Noah returned his full attention to the Aelwyn military briefing chamber after confirming that the Divine Expeditionary Army was nearly ready. The tactical projection of Caldris still floated above the central table, divided into the five assigned invasion fronts.
Cassiel, Selene, Toren, and Mira had also returned from their preparations, though each remained focused on different parts of the map. Garran stood at the head of the table with five unfamiliar objects arranged before him. Each resembled a thick metallic ring no wider than a dinner plate, its surface marked by thin lines that shifted whenever Noah tried to focus on them.
Despite their compact size, he could immediately sense a concentration of spatial power inside each one.
Garran waited until all five planetary lords were paying attention before speaking.
"Your armies are useless to this operation if they cannot reach Edras. House Aelwyn has already solved half of that problem."
He touched the projection, and five points appeared across Caldris. One rested in the northern mountains, another in the southern forests, one near the western plains, one deeper within the kingdom, and the final point in the isolated eastern mountain region assigned to Noah.
"These are permanent receiving anchors installed on Edras. Most were placed decades ago and have remained dormant ever since. Their locations correspond to your assigned fronts."
Cassiel looked at the five objects.
"And those are the other half?"
"Yes."
Garran picked up one of the metallic rings.
"Portable Planetary Portal Anchors. Each one has already been keyed to a specific receiving installation on Edras. You integrate the device into your own planet, activate it when you are ready, and it forms a stable route between your world and its paired destination."
Toren reached for one, but Garran moved it slightly out of his reach.
"Do not pick whichever one looks appealing. They are already assigned."
He distributed them one by one. Cassiel received the northern anchor. Selene received the southern one, Toren the western, and Mira the device linked to the interior position. Garran left the final ring on the table before Noah.
"Eastern Caldris."
Noah took it.
The object was heavier than it appeared. The moment his fingers closed around the metallic frame, he felt the spatial laws contained inside it react faintly to his divine authority. This was not ordinary equipment. It had been constructed specifically to interact with planetary laws.
Mira turned the device over in her hands.
"Can we place these anywhere?"
"Almost anywhere," Garran answered. "But think carefully before you do. Once the anchor integrates with your planet, moving it means severing that integration and establishing it again somewhere else."
Selene immediately understood the problem.
"Which costs Faith Points."
"Correct."
Garran expanded the projection to display a simplified image of a Planet Seed connected to a portal anchor.
"House Aelwyn provides the device. Your planet provides the integration. You are introducing a foreign spatial structure into a world that did not naturally create it. Your own planetary authority has to force the laws of that world to accept the anchor."
Cassiel frowned.
"How expensive?"
"That depends on the planet. Stability, size, spatial resistance, and the maturity of its laws all affect the cost. You will know the exact amount when you attempt installation."
Toren looked displeased.
"So the family gives us a portal, and then we pay to use the gift."
Garran gave him a flat look.
"The family gives you a machine capable of connecting planets. If half a million Faith Points frightens you, perhaps planetary invasion was the wrong mission to accept."
Noah glanced at the anchor in his hand. Half a million Faith Points would once have represented an impossible expenditure. Now it barely touched the reserve accumulated during three thousand accelerated years.
Garran continued.
"Integration is one cost. Opening the portal is another. Keeping the anchor inactive after installation costs almost nothing, but sustained transportation consumes Faith according to duration and volume. Do not confuse a portal with free logistics. If you keep it open unnecessarily, you will burn resources for no reason."
Mira raised another question.
"Can it be installed underground?"
"Yes, assuming you have sufficient space. In fact, concealment is recommended if your world contains hostile states or populations you do not completely control."
Noah said nothing. That warning did not concern him. He already knew where the eastern anchor would go.
Garran dismissed them to begin installation.
Noah closed his hand around the device and shifted his perception toward his planet. The Viridian Empire immediately filled his awareness. The Divine Expeditionary Army remained concentrated on the enormous military staging ground outside the imperial capital, where thirty thousand selected troops continued drilling, reorganizing supply columns, and preparing for the promised road beyond their world. The location was already surrounded by military checkpoints, temporary warehouses, medical stations, and roads reinforced for heavy traffic. It was exactly what a permanent portal required.
Noah saw no reason to search elsewhere.
He directed his authority toward the center of the staging ground and transferred the portable anchor into his world.
The metallic ring vanished from his hand.
On Viridian, it appeared several meters above the earth.
Soldiers noticed it immediately. Training formations broke their rhythm as thousands of goblins looked upward. Officers emerged from command tents while priests near the edge of the staging area dropped to their knees. Grand Marshal Rakhar Veyr stepped out from the central command pavilion and stared at the object as it descended slowly toward an open section of ground reserved for future deployment.
The anchor touched the earth.
First nothing happened.
Then Noah pushed his authority into it.
Resistance met him immediately.
The sensation was unlike directing wind or influencing mana. The anchor was trying to establish a law that did not belong to his planet, and the world itself resisted the intrusion. Noah could feel that resistance spreading through the surrounding space as though the planet were attempting to reject a foreign organ.
A clear requirement formed through his connection.
Portable Portal Anchor Integration
Required Faith Points: 500,000
Noah checked his current reserve.
Faith Points: 77,216,500
The number was more than sufficient.
He approved the expenditure.
The response was immediate.
Faith Points: 76,716,500
The ground around the anchor trembled.
Thin lines of pale light extended outward from the metallic ring and sank beneath the soil like roots. They spread through the surrounding land, invisible to ordinary sight after only a few meters but obvious to Noah through his planetary perception. The anchor was no longer simply resting on his world. It was binding itself to the planet’s spatial structure.
The metallic ring began expanding.
Goblin soldiers backed away as the object grew from something a single person could carry into a structure taller than the nearby command towers. Its outer frame thickened while lines of unfamiliar energy crawled across its surface. By the time the transformation ended, an enormous circular gateway stood in the center of the staging ground, wide enough for ranks of soldiers, supply wagons, and heavy equipment to pass through without difficulty.
The center remained dark and inactive.
The road existed, but it was not yet open.
For several moments, the entire staging ground remained silent.
Then one of the priests whispered the words that would spread throughout the army before the day ended.
"The Gate Beyond Heaven."
Others repeated this statement.
Within minutes, the name had begun moving through the surrounding formations.
Rakhar did not kneel immediately. He stared at the enormous portal, studying its width, its position relative to the camp roads, and the empty space around it. Noah could almost see the military calculations beginning behind his eyes.
A group of engineers approached cautiously before a priest blocked them.
"Do not touch it. This is a divine structure."
One engineer looked irritated.
"We are expected to move thirty thousand soldiers through it. I would like to know how much space exists around the base."
"You would measure something placed by the Divine One?"
"Yes."
Rakhar finally stepped forward.
"Let them measure it."
The priest looked toward him.
"Grand Marshal, this gate should be treated as sacred ground."
Rakhar glanced at the thousands of soldiers surrounding them.
"It can be sacred without becoming useless."
The priest stiffened but stepped aside.
"Engineers establish safe approach lanes. Quartermasters redesign the supply routes around the gate. No civilian enters this area without military authorization."
Rakhar pointed toward the nearest officers.
"And keep the soldiers back. I do not want half the army surrounding it every time someone claims the gate moved."
Noah approved.
The goblins did not understand the portal, but they did not need to understand its construction to organize around it.
He narrowed his presence and spoke only to Rakhar.
"The road has been placed."
Rakhar immediately lowered himself to one knee.
"Divine One."
"The gate will connect Viridian to the foreign world when I open it. Until then, reorganize the army around it."
Rakhar looked toward the inactive center.
"How much time do we have?"
"Not long."
"Should the entire army be prepared to cross at once?"
"No. Decide the order yourself."
Rakhar remained silent for a moment before answering.
"Scouts first. Then troops capable of securing the arrival area. Engineers after them. Main infantry only once the far side is controlled."
"That is your decision."
Rakhar bowed his head.
"It will be done."
Noah withdrew his voice but continued watching.
The effect of the command spread quickly through the staging ground. Engineers marked multiple approach lanes toward the portal so incoming units would not collide. Quartermasters moved several supply depots away from the center to prevent congestion. Rakhar ordered units assigned to the first crossing to camp nearest the gate, while formations expected to cross later were pushed farther outward.
The expeditionary army began rearranging itself around the portal with remarkable speed.
Back in the Aelwyn briefing chamber, Noah opened his eyes.
Garran was already watching him.
"Installed?"
"Yes."
"Any instability?"
"None."
Garran nodded.
"Then the receiving anchor on Edras should now recognize your world."
Noah glanced toward the tactical map.
"Can the connection be opened immediately?"
"It can."
Garran paused.
"That does not mean it should."
Noah understood.
The portal existed now. His army was ready, but readiness did not require rushing through the moment the road became available.
Garran turned toward the others, who were still completing their own integrations.
"Once all five anchors are stable, we begin coordinated together with other forces fighting in another kingdom deployment. Until then, nobody opens a portal independently."
Noah looked once more toward his Faith Point reserve.
Faith Points: 76,716,500
Half a million points had disappeared to create a single road between worlds, yet the expense barely dented what three thousand years of worship had accumulated.
On Viridian, thirty thousand goblin soldiers now camped around a towering inactive gateway, while engineers measured its approaches and officers rewrote marching orders. None of them had seen Edras. None had stood beneath another sky.
But the road promised by their god was no longer an idea.
It stood before them, waiting to be opened.
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