May 15 at 8:16 a.m.

When the on-board computer in Dimmit's car showed this line, it had just stopped in front of Dior's castle. With the lights on, Dimiit got out of the car. Although he was born and cooked twice, he was not used to the feeling of black pressure, so he got out of the car and went straight to the door of the castle. This time, the door opened early.

The same entrance hall presents a very different scene from the last time. The luxurious chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and walls are fully electrically lit, illuminating the hall. On both sides of the bright red carpet, there are still a group of servants from the castle. In addition to the polite old butler James, and the lively head maid Taffy, in front of the two stood the owner of the castle, and when he saw Dimmit come in, he smiled and opened his arms to meet him.

"Welcome, Dimmit."

"Waiting for Lord Dimmit."

The servants bowed to Dimit in unison to Dio's voice. This formation was upgraded from before, which made Dimiit a little surprised, and straightened the shoulder bag that straddled his body.

"What's wrong today? It's so exaggerated, and the lights are on. ”

"It's also to help you get used to it as much as possible." Dior said.

"It's a nice thing to say, it's obviously rushing to this."

Dimmit took off his shoulder bag and shook it in front of Dior. Dior smiled.

"Yes, let's go to the lab right away. Haven't you had breakfast yet? ”

"Of course, I came hungry and wanted to know the results sooner."

"Well said."

Dio instructed Taffy and James to prepare breakfast and drinks, and led Dimmit to the underground experimental area.

The underground of the castle is divided into two areas, the north is the cellar, and the south is the experimental area, which is also the most unique place in the whole castle. Due to the needs of the experiment, the experimental area is not illuminated by candles, and all lights are electric. Following Dior down the stairs, Dimmite found that not only the ceiling, but also the walls were hung with sconces, and there were lamps at fixed distances, with a crescent-shaped base supporting a hemispherical tube, and on the base there was a wavy pattern common in Dynick ornaments, and the workmanship was quite fine.

"It took a lot of time," said Dior as he walked, "and it seems that the first four places were empty, right?" ”

"Yes, it was a big delay," said Dimmit, a little grumbling, "and I ended up going to the mountains." ”

"But you can find things in the mountains, and you're improving."

"I didn't find it alone."

"We've heard some news that the Saviors are fighting with the Black Troopers there, are they helping?"

"It's not just them, it's a group of ...... Quite an interesting person, I'll tell you when I have a chance. ”

"Hehe, the person who can make you evaluate it like this is worth looking forward to."

After chatting a few words, the two finished the stairs and stood in the experimental area. There were three laboratories in total, and Dior led Dimeter to the largest. It's a place where all kinds of physics experiments are conducted, so there's a lot of space, but there's also a lot of stuff. The room was full of all kinds of experimental equipment that Dimiter had never seen, and it was dazzling. As soon as he entered, he looked around curiously.

"What is this?"

"Something useful." Dio replied, walking straight to the center of the room and standing next to a clean square table, "Just leave it here." ”

Dimiit placed the shoulder bag on the table and opened it, taking out the soul finder inside. As the detector revealed its full view from the bag, he saw Dior's eyes enlarge, as if he were watching a stunner lose his clothes.

"Finally, I saw the real thing!"

Taking the detector with both hands, Dior carefully placed it on the table and straightened it. Dimmit glanced at him in bewilderment, saw an empty chair next to him, and pulled him over and sat down.

"Does it work?"

"There shouldn't be any problem, but you got the body of the spirit finder, did you see the recessed part of the exterior? It also needs some accessories to function properly. ”

Dimmit, who had just sat down, almost stood up again, his eyebrows about to be knotted.

"Anyway, I'm going to have to find those accessories again?"

"No, no," Dior hurriedly waved his hand to dispel Dimmit's doubts, "I have already made the remaining three accessories." ”

"Done?"

"I have been studying the spirit detector for many years, and although there is no physical object, I have collected a lot of information, determined the function of those accessories according to the data, and then reproduced it with modern technology, waiting to come in handy today."

Dimmitt was skeptical, he never thought Dior was a scientist.

"Anyway, it works, right?"

"Yes."

In reply to Dimmit's words, Dior walked over to a cabinet with six rows of large and small parts. Dior casually took three from above, each the size of a punch. He placed two of them on the table, one in his hand, and gestured against a depression in the side of the finder.

"Looks like it's going to take some time."

"It's okay, I can wait."

"That's good."

Putting down the accessories, Dior went to another cabinet and grabbed a machine. He pulled out the two wires from the machine, attached them to the accessories, and re-aligned them at the recess of the detector.

"So, I'll tell you about the Fragment of Istis."

"Got a clue?"

"There's something I think is linked to the shards, you can go find it first."

"What's that?"

"Martoun's box."

*****

Despite the flesh wounds, Leo was placed in a separate room. This room is at a distance from the rest of the treatment area, almost like an isolation room. Leo was bored all night, and just after breakfast, Andora and Akeya visited the ward to make him feel a little better.

However, it was the work of the front and back feet, and Rolov walked into the hospital room, and Leo looked disgusted. However, seeing Luna following behind, her tense face relaxed, but she still looked unhappy.

"What are you doing here?"

"Can't you visit the sick?"

"Come on, there must be something, right?"

"Yes, there is something, but I just told you about it first, and be mentally prepared."

The so-called psychological preparation, Elio's impression of his grandfather, is basically equivalent to "I will work as soon as I am discharged from the hospital". He straightened his flat body and straightened the infusion tube tied to his arm.

"Say, I'll listen as much as I can."

"You have to listen carefully to me, and so do the three of you, this involves the future of Akiyama City."

"Is it that serious?"

"When have I ever joked about this kind of question? Listen, your next task is to work with the Savior to find something else, Martoun's Box. ”

"What box for horses?"

"Martoun's box." Andora repeated to Leo, "But does the box really exist?" I always thought it was a legend. ”

Luna asked, "What kind of box is that?" ”

Rolov sat down in his chair and adjusted it again, facing the other four. He changed his usual posture of leaning on the back of the chair and crossed his legs, holding his thighs in both hands.

"It's a box that can change the balance of scientific and technological power in today's countries."

*****

War has brought people destruction, pain, and incalculable losses, but at the same time, it has also brought about rapid progress in science and technology. This may sound ironic, but it has been widely recognized by the historiographical circles. After all, in an existential war, people are constantly thinking about how to kill and injure the enemy more efficiently.

If every war can make science and technology take a step, then the war of the century, the largest world war so far by mankind, can make a leap in the level of science and technology, the most striking of which is EXP technology.

Since the early days of warfare, EXP weapons have been a new force on various battlefields. At that time, various countries were competing to develop EXP weapons mainly made of EXP hybrid materials, which did not change much in the way they were used compared to ordinary weapons, but only improved their performance.

By the middle of the war, weapons that used EXP as a means of attack gradually appeared, which is now called an offensive EXP weapon. Its appearance hastened the death of soldiers, and at the same time hastened the pace of the end of the war.

In this arms race, the versatility and versatility of EXP are seen by many scientists. Used as a weapon, it is just one of the many possibilities of EXP. How to develop EXP science through war is a question that more scientists are thinking about.

Long before the start of the war, there were some scientists who worked on the use of EXP in life, not at the individual level such as EXP weapons, but widely and on a large scale.

The outbreak of the war of the century has hindered the civilian research of EXP, but it still cannot extinguish the enthusiasm of scientists, and the research on the large-scale use of EXP has never stopped. Later, the military was involved, because if this research was successful, it would mean the creation of EXP weapons of mass destruction. As a result, the militaries of some countries are vigorously supporting such research and are eager to achieve early success.

In this regard, Astoria is at the forefront of the nations. As one of the initiators (and defeated) of the War of the Century, Astoria was in dire need of a strategic weapon that could quickly determine the situation in the region, so it gathered top talents from home and abroad to set up a research institute that was more rigorous than any military base, and accelerated research on the large-scale use of EXP.

However, technological development is not something that can be achieved by wishful thinking. Due to the technology at the time, the project was progressing at an extremely slow pace. By the last years of the war, the Afghan army began to show fatigue on several major battlefields, and the weapons that could change the situation of the war were still far away.

However, around 5 years before the new era, Astoria suddenly announced in a high-profile manner that it had developed a large EXP power source that can drive EXP strategic weapons, and its inventor was physicist Marthoon Soforan, so it is also known as "Martoun's Box". At first, countries did not believe it, believing that this was a public opinion momentum created by Astoria in order to save the defeat. But only half a month after the news was released, Astoria shocked the world by throwing a monster into the battlefield of the Arctic Nation for the first time.

"Monsters? What monsters? ”

As he ate the omelette and sandwich James had delivered, Dimmit asked. As he spoke, Dior had already attached an accessory to the Soul Finder and was carefully debugging it.

"Mobile Fortress - Overlord."

"Isn't it amazing?"

"The total length is more than 400 meters, and the highest point is more than 30 meters. It is equipped with a large number of conventional artillery and heavy machine guns, as well as 10 short- and medium-range missile launch pads. At the top, it is equipped with a main battle weapon - an EXP beam cannon with a caliber of 66 mm. From the point of view of EXP weapons, such a caliber is rare even now. ”

Listening to Dior's narration, Dimide was still calmly eating breakfast, but there was a wave in his heart. A 66 mm cannon that fires an EXP beam is 400 times more powerful than a single shot of the highest intensity of the scorching sun. Based on the upper limit of one's own energy, it is basically equivalent to 100 oneself releasing energy at the same time. Sitting on it more than a hundred years ago, it was simply a fantasy.

"The weapon is quite scary, but what about the results?"

"It landed on the beach of Rifet in the south of the Arctic Country, and it only took more than an hour to completely destroy the fortress of Rifet in the Arctic Country, which is known as the 'unbreakable city'. The beam cannon, in particular, wiped out almost half of the fortifications of the fortress with a single shot. ”

"That's amazing. So, that cannon, or rather the fortress itself, was driven by Martoun's box? ”

"Well, that's what Astoria said after the battle, but ......"

Dio finished the debugging and pressed a few times on the accessory, and the surface of the soul finder appeared with a pale green glow. He shifted his words and continued.

"Overlord Fortress only sent this threat, and it was over."

"It's over?"

"After the destruction of the fortress of Riffit, a spy agency in the Arctic Kingdom immediately sprang into action and began to investigate the information of the overlord. Later, the agency reported that Overlord did use Martoun's box as a power source, and that it was almost the only power source. ”

Dimmit couldn't help but stand up, frowning, and staring at Dior.

"How big is that box?"

"Judging from the information of all parties, it is basically that big."

Dior gestured with both hands for a space that was not even half a meter long, wide and high, and Dimmit was even more puzzled.

"Just such a thing, can drive a fortress, and that kind of cannon?"

"yes. As soon as the results of the report came out, no one believed it, but there should be no mistakes in the investigation of the spy agency, and there is no need to falsify. A month later, the Arctic Nation organized a force to attack the Overlord, invaded the interior, and destroyed it. Interestingly, in the past month, the overlord has not participated in any more battles and has been used as a military station. ”

"What about the box?"

Speaking of this, Dior smiled wryly.

"You wouldn't expect that the troops of the Arctic Nation didn't find the box at all."

"Didn't find it? How is this possible. ”

"I guess they had the same idea as you did, but they really didn't find it."

"But didn't that spy agency confirm that Martoun's box is the power source of the fortress?"

"It may or may not be so. After all, what we know now is some written material. Whether the spy agency made a mistake, or the front-line troops deliberately concealed it, or the Afghan soldiers transferred the box in advance, in short, the truth is beyond verification. ”

Dimmit groaned, slowly sat back in his chair, and asked about the original topic.

"Putting that aside, why does the magic box have anything to do with fragments?"

Dior laughed: "The EXP power source that can drive that kind of fortress has only slowly taken shape in the last thirty years, and the technology at that time was not possible. Since human technology can't do it, if the magic box really exists, then there is only one possibility: to place some small object with powerful energy in nature in the box. ”

A few key words made Dimmit quickly associate with another thing, and he suddenly realized.

"Fragments of Istis, huh? The box most likely contained a fragment of Istis! ”

"That's it."

*****

"Why didn't anyone look for such a powerful box before?"

After listening to Rolov's introduction, Andora and Luna sighed, and Leo didn't know if he listened or not, and nodded his head. Or did Akya ask.

"Actually, since the end of the war, there have been people looking for traces of Martoun's box," Rolov said, "but nothing has been found." Coupled with the incomplete information left at the time, many people thought it was just a smoke bomb released by Astoria until three months ago. ”

"Three months ago?"

Three months ago, the news about Martoun's box spread overnight, and even the drunken thugs in the bar were saying that "the location of Martoun's box may be locked". They don't understand the importance of this, and they use it as a way to show off their knowledge during the banquet. But for some organizations, it's the discovery of a new continent. Whether it's true or not, it's worth finding out.

Among the various teams chasing the box, there is one category that gives Rolov a great headache but is helpless, and that is the various intelligence agencies under the National Security Department of the Arctic State. The Arctic Nation has been doing EXP research without the World Government, and it is impossible to let go of a relic of a century of war like Martoun's Box.

Rolov has some acquaintances in the Ministry of State Security, and out of secrecy, they can only reveal a very limited few words. Even so, Rolov can roughly judge that the intelligence agencies of the Ministry of State Security have taken action against the box. As a mayor, no matter how presumptuous he is, he can't take the intelligence agency, but he doesn't want the government to get this box.

"It's not good to hand it over to the state? Hassle-free. Could it be that you still want to keep it for yourself? ”

Leo said thoughtlessly, and he saw Rolov look at himself with sympathy again, realizing that he seemed to have overlooked something.

"The world government always pays attention to any news about EXP, and they must know about the box, and maybe they have sent someone to secretly enter the country. If the box is recycled by the government, it won't be long before it is discovered. It may be that the world government itself investigates, it may be a report from other countries or organizations, in short, it is impossible to completely conceal it. ”

"That'...... What do you think? At least it has nothing to do with Akiyama City? ”

"You're stupid! Forgot about the EXP ban? Once the box is exposed, no matter how well things are confirmed, economic sanctions are indispensable. When the time comes, whether the country is hurt or not, there will definitely be a vote of cities that will be unlucky, which cities do you think will be the most affected? ”

Leo didn't even know what economic sanctions meant, and he was stunned for a long time with his mouth open, listening to Rolov say the answer.

"Of course, it is a port city like ours with developed foreign trade and many foreign companies. To put it mildly, if you really sanction it, there are some games that you won't be able to play! ”

The words were simple to Leo's ears, and he quickly understood the seriousness of the matter—though the other three had already understood. Rolov pressed his leg down and stood up.

"That's the way it is. The idea of the savior is to get the box before the other organizations, and they didn't know how to deal with it originally, but since Dimmit is with us, there is a way. ”

Akya asked, "Is it going to be handed over to Dimiit to find the whereabouts of Istis?" ”

"That's it. He doesn't belong to any organization, and taking the box and leaving can save us a lot of trouble. And maybe he'll destroy that shard along with it, after all, it's also a part of Istis. Okay, that's it, who's the problem? ”

All four shook their heads.

"That's good, I'll contact you when I have something."