347: Chapter 347 Pre-battle Preparations

The central temple of Holy Radiance City.

When Zhang Huaiyuan arrived, the entire temple seemed to have just finished a serious meeting, and the people coming out all had somewhat heavy expressions on their faces.

"Junior Martial Brother, over here."

A shout rang out from afar, drawing closer. Zhang Huaiyuan looked to the side and saw several of his senior brothers gathering together and walking over.

"Greetings, Senior Brothers."

Zhang Huaiyuan nodded in acknowledgement.

"You finally came out, Junior Martial Brother."

The principal of the Time Book House, Second Senior Brother Mild, shook his head and said:

"It's too dangerous here. We originally wanted to transfer you out earlier, but we didn't expect you to be in seclusion for so long."

"The experts from all the major factions have gathered here, haven't they? If this fails, then there's no point in me escaping to the outside world."

Zhang Huaiyuan smiled indifferently.

"That... is also true."

"Senior Brother, what is the situation now? Where are Teacher and the others?"

Zhang Huaiyuan asked immediately after.

"It's a long story. Teacher and the other tower masters, along with some experts from the Elf Race and Holy Spirit City, used the power of the Tower of Time and the Tower of Space to travel back to an earlier spacetime, hoping to stop the enemy at the very beginning of their invasion."

"At that time, control of the entire Ascension Battlefield was still in our hands, so resisting the invasion would have been much easier."

"If they succeed, the butterfly effect will ripple through to the present, and these invading monsters will be driven back outside the realm by the power of spacetime correction."

"Then Teacher and the others..."

Zhang Huaiyuan asked with some hesitation.

The fact that the enemies had not disappeared was undoubtedly proof that the operation had failed.

"Teacher and the others are fine. Although the enemy had prepared in advance, they didn't expect us to send so many experts. They could only use some high-cost methods to barely buy some time."

Third Senior Brother took over the conversation and explained:

"Therefore, they want to launch a decisive battle in this spacetime to wipe us out as quickly as possible, and then erase the spacetime anchors left by Teacher and the others. This way, even if Teacher and the others succeed in their operation, without the beacon to guide them, it will only affect another parallel world, not our main world here."

"I see... No wonder those monsters are in such a hurry to launch a decisive battle."

Zhang Huaiyuan nodded in realization; that made sense.

"But Senior Brother, with Teacher and some of the experts absent, can we hold the front lines?"

"Don't worry, Junior Martial Brother. Don't forget, our Tech Side is best at positional warfare. As long as we have enough preparation time and materials, no one can break through easily. Not to mention that the rune arrays of Holy Spirit City and the biotechnology of the Zerg are not to be trifled with."

Third Senior Brother smiled faintly, clearly quite confident in his words.

"That's true..."

Zhang Huaiyuan felt slightly relieved.

With so many Tier 7 and even Tier 8 big shots around, it was definitely not his turn as a small fry to worry.

Once things here were over, he would go to the secret realm to retrieve the Tower of Knowledge left behind by his teacher, the Lord of Truth, and then begin cultivating the "Dao Proving Method"; only then would he truly have the power to protect himself.

"By the way, Senior Brothers, is there something you needed me for?"

Zhang Huaiyuan asked.

"Well, the war is about to begin, and most of the war machinery and defensive facilities are already in place. However, the pre-war inspections aren't finished yet, and they will need continuous follow-up after the war begins."

Second Senior Brother looked at Zhang Huaiyuan and smiled:

"According to the association's usual regulations, in large-scale wars, this work is generally presided over by a Senior Scholar or higher. But now that the situation is urgent, even the more outstanding Intermediate Scholars have been put into logistics and combat readiness inspections."

"Although your internal association level exam is still at the Junior Scholar level, judging by the materials you've borrowed, your true ability has completely reached the standard of an Intermediate Scholar, so we applied for this work task for you within the association."

"It is my duty."

Zhang Huaiyuan said solemnly.

He had been deeply nurtured by the association, so now that there was a need, he naturally could not shirk his responsibility.

"Well, this is your patrol route for the mission."

The senior brothers exchanged glances, a hint of a smile appearing in their eyes.

This task was, of course, to protect their Junior Martial Brother.

As a disciple of the master of two Towers of Knowledge, if he did nothing in the face of such a great catastrophe, it would inevitably lead to gossip within the association, which would be detrimental to his future promotion.

And this task was mainly in the rear of the main force, which was relatively safe and therefore perfect for him.

As for whether he could handle it, it actually wasn't important. With the association's main control AI, most of it had already been self-checked; it was just going through the motions.

"Is there anything else, Senior Brothers?"

Zhang Huaiyuan glanced at it and saved the mission details into his integrated device.

They were all tasks to check if the equipment operation and power supply were functioning properly, and they were basically concentrated in the last three world layers.

"Nothing else. Once the real fighting starts, we might not be able to look after you, so just make sure to stay safe."

Mild urged.

"Don't worry, Senior Brothers. I will go and execute the mission now."

Zhang Huaiyuan nodded, bid farewell to his senior brothers, put on his mecha, and flew towards the nearest teleportation point according to the route marked in the mission.

After several transfers, he soon arrived at the first mission point.

"Mr. Scholar."

The two guarding soldiers took one look at Zhang Huaiyuan's attire and stepped forward to salute.

"I am here to carry out an inspection mission."

"Please wait a moment."

One of the soldiers pressed a device on his wrist, and a clear light swept over him.

"Identity verification complete. Zhang Huaiyuan, authorization granted."

"Mr. Scholar, sorry for the wait. Please, go ahead."

Seeing this, the two soldiers relaxed their expressions and opened the adaptive particle protection system.

"Thank you."

Zhang Huaiyuan thanked them and flew towards the large war machine deployed not far away.

Soon, a building with a diameter of over ten thousand kilometers, shaped like a twelve-pointed star, came into view.

"String Network Cutter."

Once activated, it could capture all spatial anomalies within its attack range and form a cutting network with no blind spots, destroying any tangible or intangible existence that it contacted.

And these so-called spatial anomalies included those arriving through spacetime anchors, from other spacetimes, higher-dimensional passages, or parallel worlds, making it one of the excellent defensive war weapons.

"No wonder Senior Brother said that it generally requires a Senior Scholar or higher to preside over the inspection work; these weapons even contain knowledge above Tier 6. Ordinary Scholars, let alone inspecting them, wouldn't even be able to find its power supply system and operating circuits. My senior brothers really do trust me..."

Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes lit up slightly as he activated his True Sight ability.

Although he didn't fully understand the operating principles, fortunately, the few places that needed to be inspected were relatively conventional, and with the analysis and comparison on the mission list, it wasn't difficult.

"String Network detection fluctuations are normal..."

"Power supply system circuits are operating properly..."

"..."

"No anomalies detected, passed."

Zhang Huaiyuan looked at the mission list, clicked the confirm button after the first target, and immediately flew towards the next target.

The war could start at any time, so the faster he completed the mission, the better.