Chapter 278: Preparation for the beast tide.

So far, Blake had come across 2 stages of mana vision, this and that of the system he had used to crack arrays at Azkelwart's base.

Not only would it give him more insight on body enhancement that would quicken the process of reaching conscious mana absorption by the cells, but it would be a game-changer when it came to array chaining for the integration method.

After checking the 2 options, Blake decided to go for circulating mana across his body since he needed a lot of mind power for array chaining and he hadn't recovered fully.

He sat down in a crossed leg position and began circulating mana in 2 of his arms simultaneously.

"Interesting…" Blake was surprised by the discoveries he made.

Not only had the absorption process become faster for even multiple body parts, but he was able to feel that the unconscious process of absorbing was turning into a conscious one.

…

At the same time at Prince Bryon's Castle.

Tacitus had just come out of Bryon's office after making a report on the progress of the upgrades being carried out on the cities defenses.

'I love this job!' Professor Tacitus couldn't help but smile when the door closed behind him.

'Not only is the payment double the ones of the previous years, but I don't get to teach those pests.' Professor Tacitus thought with a smile plastered on his face as he walked to the room given to him.

The reason he had been away from school for weeks now was that he was called up by Prince Bryon for preparations for the beast tide.

It was unexpected for Tacitus because preparations don't usually start so early, but when he had gotten to the palace for briefing alongside other well-known forgemasters, he found out that they didn't have much time left.

The beasts beyond the wall were already getting stronger and unitedly aggressive towards anything humans. There have been multiple reports of travelers, merchants, adventurer parties that had been killed by swarms of multiple types of beasts working together like a colony of insects.

Reports had shown that the incoming beast tide was going to be the strongest they had faced in decades if not centuries. The city didn't need only upgrades to its defenses, but new inventions that will secure their victory over the beasts.

This was the reason why the school hadn't told the students about his absence because if they knew, it could lead to panic and a drop in morale of students who were going to be sent to defend the city during the beast tide.

Most of the pressure and tasks were on the forgemasters, but for someone like Tacitus who was dedicated to the art of forgemastery, the pain and stress were his friends. Because not only was he going to be exchanging knowledge with other forgemasters, but he would get firsthand experience in the construction of magical devices.

As for the ash corps, adventurer association, and the noble families, they were not sitting down watching things play out.

A lot of ash corps members had been continuously deployed to the mining sites owned by Calton city which were located outside the walls of the city. 

The mining sites were being attacked by swarms of beasts on a daily basis, but thanks to their strength and defensive arrays at the mining sites, they hadn't been overrun.

It wasn't that the city was so greedy that it didn't care about the ash corp members or miners, it was that the defensive structures, arrays, and so on required energy to work, and once the beast tide started nothing would be able to leave or enter the city without being destroyed.

For the sites like that of the thranium crystal vein, they had recently discovered, the mined resources had to be teleported to a teleportation station that was in between the mining site and the city. Then it was teleported into the city.

Teleportation stations like these were heavily guarded because if they were to be destroyed by beast those in the faraway mining sites would find it extremely difficult to get back to the city.

The overstretching of the ash corps resources meant that they weren't too active in the cities, but that was where the noble families came in. Not only were members of different noble families sent to mining sites to also help defend them but they were also called to help in policing the city. 

One might ask why are the noble families using their hard-earned resources and men to help the city? The truth was that they were not doing it for free. 

By participating in the preparation and the defending of the city when the beast tide arrived, the noble families were rewarded with reputation points. The amount rewarded was strictly based on the performance and achievements of their members. 

This made all the noble families begin commissioning things like gang hideout raids to gain extra reputation points.

On the other hand was the adventurer association. They weren't involved in policing the city or protecting mining sites like the ash corps and noble families. In fact, they had even stopped accepting commissions that required adventurers from leaving the city. 

They had the job of protecting all the trade routes from the aggressive beasts because the beast tide was to stretch out for weeks and if the city was unable to stock up food and resources it could lead to an internal fight against the commoners and nobles which would most likely be hoarding food. If this was to happen the city had no hope of surviving the beast tide.

Although the task looked easier than that of the ash corps and noble families, it could be said to be on the same level if not higher in terms of difficulty.

Not only were the major trade routes long, but they passed through different terrains and habitats making it more difficult to defend. This was why every adventurer and adventurer party placed on the trade routes were nothing below B rank.