The Heaven-cleaving Fortress was equipped with facilities that could send messages to the capitals of the Five Lands. As Monocle Online’s internet couldn’t get to the Great Divide yet, the North had made do by creating artefacts that, when linked up to a Display, could send unidirectional messages that could be picked up by listening Displays.

Of course, once Monocle Online stopped counting the money and started working on improving what they called telecommunications, these artefacts would become rather useless, but for now, this was the best option for anyone wanting to send messages home.

“Sir, your identification,” said a guard from the Eastern Territories. Aziz nodded, and as he passed his documents over, he took a good look at the guards making up the team. It was a standard configuration; teams that guarded sensitive information and facilities would have one member of every nation inside, Ark City notwithstanding. This was a request by the North, who was ostensibly worried that having guard teams all from the same nation could result in rather…problematic issues.

By and large, Aziz agreed with the Mortal Light Dynasty, but he couldn’t help but wonder if they were also guarding against the possibility of technology theft. He wouldn’t put it past them, but he also liked how the North was already looking towards a future after the great war. That said, the other nations’ outlook on the war fluctuated wildly on a monthly basis to begin with, to the point that Aziz had given up on tracking the overall mood.

Other than the Republic, anyway, which was in a perpetually pessimistic outlook now. There was a good reason for that; the Republic had learnt some rather disturbing information about the nature of the enemy. Under Marie’s urging, the Republic had sought out the Ars Tribe to learn more, but by then, Ark City had taken in the Ars Tribe, and that was it.

The only thing he couldn’t understand was why they weren’t sharing whatever information they had with the other nations. After all—

“Thank you, sir. Please, proceed.” His thoughts were disrupted by the guard’s return, who passed him his documents, having recorded down Aziz’s visit in the log book.

The sleek metal door in front of him opened up, releasing a torrent of cold air that belied the spring’s warmth. Shivering, Aziz forced himself to enter, and his shivers intensified as the door closed behind him. The long-range communication systems of the Heaven-cleaving Fortress were entirely based in this chilly room, to prevent them from overheating and thereby damaging themselves whenever they were used.

Heading over to the Display designated for the Republic’s communications, Aziz authenticated himself, before proceeding to send Marie’s new orders to the Republic. There, a dispatcher would receive a set of instructions, which would then be locally relayed from base to base until the First Aerial’s dedicated dispatcher was reached.

This process would take around a day or so.

“Even though I know that improvements are coming, just this alone is really incredible,” Aziz murmured. “War truly is the mother of inventions.”

Inputting in a few more words, the colonel checked through the wording of the message a few times over, and then clicked the flashing green button. The Display artefact began to glow, and a scorching heat emanated outwards from the man-sized box it was connected to.

The man-sized box was something furnished by the North, an artefact that boosted the range of data sent out while maintaining its quality. Needless to say, almost every nation highly valued this Signal Booster for its ability to send unidirectional messages. After all, once the combined forces of the Five Lands started pushing into the Wildlands, these artefacts would become the best way to communicate.

He stared at the glowing, man-sized box and decided not to think too hard about their overwhelming optimism or the massive issues plaguing the Signal Booster artefact. After he was sure that it wasn’t going to explode or burst into flames, Aziz retreated a few steps, and then left the room.

“Sign out here, sir.” The same guard passed him the logbook, which he filled up once more.

Exchanging a few more niceties, Aziz headed towards Marie’s office, which was one floor down. Most of the important people and facilities were concentrated in a single building, which sounded like the height of idiocy for Aziz, but it wasn’t in his place to judge.

Once the war properly began, he would probably get the others to dig a small bunker underground, and then have their meetings there. Aziz didn’t like the idea of being a giant target, especially since it was the tallest building in the fortress.

Rubbing his hands, he went down to the third floor and entered a rather dull office. Other than a desk, a table, and a few maps, there really wasn’t much to look at.

“Where’s Abele?” Aziz asked.

“Abele got hauled off by Maylin,” Marie replied. “Presumably, she heard about what he had yelled in the canteen, so she’s now dishing out some corporal punishment.”

“The fortress shouldn’t crumble from that, at least.” Aziz peered around the room, whose walls were as crack-free as ever, and nodded. “I mean, it has to withstand attacks by even Paragons, right?”

A distant quake shook the fortress.

“It’s begun.” Marie’s words were sombre, and as they left her lips, the ground began to shake once more. Bells began to ring, prompting the tens of thousands of troops to rush towards the walls. Aziz wasn’t told about how the infantry would conduct their defence, but from the looks of it, they were intending to use the fortress walls for their own advantage.

“Do you think the higher-ups at the Heaven-cleaving Fortress would get mad when they realise that it’s just Paragon Maylin?”

“Even if they did, no one’s going to say anything,” Aziz replied, a grin on his lips. “Although, for our sanity, I think we should keep the two apart until we’re done teaching Abele about the basics of societal interaction.”

“Mm. And then we can finally do the last bit of our exercise.”

“Don’t remind me about that!”