"Uwaa."
"What's that?"
The students all stared ahead in shock.
"It's floating in mid-air." James couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise.
Ahead of the gathering of students, a couple of metres above the ground was a brown zeppelin floating in mid-air. For the young citizens of the Great Dawn kingdom, this was an astonishing product of engineering that they happened to be seeing for the first time. Although the technological advancement of the kingdom was quite impressive to the point they had digital screens and light lamps, a technology that could touch the skies was previously yet to be made. Flying was a dream, even for high-level mages of the wind element, so nobody ever thought of achieving it. Now, seeing that there was a technology that had managed to achieve what top-class mages have failed to do, the students couldn't help but be shocked.
"So the rumours were true."
The young lord of the Great Dawn kingdom, Wendel Castellan, muttered.
"My father once told me that the technology was made possible by the engineers in the three great empires. I didn't think that the royal family would be able to request it from the three great empires." Emma Saunters said.
In the southern region of the Kilin continent, there were thirteen powers, commonly referred to as the 13 kingdoms. In truth though, four of those 'kingdoms' were empires; powers on a much greater scale than the other nine kingdoms. Of these four empires, three were on another level and often looked up to as the de-facto rulers of the southern region due to their immense strength and influence. These three empires had powerful figures on a whole different level from the other ten influences, and they could even contend with sacred lands like the Purple Sun sacred land. Furthermore, they were the reason why sacred lands like the Purple Sun sacred land didn't try to swallow any of the neighbouring kingdoms despite being much stronger than they were.
"Buying the machines shouldn't be a problem for any royal power with a bit of connection to them, but the same can't be said about the core technology." Wendel commented.
"Oh, then that makes sense." Emma replied.
"But then, how many does the kingdom now have?"
"I don't know." Wendel answered.
"But knowing that man, I doubt he only purchased one."
'What are his thoughts on doing so? Does he want to wage an all-out war?' Wendel thought.
While the others saw a zeppelin, Wendel thought deeper and tried to decipher the thoughts of the king, his father.
There were two major issues to be addressed whenever war was waged, resources and logistics. Resources meant the food required to feed the soldiers, the materials and metals needed to build equipment, and the medicine needed for treating the injured. Logistics was the means of transporting these resources to the battle zone or the required area.
In previous years, logistics were made possible through the use of carriages drawn by horses, but it was still a somewhat inefficient method for multiple reasons like bad roads, bad weather, and so on. A zeppelin could eliminate most of the problems faced by a carriage and since it travelled through the air and not a specific land route, it could reach its destination much faster than a carriage. The zeppelin technology was one of the reasons the three great empires were able to maintain military superiority. With the Great Dawn kingdom now acquiring a few of them, Wendel had his reason to believe that his father was preparing for war.
'But against whom? The Terreans? Or the Northerners? Or maybe…' Wendel glanced into the crowd.
. . .
Unlike the other students, Asher wasn't particularly impressed by the zeppelin. Considering that he had witnessed void castles, floating continents, and flat earths in his past life, a zeppelin was like a toy to him.
'Hmm. The structure is even quite bad. With a great source of energy like magic crystals, this is the best they can do?' Asher couldn't help but shake his head.
'But this does give me an idea.'
"Alright students. Step into the zeppelin, let's depart to the destination." Zero's voice sounded from the stage.
Unlike the outside which looked like an impressive yet massive work of engineering, the inside of the zeppelin looked comfy and spacious. It was divided into five areas; the dormitory area, the inventory, the open hall, the control room and the engine room. The dormitory area was further divided into two sectors; the staff's sector and the students' sector with each having a females section and a males section. Just like in their first and second years, the students stayed in groups; each room was spacious enough to contain five students.
The open hall was more like a gathering spot that had a lounge, a bunch of couches, and chairs. It was meant to be the gathering area for the students to mingle with each other or receive instructions from the staff. The other three areas were off-limit to the students but just by their titles, it was easy to guess what they were all about. The control room was the area where the zeppelin staff worked and controlled the flight process. The engine room was the location of the magic engine that powered the zeppelin into the air. The inventory was now a spacious area where emergency items and resources were kept.
"The journey would take two days to the destination so feel free to do as you please while still abiding by the rules. Don't damage any item, step into the restricted areas or use start fights and use destructive spells." Zero warned.
. . .
"You changed location?" Roland gazed at dean Alfos after realizing that the route the zeppelin took off to wasn't the usual one.
"Hehe. Compared to the past generations, these guys have a lot more talent. I figured I might as well give them a more befitting test." Dean Alfos smiled as a glint flashed across his eyes.
"And you didn't report to me?" Roland's brows wrinkled.
"I didn't feel like stressing the director with such low-level information. It's only the midterm test you see." Dean Alfos replied.
"Don't worry. I didn't up the difficulty that much. It shouldn't be a problem for the twin princesses to get past. I still treasure my life and wouldn't want to go against the sacred land. As for the rest, they should also be fine."
"As long as nothing happens to them, then I don't mind. But do inform me of any change of pans next time, am I clear?"
Roland's overbearing aura burst out at the moment. The strength of an eighth-stage Guardian mage erupted from his body and pressed onto the dean.
"My apologies. I understand." Dean Alfos bowed as he gritted his teeth in pain.