Knight's Bloodline 38~40 (Transformation Series Adult Novels)

Chapter 1: Ancient Secrets

On both sides of the road, two rows of guards in formal attire stood holding ceremonial spears. There are fluttering ribbons hanging on the top of the halberd, and the halberd head is shining and eye-catching, looking majestic and luxurious.

Behind these ceremonial guards was the welcoming group holding flowers and flower baskets. These people were also dressed in their best clothes. It was January and the weather was extremely cold, but these people did not dare to wear too much clothes, so many of them were shivering, but they had to show smiles on their faces.

Looking at these people, Litch felt pity for them. At the same time, he couldn't help but recall the first time he met Queen Annelia.

At that time, he was in the welcoming crowd, holding flowers, looking as silly as he could be. Unexpectedly, after five years, he was actually qualified to enjoy the welcome from others.

The people standing at the end of the guard of honor were all important figures from the Holy Kingdom of Parkinson, led by Queen Annelia.

The car stopped slowly, a palace guard ran over to open the door, and Litch got out.

Annelia walked over from a distance, and all the bigwigs followed behind Her Majesty the Queen.

"Congratulations, Monstock has finally restored his country." Queen Annelia walked closer and said.

Leach smiled. He had come to understand that this was why he was being treated differently than before.

No matter how capable he was in the past, he only represented himself.

Like the uncle, before the war broke out, although the uncle had a transcendent status as a sword saint, the reception he received in Monstock was not even as good as that of Princess Misra. When attending the meeting, his seat was on the same row as Espol and Lady Shar, while Bosrovah, who was much weaker than him and had a lesser reputation, sat in the front row, because Bosrovah represented the Monstock military.

Everything changed after the war broke out. The uncle became the supreme commander of Capecchi. He represented Capecchi, and his status was suddenly equal to that of Queen Annelia, Emperor Carlos, and Nicholas IV.

Suddenly, Li Qi had an epiphany. No wonder so many people try their best to reach the pinnacle of power.

Once you stand in this position, you represent not an individual but a country.

"Without the help of our allies, we would not have been able to get this far," Litch answered in a very formal manner.

To be fair, Litch doesn't like face-saving things and he feels like a puppet. At this moment he finally understood why the princess acted so rebellious in front of him. It was obviously a way of venting.

Even though I don't like it, I have to endure it.

When it was finally over, Litch felt itchy all over. What he wanted most at this moment was to laugh three times and then roll over twice. The ritual just now made him feel suffocated.

When he came to the City of Heaven before, he either lived in the Independent Corps’ base or in the temple. This time, it was different. He was arranged to stay in the Shetur Palace, which was specially used for state guests to stay. This palace is located in the parliamentary area, opposite the royal palace. Although it is called a palace, it is actually more like a garden.

This place is divided into two parts, the front part is a six-story building, which looks like an "H" shape from top to bottom; the back part is a garden, covering an area of ​​about the size of a city block. The area is average, but it is elegant.

Litch was placed on the top floor, from the window he could see the view of the palace opposite.

"Are you satisfied with this place?" Annelia dismissed her attendants and walked to the balcony with Litch. "In the past, only Carlos, Max and Nicola were qualified to live here."

"Old man Carlos and fat guy Nikola can actually climb the stairs?" Litch said jokingly. There was no one else here, so he didn't need to be as reserved as he was just now.

"To be honest, you came earlier than I expected. I thought you would at least wait until the situation in Monstock stabilized." Her Majesty the Queen didn't know that Litch didn't come here to seek financial assistance. That was just an excuse. His real purpose was for Susan, the super intelligent computer.

"It's mainly because I have nothing to do now. I won't have any free time once the armies arrive." Li Qi had already thought of an excuse.

This is actually a good reason.

The Valedin people fled south, and Hegart led his troops to press forward step by step, but no major battle took place, the troops from various directions had not yet arrived, and Bubka's factory had not yet moved in. Now could be said to be the most leisurely time. If Litch took this opportunity to go to the City of Heaven and use the momentum of Monstock's restoration to start negotiations with the allies, he might indeed gain more benefits than at other times.

"I have prepared a report meeting for you about the future direction of war. Embassies of various countries have sent applications, hoping to participate in this meeting." Her Majesty the Queen has taken great pains for this matter.

This meeting was actually a side event, and the real purpose was to let people know that Monstock had been restored.

There were many dissenting voices within the alliance regarding Monstock's restoration, after all, Monstock had once surrendered to the alliance.

There are many countries in the same situation as Monstock. This is true for almost all countries in the Western Corridor, and there are also many surrendered countries in the buffer zone along the central line.

In principle, the alliance adopts a hostile attitude towards such countries. If Monstock is treated well, other countries of a similar nature will demand the same treatment.

"I heard about it. I didn't expect that the Rossoto Empire has so many supporters within the alliance." Li Qi was very angry. He knew that the countries targeting Monstock were all instigated by the Rossoto Empire.

"It may not be an influence, but each country has its own plans." Annelia understood the mystery better than anyone else. Parkinson was the best at this. "The neutral countries on the eastern foot of the Chiskar Mountains made the loudest voices at the joint meeting. They are afraid that you will become stronger and pose a threat. In addition, many neutral countries in that area have surrendered to the alliance. They are eager to get some benefits from those countries."

Her Majesty the Queen pointed out the key.

Li Qi suddenly realized and laughed to himself at the same time.

These neutral countries are really shameless. They were fence-sitters in the first place and only sided with the Alliance because the Alliance attacked them. They did not make any contribution after the war broke out, but now they are trying to plot against others.

However, these countries are blind, because the piece of fat they are eyeing has already been calculated by Capecchi.

Lich has always adhered to the principle of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". He secretly planned how to unite with Capecchi to give these countries some pain.

He didn't think of using knives or guns. There is no need to use force, it is enough to blockade these countries economically. These countries are sandwiched between Monstock and Capecchi and have weak economic strength.

In terms of economy, Monstock's position is not low, let alone Capecchi. If two elephants squeeze hard, they can definitely crush all these fence-sitters into meat paste.

"It's getting late, you should rest first." Annelia prepared to leave.

Now is not the same as before. As the representative of Monstock, Litch is too conspicuous. If Annelia makes love with him at this time, it will be easy for others to gossip about her.

After Annelia left, Litch didn't ask anyone to come in to serve him. He went into the bedroom alone.

In the past, when traveling, Leach always carried a suitcase with him. This time he came to Parkinson's on behalf of the country, and was accompanied by a large group of staff. He had to take care of almost nothing, which made him somewhat uncomfortable.

On the bedside table was a small leather bag, his only personal belongings, which contained his combat uniform and some small tools.

After drawing the curtains, Litch opened his briefcase, carefully took out a hood from it, put it on his head, and then gently pressed a button.

To his surprise, Susan suddenly appeared.

"What's going on? Why are you..." Li Qi looked around. What he was most worried about now was that someone would discover this secret.

"Don't worry, you have entered the consciousness space now." Susan said with a chuckle.

"So..." Litch pointed around in surprise.

"This is a world I simulated. I was worried that you wouldn't be able to accept a virtual world, so I made it the same as the outside world. I didn't expect it would scare you." Susan said.

Leach blinked and looked at the guy in front of him. If he didn't know that this was an artificial intelligence, he would definitely suspect that this was a prank on her part.

Looking around, Litch touched the bed sheet next to him and then touched his cheek.

Everything was just like the real thing. He could feel the softness and smoothness of the quilt, and he could also feel his cheek being touched.

"Is there anything strange about this? Virtual reality technology was just something used for entertainment in ancient times." Susan had expected Litch's reaction. The seven people before her had had the same reaction.

Litch remembered that he had indeed seen similar information from Susan, but he had never experienced it personally before, so he was surprised.

"I've encountered a problem." Litch didn't know where to start. He couldn't say that he suddenly realized that he would feel empty once the war was over because of a woman's reminder, so he wanted to ask Susan for advice.

After thinking for a long time, Leach asked another question first: "Can you tell me, if civilization continues to develop, will mankind be destroyed again?"

"You are not the first person to ask me this question. Several people before me have asked similar questions. Unfortunately, I have no way to answer them. There are always different variables in the development of civilization. If we could know the future through logical reasoning, the ancient times would not have ended." Susan showed a rare trace of sadness.

"Didn't people in ancient times realize that they would be destroyed one day?" Litch felt it was impossible. In every era, there will always be people with far-sighted vision and people with a sense of crisis. From the day when ancient humans mastered weapons capable of destroying the world, some people must have thought that these weapons would lead to the end of the world.

"Yes, and there are many such people. There was even a time when the whole world was working hard to eliminate hidden dangers, and there was a bright future. Unfortunately, the development of science and technology eventually brought mankind back to the old path." Susan sighed. As the most advanced artificial intelligence, she possesses basic emotions, and the end of the ancient times does make her feel extremely regretful.

"You haven't mentioned this before." Litch was a little displeased.

"Because you didn't ask. Although I look like a human now, I am not a human after all. I will only answer the questions you want to know." Susan replied, and she returned to her emotionless appearance.

"Now that I've asked." Litch felt a little bitter. He had indeed forgotten this, forgotten that Susan was essentially the same mixture of metal and silicon as the two intelligent computers on his combat suit.

"That was at the end of the middle period of the ancient times. Due to the rapid population growth, resource depletion, serious environmental pollution, and the increasing number of countries capable of producing destructive weapons, everyone believed that the entire world was on the verge of destruction, so countries began to look for solutions. At that time, it did have some effect."

Leach asked impatiently, "What happened next? Why did civilization still go to destruction?"

"Because of the breakthrough in space technology. There are resources everywhere in space. The moon, which is closest to us, is an inexhaustible super mine. If you need energy, the tritium on Saturn is inexhaustible. Even if the population grows, space can provide enough resources.

"Although the resource problem has been solved, it has laid a deeper hidden danger. The excessive abundance of resources has also made the ancient countries stronger and stronger, and the power of their weapons has become more and more terrifying.

"At first, all countries could still restrain themselves, but human minds are very strange. The more they have, the more they want to get, and the more they fear losing everything they already have. Because of this, all countries began to stockpile military forces and competed to manufacture powerful weapons.

"But the more fundamental reason is that the meaning of war has changed. Before the Space Age, most wars were fought for profit, for land, for resources, or for markets. But in the middle and late ancient times, terrorism spread. At first, it could not be called a war, but just small-scale sabotage.

"The advent of the space age has made resources abundant, and materials that can be used to make destructive weapons have become easier to obtain. More and more countries have such weapons, and finally terrorist organizations will be able to make such weapons." The era of terror has finally arrived.

"As dozens of cities were destroyed by the terrorist organization's weapons of destruction, the war became a killing out of pure hatred. For the sake of their own security, the injured major countries ruthlessly wiped out countries that could be hotbeds of terrorism from the world.

"From then on, the meaning of war changed. It was no longer for profit, but for the right to survive. The purpose of war also changed. It was no longer for conquest, but for destruction. The conditions for victory also changed. Occupying the enemy's territory was no longer considered a victory. Only killing all the enemies was considered a victory.

"The Age of Terror was very short, but the shadow it cast on the human psyche lasted until the Last War.

"It was precisely because of that horrific massacre that countries became nervous, fearing that other countries were stronger than themselves and that they would be ruthlessly destroyed. So everyone tried to overwhelm others with military force."

Susan did not continue because Litch had already seen the second half of history many times.

This answer was beyond Leach's expectations.

He really didn't expect that entering space would be the beginning of destruction, and abundant resources would be the root cause of destruction.

Leach hesitated.

The development of civilization is to constantly explore, innovate, and challenge higher and farther goals. It is almost an inevitable choice to break free from the constraints of the planet and head into the vast universe. Wouldn't that be going back to the old path?

As for getting people to develop frugal habits directly, he had no idea about this because it was impossible.

"Did the first Holy Emperor know this?" Li Qi asked casually. He wanted to prove something.

"Yes, not only he knows, but several other people know too." Susan's answer was just as Litch had guessed.

The most profound impression left by the City of Heaven and even the entire Holy Kingdom of Parkinson is its grandeur and luxury. The people of Parkinson are very famous for their pursuit of luxury and enjoyment.

It wasn't just the royal family, the nobility, or the rich who enjoyed luxury, the common people of Parkinson's also lived a very luxurious life.

The civilians here live in villas. There are very few apartments in Parkingdon, and the few that exist are all occupied by students, who have no other choice.

In addition to three meals a day, the people of Parkinson also have the habit of drinking afternoon tea. After get off work, the men will hang out in the bar, and often have a midnight snack at night. The wine they drink is of the best quality, and the food they eat is exquisite.

It can be said that the worship of luxury has long been ingrained in the Parkinson people. Even people of Parkinson's blood have extravagant habits.

What Litch remembers most is the first time he entered Lina's room. The room was as messy as a doghouse and as dirty as a pigsty, but the things thrown on the floor were all luxury goods, such as brand-name handbags, high-end jewelry and the like.

Even the several Holy Emperors who knew that the ancient times were ruined by extravagance did not practice frugality, so it was impossible for Li Qi to expect that he could change all this.

Just as Leach was feeling confused, Susan comforted him, "It may be safer now than in the ancient times. Alexander once asked me what the biggest crisis was in the ancient times. I answered that it was the energy crisis. In the early days, the competition for energy resources triggered a large number of wars. Later, the huge consumption of energy caused environmental pollution, greenhouse effect and resource depletion. In addition, most of the weapons in the late ancient times were energy jets and energy explosions, so energy problems have always been a nightmare for mankind.

“Alexander asked me if there was any way to avoid it?

"Finally, I gave him energy crystal technology, which is a relatively efficient and safe energy technology. If humans continue to develop along this path, they can avoid many fatal problems."

"Energy crystals are safe?" Litch felt funny. The armor is powered by this thing, and the energy crystals can also be used to make explosive devices. He can't see where the safety is at all?

"Of course, compared with fission technology, fusion technology, and matter annihilation technology, this is much safer. Compared with steam engine technology and internal combustion engine technology, it does not cause as much pollution.

"Besides, even if I give you these technologies, they would probably be of no use. Steam engine technology requires a large amount of coal. The existing coal was produced in the millions of years after the great destruction, and the quantity is not large. It is okay to use it for steelmaking, but it is not suitable as fuel. Internal combustion engine technology is even more useless. You don't have any oil at all. The oil in ancient times took hundreds of millions of years to accumulate. If you don't use oil, you can only burn alcohol, but the cost is too high..." Susan talked incessantly.

Li Qi remained silent. He had to admit the wisdom of the First Holy Emperor. This guy's choice really turned the war into a mode based mainly on personal strength.

On this point, Litch himself had reason to be proud, because he further reduced the scale of the war and turned it into a contest between high-ranking knights. ~

The problem is that the first Holy Emperor did not take the civilian class into consideration, so the mode of war did change and became a game limited to knights. But apart from the war, everything else is still being explored slowly along the original path.

Litch had always wondered why the development of modern civilization was so much slower than in ancient times. Now it seemed that the problem lay in several key points.

Without enough coal, even if the steam engine was invented, it could not be used on a large scale. Without oil, the internal combustion engine would not exist.

"Now, tell me, before the advent of the Space Age, what technologies did ancient humans invent to solve the problem of resource scarcity?" Litch interrupted Susan's "speech."

"There are many technologies, you can see for yourself." Susan pointed casually.

A huge tree-like structure jumped out in front of Litch.

He was no longer unfamiliar with this set of things.

This tree structure has five main trunks - energy, transportation, cities, agriculture and pollution.

Taking a look at the scale of the tree structure, Litch knew that it would probably take him several months to go through it from beginning to end.

He had to make a choice.

He clicked on the two branches of agriculture and pollution and scanned them casually. Sure enough, these two things don't mean much to him.

The pollution in today's civilization is not so serious that people cannot survive. Moreover, there is a lack of coal, oil and other chemical resources. It may be difficult for today's civilization to reach that point.

As for agriculture, he had already mastered technologies such as soilless cultivation, centralized breeding, and waste recycling. In order to win over the Dire Dawa people, he spent a lot of time and effort on this aspect.

Clicking on the energy classification, Litch also scanned it casually.

He soon understood how most of them utilized solar energy, wind energy and tidal energy, and most of these natural energies were eventually converted into electrical energy.

Litch was a little hesitant about this.

The first generation of Holy Emperor chose the energy crystallization technology, probably because the application scope of energy crystallization is relatively small, while electrical energy is different, its application scope is extremely large, and it is easy for people to go back to the old ways of the ancient times.

But without electricity, and without the emergence of steam engine and internal combustion engine technology, the progress of civilization is gradually stagnating.

Hesitantly, he clicked on the other two branches.

Transportation is actually related to energy, and most of the technologies involved consider how to use electricity or burn hydrogen to replace oil.

It all comes down to electricity.

When the last branch unfolded, Leach's eyes lit up.

He finally found what he was looking for.

Architecture is not just about building houses, it also involves the planning of cities and residential areas.

Obviously, it was a period of gradual return from luxury to frugality and simplicity. All the buildings had no fancy exterior decorations, but their shapes, lines and mutual matching gave people a sense of agility.

If a single building is beautiful, then a city composed of buildings together has an indescribable beauty, which can be called art.

Litch immediately knew that he would never feel empty and lonely again for the rest of his life.

We will no longer build armor, but instead build cities.

Now in Monstock, the entire central and southern parts have been almost destroyed, eight out of ten cities have been destroyed, and the remaining two are also severely damaged.

It was like there was a piece of white canvas spread out in front of him, waiting for him to paint freely on it. This is not an opportunity that everyone has.

Watching a city being built gradually, watching more and more people move into this city, living and working in it, that sense of accomplishment cannot be compared to designing a piece of armor.

Besides, he did have some selfish motives.

He tried his best to slander the founders of the Republic. This was partly due to his own personal opinions, as he really looked down on those people, but more importantly it was out of necessity. Since we want to completely change the original political structure, we must overturn all the original ideas from the root.

But slander alone is not enough, he must be better than those founders and leave something behind.

People are realistic. If they feel that the present is indeed better than before, they will naturally accept everything now. In just half a century, the past Monstock Republic will completely disappear from people's minds.

"Is there any kind of construction method that can be built quickly and has many variations so that it is not too monotonous? It will also be easier to expand or renovate in the future. In addition, it would be best if the cost is cheaper." Litch made many requests in one breath.

He himself felt a little embarrassed. This was like "wanting a good horse but not wanting it to eat grass". There seemed to be very few such good things in the world.

To Leach's surprise, Susan's answer was, "Yes."

She pointed again, and a three-dimensional picture appeared in front of Litch.

It was a town, a town that was being built rapidly.

In the past, building a town started with leveling the land, but the town before us was completely different. The first thing to do was to drive piles into the ground and lay pipelines, and then erect pillars. These pillars were of different heights, and the outline of the entire town could be vaguely seen. After the pillars were erected, the roads were paved and the beams were erected...

Litch watched the town being built gradually, and the whole process felt to him like playing with building blocks.

At this moment, he was no layman in engineering construction, so he saw the benefits of this construction method at a glance.

"That's what I want," Leach shouted.

"It only takes one to two years to build a medium-sized city of 100,000 people using this method. In the second half of the middle ancient times, disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis occurred frequently. This model can be used to rebuild cities very quickly, but this model also has its disadvantages. This method cannot be used for taller buildings." Susan explained on the side, and also gave a small warning.

Litch didn't care because he knew that the tall buildings Susan was talking about were those with dozens of floors and over a hundred feet high. The tallest building now was in Capecchi, which had only twelve floors.

At least for the next century or two, he need not pay attention to the warning.

"Give me all the relevant information." Litch ordered.

There was a lot of information, but Susan knew how to choose. Besides, she always adhered to one principle: she would never bring out any technology that had not appeared in this world.

The sorted data is entered into two memory chips.

"I need you to help me design a city." Litch thought it would be best to do one thing at a time, so he simply gave the design of Penis to Susan.

"Okay, but I need a detailed geological report." Susan's request was very simple.

Leach didn't have what Susan wanted.

"I will give you the geological report later. Please help me organize the data now, I have a meeting tomorrow." Litch will not let go of Susan, the super secretary.

The meeting place is in the joint command building. Li Qi was not unfamiliar with this place. There was a time when he had to attend meetings here every day, and at that time he could only sit down and listen. At this moment he is the protagonist of the meeting.

The preparations he made last night did indeed bring him a lot of benefits.

When attacking Penis, the battle situation was very chaotic and everyone was fighting on their own. Even if the battle records were reorganized afterwards, many things still seemed messy.

It wasn't until last night, with the help of Susan, when I sorted out all the records, that some things hidden deep inside emerged.

Litch was one of the latecomers. It was not that he intended to delay, but it was the arrangement of the etiquette officer that the big shots always appear last.

After sitting down, Litch looked around and recognized most of the people attending the meeting.

The people who came were all of high rank.

The last person to arrive was naturally Queen Annelia. As soon as she arrived, the door to the hall slammed shut, followed by the sound of it being locked.

The entire hall and the outside were completely closed off.

"Everyone, we have received great news from Monstock just after the New Year. Monstock has recaptured its capital, Penes, with its own strength, which means that Monstock has officially restored its country. This is a victory for Monstock and also a victory for the alliance. Let us celebrate this." The opening remarks were naturally made by Her Majesty the Queen.

Generally speaking, the opening remarks are empty and boring compliments, and this time was no exception, but if you listen carefully, you can see that everyone present heard a lot from it.

At this moment, representatives of various countries held two different views on how to deal with Monstock at the Alliance Joint Conference, and the debate has continued to this day. At this moment, Annelia officially expressed her support for Monstock through her opening remarks, which was no small matter.

In addition, Annelia also revealed her criteria for judging similar situations in these words. Annelia just said that Monstock has recaptured the capital Penis "on his own".

That’s the tone that was set.

If other countries that were conquered by the alliance and had to surrender could also restore their country by their own strength, they could also gain recognition from the alliance like Monstock.

However, everyone present understood that it was impossible for a second Monstock to appear.

Everyone knows that Monstock was able to capture Penis with the help of troops from Dredawa and Parkinson. There are very few countries that have this ability, and even fewer that are allowed to do so by the top leaders of the alliance.

The key is the latter condition. A country like Rossotto would certainly hope that certain countries on the Eastern or Central Front would borrow troops from him, so that he could sign a secret treaty and let these countries follow Rossotto, allowing him to intervene everywhere. O'Moore and Parkinson would not allow that to happen.

So Monstock can only be a special case.

Understanding this opening statement, there were a lot of countries that felt lost, but since the leader of the alliance had spoken, they could no longer raise any questions.

After the opening remarks, there was some meaningless formality. After a long while, it was finally Litch's turn.

Leach didn’t have the skills of other politicians; he had a manuscript in his hand.

This draft was drafted with the help of the staff, but it only has the beginning. The several aides that Litch hired from the Renaissance Party were unaware of this meeting, and the Aneliya aides he borrowed did not know the details of the Battle of Penes. So the staff could only come up with this document to let Litch know how to start and how to move on to the formal topic.

Fortunately, the information in Litch's hands was sorted out by Susan, and he also carried with him the video records of the Battle of Penis. With the help of Susan, these video records were edited into segments, and combined with the data obtained from the analysis, Litch explained it as a party involved.

“…There were only forty-nine people involved in this battle. The scale of the battle was small, and the casualties on both sides were not great, but its significance was extraordinary…

"... In the future, wars will no longer be fought between hundreds of thousands or even millions of people, but will be fought on a small scale, with dozens or hundreds of high-ranking knights deciding the outcome of the war...

"...Since we have fewer people, our mobility will be stronger than ever before. There will be no more defense lines, and even battle lines may not exist. It is very likely that the enemy will attack Celestial City, Ode, and Capecchi at the same time, while our people are attacking Sobe, Rasenhogel, and Mosia..."

What Leach said is somewhat of a distortion of the facts. He deliberately exaggerates the importance of personal force.

In fact, although the analysis results of the Battle of Penes proved that cutting-edge military forces had an absolute advantage over low-level military forces, without reinforcements, forty-nine brilliant knights and one saint-level figure could not recapture Penes.

He deliberately downplayed the role of the latter, and in his report, the reinforcements seemed to be coming to clean up the battlefield. Also in the report, he described the retreat of Valadin's army as being due to lack of leadership and commander, so after the initial blind resistance, they had to withdraw from Penis.

His theory of the supremacy of individual force was not groundless. With the help of Susan, he carefully deduced and finally determined that this could really be achieved, but there were some prerequisites.

"Is this conclusion a little too biased?" Someone suddenly interrupted Litch's report.

"Yes, the reason why the Valadin people retreated is because your reinforcements arrived. How can you say that ordinary force is useless?"

"The key to the success of this operation is that the Valadin people have no means to deal with 'mind piercing'."

The troublemakers had all been discussed in advance, with one person jumping out first and the others following suit to raise questions.

Li Qi was very unhappy. He had already recognized that all the people who jumped out at this moment were representatives of the former neutral countries, that is, the new followers of the Rossoto Empire.

However, these people are not aimless. To be qualified to attend this meeting, they must not only have extraordinary wisdom and insight, but also have achievements in military theory. So while listening and watching, they actually found some loopholes.

Litch was not panicked. He and Susan had been deducing for so long, and their efforts were not in vain. In addition, he had long known that his statement had flaws, so he naturally thought of ways to make up for it.

Once you put down the manuscript in your hand, it will be useless from now on. Leach looked at the troublemakers with contempt and said, "This operation was originally intended to be a test of future war models. It was originally a plan formulated after a goal was determined."

It is hard to tell whether what Litch said at this moment was true or false, because the original plan was to take back Penis as intact as possible.

After the staff of the joint command formulated the plan, they realized that they could take this opportunity to verify the possibility of winning by relying solely on cutting-edge military force, which led to the goal that Litch had just mentioned.

This is like the question of "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" No one can really explain it.

Most of the people below didn't know whether this statement was true or not, and those who knew couldn't refute it, because this statement was not wrong, but it was not correct either.

The atmosphere in the conference hall was extremely weird for a moment.

Seeing that those who might know the truth all kept silent, the representatives of various countries were shocked.

If what Litch said is true, then it carries a lot of weight.

Previously, the Battle of Penes was considered a common operation in which the Monstock people borrowed troops from the Holy Nation of Pakington to retake their capital. But now the operation became an experiment, and Penis became the testing ground. The content of the experiment is related to future warfare modes.

Those people jumped out to make trouble originally to target Monstock, which was not a big deal, but now it has turned into targeting the decision-making of the alliance's top leaders, which is something they cannot afford.

Leach sensed the fear of these people, and he continued, "This operation did expose some problems, but these problems cannot prove that our predictions are wrong. They only prove that the existing equipment is not enough to support such a war."

He pressed a few buttons on the recording device, and suddenly a simple diagram popped up.

“Since the first Holy Emperor, there have been only two levels of armor: spiritual armor and divine armor, and ordinary armor. But knights are divided into six levels, which is obviously unreasonable.

“During the time of the first Holy Emperor, battle armor had just appeared, so we had to divide it this way. Now that battle armor technology has made breakthroughs one after another, it is no longer appropriate to do so.

"The armor of the future must allow the knight to fully exert his strength, must show the difference between different realms, must be able to cooperate with the skills practiced by the owner, and must become a part of the body, rather than just a lifeless weapon like it is now."

There was silence below, and everyone looked at Litch in a daze.

After a long while, the man who had just interrupted Li Qi burst into laughter and said, "This is impossible. According to this statement, the armor has become alive, right?"

Litch smiled and replied nonchalantly: "You are right, the armor should be alive. Starting from the honor level, the knight can release a special energy wave. The honor level is called the "field", the brilliant level is called the "domain", and the heavenly level and above are called the "realm". No one has ever tried to make the armor resonate with this energy wave, amplify this energy wave, and let this energy wave participate in the control of the armor.

"It's not that the armor makers don't want to do this, but they can't do it. Because they are not knights, they can't understand the mysteries and can't conduct experiments. But I can, and I have done it."

There was an uproar in the audience; no one expected to hear such news at the meeting.

Everyone present was very knowledgeable about military affairs and of course knew what Litch's words meant.

This is not as simple as designing a new type of armor, it is a revolutionary breakthrough in the entire armor system.

If before this, Li Qi's status was only comparable to that of great masters like Espol and Lady Shar, then once his idea was realized, the situation would be completely different. He would leave all the great masters of all generations, and even those masters, far behind, and become an existence on par with the first Holy Emperor.

Not only the envoys from various countries were surprised, but Annelia was also caught off guard.

At this point she didn't even know how to end the meeting.

Annelia rubbed her temple and felt a blue vein throbbing. After finally calming down, she sent a voice message to Litch and asked, "Are you telling the truth? Are you not just talking nonsense?"

"It's just a hypothesis, with a 30% chance of success." Litch didn't say too much.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Annelia said angrily.

"You asked me to organize the information, and I did it. Then I thought of this possibility during the process." Litch seemed a little innocent.

Annelia had an urge to vomit blood, and she regretted it very much now. The meeting was too hasty and she had not communicated with Leach in advance.

Thinking of this, Annelia felt that the meeting must be stopped now. She raised the gavel beside her and knocked twice: "Everyone, be quiet." She paused for a moment, and when no one made any noise, she continued: "For some reason, today's meeting will end here. In addition, I would like to apologize to everyone, because the topic just now exceeded the scheduled scope. In order to prevent the content of the meeting from spreading, we need to make some arrangements. Before the arrangements are completed, it is necessary to inconvenience everyone. I invite everyone to stay at the Dekemanes Palace for a while."

After the words fell, the envoys from various countries were silent for a while. After a while, everyone whispered to each other, but their expressions seemed a little helpless.

These envoys understood that Her Majesty the Queen was actually placing them under temporary house arrest, and what they would have to do next would probably be to thoroughly investigate their identities and then place spies around them.

They don't want this to happen, but unfortunately they have no choice but to accept it. On such an important matter, the Holy Kingdom of Parkinson will never back down.

The Dekemanes Palace is located in the royal palace area, separated from the royal palace by a wall. In the past, it was used for secret talks or signing secret agreements.

There are many rooms here, enough to accommodate envoys from various countries.

The palace was surrounded by a circle of grass, with nothing obstructing the view, so no one could sneak in or out.

The room was cold and deserted. The envoys had no intention of returning to their rooms, nor did they have any interest in staying in the hall. Everyone knows that this hall is full of eavesdropping pipes, and the relatively safest and private place is the large lawn outside.

"A genius is a genius. He can make everyone jump with just a few words."

Finally someone vented that this special envoy had no connection with the representatives of the Rossoto Empire and was simply an innocent innocent.

Most people are similar to him, and because of this, everyone intentionally or unintentionally avoids the representatives of the Rossoto Empire.

As for the envoys from those neutral countries, they were in a dilemma. Their countries did not really intend to join Rossoto, but just wanted to fish in troubled waters and gain some benefits in the name of Rossoto. I didn't expect that I didn't get to eat the fish, but instead got myself into trouble.

At this moment, no one believed that this was Litch's sudden inspiration. Everyone thought that this was a trap prepared in advance. If no one jumped out to trip Monstock, the trap would naturally not be triggered. Once someone did so, the result would be what it is now.

"Can the armor really come alive?" In a corner, a dozen envoys gathered together and discussed quietly.

"If someone else had proposed this idea, I would most likely be skeptical, but what this person said, I think it is very likely to come true." Another envoy expressed his opinion.

"I think so, and I'm sure Parkinson, O'Moore and Capecchi would think so too."

"This is the most important thing. Our opinion is actually not important. The most important thing is what Your Majesty Annelia and Your Majesty Carlos think about this matter."

"Of course, the two of them are happy to see it happen. When it comes to cutting-edge military power, what country can compare to those two thousand-year-old empires? If this technology is really successful, no one will be able to shake the status of the two empires for at least two or three centuries. In comparison, the Rossoth people will probably feel lost."

Upon hearing this, the envoys all chuckled. Everyone knew the hatred between Lich and the Rossoto people, and they even suspected that Lich was doing this to deal with the Rossoto Empire.

Considering the rumored vengeful character of this person, the possibility of this happening is more than 70%.

"Monstock is too far away from Rossoto, and there are other countries in between, so we can't take revenge directly, so we came up with this method. Geniuses really can't be offended!" Someone sighed heavily.

The others looked at the representatives of the neutral countries with a smile on their faces.

"Rosoto is too far away, but some countries are very close. Tell me, will there be a local war after the war ends?" an envoy asked in a low voice.

This is not just excessive curiosity. Not only this person has this speculation, but others also want to know the answer because it is related to the future direction of Monstock.

Monstock’s image in the past was that of an obedient sheep, but now no one is sure whether Monstock will still be a sheep in the future. It wouldn’t be a big deal if it turned into a bad-tempered goat, but the fear is that this sheep might turn into a tiger or a ferocious wolf.

At this moment, at least half of the envoys gathered here belong to countries that belong to the Great Triangle, which is the area between Omore, Parkinton and Rossoto. Geographically, it is located in the north and northeast of the Chiskar Mountains. It is not adjacent to Monstock, but it is a close neighbor.

"The possibility of war breaking out... I'm afraid it's not very likely." An older envoy said while thinking, "Monstock suffered heavy losses. This war has severely damaged their vitality. It may take half a century for them to fully recover. This kind of resentment caused by temporary interests cannot last for half a century. This is not hatred towards the Rossoto Empire."

He didn't dare to continue talking here. The relationship between Mon, Stocker and Rossotto has become a very sensitive topic.

"That person is not a broad-minded person. He can't even do the saying 'it's never too late for a gentleman to take revenge'. I don't believe he can tolerate this." said an envoy.

Litch was already famous, and he became the focus of attention since he became the commander-in-chief of the Western Front. All countries had already investigated all his experiences clearly and knew what kind of person he was.

"There are many ways to make people feel uncomfortable besides war," said the elderly envoy.

"It's a pity that there is no way to contact the outside world right now."

At this moment, these dozen or so special envoys were thinking about how to spread the news so that the country could get in touch with Monstock as soon as possible.

The more people interact with each other, the closer they become. However, it is different between countries. The earlier you establish relations, the closer you will be to other countries. If it is too late, many benefits will be lost.
Episode 2: Chaos

In Schalke's Central Front Command, old man Carlos had the same questions as the envoys under house arrest.

"Can the armor really come alive?"

The top leaders of various countries were confused at the moment. They didn't know why their country's envoys were detained and couldn't even pass on the message, but Omore and Capecchi were exceptions. Carlos and Max knew what happened in the City of Heaven at the first moment.

Both are at Schalke at the moment. They have been here since the counterattack began, and they are ready to launch a large-scale attack on Franza.

When the news came, old man Carlos was stunned for a moment, and so was uncle Max. When the two men received the news, they were discussing whether to launch an exploratory attack after the spring. Now they didn't have to consider anything. Compared with the exploratory attack, the incident caused by Litch was obviously much more important.

The uncle immediately hurried to Capecchi. The two people who may have the most say in Litch's vision are the two great workers, Espol and Lady Shar. He was not worried about leaks. If he couldn't even trust those two, there would be no one in the world he could trust.

Old man Carlos was quite tactful and did not ask the armor maker from his own country. He knew that Max would definitely tell him when he got the exact news.

It wasn't until three in the afternoon that Max finally came back.

Carlos had already ordered others not to get close. After he and Max entered the living room, he asked impatiently, "What did Espol and the others say? Is this idea really feasible?"

"It should be possible." said the uncle. The old man was very familiar with Max and he knew Max's speaking habits. Max said "it should be possible", so the possibility of success is definitely not small. If he was unsure, Max would most likely say "maybe".

"You'd better tell me what Espol and the others said." Old man Carlos was a little anxious. If it were a year ago, what he would be most worried about would be how to resist the Franza Empire, but now the threat of the Franza Empire has been reduced to a very low level, and the research that Litch is studying and about to conduct will determine the future of Omore, which has become a top priority.

"Well, Espol said that Litch's idea is actually a new topic derived from the fusion of two ultimate topics." Max pointed out the key point at once.

The old man slapped his thigh suddenly. Of course he knew the two ultimate tasks of an armor maker. Litch's idea was too abstruse, so he didn't think in this direction. Now that Max pointed it out, he immediately figured it out.

"Some of the things in that concept were already being worked on by Espol in his early years, but Espol only started and was never able to continue. The neural network used in the design of the Fairy Dragon Type 1 and Type 2 was Espol's original design, and Litch went a step further on this basis, making the neural network on the Fairy Dragon Type 4 even more perfect, but the neural network has not yet been connected to other systems. Espol said that Litch most likely wanted to integrate all the systems together to make the armor closer to the human body, and then redesign a control system to operate the armor in a way that is closer to natural reactions." Max explained simply, and he did not repeat the original words of the two geniuses. The two men talked for more than an hour, and he didn't understand a lot of things, so he naturally couldn't relay them to Carlos.

"I understand. He wants to shorten the reaction delay as much as possible and make the reaction of the armor close to the direct reaction of the human body. In this way, the armor becomes an extension of the human body." Old man Carlos is also a knight and immediately understood the key.

"I'm afraid it's more than that. Espol said that Litch mentioned pure energy armor when he contacted him before. Litch felt that heavy armor was actually unnecessary, and mentioned that starting from the honor level, knights can control objects around their bodies; if this ability is combined with energy armor, the armor's defense will definitely increase exponentially; if combined with energy circuits, the power of combat skills will increase exponentially." The uncle told him everything he knew.

Carlos had no idea about these, but he knew one thing: the strong would become stronger and the gap in their realms would widen.

The function of armor is to increase the strength of the knight, but the increase in strength caused by armor was the same before. If the increase is calculated as twenty times, then whether it is an ordinary knight, an ace knight, an honorary knight or a glorious knight, their strength will be increased twenty times.

At that time, Team 105 defeated the enemy's Honor Team several times. It can be seen that in this situation, the weaker side can completely rely on numbers to defeat the stronger side.

But if Litch's idea is realized, the increase in strength provided by the armor will be doubled depending on the level. The strength of an ace knight might increase by forty times, and at the honor level it might be eighty times, and at the brilliant level it would be one hundred and sixty times.

In this case, it is almost impossible to win by numbers. , old man Carlos took a pen and paper and started calculating. He wanted to know, according to the new rules, how should the war be fought best?

It is obviously not cost-effective to mobilize a million troops like now. Under the new rules, the combat power of an honor squad is equivalent to that of an ordinary knight brigade, but the materials required and the pressure on transportation are completely different. The latter is huge in scale, inflexible in operation, and requires huge logistical support. It can be said that it is full of flaws and can be easily killed with one blow.

The more he calculated, the more the old man lost confidence, but his eyes also became brighter.

He suddenly crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket, then heaved a sigh of relief and said, "I hope that when we attack Sobey, this will no longer be a concept but a real thing."

"Want to torture George V?" The uncle rarely showed humor.

Emperor Carlos and Sword Saint Max were full of expectations for Litch's research. In the City of Heaven, Annelia was frowning and looking at the staff below.

The conclusions reached by the staff officers were not much different from those calculated by Carlos, but unlike old man Carlos, there was no joy on their faces, but more worry.

"If future wars become like this, the uncertainty will be too great. By then, the warring parties will really be said to have no front or rear, no front line or defense line. The slightest negligence may lead to complete defeat, and there will be no room for fighting back." The leading staff officer said hesitantly.

"This is a double-edged sword. Although it looks very useful and sharp, if we are not careful, we might get cut." A younger staff officer nearby hurriedly said.

The young staff officer did not notice that the boss next to him was winking at him while he was saying this. Annelia didn't answer, but turned her head to the other side. There were eight people sitting on the other side, Sophia was sitting in the second seat, and Lolalis was also there. These eight people are the direct descendants of the four major royal families, with two from each family.

"I think it's a good idea. If this idea succeeds, it will definitely be beneficial to us." Sophia was the first to speak, and of course she spoke for her little lover.

"I think so too. We in Parkinson's have never been short of cutting-edge military force. As for the so-called double-edged sword, if the person who wields it is a skilled swordsman, how could he cut himself?" Following closely behind was a member of the War King's lineage.

Among the four royal families, the Thunder Emperor's lineage only pursues explosive power in their armor, the Dragon King's lineage takes a defensive approach, and the Shadow King's lineage is engaged in reconnaissance and assassination, and their requirements for armor are quite special. Only his lineage is most interested in Litch's idea.

"I was wrong just now. We shouldn't use the double-edged sword to describe it." The young staff officer rushed to say, "This should be a bomb, and it's a bomb that could explode at any time. The current war mode makes it okay for armor to have some differences in performance, such as the two armors in the early days of the war, the 'Magic Cube' and the 'Dragon'. It is well known that the performance of the 'Magic Cube' is better than that of the 'Dragon', but strong performance does not mean it is suitable. The 'Magic Cube' is complex to manufacture and requires special raw materials. The armor itself is heavy. Although the design concept takes into account the convenience of battlefield repair, it puts huge pressure on logistics supply. Although the performance of the 'Dragon' is slightly worse, it is simple to manufacture, with a large number of identical parts, easy to mass-produce, and light in weight, which is conducive to mobile warfare. So in the end, even the Alliance was equipped with a large number of imitation 'Dragon'. But according to the new concept, the situation is completely different. The side with stronger armor will definitely have an absolute upper hand in the war."

Although he used the "magic cube" and "dragon" as examples, his implication was clearly directed at Monstock. Everyone knows that for at least the next half century, the leader in armor technology will be Litch, and Monstock will replace Franza and Capecchi to become the country with the fastest development of armor technology.

The other half of the sentence he didn't say was that the Holy Nation of Parkinson lacked strength in armor design, and Parkinson's armor makers lacked innovative spirit. This was a problem that could not be avoided.

The senior staff officer in charge had already turned pale, and he regretted not stopping his men from talking nonsense. But while I felt regretful, I also felt a sense of satisfaction. This subordinate of his likes to show off and is very ambitious, which brings him a lot of pressure. Now this guy is talking nonsense, which is equivalent to digging his own grave. Let alone his future, it is hard to say whether he can save his life.

Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, Her Majesty the Queen waved her hand and said, "We understand. You can go down first." "

The staff officers took the order and went down. After leaving the conference room, the young staff officer seemed quite proud, while the other staff officers felt somewhat regretful. In fact, he was not the only one who saw this, but the others did not have the courage and were a step too late.

The young staff officer seemed to sense the jealousy of the others and was quite proud of himself. Naturally, his steps became much lighter and he left the others behind in the blink of an eye. .

Watching the young staff officer walking away, the leader of this group of staff officers sneered: "What are you envious of?" This guy doesn't even know how to write the word death. Not to mention that what he said just now was appreciated, it was already great that he was able to save his life. "

"How is this possible?" Someone in the audience was immediately puzzled.

However, there were also some people who were more knowledgeable. After hearing what the leader said and thinking about it for a while, they already understood a little.

"As a good staff officer, you must not only be proficient in your own field, but also have some understanding of politics, and know how to figure out the thoughts of the top leaders." The boss explained as if he was giving a lecture to a student: "What he said just now is indeed correct, but he didn't think about it again. Since this idea has been proposed, should we kill all the people who know about it? Let's not talk about the envoys of various countries. It's not so easy to touch that Monstock man alone. Moreover, since someone has proposed this idea, there must be a second or third person who will think of this. We kill people and destroy all traces. But others may be secretly stepping up their pace to conduct research in this area; once the other party has achieved results in the future, Parkinton will be really finished. So his proposal is just pretending to be an ostrich and sticking his head in the sand. We Parkinton have done such stupid things before, and the lesson once is enough."

The lesson he was talking about was that eight centuries ago, the people of Parkinton also believed that the armor technology at that time was already strong enough, so the Holy Nation of Parkinton, from top to bottom, lost interest in researching newer and more powerful armor; in order to maintain their advantage, they also prohibited other countries from researching armor technology.

The result was that the frustrated armor makers left Parkinton one after another, and the countries did not follow Parkinton's orders, but secretly researched new armor technology. Perhaps it is because the strong pressure has been transformed into a driving force for progress, and armor technology has made rapid progress in just thirty years.

The breakthrough in armor technology gave countries confidence, while the arrogance and suppression of the Holy Kingdom of Parkinson led to the union of countries, and the First War of Nations broke out.

The staff officers present naturally knew this history very well. After a little thought, they immediately realized that Parkinson had no other choice.

"What you meant just now seems to be similar to what he said!" asked a staff officer next to him in confusion. "

"When something has been decided, the value of a staff officer is to be able to see the hidden dangers. Although I said that, I have no intention of stopping this research. My position is completely different from his." The leading staff officer said with a smile.

At this moment in the conference room, Annelia, just as the chief staff officer had expected, said with a helpless and regretful tone: "It seems that Scoon can't be used. I was very optimistic about him."

"What's so regretful? There are plenty of such advisers." Sophia interrupted nonchalantly. She has a special status. As a descendant of the Thunder Emperor and a powerful saint, even Annelia has to give her some respect. Naturally, she doesn't care how she speaks.

"This is probably what is called 'stepping on other people's shoulders to climb up', but unfortunately he stepped on the wrong person." Sophia's family also laughed. Everyone has sharp eyes and can see the strangeness in it.

"Transfer him to the data room." Annelia made the decision. She had no intention of killing anyone, even though the staff officer had sinister intentions, but she also had no intention of sentencing someone to death for speech. However, being transferred to the data room is a very severe punishment.

Most data rooms are confidential places. It is easy to get in but difficult to get out. Such places are particularly deserted and there is no room for promotion. Being sent there means being put on ice.

"That's not entirely wrong. Our country's armor makers are indeed not very good." This was said by Lola Liss. When others said this, they meant to excuse the young staff officer, but she was the only one who didn't give people that feeling.

Annelia could only smile bitterly, she knew Lolalis's true intention.

Some time ago, she and Litch had a disagreement because Litch was too tough on those masters.

In her opinion, the root cause of the problems in the Parkinson armor manufacturing industry is related to the Parkinson system. She does not want the problems to remain unsolved and instead shake the foundation of Parkinson. Now Litch has basically defeated her.

If she doesn't make changes, her country will become increasingly dangerous and may be surpassed by other countries at any time. If she wants to change, she will risk shaking her foundation. This is like drinking poison to quench thirst. You have to drink it even though you know it is poisonous.

Litch didn't expect that because of his little bit of "malice", the top management of Parkinson was already in a state of panic, and for a long time in the future, Annelia would have more and more headaches.

But he knew that he had put Annelia on the fire, so after lighting the fire, he immediately hid in the research center.

He is the head of the research center, but the one who actually manages the place is Her Royal Highness the Princess. To be honest, Litch was not very willing to see Her Royal Highness the Princess; he also knew that Her Royal Highness the Princess felt the same as he did, but things in the world often do not go as one wishes.

As soon as he entered the research center, Misra followed him.

"Are you planning to conduct preliminary research now?" Misra didn't know that Litch ran here to avoid others. She thought Litch was impatient and was ready to take action. This kind of thing is very common among armor makers like Espol and Lady Shar.

"What are you worried about? Are you afraid that I will borrow too much of your manpower and materials?" Li Qi said this deliberately. He knew that Misra could not be so stingy. The word "stingy" did not exist in the dictionary of the Parkinton people, let alone the wealthy Parkinton royal family.

"I know you are trying to provoke me. I also know that you came up with this idea, most likely targeting the Rossoto people, and part of the reason is the last dispute between you and me. You want to force us to admit that we must use tough measures against the masters of our country." Misra could see this because she also had a staff group around her, who were qualified to serve as her staff and their level was naturally not much worse.

Litch had not thought so much at first, and he did not even have time to discuss it with his staff; as for Susan, this artificial intelligence is an expert in other fields, but is not very good at understanding people's hearts.

"Okay, even if I did it on purpose." Litch could only admit it. He knew that if he didn't admit it, other people would think so too, but he had no way to explain it.

"Then please give me a suggestion that will not affect Parkinson's foundation but will solve the problem." The princess was not polite and pushed the problem over at once.

"Isn't this simple? Your problem is not the crappy system. Wasn't it the same in Monstock before? There are a group of old guys at the top. These old guys have no ability themselves, so what they worry about most is that capable people will come up and replace them, so they try their best to suppress the people under them. But you treat those old guys as treasures, hold them in your hands, and are afraid of offending them." Li Qi vented.

Princess Misra blinked and looked at Lich. For a moment she was unable to make an accurate judgment. She didn't know whether this guy was telling the truth or taking the opportunity to express his dissatisfaction with the wealthy family.

She felt that there seemed to be some truth in what he said, but when she thought about it carefully, it seemed that a group of old guys also occupied the top positions in Capecchi.

"Isn't Espol old?" The princess did not pretend to be a lady in front of Lich. She said whatever she thought.

"Don't bring up Capecchi. Capecchi is different. Espol and Madam Shar only hold honorary positions on the council and don't usually take care of things. Can Parkinson do it? Those masters sit in positions according to their rankings. If their rankings change, the positions under them will also change. So those who don't want to move their positions can only suppress the people below them and prevent them from jumping up. In this way, they will inevitably have to do something against their conscience."

Litch has become more and more experienced in power struggles these days, and he has indeed studied many successful organizations, including the Armor Maker Council.

This time Misra had no way to refute it. She thought about it carefully and realized that it was true. At the same time, she also thought of a solution.

According to Litch, the problem lies with the ranking and position of the armor makers, so everything will be solved as long as the positions under them are removed.

In this way, there is no need to worry about shaking the foundation of the country. The only problem is that those positions must always be occupied by people, and these people must be competent.

Seeing Misra in deep thought, Litch said softly, "In fact, there is a ranking list in the Armor Maker Council. You can ask your Armor Makers to challenge that ranking list. In this way, even if we follow the original method and give them positions according to the ranking, it doesn't matter."

"You've been a great help." Misra finally smiled. Leach's suggestion gave her some ideas. There is not only one solution. To put it bluntly, you need to prescribe the right medicine for the right disease.

It is obviously too early to turn the idea into reality, mainly because there is not enough manpower. Now the design of the new spiritual armor has entered final stage.

The new spiritual armors are not the same as before. The two new spiritual armors are of two completely different types. So after the relevant technical development was completed, Annelia ordered the masters to design their own spiritual armors for Parkinson's Heavenly Knights based on these two spiritual armors. This is no different than designing a specialized battle armor.

Specialized armor also adds special components to some relatively successful standard armor, and then makes minor adjustments based on different skills.

The masters are already very familiar with this kind of thing.

Li Qi originally had no plan to start a new research project immediately. Even if he wanted to, he would try it on spiritual armor first. Because with the current technological level, his idea still cannot be realized without the Divine Alloy, but Susan is stubborn. Unless the current civilization already has a certain technology, she will take out the corresponding technology from the ancient times.

So this time he came to the research center, on the one hand to avoid Annelia, and on the other hand to see how the two spiritual armors were tested.

The two sets of spiritual armor were placed in the open space in the center and covered with glass to prevent them from being soaked by rain and snow.

"Has the preliminary test been done?" Li Qi asked Her Royal Highness the Princess next to him. Misra is in charge of all the work here, so she is naturally aware of the progress. "It's just testing the most basic indicators, such as attack power, defense power, flying speed and so on. There are still many test contents that must be tested by Lolalis in person." Misra did not mention Litch's spiritual armor. Obviously no one expected Litch to make the spiritual armor exert its true strength, and no one dared to let him test it personally. This thing can cause trouble if you're not careful.

"Can't we find another member of the Shadow King family to test it?" Li Qi was a little confused.

Misra rolled her eyes. She felt that there was nothing to talk about with Lich. For a knight, his special armor cannot be touched by others. Only Litch, a guy who awakens later in life, does not care about this.

"Has the Joint Command decided when the central front will begin?" He actually wanted to know whether the new spiritual armor would be able to catch up with the final battle.

This time Misra couldn't play dumb. She thought for a moment and said, "I haven't decided yet. The situation is a little delicate. If we push too hard, the alliance might put aside their past grudges and join forces again. So, for now, we can only nail down the Franza Empire first. Let the Rossoto people step up their attacks on the western front and try to defeat the Sislo Federation as soon as possible to cripple one arm of the alliance. On the eastern front, we hope that you can solve the Valedin Empire as soon as possible. In this way, the eastern front, especially the Bickner Republic, will be shaken. Our expectation is that the Bickner Republic will surrender unconditionally."

"It's not like I can't beat him." Litch curled his lips.

"There is no need to create unnecessary sacrifices. Didn't you see how hard the alliance fought back then? For a war of this scale worldwide, the best option is to make enemy countries surrender upon hearing the news, and then let the surrendered countries attack their former allies. However, we don't let them bite the bullet and weaken their military strength. Instead, we let them deal with those second-rate countries, and then promise them some small benefits so that they think we really regard them as our own." What Misra said at this moment was the experience summed up by the Holy Kingdom of Parkinson over more than a thousand years.

Although Litch remained silent on the surface, he took these words deeply into his mind. Litch was not surprised by the news that there would be no fighting on the central front in the near future. He had already expected that the war would continue for another one or two years.

Monstock has begun to rebuild, and the longer the war elsewhere drags on, the better it will be for Monstock.

There was only one thing he intended to find out.

Li Qi approached Misra and whispered, "You guys are not going to hold back and not let the new spiritual armor go into battle even if it's made, right?"

"It's hard to say!" Misra tried to tease Lich, but what she said was true. The top management has different opinions on this. She herself hopes to use the new spiritual armor, which will definitely be recorded in history books. As the person in charge, she will also be remembered by the world. But Parkinson's tradition is to keep the biggest card in hand and never play it unless it is absolutely necessary.

"This is not a mature technology, and the tactics used in conjunction with the new spiritual armor are also brand new. Once something goes wrong, our losses will be huge, so we must be extremely cautious. This is not a way to keep something in reserve." What Misra was saying at this moment was the reasoning of those who thought that the new spiritual armor should not be used.

Hearing what Her Royal Highness the Princess said, Li Qi's face immediately turned ugly.

There was no point in talking to each other, and Li Qi didn't give the princess much face. He called over several project leaders and asked for the previous test records.

This kind of thing is actually useless, Litch is just killing time. What he was really thinking about was how to make his spiritual armor more powerful?

Before, on the Western Front, he had fought against a Heavenly Knight riding a spiritual armor. His sneak attack, which used all his strength, could only make the opponent confused for a while but could not cause any real damage. This made him realize that even the "True Light Wheel Slash" lacked power and would probably not be of much use on the battlefield.

When he thought that the power of "True Light Wheel Slash" was limited, he saw the old man's sword cutting through space. The power of this sword was beyond his imagination, and it also proved that "True Light Wheel Slash" was not the ultimate move, and there was still room for improvement.

He never considered these things before. His focus was always on the low-level battlefield, pursuing only efficiency in killing the enemy. Penis's battle at night made him realize that he was invincible on the low-level battlefield, so his attention naturally turned to the high-level battlefield.

He envied the old man's sword strike, but if he wanted to strike that strike he had to rely on the power of the magic armor passed down by the old man's lineage.

Li Qi circled around his spiritual armor.

"What? Are you planning to start?" Suddenly, Laura Liss's voice came from behind.

Litch was slightly surprised, then he became happy, turned around and asked, "Is the meeting finally over? What's the conclusion?"

"You will definitely be happy. As you wish, Parkinson and Monstock will sign an agreement to establish a strategic alliance, cooperating in all aspects from military to economy, and the research center will be handed over to you."

Litch was suddenly filled with joy; the result was far beyond his expectations.

He originally just hoped to get more aid, but he didn't expect Annelia to give him this result in the end. Strategic alliances are not simple. At the beginning of the war, the relationship between the three empires was that of strategic alliance partners, and later Capecchio was added. .

Once a strategic alliance is established, if any country in the alliance wants to make a major decision, the other countries are qualified to express their opinions; if everyone opposes, the decision must be shelved. As for one side being at a disadvantage in the war, it goes without saying that other countries will provide assistance.

In addition, the interest rate for a loan to another country in a strategic alliance will be the same as the domestic interest rate, which is a very advantageous thing; even if the loan is taken out, a few points of interest can be added and then loaned to another country, and a lot of money can be made from the difference.

Leach wouldn't do that. Monstock needed to rebuild and he was short of funds.

"Have you seen your spiritual armor?" asked Li Qi. He was now anxious to finish things here and then talk to Annelia about aid and loans.

"I see." Lolalis nodded. ,

"Don't you want to try it?" Litch patted the glass cover.

Lolaliss would not object to this proposal. She came here not only to inform Lich, but also to try out the spiritual armor that belonged to her.

The glass cover was carefully removed, and Lolalis gently stroked the spiritual armor.

Her armor looks a bit weird, and is a very different design from that of Fairy Dragon 4.

"Fairy Dragon 4" is round all over, without any protruding parts, but this spiritual armor is composed of countless planes, as if it was cut out from a whole piece of large crystal. Every surface of it is as smooth as a mirror, and it sparkles brightly under the sunlight, dazzling the eyes.

Lolalis pressed lightly on the chest of the armor, and with a slight sound, the front door slowly opened. This armor adopts a normal structure, unlike the "Fairy Dragon 4" which uses a back-mounted cockpit.

"I'm going in, you'd better move away," Lolalis warned.

Li Qi and those masters immediately turned around and left. Only a few assistants were left beside the spirit armor. They were making the final adjustments and checking whether the sensing device installed on the spirit armor was fixed.

Leach didn't withdraw very far. More than 200 meters away there is a shelter that is mostly underground, with the part exposed above the ground only about a foot high.

You can see outside from the hiding place, and there are several high-powered telescopes here, so you can see clearly even if it is a little far away.

Various testing instruments were placed against the wall, with at least two assistants sitting next to each instrument. When Leach came in, the shelter was already packed and all the instruments were turned on. It is now early January and the weather is very cold. It has just snowed in Parkinson and there is still thick snow in many places. However, there is no feeling of cold here because of the heat emitted by a large number of instruments.

As soon as he came in, Leach took the best position without any hesitation.

The next step is to wait for the test to begin.

As time passed, Litch kept looking at his watch.

Suddenly, the door of the hiding place opened again, and Her Royal Highness the Princess walked in accompanied by several people.

"Why are you here?" Litch asked. He didn't mean it, he just thought it was weird. Just now, Misra left in a huff. Based on his understanding of the princess, she would be angry for at least one or two days. I don't know why she came back now.

"As the deputy director, I have the obligation to come and take a look at such an important test." As he spoke, Misra sat down next to Litch.

Litch was stunned, but he didn't care much.

The looks of the people below were completely different.

Although people with a certain reputation and status do not need to be too restrained in front of the Parkington royal family, especially people like Espol and Lady Shar who are at the top of their respective fields and do not care about power and status, it is unique for someone like Litch to be so indifferent.

Of course, those masters and assistants didn't know that at this moment, as the manager of the super-intelligent computer Susan, Li Qi's status was equivalent to that of the first Holy Emperor Alexander and the Thunder Emperor Kelson. Naturally, he would not bow his head to anyone.

However, Li Qi felt somewhat strange when Princess Misra suddenly sat next to him.

He was a little uncomfortable with it.

In the past, Her Royal Highness the Princess often met him, but always kept a distance from him. Although Misra's attitude towards him seemed quite stiff at this moment, she was very close to him.

Litch's concentration has always been poor, and he couldn't help but be distracted.

Fortunately, the big iron door of the shelter slammed shut at this moment. At the same time, several assistants who were responsible for the final check also evacuated and ran towards another shelter.

A slight humming sound was heard, which was the sound of the anti-gravity device being activated.

Along with the buzzing sound, there was also a hazy white light.

This piece of white light seemed to be rising from the ground, covering an area of ​​several hundred meters in radius. The light was quite soft and extremely scattered, and there was no sign of it being concentrated in one ball. This is the magic of the optical cloaking system.

It is impossible to be truly invisible with current technology. The so-called invisibility is either a trick based on visual delay or a trick based on optical principles.

When the anti-gravity device is activated, it releases a dazzling white light, which cannot be improved, so Litch simply uses this white light to achieve the invisibility effect.

It's like a piece of glass that is transparent but not invisible and can still be seen at a glance. If you throw glass into water, it is difficult to distinguish them because the refractive index is almost the same.

This hazy white light is equivalent to the effect of water, and is also equivalent to the smoke that Lola Liss used in the past. Light will not be blown away by the wind and will spread much faster, which is an advantage that smoke cannot match. Even the secret smoke bombs made by the Shadow King family cannot compare to this effect.

Suddenly, an area in the hazy white light was slightly distorted. Li Qi sighed secretly. He knew that the optical stealth system had some flaws after all. The spiritual armor might not be discovered if it did not move, but once it moved, it would always reveal a flaw.

At this time, several areas in the white light began to distort, and as those areas moved slightly, the white light left a series of afterimages. These afterimages seemed illusory and it was impossible to tell which one was Lolalis's real body.

Litch took his eyes off the telescope and looked around, looking at the display on the instrument. There are two types of instruments for testing spiritual armor. One is specifically used for external monitoring, such as capturing the shape of the armor to calculate data such as speed, turning radius, reaction time for starting and emergency stopping; the other is to obtain corresponding data from sensors buried in the spiritual armor.

Obviously, this optical stealth system made all the previous monitoring equipment useless. Not only could the position of the spirit armor not be captured by the eyes, but other means such as telekinesis scanning and echolocation also became ineffective one by one.

"It seems that this system can also be used on ordinary armor." Misra pushed Lich. She wanted to hear Lich's opinion.

"How do you solve the problem of ground vibration?" Litch asked back.

The spiritual armor relies on an anti-gravity device to float in the air, so it will not cause ground vibrations when moving; this is impossible for ordinary armor. Even if the ultra-light armor is running, the ground vibrations can be felt by people one kilometer away.

"Didn't you propose to develop a completely new armor classification system? Didn't you say that starting from the Glorious Class, the armor used must be equipped with anti-gravity devices?" Misra certainly refused to admit defeat. Litch glared at her and pointed around.

Only then did Misra realize that she had accidentally said something she shouldn't have.

The masters and assistants around naturally heard it. The hiding place was so small and no one dared to make any noise, so it was very quiet inside; Misra's voice was not loud, but it was loud enough for everyone present to hear clearly.

Litch raised the point at yesterday's meeting, which had not yet ended. The news was strictly blocked. Apart from a very small number of people at the top level and some senior staff, only the people at the research center were aware of the matter.

This was the first time these masters and assistants heard of Litch's new idea. They were stunned and then wanted to vomit blood.

The new battle armor developed by Li Qigang is a revolutionary change. The spiritual armor had hardly undergone any major improvements in the past thousand years, and even its appearance had not changed much. But it changed completely in his hands.

Unexpectedly, this is not the end yet. Litch has come up with a new idea, and it sounds like it will be another epoch-making thing.

The assistants were fine; although they worked hard, they learned a lot and their abilities and status improved rapidly.

The masters couldn't stand it.

For the sake of the new spiritual armor, the masters had been the gray grandsons for a long time and had been frustrated under Litch for a long time. Coupled with the tight schedule and the close watch of Princess Misra, they felt like every day was a year. They originally thought they could finally take a breath, but unexpectedly, there was a new project.

They were willing to stay in their respective project teams and accept Litch's leadership in order to maintain their own positions and, by the way, to get some credit and move up in their rankings in the Armor Manufacturers Council. Now there is a new project. If they don’t join, it would give opportunities to others. If you join, you will suffer and become a disgraced grandson.

What makes them even more depressed is that no one can tell whether this person will have another flash of inspiration after the new project is completed and come up with another epoch-making project.
Chapter 3: Fate

On the grass chair outside the Jade Palace, Annelia leisurely drank afternoon tea with Litch.

Litch sat on the chairs that Emperor Carlos, Nicholas IV and the uncle had sat on, enjoying the snacks and milk tea carefully prepared by the royal chef of Parkington Palace while chatting with Her Majesty the Queen.

"I've heard that Lolalis's spiritual armor test was successful. Congratulations." Annelia said.

"Even if the test is successful, it's meaningless if we can't go to the battlefield." Litch was still feeling upset about what happened yesterday.

If he were a senior politician, he would definitely not bring up such a depressing thing at this moment. Unfortunately, Litch is not senior enough, and he is not even considered a politician, so he says whatever he wants.

Annelia could only smile bitterly. She really had no good solution for someone like Litch who didn't play by the rules.

"How could it be useless?" Annelia knew very well that she had to give Litch an explanation. In fact, she did not agree to keep this trick. A groundbreaking technology like the new spiritual armor must be tested in actual combat. What better opportunity could there be than this war?

Originally, she didn't intend to act on her own, but now there are too many things she needs to do. Even the armor manufacturer management system established by the Holy Kingdom of Parkinson after the First War of Nations must be completely abandoned, and a completely new management method must be established. Naturally, she had to change her previous style and be more decisive.

"I plan to use the attack on Sobe, the capital of the Franza Empire, as the first battle for the new spiritual armor." Annelia said. This was actually the earliest idea.

What Misra said to Litch before was actually not wrong. Any kind of armor technology is safest if it is hidden in the laboratory. Once it is revealed to the world, there is a possibility of leakage, so some people think that it should be kept secret.

However, it is relatively safe to take out the new spiritual armor when attacking Sobe.

According to the plan of the Joint Command, the Franza Empire will be the last target of attack; when it reaches Sobe, even if it is not the last battle, the end of the war will not be far away. Even though the Français had extraordinary powers, it was impossible for them to change the outcome of the war.

"That's great." Litch was finally satisfied. He was not completely ignorant of politics, so he could naturally see that Annelia was taking this opportunity to apologize to him on behalf of Her Royal Highness the Princess.

The grudge had been cleared, and the atmosphere in the Jade Palace immediately became harmonious.

Her Majesty the Queen proposed the establishment of a strategic alliance between Parkinson and Monstock, so Litch naturally had to respond with some polite words such as "the friendly relations between the two countries will last forever."

At this moment, the Monstock government has not yet been formed, and the formal strategic alliance agreement can only be signed after the government is formed. All Litch could produce now was the original list for requesting assistance, and of course some of the things on it would have to be modified.

The interest rates of loans provided between strategic alliances are very favorable, so Litch intends to convert all the original requests for assistance into loans. The aid is free, but the amount cannot be large. Loans are different. As long as there is collateral, it doesn’t matter how much you borrow.

Leach isn't worried about not being able to repay the loan. Although Monstock may not be good at other things, its economic strength is still good.

"I have one more thing to tell you. Valedin has sent a special envoy here. They intend to surrender unconditionally, but they are only willing to surrender to the alliance." Annelia suddenly dropped the news.

"You agreed?" Litch became a little nervous.

This is what he is most worried about now.

If the Valadin Empire surrendered at this time, Monstock would no longer be able to attack the Valadin homeland; and because Valadin surrendered to the alliance, in principle it would be up to the joint command to decide who would send troops to take over control of Valadin. If control were given to Monstock at that time, it would undoubtedly discourage other countries in the alliance who wanted to surrender. The Joint Command will certainly consider this.

So the ally's acceptance of surrender meant that he and his country had no way to seek revenge. Fortunately, Annelia's answer was no.

"I know very well what the Valadin Empire has done to Monstock. Justice should be served and evil must be punished. Since Monstock has launched a counterattack against Valadin, Monstock should be responsible for what is happening here. If the Valadin people want to surrender, they should surrender to you."

Annelia gave Lich the promise he wanted: "However, there is one thing I want to apologize for. For some reasons, we have to take back the 30,000 troops and brilliant knights we loaned out earlier." Lich was a little surprised. However, he immediately realized that it should be related to the arrival of Valedin's envoy. Valedin must have given some benefits that made Annelia tempted.

He didn't care much for these people and horses. Dredawa's army arrived soon. The 100,000-strong army plus the Independence Army and Hegart's troops were enough to deal with Valedin's remaining forces; as for the group of brilliant knights, he did not intend to use them again. The knights of Monstock had been feeling frustrated since the beginning of the war, but now the tide had turned and the situation was in their favor. This was the time for them to establish merit, confidence and prestige.

But Litch wanted to know why Annelia withdrew her troops.

"What conditions did the Valedin envoy put forward?" Annelia did not intend to hide it.

Although she was very concerned about the conditions offered by the Valadin Empire, her relationship with Monstock was obviously more important than that benefit.

"Remember that the Iron Blood Corps was once stationed in Casmolina, the capital of Valedin?"

"Of course I remember." How could Litch forget? He had gone to Casmolina for this matter, and it was this action that allowed him to obtain Trisli and meet Lola Liss.

"We caused some trouble for the Iron Blood Legion at that time. Neither we nor the Fransa people expected that the Valadin Empire would take advantage of the situation to fish in troubled waters. They captured two Iron Blood Knights alive and were very lucky to get some useful things from them."

Annelia casually spilled the beans about this secret. She wasn't worried about the secret being leaked at all, and she wouldn't care even if it was, because she wouldn't be in trouble, but the Valadins would be.

Although Annelia was satisfied with the technology in the hands of the Valadins, she was not yet convinced that it was the only way out. The alliance was about to fail, and the days of the Franza Empire were numbered; the technology in the Franza Empire was definitely much better than what the Valadins had.

A big reason she was willing to accept the deal was that the Valadins' demands were not high. If the Valadins had demanded surrender, she would not have considered it at all.

Annelia had guessed that Leach wouldn't care too much about Parkinson's withdrawal. This is politics. The essence of politics is to maximize interests.

After staying in the City of Heaven for a week, Litch finally returned to Monstock with a fruitful harvest.

On the third day in the City of Heaven, a cold wave came from the north and it started snowing heavily. On the day of our return journey, it snowed especially heavily.

The snow on the ground was very thick and all the roads were blocked by snow. Only the railway was passable.

Leach did not take the railway, he returned directly from the sky; he did not return to Penis, but landed in Ste.

Completely different from when he left, Stein became extremely lively, especially the north station. A train arrived every quarter of an hour, and all the people getting off the train were knights: reinforcements from Dire Dawa, Heger's men, and the Independent Army.