CHAPTER 290: SKYBORNE CITY

A few days later, outside the cursebinding spire, Wang Yu, Avia, and Sieg boarded the great eagle Angola as they prepared to depart for the elven capital of Liaheim. By the time they arrived, the Skyborne City should have reached one of its designated docking points.

Surrounding the giant eagle was a circle of familiar faces: friends gathered to bid them farewell.

"This is a fine blade," Garcia said, tossing Wang Yu's starsteel blade to him with a grin. "It might lack magical abilities, but its durability is definitely at—or even beyond—the level of a legendary weapon. For us knights, that's all we need. I'm looking forward to next time. Perhaps you'll surpass me by then."

Wang Yu had lent Garcia his blade for the last few days, and the latter had clearly enjoyed the experience.

"Probably not that soon," Wang Yu replied, catching the blade as he summoned the power of the Chariot to split it up into its constituent pieces as he stored it. "But I'll do my best!"

"Go get 'em, Avia!"

"Take care out there! Safe travels!"

"Goodbye, Mother. Goodbye, Aunt Lilya. We'll come back as soon as we can. And if all goes well, we should be able to keep in touch from afar soon enough."

Avia smiled and waved at Lilya and Mira, her voice calm and sure.

With that, Angola beat its mighty wings and soared skyward. It was bound for Liaheim with its three passengers.

"Given your latest discovery, you should be able to reach the Lady of the Night even across great distances now, right?" Wang Yu said, seated on the eagle's back.

He was idly rolling a dense, gravity-enchanted stone orb between his fingers. From his hand's reddened skin and bulging veins, it was clear this was no ordinary material.

"Mm." Avia nodded. "Even though her power will decay across such a vast distance, with the Tree of the Night acting as an intermediary, I'll still be able to transmit simple messages and images."

That was no small thing. If they'd had this kind of communication back in Aleisterre, they might've laid a better trap for the devils and perhaps even spared Sieg a long journey to get in touch with Edward and the others.

Leaving Avia to her study of the Seed of Eden, Wang Yu turned to Sieg. Oddly enough, the man wasn't reading but instead staring absentmindedly into the distance, at a faraway patch of the sky.

Noticing Wang Yu's gaze, Sieg took a deep breath. He turned to Wang Yu with a wry smile. "I am rather anxious about contacting Aurelian again. Once I establish communications with the memento she left me... I wonder how she is? It's been far too long."

"Still," Wang Yu replied, "it's something worth being happy about, isn't it?"

"Well, who knows? I don't even know if I can help with the threats she's facing at my level. After all, even my ability to take on my draconic form is severely restricted under Its purview."

Sieg didn't answer immediately. Even the thought of reconnecting with Aurelian was shadowed by the dread of not being able to help when it mattered most. If he reached out to her only to learn of struggles he couldn't share, then...

But then again, Aurelian was Aurelian.

Aurelian had always been unshakably confident, at least how he remembered her. Hadn't it always been this way? All he could do was offer what strength he had.

As a worldly dragon, Sieg wasn't one to be encumbered by his emotions for long.

Soon enough, he pulled out his notebook and resumed his meticulous work on magical arrays.

Once they reached Skyborne City, he'd need to finalize the runes etched upon his draconic form with Avia's help.

After over a dozen days of uninterrupted flight, Angora finally reached the edge of the Forest of Origin, where the elven capital Liaheim lay hidden.

Gazing downward, Wang Yu saw that the gashes and craters left by the World-Eater had already been filled in and the blighted trees restored to lush vitality.

The verdant forest barely looked different compared to when they'd first arrived.

As they entered the heart of the forest, passing through the enchantments that cloaked the city, Wang Yu couldn't help but marvel at how swiftly the elves had recovered.

Entire districts of Liaheim had been reduced to rubble from the Blighted Warspike's attacks and the World-Eater's titanic weight.

Massive vines and newly grown trees had taken their place, forming houses and scaffolds woven from the Tree of Life's branches.

And once the elves reinforced these tree-dwellings, the city would soon stand whole once again.

"No wonder the Tree of Life is so vital to the elves. As long as it flourishes, the city it sustains can heal like a living organism," Wang Yu murmured.

Then his gaze fell on a massive iron figure beneath the tree. "Wait... Is that Iron King Bogul? Did the dwarves not bring it home with them?"

Sure enough, the titanic golem still stood beneath the Life Tree, entangled in vines and scaffolding. Elves and dwarves moved over its armored form, repairing the damage it had taken. From the look of it, the restoration was nearly complete.

The eagle brought them directly to the crown of the Tree of Life. After their role in the last crisis, Wang Yu, Avia, and Sieg were no longer mere foreign guests They dismounted to find Gewen waiting for them alongside a familiar face: Noelle, her eyes fixed eagerly on Sieg.

"Welcome back," Gewen greeted them warmly. "Lodgings have been prepared for you. The Skyborne City will arrive shortly. You've met Icarus, I assume?"

"We have," Wang Yu replied, just as Sieg swept Noelle up into a sudden embrace.

"Good. I'll send word when the city docks. If you need anything, come find us. I won't keep you."

Gewen led them to their new quarters—treehouses far more refined than the ones in the foreigner quarter—and then took his leave.

Near their new home, Wang Yu and Avia spotted a very familiar grove brimming with magical herbs. It was Moira's treehouse.

They exchanged a knowing glance. With days to spare before the floating city arrived, they might as well brush up on their herbalism.

The remaining few days before the Skyborne City's arrival flew by in the blink of an eye. During breaks from his magical research, Sieg took Noelle exploring the forest. Meanwhile, Wang Yu and Avia resumed their studies under Moira's guidance.

"That should be everything," Wang Yu said, stacking the last crate of perfectly prepared herbs into Moira's storeroom. "These should last you a good while. The Skyborne City's here—we'll come back to learn more from you later."

Gewen had just sent them a transmission informing them of Skyborne City's arrival. Conveniently, Wang Yu had just finished refining the last batch of Moira's most troublesome herbs.

"Farewell, Madam Moira!"

Avia waved at Moira.

"Take care, you two. I suppose I really might miss you."

Moira, rejuvenated by the water of the Heartpool, looked visibly younger. Her smile tinged with a rare hint of reluctance—and this time, it wasn't just because of Wang Yu. After all, now that she had regained her youthful vitality, she could start processing her own herbs again.

"It's not just about losing my walking alchemy processor," she joked. "You two... You're destined for greatness. I have a lot more time now. I look forward to seeing just how far you'll go."

Watching them walk away, Moira felt something she hadn't felt in a long time—pride, tinged with anticipation.

At the platform along the Tree of Life's outer canopy, Sieg, Noelle, and Gewen stood waiting. Around them were others—elves who had been granted access to Skyborne City.

"The city's arrived," Gewen informed them. "They're syncing the gravity matrix now. Once it stabilizes, you should be able to see it. This time, there's a rather special passenger boarding alongside you."

Sieg gestured downward.

Wang Yu looked. Below was a massive clearing—and there, towering and radiant beneath the sun, stood Iron King Bogul.

So that was why the dwarves didn't take him home.

A low hum began to rise in the air. As a surge of immense magical energy rippled outward, arcs of violet lightning began to flicker and dance across the clearing—twisting, crackling, and entwining themselves around the massive form of Iron King Bogul.

The sky dimmed. The brilliant light of the sun was eclipsed by the vast silhouette of a colossal object descending from above, its shadow blanketing the entire elven capital of Liaheim.

The Skyborne City had indeed arrived. It had silently drifted into position high above Liaheim, cloaked by an invisibility array that veiled its presence from the world below.

Now, with the gravitational array having been calibrated to hoist Bogul upward, the city of the sky finally began to reveal itself.

And what a revelation it was! Wang Yu gaped at its sheer size—so overwhelming that it felt like a weight pressing against every fiber of his being.

Standing beneath it, Wang Yu could barely glimpse the full form of the city through the radiant glow it emitted. From his vantage point, he saw only a small fraction of it—just the city's underbelly.

Only by witnessing it with his own eyes could he begin to grasp just how large it was. Wang Yu estimated the Skyborne City to be at least the size of Alesterre's royal capital—perhaps even larger, as if the whole city had been plucked from the earth and set afloat among the clouds.

The city's hemispherical foundation was composed of mountain-like stone etched with vast, intricate arcane arrays. These glowing circuits pulsed with magical current and provided the primary illumination beneath the city.

Above that stony base rose the city's mechanical superstructure—a tangled sprawl of pipes bursting through stone, snaking across its surface like arteries. These conduits distributed energy and resources throughout the fortress.

Suspended walkways hung from the foundation like webs. Many buildings hung upside-down beneath the city. Along the walkways moved gnomes, dwarves, and other races—engineers and arcane mechanists tasked with maintaining the outer systems of the flying citadel.

A city of this scale demanded constant upkeep. Its innumerable "components" had to be serviced with exacting precision—any malfunction could lead to catastrophe.

Articulated mechanical arms moved busily along the structures, removing faulty components and installing replacements with practiced precision.

Alchemical spiders scuttled along conduits, furnaces, and exhaust ports, welding and repairing cracks in armor plating according to pre-programmed sequences written into their arcane cores.

Alchemical surveillance eyes floated beneath the city, scanning and relaying their data into the city's central control network, which spanned the entirety of the metropolis.

Within the core, engineers, mechanists, and arcanists evaluated the flow of power and integrity of the entire system.

"What a hubbub..." Wang Yu muttered.

The relentless activity of the engineers, the mechanical drones, and the hum of machines reminded him of the frantic pace of Earth's metropolises—like the outer districts of Beijing or Shanghai, brimming with urgency, pressure, and life.

"An alchemical masterpiece," Avia whispered beside him, gazing up at the miracle above. "I wonder... Do you think this city has managed to reach the cosmos you once spoke of, Wang Yu?"

The awe in her voice was evident.

Constructed through generations of effort by alchemists and scholars, this airborne marvel stood as a monument to what their world could achieve. Had it truly broken free of gravity's chains and touched the stars?

"Maybe it has..." Wang Yu murmured, stroking his chin. Even Earth had never managed to launch an entire city skyward. If this place had truly reached outer space, then perhaps this world's "technology" had already surpassed his own in ways he hadn't imagined.

A flutter of wings descended from above as a familiar figure landed beside them.

"I'll be your escort again. Didn't think you'd be bringing a behemoth with you this time," said Icarus, the Winged envoy, nodding toward the Iron King. "Well, this time you can ride up together."

As he spoke, the underside of the Skyborne City began to shift and transform. Sections of its rocky-metal shell folded inward with a mechanical rumble, revealing a vast, hollowed-out interior like the inverted heart of a mountain.

From within that void emerged a colossal cylindrical shaft, perfectly aligned with Bogul waiting below.

Mechanical arms extended enchanted steel plates, inscribed with magical sigils, and began assembling them along the shaft's inner wall. Alchemical spiders and spectral mage-hands moved in tandem, slotting and welding each plate into place.

Power furnaces and mana cores flared to life. Energy surged through the newly formed gravity channel, and violet lightning danced along its length. A silent force gathered, subtle, invisible, and immense, spreading outward and forming a gentle yet irresistible pull.

With a thunderous rumble, Iron King Bogul began to rise. The enchanted corridor of warped gravity drew him upward. His vast iron body floating effortlessly toward the aerial city above.

"Let's go. We'll ascend with him," said Icarus, motioning to the corridor. "You'll need to report to the Council of the Arcane first."

Wang Yu exchanged a glance with Avia and Sieg.

It was time to step into the heart of the Skyborne City.