The Magic tower do not only increase the Mana density defensive capabilities of the city barriers, it also had various offensive devices that could be used to launch attacks at the enemy. The main condition was that, the tower at the centre must be activated for the towers to function.
Although the Magic tower was impressive, the materials required to construct a single tower was astronomical let alone five. Even a large Guild will be bankrupted at the cost. And even once it's constructed, the Magic crystals required to keep it running itself was difficult to fork out even for NPC guilds that has been accumulating wealth for a long time.
But the effects of the Magic towers were worth the expenses. As the Magic tower was originally a defensive construct, the earth tower is located right at the centre connected to the other four towers who are placed at the corners of the city. Each of the four towers could launch attacks comprising of the four elements boosting the combat power of the city by a large margin. Constructing the
"It's settled then. We will be constructing this Magic tower before the war begins" Xuanyuan announced.
"Forward the list of materials to Treasury and have them delivered as quickly as possible. Let us work together to complete the towers as soon as possible" Xuanyuan said.
"Yes my lord" They all chorused and everyone quickly went into action mode.
Within half an hour, the materials were gathered and the various builders, with magicians and engineers were sent to the five locations to build the physical parts of the tower in advance. Xuanyuan stayed back with the Grandmasters and some Masters to work on the core of the five elemental towers. As Xuanyuan had reached tier 5 peak standard in terms of Mana control, he was familiar with the Mana of the five elements and as such, the process became much easier.
After working for about 6 hours, the cores were completed and all that's left is the activation which is the most difficult and important process. Activating the cores was difficult because one had to guide pure Mana in the Magical crystals into the channels of the Magic arrays with the right method. Mistake in the method of activation not only fails the activation itself, it can also lead to the breakdown of the whole magic array. Magic crystals will also be wasted in the process. That's why the activation requires meticulous observation and frightening control over Mana.
The head magician wanted to lead the activation process but he realized that even though Xuanyuan wasn't a bonafide Grandmaster magician, his understanding of Magic arrays wasn't any inferior to his and was even superior in some aspects. And he also possessed superior Mana control. All these factors are essential and so they all agreed for Xuanyuan to activate the cores.
Xuanyuan stepped forward and stopped in front of the table where the core of the Fire elemental tower was placed. He chose to activate it first because the core of the earth tower was the centre of them all and was the most important and most complex among the five cores. He was currently attempting to activate the cores because he had no prior knowledge on how they are activated. Activating the most complex one first is unwise because it can easily get destroyed if not careful. That'd be a waste of time and resources.
Xuanyuan closed his eyes and sent a spectre of mental will into the Magical core. The core appeared to be a separate dimension where channels were interwined and arranged waiting for magical energy to flow through them for the whole core to be activated. The fire core was a Grandmaster rank magic array on its own and once activated, it could be used to launch flame cannons and AOE attacks that could cause devastating damages to the enemy. But it also served as a link to the central Earth core that provided defense for the whole city. Hence the Magic array needed to be activated in a way that it would be linked to the central core to provide defense for the city and also launch attacks on its own. This puzzle was quite difficult but in no time Xuanyuan figured out a way to activate the array.
He directed Mana at the nearby Magic crystals which burst with pure and dense Mana he carefully directed at the fire core. The Mana seeped into the core and quickly disintegrated extracting the energy of fire and guiding in into the channels of the Magic array. The whole process seemed to be going smoothly until suddenly a low explosion rang out and the activation failed. But fortunately, Xuanyuan has reacted in time and managed to keep the magic core in one piece with minimal repairs.
Once he was ready, he began the activation again but the process failed before it was completed.
He repeated the activation again but he was still met with consecutive failures.
The Grandmasters watched all this with pained expressions not because they blamed Xuanyuan but because of the Magic crystals being wasted on the activation. Each activation costs 10000 and so far, Xuanyuan had failed 15 times. 150000 magic crystals was not a small amount large Guilds can throw around.
Xuanyuan didn't relent even after failing so many times. Rather he was excited because his failures allowed him to gain even more insights as he unknowingly improved his understanding of Magic arrays. Fortunately, after failing for 24 times, he succeeded at the 25th attempt.
A blinding glow burst out suddenly from the fire core as dense Mana gathered around it forming a layer of fire energy that enveloped the whole core. If one looked closely one could even notice a illusory flaming dragon moving around the core.