t have been able to conquer Metatrin City.” Nailisi glared at Nicholas.

“That is, that is…” Nicholas smiled obsequiously. Even though Nailisi’s words were difficult to stomach, she spoke the truth. Even if Nicholas had brought along a number of heavy appliances, he would not be able to destroy Metatrin City’s walls and metal battlements. With these two installations, the expeditionary army would have to use their troops to waste Saleen’s arrows, using consecutive attacks to open a defensive flaw in the city walls. Be that as it may, Saleen had prepared substantial arrows. Even if an army with one-million soldiers was present it could not fully deplete Saleen’s weapon reserves.