Book 1: Volume 18 Chapter 1, Hexagonal Fortress

The Central Continent was shaken by the emergence of the Messenger.

Amamiya Tower, or rather Kousuke, had another problem on his mind.

It was discovered in the morning, two days after Kouhi dramatically made her presence known in Sajival.

As usual, he was checking the Tower at the control panel while fretting over the problems Kouhi had caused.

Then he noticed that the log had been updated, which was unusual these days.

When Kousuke saw the log, he did a double-take.

All Towers on the continent exceeded Level 4.

With Amamiya Tower now controlling all Towers on the continent, the Hexagonal system was now operational.

For more details about each system, a new menu had been added.

When Kousuke saw the message, he froze for a moment and then immediately checked out the new menu.

He looked at it, but immediately decided not to explore the options available.

The Sajival problem would not allow him to calm down and think for a while.

He decided to lock the menu for the time being so that no one could see it.

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Kousuke was relieved that the Sajival problem had been resolved for the time being.

However, Kousuke did not directly interfere in this problem.

As it turned out, things were going in the right direction for the Tower, so he decided to hold back from further interference.

There seemed to be a gathering of people around the temple in Mixen, who wanted Kouhi to appear. However, Kouhi had no intention of responding to their demands.

Likewise, Kouhi did not have enough time to deal with them all.

Kouhi and Mitsuki would go to the site if Kousuke told them to, but they were not the kind of people who would go there on their own initiative.

Kousuke felt that things seemed to go better when he was not directly involved in the project, but he decided that he was just imagining it.

Having finally regained his composure on the Administration Floor, Kousuke finally decided to explore the new menu, which he had been keeping a secret.

Since it would be troublesome if he had to explain it twice, he asked all the members to gather first.

First, Haku had already explained to him that all the Towers in the continent had become Level 4, which was also within the contents of the message.

He had already confirmed that the message had been changed to Tower Level 4 the day before Kousuke confirmed the message.

However, he refrained from saying anything because of the circumstances.

He praised Haku’s decision because it was very likely that he would have just ignored the message.

Unfortunately, that decision resulted in nothing the next day when the message came out.

“So? What do you mean by the Hexagonal system? Well, I have a vague idea.”

“Well, I think everyone’s guess is as good as mine. If you take this Amamiya Tower as the center and connect the six surrounding Towers with a line, it will be just like one of the Magic Circle’s hexagonal formations.”

“….That’s a pretty big Magic Circle, don’t you think?”

Kousuke responded to Floria’s query with a wry smile.

“Well, yes. I don’t know the details of how it’s made. I have a vague idea about what it is, though.”

He could imagine it, everyone in the room was curious, but no one wanted to question him.

Kousuke had already reached a level where he could be called a leading expert on Magic Circles.

He was able to summon Goddesses and create a return circle to the divine domain, which was an extraordinary feat.

“Well, anyway, it seems that the Hexagonal Circle System allows us to do various things using this Hexagonal Circle.”

“Heh~. With a scale this large, it looks like you can do many things!”

Kousuke chuckled at Peach’s words.

“However, it doesn’t work the same way as a normal Magic Circle. What we can do is limited to a certain extent.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. Well, I guess there are some things that will be unlocked in the future depending on the Tower Level, but as far as the Magic Circle is concerned, there aren’t many functions.

Kousuke’s commentary left the group somewhat disappointed.

However, when Kousuke continued his explanation, everyone’s facial expression froze.

“However, the effects are all astounding. For example, it can create a barrier that surrounds the whole continent.”

Even the usually unfazed Kouhi and Mitsuki were surprised to hear of the effect.

If the barrier was so big that it could enclose an entire continent, the cost of operation would be incredibly expensive.

“But even if we were to do that, it would be like covering it like a curtain at some distance from the continent. If we used the barriers to bar ships from entering, they would be repelled, unless we authorize them.”

If a shipping agent had heard these words, he would have turned blue.

“Even so, I’m sure it takes a lot of power.”

“Roughly a million points of Divine Power a day.”

Everyone groaned when they heard it.

Even with all the Divine Power earned by all the Towers now combined, it was not a cost that could be met.

On the contrary, compared to the cost for setting up the Tower, it was an unbelievable operating cost.

“It seems very reasonable compared to floor replacement and the like, but do you have any idea why?”

“As you can see from the location of this Tower and the other six Towers, it seems that the maintenance of the Magic Circle itself uses the power that already resides on this continent.”

“Oh, I see, so the cost paid at the Tower is only the cost to activate the Magic Circle?”

Mitsuki interrupted, which was quite rare.

Mitsuki was also interested in the system that maintained such a huge Magic Circle.

As further investigation would reveal, each Tower was built at an important location in the Central Continent.

They stood at the intersection of the earth’s veins or at a power spot, so to speak, where various other things were mixed.

The power that gathered there was used to maintain the Magic Circle.

“When you say it like that, I don’t think it’s correct to use this power.”

Collete said.

It was a very normal opinion from a dependent who managed the World Tree that grew by using the power of the earth’s veins.

“No, no. It’s more like the World Tree in terms of its role, you know?”

“Eh! Really?”

“Yeah. It would be similar to buildings that stand in sacred places around the world. In short, it is a continental version of the Yurino Shrine.”

Everyone nodded in agreement with Kousuke’s explanation.

“I’m just guessing from here, but it seems that the Tower is also meant to dissipate various things.”

“How so?”

An interested Floria asked.

“I could only assume, but, if left as is, it would build up a lot of power, and then there’d be a big outburst at the end.”

The members of the group paled when they heard this.

“…A magical outburst.”

“Huh? Do you have any idea what that means?”

“There have been several stories of countries being destroyed by it in the past. There’s even a story of a civilization that was destroyed by it.”

It was already on a scale that would be better described as a disaster than an outburst.

“Oh, I see.”

Such an outburst would occur on a scale of a natural disaster. Thus, Kousuke agreed it would likely be possible.

“By the way, how big of an outburst, or rather a disaster, would occur without the Hexagonal system here?”

“Ah~. Let’s see. This is just a guess, okay?”

Kousuke confirmed, just to be sure.

Then, after seeing everyone nodding, he further reminded them.

“Well, this is simply an assumption, so I’m not certain, okay?”

Kousuke hesitated, and Shrein tilted her head in response.

“What? Is it that big?”

“Hmmm, well, yes…”

Kousuke was unusually cautious, and everyone was ready for his answer.

“…If my assumption is right, I think it should be strong enough to wipe the whole continent clean, I think?”

Kousuke’s answer silenced everyone.

Their resolve to hear this had instantly faded away.

“Well, not really, I guess because it would need all 6 of them to trigger at the same time to end up that way.”

He rushed to follow up, but it was already too late.

The members were now determined not to let any of this continental’s Towers be destroyed.

They all thought, [[ So that’s the reason why the Towers exists in the Central Continent.]]