Exploring Technology in a Wizard World-Chapter 1286 - 1284: Puppet?

After leaving the mansion, Richard was led by his subordinates to his temporary residence in Reef Rock Castle, which Soron had specially arranged before his arrival.

Upon entering the temporary residence, Richard took a brief tour and discovered that it was even more lavish than the accommodations arranged in Shaya Oscara.

A complete set of silverware, chairs with gold adornments, jewel-encrusted beds, furniture crafted by master craftsmen, and rare ancient artifacts from the market...

Although some of the styles looked peculiar, he learned after asking that they were part of the ransom the former Sika Kingdom sent to redeem its officers and nobles captured after defeat by Soron. Nonetheless, it was clear this residence was thoughtfully prepared, and Soron showed the proper respect due to him as a command consultant who had suddenly appeared.

Considering the previous highest military intelligence meeting, where Soron accepted his suggestions without rebuttal, he seemed to have more power than imagined.

In simple terms, his words actually seemed to have some effect.

Perhaps the purpose of the Alliance Emperor and Oscar was not just to make him a mere puppet?

Richard sat in the chair of his temporary residence, tapping on the gold armrests, contemplating this issue.

Based on what he had seen and heard so far, he indeed did not appear to be a puppet. However, on the flip side, it could also mean they wanted this puppet to be more competent, and thus everyone was acting in concert with him, while his words were not being executed in reality.

Therefore, this needed to be verified.

It needed verification.

Soon it was dinner time. After a sumptuous meal, Richard headed to his bedroom and sternly instructed his subordinates that he wished to have a proper rest and that no one should disturb him until he emerged.

"Yes." The subordinate responded solemnly.

"Very well." Richard nodded and closed the bedroom door with a thud.

Inside, the space spanned seventy to eighty square meters, an entire suite with not just a resting area but also a restroom and a study.

Richard checked around, ensured everything was in order, carefully set down a few guardian magic spells, and lay down on the bed.

His body sank into the soft mattress, eyes closed, physical form descending, consciousness ascending.

The familiar tremor appeared, like the seeds of a dandelion drifting away from its stem in the breeze, and Richard’s consciousness easily detached from his body.

He quickly penetrated the roof, reached outside, ascended higher, glanced at the solemnly guarded temporary residence, at the somber atmosphere of Reef Rock Castle, at the troops amassed at the two nations’ border, and with a thought, directed his consciousness northward.

The movement of the consciousness was incredibly fast, unhindered by the physical world’s barriers, it could easily break the sound barrier and reach multiple times the speed of sound. In the state of consciousness, it could swiftly reach any corner of the world.

In fact, this wasn’t the fastest; the fastest involved utilizing consciousness markers.

Richard had experimented; as long as one was sufficiently familiar with a location, able to construct the spot clearly in one’s consciousness, it formed a consciousness marker. Then, just by thinking of the place, one could instantaneously teleport to the corresponding location.

The clearer the construction, the more accurate the teleportation.

If the construction was vague, merely hearing about a location from others or through documents, then teleportation would have a significant error, better to "run" honestly like now.

The principles involved in this were unclear to Richard; he roughly guessed it related to the soul and the world’s current operating rules, perhaps after fully deciphering all extraordinary factors he might understand more.

Thinking like this, during continuous movement, Richard saw a range of crimson mountains appear beneath his body, this was the so-called Bloodstone Mountain.

Here stood an important military city of the Soma Alliance and numerous logistical bases, forming part of the border defense, as the terrain was easy to defend and hard to attack, the Sika Kingdom rarely assaulted it. Who knew this time the Sika Kingdom people infiltrated from here. Although they didn’t conquer the military city, they destroyed a series of logistical bases, causing significant damage, and penetrated deep into the national border, wreaking havoc.

According to Soron’s plan, the rampaging Sika Kingdom troops would soon be destroyed. The tunnel that let the Sika Kingdom troops infiltrate was also being hunted for.

One could see countless torches lit across the night terrain, countless soldiers searching the land, not missing a single corner.

Getting closer, one could hear the Soldier Captain’s loud roar: "Let me tell you weaklings, there’s a death order from above, the tunnel entrance must be found within two days, so keep your eyes wide open and search. If you don’t work hard, do you believe me when I say I can immediately transfer you to the front line with a word, sending you to face the most elite Sika attacks?"

The predominantly inexperienced second-line troops, upon hearing this, paled, remaining quiet as cicadas in the cold.

"Did you all hear, if you heard, make a sound!" the Soldier Captain roared again.

"Yes, yes." The soldiers hurriedly replied.

"That’s more like it." The Soldier Captain nodded satisfied, directing soldiers to continue the search ahead.

The consciousness state Richard watched all this in the air, observed for a while, then with a thought, continued northward.

Flying all the way past numerous torches, second-line troops searching overnight for the tunnel entrance, he arrived before a mountain resembling a steamed bun.

This was Blue Water Mountain, named for a special blue mushroom that stained the rainwater running down the mountain during rainfall.

Richard saw that there were also the same second-line troop soldiers here searching with torches. They climbed the mountain from the south, cutting through dense grass with longswords, their eyes wide searching for possible tunnel entrances.

Slowly, they crossed the mountain’s summit, moving towards the northern foot, halted, and stopped moving forward.

Richard saw this and felt something stirring within.

If he remembered correctly, Soron’s initial search plan’s scope extended as far north as Blue Water Mountain. For probing purposes, he proposed exploring an additional five miles north, which Soron agreed to.

But looking at the actual execution, it seemed inconsistent.

The consciousness descended, Richard floated ten meters above the search soldiers, could clearly see their faces, and hear their speeches.

At this moment, a tall, thin soldier turned his head to ask his captain: "Captain, are we finished searching once we reach here?"

"Yes, just to here, that’s the range set by higher-ups. We’ve searched the entire Blue Water Mountain; beyond this, it’s not our concern." The burly Soldier Captain replied.

"What do we do next, Captain?" the tall, thin soldier asked again.

"What else is there to do? Turn around and search again. Didn’t you hear the previous orders from above? It must be found within two days, and if not, keep searching the designated range until it’s found." The Soldier Captain yelled.

"Uh, yes."

"Alright, search again." The Soldier Captain waved, directing a squad of soldiers to turn around, climbing the mountain again.

Richard, observing, felt a sense of realization: it appeared that his role as a command consultant was merely titular, maybe with a group of subordinates and Commander Soron acting with him, but the orders wouldn’t truly reach the troops below.

Thinking so, he was about to return, when suddenly he noticed a spark of light on a road to the east.

Then came the sound of hooves, as a large contingent of cavalry swiftly approached.