Chapter 228: Alkin

A year passed by since Angus spar with his uncle Jade. During this one year, Sur village didn't get into any trouble and lived peacefully on the top of a sand turtle. They didn't and couldn't get any contact with the outside world at all.

Unfortunately, this peacefulness is coming to an end. A few days ago, the sand turtle was already starting to stop and submerge into the sand.

By coincidence, Gilford also managed to create a special big carriage for everyone. As soon as Angus sees the carriage, he feels like looking at a tank from his past life. However, the tank is on an enormous scale and lacks its long muzzle signature.

'Well, its main function is for carrying people and protection.' thought Angus inwardly while helping check the special carriage with [Analyze].

During this one year, Angus also participated in the production of this special carriage. With the help of Analyze and his knowledge as a crafter and smither, he could easily make these special carriages' important components.

The carriage is called Alkin. According to Gilford, he created this carriage derived from the mobile colossus named Lanki. The colossus is enormous, specialized in moving and protection. 

Gilford got this knowledge as a gift for becoming the heir of King of Knowledge. As the heir of King of knowledge, Gilford not only got Colossus, Alfredo, and a few battle golem, he also got a lot of knowledge about many things, especially in mechanical engineering.

Gilford and the other crafters in the village managed to build five Alkin. Each of these Alkin could carry around a hundred people at once. This capacity is barely enough to bring the entire Sur village.

The production of Alkin exhausted almost a lot of resources in the villages. But, the result is really good. According to Kurvan, the eldest son of Jade, Alkin could hold five circle spells. He even predicted it could probably withstand a few sixth circle energy-based spells.

This means it will take the full-powered attack of the sixth-grade combatant to penetrate the Alkin's defense. Moreover, it also could withstand any harsh environment from hot, corrosive, cold, and many others.

The only downside is that Alkin needs a lot of cores as its power source. According to Gilford, it needs around a hundred first-grade cores to maintain its function for an hour. The consumption rate will increase more as they start to move.

One thing that Sur village is not lacking is mana/miasma cores. During their stay in all these years, they managed to accumulate a lot of cores. Not only that, but Alkin also has many functions. One of them is the retractable ability to become a metal ball.

This is the same feature as Gilford's colossus and his battle golem. They could instantly become a metal ball in a matter of seconds. This will make Alkin storable inside the space storage item. 

Space storage items often come with a lot of limitations, especially in size. It cannot store a huge thing. The maximum size it could store is around half cubic meters. This is why the Gilford retractable technology is beneficial and precious.

Up to now, the only one that could create such a thing is only Gilford. The retractable technology is very complicated, especially on a large item. It needs a deep knowledge from various fields to apply it. 

Even Angus, with an enhanced mind, could only give up learning the technology for the time being since it takes a lot of time to learn it.

Still, if Angus has time, he will try to focus on learning this technology. Not only is it practical, but it is also very magical, especially for him who comes from the earth.

He feels like looking at technology in some futuristic movie in his past life. Besides, a robot of colossus caliber is a man romance. So, there is no way Angus will let the opportunity not to learn such a thing.

*GROOWWLL* Finally, the sand turtle sends a stop sign, and everyone begins to get into the Alkin. Each Alkin has its number from one to five. Angus and his friend get into Alkin number two.

Each Alkin is positioned according to its number. Alkin 1 will be in the front, followed by Alkin 2 and so on. 

As the sand turtle wholly submerged, "Everyone, March!!" said Jade on the top of Alkin 3.

*ZZZTTZZ* The five Alkin engines start and begin to accelerate. Soon all the five Alkin travel through the desert, leaving the Sur village location.

In the meantime, Angus and the others are on the top of the Alkin 2 deck, looking at the surroundings. Although it is similar to a tank, Alkin also has a deck like a gigantic boat. This will be a place for combatants to stand by if there are big monsters on their path.

While on the deck, Anna looked at the surroundings with starry eyes.

"Angus, look, we are moving fast!!" said Anna excitedly while running around the deck.

"Anna, how many times have I told you not to run around?" rebuked Jayna.

"Ehh… But, everything is moving so fast. It feels like I am the one that runs but runs at the same time." replied Anna.

Hearing this, Angus could only shake his head.

"Alright, everyone we are here is not for recreation. We need to stand by and remain vigilant in case something happens." reminded Angus.

"Bohoo.. Party pooper. Meany, Stinky, Angus." replied Anna.

Hearing this, Angus immediately hit Anna's head.

"Ouch.. Ow.. Ow.. My head hurts!!" said Anna.

"Alright, everyone ignores her." said Angus.

After a while, All the Alkin finally leaves the back of the sand turtle and continues moving forwards. According to the map, their location is near the Torsa Wasteland. They plan to go through this wasteland.

Torsa Wasteland is a drying land that is more desolate than the Surya desert. According to their knowledge, Torsa Wasteland is an empty area avoided by high-grade monsters and beasts. 

The only one that resides in this wasteland is only lower grade stranded beast or monster. Soon, they travel the Surya desert quickly and arrive at the border of Torsa Wasteland. 

Because of the Alkin speed, few lower grade monsters could not catch the envoy while the lower grade beast stared at them from far away. So far, they have managed to travel quietly without any obstacles.

Entering the Torsa Wasteland, Jade, who stays on the top of the deck, suddenly opens his eyes. *GROOWWLL* Hearing the loud roaring sound, Angus immediately uses [Great Mana Echolocation].

Taking out his communication, "Uncle, two gigantic monsters are fighting in the front. One is like a cyclops with a sharp claw all over its body, and the other is an unknown monster covered in lightning." explained Angus about his find.

Not long after that, *BOOOM* a massive, devastating shockwave coming from afar.

"Everyone, get inside the Alkin!!" command Jade.

After everyone gets inside the Alkins, the shockwave hits all the surrounding area and the Alkins. But, they manage to withstand the devastating shockwave.

"At this rate, we cannot move forward." said elder Moi in the communication device.

"Did we wait until their fight ended, or did we take another route?" asked elder Zeth.

"Gilford, can Alkin survive under this shockwave?" asked Jade.

"If it is only this level of shockwave, it will be no problem. But, if the magnitude increases, it may start to damage some parts." explained Gilford.

"According to Angus's description, it should be monster overlord Melthor and grade seven Cyclops. Cyclops is famous for their tenacity. They could fight for days or weeks without being tired." explained Jade.

"I think we should take another route. We have only around three years to arrive at the exit before it closes. We need to keep moving." said Jade.

"Alright, it means we will reroute. Now, we are at the border of the Torsa Desert. The next possible route is Akas Mountain range or Stale Forest." said Elder Fosa.

"Stale Forest, isn't it the Clear Blue village territory?" asked Elder Zeth.

"Hmm… Gilford, could Alkin move through the mountain?" asked Jade.

"Hehe… Of course, I design Alkin to be able to move through any terrain, even mountains." said Gilford proudly.

"Alright, although it is unfortunate, we will go towards Akas Mountain." declare Jade.

Soon, all the Alkin move in another direction and go towards the snowy white mountain range. Unlike the Torsa Wasteland, the Akas Mountain range is inhabited by many beasts and monsters.

Some of them are pretty high-grade ones. Moreover, it often gets hailstorms. Soon, they reach the Akas mountain that is still in the middle of a bad hailstorm. However, the storm could even damage the defense of Alkin as they kept moving.

While they are moving, many lower-grade monsters try to attack the Alkin only to find their attack is useless. They feel like hitting a hard turtle shell. 

In the meantime, Angus standing still on the deck, keeps periodically using [Great Mana Echolocation] to detect everything nearby. Suddenly, he detected something in front of them. 

He detected a battle going on in front of them. He found the one that was battling two groups of people. Angus immediately tells his uncle about this situation.