Chapter 45: Redstone Technology, Kid

"Victoria, lend me that pair of yellow prisms to look at."

"Get them yourself, I'm busy writing my book."

"Oh."

Linde picked up the pair of yellow prisms from the floor.

At this moment, they were clinging tightly together due to mutual attraction, just like magnets.

After pulling them apart with brute force, he placed one of them in the corner of the refuge and stood at the opposite corner, trying to sense the magic frequency emitted by the crystal.

However, likely due to the absence of magic within his own body, he felt nothing at all.

Seeing Linde standing foolishly in place, Victoria pushed the Book of the World aside, turned sideways, and faced him directly.

"Standing in the corner to reflect on your mistakes requires facing the wall."

"…I can't be bothered with you." Linde rolled his eyes. "Have you ever tested the maximum distance for the mutual induction of this pair of yellow prisms?"

"Hmm…"

Victoria thought for a long time before replying:

"Probably forty or fifty meters, I suppose. The induction becomes extremely faint at that distance. The closer they are, the stronger the induction gets. Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if we could try combining redstone dust with yellow prisms to make a simple telegraph."

"A telegraph?"

"Mhm."

Linde shook the yellow prism in his hand up and down, and the one placed in the corner swayed with the exact same amplitude.

"You can roughly understand it as transmitting messages remotely, Victoria. Among the magic you know, is there any that can accurately convey a message to a specific address for a specific dragon?"

"Who researches that kind of nonsense? Us dragons basically just roar, at most using amplification magic to make our voices louder and carry farther. When other dragons hear it, don't they just understand what the roaring dragon means?"

"You can ask green dragons or silver dragons about this sort of thing; they are dragons that love to delve into and study new types of magic—or more colloquially, they prefer using their brains."

"Sigh…"

Linde let out a long sigh:

"What if I told you that without any magic, and without consuming any mana, just by moving a finger, you could make a certain dragon several kilometers away instantly know what you want to say?"

If conditions permit, dozens or hundreds of kilometers is also entirely achievable."

"As if!"

Victoria looked at Linde as if he were a complete idiot.

Could he have fallen ill, which is why he's starting to talk nonsense now?

To accomplish such a thing without consuming mana or casting spells would make you more powerful than the Dragon King.

"That's precisely why Minecraft is so interesting… taking things that seem impossible in wild imagination and gradually building them up block by block is deeply pleasing."

With a smile on his face, Linde chose not to over-explain to Victoria or prove the feasibility of his idea.

With redstone generating power and yellow prisms generating magnetism, trying to build a simple telegraph wasn't entirely out of the question.

"But what's the use of transmitting messages to other dragons anyway?" Victoria asked, puzzled.

"We aren't fighting solo here; don't forget how many dragons we can unite within these rolling mountains.

No matter how powerful the red dragon is, it's only one entity after all. If it searches everywhere for our tracks, its home will be empty. A raid strategy is never out of style—don't forget it has a palace of its own.

Furthermore, if the mountains are filled with our scouts, we can grasp every move of the red dragon: where it is, where it's flying to, and what it's up to. With an intelligence network, we can make timely adjustments accordingly. Whether our next step is to continue guerrilla warfare or hide will become much clearer, especially since the enemy is in the light while we are in the dark."

"To organize an intelligence network, information transmission is crucial. Establishing instant-communication telegraphs is just one part of it."

"Our next goal, aside from strengthening our own power, is to unite all forces that can be united. The enemy of our enemy is our friend!"

"Alrighty then!"

Victoria didn't quite understand the depth of it, but she raised her right claw to show her agreement.

Following Linde's lead was good enough.

"However, there is still one problem right now, which is…"

Linde said with a trace of embarrassment:

"Do you have any more paired yellow prisms?"

"Nope."

"…"

"But I have a huge chunk! Hehe."

Seeing Linde's disappointed expression, Victoria, feeling that she had successfully teased him, cheerfully pulled a massive piece of yellow prism ore out of her spatial gemstone.

"It tastes just about like citrus, so I keep a big piece around to nibble on when I get a craving. That pair just happened to be 'residue' that fell off when I was biting into it, and I thought the shape was oddly symmetrical, so I kept it instead of eating it."

Linde compared the crystal ore—which reached almost as high as his neck—and his mouth twitched.

One had to admit, Victoria's teeth were quite formidable.

"Linde, you can use all of these, don't be polite with me, hehe."

"Thanks a lot. Tell me what you want for dinner and I'll cook it for you."

"What if I want to eat you?"

"I'll wash myself up and jump into the pot for you, fair enough?"

"Since you put it that way, what else can I say? I'll start by eating your smart brain."

Are you a zombie, starting with the brain? Linde muttered inwardly.

Along the way, he pushed away Victoria, who was licking him with her tongue.

This creature just loved to give him a few licks whenever she was happy.

"Speaking of which, Linde…"

Victoria seemed to have finished messing around; she put away her playful expression and turned serious.

"I know, two roasted chickens, right?"

"Not that matter—though, of course, that is also a very important matter."

"I just suddenly thought of something else. Logically speaking, this red dragon shouldn't be here."

Victoria stared at the redstone dust on the ground, deep in thought.