NOVPUBWhile new breaches were mostly stopped near the walls, the ones who did manage to get inside had started causing chaos all over the territory. Many went according to their mission, while others worked according to their own wills and preferences.
Most of them went to the Main bunkers, knowing most of the elders were there. Some went to the Guard Station, knowing the likeliest option for the Lord—Mathilda—was there. But there were also those who went towards the rest of the Elders.
For example, a subgroup specifically targeted the Research Lab, targeting Elder Eugene—the creator.
The aborigines arrived and looked at the building in greed, knowing what it represented and how much they stood to earn when they took over it.
Fortunately, Eugene, who was in the Research Lab, had long activated the defense system of the place.
The Research Center, to put it mildly, was the most sensitive building they had in the territory. How could it not be guarded well during wars?
First of all, there were plenty of guards stationed there, not to leave, no matter what was happening anywhere nearby. Their task was to protect this building and the people inside it—nothing else.
It was also naturally surrounded by a few sentries. Other than that, there were cannons built on all faces of the building. It took advantage of the fact that the Research Center had electricity and select cannons could be shot by one person via a controller in one of the rooms inside.
Its power and reach were much much less than the manual artillery fired at the easements, but it was more than enough to hit people trying to get inside, especially since it could create cannon showers if needed.
It was practically designed as a small fortress.
BOOM!
"AHHH!"
BANG!
"GAHHH!"
The trespassers screamed and yelled as they were showered by small cannonballs all over. Even if many of them had high levels, being bombed by so many was still dangerous!
The only disadvantage was that it was a manual construction and was, therefore, scalable.
An Upgraded Research Center had been one of the Design Team's aether building goals. However, the requirements were really difficult for now, and they needed a lot more time to create a satisfactory alternative to what they had now.
The Lord said that if they couldn't recreate at least two of the abilities she wanted, it was better not to waste the blueprint raw materials. They lost Bleulle, after all, so they had to be a bit more careful about the system buildings they chose to invest in.
Anyway, the Research Center was great as it was now. Turning it into a system building would mostly be just for convenience if they couldn't trigger certain special effects.
What were the ideal special building effects that the Lord wanted?
First—and the most doable one—was to help bring more clarity to the minds of the scientists and engineers inside.
This was a natural preferred effect considering what people inside would be doing for days at a time. The hospital had similar effect, which meant it was possible for Oslo to create such a thing.
Another effect would be the delayed reduction of spirit. This was a bit more difficult to achieve but not so incomprehensible if they managed to do the first one.
That said, these effects weren't urgent for now because there were plenty of professions that could create things with similar effects.
For example, there was now equipment and furniture that could do this, and the production of potions for low-level clarity and spirit potions was quite cheap now considering they were planting raw materials in their vertical farms.
Anyway, achieving these two effects, they believed, was not an impossible task—at least not in Alterra.
However, the Lord opened their minds to possibilities that triggered the ambition of the architects and the wannabee array masters alike.
The other special effects the Lord wanted them to study on were quite interesting, but were beyond their abilities for now.
First was space-folding arrays. That was to say: having the space iinside the structure larger than the space it occupied outside. For this, they were studying a couple of arrays (that they could see) in the Training Hall.
For now, they had yet to touch the edge of this fascinating subject.
And the other… was to make time run slower inside, which was incomprehensible but… fascinating.
So far, there had been no building in Town level that was capable of doing this, but the others were lecturing him about time and space and to be frank he felt his brain melt a little each time.
Anyway, back to the war, because the walls were scalable, there was a very real risk of enemies just climbing the walls and reaching their poor, meek, introverted scientists, mathematicians, and engineers.
Many of the enemies were high-leveled and had decent equipment so, even if a bit injured, many of them still managed to get past the cannon shower.
Most would be blocked and handled by the guards, though there were still particularly lucky and flexible ones who would reach the walls in an attempt to climb.
Now, even if system buildings were more durable than manual buildings, aether-infused raw materials still meant the building was quite strong. However, if the enemy was way past level 20 and had high physical attributes, their attacks could create some indentations in the wall that would allow them to climb up.
However, how could the geniuses of the Research Center not think about this flaw?
"I'll get those scientists and make them work for us!" one of them yelled, head bloodied from a cannon explosion, and eyes red in anger.
Another nodded with gritted teeth. After all the suffering they had been through after coming here, they wouldn't be called men if they didn't make these bastards suffer after this war!
However, not long after they reached the walls, some of the windows a few floors above them opened. The heads of a few hoses peeked out, and were bent to point at them.
A second later, it blew a stream of water!
"What? Glurg, glurg—"
The lizards trying to climb up gasped and gulped, but otherwise held on to the wall. Their levels were not for naught, after all!
When the water stopped after several seconds, they couldn't help but feel smug. "Did they think we'd be flushed with that little wat—"
His voice died down when he felt his throat close. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. He unconsciously lifted his hand to grab his throat, ultimately causing him to fall down to the ground.
His companions gaped, confused. "What's happening?!" they asked, until they also felt different symptoms—most of which were painful!
"AHHH!"
"OUCH!"
"NO!!"
And so, all the lizards trying to climb up fell down, exhibiting different types of agony in their bodies. Someone even grew hair all over, and he ended up gasping in pain because he kept pulling at his own body hair.
What they didn't know was that the water was grey water added with Master Hoffen's waste products. Each type even had their own containers. They then used them to hose down the enemies, figuring out the effects while they were at it.
In a war, even if one was beyond the level cap, damage from items not directly related to the person's ability and strength could be used. Even if he killed people with his potions, Hoffen would not be punished.
At some point in the victims' suffering, the window with the hose opened a bit more, revealing an old man looking below.
"Tsk. That was extremely diluted. Weaklings—I thought we'd get to test the next batch," he sneered, and then looked at the assistants behind. "Are you taking note?"
The pharmacists: "..."
