Release that Witch

“Really?” Roland’s mood instantly turned for the better. Barov’s manner of speech clearly hinted that the installation of the facility was not that simple. “You heard the signal as well?”

This so-called ‘Iron Towers Project’ was the first step in Roland’s wireless communication plan—to satisfy the requirements of having large antennas for the transmission of long-wavelength radio waves, the Ministry of Construction erected transmission towers nearly fifty meters tall between North Slope Mountain and Silver City. The majority of the transmission towers were simply long poles with thickness as wide as a grown man, and therefore looked like thin needles from afar. In addition of hydrogen-filled aerial marker balls that allowed extension or contraction of the metal wires, the antennas extended up to 100 meters.

The towers were not considered difficult to construct and the construction was of nothing noteworthy, but communications towers were considered systemic engineering. The crux of the project were the transceivers at the base of the towers. Under the course of debugging, multiple electromagnetic waves were unleashed. Fortunately, in the world where there were no interference, everything transmitted out was received clearly.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Barov replied enthusiastically. “It was as you have predicted, the system spontaneously produces some kind of magical response. It is just that… I’m unclear if Silver City was responsible for it.”

“I believe that the answer to it will come very soon,” Roland muttered to himself. “Inform the Head of the Administrative Office that we’ll be leaving together, I don’t think they would want to miss the chance of witnessing history being made.”

After going through several years of development, North Slope Mountain was no longer the mining site of its past with a few narrow passageways. Wide cemented paths and railroad tracks were built on the slopes and passengers aboard trains could reach the peak in a matter of minutes.

Not far from the iron tower were a row of plain and simple single-story houses built up with red bricks, where icicles dangled from the corner of the low roofs. The grandeur of it was far from comparable to the new factories at the southern banks of the Redwater River. In terms of appearance, no one would ever link it to ‘a new era.’

Inside the house, Anna instructed members of the Society of Wondrous Crafts as they underwent the last round of preparations. Upon seeing Roland, she surreptitiously gestured, stating ‘everything is going smoothly’ to him before continuing to immerse herself in her work.

Roland could not help but smile.

When the initial plans for electromagnetic waves were set in place, it incited a heated discussion in the Administrative Office. The majority of the people were well aware of the impact the project would usher into the human world—if information and news could be transmitted in real time, control over Neverwinter and their combat strength would see great improvements.

The telephone lines, aviation couriers and Sigil of Listening were evidence—under the combined usage of the three, the old noble factions of Graycastle never found the opportunity to regroup and make a comeback. Many of the officials previously believed that regaining their centralized state of power was a long and repeated process, but after being overthrown by the First Army, they never had the chance to stir up any waves. This was due to the fact that when pitted against highly effective information transmissions, the nobles would encounter the Second Army upon any signs of development, so much so that the police would step in and prevent them from having the space to develop.

But the telephone lines were wired after all. The latter two means of communication were related to magic power which the officials were barely able to comprehend. But the Iron Towers Project did not have any connecting lines and was theoretically even stronger than anything magic power could replicate. This was even more inconceivable. Although the textbooks in primary education introduced the basics of electromagnetic waves, the theory was intangible. With regards to something they could not see or touch, many were skeptical. In a sense, it was even more difficult to imagine compared to biplanes.

Of course, the debate did not affect actual progress. After all, too many oddities had appeared in Neverwinter under Roland’s rule. Even if he were to suddenly announce that he had plans to ascend the Bloody Moon, the Administrative Office would still make an all-out effort for him.

But wireless communications was not Roland’s specialization and he was not as certain in it as compared to his development in machines. The transmission equipment was a product built completely from the prototype of the Design Bureau of Graycastle and no one knew if it truly worked. When he saw Anna’s gesture, he was no longer worried about losing in face of his subjects.

“Then, let’s begin.”

Roland held Anna’s hand and guided her to the transmitter.

“Erm… Roland?”

“This is the fruit of the Ministry of Engineering’s efforts and it is only natural that you are the first one to test it.” He winked at Anna multiple times and replied. Despite being involved in the debugging process and having confirmed the feasibility of the project, only the official test would be recorded down in the annals.

“There is still the position of the receiver, which one of you wants to be the first to experience it?”

Barov and the others looked at each other and raised their hands simultaneously. “Your Majesty, let me have a go at it!”

After a round of debate, the old director relied on his experienced seniority and successfully came out on top. He became the one of the two participants involved in the “first” long-distance communications test.

In theory, the transmission of the telegraph could be completed with just one person, but the separation of sending and receiving to two individuals was more convenient for verification purposes. To people that had never come across wireless communications, the key point was on convincing them, could the other party over 100 kilometers away truly receive the message sent from here? The simplest method was to allow the unsuspecting receiver to relay the information known only to the sender.

After simply explaining the test method once, Roland got the chief guard to cover Barov’s eyes. Anna drew three horizontal lines and two dots on a small blackboard – the horizontal line represented a long tone while the dot represented a short tone.

Anna pressed on the switch and sent the message after everyone verified the information on the blackboard.

‘Three long tones, two short tones.’

The moment the electric circuit connected, blue sparks blossomed in the center.

As the switch was not connected to any buzzers, aside from the blue light, the room was completely silent.

Everyone subconsciously held their breaths. The light released was so faint that even those outside had difficulty witnessing it, much less Silver City which was a few hundred kilometers away.

Even Roland could not help but have goosebumps all over his body.

In that instant, he felt as though something had swept through his body.

Without a doubt, it was a misconception. Under low power amplification, electromagnetic waves were unable to affect the human body. But in his mind, he mapped out the scene vividly. The electric spark looked like a flash that died instantly, but the electric current sent out was oscillating between the inductor and capacitor. The oscillations per second capable of reaching up to millions of times caused the rapidly fluctuating electric field to spread out from the antenna and ground wire all directions.

In the silent world, it was the first silent message produced by man—no one could hear the sound, but it was louder and clearer than any other sound made.

Even after a few hundred kilometers, the transmission did not disappear and was recorded by the antenna in Silver City.

Two receivers welcomed the transmission.

After capturing the electromagnetic waves, the metal powder inside the glass tube of the ancient coherer coagulated which lowered the electrical resistance inside the circuit, allowing the originally dead light bulb to release a warm yellow light. Its largest use was to inform the receiver that there was a message reverberating in the sky.

The other machine was the galena detector. The galena detector did not require any external power source and was constantly on the receiving end. A piece of copper ore and a conducting wire formed a natural semiconductor that produces a weak electric current due to the radiation within, allowing the receiver to hear the sound produced with a telephone receiver.

When no frequencies are received, the galena detector emits a vague buzz instead of clear ticks, but maintained opened to receive transmitted frequencies accurately.

The next step was simply reversing the process.

Distance was no longer a problem, the frequency was as fast as light. In other words, it was light itself.

Anna repeated the message three times before putting the switch down.

According to the arrangement, if Silver City received the transmission, it would dispatch the exact same message. If it was done via the conventional letter, the time taken for the message to be sent back and forth was roughly five to seven days. By aerial courier, it required at least a day.

But right after Anna placed the switch down, a light appeared on the receiver.

The entire process took only a few seconds!

The crowd could not help but stir.

Oblivious to everything, the blindfolded Barov listened attentively before slowly jotting down the message he received.

When he took off the blindfolds and headset, he no longer needed to inquire about the results—the shock in everyone’s shocked eyes was a self-evident answer.

On the paper were three horizontal lines and two dots!