“What are you doing?” Fawkes inquired as he discreetly yawned while covering his mouth with his hand. His eyes were clouded with unmistakable weariness.
The fortress city had just been liberated from the grasp of the elven army. He had a lot of work to do as the city lord. Furthermore, his wife had been resurrected from the dead. He did not get much sleep because he and his wife had been intimate for an extended period.
He was drifting off in his office that morning, staring at the mountains of paperwork on his desk. Finally, a soldier informed him that Watson had a question for him. He skipped breakfast and dashed toward the golden river. Watson was at the riverbank and studied the people on both sides of the river. He had not said anything, so it was not proper for him to inquire.
After standing on the riverbank for half an hour, his hands and feet felt numb. He could not help but inquire.
“Lord Fawkes, can you tell me how you feel about the current fortress city?”
Watson did not explicitly respond to his inquiry. He turned around with his hands behind his back and smiled.
‘How do I feel?”
After a brief moment of startled silence, Fawkes said, “The current fortress city is more than ten times stronger than before. I am feeling pretty wonderful.”
He stared in the direction of the golden river as he spoke. A hundred massive, pitch-black submarines were parked there. Those submarines played an important part in the combat against the elven army the previous day. Those submarines had already become a component of the fortress city. Many sea folks had arrived out of nowhere, their fish tails swinging. They were holding enormous boxes. Some of the crates held food, while others held clothing and weaponry.
Fawkes lauded Watson’s vision of the Golden River. He brought his family to the riverside after his wife was resurrected to get water for them to drink and have a relaxing bath. He possessed the strength of a gold-tier elite and also a tremendous protective shield similar to gold-tier armor.
He also visited Watson’s idol at the newly built church in the fortress city. He had expressed his trust toward Watson and received a wonderful gift in return. He was formerly a warrior cultivator. He possessed diamond-tier knowledge as a warrior, but he also had the capacity to practice magic. He learned to be a dual cultivator with a warrior’s and mage’s abilities.
In the fortress city, there were many people like him. He would be able to advance to gold-tier as long as he drank the water from the golden river. At the time, the fortress city’s population was essentially greater than platinum-tier. He would be able to get superior knowledge as long as he continued to believe in Watson.
Everyone would advance to platinum-tier.
That was something the Holy Dragon Kingdom, which had boasted less than ten platinum-tier elites, could not consider. However, given Watson’s ability to generate things like the golden river and even resurrect the dead, it was not surprising that he could increase a person’s strength to platinum-tier.
“Is that it?” Watson persisted in his question as if he was not happy with Fawkes’ response.
“Is there anything else?”
Fawkes had a puzzled expression on his face. “There is one other thing. I have not acknowledged you adequately, Your Highness. Don’t worry. We will never forget what you did for the city. If you desire something, just say the word, and I will do my utmost to fulfill your request. It is quite rare to come across someone like you who is exceptional in skills, wisdom, and kindness, all at the same time. My admiration for you is like the golden river, which flows indefinitely.”
Watson’s query, in his opinion, was presumably motivated by a desire to receive his appreciation after accomplishing so much. Some of his words were compliments, and most of them were genuine. Everything Watson had done was something he would not even consider. It was not an exaggeration to describe it as a miracle. Many of the city’s citizens have shifted their beliefs from the seven gods to Watson. That must have something to do with Watson’s actions.
“Do not sing my praises, Lord Fawkes. I don’t want to hear that.”
“The fortress city might have gotten stronger, but it is still insufficient, in my opinion. The elves have earned the ability to live after drinking from the Spring of Life. However, possessing platinum-tier strength is inadequate in the face of a 100,000-elven army. If the elves return now, you will not be able to keep going on your own.”
His purpose at the fortress city was to force the elven army to leave so that he could deal with the Winter Nation’s threat. He would not be able to attain that purpose if the residents of the fortress city were unable to repel the elven army. As a result, there was only one thing he needed to do right then.
“Your Highness, what you mentioned made perfect sense. Even though I have platinum-tier strength now, the immortal elven army will exhaust me to my death. It looks like you have an idea.”
Fawkes seemed tense. He could not come up with a solid strategy for dealing with the immortal elves. After all, the Holy Dragon Kingdom had successfully conquered that land in the past by depending on Antonio, an immortal. Plus, they had so many elves in their army!
Unless, of course, the fortress city’s army was blessed with the potential to remain immortal. When he fought the elves, he saw how the sea folks around Watson were resurrected after they were killed. They shared the same traits as the elves. Perhaps those sea folk creatures’ immortality had something to do with Watson.
“The simplest method to stop the elves is to avoid fighting them. So, I intend to strengthen the defenses. There will be no way to break in if the fortress city becomes an unbreakable fortress, even if the elves could not die! I summoned you, Lord Fawkes, because I want you to keep the residents from being too astonished when I modify the stronghold. You have the ability to calm people down.”
Watson’s statements did not live up to Fawkes’ expectations. He appeared to be dissatisfied.
“That’s your thought? Do not worry, Your Majesty. Do whatever you want. I will notify the city’s people.”
He hoped Watson would provide them the capacity to become immortal and allow them to fight the elves. He did not expect Watson to only fortify the fortress city. He did not believe that the fortress city would be able to survive more elven attacks after it had been upgraded. Furthermore, fortifying a city would necessitate many people and material resources. It would be preferable to teach them the power of resurrection.
Fawkes, despite his disappointment, did not dare to express it. Watson had already done a lot for the fortress city, so he could not have high expectations.
“It is reassuring to hear that.”
Watson’s smile widened as Fawkes realized what he was thinking. He turned around and reached out toward the metropolis ahead of him. “Fusion system, activate.”
The entire castle city rocked. The ground shook within a ten-kilometer radius, transforming into streams of light that converged in the direction of the fortress city. The fortress city, which was covered in trash, had created numerous tall palaces quickly. However, that was not the end of it. The walls outside the palaces increased as well, from tens of meters to hundreds of meters in height. The height had increased tenfold from before. The front piece converged in the air, forming a massive dome that encircled the city.
The fortress city had turned into a real fortress. The dome was translucent, and it glistened like diamonds. It elicited a frenzy of exclamations throughout the city the moment it appeared.
“What happened?”
“Why is there a wall in the sky?
