With a plan in mind, Mark's spirits lifted, and the disguised turbidity in his eyes instantly faded away a bit.
He swiftly retreated deep into the crevice, quickly smoothed out the camouflage dirt that was almost frozen on his face, and kept Xiaomu close to his neck to ensure that the blanket-like mimicry was more suitable for the frozen environment.
Like a patch of dirty snow blending into the shadows, he quietly slipped back into the bustling Black Anvil Church construction site.
This time, he was no longer observing from a distance, independent of the crowd, but quietly blending into the busy crowd.
Get close to those whose soul aura has a clear "sense of structure" and "constructive rhythm", prick up your ears, open your eyes wide, and capture all possible useful fragments of information.
The construction site was a chaotic mess of voices, hammering sounds, and shouts.
Mark, hunched over and carrying a frozen, rough-edged stone, trudged toward a team that was chipping away at the black rock with huge ice picks and wedges.
There are two guys here whose soul aura is particularly "precise and steady".
"Damn it, these bastards of Heizhen are killing me!"
A large human man, wearing thick but obviously professional work clothes, with his face red from the cold, was complaining to a dwarf companion next to him, who was also wearing work clothes and was studying a wrinkled parchment with his head down.
"The blueprints look impressive; it's a defensive fort, indeed. But the depth and inclination of the reinforced anchor points... Old Gray, look at pile number 97. According to the standard, it needs to be driven ten cubits into the frozen ground to stably withstand the designed load!"
"But what about them? The blueprints only require six cubits? They want us to complete all the foundations in five days? You're dreaming! Unless there's a solid vein of adamantium beneath this foundation!"
The dwarf foreman named Gray raised his frosty eyebrows and snorted at the human man:
"Hmph! With your skill level, you're still looking at blueprints? Bullshit! You only know the standards provided by the profession panel and don't know how to adapt. Let me tell you what makes this fortification special!
"Look at the density of these load-bearing columns and the grade of the aggregate required for the 'buffer layer'! This isn't designed to withstand external impacts at all. Why would a fortress need this kind of inward-facing 'buffer'? They even emphasize the use of inert aggregate with low energy conductivity!
"It's more like... it's preparing to withstand some kind of massive impact from directly above, and then ensuring that this force can be transmitted vertically... as smoothly and without damage as possible deep into the foundation! Oh! Damn the cushioning! I think this is basically a super pile driver!"
Gray's voice was full of determination and confidence in his own professionalism.
On a professional level, even if he only knew the part he was responsible for, he felt that his vision was correct, not to mention that he was a dwarf!
When it comes to engineering, dwarves have never been better than anyone!
Mark, who heard the conversation between the two, felt his heart skip a beat!
His perception instantly focused on a corner of the drawing in Gray's hand... although he could only see the back.
Withstand a massive impact from directly above?
There's no way the Black Anvil Church is going to take on a meteorite like the one that hit Falling Star Lake...
Where is the force transmitted vertically deep into the foundation?
Isn’t it the deepest part of the rift valley where the cold current from the abyss below converges?
Just putting these two points together and thinking about it for a moment, a picture appeared in Mark's mind.
What the Black Anvil Church wants is not a fortress!
They clearly wanted to use this huge "Watchtower" itself as a super ram for energy conversion and guidance!
As for what the hammer actually does, he still needs to explore it more deeply.
In the evening, at the temporary camp at the Black Anvil Church construction site.
The shed was filled with the smell of cheap tobacco, sweat, and melted snow and mud.
Mark huddled beside a pile of cold tool bags in the corner, like a homeless man whose mind was frozen stiff, but his ears were like the most sensitive magic crystals, catching the low grumblings of several professionals gathered around the weak rune heater.
"... Damn it, the blueprints are as random as cracks in the ice! Whoever drew this knows nothing about fortresses."
A human engineer with calloused fingers spat out a mouthful of ice and cursed, "They're rushing to finish this project like crazy, and they're still making all these unrealistic demands! Old Buck, look at the new load-bearing requirements for the top platform. It could hold down a dozen dragons at once... What bullshit!"
"And do the Black Anvil Church have too much money and nowhere else to spend it? Why build a fortress in Frostwhisper rifts, where there aren't even any birds in the sky?"
The gray-bearded dwarf stonemason named Buck next to him frowned and flipped through the yellowed drawings in the dim light of the stove.
"It's more than just load-bearing... Look at the reserved passageways and these inexplicable cavities... Tsk, how can this be a fortress for people to live in? They say there's reserved interior space, but even a large cat would have trouble moving freely in it! I don't understand why they built such a huge solid anvil on the edge of the chasm. What else can you do besides listen to the howling wind and watch the falling snow?"
Buck's dwarf-like straightforward complaints attracted several sympathetic glances.
Mark's heart skipped a beat.
Uninhabited space?
This completely shattered his last bit of doubt about the fortress's defensive function.
He pretended to be choked by the smoke, coughed a few times, moved closer, shamelessly asking for a little "blessing" by the stove, and took the opportunity to interrupt:
"Hey teachers... I just don't understand what you're saying when you talk about it so complicatedly... You're talking about this big lump... if it's not for you... who else can it be for? It's such a nice house, what a shame."
Buck glanced sideways at the filthy homeless man. He didn't want to say anything more, but this ignorant question aroused a bit of his professional pride and disdain for the layman.
"Who's going to live here? For Fengshen's uncle! Aside from a few hundred main beams and some slots in the core chamber reserved for some inexplicable thing, there's nothing here! I'm afraid only the people who arrange the magic later will know what this place is used for! You idiot! What client wouldn't explain its practical functions? Humph, if something goes wrong with a fortification like this in the future, I will never admit to having worked here!"
Mark felt a little disappointed. It seemed that he couldn't get the full picture just by listening to these people's words.
Night fell again, and the camp was shrouded in the howling of the cold wind and an ominous silence.
Xiao Mu was like the most loyal shadow robe, silently covering Mark's whole body, perfectly mimicking a ball of wriggling frozen soil and residual snow.
Like melted ice water seeping into the cracks in the rocks, Mark quietly slid out of the camp's security area and rushed towards the direction where the storm had occurred and someone had divided his troops in the storm.
Now there is at least one thing that Mark can be sure of, that is, this Black Anvil Dwarf Watchtower where no one can live will at least not be the base of their church army. There are other places where the supplies that the Black Anvil Church really needs to transport must be.
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